Ugly Holiday Sweater Party

This past weekend, we had our 1st annual Ugly Sweater Party! It was a fun way to celebrate the holidays with some of our new friends we've made in the past few months. At first it was supposed to be an adult-only party, but after quite a few people with little ones weren't going to be able to make it because of lack of childcare, we opened it up to everyone. It was family-friendly with a twist - movies in the playroom for the kids and tippy cup in the garage for the adults (in shifts, of course)! Everyone wins - yea!

Donning our Christmas gear before guests arrive!

The Hansen Family - Holly was a neighbor of mine when we were growing up, but I hadn't seen her in close to 20 years!  It's so fun that we've reconnected after so long and our families can get together often :) Oh, and Dave definitely won best (or worst?) sweater of the evening as he wore a sleeveless sweater vest with doily ornaments pinned to it. So great!

Gotta love toddler jam sessions

Also gotta love the obligatory mustache photos at every party!

The Weisbergers - Adam went to the same high school as I did, but I didn't know him then as he was much younger than me.  Such a small world that now we've become friends and our kids play together!

Tippy cup can be a very serious game

Boys and babes and big smiles :)

Dave & Kori, our very awesome neighbors!  SO different than our last neighborhood!

And Kelly, equally as great - love them!

Michelle has a monster 'stache

Yep, this pretty much sums up the evening

The adult GGs

 

So glad people were able to come, considering this was the temp this morning and I'm sure it was even colder as people were going home last night.  -11, what??!

Such a fun night with a great group of people!!

Winter is here!

Winter is officially here!  For the past several days, we've had snow continuously falling and it's safe to say the George household loves it!  It almost came over night.  Especially since the weather prior to this cold streak was pretty mild.  Along with the snow has also brought the coldest temperatures I've ever been in!  I always thought the freezing mark was cold when we lived in Portland.  I think the coldest I had ever been in was in the teens.  But this week, we've seen the temps go in the negative numbers, with wind chill at -25!!  What???!!  I've never experienced anything like this!  But I've sort of noticed that -5 and regular 5 sort of feels the same to me - COLD!!! 

Even though we've had super chilly temps here, we still needed to get out in the snow and play!  Even if we could only handle it for 15 minutes :)

All bundled up to go on our GG Academy's field trip!

Brian got to come along with us on his lunch break

At first, our plan was to go up to the mountains to cut down a Christmas tree, but we soon realized we underestimated the cold temps.  -15 sounded fine when we were all bundled up in our warm house, but as soon as we were outside for two minutes, a change of plans was in order!  So, we packed up and headed to the nearest coffee shop.  Much better idea!

After warming up with coffee and hot cocoa, we attempted a winter walk, going over the pedestrian bridge in Old Mill over the Deschutes.  But the wind and cold was a little extreme (to put it mildly) as evidenced by Talia's face :) 

Even though these two love the snow, they were looking to come back in after just a few minutes, too!

Since our first idea of hunting for a Christmas tree didn't work out as planned, we had a much better idea of going a mile from our house to pick out a tree from the nearest tree lot.  We'll try again next year!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend in Seattle

We just got back from our annual trip up north to my parents' house for Thanksgiving in Seattle.  This year, we were smart and drove directly north of us through Central Washington, instead of getting stuck in traffic in Portland, Olympia, Tacoma, Renton, etc.  On paper, this shortcut only saved us 10 miles, but with no traffic, we easily saved close to two hours in holiday traffic!  No-brainer!

This year, Bridgit's family also came up to Seattle for the holiday week.  Since my parents' neighbors were out of town, they stayed just down the hill from us at their house.  My parents let them use their golf cart for easy commuting :) 

Still can't get over these huge windmills that line the gorge.  Pictures do not do these justice - they're HUGE!  We would go along the gorge on many trips from Eugene to Spokane to visit family as a child and these were never there.  So crazy to see them here now!

The first thing to do at Grama & Papa's house?  Play outside, of course!

Very fitting of Talia to wear this dress since we have a picture of Tristan wearing this two years ago after we left all of his clothes in Portland.  That was right after we found out we were having a girl and I looked forward to putting it on my future daughter :)

Cousin breakfast!

And then the next morning, outside again!

We love Grama & Papa's jungle gym!

Even Grandpa John (Bridgit's dad) got in on the action!

Taking a break to say, "cheese"

On our Thanksgiving family "nature walk" around Grama & Papa's property and their neighbor's house

Their neighbors are artists from Manhattan who have recently retired here, so there are works of art all around their property.

Just a little project their neighbor is working on in the "basement" of their house.  He built and painted every single feature of this train city.  It is beyond amazing!!

This ferris wheel is designed after a real-life one that was in their amusement park they owned on Long Island.

And then there's this tree house.  I felt like a kid all over again while we were here!  And yes, that's a zip line Trav is on that connects from the tree house to the balcony of their house. 

Inside the tree house

Bunk beds they made for their grandsons.  Is it okay for me to wish I had this tree house as an adult?!

Bridg taking a ride on the zip line

Continuing on our nature walk, Bella fell down a steep ravine into a creek as we were crossing a slippery wooden bridge.  I'm not quite sure how we got the polar bear out of there.  I thought we were going to have to call in a helicopter or else make a new home for Bella down there.  But with two grown men pushing and one pulling, the crisis was averted. 

Beating us back to the house

Funny cousin poses.  And again, someone really needs a hair cut.

Lincoln still wearing a bandage after getting his first stitches after falling off the play structure at school.  Poor guy.

The Thanksgiving spread.  Too large of a group to fit in the actual dining room, so we all crammed into the living room.  Whatever works :)

These guys love to dog pile their Papa!

Playing dress up with Talia again.  Another outfit worn by me 32 years ago.  Brian and Bridgit think my mom and I are crazy, but we think it's fun :)

And then the next day, we had to take the obligatory visit to Pike's Market

Love this pic of Tristan skipping along with Grama :)

Since the Danners and Beasleys spent the last two nights of the weekend at a hotel in downtown Seattle, we met up with them for lunch.  These boys just cannot get enough of each other! 

And then on Saturday, with the house to ourselves (Danners/Beasleys downtown, Papa left for Haiti the day before and Grama was at a wedding), we decided it would be perfect timing for an all-out piano concert!  They really got into this and played for nearly an hour.  Hoping this piano excitement lasts into the future because, little do they know, they're taking piano lessons whether they like it or not! :)

Another fun Thanksgiving weekend with wonderful family!! Love this time spent together so much :)