Owen is 3 today!

Happy Birthday Owie J. Owen celebrated his third birthday yesterday in good ol' pirate fashion.

As Owen continues to grow he continues to knock our socks off. His vocabulary is excellent, everyone comments on how much he talks. He's very active, loves sports, pirates and potty talk in true boy fashion. He's a bright boy that brings so much joy to this Friddle family. We love you so much Owen J. Hope you had a great day with your friends!

Good Bye Christmas

Our Christmas tree is down, the decorations have been put back (except the one I noticed in the kitchen...arrg now I have to get back in the attic). Our house is still a mess, but most of the toys and clothes from Christmas have been put away. Now I have to figure out how to change the blog template. I'm not doing that tonight, as it took me too long to it get it to where it's at. The blog might stay Christmas until late January or until I have more free time.

Our Christmas was delightful. We spent Christmas Eve with my mom and Chuck and his family. Christmas morning with Chad's family, the kids loved playing with their cousins. Christmas day was spent with Chad's grandma. Chad has celebrated Christmas at his grandmas house every year with the exception of maybe 2. That's amazing. His grandma "Deed" as we call her is 83 years old (I think that's what Holli said). She hosts a Christmas dinner for her sons and their families as well as all the cousins. It's quite the assentic mix, one that I've learned to appreciate. I realized this year how much it means to Chad to be part of this tradition, even if it's a long drive and you never really know what's going to happen at Grandmas.

I love Christmas because we can be with family, but what I miss when we go home is that our families don't really celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. They don't celebrate the birth of our Savior Christ Jesus. I pray that one day we can all celebrate the same way. I'm committing to praying for our families this year, that they would come to know the Lord as their Savior. I'm praying that in some way we could be a witness to them and live our love for the Lord out loud in a way that won't scare them away.

With that said, we do recognize the blessings our families bring and enjoy them completely. This holiday a fun highlight was Bowling with the cousins and grandmas and grandpas the day after Christmas. Owen and Alyssa had such a blast and we had a great time watching them. It was fun to get John and Tami out for some family fun and spend time with the girls (Taylor, Jayme and Carli).

I of course miss my sisters on Christmas and long for the day that we can be together at Christmas. So the other cousins can play together. I'm praying that Nate gets the border patrol job and stationed in Tacoma/Seattle.

We've got Snow, Yes we do!

When was the last time it snowed in December? I can't remember it being this close to Christmas with this much snow. It was fun at first, but we are worried it will prohibit us from traveling to the beach for Christmas.

We are trying to make the best of it. Even though I hate to be cold, so going out and "playing in the snow" is always a little hard for me. On Sunday December 21 our advent calendar activity said play in the snow (which we intended to have to drive to the mountains to play). I couldn't have planned it any better. There was plenty of snow outside our house to play in.

Owen played for a bit while I was at the gym, but said "I'm freezing" and went in to watch Rudolph and the Misfit toys. Alyssa stayed outside while Chad shoveled off the side walk. We tried to make a snowman but the snow had a cover of ice over it and wasn't really good for making snowmen. Alyssa was successful at a small one.

Chad has been driving to work and we managed to do a little shopping on Saturday. His 4 wheel drive has been really nice to get us around safely. We just hope we will be able to make it home on Christmas.

The true gift at Christmas

Santa's Elf has made it to Tacoma

After reading about Mark and Magical two elves that showed up at the homes of our friends, we were anxious to see if Santa would send an elf to our house. Low and behold he did. Alyssa named him Fred and he's been "watching" the kids to see if they've been naughty or nice. He leaves each night to go back to the north pole to report to Santa on their behavior. He returns in the morning in a new spot.

I was silly to think that this might be an incentive for better behavior....no, not for Owen. When he learned that the only rule that applied to the elf was not to touch it, he became determined to take a whack at Fred. Fred must know this to be the case with (almost) three year old boys and has been perched high above the room looking down on the children. The first day Fred visited Owen threw a rolled up sock at Fred and knocked him over. Alyssa was distraught because she has taken quite literally to the rule and believes that his magic power might disappear. Oh, my this has been quite the adventure at our house.

We are very much enjoying Fred and even sent his brother to my friend Melissa's house to watch over Elise and Scarett.

The top 12 highlights of this Christmas season so far include.

• Alyssa enthusiasm and excitement while she unwrapped the ornaments and display them on the couch before putting them on the tree. I love the old glass ornaments, I've collected them since I worked at the Gray Whale Gallery. I have tons. I love that Alyssa treasures them.


• Deocorating ginger bread houses with Auntie Des and Uncle Chad, Hunter and Bridger and Wendy and Chris, Camden and Aiden.
  
• Snow in December and a snow day (today) for Alyssa, mom and Owen. With the snow is the need for Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks. Thanks Chad!


• Owen has only broken 5 ornaments to date. Not so bad. Three on the first day. He isn't trying to break them...really, it just happens when he's around.
  
• Owen singing "We wish you a Merry Christmas, now bring me some figgie piggie wiggie pudding".
  
• Ironically Owen singing "You better watch out, you better not pout...he sees you when your sleeping, he knows when your awake, he knows if you been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake". I think he's like his dad when he sings, he doesn't really listen to the words.
• Shopping for a dress (which is a skirt) for Alyssa's school performance. I hope it doesn't get canceled due to the snow.


• Our advent calender. We hang 25 small bags from the mantel, each morning Alyssa and Owen open the bag that corresponds with the date. They either get a gift, a note with something we will do as a family or a note with something to do for others. It's been fun, we still need to make good on taking food to the food bank and buying a present for a child in need.
  
• Seeing the Scrooge Musical with our dear friend Harriett and her family. I'd love to make this a yearly tradition and invite a new family to go with us each year.
  
• Singing as loud as we possibly can "Born to be Wild" every time we see a blow up Santa on a motorcycles.


• Planning Owen's third birthday party in the midst of the holiday season, and trying to remember to do something nice for Chad as his birthday is on Christmas.
  
• The news that my sister Kim is having a baby.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!