it's beginning to look...

a lot like Christmas!! We have decorated with our stockings, multiple poinsettias, gingerbread houses, Finnish trolls and red reindeer, Christmas cards, the Advent calendar, paper snowflakes, and of course, our tree.

Pictures from various adventures around town

the Nutcracker ballet

We took both children to see a matinee performance of the Nutcracker ballet today. We had prepared for it by reading the story and listening to the music, and their Advent calendar present for yesterday were fancy new shoes (Liesl) and a dress-up shirt (Seb) to wear for the occasion.  It was really good. Both children were patient for the whole performance, and Liesl in particular was enraptured - madly clapping and cheering whenever anyone else did. After we tucked her in for bed, she came down the stairs specifically to request that we go back and see the show again. :)  I'm so pleased.

Zoo lights at Oregon Zoo!

We went to see the annual Zoo Lights at the Oregon Zoo - they string lights all over and make animal sculptures and elaborate displays. We were frankly skeptical that it would be worth it, and I was worried about the cold and darkness, but it turned out to be pretty spectacular.  It was cool to see the zoo at night and to see the imagination and work that went into the light displays. And we went with Mary, Patrick, and Rowan, so that was really fun too!

Christmas party with moms group

I hosted a party for the New-to-Portland moms group on Monday morning. We rented a classroom at the Multnomah Arts Center for 3 hours and had a fantastic fun time - about 40 people attended. Various crafty mamas brought really cool projects, including a bird feeder craft, foam snowmen, dough ornaments to color, and more. And everyone brought food, so we had more cookies, bars, chocolates, and drinks than we could consume. We sang Jingle Bells and Rudolph (very minimal kid participation) and I read Twas the Night before Christmas. It was great.

Sunday morning hike at Hoyt Arboretum

Sunday was foggy and misty, perfect Oregon weather. We went for a little hike at Hoyt Arboretum, enjoying the redwoods and sequoias, the Doug firs and cedars, and the gorgeous holly trees, all bursting with red and yellow berries.

making gingerbread houses

We bought gingerbread house kits from Trader Joe's to make this year, following last year's success making one with Grandma Raab. We put it together on Friday afternoon and had a really fun time gluing the pieces together with icing and then sticking the candies on.

frosty morning

Sebastian's school was cancelled on Wednesday morning because of "freezing fog". Huh? It was perfectly dry and sunny around us for most of the day, and so we went out exploring...

These pictures are at a nearby playground first thing in the morning - we had a great time making tracks in the frosty grass and chasing each other around.

Then we went to check out the Japanese Garden, which was beautifully icy in all of the little streams. The kids loved seeing the ice. We tried throwing rocks at the ponds to break the ice, but it was frozen solid.