A Christmas in Washington

After having the baby both Jason and I vowed that we would NOT travel anywhere for a long time!  So this meant that family had to come see us for Christmas.  Since Jason's parents were with us for Thanksgiving, mine decided to come up for Christmas.

It was such a special week with my parents here as we got ready for Christmas.  They arrived on Dec. 20th and left on the 27th, and of course that was not long enough!  I become so used to having the company and help with Cammy, it's always hard to see people leave...especially when it's family!

Of course the first thing I had to do once they arrived was make my most favorite frosted butter cookies!  I have been waiting all month to make these and it didn't seem possible without someone to help with Cammy.  I ate those cookies faster than you could imagine and still wished I had more after they were gone.  Just ask Jason, I have been talking about them since my parents have left :)

Rolling out the dough for the cookies

My little cookie cutter helper

After we got the cookie making out of the way and Leia was content, we were able to enjoy a few other pre-Christmas activities.  We visited a Living Nativity at a local church in Mill Creek and also the Woodinville Wonderland.  It was a much warmer December than other years, so we weren't totally freezing as we stood outside admiring the lights.

My parents, Cammy and me at the Woodinville Winter Wonderland

Showing Cammy the lights that go to music

Christmas Eve was spent getting any last minute gifts, sitting around the house relaxing, attending an afternoon Christmas Eve church service, and having a delicious dinner at the Crab Pot.

Christmas Eve at the Crab Pot

Hanging with the grandparents at the Crab Pot

Christmas morning was a little different than we are used to, as we worked our entire day around Cammy's waking up time, diaper changes, feedings and naps.  We started our stockings and presents around 9am and didn't finish with all the gifts until about 2pm!!  Talk about making Christmas last :)

Cammy's First Christmas...opening stockings

The whole crew with our stockings

(my parents have to show us up with their giant ones from home)

The doggies are excited about their stockings too!

Family Christmas Photo 2011

My parents with us on Christmas

Lots of unwrapping to be done in a gift to Cammy from her other grandparents

Cammy LOVED her snowball rattle from Grams and Gramps

(it makes her smile every time!)

Coda enjoying Christmas as we take a break for breakfast

Cammy's biggest present this year was her Jump-a-roo.  We put it together the day after Christmas and enjoyed watching her learn to play in it.  Her feet don't touch yet, but it's still fun for her to sit in.  Thanks G-ma and Grandpa Lumsden!

Trying out her new Jump-a-roo

Still needs to get a little bit taller :)

It's always hard to see family leave, especially after such a fun visit.  Thank goodness for computers and web cams so we can all Skype now!!  But...we always look forward to the next set of visitors, like G-ma and Grandpa Lumsden in two more weeks!!!

Christmas Tree Decorating

Well...we cut down our Christmas tree a week ago and finally got around to decorating it this past weekend.  Talk about not having time or energy to do it now that we have a baby!!

As much as I wanted to involve Cammy in decorating the tree with us, we figured it would be best to do it while she napped.  So as soon as she fell asleep, off we went to decorate the tree.  Not more than 10 minutes into decorating the tree did Cammy wake up and not want to go back to sleep.  I think she wanted to be a part of the fun and knew she was missing out.  So I got my wish...she helped decorate the tree!  And boy I have never seen her as happy as she was doing it!!!

Cammy with her ornament from G-ma

Cammy with her ornament that we bought for her

Helping hang ornaments with daddy

Riding on daddy's shoulders

Family photo with a decorated tree!

I think she LOVED the decorated tree!!

I LOVE being the crazy mom who wants her 3 month old to be involved in every activity that we do!  Making memories like these is just too much fun!!

Garden D' Lights

My Stroller Strides workout group had a "family night out" meetup planned for the Bellevue Botanical Gardens on December 9th.  I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for Jason to meet some of the amazing mommas and babies that I workout with each week and also be able to do a fun holiday activity together as a family.

Jason had gone to the Botanical Gardens to take pictures with his photography class before, but I had never been.  But the lights that they do at the gardens is nothing like we had ever seen before...it was amazing!!!

We enjoyed a very chilly night out together as we cruised around and saw the lights!

Bundled up to see the lights

This is all made out of lights!!!

This too is only made out of lights!  It was insane and so pretty!

Holiday Fun!

There are many reasons why I love Christmas, but I think one of the main reasons is because there are so many fun activities to take part in to celebrate Christmas all month long!  Now that we are "Mill Creekers", I decided I should probably check out all that Mill Creek has to offer.  So me, Cammy and our friend Lindsey (Jason was sick) ventured out to the Mill Creek Town Center Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting the first weekend in December.

This wasn't anything huge, but just a fun small town festivity for families.  I wished it wasn't as cold as it was that night or we might have been able to stay a little longer to do more of the activities.  I guess there is always next year when Cammy can actually do some of it on her own :)  Right now I am just acting as the crazy new mom trying to making memories for my child who will probably never remember them...haha!

Watching the parade

Lindsey, Cammy and me watching the parade

Cammy all bundled up thanks to Lindsey

The tree lighting (not as exciting as we had hoped)

Cutting Down the Christmas Tree

Jason and I have always had the tradition of cutting down a Christmas tree every year.  I did this as a kid with my family and wanted to carry on the tradition for my kids.  Well...we tried it with Cambrynn this year and needless to say, it was not as fun as I had hoped at this age.  For one, our little one does not enjoy being in the front carrier, so that started our adventure off on a bad note.  Once we dumped the carrier she seemed a little happier, but my arms were not so happy carrying around a heavy baby for 45 minutes or so.

Of course this had to be the one year that we didn't find a tree in the first 15 minutes.  I mean come on, this tree farm is HUGE and finding a perfect tree has never been hard for us.  But this year it took us over an hour and by the time we found "THE tree" we both could really care less what it looked like (I still think it's a good one...nice find Jason!).

All this just to make memories for Cambrynn who won't even remember them...but at least we will have the pictures to show for it!  Oh the life of a new parent :)

Cambrynn's first time cutting down a tree

Before we ditched the front carrier

Daddy and Cambrynn...minus the carrier

Cambrynn's first Christmas tree

Jason cutting down the tree (all by himself this year)

Christmas Card Photos

We had a family member take our Christmas card photos this year.  Thank you Wendy Grace for taking the time to come out and make some memories for our new little family.  Below is just a sampling of the photos that were taken.  The last one is surely the BEST because we have our WHOLE family in one photo...AMAZING!!