Festival of Trees

In addition to the Santa Parade, I also attended the Festival of Trees hosted by Mary Bridge Children's Hospital where Ashlie and Katie performed with their dance teams.  The trees there were amazing.  Different people and companies decorate these trees and sell them to individuals or companies.  It's a fundraiser for the hospital and a fun event.

Here are the pictures of the girls.

Kayden loved looking at the trees.

Santa Parade

After decorating our tree we headed out to see Katie and Ashlie in Sumner's Annual Santa Parade.  The girls have been in it the last few years, here is 2011, the rain prevented me from getting any pictures last year.

This year was by far the coldest, 30 degrees in this neck of the woods and we all could feel it.  And some of the performers were in skimpy clothes, brrrr.

 Kayden thought the music was really bad!

 Ashlie is third from the left.

This kid refused to wear a heavier jacket, ugh, so he really froze!

 I know this picture of Kate is blurry, but it is the only one I got of her,sadly...so I included it anyway.

 Kayden thought this double decker bus was the coolest.

And I sadly, didn't get a picture of Santa.  We headed back to the car before the parade ended, and although we saw him on our trek back, I didn't get a picture. 

Christmas Tree Decorating

We put our tree up over the weekend and decorated it.  I love that Kayden is old enough to help decorate and fun doing it.  He is really excited for Christmas this year, it's going to be fun.

Katie's Kid Marathon

Katie's school was involved with the Seattle Children's Hospital Kids Marathon.

Here is how it worked:

Each child participant would run 25 miles at their school on their recesses starting November 1st.  Then, on a designated day, this year it was November 30th, the kids would run their final 1.2 miles in downtown Seattle with all the other kids that participated from all over. 

Katie finished her 25 miles with one day to spare (and was even sick for a full week in the middle of Nov.) and announced, "I'm so glad I'm done with running, now I can jump rope again!"  She was excited to get to Seattle to run the final 1.2 miles.  She stayed with us the night before and got up at 7:00 am so she could get her gear on and eat breakfast. 

My parents met us at our house and we were off by 8:15, heading to Seattle.

Once we arrived in downtown it was a bit of mayhem.  There were kids, parents, grandparents, and dogs everywhere and I'm so sad to say that I missed Katie at the start AND finish lines, which didn't make me happy.  :(

Katie and her friend from school.  The picture below is her friend, her friends dad and Katie.  Parents/Adults were allowed to run with the kids if they wanted to.  I told Katie I would run with her next year.

The start line.

The kids that completed the marathon went home with a shirt, and a large swag bag full of all kinds of goodies, including an awesome medal. 

I am really proud of Katie.  It takes dedication, commitment and determination to give up your recess so you can run a marathon.  Awesome job, Kate!

Kayden's Preschool Thanksgiving Feast

Kayden's preschool hosted a Thanksgiving Feast and it was super cute.  Kayden's class represented the Pilgrims and wore hats the kids got to color and decorate. 

 Katie had the day off from school so my parents came, along with Katie.