Oden Adventures

This past December, we were thankful to have several days of rain!  There seems to always be talk of draughts down here (no, this year it's really serious) so I never know what to make of the water situation, but I do know that it makes for a pleasant aesthetic difference because (I know, I know, so annoying to say this) day after day of sun actually does get boring.  Vianne, who of course enjoyed jumping up and down in muddy puddles, is still talking about the thunder and lightning that awoke her one night.

We saw the green-to-yellow-to-orange progression on our three fruits.

Daddy took up running again & Vianne likes to help him stretch :-)

 And the colder weather put us in the mood for some winter activities & snacks...V's first hot chocolate!

 Popcorn & movie watching

And of course getting ready for Christmas.  Or at least as much as one can with a 2.5 yr old and a 4 month old and a bit of a blase attitude about decorating since we're leaving for Oregon.  Nevertheless, we tried.  Grandma G. made and sent Vianne this fun Advent Calendar.  We decided to do up to 21, the days until we left on our trip.  Each day Vianne got a chocolate in the stocking and the last 10 days, she also got a figure to go into her own nativity set, which she was even more excited about than the chocolate!

 We watched a lot of Christmas movies & shows, but we also turned off the TV (almost) every evening and read Christmas books, too.  Vianne spent most of the season declaring she had "an idea!  An awful idea!  A wonderful, awful idea!"

 I got Oliver's stocking made, to complete our set!

 We took family photos in front of our pink house, photoshopping out the huge amount of takes & stress & tears it took to get this one not-half-bad shot.

 And while they were still dressed up, I pleaded for a few indoors, too...

 Vianne helping me make gingerbread cookies for the first time.

 The dough is done!

 As stressful fun as it was to have her trying to put salt and pepper and anything else she could reach into the mixing bowl helping me make the dough, I opted for the quieter moments when she was either napping or out with Grandpa to get the guys decorated.

 O Come, All Ye Faithful!  #VianneHasBeenHere

 I got to provide a little Christmas background music for a dinner at our church.  Here's Vianne enjoying the dessert...

 ...and her own show after dinner.  (This was Friday night.  On the way to church on the following Sunday, she informed me that "If you don't let me spin on the stage, that ruins Christmas.")

 Oliver lounged around looking cute as a button-eyed snowman.

 And I loved seeing Vianne act out the Christmas story (with a lot of artistic license) with these stuffed characters from my childhood.

 Still a little ashamed of the fact that for the first time in like 20 years, I didn't do handmade Christmas cards.  But I did design this one.  And you can't beat 13 cent 4x6 prints at Costco.  This may be a new tradition, shame and everything. :-D