2014's Official Picture with Santa Claus

The bouncy curls, the sweet smile, the clashing pink stripes against Santa's red suit. Loving this year's Santa Claus picture!

Yoke's Field Trip

Abby's second field trip of the year was to a local grocery store, Yoke's. Think of a higher end grocery store where you'd go to buy yummy wines, cheeses, and meats but it'd be crazy expensive to do your day-to-day grocery shopping there (at least on our budget!). I was excited to go (as usual) because I've never been in the "behind the scenes" parts of a grocery store, that I recall at least.

Forgetting about the kid's experience and totally focusing on mine alone for a second...I was surprised at how small the back rooms were. I came into the store thinking that to house all the food that the store sells there would need to be these gigantic rooms piled high with boxes and crates of food. Sort of like a mini Costco in back. So imagine how blown away I was to realize that all that food that flows through this store stops first in just a few rooms that are way smaller than expected. Our tour guide also said that the stock gets rotated out almost every night. The supply chain system in place to make that happen must be simply amazing to see. Okay, back to the kids!

The first stop was at the Coffee Shop for an Apple Cider taste testing. Abby so eagerly waited in line for her drink, took a sip, and promptly walked back to me to tell me it was yucky and could I take her drink. :-)

Then we went to the produce area to find different colored fruits, learn their names, and some interesting tidbits about fruit (the big hit was learning that the top of a pineapple is called its crown).

We then took a detour to the bank within the store. This part of the tour was actually comical as the kids were told about budgets, checking accounts, and payday. Most of the kids were completely enthralled with the candy jar. :-)

Here we toured my favorite part of the store - cheese! They got to do a taste test between a mild and sharp cheese and a sweet and tart apple. I think Abby was hungry because she kept getting in line to get more samples. :-) I finally had to cut her off when she shoved a bunch of cheese in her mouth and then decided she didn't like it and spit this wad of chewed up yuck in my hand. It's the finer parenting moments in life. 

Our first "behind the scenes" room! This was the produce refrigeration section. Abby had fun touching the walls and jumping back while giggling. :-)

Demonstrating the cardboard recycler. I thought it hilarious that, per WA law, you have to be over the age of 18 to operate this machinery. Which is literally pulling down the guard gate and pushing the green button. Literally.

The aforementioned dry goods store room. There were two loading dock bay doors and that was pretty much the width of the room. The recycler was on the other side of this room as well (I'm taking this picture from just a few feet in front of the recycling machine) so hopefully that gives you an idea of the size of this room.

 

I was both impressed and "icked" out with the meat department tour. The gal who was wrapping and tagging the meat cuts had her job down to an art. It took mere seconds to grab a piece of meat, weigh it, wrap it in plastic, seal the plastic, and price the product. The "ick" part was that there were all these hunks of meat just laying around with their smells just out there. Ugh. I know where my meat comes from (I've seen cows butchered, pigs slaughtered, etc) but I purposefully do NOT live on a farm for a reason.

Thankfully we moved on to the dairy refrigeration section quickly. This was such a cute moment! As soon as our tour guide said that the kids would be able to see the people on the other side of the refrigeration doors they made a beeline to check this our. I think they loved being able to "spy" on the other shoppers out there.

Singing kids are ADORABLE! They sang Slippery Fish in the fish department. I love Abby's face here. She's just having so much fun!

In the bakery department they got to see cookies being made, rolls being formed, and bread being sliced. All the kids were told to hug their bodies to keep their hands away from the slicing machine. Then they got to taste test the bread. 

Everyone got a chance to scan a product across the scanner as well.

And finally it was up the stairs to the grocery's office department where they got to take in a view of the whole store. 

I think Abby's favorite moments of the tour was spying on shoppers through the dairy refrigerators, singing Slippery Fish, and scanning the Beef Jerky. Oh, and the lifesaver candy she got as a parting gift. :-) Next field trip is in March to the Mid-Columbia Gymnastics Cheer Gym, a place she loves and knows well! We can't wait!!

Veteran's Day Parade

One of our local towns held a Veteran's Day Parade on the Saturday before Veteran's Day. As Nate was out of town for work, I thought Abby and I would have fun getting out of the house and passing some time together. Dad was also out of town that weekend so Mom (who originally invited us) rounded out our trio. 

The 21-Gun Salute to honor those we have lost. 

I mentioned that there was going to be a loud bang and Abby immediately put her hands to her ears and refused to remove them until the Honor Guard walked back toward the sidewalk. 

Grabbing candy that's been thrown our way. 

Clapping for the cheerleaders. She raised her hands with them a few times but I never could capture it on camera.

What is up with this sassy stance?

Waving to the fire trucks. 

Enjoying the vaulting demonstration. Many, many years ago I vaulted, too! My biggest triumph was doing a handstand while my horse was walking! My how the ab muscles have changed. :-)

Abby was so sweet! She noticed that these kids didn't get some candy from a recent throw so she took candy from her own stash and walked it down to them to put in their candy baskets. :-) My Mommy heart just melted. Of course, a few candy throws later and all the kids were walking back and forth and trading, but the original thought was there!

And...someone's done.

The parade was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning. We parked just a little up the street and only about 15 minutes before the parade started and got great seats! Abby did fantastic playing in the greenbelt behind us before the parade started and towards the end when she was tired of watching. At the hour and a half mark Mom and I looked at each other and decided she was done, we were done, so it was time to go. We ended up leaving only about 10 minutes early so we didn't miss much. The parade was a nice way to show support in our own special way to the many men and women who have served our country. As a Marine Corps family we especially enjoyed the Marines and Young Marines that participated. Thank you to all who have served!

Happy Feast of All Saints' and Souls' Day

I've been trying to step up my "Catholic Feast Days Celebration" game and, since Abby was participating in the All Saints Day parade at Mass, I figured I'd join in on the crazy holiday weekend that is Halloween/All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day. You know what? All those bloggers who talked about how crazy this weekend was were right! I was super happy getting my craft and holiday preparation face on, but by Monday I could nod my head in agreement with everyone else that "whew" it was fun but I'm glad it's done. :-)

After putting Abby to bed much, much later than normal due to the influx of candy consumed on Halloween I took down our Halloween decorations and put up an All Saints' Day banner I'd found on a Shower of Roses. As you can see I used a variety of construction paper colors, as that's what I had on hand, and squished the banner letters together so that they'd all fit in our bay window. I know it looks pretty simply but I was up until after midnight putting that sucker up! I wondered if Abby would really notice since I just put away the Halloween tablecloth and took down the Halloween wall decorations that were on the side of the windows;leaving the streamers up. But as soon as she woke up and came into the Dining Room I got another "Wow" out of her as she began pointing out the letters she knew.

Happy Feast of All Saints!

This picture is here only because of the intense love she had for the Nutella on her toast. Not a normal breakfast but I still think she liked it!

Since we had our Disney on Ice: Let's Celebrate! event that afternoon our Saint celebration was pretty tame. We read the St. Andrew book I had available on her bookshelf (note to self: need more Saint books), talked about St. Patrick and picked out the stuffed animal she wanted to bring to church the next day (Sunday school was doing a Saint parade after Mass and her class picked St. Francis of Assisi to represent) and talked a little bit about who Saints are and why they're important. All Saints' Day...done.

Next up, All Souls' Day. We started the day with Mass and since Abby was "performing" most of the family joined us for church! The Saint parade was really cute. Each class represented a different Saint and brought props that their Saint was known for. St. Francis had stuffed animals, St. Joseph had carpentry tools, St. Isidore had farming items, etc. Abby stepped on her snake and almost went down but quickly recovered without issue. Girl definitely doesn't mind being in front of an audience!

Mom and Chase. He did so, so good during Mass. When the choir would sing he'd babble along and when the room was silent he'd let everyone know what he was thinking. :-)

I almost got the stumble on camera! Here she's picking up her snake and keeping her toes clear of it.

I think she finally saw Grandpa in this photo but was happily waving to everyone as she walked up the aisle.

I see Mom! 

You did a great job representing your Saint!

And...continuing to wave to everyone as she passes by them. :-)

When we got home from Mass it was time for our last Feast Day Celebration activity. Making Holy Ghost cookies (idea from Catholic Cuisine).

The idea was to put just three chocolate chips on the ghost cookies to represent eyes and a nose. Abby decided that more chocolate was better (as it usually is) and gave the ghosts lots of eyes!

Nate getting in on the cookie making action. It was pretty simply. Dip the Nutter Butters in the melted white chocolate chips then lay them on the cookie sheet and sprinkle with the chocolate chips. Cool and eat!

Surprisingly the cookies were pretty yummy! I think this is an activity I will definitely have us repeat next year!

Disney On Ice: Let's Celebrate!

The Akers' girls got together again (no Chase this time) and enjoyed the festivities of Disney on Ice: Let's Celebrate! Having never been to this show before I wasn't sure what to expect, but I figured we'd have fun regardless. I'm really glad we went! I'll totally admit that as the lights dimmed and Lumiere came out to introduce the show I heard Abby say "WOW" in such a way that just made my heart melt and my eyes tear up. I am so blessed to have Abby as my daughter and am so thankful for her each and every day. But enough with the sappy...on to the show!

I tried so hard to get a cute picture of the girls as we waited for the show to start, but Abby was much more interested in her snow cone than in taking pictures.

And truthfully for what I paid for this thing I'm glad she was into it! This plastic cup filled with ice and syrup, that happened to have a picture of Tinkerbell on it, cost me $15.00. $15.00! She kept wanting popcorn during the show but I refused to spend $12.00 on a bag filled with pennies-to-produce popcorn that just happened to have a Mickey Mouse picture on it. Girl got normal concession stand priced pizza, Capri Sun, and a Fruit Roll-up.

Abby was entertained by the salespeople on the ice trying to sell the Boomerangs. 

And then the show begins! I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the characters didn't just amateurishly skate around the ice, but rather were professional skaters who did tricks and such.

So excited for what she's watching that she couldn't sit in her seat. Thankfully I'd purposefully purchased our tickets in the row with the bar so that she could move around a bit without disturbing those in front of us. 

My happy girl!

This part of the show was really neat! It was the magical broom scene from Fantasia and they were black-light brooms on the floor, ceiling, and walls. Very cool to watch!

I can honestly say that my favorite part of the performance was when they highlighted the Disney princesses in the first half. Each Princess and Prince got to come out and dance to "their" song. My favorite princess (Sleeping Beauty) was missing but she tends to always get left out of the line. :-( I think Cinderella typically being in blue while Ariel gets pink overshadows Aurora who is both. Lame in my opinion.

Enthusiastically clapping for the skaters. 

I'm completely impressed with how strong the guys are and how trusting the girls are.

Abby wanted to be next to Haylee so she decided to just jump up on her lap. :-)

A great Princess finale!

Unfortunately, the show was just a little on the too long side for Abby. It was an hour for the first half, then a 15 minute intermission, then another hour. Add in a sick Abby (again, not contagious, just a nasty cough) and in need of a nap and halfway through the second half we had to work to keep her happy.

I kept trying to get her to smile in our selfie, but she wanted to open and close her mouth instead. So I ended up joining her. Yes, I admit I'm goofy. :-)

Lighting the ice on fire was neat!

Abby thought so, too! Her "Wow" is tonsil showing. :-)

Holding my tired little girl reminding her we had just a few more minutes to go.

The finale brought all the characters back out on the ice for a wonderful send off. 

Abby thought the fire pops (her way of saying fire works) were a great ending, too!

Haylee was a little sad that we didn't see Anna or Elsa (as I think every girl in the audience was) but she has to learn some day that the West Coast is behind the times and we have to wait to catch up to the East Coast. :-) Hopefully we get Disney on Ice: Frozen! next year!