Space Needle

Best. Lunch. Ever.

 Eli loved when Norah blew the fog his way. Then he said, "Right back at ya, sister!"

Spikey!

Today Eli styled his own hair. With Carmex.

When I asked him what he was doing he said, "Making it spikey!" More like greasy. Sigh

Christmas in Seattle!

Or as it will forever be known: The Year of "Why YES, I'd love some Onions with my Cheesecake." Because what do you do when the power is out and you can't heat up the prime rib? That's right! You find an Asian buffet, walk in 10 minutes before they close their lunch service and pile your plates high with everything in sight! Yum!

But seriously, we had a GREAT time with Glen, Lori and Norah. And fell a little in love with Seattle, too. And not just for the donuts. Or the weed. Well, maybe for the donuts and the weed. Ok, for sure for the donuts:

But also for our awesome friends.

Who got Eli a workbench to play with ...

 And let him ride bikes in the house:

 Taught him about playdough ...

 ... and were so cute you even convinced Mike to play!

 You tried to teach us some manners ...

 ... but failed miserably ...

 ... and then didn't get mad when we started jumping on the bed!

You took us to the Seattle Aquarium ...

 ... and the Woodland Park Zoo:

 We rode the carousel ...

 ... drove the train ...

 ... and beat the crap out of a Pinata!

 You held our hands ...

 ... and Lori even perfected "the look"!

 We love you guys!

 Oh, and did I mention the donuts?

 And the weed?

Thanks for an AWESOME vacay!

Just a little more Christmas ...

Seriously, where does he learn this stuff? I love it!

The Last Santa, 2011

Merry Christmas to all, and to all SEVEN different Santa Claus that we saw! Ho! Ho! Ho!

 And, finally, the hey-what's-in-your-beard-is-that-more-candy-awesome picture!

School Santa

This is the I'm-not-crying-this-year-but-I-still-think-you're-not-a-great-Santa-Claus-dude-oh-wait-you-have-candy-I-think-I-love-you-after-all picture:

 Plus, I can't hardly stand the cuteness! Kelly, Teddy and Eli ... checking out Santa Claus!

Santa Herb

Christmas, C-130 style!

 Eli wondering if Daddy REALLY knows what all of those dials and switches are for ...

 I guess it can't really be THAT hard! Can it?

 Um ...

 Awesome!

 Wait, you want me to jump? From here? All the way to the ground?

 Of course, a chick co-pilot makes everything better!

 But the best part, of course, was more Santa action!

 And a new girlfriend (sorry Kate ... you can be Eli's southern girl! Ha! Ha!)

We just can't stop!

Seriously! And there's at least one more planned.

But this is the we-went-to-the-mall-with-Henry-and-his-mom-Emily-to-ride-the-Choo-Choo-Train-and-we-were-so-depressed-that-they-are-moving-to-England-in-three-weeks-that-we-had-to-get-a-picture-of-the-boys-with-Santa picture:

And Sutch!

Last night we were so thankful to be invited to a Santa Party by our friend, RaKell (my super-mom advisor!) and her family.
Her daughter, Kate, who is five, was a great new friend / big sister to Eli:

 She helped Eli find a perfect spot to sit and watch Santa!

 They both got distracted by Nick (the cute blue blur in the background!) for a minute ...

 ... but then were quick to get back to Santa, waiting their turn to sit on his lap!

 There was some singing ...

 And then, FINALLY, it was time for the I've-been-waiting-so-excitedly-but-now-that-it's-my-turn-I'm-frozen pictures (actually, I was so proud of Eli as he walked up to Santa all by himself! So brave!):

 And then a quick okay-I'll-give-you-a-high-five-but-there's-no-way-I'm-going-to-talk-to-you picture:

 Santa brought Eli a present (thanks, RaKell!)!

 We got to make some Reindeer food, too:

 And of course there's that face:

 But Eli had so much fun he even gave us a "real" smile!