Santa upped his visiting creativity by meeting with kids through the magic of the Internet this year! We are eager to see how the WAC captures this moment as we love our photo collection…and Sasha’s annual holiday outfits:) (It’s also snowing outside the whole weekend. ‘Tis the season! AKA, the blinds are closed to keep the heat in till our furnace arrives.)

Remember Highlights, the magazine? Oh yeah, we’re now subscribers.

Bonus, we’re heading into the weekend having not blown up the neighborhood. Our furnace blew yesterday and sprung a gas leak. Thanks to a late night energy company visit, the gas was shut off before we lit up the night sky. Thanks to a visit from the heating company today, we have a shiny new furnace arriving…Tuesday. Thanks to our neighbors, we have space heaters galore that are very successful at blowing fuses. Thanks to our deep log pile, we’ll be burning a fireplace fire through the weekend. And, thanks to Lola having a birthday tomorrow, we’ll be baking a cake - ahem, heating the kitchen too:)

We’ve rediscovered picture books as a helpful guide to reading letters and words! The tricky silent “g,” the “b” and “d” that look the same but face different directions, and don’t forget the “p” that flips them both upside down…reading letters a part of words is a lot more challenging when they’re set a part from the alphabet!

Or otherwise known as…it’s time to leave school and trying backwards walking up the ramp is much more exciting than being told to get going to the car:)

It’s nice to be read to!

Is this the dentist or a relaxation retreat?

Meryl got X-Ray’s of her back teeth today - no molars yet. We also learned a fun (and kind of disturbing) fact about kiddo front teeth too. Many front kiddo teeth purposely have looong roots, which (get this) dissolve as their permanent teeth grow in. So, many of the kiddo teeth that fall out are just the top of the teeth! Can’t wait for this in real life:)

Or, no time wasted to celebrate our continued membership in the No Sugar Bug Club…with sugar:)

With the sun setting so early these days, searching for Christmas lights is our new favorite after school adventure!

And capturing the moment!

Plus, lotion in her hair because…style.

Some nights, Meryl leverages her quiet time to the max. Here, she piled hair clips in her hair, rings on her fingers, and stickers on her hands. She also decorated her room to look like our Queen Anne bookstore (her stated goal for the evening). All in all, beautiful:)

Lummi got a new dog bed! We all had to try it out.

Meryl described the scene, “We now have three dogs and two parents. That’s a lot to handle.” So, we played relaxing dog music (really, there’s a playlist to be found for anything these days), and Meryl and Holmes played their own relaxing music with their ukulele and trumpet while lying on their new dog beds too:)

We are super fans of chanterelle toast! Luckily, they’re prolific in the Pacific Northwest these days.