My friend Kati inspired me to start this New Year's tradition-everyone traces their hand and then chooses 5 goals they will try to accomplish in the next year. I like goals better than the whole resolution thing-that never seems to work out well for me ;) 
We simply had a wonderful Christmastime-I've been waiting months to say that :). We made tons of treats (with intentions of giving them all away of course), cut down our big tree, made gingerbread houses, played in the snow, and watched lots of Christmas movies-you gotta love December!
All ready for some snow fun...
My little Seattleites don't quite know what to do with all the sunshine
Rig just being cute!
Tess got a dress-ups, a barbie car, a boy barbie and a few other things. The boy barbie was essential-lately she had been putting pants on her girl barbie, calling her a boy and pairing her up to get married-like I said, the boy barbie was essential!
Sawyer's cool new "smile"-he got a car & track set, action figures, baseball bases and a few other things-he was in heaven!
Rig, opening presents and performing his favorite trick "whooooo"
Mark, Tess, & Sawyer building an ice cave
Mark and Sawyer in the cave 
Happy Half-Birthday to my sweet-wiggly-squishy-precious-Rigdon!
Aren't they sweet?
We celebrated Thanksgiving this year in Portland with a portion of Mark's family. We had a great time playing games, watching movies, hanging out and, of course, we ate entirely too much-I love Thanksgiving!
Halloween Take II
Apparently my kids seem think that choosing just one thing to be for Halloween is too simple
The cake walk at our playgroup party-such fun!
Ferocious huh? 
Happy 30th Birthday Mark!
October 28 2004 our beautiful Tessa was born-It's hard to believe she's 4 already! Tessa is such a sweetheart and always willing/wanting to help. She loves playing make-believe, reading books, dressing-up and playing games. 
My sis-in-law inspired me to start a fun birthday tradition: the birthday kid gets to pick out 1 small toy/treat for each sibling to open on their birthday. I think it's a fun idea especially when the other kids don't quite get the whole birthday thing. Thanks Julie!
We went to the Children's Museum with some of our friends and after the kids played for a while we had some cupcakes-yum cherry chip my favorite-I figure until she has a preference, I should get mine, right?
The kids spotted a bit of frosting on the lid...
going...
gone
When Mark got home from work we went to a pumpkin patch. There was a hay maze, a petting zoo, a playground, a corn pit, and giant pumpkins-pretty fun!
That evening we had some more friends come over for cake and ice cream. Tessa got to pick out who/what topped her cake and she picked Cinderella in her wedding dress-it looks a bit too much like a wedding cake and it kinda freaked me out :) 
My fabulous sister Robin took these (along with our banner pic) while we were it AZ. She is an AMAZING photographer check out her blog: http://www.portraitsbyrobinlee.blogspot.com/We had so much fun on our trip to AZ (as usual). We hung out with family, ate yummy food, played outside, swam, and rode ponies!
One night when we were all sitting around at my parents, my dad pulls up with a pony! (He had been thinking of getting one for a while) As you can see Tessa got pretty comfy riding her.
As you can probaby tell, my parent's back yard is not meant for horses, but any of you who know my dad know that that's irrelevant :)
We even got a chance to celebrate Tessa and Mark's Birthdays with the whole family.
"Stop trying to fit it when you were born to stand out"
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