Alayna, being Alayna

This is my goofy little girl... She made herself jewelry out of floam, and was dancing to the theme from Handy Manny. The look on her face says it all.

My Mountain

On a really good day, this is what I see outside my window...

(Same window, three different days)

Christmas 2008

Well, it was certainly an interesting Christmas season. For several reasons, it was long and drawn out, which is both good and bad. Before we got to celebrate, we had to get through the snow. (As previously shown) Portlanders do not like snow, and they do not know how to deal with it. Impossible roads; stores closed, even if you could actually make it out; too many people on the roads when it was possible to get around. So shopping was out of the question. Church was even mostly out, which was rather strange. So I was cooped up in my apartment for the better part of 3 weeks.

Alayna was with Bryan for actual Christmas, and Jen and Roger were in Logan, UT with Roger's family. So, as it happens every other year, we did pretend Christmas (as Alayna said) on New Year's Day. For actual Christmas it was Mom and Dad and me, which was a little odd, but still really nice. Probably the lowest key holiday I've ever had.

New Year's Eve was Mom, Dad, Alayna and I. The biggest event was Alayna losing her first tooth. Otherwise, we went to see The Tale of Despereaux, hung out and played games, Mom shortened several pairs of Alayna's pants, and we allowed a 5 year old to stay up 4 hours past bedtime.

We spent pretend Christmas at Jen and Roger's new house. It was really nice. My Mom's lasagna recipe, using her Mom's recipe for spaghetti sauce. It's amazing how many presents the kid gets when everyone has said they are cutting back due to the economy, etc. She had a great evening with her favorite person in the world, and the rest of us, too.