UnThanksgiving

Before I write this blog entry I should preface it with the fact I really do like most holidays. I am not a general misog in the holiday department. I looked forward to halloween this year as much as Max and Zoe did, however this is not how I feel about Thanksgiving. I am not sure when my dislike for this particular holiday began, but maybe it is because we don't have Thanksgiving in England. It could also be that the very first time I met ALL of Scott's family was at Thanksgiving at his Uncle Harry's. They live in the kind of house I'd only seen on TV, and there was a program for singing and all the women there were dressed in skirts and wore pumps and headbands. I myself had dressed in a pair of black velvet trousers, there were quite frankly sprayed on tight and some 4 inch heels. Apart from the inappropriate attire, Scott's grand-dad tried to make me feel at home by asking my to sing the british national anthem, to which I didn't know the words. The women cooked the dinner, then the men all sat around watching football and the women cleaned up. That got scott a few paddington bear stares to say the least.

So since then I haven't really gone for the whole Thanksgiving thing. Before Max and Zoe, Scott and I would typically go snow shoeing all day, or go out of town to Whistler and just pretend it was a day off. The last 3 years we have gone to a friends house and have spent the entire time trying to stop M and Z from breaking things and playing in the open fire. This year I decided that I wanted a small family thanksgiving at home, where it would be fun to hang out and cook.

M and Z helped me cook the pumpkin pie on Wednesday and they did a good job. That is until the Pixie one scooped out a big chunk as it was cooling on the counter. That was okay though because I don't even like pumpkin pie. The day of Thanksgiving, we headed out below ominous skies to take a walk around Discovery park. This was going fine until it started blowing a hoolie and about 10 minutes after that we were carrying 2 screaming children up hill pelted by driving rain. So I figured things would improve after that.

Not really. As the weather got worse and worse, I started cooking and M and z wanted to 'help'. Scott wanted to play with his new i-pad and have a beer. I wanted to lie on the couch and drink Chardonnay with Bailey chasers (American people call this self-medicating, English people just call it getting drunk) and watch Dirty Dancing on Netflix. I did not want to listen to 2 whiney toddlers, and one grumpy husband. Scott did not want to listen to 2 whiney toddlers, and one grumpy wife. Max and Zoe did not want to be stuck inside with 2 grumpy parents. We attempted play doh and reading but nobody was getting any happier. If it had been a Hallmark made for TV movie, Scott would have taken the children out to look in the window of a starving family. He'd have come back with 2 well behaved children and a loving smile on his face and I would be wearing a dress (not pajamas)and have nice hair and a flat stomach. It was not a made for TV movie.

Dinner was ready at 6 as I planned. Max and Zoe did not like it (except pumpkin pie), I was so sick of cooking it that I could barely taste it. Scott liked it (thank you). After that it was business as usual with bath time and bed. Eventually when the kids were in bed I told Scott that it had been a crappy day. He agreed, which made me mad, which in turn made me blame the fact that it was crap on him, when in fact it was not his fault it was just a rubbish day because all it involved was cooking and trying to entertain 2 very demanding 3 year olds.

I have so much to be thankful for I really do, but next year I am going to Whistler on Thanksgiving or Cabo if the snow isn't in yet.

Snow Play!

So far it is shaping up to be a great snow year. Most of the ski areas are open already, which is super early and this week brings another huge dump in the Cascades. I really wanted to get M and Z going on skis this year but they had to be 3 by August to do classes up at the pass. Next year they can just go to ski school without me, so maybe it will be good to wait until then.

Sunday was a beautiful day so we headed up to the snow to do some sledding. It was great fun making a track and getting faster and faster as the morning wore on. M and Z showed no fear and didn't mind the cold. They even got into doing lying down sledding like luge. They are going to love the tube park this year that is for sure.

So life has been carrying on after all the Halloween hoopla. I haven't posted for a while but we've been out and about enjoying the end of what has been a spectacular fall. Last weekend we went up to rattlesnake lake and hiked around the lake. The kids had a blast climbing up all the large rocks on the lake shore, and throwing rocks into the water.

This week the rain started but we had fun going to pre-school. Zoe really likes to chose her outfits for school and is enjoying her 'Hollywood' look as the teacher calls it.

Today we had a great time at our friend Melissa's new house. She hosted a cookie decorating open house and the kids had a lot of fun with all the icing and sprinkles. Zoe wanted to wear one of her 'Santa' outfits for the decorating. It was interesting to watch the girls decorate. They were very into it and took a lot of time and trouble. Max spent as much time eating cookies as he did icing them, and I'm not sure any of the other boys iced anything. They were all in car heaven with about a million hot wheels.

As usual we tried to get a group photo but as you can see it was a challenge. I kind of like the shot though, it looks a bit like they are teenagers hanging out in the basement:)

Trick or Treat

Halloween has finally arrived, I say finally because M and Z have known what costume they have wanted since the end of August and they have stuck to it. I really wanted them to either be a mobster and a flapper or Hansel and Gretal, but there was no convincing them. Fireman and a yellow princess it was.

Our first trick or treat of the weekend was at the zoo on Saturday. It was great weather and the zoo did a great job with the little trick or treat street. Then on Halloween day we headed to the family trick or treat in Ballard. We met the BFF's over there and shuffled around visiting all the stores that were handing out candy. The kids did really well and were only scared of a couple of the scary costumes.

Finally we visited all our neighbors and trick and treated like big kids. It was really fun to watch M and Z go up to the doors and say "trick or treat." They were very thoughtful (and long!)when picking out their candy and were thrilled with the fruit of their labour. Sadly for them, they got 3 pieces each and the rest "disappeared" over night.

Halloween with 3 year olds is pretty much the best time you can have.

Final Farm Fun

You've been to one pumpkin farm you've been to them all right? Not so, think Max and Zoe. We decided to hit one last farm before pumpkin season ends, so we headed South for a change to Thomason family farm. They had a lot of the same things as many of the other farms such as a cow train, hay maze, corn house, hay rides and pumpkins. As it was the day before halloween and because it was raining we were pretty much the only people there. It was a blast hanging out in the 'double' corn pit and in the hay maze as it poured outside. We warmed up with spiced cider and hot chocolate and petted the very cute pigs and goats.

I am kind of sad to say goodbye to pumpkin season as we've had so much fun with all the outings and halloween build up, but not to worry I went into Barnes and Noble today and realized that it's okay because Christmas just got started:)