Jonathan & Lindsey's Family Blog

December is always a busy month, and this year was no exception. Here’s what we were up to (outside of Christmas and Hawaii).

Santa visit at Cougar Mountain Zoo

We went to the downtown Tree Lighting

Phoebe isn’t a fan of all the construction noise in our house these days

We volunteered to take a family out on Lake Union to see the lighted boats and Santa. It was a very rewarding experience. The family had five children, all about our kids ages & genders + an adorable five-year-old boy.

Avery’s school picture frame is complete!   

Layla had an advent calendar full of spa/pampering things

Silas had a band concert

Kieron is enjoying high school swim team

Sleepovers with Shelby & Savannah

Layla had a “celebrations around the world” day at school

A few more pics from our Santa visit at the zoo. These kids really fill up the sleigh now!

The kids and I played a lot of Life in December

December Bunco

Kieron had his wisdom teeth removed on the 27th

A pic Scott shared from NYE

We had a pretty relaxing Christmas morning, all things considered. The kids are definitely at easier ages now. I was proud of them all for being so sweet and thoughtful opening gifts.
 

Erika stopped by for a visit and to exchange gifts. She gave Avery this sweatshirt.

Record players for Silas & Kieron

Avery was excited to try his new cold plunge tub

Christmas dinner

Playing with the new Forza setup (steering wheel, shifter & pedals)

We got out for a walk!

Talking to Auntie Ish, in New Zealand

We had all the grandparents over for Christmas this year and had a great time together. although we missed my brother and his family. (I thought I’d never hear the end of it from the kids!) Between all the cookie baking and frosting and appetizer prep there was a lot of work on our remodel, specifically getting the Duraboard on the fireplace. We had hopes of hanging the stockings in the regular spot Christmas Eve and I still held out hope I’d be able to set up the family room Christmas tree. In the end we celebrated Christmas in the basement, which ended up being just fine and saved quite a bit of extra last minute hassle.

Christmas Eve morning

 

Silas and Layla went ice skating with their friends, Ethan & Ella

 

Look who’s here!

Phoebe is not a fan
 

Playing the Dice Game!
     

Pics from the day before

We gave Papa one of his gifts early – Apple AirPod Pro 2’s, which also function as hearing aids. They’re awesome!

It had been a couple years since we were in Maui, so we were glad to go back this year. It’s much easier traveling there now that the kids are older and we spend a lot more time at the beach or in the ocean than we did when they were little.

We overlapped the first half of our trip with Nana so we could spend time together in Maui.

There was snorkeling everyday! Highlights included lots of turtles, a couple eels, a spotted eagle ray and hearing whales. One evening Silas and Jonathan were surprised to encounter a blacktip reef shark, which they promptly swam away from!

The boys enjoyed cliff jumping at Black Rock

Kieron and Layla went parasailing

Silas and Avery took a surf lesson

 

Jonathan and I did a sunset dinner cruise

Dinner

We took family pictures on the beach one of our last days there. We got this shoot done in under ten minutes! The kids are so much more cooperative than they used to be!











  
             

We walked down to the Hyatt to see the birds

  

Hula Pie!

I remember when Avery was just a little guy playing in this thing. Now Layla barely fits!



    

 

There was a hula show by the pool one evening

This little girl was adorable and could really dance!