Trip to RTC

We went to the Redmond Saturday Market today which is on the grounds of the Redmond Town Center, which is an outdoor mall. I've been wanting to check out both and the market was very neat and we bought a few veggies and dried fruits, but the mall blew my mind. It was also a gorgeous day and great to be outdoors (60 and sunny), and it really is a great place just to stroll around, even if you don't buy anything. Notice my Microsoft vintage tshirt Vic bought for me. I must look like a serious tourist dressed in that and with my camera out taking pictures at the mall. :-)

Finding things to do in Temp Housing...

You can get a little stir crazy in a small space with lots of stuff stacked around and lots of kids running around and jumping all over it. No sense of privacy around here, no sirreee. And a 1 year old who needs to nap while two more-energetic-than-average 4 and 6 year olds are "trying to keep the noise level down." Ha.

Here are some fun things we've done since our last post...

-Went to eat the famous "Top Pot" doughnuts for international doughnut day (didn't realize it was today, did you, neither did I.)

-Went to the much talked about Trader Joes and got loaded up on cheap chocolate and goodies, and what is called "two buck Chuck" which is wine called Charles something-or-other who owns Trader Joes and sells their wine for $2.99. I'm learning all the important lingo... I'll try it tonight.

-Went back to Marina park where the market had been on Wed, just to play at the little beach - it was warm yesterday, but still too chilly to swim. Pretty homes along the water.

-Got new pets: African Dwarf Frogs. This would seem like the worst time to acquire a new pet, but I was suckered into it and they are fun for the girls. They are in a self-sustaining environment consisting of natural bacteria in the rocks and a snail to eat the yucky stuff. We just have to feed them twice a week. Their names are Madeline and Lilly.

first 3 days...

We're now in temp housing in a neat area called Kirkland right on Lake Washington. We're in a three bedroom apartment overlooking a neat scene with shops and restaurants and the lake we can walk to. We went to a nursery that is like a park one day to see the pretty outdoors with some friends and went to the Kirkland farmers market today, which is on Wednesdays within walking distance of our apartment. Nico is perpetually strapped to me in a carrier, so he's not going to be in many pics while we're out and about, but he's still having a lot of fun too! The weather has been nice, it's about 65 degrees during the day and the clouds roll all day from sunny to cloudy and sunny again. We got a fresh sockeye salmon for dinner tonight from the market, and some fresh bread, local raspberry honey and some awesome espresso.

Move Day

The logistics of this move have consumed me for the past several weeks, so I didn't have time to feel sad until move day. Sad to say good bye to family, good friends, to neighbors, and to our house that we've worked to remodel over the past 5 years, that 2 of our kids were born into. The kids seem to be taking everything in stride, and the real tears have been shed by me. On the plane ride out of big D, I finally broke down (in front of flight attendants and passengers! embarrassing!) but I couldn't help it, it came flooding out. The reality of the move and of leaving my home of the past 24 years behind had been welling up for some time. The fact that we were holding up the plane with our rowdy family and ridiculous amount of baggage spread out over the plane didn't help. The final request by a nice flight attendant as we were getting ready to take off to move Nico's carseat one more time to another seat was just the catalyst of the dam of emotions about to burst. Poor lady.

Happy Birthday Little Man

Happy Birthday Little Man! We found out that he is not that crazy about cake, but liked squishing it through his fingers. His favorite foods are strawberries and clementine oranges. He is cruising around but not quite ready to let go and is saying a few words - dadda, dister (sister), uh-oh (fun game), quack quack, "kuck" for truck, and he does a mean lion roar. He's got 8 teeth already and loves balls and cars (go figure, even with all the dress-up he's been forced to play.) He has a "woobie" blanket that he needs to snuggle with when he sleeps. He points and says "dat" for "what's that?" He is a music admirer and loves being sang to and singing. He also loves rough and tumble with daddy, hanging upside down, dancing and spinning until he's dizzy. The girls liked that stuff too, but he definitely likes it more. What an awesome year it has been getting to know you, little guy. You surprise us every day. We love you!

Music Man

Our kids have always liked music, but the little guy especially. He claps his hands when he wants you to sing him a song. If you stop singing too soon, he starts clapping again. Whenever he hears his sisters on the piano, he's got to come join in. Sometimes, he crawls over by himself and just starts playing a little something on his own. Whenever he hears any music playing, he bends his knees and sways back and forth "dancing." He instantly stops crying in the car when I turn on a song, especially Supermassive Black Hole by Muse and he's also partial to Carrie Underwood's Jesus Take the Wheel. My little music man.

Getting Ready for Christmas...

We've had a wonderful Advent season with a peppering of fun holiday family traditions, as well as some down-time for focusing on the real meaning of the season. Having SA in kindergarten kept me busy as "room mom", but school was out last week and we've enjoyed a slower pace. Some things we've done leading up to Christmas... two days and counting:

-Put up our Christmas lights, tree and decorations the day after Thanksgiving (avoided Black Friday shopping at all costs.)
-Attended a Christmas concert at our church and had our baby Jesus for our nativity blessed
-Got to sit on Santa's knee at our neighbor's Christmas Party!
-Watched Olympic ice skaters perform at the Christmas tree lighting at the Galleria
-The kids were somewhat good sports about letting mom get a pic for our Christmas card
-Baked and decorated TONS of goodies for friends and teachers (and ate quite a bit ourselves)
-SJ and I got to help and attend SA's kinder Christmas party at school
-Girls sang in our church's preschool Christmas program
-Drove around looking at Christmas lights
-Bought most of our presents on Amazon! With only one trip to the dreaded Toys R Us.
-Went carolling with friends on our street for the first time, and were given brownies by a neighbor for our efforts!
-Attended a Christmas story time at our library
-Visited my mom's entire side of the family for a great meal, presents, and fun with cousins
-Played lots of Christmas songs in the car, at home, and on the piano
-Lit our final candle in our bay window for the closing of the Advent season
-Vowed to do more each year to help those less fortunate as time and finances allow - this has been a tough year for almost everyone. We are looking forward to the new year full of renewed hope.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!