The One with Christmas in Washington Days 5 & 6

What a wonderful past two days!

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 26TH 2012

My little sister is getting married so we had an appointment early in the morning to look at the Happy Valley Grange for her wedding reception.

It's a blank slate - perfect for decorating however she pleases!

The kitchen is a mint green - how stylish :)

This was a quilt hanging on the background of the stage. I got some scrappy inspiration from it!

Back at home we all got ready then hit up Redmond Town Center (or, excuse me, Redmond Towne Centre) for the sales at GAP.

Whoever decided to make an outdoor mall in Washington musta been taking crazy pills. I think I've said that here before. But I still think it every time I go there.

REI. Rock climbing anyone?

We went to Qdoba for lunch but my hands were full of children so no pictures. At home we did this and that until dinner when Eric and Tanya came over for a fun three rounds of Uno Attack and then we watched my most favorite movie in the whole wide world right now: Pitch Perfect.

THURSDAY DECEMBER 27TH 2012

I did some work in the morning (magazines never sleep!) and then we all headed across the water to Seattle to go to our favorite Thai place: Mae Phim. No trip home is complete without it! I ALWAYS get #14, the Mae Phim Special, with no bell peppers. Jane was snug as a bug in a rug in her carseat. She's an angel.

Afterwards we ran around the block taking pictures at all the amazing photo ops. 

My brother. This is so him.


Ivy covered walls galore.

Too many pictures to post, so here's a condensed overview of Seattle.

Walking snapshot.

 We were going to go to the Pacific Science Center, but the King Tut exhibit was sold out so we decided to go up to the top of the Columbia Tower instead.

My mom is NOT a fan of elevators and seriously had panic attacks in the flights up.

 Note to self: go on this new Ferris wheel. There were a couple of people in the radio room broadcasting - what a view they have!

Colorful buildings.

I spy the Space Needle.

Views from the top.

Once we were done reveling in the amazing views, we were craving some cookies so we walked to Cow Chip.

 And then we were back in the car headed home. Pretty baby Jane and her baby blues.

Oh wait, we had to make a pit stop at Costco to get some essentials.

This was the first time we put both Fox and Jane in the cart. Be still my heart!

It's Jane's 5 month birthday tomorrow so that's what's in store! We're having so much fun "on holiday!"

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The One with Malm's Christmas PaigeBooks

For Christmas my mom asked me to make her two books - one for the cabin in Lake Wenatchee and one for the house in Wallace, Idaho. Can do!

I didn't have anymore wood boards so a few weeks ago I went to our local Home Depot to buy some. I wanted the 3' long parent sheets cut into 7" increments but the guy was like, "Our cutter doesn't cut straight, is that okay?" Not so much... so my friend's husband cut them instead to perfection!

This book is 5 1/2 x 7", sewn together with a copic binding with dark gray thread, and I added jewels to the binding as I was sewing it together. 

Each section of plain white printer paper is sandwiched in a piece of pretty patterned paper by the Paper Heart collection from Crate Paper.

I've had this knob by 7 Gypsies for years and finally put it to good use.

Some detail shots of the finished book:

The 2nd book is almost identical to the 1st.

This book is 5 1/2 x 7", sewn together with a copic binding with blue thread, and I added bits, baubles, and charms to the binding as I was sewing it together. 

I'm not sure where the knob came from, but like the other knob, I've been hoarding it for years and I'm glad it finally has a permanent home not in my drawer.

Each section of plain white printer paper is sandwiched in a piece of pretty patterned paper also by Crate Paper.

Detail shots of the completed book:

Merry Christmas Malm! I hope lots of guests who stay at the cabin and in Wallace write in them!

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The One with Christmas in Washington Days 3 & 4

MONDAY DECEMBER 24TH 2012

On Christmas Eve, Fox, in true toddler fashion, woke up and would be super sad one second and happy as a clam the next. 

Pretties.

Allie had arranged a family Christmas photoshoot so we all got dressed and then met up together outside Happy Valley Grange.

With a little help of modern technology, Allie was able to view, edit, and finalize the Christmas card in the car and take the document on a flashdrive to Staples where they printed the card in the blink of an eye.

 More pretties. 

The sun came out for a bit! Made my day.

We had a chillaxed afternoon, playing, napping, watching shows. 

Sweet baby Jane. 

While the kids were napping, Chris and I played a game of Battleship. I won, miraculously. I had the 2-hit boat left to find and Chris had to find my 5-hit boat. Just sayin' :)

 For dinner we went to yummy Yummy Teriyaki! Note: I always carry an extra pair of clothes for both Fox and Jane, just in case. So glad I do because Fox spilled his ice water on himself as soon as we sat down, so he sported some pajama bottoms the rest of the night. 

Then we went to Target for our $5 Taylor Family Christmas Tradition. We drew names at Yummy and then had 15 minutes to find a $5 gift for that person. 

It was Jane's first time sitting in a cart.

All done shopping! 

Then we rushed home, wrapped the $5 presents, opened them, and continued with our Christmas Eve ritual by reading the story of Christ's birth. 

 Dald started a fire which Fox found fascinating.

 Snuggles.

  We gathered a plethora of Christmas movies and did a complicated round of elimination and decided on Elf. Then Eric suggested we bag the Christmas movie and watch more X-Files instead. We all agreed! We watched two of our most very favorite episodes: Small Potatoes and Bad Blood. Merry Christmas Eve?

TUESDAY DECEMBER 25TH 2012

Fox woke up at 6:30 but we weren't opening presents 'til 7:30 so I entertained him for an hour with food and YouTube videos. I love the magic of Christmas!

We always open presents from smallest to biggest. Fox hated the Zurg toy that we got him, wah wahhh. The arm is moveable so he thinks it's broken. Silly boy.

 And then we always have a "treasure hunt" at the end which leads to a fun surprise.

My two best presents! 

Besides my babies my favorite gift would have to be all of this high quality felt! I can't wait to die cut it and use it on layouts and cards. 

Opening presents is no small feat! It wore Fox out!

 We got Eric a remote controlled helicopter and had fun watching him learn how to pilot it.

 We ended the night with a Christmas feast and watched Taken 2.

 Lots more fun in store!

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