Bellevue Garden d'Lights

It's been a couple years since we'd been to Bellevue's Garden d'Lights, so we decided to hit it up on one of their free nights. Mel, James and girls joined us as well. We gathered at our house for dinner and dessert before making the drive down. The lights were pretty. The girls especially liked it, with Madeleine having us do the tour twice. The light displays appeared to be the same as years past, so I think we're good to go again in a few more years. But it was still nice to get out of the house as a family and do something with friends.

Girls found their Christmas gifts from us under the tree

 I didn't put a label on Mel and James' Christmas gift from us. This concerned the girls, so while I was busy making dinner, the girls decided to make their own labels - too cute!

 Made the trip to Bellevue

Dinner Date

To show appreciation for all of Peter's hard work and long hours, we went out for a nice dinner paid for by Romac. I LOVE when his work does it. Not only does it take notice of Peter working hard, but it's a nice little thank you to me. Peter and I got dressed up and decided to go to The Keg, a steakhouse in Lynnwood. We had drinks, appetizers, dinner, dessert AND after-dinner dessert drinks! We were so stuffed at the end of it all.

Date Night! 

Happy Birthday Mel!

We hosted our friend Mel's birthday at our house this year (mainly because they have cats, which would mean I wouldn't be able to attend to celebrate at their place. I was more than happy to host!). All she wanted was for a relaxing evening of drinks and appetizers. I whipped up a few snacks, as well as a batch of Champagne Cupcakes. I unfortunately failed to get a pic of the birthday girl, but you can drool over the food table instead ;)

The amazing table spread we created

 Champagne Cupcakes!

 Mel said no gifts, but we didn't listen. Peter and I got her a gift card to William Sonoma (one of her favorite places to shop), some champagne-flavored sour gummy candies from Nordstroms, a bottle of Plum Wine, and this huge wine glass (pictured below) - it can hold a whole bottle of wine! We immediately thought of her when we saw it lol

Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving. A week before I received a phone call asking if my family could join us. Since they were willing to make the drive over, I happily said yes. I admit a small portion of me was a little stressed. I had already purchased our meal weeks in advance, which was enough for just the four us. With potentially there now being a total of 13 of us, I had to book it to the stores to try avoiding the crowds and buy more food and a turkey (I originally bought a turkey breast). Two days prior to Turkey Day I started prepping as much as I could, as well as cleaned up the house. There was a little bit of family drama leading up to the morning of (one brother with his family basically threw a tantrum and decided they wouldn't come...oh well, their loss and my leftovers for us!). Other than that little tissy-fit, everything else went great. We munched on appetizers during the early part of the day. Kristjan played card games with Grandma and Grandma Jane. Jane's boyfriend Sam joined us as well and spent his visit chatting with Peter. As for the meal - the most important part!- everything was delicious! This is the first year that everything was made from scratch, which I'm quite proud of (well, ok, we did canned corn, but close enough). Peter was in charge of the turkey, but I pretty much did the rest of the meal myself - another big accomplishment for me! We all stuffed our bellies full with the amazing meal, barely having room to squeeze in some pie. My family stayed until the early evening before needing to leave to make the drive home. After everyone left I cleaned up the kitchen and had all dishes washed/put away (yes!). Once all was said and done, I fell asleep for a quick nap once I sat on the couch. 

Peter up early to get the turkey ready.

 Kristjan with Grandma Jane

 Kristjan and Grandma

 Jane and her boyfriend Sam

 Only pic I managed to get of myself that day

 Grandma and her great-grandsons (honestly, Clifford is NOT in pain even though he looks like it in the pic. It's just the "smile" he now gives)

 The Feast!

 Boys dishing up

 Boys eating dinner with their cousins Riley and Conner

 Conner

 Riley

 Munching on a leg

 Yum!

 Double Yum!

Lookin' Good

Kristjan decided it's time to switch his look up again. 

FLEE

Peter and I got together with a handful of his co-workers for lunch and two games of FLEE (escape games). It was a lot of fun. Peter and I especially liked the first game we did, where we were in a smaller group, mainly for the fact that it was less crowded and everyone had a chance to contribute their thoughts on how to escape each room. For the second game we all went in together. We ended up setting a new record for escaping the room!

Soccer Stud

We just got Clifford's soccer pics back. Looking good! We're actually almost done with the season, with only a few more games left. Clifford has decided he doesn't want to play basketball this winter (much to my sadness!!!!); however, if all goes well with sign ups, he'll continue with indoor soccer for six weeks with his current team.