Seeing Santa

We went to the mall in downtown Portland to see Santa this week. We got there early so the line wasn't too bad. It was fun 'cause all the cousins got to go together. Anna agreed to sit on Santa's lap and talk to him a little, but she doesn't look too happy about it.

Here's Matthew waiting by Santaland!

Karlee, Kallie and Anna waiting in line. Kallie was very sweet and walked around with little Karlee and Anna all day.

And we got a picture of all the cousins together. It was fun to have everyone there!

After seeing Santa all the kids got to sit in the old train.

Legend tells of a day when the train actually rode around the store - in less litigious days. Now we just get to sit in it.

After seeing Santa we walked over to Grandpa Guptill's office - also in downtown Portland. We took the town by storm! More Christmas adventures to come!

The New House

We closed on our house in Colorado this week...and then promptly left town for the holidays. As you can see it was a frosty day. I'm glad that we are finally done with the buying process...and after Christmas we'll start thinking about moving all our stuff in.

Taking down the tree

When Anna caught Scott taking down our Christmas tree tonight (since we are moving out of our TLF room tomorrow and Wednesday) she was very upset.

Anna: (crying) Why is Daddy taking away our Christmas tree?
Me: Because we're going to move out of this hotel room and go to Oregon for Christmas. And then when we come back we'll have a new house!
Anna: (still crying) ...but I don't want to leave this house and I don't want a new house. I like this house and I work here. This is where I work!
Me: (HUG!)

I'm tired of moving around too, Anna. About three more weeks til we are in a house with furniture! Maybe then we can settle down a bit. And hopefully our new house is conducive to your work.

Electric Safari

This weekend we went to the zoo in Colorado Springs - The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo - to see the Christmas lights there. The night we went the weather was really mild, mid 40s, so we weren't too uncomfortably cold. There was a lot of fun holiday and animal light displays. Very fun. Here we are by the grizzly with a big candy cane.

The zoo is up on the mountain and there is a sky ride (a ski lift really) that goes up and down the mountain. We stopped at the top to look around a little bit. We had a great view of Colorado Springs!

He we are riding the ski lift down again.

We got to see some animals. The giraffes were inside since it was cold. We actually got to feed the giraffes which was fun for the kids. Matthew was worried about the giraffes eating his gloves with their "dirty tongues", but it turned out ok. All the gloves were accounted for afterward.

Anna fed the giraffes too, although she wasn't as enthusiastic about it. It was hard to capture the cracker feeding moment on camera. A lot of my pictures turned out blurry. :( Scott is making sure her gloves don't get eaten.

There were plenty of little displays to climb and play on.
Matthew needed to explore each one.

Here is part of our little group (minus me) in the middle of our adventure. Anna was kind of sleepy.

Here's Matthew by the light up lion. We actually got to see a lot of real lions sitting together in their habitat - maybe trying to keep warm. I didn't get a picture of the real lions though.

Matthew poses on the zebra statue.

I liked this light display - a couple of bears catching fish in a stream. A lot of the light displays moved, which made it extra fun.

And we tried to take another picture looking out over the city, but it didn't turn out so well. Either because we weren't all making the best faces (or looking at the camera) or because it was dark. Santa was at the zoo too, but we didn't see him 'cause there was a long wait. One member of our little group was very disappointed not to see Santa, but we placated him by telling him he might see Santa next week in Oregon. :) We had a lot of fun seeing all the Christmas lights at the zoo and were so happy it wasn't too cold! We're looking forward to going back to the zoo again...maybe in the spring.

A Little More Snow

We woke up Friday morning to a surprise of a little more snow. We weren't expecting it this time and the kids were excited!! We went out and played at the playground and made a few snowballs. The kids (ok, Matthew) really wanted to wear his new snowsuit, even though it probably wasn't necessary. It did keep them warm though.

Everyone wanted to play on the swings.

Swinging on their bellies is their favorite way to swing right now.

Here's Matthew giving Anna a push. I don't know why she is just hanging there. Why does this picture remind me of A Christmas Story ("I can't put my arms down!")? The snow won't always be such a novelty to these kids, but we're having fun with the little bit of snow we got today.

A Little Snow Adventure

There was supposed to be a big snow yesterday. We told Matthew about it since he has been so excited to see snow. Unfortunately for him, the snowfall was much lighter than everyone was predicting. Matthew was very disappointed. While it was falling, he was so eager to go out and play in it, catch it in his hand and walk in the snow that had stuck to the sidewalk. I wasn't ready to go out with him, so I let him walk around in front of our room for a bit where I could see him.

He put on his own boots and coat (over some thermal underwear) so he could take a little snow walk.

He wanted to walk down the sidewalk to where the "big snow" was. He will be in for a surprise when he sees what big snow really is.

He was very sorry when I made him come inside again. I told him soon we would have a yard where he could run and play. Incidentally the concept of a yard is so foreign to him he calls them "parks." It's kind of sad. Every time we saw a good yard while house hunting, especially one with a swing set, he would call it a park. This kid needs a place to run and play! Soon enough, buddy.

...but it's a dry cold

We had a little time between story time and picking up Scott for lunch yesterday, so we stopped by a different playground. The kids had fun playing and Anna's hair was sticking up so much 'cause of the static. I kept trying to take a picture, but she doesn't always like getting her picture taken, and this was one of those days.

Here's Matthew climbing the shaky ladder. Anna climbed it too, while I spotted her. So grown up!

I kept trying to get a picture of the static hair, but Anna was pretty fast to run away from the camera.

And she wouldn't look at me.

Matthew, on the other hand, had no problem posing for a few pictures. He was having fun! We're still getting used to the cold dry weather, but it's fun to have a change of climate!

Decorating Cookies

We tried to make some roll out sugar cookies this year, and it kind of worked out. I bought a sugar cookie mix and some sprinkles and spray frosting. I also got a few cookie cutters and a rolling pin so we could make cut out cookies. Unfortunately I had no flour and the dough ended up super sticky. We tried rolling a few out, but it was pretty bad. So we made drop cookies instead and ended up with a lot of little circle cookies. It was fine and we still had fun decorating, but it would have been fun to do the cookie cutter shapes too. Maybe next year when we are in a house. Here's Anna in the middle of decorating.

Matthew liked the spray frosting. He worked very hard to frost all of his cookies just right.

Here are some of our cookies! :)

Anna shows me some of her cookie creations. Very nice! We had the most fun with the different sprinkles I think. Our cookies weren't perfect, but a great time was had by all.

All About Anna

Here's Anna trying to give me a "kiss."

Anna is just a little over two years old now. She's small for her age, but has a big personality. Some people might call her bossy (she certainly doesn't get that from me ;) ), but I like to think of it as maternal. :) She has a fighting spirit too, which can be challenging for her mother, but I think it's good for her. She is very determined.

She likes to take care of all of us. This past weekend, when I was having a bad day, she brought me a bunch of pillows and a blanket so I could lay down. Then she brought me some tissues, so I could "cry if I want to." Then she crawled up and sat by me, patted my back and read me Sammy the Seal from memory (one of our library books). All of her fussing over me made me laugh and really cheered me up.

She will also fuss over Scott and Matthew in a similar way, as she sees fit. It's very funny to me to see her do it, 'cause she is so little. One of her favorite things to do is to try and feed us. She will try and force feed us food. When I told her, the other day, I didn't want any more of whatever she was forcing on me she said, "It's not for you, it's for the baby!" She's like the pushy Italian grandmother I never had.

She likes to run into the bathroom while I'm in the shower and shout, "Is everything ok in here?" I can definitely see her mimicking a lot of the mommy things I do.

Our real estate agent is very impressed with how well Anna can talk. And she is a good little talker for her age. Our agent called Anna, "a precocious lady," to which Anna replied, "NO, I'M ANNA!" Lately she has been announcing randomly, and often that she is Anna. Maybe she is developing a good sense of self. She's definitely her own person and we couldn't do without her. I hope she is still eager to help when the new baby comes. :)

Our big brother and big sister to be!

Me (To Anna): What's your brother's name?
Anna: Matthew Scott Guptill

Me: What's your Daddy's name?
Anna: Daddy Scott Guptill

Me: What's your Mommy's name?
Anna: Mommy Scott Guptill

Me: What's your name?
Anna: I'm Anna! Anna Rose.

Budget blankets

Matthew with his new blanket

I told Scott one night that I wanted to get the kids some "cheapo" blankets (or inexpensive blankets - does anyone else use that term?) that we could take in the car with us or that they could sleep with. I thought we could find some inexpensive ones at Target or something. Matthew was so excited and kept saying loudly all through Target, "I can't wait to get my cheapo blanket!" We didn't find anything that qualified as inexpensive enough, so we left Target empty handed, and Matthew cried about his lack of cheapo blanket all the way to the car.
The next day we went to Wal Mart which usually doesn't disappoint in the "cheapo" department. And we weren't disappointed. They had $10 blankets with beloved characters like Buzz Lightyear and Dora on them (along with a little doll that holds the blanket). They also had $5 fluffy fleece blankets and $3 regular fleece blankets. We ended up going with the $5 fluffy fleece blankets, which was cheap enough for me. Matthew hugged his blanket all the way to the car telling everyone it was his new "cheapo" blanket.
I was only a little embarrassed.
I guess I should be more careful with my wording next time.

Christmas Treats

We made a few Christmas treats yesterday, one of our favorites, holiday pretzel treats! It's something easy we can make in the hotel and something the kids can help with. Or at least sort of help with. There was a lot of tasting going on.

Matthew was pretty good at unwrapping the kisses and liked it when the paper stuck to the chocolate. He kept asking me what the paper said.

Anna wanted to show me a kiss she had. I told her to open her hand so I could see it and I guess she thought she would open her mouth too for good measure.

Here's a picture of our finished product: a few kiss ones and a few turtle ones (made with rolos...yum)! I asked Matthew if we should give some to our friends and he said we could give them all the nut ones. I guess he doesn't like those. :) Maybe tomorrow we will make the hugs version! It's fun to do a few Christmas things. We've been listening to a lot of Christmas music and here are some favorites from this week.

Scott: Angels We Have Heard on High - the church hymn
Emily: In the Bleak Midwinter - James Taylor (so hard to pick just one, but I've been listening to this a lot this week)
Matthew: Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano
Anna: The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) - Alvin and the Chipmunks

I hope everyone is having a good December!!

Welcome to Peterson

Our hotel room on base is right by some aircraft static displays. In between sicknesses on Saturday we walked over to see them. Mostly we went over there 'cause Matthew had a new whistle and needed a wide open place to blow it. We didn't stay there long 'cause it was cold, but we still had fun seeing the planes. Here Anna and Matthew welcome you to Peterson!

The crest for AF Space Command, where Scott works.
Not to be confused with Star Command that Buzz Lightyear works with. :)

Matthew shows how tall he is. He wanted Anna to touch the propeller too, but she didn't want to take her hands out of her pockets. So cold!

Sick sick sick

Here's Anna eating a Pedialyte pop while getting over a bout of bad tummy this week

We haven't been doing too well in the healthy department this week. We've all had colds ever since we traveled over from Okinawa. Maybe we got them from the plane, or just from the change in climate, who knows. But we've all been sniffling and sneezing ever since we got here. We felt like we were finally getting over all our sickness this week, but then new sicknesses hit.

Wednesday Anna got sick and threw up all over everything. She was eventually able to go to bed and seemed to feel mostly better the next day. Thursday we were supposed to have the inspection done on our house and Scott came down with a migraine. He hardly ever gets migraines and we still haven't figured out what triggers them for him (this is only his third ever) but all the same, he was down for the day. At first I thought, what terrible timing, but then I thought, it could be worse. He was already planning to come home from work for the afternoon, so I took the kids up to the house and met our realtor and inspector while Scott was able to get some quiet time at the house to help him rest and get over the migraine. Our realtor (who is great) had already offered to watch the kids while Scott and I walked around with the inspector. I walked around with the inspector, and asked all my questions, while the kids played happily and watched a show on the portable DVD player. It all worked out and Scott was feeling mostly back to normal by the next morning.

Unfortunately, during that night, Matthew woke up vomiting. I think he had caught the stomach thing Anna may have had, but his just went on and on and he couldn't get back to sleep and kept throwing up all night and into the morning. I stayed up to help him, so I was exhausted by the next day. Luckily by Friday night he seemed to be feeling a little better and by Saturday he was his old self again.

Sadly by Saturday night I was starting to feel very nauseous. At first I thought it might be pregnancy related sickness, but now I think I caught the same stomach thing. I spent Saturday night in and out of the bathroom. It was pretty miserable. I felt terrible all day Sunday, but finally started to feel a little normal by Sunday evening. Scott watched the kids all morning on Sunday since I was out of commission. Unfortunately Scott got another bad headache, possibly related to taking care of two busy kids all morning, on Sunday afternoon and he was down for the count again.

We're hoping we all feel better in the morning and can go a little while without any new malaise.