February and Valentines Day...

February brought with it a couple days that were actually nice enough to play outside.  Unfortunately, they were few and far between, so we had to find other things to keep us entertained.  We discovered the play areas at malls and went at least once a week.  She loves to slide!  We also started to do a lot of baking, which Aliyah thoroughly enjoyed, especially if I let her taste as we went :)

 

 

 

Valentines day brought another fun activity for Aliyah; finger painting!  She was unsure at first, but warmed up to the idea after a little while and enjoyed it in the end.  We made pictures for Daddy and hung them on the wall so he would see them when he came home.  Aliyah picked out most off her outfit that day.  It's one of the only times she has insisted on wearing something and I gave in easily because it was a pink skirt and pink boots, so why argue?

That night Steve and I enjoyed a quiet dinner together after Aliyah went to bed.  I must say, eating is much more peaceful without a toddler involved.  It's nice to do every once in a while :)

Snowmageddon 2012

Oh no! Snow in Seattle again! What is the world coming to?
Similar to last year, Western Washington had a heavy snow storm and everything shut down. After living in Utah, it is so funny to see the panic that ensues when snow hits. There is 24 hour news coverage re-spinning the same stories and making it seem as if the world is coming to an end. While it is funny, snow in WA is a little different and a little more difficult to deal with, mainly due to the lack of equipment to clean up and clear roads. Since we live in the middle of a big hill, there really is no way in or out except for by foot, so we were stranded at home for a couple days. We had a good time with daddy home in the middle of the week and spent a lot of time sledding.

Unfortunately, the snow storm was followed by an ice storm which made things worse.  That was not as fun.  Seriously, I had never seen anything like it.  We were sitting in our apartment and could hear and see tons of branches crashing down in the woods around us.  It knocked the power out for a couple days.  Luckily, by the second day, the roads were clear enough for us to make it as far as Betsy's, where they had power.  We stayed the night there and by the time we got back the next day, our power was back.  Phew! We avoided freezing to death this time.  We'll see what next year brings...

House Sitting at Gandma's...

While my parents headed down to Florida to visit Riki and Tim, we headed to their house to watch the dogs. Aliyah seems to think that Grandma's house is way funner than ours and found plenty of things to keep herself entertained.

It didn't hurt that it snowed too, and she could actually enjoy it this year!

Merry Christmas!

It's a little strange to be the one who's in charge of Christmas all of the sudden. When did I grow up and have a kid? I thought I was supposed to be the kid on Christmas morning... Well not this year. Steve, Aliyah, and I decided to stay at our own house Christmas Eve and enjoy Christmas morning, just the three of us. It was really a nice peaceful way to start the day. Not a lot of hoopla, just spending the morning together and opening our stockings. After a fairly unsuccessful outing at church (Aliyah was a little restless due to the fact it was naptime), we joined our families and let the festivities begin.

We headed down to Betsy's and had dinner with her family. Aliyah also got to tear open her first Christmas gift, since we only did stockings in the morning. She still needed a little help, but did pretty good after she realized that mommy wasn't going to tell her no when she ripped it. She got a big box of Latin themed play food, and wanted to dig right in.

After we spent the afternoon there, we continued on to my parents' for the evening and the next couple days. We wasted little time getting to the presents there as well. The highlight of Christmas for me was the little kitchen my Dad and I built for Aliyah. Ok, so really my Dad built it while I handed him tools and I decorated it, but either way, it's awesome, and as much as she did seem to like it, I'm pretty sure I was way more excited for it. Along with her kitchen, Grandma got Aliyah pots and pans to cook her new food in. She has gotten lots of use out of all of it and spends lots of time cooking just like mommy :)

On Christmas Eve we were able to continue our tradition of making tamales!  My mom and Michael joined us in the assembly line and we were able to pick up Danny and Marina from the airport just in time to enjoy the results.  We're getting better at the tamale making process, but they could still use some work :)

 All in all, it was nice to be able to spend time with family and friends and to be able to relax and enjoy the holidays.

Thanksgiving...

Believe it or not, we did celebrate Thanksgiving last year, and although we lack proof via pictures, we actually celebrated it twice, in the same day. We had an early dinner with Roger, Betsy, Brittany, and Karissa, and then went over to my parents' house and ate with them, my grandma, and Michael and Danny. Both dinners were delicious and enjoyed for many days following and it was great to spend lots of time with family.

Aliyah helping me make the stuffing (which didn't turn out so great, so send any awesome recipes my way for next year!)

And although we have no pictures of our Thanksgiving celebration, we were sure to get documentation of the Apple Cup celebration. UW Huskies vs WSU Cougars. Huskies all the way!