Christmastime

After flying home from Seattle we had TWO days to unpack, wrap all of our Christmas presents, repack, and hit the road. I was a little nervous about the car ride seeing how antsy Elliott was on the plane rides. But our kids rocked the car ride. We made the first four hours without a peep from either of them, stopped for lunch, decided Elliott was being so good he deserved an extra stop so we let him run around a museum, and then right before Reno Pippa started crying but we let her look at photos of herself on my phone and she perked right up. I guess I'm raising a conceited child, but you do what you have to do while traveling! I guess I had nothing to be anxious about!

Christmas just always feels right in Reno. This year we had a white Christmas. It was fun showing Elliott the snow. Granmama got him some snow boots so he could play and take walks with us. We ate a lot of yummy meals, visited with friends and family, took Elliott bowling, saw Star Wars, played games, and celebrated a Milestone birthday.

cutest load in a tonka truck

It was Pippa's first time to Reno, so she got to meet a lot of special people. Elliott totally cracked us up while he opened his Christmas presents. Zack had plenty of time to relax by the fire and read books. And I enjoyed being home.

Seattle

We flew as a family of four for the first time to Seattle to celebrate the wedding for Mr. and Mrs. Hahn (yay!) and got to stay for a little vacation.

The trip started out with us looking like crazy people at the airport. A toddler, a baby, a stroller, two carseats, three duffle bags, a backpack, a toddler backpack, a diaper bag, a suit bag, and two exhausted pack-mule parents. Somehow we carted all this stuff on a shuttle and to the airport. The shuttle ride was Elliott's favorite part of the day. He is VERY into busses. At this point in time I'm pretty sure his dream job is to be a bus driver. Who would have thought a bus was cooler than a jet?

We let Elliott have the window seat thinking that he'd have fun looking out and understand that we were actually flying. That was wishful thinking...his favorite thing to do was lift the window cover up and down and up and down. Also, he liked to lift the seat tray up and down...and up and down. And the best one...the seat belt on and off and on and off! Other than that he was good on the plane. As much as it stinks to purchase a seat for a tiny toddler butt...it was nice having an extra seat for that tiny restless toddler butt!

In Seattle we got to stay at Ob and Amanda's new apartment and visit with them the first night.

this is the most hair on these three in one picture. ever.

twinning with my favorite :)

Then we celebrated Alicia and Perry!

hey alicia...i like your dress ;)

We visited our old church, spent time catching up with friends, took the kids to the zoo, walked Zack's old campus and our old neighborhood, visited the Pittman's, and even snuck in a date night! It was the best week. There was plenty of rain and it felt like home!

walks in west seattle

someone loves auntie mad

someone may or may not have fallen lip first on the concrete...

...but a visit to first aid got him a token for the carousel

worth it!

SU quad

elliott bay book company

our favorite meal for date night

A big thank you to everyone who gave us rides to the airport, let us borrow their car, let us borrow their condo, let us stay with them, shared a meal with us, babysat for us...and basically made this trip possible!

exhausted...but home!

4 (and a half)

Someone's mom forgot to take 4 month pictures. December was crazy!!! But here are some 4 1/2 month pictures of our little girl.

She's a happy little thing!

Thankful for a Birthday

Elliott turned 2 Thanksgiving week. We celebrated the big 0-2 and the holiday with family. 

Elliott's parents were more excited for this birthday than any other birthday. Ever. Two was more exciting than one because Elliott understood (more or less) what was going on. He could tell us he was going to be 2 and could even hold up 2 fingers. Plus, he knew how birthday candles and presents worked. 

Someone woke up to a new play set in the backyard. He liked the baby swing best even though we tried to convince him 2 year olds were big boys.

Later in the morning he got to pick out a new Elliot the Elephant book with Daddy and Uncle Bugs.

Someone decided to give his mom a break from cooking before she had to slave away in the kitchen all of thanksgiving day and chose Red Robin for his birthday dinner. He's so kind! 

It was such a fun day. I think I like Elliott's birthday better than my own...well, a close second!

The next day was Thanksgiving and we had quite the dinner. Zack smoked his fifth turkey of the month (yes, we ate many Thanksgiving meals with friends and work). It has been fun hosting Thanksgiving at our house the last couple years. We thought about seeing Christmas lights at the track, sharing some dessert with some friends, and even Black Friday shopping after dinner but by the time we finished we were so full and tired we all decided bed was more enticing!

We had help putting up our Christmas decorations before everyone left town. Zack got Elliott a train for underneath our tree this year. I think he got it more for himself...but that's okay both boys enjoyed it!

At the end of the weekend we celebrated a family rivalry football game. Seahawks vs. Steelers aka Pittman boys vs. Simmonds/Pittman girls. It was fun to watch together even if the wrong team won.