December 28th

This week is flying by! I think having Christmas on a Tuesday, which felt like a Sunday, made it even more so.

This morning we didn't really do too much. Brad, his mom, and the boys worked on a puzzle. I was getting things done around the house. Lina continues to stay in her room, playing with her new Christmas gifts. Nana wanted to go see Snoqualmie Falls, so we all got ready and headed down to the falls about 11:30am. There was quite a crowd there. It was a beautiful day, with blue skies, and sunshine. The mist was pretty heavy on the observation deck so we all got a little wet. We went down to the lower deck as well and got some pictures down there. The kids hopped around on the rocks. I took a photo of a couple trying to take their own picture.

Nana loves to stop at the gift shop so we went inside to look around. The kids were anxious to spend their Christmas money and found some fun things. Bird bought a t-shirt that has forest animals dressed up like Star Wars characters. It says, "May the FOREST be with you.". Krish and Lina both bought bags of pretty rocks to add to their rock collections. Merek picked out a green leather pouch that looks like a bear. He is happy to have a little purse and asked me if I could give him some money to put inside of it. I gave him a dime and a quarter.

We came home and had leftovers for lunch. Brad and the kids played in the backyard--football, volleyball, soccer. It was such a nice day!

Brad wanted to take his mom to the Microsoft store at Bellevue Square. The boys did NOT want to go to the mall but we convinced them by reminding them of the Lego Store there. They could spend the rest of their Christmas money there. The mall was really crowded. The M's (mom, Miranda, and Merek) headed to Macy's and the rest of the group went to the Microsoft store. Miranda got a cream top to go with a skirt she had from her birthday. I looked but didn't see anything I wanted. On our way back to meet up with the family, we went into the Impress Store. I love stopping in there and seeing all the crafty goodness. I bought a Studio Calico 6x6 Wonderland paper pad that was 40% off. Brad took the boys to the Lego Store, where they each got some new legos, and then we went into Jamba Juice to get everyone a smoothie.

While Brad took his mom to the Oil and Vinegar store, the girls and Merek joined me at Eddie Bauer. I had a gift card from mom and dad to spend there. There was a good sale going on--two tees, two sweaters, and a button-down flannel shirt. And a new necklace, too. (Ok, I spent a little more than my gift card). Brad took the boys into the Mariners' store and Krish got a new set of Mariners' cards. They stopped at the popcorn store, too, for popcorn to share when we got home.

Since it was almost dinnertime, we decided to go to Maggiano's for dinner. But the wait was going to be 1 hr and 15 minutes. We ordered food to go. While we waited, I took the boys to the waterfall structure and the escalators. I let them go up and come back down once by themselves. A woman that got off the escalator after them said to me as she walked by, "They are horribly misbehaved!" Um, wow, thanks for letting me know. It completely made me feel awful and that I am a bad mother. I know what they did to make her say that. Because I saw them go up the escalator and come back down and they weren't doing anything bad. I guess maybe while changing from the up to the down they did something. I don't know. But it made me reevaluate my parenting and maybe some things I can do differently to make sure the kids are well-behaved in public.

Brad told me to go to the Paper Source store while we continued to wait for the food. I browsed around and checked out the holiday items on sale. There was a snowflake punch I thought about buying but ended up putting it back. I can cut out snowflakes with my Slice. I did enjoy looking at the different journals they had there. I met back up with everyone at the elevators and we came home to enjoy our delicious Italian meal.

Krish and Bird went upstairs to work on their new Lego sets. Brad and I visited with his mom while Miranda worked on homework. It was my pick for movie night. So about 8pm, we all gathered in the Family room and watched Despicable Me. We didn't have treats because it was a non-sugar day. We'd had too much junk the previous days and decided we needed a break from unhealthy food.

After the movie the kids all said goodnight and goodbye to Nana. Her flight is early in the morning. We are happy she was able to come and spend Christmas with us.