1st snow as long as I can remember...Seattle

Home to the Northwest, where it's been at least 10 years since we've had snow at Christmas. And though it was only a light dusting, it was really lovely.


...& Joe got to play with his mom's doggies, Katie and Kyle.







Cupcakes in Ballard



The New Seatle Art Museum Art Park...



with Kerry!
After a lovely stay at the Antezana B&B...(with all the amenities, including snack bar!)...

We popped by our friends Sarah & Michelle's house and visited my old pet cat Sheila - the meanest little Calico you ever met. After 16 years, she's still got a bad attitude and bunny-soft fur.

NOTE: It's been a few weeks and we've come home and promptly forgotten to update the blog with photos.  Grandmas are not happy, so I better start putting some picture packs together!  So I'll call this good for the holidays, and start fresh (after next post) for the new year.  

From Twin to Olympia, the xmas journey continues...

A last look at Twin, with a swing by the house I was born in, as we say goodbye to my sister and her family! What a great trip (much thx to my sister for planning the whole thing and my mother for footing the bill).





Next stop, Olympia...

Christmas in Twin Falls

Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go...
This Christmas we decided to really pull out all the stops and, courtesy of Kirk's mom, Collene, the entire family made the trek from around the country to Twin Falls to celebrate Grandma Virginia's 89th birthday (and Christmas) (one of the most loving, giving and openly sweet Grandmas ever made. But she's not taking any chances:)



With protection squarely placed on the fridge, and a home decorated with my grandfather's incredible welded sculptures we congregated for some gift giving, reminiscing and song (see previous post).

Kirk and Brynn Share a scarfelupegus moment. (Grandma and Grandpa's Idaho landscape looks on in the background).

Braeden's matching winter set - courtesy of Canal street, NYC.

Collene's Finger Puppet Show!  "Show me on the Reindeer where Santa placed his package."

Alex brought her better half, Brandon! (or is it Branden).  Anyway - it was great to meet him!  What a sweet guy!  What a great match.

Brynn attempted to ruin every picture with her "facebook" pose.  Good thing she's cute!  Rich...well...good thing he's talented!  LOL

The crazy fam 2007:
We took Grandma down to the college to see Grandpa's magnificent welded sculpture "Born Free" which fly's over the courtyard of the campus.

We all got together with my cousin Rondi and her family at Red Lion Inn for a big Birthday dinner for Grandma.  Unfortunately, the lighting and my crappy camera meant that most of the pictures came out blurry. ( I need a new SLR  digital camera. Santa, add it to the list!)

Merry Christmas and Happy 89th Birthday Grandma!

The Lazy J Ranch presents the Garrett family Singers

And now - in the spirit of Christmas, Grandma Virginia presents, live, from the Lazy J Ranch in Twin Falls, Idaho...The Garrett Family Singers:

Getting Creative with the Christmas Cookies

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

So we thought we should make some festive cookies!

Jocelyn and Alexa help us give these Christmas cookies the artistic flair they deserve!  




with dough from "milk and cookies", my special frosting and the considerable talents of the ladies at hand, we were certain to produce some incredible cookies!...

It's time to play Name that cookie:

...alright, so maybe there was something in the frosting, or maybe it was the wine, but the cookies took a "dark", surreal turn; lincoln with a candy cane on his forehead, ponies with bleeding bottoms, bloody axes, hammers and saws, suicides, eggs, broken hearts...less Cookies of Christmas past and more Cookies of Christmas' stress yet to come.  

Satisfied with our "artist accomplishments", we sacked out to bask in our own creative gory...I mean glory.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

With the first snow falling, we decided it was time to break out the vintage Aluminum Christmas tree (thx sis for finding this for us!). It's the PERFECT tree for our new place and though we're not really set up to decorate fully, the tree makes us feel just a little bit like Christmas.



Krampas makes a guest appearance on our tree (the red devil of German Christmastime).



Chubba was a really uncertain about the snow, having never experienced it before in his life. He gave it a try, but opted to stay inside (the other cats literally ran from the door in terror, opting to observe from the safety of the window.

You can move across the country,

...but you never lose your best friends.

You KNOW I must love these people, if I would opt for the best picture of someone else instead of picking MY best pic.  And with that in mind...Happy Birthday Kiki!:

CUPCAKES!...

Our great friends from LA came to town for a big event at Lincoln Center (which was amazing and fun).  And the best part, was that it was also Kiki's birthday.  So Joe and I ran up to Magnolia bakery (home of the best cupcakes in NYC...seriously!) grabbed a box full, grabbed a cab and took our very lovely ladies out to Snack Taverna in the West Village.  We had fabulous food and a fantastic time.

Since we had a few days together we took the opportunity to get together as much as possible:

Shopping Soho...

Eating at our favorite restaurants...

Taking in "the arts"...

...and walking around in the COLD COLD COLD!

 It was so great having them here, and we're gonna miss them SO MUCH!  Thx for spending your vacation with us kids!  We love you all!