We Found Snow!

Yesterday Kristin had a friend over in the morning for a playdate. The girls really play well together. And while her friend was here we got to see it snow a few times, but it was too warm out to stick. Last night it dropped below freezing, but we only woke up to frost. We were hoping for a little snow on the ground.

This afternoon the kids both had a playdate at another friend's house. As we were driving up the big Wier Drive hill we found snow! This area is about at the 500 foot level and they got snow last night. Not too much snow... not even enough to cover the grass. After playing inside for awhile we got the kids outside to the little neighborhood park. The kids had fun making little snowballs, snow angels, and just playing around in the snow. Kellen had fun going down the 2 slides. He was wearing slick warm-up pants so on the frozen slides that made for some fast sliding! He loved it and every time he flew off the slide and landed in the bark chips... usually on his bum. He just laughed and got up and did it again. It was so nice to get the kids outside to play for a little bit.

Family Time

I suppose we're overdue for a blog post. hmm, what to write, what to write?

I've got the week off from work and have been really enjoying all the family time. Today, Danelle went to work and I had the kids. I took them to Chuck E Cheeses to celebrate Kellen's recent success on the potty. We had a really good time. Kristin has the games pretty well scoped out and knows which ones to play to maximize her tickets (which are redeemed for prizes). She was excited to see a few new games and managed to win a bag of cotton candy from one of them. Both of the kids were well behaved, which made it pretty easy for me. Kellen even used the potty there. Way to go Kellen!

Kristin has had a lot of fun playing with her new 'puppy'. It's a wired-remote control, with the wire cleverly disguised as a leash. She named the puppy Katie after her friend Parker's dog. So far, Katie is a champion battery-eater. I think actual dog food might be cheaper. :-)

Kellen has been busy bouncing from new toy to new toy. He has spent a lot of time playing with a couple new Thomas trains that are self-propelled. He loves yelling 'choo-choo', complete with the hand gesture you'd use to get a trucker to lay on his horn.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

What a wonderful Christmas! Not a white Christmas like so many of our family and friends had this year, but wonderful none the less. The kids were pleasantly surprised by Santa's gifts and had fun playing first thing this morning. After breakfast we had a marathon of opening gifts. We are very blessed! Uncle John came over and joined in watching the kids open gifts and playing with all the new toys. We all had a great time.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Danelle was busy baking bread, making cheddar chowder soup for dinner, and preparing a lasagna for tomorrow. She sure works hard for us!

After a wonderful dinner, we exchanged presents amongst the immediate family and then, after playing for a little while, we went for a drive in the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. No snow for us this year, but the lights still look nice.

Best get to bed. I sense Santa is on the way!

The Excitement Builds

The kids are getting more and more excited for Christmas and even tomorrow... Christmas Eve. Of course, that is when Santa comes. :)

Yesterday we had an inpromptu playdate with some friends. Kristin and Kellen had a pretty good time. Kellen says it wasn't so fun because the other little boy played with his toys. Oh Kellen... that is what happens when we have friends over.

Today Kristin had another friend over that was here all day. Mom and Dad had to work, so I volunteered to watch her. She is a good kid and she and Kristin played really well together all day. Kellen got in there... sometimes too much, but that is what little brothers do. I worked on making cinnamon rolls this afternoon too. I know what is for breakfast in the morning. YUM!

Christmas Mash-ups

So there is a trend lately on the radio to hear two songs mixed together and combined into one 'mash-up' song. It was probably invented by the same person who first muted the Wizard of Oz and cranked up Pink Floyd. Today, Kristin and Kellen treated Danelle to a Christmas-themed mash-up while they were in the car. Kellen sang 'Jingle Bells' while Kristin sang 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer'. Both at the top of their lungs. All the while, 'Frosty the Snowman' played on the car's radio. Now that's entertainment.

So here are a couple pictures from Kristin's Holliday party last Friday. They played pin the carrot on the snowman. Kellen even got to play too.

Excitement is Building

The excitement ofr Christmas to arrive is building in the Isenhart household. Kellen keeps asking why Santa hasn't come yet... and we keep telling him it isn't Christmas yet. It is so hard to be patient when you are 3 years old! Kristin had her winter holiday party at school on Friday. We all made it for the party and the kids really had fun. They got to make their own gingerbread house with graham crackers, frosting and candy and then there were games and a cookie and hot chocolate snack.

I finished baking cookies today!!! Whew. Made Aaron's favorite, peanut blossoms today. Now to finish wrapping up the presents.

The Ever-Changing Christmas Wish List

If you ask Kellen what he wants for Christmas, he'll pretty much say the same thing everytime: 'Elefun!' Kristin, on the other hand... wow. She's definitely keeping Santa on his toes.

The girls had girl scouts last night and Kellen and I stayed home and had a good time playing Bingo, Tic-Tac-Toe, rolly-polly, and other games. At girls scouts, there activity was learning about other Countries. Kristin got Sweden, and used an encyclopedia to learn that the people of Sweden enjoy playing ice hockey and skiing. Go figure she found a fact about sports. :-)

Kristin has a full two weeks off for Christmas break, starting next week. Tomorrow afternoon is her holiday party at school, which were all looking forward too.

Too Soggy

Well, the rain just keeps coming. I woke up last night to the sound of pouring rain and wind again. Some places evidently also had thunder. There was even a tornado in Oregon today... crazy! One we rarely ever get a tornado and two who hears of tornados in mid-December?! Sounds like no one was hurt, thankfully. The local news station has the Portland Metro area in flood warning. I would guess some of the local creeks are going to crest soon. Haven't seen anything to worry about around our place.

The kids are busy and getting more and more excited for Christmas to arrive. We now have some presents under the tree and so far no one has attempted to sneak a peak! :) Tonight we played rolly-polly with a ball and Aaron and Kristin were also playing keep the balloon in the air.

Warm Chex Mix

So I'm sitting at the computer, which is a laptop most often used at the the kitchen table, and I'm downloading some photos from our camera to use on the blog. Then, fresh from the oven, Danelle pours a whole batch of chex mix onto some wax paper on the table right next to me. There is something about warm chex mix that is just irresistable. Yum.

We made it to Zoo lights Friday evening during a break in the rain. Our timing was perfect. We strolled in just before dark, and got on the first train ride. After the train ride, we strolled around the zoo for a little while and enjoyed the lights. Every year, they add something new. This year it was some lights that were timed to look like rain and snow falling on some of the larger trees.

Yesterday both of the kids had their skating lessons in the morning. Then Kristin got to go to a cookie decorating party at one of her classmates' house. Each girl got to decorate a dozen sugar cookies. Kristin did a really great job decorating.

Danelle and I then went to my company's Christmas party at the Skamania Lodge in the Columbia River Gorge. We could have stayed the night, but that would have presented some childcare challenges so we just stayed for the dinner and presentations. It was still nice to get out though.

A couple pictures from Zoo Lights. We found someone to take a photo of all of us, but Kellen of course had other ideas.

Rain Rain Go Away

... the Oregon Isenhart's want to play! We've been looking for a dry evening to go see the zoo lights, but there haven't been any. We may have to see the zoo lights in the rain this year!

Not much news so far this week. Just counting the days until Christmas break now. I've got the whole week off between Christmas and New Years!

St. Nick's Day

The kids had a good St. Nick's Day on Monday with fun gifts to open from Oma and Poppa and Nana and Papa. After opening the gifts they both headed to the table to paint in their new water color paint books. :) Oh, before that they each got a chocolate candy out of their new advent calendars! Kristin and Kellen both love the Jacob's Ladder Kristin got. They also got jumbo pencils. They love these and it is fun to watch Kristin do her homework with a giant pencil. :) Thanks all for the gifts!

The rain is coming in buckets today and did last night too. We are supposed to get quite a bit of rain for here in the next couple of days. The radar was red this morning shortly after Kellen and I got home from dropping Kristin off at school. We are to get inches of rain. JOY! Now to find a break in the rain to clean out the gutters as they are full of leaves and can't keep up with this rain.

The Fish Came Back

Well, to the surprise of no one, we came home with Frankie the Fish. I was holding out some hope when the house rules for the white elephant gift exhange were to draw numbers instead of going oldest to youngest, but Kellen manage to draw the highest number and got to pick last! After that, it was inevitable.

Aunother busy weekend for us. We went to the mall Friday night and stood in line for about an hour to see Santa. Kellen ha been melting throughout the day so we weren't sure how he was going to do. He ended up sitting on Santa's lap just fine, but he would only flash his 'I'm faking it' smile. Kristin gave Santa a candy cane that she made from beads and a pipe cleaner. Santa thought that was pretty cool and told Kristin that she was on his 'good' list. I think that made her day.

Yesterday morning the kids started a new session of skating lessons. Kristin's lessons are right after Kellen's, so Kellen was exciting that Kristin and Danelle got to watch him skate. He also seemed to get a kick out of watching Kristin during her lessons.

We had a nice, mostly sunny weekend. Kellen and I raked the last of the leaves this afternoon. Then we buried 'treasure' in the leaf pile. The 'treasure' was a broom that Kellen had gotten out of the garage. He would go rummaging through the pile until he found it and then hold it over his head gloriously and say 'I found the treaure!'

I guess the big news for the weeked is that Kristin had her first reconcilliation on Saturday afternoon. She'll have her first communion next spring. She's growing up so fast!

All Kinds of Wonderful

Over the weekend, the kids and I were out shopping and we happened upon one of those singing fish on a clearance rack. This particular fish plays a catchy little tune from a McDonalds commercial that came out a year or so ago. If you are not familiar with this commercial, you can catch it on youtube at this link.

Well we didn't buy the fish, but we found ourselves singing the song all day. Then yesterday Danelle and I were talking about a white elephant give exchange that our friends are hosting this weekend. We decided it would be a great gift for that. So, Kellen and I trekked out this evening while the girls were at Girl Scouts. To my surprise (should I have really been surprised?), the fish was still at the store on the clearance rack. Kellen grabbed it and immediately pushed the button and started dancing along. The pictures here don't do it justice.

Now it's only been an hour, and I'm already having buyer's remorse. At a minimum, I have to listen to ths fish until Saturday night. And it just occured to me that we might end up with it back, especially if one of our kids has the last turn during the gift exchange...