The Hefford-AndersonsTyler, Jennifer, Samantha, Finley and Declan

Tyler’s Grandma and Granny both live in a retirement home that his Granny has been calling “The Big House” since she moved in so we just referred to it as that now. Every year they have a santa come for all the residents and their family to take pictures with. So we headed down for lunch (the boys and I), my brother in law, nephew, his mom and my father in law had lunch with Granny and then visited Santa.

Here are some of our pictures.

Finley and Elijah Approaching Santa

Finley with Santa (sorry it is blurry)

Declan sound asleep with Santa

We headed downtown with our friends Dawn and Kendra to see the Teddy Bear Suite at the Fairmount Olympic Hotel. We started out by Westlake and the weather was chilly, but clear. By the time we had walked a block we were walking into a torrential downpour with wind blowing, we were drenched. We ducked into a Seattle’s Best and had some coffee and the rain slowed down. By this time Finley and Kendra are upset about the cold rain, Declan’s blanket has blown off of his stroller a few times and I chased it down the street and we are still soaking wet from head to toe. We decided we would still trek to the hotel and see the suite. It was windy, but not raining and we headed out. It was a fun adventure, but a wet and windy one.

The Boys drenched

Happy on the Carousel Ride

With a Giant Teddy Bear

Jumping on the Bears again

We were trying to get a picture of the boys together for our Christmas letter. They had matching outfits on and so we thought a picture in front of the Christmas tree would be cute. Here are some of our outtakes before our final product.

Finley being silly

Finley looking at Daddy.

Finley looking at Daddy again.

The Snoqualmie Railroad Museum hosts a Santa Train ride every year so we decided to taje our train lover for a ride. You hop on at the North Bend Depot and ride to Snoqualmie where you get to visit Santa and have cocoa and cookies. The trains you ride on are historical and have been restored by the museum. None of the trains are heated and it was 30 degrees while we were there. It was cold, but bearable and Finley had a great time. We are planning on making it a yearly tradition.

Finley keeping his distance from Santa

Finley getting close enough to santa to get his model train kit and then darts away.

Went back because he forgot to tell Santa he wanted a goldfish and Dora stuff for Christmas.

Playing with the model trains with Daddy

On the tracks. Finley afraid the train is going to run him over - it was parked.

As a kid my sisters and I always had matching Christmas Jammies. So we have continued the tradition at our house. This year the boys had matching jammies and Samantha had similar ones. I really wanted to get a picture of the boys in their matching jammies, but they (really Finley) wouldn’t cooperate. Here is our “photo shoot.”

I made this slide show, but I couldn’t figure out the music and how to take it off. Sorry!

Here is Samantha with her brothers:

I took Finley up to Swanson’s Nursery in Ballard for the Reindeer Festival. We met our friends Kari and Elsa & Dawn and Kendra there and had a great time. Finley liked the model train the best.

One of the mom’s groups we belong to hosted a candy cane hunt. It was so much fun. We threw a bunch of candy canes out on the lawn at Lincoln Park and the kids ran around hunting.

I was going through my pictures on the computer and realized that I hadn’t posted a lot of what we did in December. So here are some updated activities – trying to put them in as much order as I can.

We went to a business in Burien that has a really big tree that they light up, santa came and we had hot cocoa and cider. It was FREEZING (20 degrees I think) that night and I am still not sure why I ventured out with both boys. Finley loved Santa’s arrival on the fire truck and the evening was short, cold and fun.

Declan Enjoying the tree lighting

Tyler had a quick morning off so we headed up to North Bend and picked out our Christmas Tree at Christmas Creek Tree Farm. We have been going here off and on for about 5 years. When we arrived a lot of the trees were already picked over (we went the weekend after Thanksgiving weekend) and we didn’t think we would find a tree. Finley just loved running through the field. It was pretty cold (about 27 degrees) and snowed while we were there.

Here is the tree we picked out.

In Front of our tree. Finley is fixated on cutting it down.

Tyler walking the tree down the hill while the boys and I drove down to meet him.

While we were getting our tree it started snowing. Finley was SO excited, but wanted to play in it. So Tyler and I decided to take him to the summit where he could play for a little bit and then we headed home. It was a long adventure, but lots of fun.

Here is a video of when it started snowing:

Finley climbing a hill of snow at the summit

He looks so tiny in this picture.

Decker Boo hanging out after we got home from tree hunting.

For one of Finley’s advent activities we decided we would build a gingerbread house. I should have known this wasn’t going to turn out to be a magical experience. Don’t get me wrong it was fun, but very messy.

I should have pre-built the house, but forgot so Finley was upset he couldn’t decorate right away. Once it was built:

Finley just wanted to eat it. When it was time to decorate I put everything out on the table. Finley said, ” oh snacks, but what will we decorate the house with?”

He spent a majority of the time licking, tasting and eating the house and it’s decorations.

Finley had mostly finished the house when the wall came down.

Then I tried to fix it.

Gingerbread Houses and Toddlers don’t go well together. It was a fun experience and I have many fond memories. Finley definitely has a sweet tooth.