Xander and Clare

I took Clare to the Family Interactive Gallery at Whatcom Museum.
I know her great uncle Ivyl will be proud to see this one -- and her
great grandpas Ransom and Harger would have been, too.

It doesn't hold a candle to the children's museum in Olympia,
but Clare's been begging to go back to the FIG for months and she had a blast.

Board games with Anya while the adults do boring stuff like talk and talk and talk.

Emily was Xander's first regular babysitter. I'll never forget the time we came home
and found the two of them on the couch surrounded by a mountain of pictures books
and she'd read every single one to him. Lucky boy.

Xander is the president of the Emily Fan Club.

Squish.

Celebrating Michael's birthday a day early at Mambo Italiano.

Cuties, both of 'em.

Insisted on posing with the newest Fairhaven statue.

We've been playing a lot of Scooby Doo bingo lately.

Christmas decorating in process. I got everything set up to this point,
and then waited for the kids to come home and help me finish.

Clare was really into it. Xander, not so much.

Finally finished!

Clare and part of her basketball crew.

Early morning meeting of the minds.

A new ornament for the tree from Grammy Eve.

The kids and I watched "Home Alone" on Sunday night; none of us had
ever seen it. They loved it.

This is where you'll find Clare every morning before school: playing with
and rearranging her favorite Christmas tree ornaments.

Showing me her moves right before her first basketball game.

Xander did so great and his team played really well. Ended up
losing a nail-biter by just two points.

Someone got a sucker at halftime.

Clare's demands for Santa: "Put all of the toys in the bag."

Xander decided to give out the Sledge Family Awards last weekend.

We all got awards, but Clare got the award for the most awards.

Static cling is never not fun.

Found an elf in my bathroom.

We hit the Holiday Port Festival on Sunday.

And met up with Anya and her parents.

We had front row seats to watch their babysitter, Lauren, dance.
It was just a little bit sunny.

We didn't even know she'd be there beforehand. The kids loved watching her dance.