We continued our annual tradition and visited Santa at the Reindeer Festival at Cougar Mountain Zoo, in Issaquah. The boys really enjoyed feeding apples to the reindeer on the way up to Santa’s cabin. Avery was excited to ask Santa for a “Matchbox shark boat” like his cousin, Andrew’s. Kieron didn’t want to talk to Santa, or go near him for that matter. And Silas was cool with anything as long as I didn’t venture too far away.

While we waited to see Santa, Avery observed that he “looked different” this year. “Oh?” I asked cooly, “how does he look different?” I was a little worried, because he was, ahem, a few years younger than the previous year. “His beard is shorter,” Avery replied. Whew!

After visiting Santa, we strolled around the zoo and said hello to all the other animals. We always look forward to this Santa visit. It’s very laid back, and way better than waiting in a long, overpriced line at the mall. And we get to support the local zoo too!

Kieron loved the reindeer, but wasn’t keen on visiting with Santa. So I ended up in the picture… again.





“Hey boys, hop in the sleigh! We’ll get a cute picture of you all together!” Uh huh, sure.

The alpacas, this was one of the prettier ones

Another alpaca (not pictured) scared Avery with his nasty underbite and rotten teeth. I think Avery will always brush well from now on.

Pretty bird


An elf took a family photo for us

Most of early December was spent preparing for late December. Lots of crafts, shopping, baking and freezing food. Here are a few cute pics from the calm before the holiday storm.

The boys during their first real sleepover in Kieron’s room

Looking through a mall window at Santa’s elves

It’s almost bath time!

What is Kieron smiling at?

Cupcakes, of course! Yum!

Silas waiting patiently for food

Tiny hand and feet

Kieron washing his hands at the sink

Avery painting Christmas ornaments


Silas crawling around the family room

Black Friday is one of my favorite holidays! Not because of the shopping deals (I prefer Small Business Saturday or Cyber Monday), but for delicious leftovers, putting up Christmas decorations and listening to carols all day long. Avery and I even watched Pacific Northwest Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” (starring one of my favorite dance instructors, Wade Walthall). The boys loved helping set up the Christmas decor and had no problem getting into the spirit of things!

Avery inspecting a preschool project he made a couple years back


Avery pretending to be a crazy Santa… that’s a bag of dirty diapers over his shoulder

First Kieron tried to put the angel on the tree…

Then Avery tried, but eventually Daddy had to stand on a chair and do it

Kieron posing for some shots




Kieron is completely in his element with a whisk and ladle


Avery teaching Silas to climb stairs

Thanksgiving this year was a lot of fun. It was our first time celebrating one of the big holidays on our own! Although we missed our families, it was nice to do our own thing and have a low key holiday.

Since we didn’t have any company coming for dinner, we (I) decided it was the right year to try a vegan Thanksgiving. Poor Jonathan was not very happy about it, but he went along with it to keep the peace. We limit our meat consumption anyway, but recently I’ve been cutting back on animal products as much as possible. I don’t think Jonathan really thought I’d go through with it, but I bought the Tofurkey and remained adamant I did not want to see a bird a the table this year. Avery was on board – he can’t stand the sight of an animal carcass.

So how did it go? Well personally, I think Thanksgiving dinner is all about the sides, and those were fabulous. But don’t worry family, we won’t serve Tofurkey again. For the record, I am glad we tried it!

Our trio of boys – they’re so cute!

Our thankful trees. We each wrote something we are thankful for on a leaf and put it on our tree everyday. A fun tradition.




I love the way Si is looking at Kieron in this picture. He loves his big brothers!

Our Tofurkey.

Kieron helping in the kitchen.

At the table. Kieron sported his Indian hat, Avery wore a turkey hat.

Kieron LOVES sparkling cider! He was hitting it pretty hard!