A few Christmas photos to share....

We had a WHITE CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!
We spent Christmas Day at my Aunt's in Port Orchard and got about 1-1/2 to 2 inches of SNOW!!! Seriously, I think we were the only people around that got any snow....it was so beautiful and it just kept snowing big, fluffy flakes most of the day while we were opening gifts. Ahhh.....that was my Christmas wish answered!!!!

And more traditions...
We made our annual trip with Grandma and Papa to the Warm Beach Lights of Christmas and spent the night there. This was our 6th year in a row and our 3rd staying the night. And the same guy is there that directs you in the parking area and tells bad jokes. Here's one: How do you know the The Three Wise Men were firemen? Because they came from a-far. Get it? You have to say it loud to get it. :)Always fun, always cold, always tired the next day. :) But we all had a great time and of course here are some pictures. OH!!! And Ainsley actually spoke to Santa!! She has been insisting that she wanted to look at him but didn't want him to look at her. But she actually went up and talked to him and told him she wanted a Nutcracker (she obviously LOVED the ballet) and told him Merry Christmas and said thank you for the candy cane. I was so surprised! Sweet girl.

Sweet stuff
We finally had the chance to decorate sugar cookies!!! I made all the cookies first and let them decorate with frosting and sprinkles, since that really is the fun part. Here are some pictures of that event...which, by the way, was MUCH cleaner than last year's event!

Red and Green Night
We had "Red & Green Night" this week, which means everything we ate for dinner had to be red and green. Interesting. :) We had green spaghetti with red sauce, green salad with tomatoes, green garlic biscuits, green ginger ale (Dan had green milk) and red & green sugar cookies for dessert. On red plates of course. Here are a couple pictures....it took a few minutes to convince Ainsley to try the green pasta and then she was hooked.

Gingerbread Houses!!!

Last night, we got to go to one of our clients' Christmas Party and make gingerbread houses. The girls love to do this, and we realized it was less fighting with me putting on the "glue" where they pointed and they stuck on the candy. And each girl got one side of the roof to do. :) Here's a photo:

Kids' Choice Day

This past Saturday was "Kids' Choice Day"!!! Sounds like an invitation for a free-for-all, doesn't it? Almost.....they started off the day with breakfast and chose the drive-thru at Krispy Kreme. Yum. Ainsley is clearly our little sweet toothed child, and occasionally prefers the sugar and frosting to what is underneath. I, of course, HAD to take a picture.

After some playtime, we headed for the Old Cannery furniture store...after some free hot cider, we went to find Santa. The line was insanely long which was FINE with Ainsley. She is still in the not liking Santa mode and this year said that she wants to look at Santa but she doesn't want him to look at her. :) We then went outside for the free horse & carriage ride which the girls loved. Here are a couple shots trying to get the last one.... (click on it to make it bigger)

Then off to lunch at the food court in the mall (kids' choice, remember??) for a little stir-fry. Shopping at Claire's, then off to the theater to see Enchanted. Which, by the way, is a totally cute and funny movie - very enjoyable. At least for us girls, not sure how much Dan loved it. :)

We were supposed to make sugar cookies but only got the dough made -oh well, another day. Played, played some more....their dinner choice? Taco Bell!!!! Which we ate upstairs while we watch a Christmas movie (can't recall which one).

Quite a day! And very enlightening to see what they chose for "their" day. And that they would have been happy to just play and hang out at home all day long - ahhh, the simple life!

Just a post...
I've noticed that I tend not post on this blog unless I have a photo or a video to share, or something funny a kid said....I have none of that. (Well, except how Ainsley says "britches" but since this is a FAMILY blog, I won't go into details...needless to say I got in lots of trouble).
I just noticed yesterday how enjoyable this Christmas season has been for me so far. I mean, I ALWAYS love Christmastime but life is always so crazy and busy that I've been missing out on the down time. But we have had so much time to just read books by the fire, or make fun crafts or do things spur of the moment, I am just amazed. And it's not to say we haven't been busy, we really have....though thankfully soccer and ballet are over! But as for the big blocks of down time, I am attributing it to two things.
1) Getting my shopping done before Thanksgiving - we started this about 3 years ago. Anyone who lives in this area knows the ridiculous traffic on Meridian and around the mall at Christmas. Maybe I'm getting too old but I just can't stand the traffic and crowds anymore. I like peaceful shopping! So getting it all done before the crowds arrive has saved my sanity in ways I can't describe. :)
2)My dear friend Michele gave me a wonderful idea to do the "Guay's 25 Days of Christmas" (and by the way, you have to sing it everytime you say it and it cracks me up everytime I hear Hayley or Ainsley sing it!). Anyway, I made a paper chain and each piece has a different "to-do" on it - sometimes a place to go, sometimes a craft to make, sometimes just something simple. For example, last night was dinner and Christmas books by candlelight. We did have to improvise a bit and read books by the tree instead. But we literally sat for an hour around the tree, reading books and even got out our Christmas carol book and sang a few songs. (my kids don't know all these songs!! Horrors!! I must teach them!!) Anyway, doing this has afforded us so many of these relaxing and fun moments, which really lead into great conversation time with the kids. And of course conversations are always a great adventure with a silly 3-1/2 year old and an imaginative 7-1/2 year old. They are so fun and I'm learning to enjoy them in ways that I didn't see before. What else is on the list? Well, tonight is hot cocoa and puzzle night. Tomorrow (eek!!) is "Kids Choice Day" - the girls are going to go crrrrraaaaazzzzyyyyyy! Sunday we get a picnic breakfast in front of the fireplace. It's just been so fun - thank you Michele for this idea!!!! :)))) (and everything is a surprise to them each day so if you read this, please don't tell my kids what to expect next!) I'm seriously wondering how I can manage to do the "31 Days of January" and the "28 Days of February" etc....hmmm, maybe that's a stretch.
I hope all of you are making time to just relax and enjoy the quiet times of the season. It really gives us so much time to reflect on what we're celebrating....the birth of our Savior!! What a gift!
Happy Friday everyone!!!

Ainsley the artist

I love this picture of me that Ainsley drew this morning (the red lips are actually a sticker!) !!!

Thanksgiving...how we spent our day

You can pretty much guarantee that any holiday in this family will include some, well....memorable moments. It is a given that something will need to be launched, exploded, smashed or burned. Or all of those things. Uncle Allen is the one usually leading the pack....and it was his idea to take the "Mentos & Diet Coke Challenge" as viewed on a recent Myth Busters show. It took a couple tries as we realized the coke needs to be warm and since it was barely in the 30's, we had to make some adjustments to finally get optimum results. Here are those results:

We had one small problem with the turkey - it was too big!! I bought an electric roaster and chose to ignore the "cooks up to an 18 lb turkey" posted clearly on the box and bought a 23 pounder. So while it roasted really well, it was too tall for the roaster and the top of the turkey was pasty white. Yuck. So the pyromaniac team came up with a brilliant idea: use the mini torch (like for making creme brulee) to "brown" the turkey. And can you believe, it actually worked!! I wish I had taken a photo to show that it actually worked (and tasted!) really well!! Anyway, we had a really fun day, ate tons of yummy food, played outside, made crafts and everyone fell asleep on the couch watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (except Hayley & Ainsley). Here are some pictures from the day: P.S. - For those of you wondering about the Thanksgiving "mistletoe", it's called "fingered citron" http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/97576/ The guys at Tacoma Boys talked me into getting it - "a great conversation piece!!" It was definitely that! :)

Oh my sweet daughter.....
I had to share this - recently in Hayley's class, they had a lesson on butterflies. All the kids (in pairs - she was partnered with her friend Jakiya) got caterpillars and they got to watch them transform into butterflies, and then took them outside and let them go. Hayley enjoyed this so much she wrote a letter to her butterfly and I just had to post it on here - it is so sweet! (posted exactly as she wrote it):

"Dear Jessica, (my butterfly)
I miss you so much. I wish you where still here with Jakiya and I. You probly don't remember, but when you where a caterpiller, you still where adorabale, but you where fury, small and a little fat. You are now a butterfly, and yes a buttefull butterfly, and I love you the way you are. I have an idea how to remember you. I am going to write three songs. One will be about you. It will be cald, "Jessica, My buttufull butterfly." I will wrigt you'rs first. I want to see you, or you're friend to tell me where you are. If you see me, signile me somhowe. I love you with all my heart. You're best friend, Hayley. "

Isn't that just the cutest thing ever? I just love how she finds the beauty in everything and how much she can enjoy the simplest things in life. And she's not afraid to share her feelings about something like this - I admire that immensely! I love this girl!! :)

Before.....and After
Since Hayley and I both were tired of the pain & frustration of combing through her tangled curls every morning, I decided it was time for a "real" haircut. I think it came out so cute!!! And don't worry, her curls are still there - she just wanted it styled straight for tonight. She really prefers it straight even though I tell her all the time that people pay a LOT of money to have curls like hers!! Anyway, she feels pretty sassy with the new cut and I'm hopeful it will alleviate the crazy hair. And she does look older!!! eek!

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!
Just to add - I think it's pretty obvious that Hayley is Pippi Longstocking (yes, her choice - she loves those movies!) but Ainsley is a bit more obscure - she is Rosella from the Barbie movie The Island Princess. So the things on her back are not wings but peacock feathers. :) And can I add that Hayley's hair was so funny, she had to walk sideways through doors and if she bumped into something it would stick straight in the air. hee hee hee

Turn on your speakers....
This just cracked me up - 3 year olds are so stinking funny!

Remember when?.....
I came across this video of Ainsley tonight - she was 6 months old in this one. (it uploaded a little squished and not the best quality, sorry) I just can't believe that's the same child! It seems so long ago yet it's like it was yesterday. How does that happen so fast? Man, she was just so chubby and cute...I really miss those days!! I'll have to try to post some old video of Hayley too.

Meeker Cider Squeeze
Saturday was the annual Cider Squeeze at Meeker Mansion in dowtown Puyallup. Since Hayley had a soccer game, we went early and had enough time to do TWO gallons of cider this time! Washington must have had a great apple season because that cider is SO good, even better than the last couple of years we've done this - yum!!! I just love doing "fall" things at this time of year, even though there aren't a lot of events around here....not like in the Midwest. But hey, we do what we can!
The last photo is a pic of Hayley's friend Zak (they were in Kindergarten & 1st grade together, as well as Quest and soccer and he lives a couple doors down from us).

Heard from the backseat after seeing a police car drive by with its lights & siren on....

"Mom, polices don't like bad girls. And polices don't like bad boys. Polices like good girls and good boys. And I'm not a bad girl. I'm a good girl."

I'll have to pull this one out when she's a rebellious teenager and remind her. :)))

Up to no good...

Just a few recent photos - the girls being silly (as usual) at home, and a few pics of a recent visit from Dave, Angie, Reilly & Mackenzie for our birthday weekend. Hopefully this collage works - you should be able to click on it to make it bigger. Apparently my PictureTrail account is FULL and they want me to pay MORE money to upgrade it AGAIN to upload more pictures. Not.

Funny Ainsley quote: "Mom, can I watch a movie?" "Not right now" "But God wants me to watch a movie."

Hmmm.

All I want for Chrithmath is my two front teeth....

Hayley lost her other upper tooth a week or two ago but I just finally remembered to post a photo. So cute - but it really makes it hard for her to bite anything! :)

One more things....or two....first, I just posted several times so please scroll down and get some updates and pics of our family!!
Also had to get this one on record before she starts saying it correctly:
Ainsley speak - Wahznot.


Restaurant.

Love that one!!!!

Ballet!!!

Ainsley was looking forward to the first day of ballet for weeks! She was really excited but a little nervous too - she kept saying she needed help twirling. I explained that the teacher would teach her those things and she seemed to have an "Aha!!" moment, like it didn't occur to her that anyone would be there helping! Anyway, three of her little girlfriends were in her class and it was so cute to see them all hugging and loving each other and then doing their thing in class. She's been telling me today about her feet "kissing" and standing with her heels together and toes pointed out. Can't wait for the June recital! Here's a photo - I think half the excitement was the outfit!

Do the Puyallup...

Fair, that is. That's what they say here - everyone's gotta "Do the Puyallup!". So we did. The girls love the rides and the animals and the food...and we all enjoyed some much needed family time. Although we scared Ainsley out of a year's growth! The girls wanted to go on the Dragon Roller Coaster. Hayley loves anything big and fast - Ainsley is still learning. Her first turn around, her eyes and mouth were HUGE and obviously filled with terror. I've never seen her so scared, it was the saddest thing for a mom to see!! And then each time it went around, her eyes were almost shut and I could see her saying, "no no no no!!". Oh it was just awful!! :( Bad parenting moment for sure! :( Anyway, here a couple photos from our fair day:

How they grow!

This was a funny comparison to us today....

The one on the left is Hayley's first day of Kindergarten, age 5 and 2 months. I dressed Ainsley (3 years and 7 months) in the EXACT SAME outfit today - shirt, capris, sandals...even the hair band...and it fit! In fact it was a little on the snug side! Completely different children!!! :)

Malibu...Canada, not California
I went on a women's retreat at Young Life's Malibu Camp on the Sunshine Coast in Canada. WAY up north. Like a 4 hour drive then a 45 minute ferry ride then an hour drive, then another 40 minute drive and then a 3-1/2 hour boat ride. I think we were in the Arctic Circle or something. Anyway, the pictures do NOT do this place justice, it is the most incredibly, beautiful, amazing place. I haven't seen that many stars in years. Heck, I can't remember the last time I was able to see the Milky Way!!! The camp is amazing, the scenery is amazing...it was truly a spiritually life-changing weekend for me. The camp is so cool, the food is incredibly good, there are tons of things to do or just spend time gazing at the scenery or watching the seals....or the BEAR that wandered into one end of the camp! Anyway, for those of you that know me, I have a monumental fear of heights, like in a completely ridiculous way. And the group of ladies I was with insisted on me doing the ropes course that is WAY UP HIGH in the trees. Yikes. But I did it!!! I still can't believe I actually did it!! There are photos with proof of this feat but I don't currently have them, I'll post them when I do. And after conquering that fear, I decided to do the zip line. Holy cow, that was a blast! You climb barefoot up the side of the mountain, attach your harness to a wire, walk across a skinny rope bridge (again, way high in the trees) then leap off a platform and go flying down into the water (really cold by the way!). So much fun, I could have done that over and over! Here's a video (fyi - it's a LOT faster than it looks on video!!):



Right after we soaked ourselves on this, we headed to the "Caribe" - a big, inflatable, banana-shaped...thing. We told the boat driver that we didn't want to get flipped. Yeah, right, like he was really listening to THAT. Anyway, the first problem was that we all got on it backwards without knowing (you just KNOW that boat driver was laughing at us already!!). Here's some funny video of our backwards ride:

So after riding it backwards for a while, we all turned around to face the front - and then our kind boat driver started working at trying to flip us off. It worked!! Look at these photos - it was really a blast, but again, that water was stinking cold AND salty. Blech. But it was really fun and we laughed so hard!

All in all, it was an incredible weekend - great speaker (Roseanne Coleman check out her website - love her southern accent!), great food, great friends, great fellowship, great fun......can't wait to do it again next year!

This is for you, Kathy...

A little birdie told me that my lovely, blonde, spider-picture-collecting friend from Mississippi said I don't put enough photos on my blog. And me being the giving person I am, I will try to honor that request. :) Here are some pics from Labor Day weekend - we had a BBQ up at Warm Beach, which is about 5 minutes from my parent's house. This is an annual "farewell to summer" event for us and we always have a lot of fun but also get to relax and enjoy the outdoors.

The girls are ready to hit the water in Grandma & Papa's canoe

And they're off!!!

Great-Grandma enjoying the beautiful day

Dang, that child is CUTE in pigtails!!!

Dan's got his party shirt on. :)

Say hot dog!!

Uh...er...cheeseburger!!

She's just plumb tuckered out...

School's in session!

Today was the first day of school! Hayley was so excited to get back to school (I don't know who her parents are, this kid REALLY loves school!!) - we went to the Open House last night and met her teacher. So hard to believe she's in SECOND grade already. I took the usual first day of school photo this morning and when I put it next to her kindergarten & first grade pics, I realized how much she has actually changed....see for yourself....from left to right, Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade.

How could I forget??

Had to add one more picture here...Hayley had another visit from the Tooth Fairy. It's so cute how excited she gets each time she loses a tooth (which is currently a grand total of 3). Here is her cute lil' mug...

Glamping.
Go ahead. Google "glamping". Because for those that know me, they know I am NOT a lover of camping. Now this "glamping"....THAT I could get used to! Most of my camping-loving friends make fun of me for being a princess and not enjoying roughing it and tent camping. Come on people, I've used many cactus for potties as a kid, I've roughed it with the best of 'em!

Anyway, our friend's son, Grant, came up with an idea to have a campout in their backyard this summer. In spite of the blustery weather, we had our campout this past weekend. We put up tents (ours happened to be a borrowed one that hadn't been cleaned since being used in Mexico so it smelled like farm animals and came complete with a dead lizard...), cooked hot dogs and smores over the fire, and slept in the great outdoors. Wow. Thank goodness when morning came we had a Forza coffee shop nearby to get a latte. And we got to cook AND eat breakfast indoors. THAT was nice. Especially the yummy pancakes and eggs that Tim & Heather cooked. All in all, it was a fun time and I was (I hope) a good sport but I am NOT camping anywhere in a tent other than a backyard! Seriously!

The kids, however, had a fabulous time. :) Here are a couple pictures - and yes, Heather, I left out the "morning after" shots.

Cool Slideshows!

Busy, busy, busy...
Is it just me or is this summer flying by? I know it started a bit later for us with school going until the end of June....and maybe it's because we really haven't had much warm weather...but it seems like school is just around the corner! So we have been trying to "suck the marrow out of summer" so to speak. :)
What have the Guay's been up to in August??? A lot of golfing for Dan, all-day shopping trip for Melissa, Point Defiance Zoo, free movie (Happy Feet) at night at the Point Defiance Zoo, Dan took Ainsley to a Seahawks scrimmage game, MOPS networking night for Melissa, going away party for our friends the Owen's, two days visiting Dan's parents in Mabton with an EARLY tee time for Dan & Hayley, lunch & kite flying and bubbles at Grandma & Grandpa's at Covenant Shores.....and that's just the first two weeks and so many more things on the calendar! I think we're all going to be glad for the school year to start and get back to a schedule and normal bedtimes...probably no less busy though. Here are some recent pictures.....

Cool Slideshows!

How about some artistic talents...

Okay, I know I'm the mom and completely biased but I had to show-off this picture that Ainsley drew. It's a mermaid! Holding a balloon! And apparently has some kind of pearl necklace on....unless that's the misplaced shell bikini top. :)

Hayley also wanted an honorable mention with her drawing of "Ponyville" -she got a My Little Pony sweet shop for her bday and this is her rendition. I love stuff like this and both of them LOVE to spend the day drawing like crazy.