Second Annual Cookie Exchange

Friday, December 11th my good friend Hilary hosted her Second Annual Cookie Exchange. We all bring 6 dozen cookies/bars/baked goods to exchange and we leave with that many, as long as we don't eat any along the way. No guarantees with that! We (The Zdeneks) were looking forward to this weeks prior! And we were not disappointed with the outcome!

The spread
All of us girls!
Standing: Me, Natalie, Molly, Wendy holding Vienna, Stephanie (prego w/her 3rd and Karen
Kneeling: Kelsie, Elesha and Emily
Sitting: Nadine, Hilary and Sarah

Santa Brunch

The morning of December 6th, we went to (what was our 2nd time) the annual Santa Brunch at Mill Creek Country Club. My grandparents have been member's at MCCC for over 30 years. They invited us to bring the girls for brunch last year and we are hoping to continue this tradition year after year.

My wonderful Grandma, Claire and my mom, Shannon

My brother, Ryan and sister Rachael

Nephews, Kaden (5) and Trent (8) and Payton (4 on February 2)

Our little Marilyn Monroe, Gracie (18 mo)

I asked the girls to stand in front of the tree for a picture, but they decided to lay down instead. We had a wonderful time at brunch with our family. Yummy food, great company and a wonderful tradition.

Happy 32nd Birthday Ryan!

Saturday, December 5th was Ryan's 32nd Birthday. He wanted to spend it with his friends doing what he doesn't get to do very often, sing karaoke. We all met up for dinner at Shawn O'Donnells in Everett and then headed to the 13th AVE Pub in Lynnwood for karaoke. It was super fun night, but Ryan and I both reverted back to when we were 21 and drank WAY TOO much!!!!! We realized the next morning that we just can't do it like we used to! We both had a great time though and Ryan said it was one of his most favorite birthdays to date!

Tiffany and I (Jake in the background)

Ryan singing "Pour Some Sugar on Me"

Trish and Matt dancing romantically to Willy Nelson

Trish sandwich

Ryan, Matt, Trish and Jake

Ryan and I

*****WARNING*****

Very funny video of Ryan and Jason singing Meatloaf's "I would do Anything for Love"... BUT If you are sensitive to expletives, do not proceed.. There are a few choice words in this video.

Snowflake Lane

The evening of December 4th, Ryan and I took the girls to Snowflake Lane in Bellevue. This is the first year we had ever been, but had heard wonderful things about it! They have drummers, fairy princesses, polar bears, penguins, "snow", and a 15 minute show of Christmas music. It was so fun and the girls had a great time and so did Ryan and I! We hope to make this a yearly tradition that we as a family can look forward to doing together.

One of the drummer boys
We had dinner at Red Robin before hand and had the most perfect spot amongst the performance right outside of the restaurant.

Payton and Ryan being "snowed" on.

Charlotte and Gracie

We met up with some friends as well. It was so fun!

Hudson

Payton trying to catch the snow

The Storey family

Hudson, Ryan, Hilary, and Charlotte

The Roehl Family

Shane, Hailey, Chris, and Judith (in the stroller)

The Zdenek Family

Ryan, Melissa, Gracie and Payton

The Nutcracker

On December 4th I took the girls to The Nutcracker at The Edmonds Center for the Arts. It was a smaller production of the much loved ballet, but it was perfectly geared towards the younger more miniature crowd. During intermission they explained everything and showed how the ballerinas could go up onto their toes, what controlled the lights, and how everyone who was apart of the production was a valuable member to make it a success.

We met up with a few of our friends and Payton was very excited to share seats with them! Gracie sat on my lap during the show and we made it over half way until she got a bit antsy and needed to stretch her legs.

Allie, Jordan and Payton after the show
Payton and Jordan pretending to sleep like the ballerinas

Gracie and Taylor

Gracie and Maddie

We had a wonderful time at the Nutcracker. I'm hoping to make this a tradition for the girls every year. I know it's something they will always enjoy!

Tree or shelf? Tough call..

While I was drinking my coffee this morning, I noticed these sweet decorations in our tree.

Gracie's cup has a pink lid..

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Last Saturday Payton and I put up our Christmas tree and decorated the house. Ryan put up our Christmas lights outside too! Our house is ready!

Gracie and Payton admiring the large "TOY" that is now in our living room.

Thankful

We have so much to be thankful for. Every year I am more and more appreciative for what God has blessed me with. We have been thrown a few rocky roads, but the road for the most part has been pretty smooth.

Sadly this year we lost my Grandpa in May. With the holidays here, I find myself missing him more and more. Every time I go to my Grandparents house it still feels like he just isn't home and he's out playing golf and will be home later. However, Thanksgiving made it more real that Grandpa is no longer here on earth with us. This year it was important for me to be with my Grandma on Thanksgiving. I'm truly thankful for the time that I had with him and for the person that he was! I am so thankful to have such amazing Grandparents! I wish everyone could have these two fabulous individuals in their lives!

It gets hard this time of year with trying to see everyone during the holidays. Especially since Ryan and I both work in retail and both of us don't have weekends off. Trying to coordinate days and/or evenings that we can meet up with family for dinner to celebrate a holiday, gets especially tough. Hopefully our family that we didn't get to see knows how thankful we are to have them in our lives and hopefully we get to spend time with them soon!

Sadly, Ryan was sick, so he stayed home. I took the girls to Grandma's for a yummy Thanksgiving dinner. There were only ten of us, total. Many were sick, but were in our hearts as we gave thanks.

My pumpkin making pumpkin bread

Thanksgiving morning Payton and I got up and made pumpkin bread. Every year for as long as I can remember, one of my aunts would make pumpkin bread for all of us to snack on before Thanksgiving dinner. My brother and I have always LOVED this yummy bread, so our aunts would bring a couple of extra loaves for us to take home as well!

A few years ago, my aunt passed down our "secret" family recipe for this delicious bread. Now I make the bread every fall for my little family, and we all love it!!!!!!!

My little helper
I told her that she wouldn't/shouldn't lick the batter. It's not like cookie dough.

Ready to go in the oven.

Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of our final product. It was so fabulous and Payton and I were very proud of our end result. I'm sure we will be making more this weekend!

Giving up on chairs

Our girls have found another alternative to sitting in chairs...

...the baskets that hold their pretend food and dishes.
Looks like I can invest in different furniture!

Fancy Family Fun

A couple of weeks ago we had some family pictures taken in Seattle and afterwards, Payton and I went to a Fancy Nancy event at Borders. Fancy Nancy is one Payton's favorite book series and loves her Fancy Nancy doll, game, books, stickers, pretty much anything that has to do with Fancy Nancy. Since we were headed home from Seattle we stopped by Borders in Alderwood, but weren't dressed very fancy. Thankfully it wasn't a very "fancy" event. It was a book reading (which Payton already had the newest Fancy Nancy Christmas book) and some coloring. Payton was a little disappointed in the event, so I came up with an alternative. She and I headed downstairs for our own little "tea party" of hot chocolate and a latte. Yummy!

Afterwards we met up with Ryan and Gracie for lunch, who had been patiently waiting in the mall for us to be done. We all headed over to Claim Jumper, one of our family favs, for lunch.

Me and my Gracie-girl

They're so silly and SO MUCH alike!!!

My girls and I

Such a fun family Saturday!

They call her "The Streak"