Dear Santa, all I want for xmas is.....

December has been quite the month for us.....with that said I postponed Santa's visit until 12/23 when my mom and brother came into town, figured it would be a fun experience for them to witness. Ummm...I should have really thought about it....The line for Santa at our first stop was 2 hours and 23 minutes....that was a no....then we drove to the next mall and ended up waiting an hour in the freezing cold. Thank goodness for heat lamps.

We also tackled zoo lights, which neither my mom or brother have seen, so that was fun, it was cold but the kids did great. We had some fun, as you will see from the photos. Ryan and I also attended a couple of holiday parties so I thought to commemorate the numerous times we had to dress up to include a photo.

Christmas Eve we went to mass at our parish for the children's mass, then came home and enjoyed a feast and got ready to open gifts! Mila and Anya received a traditional Polish Dancer's costume from Santa Poland, and she didn't hesitate to slip it on immediately. It was beautiful. I will post one of Anya as soon as she sits still long enough for me to put it on her. I might be able to squeeze into mine...although no promsies....Our Christmas sadly flew by, but was memorable nevertheless.

Hi Ho Hi Ho...it's off to cut a xmas tree down...

We have started a tradition with our friends the Elmgren's to travel 10 minutes up to NW Heights to cut our xmas tree down. This is the 2nd year we have done this....$25 for any tree....it's perfect, the kids run around, I drive Ryan crazy picking out the perfect tree, Ryan dreads cutting the tree down and carrying it to the car. Happy family outing... ;-) We make it look so easy right....Anya is the only one that is real in these photos, tell us what you really think...:-)

NYC Marathon

Ryan accomplished an amazing thing this year......26.2 miles in NYC. Ryan trained for months to compete in the NYC marathon this year and he finished it (maybe with a little bit of a struggle) in 4 hours 22 minutes and 20 seconds. GOOOO Ryan! I was his biggest fan. Ryan and his good friend Jason committed to each other that they would run this race together. Jason being no rookie to the marathon's told Ryan he would stay with him the entire race so that they could finish together (wipe the tear from my eye). It was pretty cool, I know this is about Ryan but I jumped in at mile 16 and ran up to mile marker 24 and pulled out before I got kicked out. It was such a fun experience to witness, although I have to admit I wanted badly to have a bib number and feel the rush that thousands experienced. We also had the opportunity to see friends that we met when we were wth the Sacramento Kings, so that was a treat! Matt and Lindsay showed us around and introduced us to some NYC culture....yummy!

Before Marathon/After Marathon...can you say dehydrated!!!!!

Kaya

Thankful for my precious family...

This year Ryan and I packed up the kids and drove to California.....made a stop or two but had a great trip down to visit with family. The kids visited with their friends, as did I, and we had the opportunity to see almost the entire family. On our way back to Portland, we stopped in a little town called Glendale where we surprised the kids with our new addition....Kaya.

Cheet Cheet...aka Trick Or Treat

Auntie Kelly & Lilly come to visit....

Kelly Belly came to visit us in October. Her husband Chris had the opportunity to golf the one and only Bandon Dunes so what better reason for Kelly to travel with Chris and bring their 1 year old daughter Lilly for a visit Auntie Emilia and Uncle Ryan....We had so much fun, Ryan was a trooper and babysat while Kelly and I played. It was so great to see my sweet friend, who has been to Portland 3 or 4 times since we moved here so it's fun for her to see how Portland changes each time she visits.