Christmas time things

I'm getting so bad at blogging lately.  Too much stuff is going on!  I'll try to encompass everything in this one update and Christmas post since I'll probably forget if I don't.

First of all and probably most serious is my mama found out she has breast cancer.  I haven't seen anyone moping about it though, and she seemed to tackle her first chemo treatment yesterday alright (still feeling good the next day).  We don't know too much yet since she didn't have scans on other parts, but the doctors have flown into action, and were great at making appointments (during Christmas and New Years weeks to boot) so I think everyone is just taking it as it goes.  They seem to have a good plan of attack, so I guess we just hope all goes according to plan!  You know how when you're sick and you have to do things (like work) you can get through the day OK but if you lay on the couch you're like out out out and can't move?  They said she can probably still work if she does chemos on Fridays since you're mostly just crappy the next day so she's taking that "keep moving" approach.  Everyone is just so busy that its probably best not to waste time and energy moping or worrying all over the place.  It was less than ideal time with the holidays though.

Speaking of the holidays, our Christmas/Eve went ok.  We did the usual parents house for spaghetti and presents the night before and our house the next day.  It was kind of chaotic as usual but Santa brought Sawyer his Octonauts so the kids have been thrilled since.  My mom got Sawyer a different Octopod too so he has all sorts of Octonauts toys now which is his absolute favorite thing in the world and he spends all day asking to watch or actually watching the show (we have like 50 episodes recorded on the TV).  I got Andy a Seahawks jersey and he let me choose 4 work out tank tops (and a jacket thing).  My parents got me a sweet hiking water bottle bum bag too since I always take those string cleat bags which hurt after awhile. The kids also got a year family pass from Davey to the Seattle Aquarium since Sawyer just loves sea creatures now thanks to Octonauts.  Davey set it up super cute where they were invited to be "Junior Octonauts" but I think the kids just saw their stuffed Kwaziis in there and didn't grasp what they were actually getting.

I loved my wrapping job for mom & dad's. The tag says "pull here"

Pipes learned to open her own puffs container in an adorable fashion

My dad opening their gift- you pull the string and a ton of tiny liquor bottles come out

The end had a Total Wine and More giftcard.  They all got a hoot out of the presentation

The night before.  We couldn't wrap gifts until then because Kellan would open them

Christmas morning

The Octopod he asked Santa for

My mom got this for Kel and he loves loves loves it

Sawyer's words were "this will be perfect for exercise". Weirdo. This kid also loves burpees so...

Yum!  lasagna cupcakey things, salmon bites, meatballs, fancy corn, cheesy broccoli rice, croissants, pierogies and  my favorite holiday season drink, cranberry sierra mist

Piper and Brighton were learning how to play

Everyone seemed to get a kick out of my makeshift ice cream cone by putting fudge in my krumkake

Tall grandpa and Karen came later and played one of the kids' new games, HHH

My new tanks with references to Harry Potter, Zelda, Mario, and Bridesmaids

Hiking waist pack

I have stuck with CrossFit and have been having so much fun.  I'm also not so sore to the point I can't move anymore and I'm kind of improving.  The first day (using the assistance bands) I had a hard time doing 5 or 10 pull ups and I just busted out 47 yesterday which makes me feel better.  I'm still learning proper form so I'm still on "easy" but I am allowed to add a bit of weight now compared to just using the barbell bars so that's fun.  I'm getting blisters from the pull ups and rowing machines too but that's kind of cool.  I also love that I'm hanging out with Jenna a lot more lately because of it.

Sawyer wants to watch Octonauts all day but he always has the most hilarious and obscure sea creature facts so it's kind of cute.

Kellan copies everything Sawyer does which is adorable and also likes Octonauts.  He actually says "Oc-naut" which is cool because mostly he just talks gibberish sentences unless you actually ask him to say something specific.  My favorite part is the creature report when Kellan dances.  Other favorite words he'll say on his own being "mine" "nooooo!" "Saw"(for Sawyer) "so-so" (for sorry if he hurts you- he pets you when he says it) "apple" "mommy" "daddy" "juice" and "book."

Sawyer is starting my old preschool and he loves it after the 2 trial days he did.  He said it's his favorite place.

Andy is getting overworked since they are short guys and they make him drive all over the place.  It is quite frustrating but luckily the kids are right on my way home from CrossFit so I can snag them on my way home on time.

That's all I can think of right now.  It's New Year's Eve and we both had to work (me from home) and not sure what we're doing tonight or if we're staying up even, haha.  I go to bed at like 8:30 now which is earlier than the kids even since I wake up at 4am.  I'm super lame.  The kids and Andy will probably celebrate midnight ;)

More Christmas-y things

The last couple days have been very festive!

On Sunday we headed up to Seattle to see the PNB's The Nutcracker.  I had seen it when I was like 11 and have been wanting to see it since.  It is the last year of the Stowell/Maurice Sendack (he does "Little Bear" next year they are using a new director and the artist that does "Olivia Pig") set so I told Andy we HAD to go.  I LOVE dance so I was sooooooo excited when he got tickets.  The Seattle Center (where McCaw Hall is) had a winterfest going on so we got to hear a band while we ate our burgers beforehand.

You can't take pics of the actual ballet but it was AMAZING.  It is so pretty I could watch all day.  I wish I had those skills.

Afterwards, we went over to Greenlake.  It was quite convenient because The Oatmeal (a hilarious web comic that lives in the area and did the "Beat the Blerch" run) decided about a week ago he would post a last minute fun run in the dark around Greenlake (which is a 5k or you could do 2 laps for 10k).  The requirements were to dress obnoxiously Christmas-y and be sure to wear battery operated lights.  You can't really see mine in the pic because they are on my hat.  It was SO cool though.  There were at least a couple hundred people and they had a drone take footage (you can find on my or his FB page for the video).  It was one of the coolest runs I've seen.  You could see people's reflections in the lake which was neat.

My parents watched the kids and Sawyer decorated an old gingerbread man...then ate all the candies off.

On Monday evening we did our make-up trip to Fantasy Lights since our last one they were closed due to wind knocking down displays.  It is fun because you just drive through 2 miles of awesome displays that phone pics will never do justice.  It is funny because all the kids get out of their car seats and sit up front with their parents and hang out of the sun roof and the boys just loved every minute of it.  It was also funny to see babies driving cars.  The speed max is 5mph so it wasn't dangerous (trust me, I'm one for car seat safety).  They extended the half price nights so we definitely got our $7/car worth.  It was so pretty!

A first attempt at CrossFit

I've been feeling like a tub of lard the last few weeks.  With the holidays and Andy's work having him do a ton of OT, we keep eating fast food and the regular holiday treats.  Add the fact that we all kept getting colds and I was just feeling like blubber (which is what the cookie cutter shark eats because it is easiest to bite- thank you Sawyer for giving me that bit of info.)

I kept seeing people post their CrossFit photos (as usual) on FB and decided to ask Jenna about it.  She flipped out and got so excited that I wanted to try it.  She is obsessed with it.  We decided I could go with her this evening after work.  She is a server so doesn't have a lot of evenings free.

If you don't know what it is, you're probably living under a rock, or not on Facebook, but I've seen a few competitions on ESPN and they explain it as a lot of varied exercises that are usually done quickly.  They are made to be more reasonable workouts that you would need in emergencies or every day life.  For example, you probably would never need to run a marathon, but you might have to sprint somewhere, or you might have to pull yourself up on something or open a difficult pickle jar versus ride your bike 50 miles (well, unless you commute on your bike, but I digress.)  They use pretty minimal equipment, and from what I saw, it seems to just be weights, pull-up bars, medicine balls, jump ropes, and rowing machines but I'm sure I missed some stuff.  There were a few tires they probably flip around.  It is mostly about strength.

We waited for the owner to get there so I could sign a waiver and stuff, then she started my personal workout.  They call them WOD's (workout of the days).  She was helping me since I was new.  I'll get the easy ones for awhile and she said you don't start to build intensity until like a month in so don't go until you throw up or anything.  We started with a warm up.  500 meter row, 10 push ups, 10 sit-ups, 10 squats, 5 pull-ups.  Now, I have no arm muscles.  I never had arm muscles.  They have bands to assist you (stick your foot in a giant rubber band) in the pull-ups and I still had a hell of a time pulling up.  Then we did it again.  I was almost dizzy by then.  We then stretched, then did the work out.  It was 7 minutes long and you do 7 wall balls (squat with a medicine ball and throw it as you stand back up) then 7 push ups.  Let me tell you, 7 minutes is a long time!  It was really hard! Afterwards we just laid on our backs to rest.  My legs are pretty muscular so I didn't completely die in the bottom half of my body, and I can do sit-ups all day, but my arms are DEAD.  I hope I can build more leg muscles though because I've started loving the look of a muscular physique.

You get a week free so I think I'll go back a few times this week.  I'm a little intimidated since Jenna won't be there though.  Everyone was really nice though and friendly and encouraging.  I will see how it goes and probably sign up.  They even have a play area so you can take your kids.

Afterwards we went to Qdoba where Jenna taught Sawyer how to eat a taco properly.

All the Christmas-y things

Sunday morning we went to get our tree.  It was freezing and still had snow.  Actually, the 1/2 in. of snow still hasn't melted in a lot of spots and it is Wednesday.  Anyway, we got a tree in the snow, which was cool.

He was trying to do a model pose

After that we had an appointment to see Santa.  He is down at the fair now and they set up a Santa's house.  It is appointment only which means you don't have to stand in line forever.  Kellan was not a fan of Santa, but he never likes strangers at first so I knew that is exactly what would happen.

Later we decorated everything and Sawyer missed California grandma so they Skyped.  It was so cute and sad, he was just staring at their picture saying he missed them.  I had to take a picture.