Ornament Exchange

My girlfriends from college get together and instead of buying presents for each other we do an ornament exchange. However, I think most of our husbands would agree it is generally a chat fest and the ornaments are exchanged at the very last minute...it's the best. It was great to see Lindsay (flew in from Denver), Jaime, Tara, Stacey (who just moved back to Portland - YEA) and we missed Shannon who couldn't come this year as she lives in Connecticut. It's so great to catch up and it always feels like we have never been apart.

Here's a photo of us as we had to set up the automatic setting as it was well past 11:00 pm.

Merry Christmas!

Yes, it was a white Christmas in Portland. So exciting! The girls put sleeping bags in their room and slept on the floor on Christmas eve. Olivia tried to get up at 3:00 am to open presents, then 5:00 am and finally 6:30 am we gave in to her excitement. I'm pretty sure she had already been down stairs because she was very knowledgeable about all the new presents under the tree.



Trying to catch snowflakes!


The girls were excited with their new presents.



Then in the afternoon Grandma and Papa Laverdure, Aunt Jill, Ian & cousin Taeya, Heather (Adrienne's sister), Nana, Papa & Uncle Alex Christian came over to celebrate. The girls enjoyed the company and all the gifts.

My aunt always buys the girls the cutest dresses...


My sister said she was trying to find the girls matching gymnastic outfits and found these. Mia was so excited to match Olivia.





Funny story...David had always wanted a drum set when he was younger so instead of buying it for him they got him hit sticks...which he said was a HUGE disappointment. Another year and another pair of hit sticks - Adrienne thought she was so funny! However, these actually hook up to your Ipod so I'm going to try and catch David in action...ha ha.

Snow, snow and more snow...

This crazy weather has been fun. The girls have enjoyed no school all of last week and now are excited for Christmas. I have learned how to put chains on and take them off because it's a little challenging getting out of our street. I was real proud of myself with that task. However, when David was out doing it in the elements yesterday I didn't bother to get out of the car and help. This Monday David did have to drive my truck to work as the snow is pretty deep at our house. I love it as it feels like we are living in Sunriver which is one of my favorite winter places to visit. Here's some fun pictures from the week. Hope you are all staying warm!

Sunday, December 14th - First day of snow.






Making our gingerbread house on Tuesday. David picked this up for us so we had something fun to do at home.


Wednesday, more snow and making a snow man. He's little but the girls had so much fun.


Saturday night our backyard getting lots more snow. My parents took the girls for the night. David and I had a party to go too but it was canceled so we ended up going to Sinju (our favorite Sushi place) and going to a movie. We were pretty much the only people at the restaurant and theater so it was fun.


Look at the icicles on our house.


Monday morning, the view from our front porch.


We wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Santa & Mrs. Clause

I took the girls with my mom, sister and Taeya to breakfast with Santa at ClubSport. Everyone enjoyed eating breakfast and then of course we got to sit and chat with Santa and Mrs. Clause. Mia was really ready to see Santa. Last year she cried and she was really determined this year to tell him she wanted a doll & stroller. She did great, no tears and just repeated over and over what she wanted. Olivia couldn't decide what she wanted to tell him but ended up saying a doll. Taeya didn't want anything to do with them. She was on the run as soon as you got her close. Here are some pictures from our visit.

Hanging out waiting for our breakfast.


Mia was so excited for the candy cane too!


One good group picture.

Santa's real...right???

So, Olivia came home last week to tell me that one boy at school told the ENTIRE class that Santa wasn't real. Olivia's teacher quickly told the class that Santa was real. I then asked "well, what do you think Olivia?".

Olivia replied "he just has to be real. The reindeer can't go down the chimney or put presents under the tree! The elves are too busy and so Santa has to be real."

I just loved her thought process and how there just couldn't be any other answers. It's definitely more fun when they believe.

HEART BREAKER!!!

The Civil War was a Rose Bowl heart breaker. If you've followed the Beavs at all this season you knew this was a HUGE game. If it was hard to watch on TV it was even harder to be there. I have some pictures I'll post of us before the game enjoying the great weather and trying to hold back our excitement in anticipation of the game. However, that soon changed once the game started and I have no pictures taken during or after the game. After the game we tried to focus on the positive of how great the season was and the excitement it brought to all of us. My husband yelling every 5 minutes at the pizza place that he was now cheering for UCLA this week because if they beat USC we still get to go to the Rose Bowl...a LONG SHOT! You have to love him though for trying to find the positive. Well as tough as the game was it was sure a fun ride this season...GO BEAVS!!!

David and Tim dishing up some chili. Alex made an awesome black bean chili with turkey!


Chelsea, Sonia and Alex.

Happy Thanksgiving

We'd like to wish you and your families a very happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy the day!

We had a great day. We spent the day relaxing and then went to dinner at the University Club just the 4 of us. It was a great meal and great company. We all went around to say what we were thankful for and Mia said she was "thankful for her sis" (she calls Olivia sis now, it's so cute). Anyways I just thought it was so honest and sweet.



We headed after dinner to where my parents and sister were and played games and had dessert. It was a great day! Taeya was so excited to see her cousins.