Holiday Duck Tour

This year we tried something a different that we have never done before...Ride the Ducks Holiday Tour.  We found a Groupon for it and thought it sounded fun, so we got our friends Nick and Lindsey in on it with us and we reserved our evening to go, December 16th.

Of course the night we go is freezing cold and very rainy (can we expect much less here in WA?), but that didn't stop us from having fun.  We all bundled up and got in the Christmas spirit as we rode around downtown Seattle looking at all the holiday decorations, which to be honest were not as exciting as we had all hoped.  The driver was fun, the music was silly and just riding around in an amphibious vehicle is excitement in itself!!

Cammy and Daddy ready to hit the road

The Lumsden Three ready for some holiday fun

Cammy shaking the bells to the music

Cammy and Mommy at the end of the tour

Our great company for the night...Lindsey and Nick :)

Bring on the Decorating!!

After having our tree up in our house for almost a week, we finally found time to decorate it (amazing how hard it is to find time for that during this busy month)!!  Cammy is still learning how to decorate.  Right now her interpretation is put on an ornament, pull it back off, maybe throw it on the ground or run around with it, and then repeat.  We just made sure that most ornaments we gave her to "put on the tree" were nothing too special and crossed our fingers that if it was a special one that it wouldn't get broken when thrown on the floor (we were lucky...this time!)

Checking out the big tree 

Helping daddy to hang ornaments

Attempting to do one all by herself

(couldn't figure out the hook, so it didn't really stay once she shoved it into the tree)

Our Christmas tree all decorated and ready for Christmas!!

PARTY TIME!

On Dec. 9th, we attended a joint 3rd birthday party for some of Cammy's friends from Stroller Strides, Carli and Grayson.  The party was at Jump Planet, which we weren't too sure what Cammy would think of it now that she is walking.  And just as we expected, she was not a very happy camper for the first part of the party (didn't stop us parents from still having fun though).  After a few times of being shown what to do she started to enjoy herself and even became comfortable enough to let go of our hands and run!  Now the big bouncey slides....that is a whole different story that was not really enjoyed by Cammy at all.

Crawling through the tunnel with mommy

Walking through the giant tunnel all by herself!

Daddy playing with Cammy

Pizza party time!!

Happy Birthday Carli and Grayson!!!

Christmas Tree Hunt

One of our favorite Christmas traditions that both Jason and I did with our families while growing up was going out and cutting down a Christmas tree every single year.  We for sure wanted to keep that tradition alive with Cammy and there is no better place to do that than in the GREAT NORTHWEST where the tree farms are everywhere!

Since living in WA we have gone to Farmer Brown's Tree Farm every year.  We love the atmosphere there with Christmas music playing, kettlecorn, hot chocolate, and lots of great Christmas trees to pick from!

This year when we went it had just snowed a bit the day before, so we were truly in the Christmas spirit as we trekked around through a dusting of snow all bundled up to find our tree.  And surprisingly...Cammy did great riding around in our backpack (which we had never tried with her until then)!

Our tree!

Good thing we have Jason to do all the hard work :)

The Newest Addition to Our Household...in December

For the month of December we have a new member of our family...

Meet Dat the Elf!

(and yes, this was the name given to the elf by Cammy)

The Elf on the Shelf is one of the new Christmas traditions that we started at our house this year.  Cammy doesn't really get it yet...she more just likes to find the elf, whine until we give him to her (if you know the story, you really aren't supposed to touch the elf, as he is there to merely watch you everyday to see if you are good or bad), and then she plays with him, kisses him, cuddles him, and then throws him on the floor when she is done.

"Reading" The Elf on the Shelf book with Dat :)

Kissing Dat

Hugging Dat

Holding Dat like a baby

We are excited to start these new traditions with Cammy and enjoy watching her excitement with all the things we do throughout December! 

We Don't Like Strange Men in Suits!

On Dec. 1st we took Cammy to go see Santa (along with all the other parents and children in the world of course).  This visit didn't go quite as easy as last years when she was only 3.5 months old.  We were prepared for our unsure little daughter to cry, and sure enough that is just what we got (but doesn't she still look kind of cute with that sad little face?)....

So Much to be Thankful For!!

November was a special month for us.  Not only did we get a short visit from Jason's mom at the beginning of the month, but then a few weeks later we got a week long visit from my parents for Thanksgiving!  Talk about being thankful for family...they are always there for us!!

We had an amazing Thanksgiving week!  While Jason worked hard for the first three days of the week (thanks honey!), my parents, Cammy and I enjoyed getting out for some fun each day.  I think their favorite activity was going to the Everett Imagine Children's Museum and watching Cammy run around exploring the place.  She is at such a fun age where anything she does is fun for all who is with her!!

Learning games with Grams

Making music on the giant piano (a favorite of Cammy's)

At the control board for the stage....she LOVES buttons!!

A little windy at the very top of the rooftop playground

Gramps giving Cammy a barber shop experience

Thanksgiving was a mix of family and friends, which we love.  Everyone pitched in and made something so that made our cooking load a lot nicer.  We enjoyed a late afternoon of eating, drinking and socializing with my parents and our good friends The Sutherlins and The Yanceys.  A Thanksgiving would not be complete without checking out the Black Friday ads also.  I had said all along that I was not going to go out this year, but after looking through the ads and seeing how early (or late) places opened, I couldn't resist.

Happy Thanksgiving from our little turkey!!

Mommy and daughter

Our lovely Thanksgiving group

So at 10:30pm on Thanksgiving night (after Jason took a little pre-shopping nap) Jason and I set out to do some late night shopping.  We waited at our favorite Black Friday store, Sports Authority, for a little over an hour with hopes of getting the $500 gift card like Jason got a few years back.  We weren't quite that lucky this year, but I did manage to score more than the standard $10 gift card and came away with $25!!!  From Sports Authority we took on one more store and waited a nice long one hour and forty mins in line at Old Navy.  Thanks to the boys (our friends the Yanceys came along for the fun too) who stood in line while us girls shopped :)  If you ask the boys...standing in line that long was definitely NOT worth the savings, but I just like to call it good old friendly bonding time!

There is just so much to be thankful for this year, but our family and friends top the list for sure!!!    

A Visit From G-ma

Visits between our families never seem to be more than 3 months apart, which is usually perfect.  But sometimes that just seems to far away.  So at the beginning of November we were lucky enough to have Jason's mom, Glenda (aka: G-ma) come here for a 5 day visit.  It ended up being perfect timing, as Grandpa Scott was called onto storm damage and was going to be in NY helping with hurricane Sandy at that time.  So rather than Glenda being home by herself that whole time, she got to spend some of it with us and her favorite granddaughter.

It was a wonderful G-ma visit, as Jason and I got to go out with our friends (our usual babysitters), we got time to catch up on things around the house, and Cammy and I got to take G-ma on her first trip to the Woodland Park Zoo!!  5 days never seems long enough...but we are quickly learning that we will take whatever we can get.

Up close and personal with the gorillas

Cammy reading the map to tell G-ma where to take her :)

Just riding on mommy's favorite zoo animal...hippos!!

Thanks Glenda for making the trip out here and loving up on Cammy for 5 wonderful days!!!

Halloween Festivities

October is a very festive month with pumpkin patches, carving pumpkins and dressing up to go trick-or-treating.  Thinking back to last year we barely had a 2 month old and this year we have a little 14 month old walking around!!!  What a difference a year makes...

Daddy carving pumpkins last year...with a 2 month old!

We tried hard to involve Cammy is all of the Halloween traditions this year, but as usual it never goes as planned.  She was quite unsure of the whole carving pumpkin thing.  She liked to draw on the pumpkins, eat the pens and watch daddy use the electric carving tool on the pumpkins, but as soon as I started to pull out the "guts" of the pumpkin she just gave me a dirty look and hit the road running.  This child is definitely mine...not wanting to make a mess or get down and dirty :)

Cammy helping daddy draw on his pumpkin

Eating pens is fun too!

Taking her turn at drawing on the pumpkin

Watching daddy carve out the top of the pumpkin

Halloween day was a fun one for us this year also!  In the morning Cammy and I went to a fun Halloween themed Stroller Strides class where the kids dressed up.  Despite all the fussiness from being roasting hot in the stroller we had a good time, even trick-or-treating at all the strollers.

Hooray for a fellow safari animal friend

A trio of cute kids after Stroller Strides

And the favorite part of the day was getting to go to the Treats on Main Street in the Mill Creek Town Center for trick-or-treating at all the stores!!!  I convinced Jason to get dressed up in his best safari clothes with me so we could be in theme with our little zebra.  In perfect Cammy style, she had to cry at our first stop for candy because she was unsure of the situation (we wouldn't expect anything less from her).  The good news is it only went up from there.  In no time she was taking candy that was given to her, putting it in her bucket and picking out one piece of candy from the bowls when they would let her.

First stop for candy and already scared

Yay for Halloween!!!

Getting better at this whole trick-or-treating thing

A break in the pouring down rain= FUN!!!!

A safari family :)

And to top off the evening we made a stop at our neighbors' houses and then a final stop at our friends, Nick and Lindsey's house for one last trick-or-treat and a nice warm dinner (thanks Yanceys!).

Trick-or-treating at the Yancey's house

Happy Halloween from our little safari family!!!

We hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!

A Day with Daddy

Last week Jason took a day off of work due to a few appts we had.  Since he wasn't working we took full advantage of that and decided to take him to the Everett Children's Museum for his first time.  Cammy had fun running around showing Jason all of her favorite activities at the museum.  I think she had the most fun with Jason in the water room because he showed her all the exciting water activities that we hadn't explored yet.

Learning how to make the ball go to the top

Exploring the water table with mommy

Squirting water at a wind chime with daddy

So interested in how the ball gets to the top and comes back down the pipes

Reading stories with daddy in the indoor treehouse

Digging for fossils on the rooftop play area

We definitely love random days that we get to spend with Jason!