Hommie and Dabi flew out to celebrate Christmas with us this year!

We did a TOT (Tourists in our Town) adventure with Hommie and Dabi at the Cave of the Winds.  We still have a lot to check out and time is slipping away!!!!

The caves are known for the erie sound the wind makes through the passageways.  We didn't hear the WINDS but were told that we would hear them if we came back for a Lamplight Tour.  Great marketing ploy!

Christmas morning 2012!  And yes, we had a beautiful white Christmas!

Post opening play.

Boys and their Christmas toys!

Continuing our tradition - Dabi reading us "Twas the Night Before Christmas."

Hopefully Rudolph and his crew found all their Reindeer food under all the snow we received Christmas Eve night.

Decorating cookies for Santa with Hommie and Daddy.

Celebrating Mom's 40th Birthday!

NORAD/NORTHCOM Family open house AND Santa!!!!

The Sunrise United Methodist Church Christmas Eve Pagent:

"A child is born to us!  A son is given to us!  and he will be our ruler.  He will be called, "Wonderful Counselor," "Mighty God," "Eternal Father," "Prince of Peace."  Isaiah 9:6

"The angel Gabriel (or as we referred to him his year as Gabriella aka. ME/Brooke) came to her and said, "Peace be with you!  The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you".  Luke 1:28.  

"She gave birth to her first son, wrapped him in clothes and laid him in a manger - there was no room for them in the inn".  Luke 2:7  Anderson had a quick costume change from Isaiah to the donkey.  As you can see he had an important  job guarding the manger.

Getting ready to board the Santa Tain in Canon City, CO with our friends Thomas, Zach, Chris, and Nick.  It was a snowy day - perfect conditions for the Santa Train!

Santa's on his way and we are ready with Jaden (Anderson's build a bear dog), McKenna (Brooke's new birthday American Doll girl) and our lists!

FINALLY, SANTA!!!!  He asked us to read our lists to him.  He even recognized McKenna as THE AMERICAN doll girl of the year!  Wow, he sure knows his stuff!  He even gave us silver bells to put on our tree every year!

We sang songs, saw the North Pole and waved at Santa, drank hot coco, ate cookies, AND Tinsel the Elf painted our faces.  A candy cane for Anderson and..

..a tree with ornaments on it for Brooke.

Excited to be aboard the train.

Happy Birthday Nick!!!!  Do you see all of us in our various football attire?  Hail to the Redskins!

We had our Christmas Concert at Church this weekend.  We had four concerts this weekend!!!!

We went to our neighbors house for a holiday party.  It was a lot of fun!

Anderson's last Basketball game for the fall.

Brooke's birthday dinner at PF Changs!

EIGHT candles!!!

To celebrate, we went to Build A Bear it was Andersons first time.  We added two new friends; Coconut the Chocolate Lab and Jade the German Shepherd.

December birthstone for my bracelet!

Abby has a new sister, McKenna!  

1st and 2nd grade Chinook Trail Elementary School's Christmas on Candy Cane Lane production.

Thanksgiving 2012 in Sisters, OR!

The Sisters, OR Thanksgiving 2012 crew!  Thanks Mr. Chris, Ms. Grace, Mr. Tim and Ms. Laura of hosting all of us!  It was a holiday to remember!!!!

Kids, minus Hayden and Mae.

Monday was Fire Prevention Day at Tapidero Way.  We kids were all super helpful helping Mr. Chris and Dad collect and burn all the pine needles on their property.

Warming up in Hayden and Mae's hot tub!

We played a lot of games!  Our favorite was Parent's Verses Kids! We had a couple of close matches!

On Tuesday, we drove to Sunriver, OR to see more Astoria friends, Judd and Shasha.  Their family has a house in Sunriver and they invited us to swim at the new SHARC.  Sunriver was our first stop on our trip from Oregon to Virginia in the summer of 2011 and the SHARC was just a hole in the ground.  We had a great time catching up and swimming!

Shasha and Brooke swimming in the SHARC - Sunriver Homeowners Aquatic and Recreation Center.

On Wednesday we celebrated Hayden and Brooke's 8th Birthdays!  We spent the day at the Bend Climbing Gym.

Everyone at one time on the wall!

Anderson's great form on the wall.

Brooke on the free climb wall.

Brooke and Mae gearing up.

Mae and Brooke mastering the moving climbing wall.

Boohoo, Cuppa Yo was closed..

Our Thanksgiving table.  We had an awesome spread thanks to Dad's turkey, Ms. Elaine's marshmallow yams, Ms. Laura's Gluten free pumpkin pie, and most importantly Mr. Chris's addition to the turkey brine of for real juniper berries picked fresh!

No Thanksgiving is complete without a Turkey Trot, so we held our own Tapidero Way Trot.  Here are the big kids post race - Hayden, Gabe, Brooke and Tommy.

Anderson and Leo off and running!  Check out their strides!

We played LOTS of games!  Leo and Anderson played a mean game of Battleship!

Friday we went to Bouncing Off The Walls.  We had a great time!