December ... snow!

It has been a cold and snowy winter.  Started out with snow and ice in early December!  The ice can be kind of pretty, which I was trying to capture below, but got the new snarl that M has taken to.  There's another snarl inside, too :):

We went and got the tree early this year so we could enjoy it around the house for longer.  We went to the same overgrown "tree farm" that we went to last year and got a $10 Noble - can't beat that!  I love this pic of her in the snow - with her Frozen Elsa dress and her sideways gaze.  The snippit is almost creepy.

 
Cutting the tree (cute snipit).  With overgrown trees, you just cut where you want to. 

 And a pic with Mom :).

 A little pizza before decorating.  These two are so cute together.

And then decorating .... 

She eventually figured it out and we ended up with a beautiful tree.  Best so far!

We bought a doll for my work's gift exchange.  A cute "American Girl" imposter with native-like dress.  M wanted it for herself sooooo bad, but I explained to her what it was for and she helped me drop it off at work "for a little girl."  So cute.

M & I went to my work party where she got a present from you know who .... she was so excited!  Last year, she wouldn't even get close to him :).

That afternoon it snowed - a bunch.  The city pretty much shut down, but I was able to get around in my little Subi and we went over to Q's house for some sledding.  This little one has no fear and wanted to ride with the big kids!

We had so much fun, I made Brandon go out and get her a sled, and we hit up the park after work one evening (the snow wasn't much, and little did I know that we'd have more opportunities this winter).  The first one is the first time down the hill - by herself (what she wanted).  I can't believe I let her do that by herself.

My birthday fell in there somewhere:



A visit to Santa!   We hit up the Winter Wonderland at Macy's Downtown because we hear it was the last year.  It was meh.  A little stuff to look at, but we like Santa at Lloyd better.

We - like insane people - decided to host a toddler Christmas party, to which over 14 kiddos came!  It was mayhem!!! But fun.  Here are the last 3 hold-outs.  Sammy, M & Quinn.
 

Christmas Eve at Grandpa Whiskers and Grandma Nancy's:

With Uncle Turner and Aunt Chelsea, and the Sven doll they got her :) (and in her new Anna dress - Christmas is coming up Frozen!)

Her Christmas Eve present at home that night (thanks GoMa):

Christmas Day. Guess we didn't get that many pictures.  Rocket ship (Santa) and doctor's set (Buckleys) were the big hits.  We probably need to visit Santa earlier next year to give him time to fulfill her order (but thank goodness for Amazon Prime!)

This is in the next classroom at school.  She gets to play in there at the end of the day and can't wait to move up.

Some fun at the Ragaways.  This may have been a weekday .... I ran into a "use or lose" situation at my work with vacation hours and ended up with the week after Christmas basically off!
 

B got M "Where the Wild Things Are" movie for Christmas.  We didn't realize it was probably for older - like a lot older - kids.  Morgan loved it though.  Here she is in her costume sailing the sea in her boat, just like Max in his wolf suit.  She also - unfortunately - picked up tantrums and making a mess when she's mad from the movie.  "Like Max".  Oops.

I picked up some skis for cheap and took a day off to take Morgan up for a nice day.  First time 12/30/17 ..... 2 1/2 years old! (well, almost 2 3/4).

 She was initially excited to ski, but then just wanted to play in the snow. I got her on the skis for 15, maybe 20, minutes.

 And she did great!  But it was maybe not the best beginner hill, and it was hard to do by myself, especially while filming ;).

She even wanted to 'do it again'!

I had to bribe her with hot cocoa to start tho, and had to live up to my promise!  Fun mom and Morgan day!

New Year's Eve at the Kennedys with the Andersons too.  Morgan had to put her "party dress" on.

We didn't make it 'till midnight, but it was late for a lil' girl.

November travels....

November include travels to the coast with friends and Arizona for the holiday.   The rest of the month just got filled up with friends.

Here's M and her besty playing at the play gym.

And M taking a swing on the rope.  She's pretty adventurous and sees the big kids do something, and wants to try it.

Not sure what M & Q are doing here. .... hiding bodies .... :).  M started it, and Q was more than happy to play along.

A day at the mall with the Ragaway boys.

 I had a meeting over at the building where M's school is, and went in early to watch her on the playground.  She was just sitting on top of the rock wall the whole time.  Teacher said they opened it up, and she just scampered on up with no help and no fear.

I took M to the mall to let her pick out a hat/glove set in the store, and she found this dress instead.  Put it on and would not take it off.... good thing it was half off that day!!!   She has gotten a lot of use out of her "Princess Dress".

Here's the hat, but she's wearing her Elmos slippers as gloves ;)?

Our trip to the coast with the Kennedys... good thing we brought the little potty.  Comes in handy on the side of the road!

A beautiful sunrise!

And beautiful day for exploring and taking some pictures ... lots of pictures (including video ones).

Some beach time - not too bad for November.

An attempt at crabbing.  We didn't catch but one, which wasn't enough for everyone, so we threw it back.

Bathtime buddies.  They are pretty cute together.

And the token picture in the backpack.  She actually didn't fall asleep this time.

And a trip to the air museum.  M thought it was pretty cool - but liked the play area best and didn't want to leave :).

And back home to see Paris.  She's such a sport, dressing up in Elsa tutu and all :)

A night at the Portland Night Market - which is like a street fair with vendors but in a warehouse and at night with beer.  Pretty cool.

Just a cutie pie getting too big too fast:

And then Thanksgiving in Arizona.  She loves her cousins and doesn't want to miss out, but ended up passed out.

She loves GoMa's Barbie house, so when we were shopping for underwear for Dad, we ended up with this.

She wants everything tho, and has gotten to just telling us to "put it on my list" ;)

Sitting with the big kids at the big kids table for 2nd Thanksgiving dinner.

Keeping up with the big cousins again!

 We got to visit my friend Katie and her daughter Gabs.

Playing hide-and-seek when the other kids were away (uh, not so well though).

 With Lil' Joe!

Helping GoMa in the yard, and with dinner.

A little hike in the San Tans on our last day.

out!