I feel old.

I feel OLD. No offense to all you real old people. ;)

But seriously!? Little Sydnee is 10! I absolutely cannot believe it. Sweet little baby Syd is now sweet big girl Syd. She has braces! And she carries on full on conversations about just about anything. She is in the 5th grade!

I remember talking with her about whether she hoped the baby in her mommy's tummy was a brother or a sister (don't get me started on the fact that baby Samuel is in KINDERGARTEN.) And we were JUST stomping ants in front of her house! (See blog circa 2006, sniff sniff.)

This is craziness to me. Am I the only one?

Fall so far...

You know what I love? Washington. Its so beautiful. All the time.

This Thanksgiving, like most of the ones in the past, we spent the holiday at Aunt Sandy and Uncle Bill's cabin. It was rainy, and sometimes there were snow flurries, but at least there was some snow on the ground!

We had amazing food, as per usual. And Leighton joined us this year! She is so sweet, and I loved just sitting with her and talking to her.

Excuse me ahead of time for this blog being a little scattered. I may jump back and forth between things. Any way, I made sweet potato fries for Ashton a couple weeks ago. They were definitely a crowd pleaser, as my roommates also stole quite a few. ;)

I just cut up the sweet potato (very hard to do, actually) and brushed it with oil, added a little salt and pepper, and baked in the oven until they browned. Much better than chips with lunch. :)

Moving right along, we some elves decorated Fox Hollow the other night. They brought tons of lights and stockings for every barista and they even watched Elf while decorating! Don't ask how I know that, its just a guess.

Like the elves, Orting has been busy decorating as well. I cannot express how much I LOVE driving through town under the Christmas lights. They are super old and the bells aren't centered but I love it. I don't think pictures can capture how perfect it really is.

One of my favorite things to do at Christmas is open my mom's box of ornaments. She has the most beautiful antique ornaments from my grandma, and maybe my great grandma, as well as silly ones from when I was little. Its so fun to look at each ornament and remember decorating the tree in years past. And I love waiting to find my very favorite one, which she actually GAVE to me this year! (The one in the bottom right that is minty green and says 'Merry Christmas!')

I also love making Christmas cookies. I usually do it twice. First at the beginning of December... just for fun. Then a second time right before Christmas as gifts for all my friends and family. :)

Mom came over one day when I had Ashton, and we made a TON of cookies.

Ashton had one, and he LOVED it.

I was really excited for Saturday. Why? I got to watch baby Cam again! I was his nanny from the time he was about 6 months old until he was almost 2! It was so cool to see him all grown up and talking! I'm used to talking to babies even when they can't respond, so I kept getting surprised when I would ask something and he would talk back! He is precious!

And lastly... I have developed a deep love for all vegetables. Its strange, but good. The other night, after watching the Grinch, I decided on going to Tacoma Boys. No matter that it was 12:30, they are open 24 hours! Thankfully Aaron came with me, because I might have fallen asleep driving home otherwise. Anyway, I love Tacoma Boys. And their vegetables. And yesterday I made mushrooms and broccoli and snap peas, all from Tacoma Boys, for lunch. If you've known me for any length of time, you would know this is not normal. But I guess I have a new normal?

Happy December!

Maybe its because I am always working. Or possibly its because I didn't have internet at my house for 6 months. Or perhaps its because my best friend now lives outside my bedroom door and whenever I have free-time, I usually spend it going on adventures with her. Whatever the reason, I have not been blogging.

When it comes to blog worthy stuff, I've done a lot. You know, like redoing furniture and decorating my house and building stuff and SEWING stuff and baking and cooking. But when it comes to taking pictures of it all and blogging about it so other people can see, I've definitely failed. And I feel terrible because many of my dearest friends live VERY far away and I want to keep them updated and reassure them that I am still alive and crafting.

So maybe my new year's resolution will be to blog more often? Probably not, because I NEVER keep resolutions. And actually, I never really make resolutions. So forget that.

I'm going to keep on living and blogging when I have a chance. So maybe tomorrow, next week, or next year.