Family Friendly Fun in CdA at Christmastime

If you're looking for family-friendly events in the Coeur d'Alene area over the next few weeks, here's a summary of some of the events that I've seen so far.

Holiday Lights Parade
Well, we chickened out because of the rain and had dinner with friends downtown instead of watching the parade and fireworks.  Maybe next year - it is always the day after Thanksgiving!

Festival of Trees Family Day
Nov. 30 11 am - 3 pm 
Crafting and a fun chance to check out the trees decorated to support the hospital's foundation.  We haven't been before, but we might go this year, if we can make it to early church.

Picture with Santa/Food Drive at the fire station
Dec. 6 10 am - 2 pm
1500 N. 15th Street - bring a canned good food donation!

We did this last year and M was terrified of Santa but amazed by the fire truck.  We might try it again this year!

Hayden Lights Parade

Dec. 6 at 5pm  

Reindeer Run!

Fleet Feet in downtown CDA is hosting the Reindeer Run 5k

Dec. 13 at 8 am 

McEuen Park

and after you run, you can head over to the.... 

Sing A Long with Santa and Mudgy the Moose
Dec. 13 at 11 am

CDA Library
this sounds really cute!

Cruise to the North Pole

All month long at the CDA Resort

There are also free carriage rides downtown on Saturdays, more info here.  Am I missing anything else?  I hope you enjoy these next festive few weeks of Advent!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We'll be having another Southern-style Thanksgiving this year.

But we aren't hosting this year, so I'll be putting my feet up!

My Enthusiastic Helper

We're bringing cranberry sauce (this one and this one), my sister's amazing pesto cheese ball appetizer, a cauliflower casserole and two pecan pies for a pecan pie face-off: my aunt's sugary but time-tested recipe and a "healthy" recipe that my sister sent me.  But is pecan pie ever really healthy? =)

Flashback to Thanksgiving 2012

We're also planning to do a family turkey trot together.  There's no entry fee and you get your choice of t-shirt from your dresser when you get home.  But no cheering fans or water stops either, ha!  Hopefully we'll hook up the TV to watch the parade together (I love, love, love the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade) and maybe even hang up our outside Christmas lights.  And we'll definitely be making lots of phone calls to our family in Florida and Tennessee for Thanksgiving this year.

M's First Thanksgiving Day Parade Viewing!

I have so much to be thankful for this year.  Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving day!

Happy National Adoption Day

Did you know that Friday was National Adoption Day?

We stopped by an event commemorating the day in Spokane at the Spokane County Courthouse Jury Assembly Room.  

There were lots of happy families there whose adoptions were being finalized that day.

M's Adoption Day 2012

Adoption Days are certainly the happiest days in a courthouse.  Most courthouse proceedings are not much fun, but adoption finalizations are happy occasions for everyone there.

My first time appearing in court without a suit on, haha!

 We've never attended a National Adoption Day event before, but this one included lots of food, balloons, free portrait photography, face painting and other activities for the kiddos.

M loved playing with the balloons and even got his face painted!  I was amazed that he actually wanted to do that and was willing to sit for it, haha!

He chose the ninja turtle mask - and really didn't want to let go of either the cookie or the balloon!

We are so blessed by adoption!

Our Little Talker

At snacktime:

Me:  Would you like a chip?

M:  I would like a bunch of them!

While snuggling in bed on Saturday morning:

Me: What would you like for breakfast?

M:  Um, sugar toast!

Me:  You have had a lot of sugar toast this week, how about something else?

M:  (without missing a beat) How about sugar toast?!

While playing pretend, M is serving me coffee:
Me: May I please have some more coffee?
M: Of course you may! 
He nearly always says "of course!" so cheerfully if you ask him for something.  It is adorable! 

#7QT: Adoration with a Toddler, Winter Running and Other Bits from our Week

Seven bits of randomness from our week....

1.  We stopped to drop off some winter coats at our Church, and ended up bringing home some giant chunks of harvest squash!  This nice lady was giving it away and said it would make the house smell lovely while roasting.  We'll be roasting it this weekend!

2.  For the last month, I've been taking M to Adoration once a week.  We have stayed for about 8 minutes max - this week I wanted to try to stay for 10 minutes, but he was not sitting still, so we left.  He did a good job staying quiet, but he was walking around the room, moving the kneelers up and down, etc.  I forgot to bring his Mass books in with me for him to look at, but I had told him if he was quiet and sat still, he could have a fruit snack pack afterwards.  (Yes, bribery!)  Any tips for 2 year olds in Adoration?  Or is it just a bad idea?

3.  Winter running season is here.  We don't stroller run when the temp is below 30.  And even below 40 I try not to go longer than 30 minutes because I just don't want M to get cold!  He is bundled up pretty well and we use the windshield so I think that helps too, but I know he is colder than me because he's just hanging out in there!

Snuggles on our chilly Wednesday!

4.  So, we're moving outside runs to the afternoon during the warmest part of the day.  What is your cutoff temp for a winter stroller run?

5.  I'm also using the indoor track at our community center.  It is a nice break from the treadmill, even those new fancy treadmills!

New to me shoes, ordered last season's Wave Riders from The Clymb

6.  M is in that adorable stage where he wants to bring along random objects with us wherever we go - this week it is a little mini whisk and a tiny plastic cup (like the kind that comes with Robitussin).  And, while we were playing ("working") at his tool bench, he said I should put on my "ear muffins" because he was banging his hammer really loud.  Love him!

Batman's mechanic

7.  An interesting adoption-related post I came across: http://thosesweetbarefeet.wordpress.com/2014/11/03/i-hate-adoption/.  Thoughts?

Have a great weekend, and check out more Quick Takes here! 

A Run "Through Munich"

It's 27 degrees outside today and so windy that I think our house is starting to lean. ;)  Not the best day for a stroller run!

Enjoying our first snow of the season!

So we went to the Kroc Center instead.  I tried out a new-to-me treadmill that took me on a run through Munich!  And Auckland, NZ - where else can you say that you did THAT in the same day?! 

This was the first time that I've tried out one of the treadmills where you can select a course and run through the streets.  It was a Life Fitness treadmill (I think) and little facts about the city popped up as I ran along.  The only downside is that it will occasionally just switch you from one scene to another, so you aren't really getting the full experience of pretending to run along the course.

I tried to take a picture of my view in Munich, but it came out like this:

I guess it's a little blurry? =)  Anyway, this new feature made my run so enjoyable!  I typically dislike the treadmill, but this may help me keep running more on these cold (breezy!) winter days.

Stay warm!

What are We in Love With?

Awhile back, I stumbled across Craig Zimmer's encouragement to take a deep look at how we really spend our time.  He says:

Rather than first asking ourselves whether or not our treasure is in God, maybe we should first look at what we do with our evenings, how we spend our weekends, etc.  Yes, falling in love with God will affect everything, but how we spend our time on a daily basis also reveals what we are in love with and where our treasure is.  One of the great gifts of Ignatian Spirituality is its invitation and challenge to us to examine our day in order to seek God and to ask ourselves whether or not we are recognizing and responding to the work of the Holy Spirit in the lived experience of our daily lives.

source. (emphasis mine)

I know nothing about "Ignatian spirituality" but I felt challenged by this reflection.  I suspect that I am spending too much time on things that add or have little to no inherent value, and not enough on things that encourage or promote healthy living and values.  But what, and how much?  I'd like to see the specifics from my own empirical evidence. 

What are you in love with?  Where is your treasure?

Toddler Talk

Overheard in our house lately:

"Mommy, go inside and put the dishes away please."

M said this when I stepped out for a minute and interrupted his playtime with D.  You can tell he wants his Dad all to himself! =)  At least he said please?!

"Mommy don't wake me up!"
Said with a smile and a twinkle in his eye when I peeked in at him since he was still sleeping at 7:45 am!

"I will sit right here next to the bacon."
Sitting on the floor in the kitchen while Satur-Dad cooked the bacon for our big Saturday breakfast.

"I'm a big boy.  I eat peanut butter cups."
No explanation necessary. =)

Halloween 2014

For the entire month of October, whenever someone asked M what he was going to be for Halloween, he replied, "A Scary Ghost."

Thankfully, he didn't mind a little costume change.

Buzz Lightyear (carrying his scary ghost??)

 

I took him trick-or-treating at D's office on a last-minute whim.  He was mostly excited to get to see his Daddy and the airplanes parked at the airport out back.

He did such a great job using his manners at the office, and he was so excited to see the neighborhood trick-or-treaters come to the house while we ate our Boo Soup dinner.

I hope you had a Happy Halloween too!