Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

It'a the MOST wonderful time of the year....

Christmas has hit at the Crossley house! We made our annual trip to the tree farm this year the day after Thanksgiving. The drive to Belfair is SO worth the selection. Mike took the usual hour to find the first tree. And, yes, I said first... "We" decided that we needed TWO trees this year.

(dancing to the Christmas music piped around the farm)

(Sweet babies, Gabe almost 3- Gigi almost 18mo)

(pretty girl)

(mountain man)

(carring tree #1 back)

(G Helping with my turn on tree #2)

(as my dad (classy man) would say, our Fam Damnly)

(Yeah, that's a big tree)

(The "small" tree in the living room)

(The big tree fills our dining room.... it's over 13ft if you were wondering.)

The absolute best part of the trees? Each morning since we've put them up, when Gabe and I go to get Gigi in the morning, he tells her, Come see Christmas, Gigi!!" We are SOOO STOKED about how excited the kids are this year!

Things that make me smile.

Thanksgiving

I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving; I know we did. This year was a new experience for us. Now that we live with Cassi and Jamie, Cassi and I often try to find ways to host guests. Being that this is the first year they've been home for the holidays in 6 or 7 years, their families were eager to spend the time with them. She and I had this grand idea to host Thanksgiving for all our moms (Mike and Cassi's, Jamie's, and mine).

Making the guest list, we watched it grow quickly as spouses, siblings, and even a few aunts and uncles joined the group, but we were up to the task. Cassi is the ultimate delegator- so much better than I- and had her little spreadsheet that matched guests with things to bring. When Thanksgiving arrived, it was really very stress free (even with a table set for 23!)

Everything went great and we are already planning the next social event here... probably my sweet baby Gabey's 3RD BIRTHDAY next month.

(even my kids were good! They helped out with the cleaning before everyone arrived!) ((sorry it's sideways, my iMovie hates me today))

I love you, Christia!

And, I miss you already! Thank you so much for wanting to spend the weekend with us! I'm lucky to call you my friend! There's no one I would rather have watched New Moon with than you! I hope your flight was fast and safe and that your boys are happy to see you! I love you!

New frickin' Moon

I have been bottling up my excitement for going on three months now, but this Friday is going to be an amazing day! I can't wait for some great memory-making time! Seriously, pee your pants excited.

So grown up.

Every Thursday, I have an adorable little guy by the name of Jett come hang out with the kids and I. He is four years old with the energy to match Gabe. The kids have a blast and I love that they are completely WORN out by the end of the afternoon, however, so am I!

This week, after he left. I was antsy to get out of the house. Mike works Thursdays so I'm usually bored/free to do something...anything. We made a quick stop to say "HI" to Mike at work then swung by my mom's. Now-a-days, with it being SOO dark out SOO early, I was almost bummed to realize it was only 6pm after all was done.

I wasn't quite ready to head home for the night so I decided to take the kids to McDonalds to play on the toys. It wasn't too crowed and eventually cleared out completely. The crazy part was my BABY GIRL!

Now, I know Gabe was getting regular play dates at the park at her age, but he's always seemed more.... physically advanced. Gigi has always been my klutzy, scaredy cat baby; NOT YESTERDAY! My little girl climbed through the play place all by herself- numerous times! She didn't cry or get stuck once (which is a good thing, because I DON'T climb in play toys) She did, however, figure out the way through the toy to the slide and she did that a dozen times!

I was also proud of G. Ever the big brother, I could hear him saying, "This way, Gigi.... Good boy, Gigi.... I wuv you, Gigi." the whole time they were playing.

My kids are all grown up. It's a sad day for a mom.

Spokane, Teriyaki and Pee.

There aren't three things with less in common...

Except in my life.

Mike and I were very lucky to be able to go to Spokane last Sunday for a day trip. I know, "Spokane" and "day trip" don't really belong in the same sentance, however, it was well worth the hours and miles put on the road.

We've been blessed with an amazing couple that is both friend and mentor to us. They were so generous as to open their home to us and a few others for a couple hours of amazing fellowship, inspiration and dream building.

(Mikal, Brad and Hakeem)

(Me, Cassi, Julie and Angela)

(my favorite, $900 Loubs)

(this is only SOME of Julie's shoe collection. If you can't tell, there's a second row behind all of those. Take THAT, Mariah Carey.)

The heart and the word that were shared with us, along with the tough love and motivation is worth more than enough to drive 10 hrs everyday for.

Thank you, Brad and Julie and Steve and Ang!

Teriyaki...

Mike and I have always enjoyed going out to eat. Our love for food is matched by my laziness in the kitchen. When G was little, we ate out probably 3-4 nights a week... then he turned 1. He suddenly was no longer as interested by the food in front of him as he was the the salt and pepper shakers or the whatever-it-was across the room.

We quickly ended family dinners out.

By the time Gigi was born, we were in the routine of being home for dinners. Our time out was only when we had babysitters for the kids. With the exception of lunch when Gigi was 3 or 4 WEEKS old, we have never had both kids in a restaurant at the same time.

We decide to try for the first time, last night, with a quick trip out for Teriyaki. We, literally, sat in the car outside and debated whether we should carry out or dine in.

25 minutes later and with full bellies, we happily finished our first family dinner out. The kids were reasonably well behaved; Gabe only crawled onto the table once and Gigi only yelled for a few minutes until her food came.

We both considered it a success.

Pee...

In the very recent past, when Gabe was asked if he wanted to use the potty, his reply was, "no way!". I was SURE that Gianna would be the first to potty train given that she has gone numerous times and the ONLY time Gabe had ever gone was ONCE when Lindsey was babysitting.

Yesterday, during one of his attempts to change the subject whilst getting in trouble, he said, "go potty on the potty, mommy!"

I almost didn't fall for it because his deception tactic is commonly used during punishment or things he doesn't want to do.

Thank GOD I took him in!

Gabe went 3 times yesterday and 4 times already today! I feel like we've FINALLY crossed over the threshold and we can start the official training. Even better, I think Gigi will be there right along with him! Fingers crossed, I could have two potty trained babies in the early New Year.

In this town we call home, everyone hail to the pumpkin song

This is Halloween. This is Halloween. Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!

Holidays are amazing with my husband. He is suck a big kid; there is no detail spared. This Halloween was no exception.

This year, we made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. After a few years, we returned to Maris Farms (the first time with the kids) and we really had a blast! What a HUGE event! Monster truck rides, corn mazes, pony rides, bouncy toys, canons that shoot pumpkins! There was so much to do! Unfortunately, we got there a little late so we didn't get to do EVERYTHING, but the kids had a really great time and were SO good.

For Mike, holiday spirit is helped along by great themed movies. In the past, we've looked for them on TV, but this year we decided to add a few to our movie collection. The Nightmare Before Christmas and Monster House are two of our favorites, so I was stoked to find them!

The movies were on full blast while we had our Pumpkin Carving Party. Hot apple cider, roasted pumpkin seeds and hours of carving really got us in the mood.

We were worried that Gabe might be afraid of the scariness that is The Nightmare... creepy things, red eyes, severed heads. What were we thinking? ... Gabe's not scared of anything. ;) To the contrary! HE LOVED IT; watching it over and over again, memorizing the songs, reciting the whole movie. He's such a fun kid.

We were SO ready for Halloween to get here. We practiced saying "trick or treat" and they wore their costumes for the 2 days before just to add to the excitement. With all that, Halloween night was no disappointment!

We kept with the tradition of the last few years, driving to grandma and grandpa's house as our first stop.

(mommy taking a picture of Gigi taking her own picture...she's SUCH a diva)

(My own personal Space Ranger)

(I guess you could call her a "leopard ballerina", but "Cute" works, too)

We also made a surprise stop by my dad's house, which he seemed to appreciate. He doesn't get to see them very often.

Keeping with our tradition of the last few years (even before babies of our own), we met up with Mike's parents and his little brother and sister (now 9 and 7!) and went trick or treating around Tapps Island.

The kids were SO good, the weather was a PERFECT Halloween night, and the candy gettin' was good!

Gabe quickly got into the groove; knocking, "trick or treat"ing, and, most importantly to mom, "thank you"ing!

What I didn't expect, which -in hind sight- I CLEARLY should have, was Gigi's love for all things trick or treating. She walked up to almost as many houses as Gabe and said "thank you" (or, her version anyway) almost everytime... but my little piggy, Gigi, was only satisfied if she had candy in her mouth- at all times. Literally. She ate through wrappers, stole, whatever it took.

Sugar high-ing

Trying to eat a Reeses wrapper off... (and, Yes, Mike has black contacts in)

We had such a great time this year; I can't wait for next! But, first up... THANKSGIVING! YAY for HOLIDAYS!