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?

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Lately I've been so busy that I keep forgetting to blog. With Katy home, now Hope coming home... its just been crazy. In a good way. But... as I promised to Kelsey before she left for North Carolina, I WILL BLOG. As will she. :)

This might be a little random, but I have so many precious black and white pictures on my phone, and I had to post some.

Brody and Cam in their hats. For some reason Brody LOVES the infant sized bear hat. He brings it to me everyday wanting me to put it on him. And if I don't snap the bottom part, he gets mad. So his not-infant-sized face gets squished into that hat almost daily around here [unless I remember to hide it...]. And Cam, well he doesn't keep hats on. At all. This picture took about 14 tries before I got one with the hat still on him. :)

Ah the top of our tree. I love it. I had a picture on my camera of the full tree, in color, lights on and everything.... but.... it was blurry. Oh well. We have a TON of pretty vintage Christmas ornaments that were my grandma's. They are super colorful and super breakable. We learned that when our tree fell over one year... bummer. But there are still a lot left. :)


Lastly, two of my very favorite kids, Claire and Miles. I was their chauffeur on Monday, and while we waited at the dance studio for Alex to be done with hip hop, Claire and Miles wanted to pretend to be asleep. Miles is really convincing, huh?

Almost too much cuteness for one post.

How cute is this little boy? I've been teaching Brotato Chip to play on his own lately. Not ALL the time, but for a while. So he isn't spoiled. Ha.

[I think its too late.]

Anyway, today little man sat in the corner for 30 minutes. I kept looking at him, wondering what on earth was keeping him entertained so long. And welp, here it is.

He was lining up his blocks against the wall, messing them up, and lining them up again.

This is what he did when I told him to look at me, of course.

You can't tell which blocks are which, but I think he was putting them in order of his favorites. He always carries around the blue block with a V and a van on it. So much so that the picture is wearing off. After that, its a J with a jar of jelly. And so on. Well, the V block is first in the line, followed by the J... and other favorites. Once you get to the end of the line, the blocks aren't even straight anymore.

He is so strange, but so smart!

Sunshine and Bro-ito.

Say hello to Brody. He is my job. And I love him.

I especially love his age right now: one and a half.

He LOVES exploring. A little too much, almost. He also loves to be outdoors, as do I. So we have fun together.

:)

Excuse me, Miss Meagan? Its bright. Can I have your sunglasses?

(He can't quite talk yet, but I can read him pretty well.)

Thanks Meg. These are so much fun!

I'm really sorry I broke your sunglasses.

I'll just walk away now.

Okay that was boring. What else do ya have for me to break--err... play with?

Please?? I love you.

Typical conversation with the little man.

And I love it.

Summer is near.

School is almost here. And to celebrate, I took Alex and Claire to Forza.

Big kids only.

[Miles was at preschool.]

Earlier, I took Miles to preschool and he wore my sweet glasses.

This is why I love my job.

Brody. Bro. Brojo. Brosicle. Bubba. Piglet.

I spend 8 hours a day with this kid. He is hilarious. And he has style.

And he naps for 2-3 hours. He's a growing boy for sure.