Wordless Wednesday-Hanging with Gramps in Seattle

Thanksgiving Weekend 2011

This year for Thanksgiving, we stayed home and went over to Grandma and Grandpa Amiot's house.  We were blessed to have Grandma and Grandpa Erickson with us too.  The kids were in heaven with both sets of Grandparents around to spoil them. 

Grandma Mary's friends Becky and Monica came from Tennessee as well so we had a full house.  As usual, Grandma Mary's cooking was outstanding and it was a beautiful day here so overall it was a fun and relaxing day for all.  We took Gracie for a walk down in the woods and she loved it.  She was running around like crazy; jumping in the water and racing after the kids. 

Friday, Grandma Carol and I did a little shopping with Grandma Mary and her friends.  It was a fun morning and nice to spend some quality time together. 

Saturday, we headed to a play at a local theater and it was fun to see.  It was just what I needed to get in the mood for Christmas with it ending with Silent Night.  The kids enjoyed the day and then we hosted everyone at our house for some more good food, music, games and fun. 

Sunday we headed to church to kick off the Advent season.  It was nice to teach the kids about Advent and make plans for how we are going to celebrate the season and help others who are in need. 
Overall it was a glorious Holiday weekend and some much needed relaxation time.  We may be limited to how much we can decorate the house this year for the Holidays due to Gracie Mae and her chewing habits but I am positive that regardless, we are in for a very magical and merry holiday season.  God Bless.

Our Surprise Trip to Seattle

Last weekend, we all headed out to Seattle to surprise Grandma Mary for her retirement.  This was in the plans for months and such a hard secret to keep from Grandma who we see or talk to everyday.  I am really proud of the kids because they knew about this surprise for over a month and never said a word to Grandma about it. 

We spent the day in Seattle enjoying the sites, going to the top of the Space Needle, the fish market and hanging out at the hotel swimming and chilling out.  It was fun.  Friday afternoon we checked into our rooms at the Grand Hyatt downtown and the kids were thrilled.  From our room we had the perfect view of the Space Needle.

Grandma and Grandpa stayed in the Presidential Suite so we got to check that out.  It was fancy and the biggest hit was the electric toilets with seat warmers and butt washers.
That evening we got all dressed up and headed over to another hotel were the big event was happening.  We were stowed away in the "green room" until it was time to go out on stage with Grandma Mary. 

When  it was time K ran out out in front of all of us and gave Grandma a big hug.  The girls carried out bouquets to give to her and the rest of us followed behind.  She was very surprised and had no idea that we were going to be there to help her celebrate.  It was AWESOME. 

We really enjoyed meeting so many of the people my mom has worked with these past 20 plus years.  They all claimed they are going to miss her so much next year and they begged her to stay.  It was very sweet.  However, she has made her mind up that it is time to be done and we could not be more thrilled for her. 

Now that both Grandma and Grandpa are retired it will be fun to watch them enjoy life a leisurly pace.  They both have worked so hard to provide for all of us that we could not be more thrilled about their future.

They have lots of trips planned and some that even include all of us.  Cheers to Grandma Mary on her retirement!  We are so proud and happy for her. 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Grandma Carol & the American Girl Clothes She Made

Happy Retirement Grandma Mary

The Above Video we sent in to Grandma's friends at their request for a special video on Grandma Mary.  This was played to the entire room of her friends (220) the night we surprised her.  

Wordless Wednesday ~ Wood Working Girls

A Proud Boy Scout

On Friday, K earned his first badge for boy scouts and it was the Bobcat Badge.  I had no idea this was as big of a deal as it was for him so I did not bring the camera but luckily, one of the mom's took some photos for me.  He was so proud of his accomplishment and getting the Bobcat print on his back.  It was very sweet. 

His Den leader announced K as the "brains" of the group.  That made Jon and I both proud.  It was a fun evening and we are both thrilled that K loves Boy Scouts so much.  Both Jon and I are new to Boy Scouts this year but there seems to be some nice families and a well organized pack.  Way to go K on your first badge of many more to come.  Love you buddy! 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Counting the Goods

The She/Me Event

Yesterday, the girls and I had the privilege of attending a She/Me event for Girl Scouts.  This is our 2nd year of Daisy's for the girls and we all love it.  I have sort of immersed myself into it this year as we had no one to step up and lead and well I did not want this to go away for my girls or the troop so well, I am sort of the leader.  Thankfully, another mom who just moved to the area is helping me out and after our troop meeting yesterday, a ton of the Mom's have volunteered to help us out this year so it is going to be great. 

On Saturday, at the She/Me event, we got to hike in the woods, make fire starters, learn about and make bat houses, learn how to make knots, and of course we learned how and made Gourpe.  It was a fun afternoon, the weather was awesome, and the girls/moms were all happy.  It was a blast. 

Yesterday, we had our first troop meeting of the year and it went awesome.  We are holding our meetings at the Gun Club near us as the co leaders, husband, is the manager there.  It is a perfect space and we have a ton of room to spread out and do our thing. 

I loved being a Girl Scout when I was growing up and it is awesome to get to see my girls join in on the Girl Scout fun too. I am still really good friends with some of the girls I got to know from Girl Scouts.  We will be selling cookies this year so watch out Grandma and Granpa's, Aunt and Uncles.  We are going to be hitting you guys up. 

School Pictures 2011

Wordless Wednesday ~ Da Boys