Christmas time in our New HOME!

We have been in our new house for 2 weeks now, and it feels like home.  It's not super familiar yet, so we still lose things, or trip over stairs, but it's really starting to come together.  It was especially nice this year, to celebrate Christmas here.  We even found time to get a tree up.  It made it really feel special. 
 



 Christmas eve day we went to Winterfest at the Seattle Center.  We got to see a huge train display that was so neat.  There was even a train with Santa on it.  We saw lots of snowmen (though we had no snow) and even watched the kids on the ice rink.  Next year we will take her ice skating, but this year she really enjoyed watching. We did too.  It was pretty hilarious to see all the people skating who have no idea what they are doing.

 
We went to church in the evening and Anora was SOO good.  She even clapped and sang at the end with Mrs. Michelle :)  After church we came home and unwrapped matching PJs!   They all had moose on them.  Anora got a moose stuffed animal and the If you give a moose a muffin book.  She was so excited. 

 Two of Anora's prized gifts: the Little People house & car from Gammy & grandpa and the kitchen set from Santa Claus!

Christmas morning we ate Monkey bread while opening our gifts from family and Santa.  Anora could barely find time to shove a piece of bread in her mouth between gifts.

That night we took a walk around the neighborhood to see Christmas lights.  We stopped by the Porth's house and Anora liked playing with the kids and seeing all the new toys.  It was such a great day. 

But wouldn't you know it, the binkie fairy came the day after Christmas and swooped away all Anora's binkies.  We were expecting choas, tantrums, and lots of tears, but Anora has taken it all astonishingly well.  She asks for it periodically, but gets over it quickly.  She even sleeps just fine without it.  What a relief for mama and papa!  Our Anora is such a big girl.

Potty time

Update!  Anora went pee pee on the potty for the first time last night!  We were all so excited jumping and cheering.  Anora loved that she got an treat (one M&M) for it too and it may motivate her to do more peeing on the potty!  Here's to no more diapers.

In other news we just bought a house, we get the keys tomorrow. 
We literally cannot wait to get in that house!  Last night we signed all the paperwork....here we go.  Homeowners round two!

We have had a wonderful and busy few months.  Anora dressed up as a fairy princess on Halloween and loved the treats and other kids in costume.  We went to a Halloween gathering with our PEPs friends to see all the cuties in costume.

We had a lovely visit from G-pa and G-ma in November.  They spoiled Anora and she loved it!  She also learned how to say TV when they were hear and showed off her spectacular pronunciation of "Sea-hawks!".  Ben's parents really helped us seal the deal on the new house too.  It was so wonderfully having them stay with us.

Over Thanksgiving, we did our annual roadtrip down to Utah to visit the Schauers family.  I love catching up and eating with the Schauers clan.  They sure do know how to cook!  I really enjoyed watching the cousins play together.  Anora said "Lexi, are you?" "Amy, are you?" and "Baby Archer" for days after we returned.  She missed Aaron and Ava too, but those names are harder for her to say.

While in Utah I got to visit the doTERRA headquarters which was so exciting for me since I am soooo into the essential oils now.  I loaded up on supplies when I was out there and readied myself for my second doTERRA class that I held when I returned.

We stopped by to see Santa one night, but Anora wasn't having it...so we have a picture of her crying and Santa saying, "I'm not even touching you."  Hahaha!  Ava decided she didn't like Santa either and started crying for their picture too!  Gotta love the toddlers :)

Hope you all have a very merry Christmas!