An Oregon Christmas

This year was our last "traveling" Christmas. From now on, we plan to stay at home and create traditions celebrating with our children in our own home (though we will miss being with extended family!) So...it was our "turn" to go to my family's home in Bend, Oregon. We had such a great time visiting with family and celebrating Christmas. Sawyer was so "into it" this year, it made it so much fun. We only got him one gift, and then, of course, Santa brought him something special (I am not sure how he guessed it, but every time I said "who is going to come visit tonight?" he would say "Anta! Anta!" and then, "Choo-choo!!!" I guess somehow he knew he was a good boy and that Santa would bring him a train set?) Somehow, Santa stuffed some extra things in his sack for Sawyer and between Grandparents, Great-Grandma, and a couple of doting Aunts who were there as well - we ended up coming home with practically a sleigh full of toys for our boy! (I don't like the word "spoiled" but he was certainly showered with gifts! We were, too. Thanks, family!)

You would think with his obsession with trains, he would've gone for the train set first - but no - he went for the push toy instead. I think he was overwhelmed with so many new toys to play with (which first? what next?") The only toys he has really had, until now, are Legos, Books, and some Cars/Trucks. It will be nice for him to have more variety to choose from as our new baby arrives and we will be stuck in the house for a while.

Sawyer was just in heaven with all the family around. He got everyone's names down quickly. It was so beautiful to watch him build relationships with family we rarely get to see. I suppose that would include my youngest sister's dog, Tommie (a female). Sawyer just adored her. He would run around the house looking for her, saying "Nommie! Nommie!" And she was great with him! I guess that is a true sign that we should prepare ourselves for in a few years when he starts begging us for a dog!

Christmas Eve was actually sunny and warm, for Central Oregon. Christmas Day, however, the world was white. Not with snow - although it almost looked like it - but with a thick frost and heavy fog. It was beautiful and dreamy. I heard the dog barking and stepped outside to find some deer in the front yard. They were pretty skeptical of me and my black camera pointed at them, but I did catch them before they turned and hopped off to the forest (my family lives next to the Deschutes National Forest). They were so beautiful and graceful!

We had a wonderful trip. We even got to stop and see my brother's family (including my new 6-week-old nephew) for a short while as we were heading home and they were heading over Mt. Hood to visit family. We got home late last night with a very loaded car and a very tired family. We sure hope everyone else had a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas! Bring on the New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Love,
Tysha, Jacob, & Sawyer

"Yites"

Last night, we drove over to Bellevue to the Botanical Garden d'Lights. Someone had told us they were very cool and worth seeing...so we thought we'd check it out. We probably picked one of the busiest days of the season to go, but oh well ;) Besides the hordes of people and me waddling along, it was quite a site to see (I know, I don't look that big...but let me tell you, when you're a small person, carrying around an extra 20 pounds on your front kinda kills the back...not to mention that I keep having {painful} contractions if I walk too much...oh the joys of pregnancy!)

We told Sawyer we were going to see some lights and he kept shouting out "yites, yites" (his version of "lights" of course). He was pretty excited. There was one snowman of lights, and besides that, it was all what it claimed to be: a garden of lights. There were flowers, palm trees, spider webs, peacocks and ducks, a water fountain, and more flowers. Oh, and lots of butterflies. So, festive in the sense that there were lots of lights - but not really Christmas-themed. I told Jacob it would be cool if they did it in the summer sometime (although they'll have lots of real flowers to look at then...) So, they created a beautiful garden of lights when all the flowers have died off during the winter. It was beautiful, even amidst the downpour that happened while we were there. Luckily, the weather itself has been relatively warm (55ish yesterday).

Anyway, I will quit rambling. It was beautiful. It was fun. Sawyer obviously loved it as the rest of the night he kept talking about the "yites"..."pidohs" (spiders)..."flyes" (butterflies)..."no-man" (snowman) and "ya ya's" (flowers - we're not sure how he got ya ya for flower, but he's been saying it since before his first birthday that way). Hooray for YITES! that brighten up the cold, dark winter nights!

*ps*sorry about the grainy photo quality...all the more reason for me to be excited about saving my pennies to get that dream camera I want (someday...) with ISO that goes up to 6400 with low noise :)

You know...Dasher & Dancer & Prancer...

I have probably mentioned that each week of our Advent we have had to be a little flexible this year. Well, the blame can fall on me. Yes, it's the whole preggo thing still getting in the way of life as I would normally live it. (SOON, though, it will all be a distant memory and we will have our tiny baby girl in our arms!) So...I got a tip from a friend about this Nursery (Swanson's Nursery, in Ballard/Crown Hill) that is actually super close to our home, I just never knew about it. It is a beautiful nursery, and at this time of year they happen to have a couple of Santa's Reindeer visiting, along with a Camel and Donkey. Oh, can't forget the Koi Fish Pond in the cafe (yes, this nursery has a garden cafe - how cool is that?) and Sawyer will not let us forget the Holiday Trains they have set up in one of the nice, warm, greenhouses. So, that's what we decided to do instead of the Teddy Bear Suite this week. Of course, there was also some nice equipment for boys to play around...

Seeing the camel was fun for me, and reminded me of (again) my mission, where on my 23rd birthday, I got to ride in a camel caravan. It felt like a time warp, it was super cool. Also, in Spain, they celebrate "Three Kings" on Jan. 6th (they also have a small visit from Santa...but the Kings stopping by on their way to visit baby Jesus is the big deal. Kids leave out there shoes with some hay or straw for the camels to snack on, and the Kings leave them a gift...a very fun tradition). I remember going to a big parade, where the Kings made their way through the warm, busy, streets of the island of Lanzarote on camelback. It was awesome - really painted a picture of how it must've been...way back then. Strangely, it was on my mission in a warm, sub-tropical climate that I tried Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire. Go figure...

We had another good, busy week. Jacob and I had our date last night and went to Mint Design's Christmas Dinner at the amazing Canlis. We felt truly spoiled. (And a little bit like fish out of water, it is that nice - they don't even let you park your own car :) Sawyer had the time of his life with his little buddy, Max. He didn't even want to come home (a good thing, right?) Well, it's our turn tonight, and Max gets to come over here. We decided against another visit with Santa, since Sawyer was so scared of him last week, and instead, the boys will get to help make some Spritz cookies tonight. Well...I'm not sure how much they'll help make them...but I'm pretty sure they will be very helpful in eating them ;) Christmas is coming...quick!

Our Little Wild Thing: 18 Months Old!

Here is Sawyer wearing his new t-shirt. We went into the Gap looking for a Christmas-y shirt and came out with this. It was on sale, or else I wouldn't have got it. He's never been so excited about a t-shirt! He says "Max" and "grrr". He loves those Wild Things! (and luckily we found the Christmas shirt at Target on sale for $4 - can't beat that!)

*warning: another long post about our boy.

It's pretty amazing that Sawyer is now 18 months old...and even more amazing that in a few short weeks he will be a BIG BROTHER! When I got pregnant, Sawyer was 10 months old. We found out 3 weeks later. It was planned, but at the same time, I kept looking at him and thinking "but he's still a baby..." Now that I've started pulling out his old newborn-sized little onesies and t-shirts, for his sister to wear, I realize he has grown a lot! But he is still my baby, and (like it or not) he always will be. And, he's still little (good thing we kept him rear-facing in the car seat until he was 15 months old!). I think he will be one of those awesome forwards in soccer - the small but quick ones. And cute, to boot!

Stats:
Weight: 21 lbs. 12 oz. (5th percentile)
Height: 31 inches (10th percentile)

According to our pediatrician, Sawyer is extremely verbal for a boy of his age (as if we didn't already know that!) He has just barely started putting a couple of words together and our favorites are: "Oh no!" and "Here you go". She also encouraged us to begin potty training him. I guess he meets the 4 "readiness" criteria that they look for, and most kids around the world are potty trained at this age - or before. I am not quite sure how well it will work since we'll have a big transition coming with the new baby...but we've been talking about it and we got him some "big boy" underwear that he proudly carries to the toilet. He understands much more than I thought he would. We are just waiting for the "big boy" potties to arrive and after Christmas I think we'll give it a go! Who knows? If it works, great, and if not, we can try again later. Apparently (and it makes sense) kids at this age are more likely to get excited about trying something you introduce...but if you wait too long (ie 2-3 years old) they might be more defiant about it. I'll probably have a whole post about this theory in January. (Anyone who has potty trained a child this age...feel free to offer some advice!) I figure it's a good time to try, when we'll be indoors because of the weather and me being hugely pregnant, waiting for the Little Miss to make her grand appearance. Okay...

Some favorites:
Lately, he has been so excited about Santa and Snowmen. I even caved in and let him watch a couple of the classic Christmas shows (I am normally a stickler for NO screen time for kids under 2...but, hey, it's Christmas, right?)
He LOVES reading. Amazingly, he looks through full picture books (not just board books) and is careful with the pages. He will sit with a stack of books on the floor and look through each one (of course he knows all the stories because we read to him a LOT). He says a few words or makes noises about the stories, sitting there totally content sometimes for a good 30 minutes. It's wonderful. Some favorites lately (they change about every 2-3 weeks) are: Where the Wild Things Are (hence his new t-shirt - he was STOKED to put it on), The Polar Express, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel (yes, the whole book! Thanks Aunt Erin!), oh, and funny enough, he loves to sit and look through the National Geographic Magazines Jacob receives each month. Seriously? (I think it's because there are usually lots of photos of animals...?) He seems to be a pretty visually-oriented kid (understandable with who his parents are). He also seems to favor his left hand.

He continues to LOVE Lego Duplos. It has been really fun to see him start with them at a year (we got them for his birthday) and develop the coordination to put them together and take them apart...and now that he's got that down, it's amazing to see what he "creates" and builds with his own little imagination. He tends to build cars, trains, and tractors.
He also LOVES anything outdoors. He actually doesn't have very many toys (on purpose) so we are always looking for ways to interact and be creative. He likes to dance. He is pretty proud of his somersaults (and he's got them perfected, nonetheless!) He loves outings to the Zoo, the Park - where he especially enjoys riding his little bike. On rainy days, sometimes we pull the car out of our tiny garage and let him ride around to his little heart's content. (Next Birthday or Christmas he'll get one with actual pedals!) He, of course, loves the library (and taking plenty of books off the shelves to dig through - I'm sure the librarians love us :)
He also loves taking showers lately (though he still loves bath time, too!). It used to be, I'd try to set him up with some toys while I took a shower - but he kept playing peek-a-boo with me through the curtains and getting water everywhere...so one day, I asked him if he'd like to join me. He loved it! He sits in the back and plays with his alphabet letters or water toys, and then stands under the water. It enables me to take a longer and more relaxing shower.
He likes to be a "helper" He loves to vacuum, sweep, and swiffer. He likes to watch when we are cooking. It won't be much longer until he can "help" even more.

Every night at bedtime, after we have read books, said prayers, and had a drink of water, we turn off the lights and he requests a song. For a long few weeks it was the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (he says spider in such a cute way) and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" among others...but this month, he always says "Anta, Anta" and so we say goodnight with "So...you better watch out, you better not cry..." and he LOVES it. It is SO cute how excited he is about Christmas this year. We just have to keep reminding him that among all the fun activities we do, the real reason we celebrate is the birth of Baby Jesus. He loves our Nativity set. But it's pretty hard to really "get" Christmas when there are so many different messages and different traditions and fun things about it that also have nothing to do with Christ (where'd the snowflakes come in?) All in time.

Well, this is long enough. I just wanted to take a minute to jot a few of these things down. Time is flying by. Sometimes, too quickly.

Gingerbread Houses and more...

We've had a great time with our advent activities this past week. We've had to be flexible with a few, but they have been accomplished nonetheless. My favorite activities this past week were 1) picking two tags off the "Giving Tree" (I can never just pick one). We picked one that is for a little boy Sawyer's age, and one that is for a newborn baby girl, like our Aspen will soon be. The hardest part is shopping for the toy trucks the boy is hoping for with Sawyer (although Sawyer also makes it easy to pick out the winning toys!) and 2) Seeing the Christmas Ships and Carkeek Beach on Friday night. Our friends, the Parkers, joined us and we all huddled together on the beach, our babes so bundled they could hardly move (it was cold). The boys loved the Seattle Children's Chorus songs, with Forrest signing "more, more" and Sawyer staring at the big star on the ship "star". Sawyer also has not forgotten that trains go by this beach, so every 5 minutes or so he would turn and say "choo choo" - he really had high hopes of seeing a train. Jacob and I just loved snuggling together and taking it all in. It was a clear, cold night. The lights on the ships were bright and welcoming, and all of us on the beach got to join in song for the last Christmas Carol "silent night" which is one of my favorites. The air was actually colder than the water, so their was this cool steamy-mist floating on the water, and the tide was out so we could walk out quite a ways. I just love this tradition: it's so magical. Saturday, instead of walking around Greenlake, we went to a Christmas Party at our new church building. We got to meet some of the people and Santa even stopped by. Sawyer clung to our legs like his life depended on it and wouldn't get near the bearded man in the red suit. We are re-thinking our trip to Nordstrom (since there is usually a minimum 1-2 hour wait to see Santa - and what if Sawyer just wants to get away from him after all that waiting in line?) Although, honestly, who can blame kids? Sitting on a strange man's lap - I think I'd feel a bit nervous, too.

Our dinner with our old neighbors was fantastic last night. We really need to have people over more often. It was great to catch up with them and their two cute little boys. It is the best thing in the world to have great neighbors :) Anyway, because their boys are on an earlier bedtime schedule than ours, they weren't able to make Gingerbread Houses with us...so we made them tonight, instead. Our Family Home Evening was focussed tonight around Norwegian Christmas Traditions. I couldn't help but think of my dear friend, Karoline, who spent Christmas with our family a few years back, but is now back in Oslo. We even had some glog and some gingerbread toffee (thanks to Ikea). It is so much fun to learn about how people in different parts of the world celebrate Christmas.

Sawyer didn't get to help with the Gingerbread Houses this year (it was too late once we got started). Jacob and I turned on a great Christmas mix and went to work. Mine ended up being more of a lavish home, while his was a little more modest this year. We always have a wonderful time creating. I think Aspen was kicking away because of sugar overload (I don't even really like candy, but if it's right in front of me, I just keep eating it!)

The countdown to Christmas is going fast! We still have a lot of fun to look forward to. Oh! Sawyer also, as of this weekend, is 18 months old! (more on that later!)