A cozy Christmas

After a few days of celebrating the holidays with friends and late nights, Christmas was the perfect day of cozy celebrating between Rob, me, Macadam and even Buster. Santa came in and set up the addition to Macadam's Legoville trains (his helper even ran to the store at 10:30 Friday night for the right batteries) to go around the tree when Mac came downstairs in the morning. At first it was almost too overwhelming but soon, Macadam was down on the ground playing but also wanting to see if Santa had drank the milk we set out as well as ate the cookies and gave the reindeer the carrots.

Stockings were so fun. He had asked for an apple for Christmas and he was so happy when he saw one in his stocking. We're pretty sure that's all he would have needed for the day, but of course, the present opening continued. Between presents, playing and seeing family on Skype and talking on the phone, it was a big day for the little man.

All Mac wanted to do the whole day is play, play, play. Every time we asked him what he wanted to do, he just replied Play! We didn't leave the house all day, it was perfect. Rob and I blow torched (yes, really) our rib roast and it was delish, accompanied by some other yummy goodness.

We hope all of you had a great holiday, no matter where you were!

Funny, goofy and oh so silly

I just saw these photos again which are a couple months old and had to post because they are so Macadam.  He runs around with his pirate hat or other accessory and just loves taking his Rody horse, which he has now named, wait for it...Whinney, around with him.

His recent acquired skills are a set of stall tactics, strategically implemented when he knows he's just minutes, if not seconds, away from having to go upstairs and go start the bedtime routine. He'll charmingly go play with toys he rarely touches or insist that Whinney needs to be fed and ridden. It's ridiculously cute and funny and well, he knows that too. The other night Rob and I were dying laughing from his newly shaped routine and couldn't stop long enough to catch it on film. Until we do, here are some of those from earlier this fall.



And here's a couple more from earlier today when the Mizuno shoes moved to slippers:

O, Christmas Tree

A best laid plan. We'd originally been scheduled to head out into the wintery wonderland of wilderness with some good friends and chop down a tree with a permit, followed by sledding and roasting things over a fire. The weather and our immune systems had other plans. Instead, we made the most of a record rainfall and had our friends over for a delicious brunch and then headed to Swanson's for reindeer, a camel, miniature donkey and koi. Those are the four animals you think of for Christmas, right:)? Macadam and Natalia loved it. Afterwards we made a game of looking for pinecones in a local park and then headed to support our local boy scout troop by buying our tree from them.

It turned out to be such a fun day and we stayed relatively dry and were close to home. By the evening the tree was dry and we started the trimming. Mac helped this year with hanging ornaments and so far does more to keep them on there than take them off.

Here are some fun shots from the day!

Ho ho ho!

The holidays are the best yet as Macadam understands the whole magic of Santa and our little friend, The Elf on the Shelf. We discovered the elf a few years ago thanks to our friends, the Boyers, and while last year Mac was excited to find him every morning, this year he's ecstatic. The book itself, we think, did a ton to make it so Macadam was okay with hanging out with Santa. We were invited to go on the Santa Train this year, and what a fun trip! It's on a train from the early 20th century that they've restored and runs from North Bend to Snoqualmie, just a 20 minute train ride and then the kids get to meet Santa and listen to carolers. We were shocked that Macadam not only sat on Santa's lap but he kind of even jumped into it. While shy, he was super happy and excited when with him. It was adorable and so fun to see. In fact, out of the six kids in our group, no one lost it. After Santa, we had some warm cookies and hot chocolate before getting back on the chilly train. We even had VIP treatment from a sweet conductor who is friends with one of ours. He gave the kids train whistles - which to some other adults was not the gift of music:).

Mac doesn't say Santa. He says, "Ho, ho, ho" and "lap." Maybe by next year, he'll have his name down:).

Thanksgiving part II

After celebrating up north here in Seattle, we traveled south for a three day tour of Oregon to see family. Friday we spent at the farm in Gobel with Grandpa Terry and Grandma 3/Dinah as well as Rob's brother and his fiancee and her family too. It was fun, festive and Macadam's love for the farm grows each time. He had a blast walking the grounds and getting see the honeycombs. Saturday we spent the morning with my family, not only seeing Grandma and Grandpa Fox but also Macadam's aunts and uncles and all six cousins! The newest addition, Olivia, is just a beauty and was only two weeks old. Mac had so much fun with his older cousins, they loved entertaining him too. That afternoon we headed to Grandma Karen and spent some much needed time with the Kullberg side of the family. Macadam's cousins are even closer in age to him and there was plenty of fun. Uncle Justin put in the hard work of chasing the kids, which kept them running, laughing and screaming for more.

As a kid who grow up with no cousins (that weren't my aunts' pets), it's so fantastic to see Mac play with his. While it was a tiring weekend of travel, it was a joy to get time with family.

Here are just a few shots from the weekend:

Backtracking

While I was getting caught up on our Flickr photos I realized I never posted photos from our trip to San Francisco back in October. One of my dearest friends from college, Kathleen, married her fantastic man Chris and we were there to celebrate the beautiful occasion. One top of that, we had an extra day or two in one of our favorite cities, saw Pat and Megan as well as more time with college folks.

Macadam had a blast chasing the birds at the Ferry building and waterfront, sampling our favorite bakery Tartine, as well as exploring Golden Gate park and hanging out with his new friend, Anna Badger who was just three months old when we were there. Since there are a ton, but many great, of photos, I've put the link to the slide show below.