Merry Christmas From Our Family To Yours

Merry Christmas from the Mills/Walker/Herndon family! This is four generations together in one spot for Christmas Eve at Grandma Walker's house.

Sharing Holiday Traditions

Marilynn invited Nathan over to help her eat her gingerbread house (always a tradition in my family :-)), and since it was the 6th Night of Hanukkah, Nathan and his mom brought over their Menorah and some yummy latkes (potato pancakes) with apple sauce. And, we had some yummy red wine (call it a Catholic tradition from the Mills side of the family). It was a great evening to celebrate different traditions and meanings. Happy holidays to everyone!


So excited to dig into their gingerbread, but I think Marilynn liked the Latkes even better.
Ken has to get involved with anything having to do with home demolition work.

Dianna and Nathan - just after the lighting of the Menorah.

I love how you can see the reflection of the Christmas tree in the glass.

We had a gift exchange and Erika walked away with some great bath toys - I think she would live in the bathtub if she could.

Gingerbread Houses Galore

While my mom was visiting, we went to tour the gingerbread houses at the Sheraton in Seattle and a little chocolate shop in Fremont. Marilynn had a much greater appreciation for all the work that goes into gingerbread houses after making her own the week before.


The Muppetts are made with hundreds of jelly beans.

Granny and granddaughter

The scene from "Christmas Story" made in candy and fondant.

A Polar Express Gingerbread display - four times taller than Marilynn!

Gingerbread house depicting "It's a Wonderful Life"

Early Christmas with Granny and Da Da

Since we're spending Christmas in Texas this year, my parents came over for an early Christmas at our place. Marilynn got the present of a lifetime with a new doll house complete with furtniture (yes, this was something that I always wanted). The girls and I are having so much fun playing with it!

Christmas Party

We had a Christmas party with our friends from church on Saturday night and it was a fun time of getting ready for the season! The girls loved hanging out with their friends and so did we!

Tis the Season

We have the tree up! It's a small tree and a borrowed tree (thank you Mike and Sandra!), but we're not really home much in December (we only have 2 weekends in December here), so up it went. We also invited Nathan over for a gingerbread house making party - I think more candy ended up in their bellies than on theirs houses, but that's half the fun! I love Christmas time with the kids.

Nathan and Marilynn doing the "tushie" dance to warm their tushies in from the fire.

Yum! Gingerbread men!

The architects at work!

The finished product!

Yes, Marilynn is without pants. It's just her style these days. But, the tree didn't mind.

Swimming in December

We just joined the YMCA and the girls LOVE being able to swim in the middle of winter. Not a bad way to spend an icy sub-freezing afternoon.

Port Townsend Outing

While we were at my parents' for Thanksgiving, we took a little family side-trip to Port Townsend for the day. It's a fun little town right on the water and we checked out the local shops and eats. We found this cute little 50's Diner and Marilynn was amazed that we could drop a coin into the jukebox and it would play any song we wanted. So high tech.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Our Thanksgiving week started out like a lion and came out like a lamb! Little Erika caught a nasty flu bug and had a super high fever, so we were taking care of her around the clock and postponed our trip out to my parent's house. But, Marilynn was devastated, so she went out early and Ken and I came out once Erika was feeling better. We ended up having an amazing time out in Sequim - celebrating my birthday and Thanksgiving with our family!

Christian and his wife Caitlin came up from California - their first Thanksgiving of married life!

We headed out to the Dungeoness Spit for a little hike to the waterfront. Marilynn's first time walking the whole way by herself!

Marilynn loves to swing with her Da-Da!

Marilynn and my Mom made me the best birthday cake, and we celebrated the day after my birthday with a yummy dinner!

Baby Daniel Has Arrived!

Marilynn's Godmother Sandra (Marilynn calls her Silly Sandra) finally had her baby on Sunday! Baby Daniel decided to arrive in his mom's style - a little late, but well worth it!


Erika thought Sandra needed a little cuddle before her 27 hours of labor really kicked in.


Yes, Marilynn and Erika playing with the "birthing ball"

Marilynn anxiously awaiting the birth of little Daniel. Sandra - is the baby coming out of your tummy yet???

Ah, the next day, little Daniel arrives into the world! A whopping 9 pounds, 3 ounces. Go Sandra! You are a super woman!!

Congratulations Mike and Sandra! I think we owe you a babysitting or two (or 200).

Disney on Ice

Part two of Nathan's birthday was a trip to Disney on Ice, and Marilynn was in awe the entire time. She loved all of the ice skating, the tricks and the POPCORN. My favorite part was watching her face light up.

Nathan's 4th Birthday

Marilynn has now been to 75 percent of Nathan's birthday parties, and the 4th was amazing. It was a Disney themed birthday and Marilynn made sure that she was right by Nathan's side the whole time (well, most of the time).