Christmas Round-Up

We're coming down after a wonderful week of holiday fun. My family left this afternoon and I have a feeling that we'll definitely be feeling withdrawals tomorrow when there's not a roomful of people eager to entertain Olivia and cater to her every want. It was a truly fantastic Christmas week!

Anyhoo, here's the happenings over the last few days...

Thursday I dragged the crew around Seattle in search of holiday cheer. We hit up both the The Gingerbread Village at the Sheraton and the Teddy Bear Suite at the Fairmont downtown, and were pretty disappointed with what they turned out to be. But I totally redeemed myself with a trip to the Bellevue Botanical Garden D'Lights that evening. THIS is where it's at, people. It was seriously amazing!








We hosted Christmas Eve here at Casa Perry. Of course I had to get a few obligatory tree shots.



I wanted to get pics of Olivia with everyone at the tree, but of course she stopped cooperating after a few photos. Such is life with a toddler, right?

We have found the secret to actually enjoying a meal while Olivia is still awake: Curious George on the iPad.


December 24th is also Chris' birthday, so we celebrated with her favorite: chocolate :).


After we got the little one to bed, I put everyone to work on assembling her Christmas present.


Which was a total hit on Christmas morning!



Do you notice how slimy her hair is? I learned an important lesson on Christmas morning: never let your kid eat pancakes & syrup when you'll be taking photos. Sticky, slimy mess.

It took her a little bit, but she totally caught on to the whole present thing!


Christmas evening brought dinner at Doug's parents house. My manly man carved up the meat...


Is there anything better than gathering around the table with your combined families? We were sadly missing a few people, and believe me that you were very missed!

This is love.


O discovered a jewelry box of "pretties" and insisted on wearing them all evening. Girl is really loving to accessorise!


Rocking out on the piano.


Snugglin' up on Uncle Craig.


Me and my two loves on Christmas night. I feel so blessed.


We ended my family's visit with a Sunday trip to the Museum of Flight, which was pretty amazing. So many gorgeous planes!








Oh how I love when my family comes to Seattle. Thanks for making the trip, we miss you already!

Merry Christmas!

Coooookies!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have an extreme weakness for baking, particularly when it comes to cookies. And I have discovered what I consider to be some of the BEST homemade chocolate chip cookies ever. The recipe uses whole wheat flour, which makes me feel like they're somewhat healthy (I just choose to ignore the fact that they also contain two cups of sugar :). So here's the recipe... now go make them and let me know what you think!

Kim Boyce's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Of course, they're Olivia tested & approved.

Punta Mita 12.10

Olivia and I are back from one of my favorite places in the world: Mexico! Here's a bit of the week's happenings...

We began our days with breakfast at the villa's pool.


Then we'd head down to the main pool for some "kick kick" time.




And some lounging.




Followed up, of course, by a snack. Olivia got quite used to a nice cabana boy bringing her unlimited supplies of food, I think that being back home is going to be a rude awakening.



She ate so much on this trip that Wayne started referring to her as "hippo". I'm pretty sure that she ate her weight in quesadillas over the course of the week!

After the pool, we'd head down to the sand for some beach playtime.




Followed up by a nice long nap (and some serious bedhead).


And in the afternoon? More pool, of course!




And when the sun finally set, it was time for a bubbly bath to wash the sand and sunscreen away.




A few other pictures from the trip...

She loved the Christmas tree in the hotel's lobby.


Justin and Abby came along... Olivia just adored "Aggy".


Thank you so much, Wayne and Chris, for such an amazing week. We had so much fun!


P.S.
Olivia learned a TON of new words over the week. She continues to amaze me with how well she's talking! She's added the following to her vocabulary: pool, beach, sand, ocean, swim, pancake, strawberry, apple, milk, sunscreen, moon, grandma and grandpa. Pretty good for 18 months!

P.P.S.
Poor Doug couldn't come with us because he had finals, so that's why you don't see him in any of the pictures. Bummer, huh?

Holiday Events

Yesterday we had one of our playgroups over to the house for some holiday cookie decorating. I was a bit apprehensive about the combination of 15 toddlers and cookies, frosting, and sprinkles, but it actually went great (and the house survived intact!). Olivia was not at all into other kids playing with her toys (only child syndrome?), but once she discovered that there were treats involved she quickly got into the action!

Decorating with mama.


She somehow got her hands on an entire cup of frosting and thought that it was the greatest thing ever...




Getting really comfortable for ultimate frosting consumption.


Today we went to the Cougar Mountain Zoo with O's BFF Carter (and his mom, my dear friend Dana).


He's SO stinkin' cute!


Santa's sleigh was there for photo op's.


Of course, Olivia was more interested in eating than in seeing the animals.


The day sadly ended very quickly with an incredibly epic meltdown from O. It was honestly the worst one I've ever seen!

Olivia has a cold (and, as of this morning, some sort of barf bug, yuck!) so we're sequestered at home. We were both getting a bit stir-crazy, so I bundled her up and took her outside for some fresh air.


Is there anything better than a toddler in a huge puffy jacket?


She totally reminds me of "A Christmas Story".


Why ride in the car when you can push it around?


Mowing the driveway.


Daddy!