Christmas 2010 Portland

 You are welcome to read this but be I must warn you that this is basically for me so that I will remember this trip.

 Portland welcomed me with rain on December 14th as I flew Frontier from Denver. The wait in the security line was about an hour and I was so glad to finally board the plane.  It was a great flight and even better after I found out later that there was a tornado near Portland just about the time I landed. So glad I did not know about it during the flight.  We picked Avery up from school and then went to a Christmas party at the Children's Museum. The long day had me asleep by 8.

The next day we met Christie and Henry at a community center for  Dinosaur Messy Art Day. Avery and Henry played with that wonderful sand --probably called Magic Sand but I call it Steve Spangler Sand--painted lava on paper volcanoes and glued pom poms on a dinosaur.  We then headed over to Amber and Josie's for a delicious lunch.  Pretending that Josie's bed was a boat, having a parade, and dressing up kept the three toddlers quite happy.

Thursday was sunny and cool.  We went to Avery's dance class in the morning at a different community center and I never stopped smiling the whole time.  Those little children were so cute!  Avery loves to dance and is very good at following directions. We had lunch at Burgerville-yummy shakes--however on the receipt each item is printed out with how many calories, fiber, fat and carbs with a total at the bottom of your whole meal. There is also a suggestion as to what you can do to lower those numbers such as asking for non-fat frozen yogurt in the shake.  Very interesting concept.
Megan and I had our hair cut in the afternoon.

Another sunny day.  Christie has a cookie exchange every year and this year Megan co-hosted it at her home.  I made chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate covered Ritz crackers with peanut butter filling. There were 6-7 other mothers with very delicious cookies.
Elise and Nolan came for the evening while Rachele and Jay had a date night.

Saturday Megan had a brunch for Avery's birth mom, Nikki, her birth grandmother Janet and Avery's brother Garrett. It was a very nice visit and it was fun to see how well Avery and Garrett get along and how similar they are in so many ways. Megan made blueberry french toast and Damian made salmon hash.
Sat. evening Avery stayed at Elise's house while Megan and I had a date night and Damian went to a basketball game. The movie was at the Living Room Theatre and was a documentary called Waste Land about the largest landfill in the world. It was an excellent movie.

Happy Birthday Avery!  You are 3 years old today. Avery has been talking about her BD for 6 months and what she really was excited about was blowing our her own candles.  The party was at Little Gym with about 10 other little 3 and 4 year olds. It is a little gym for little people. They can run, climb, and jump without fear of getting hurt. There were also some group activities--the parachute, the bouncy thing, the scarves. Megan had a fruit tray, a veggie tray, goldfish crackers, small sandwiches (peanut and jelly and turkey and cheese) and milk.  Then there was the cake -decorated the way Avery wanted it with ornaments and flowers--it was a beautiful cake and delicious too. And of course there was ice cream.

Monday was cookie making day for Avery and me. We made sugar cookies (Mercy Watson's favorite cookie) with frosting and sprinkles.  Avery stirred the flour, rolled the dough, cut out trees, bells, stars,  and  angels and tasted the frosting. While the cookies were baking we put together the floor puzzle that Henry gave her for her BD.
In the evening the whole family went to see The Nutcracker. Avery wore her new tutu and really thought she was going to be able to dance with the dancers. It was fun watching her move to the music.

Tuesday--a very rainy, cold and windy day. Elise came over and played with Avery while Rachele took Nolan to the doctor.  They changed into tutus and had a grand time playing in Avery's new nook.
It was a good day to stay inside and putter around the house.
I finished reading Unbroken: A WW II story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand.  An amazing story-hard to put down and very well written. She also wrote Seabiscuit which is also highly recommended. I am now reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Also a good book but not as spell binding as Unbroken.

Wednesday--We ate lunch and shopped at New Seasons and then went to Michaels for crafty things.  Megan wrote Avery's BD thank you notes and then we proceeded to clean the house to get ready for the arrival of Mike and Vic. They were on their way from Denver with Daisy the dog and had hit some bad storms and road closures in Wyoming. They finally made it here around 11:00 PM.  Dinner was roast chicken and Amber's recipe for spinach souffle.

Thursday Avery went to the doctor for her 3rd year check up. We then went shopping to pick up a roast and a turkey for the holiday meals. In the evening Avery and I enjoyed the evening together while Megan, Damian, Vic and Mike went out to dinner and a movie.

Christmas Eve--I made 3 pies in the morning -apple, pumpkin and pecan--so that Damian could have the oven to start the evening meal.  He made a traditional English dinner --prime rib, roasted potatoes, roasted Brussel sprouts, steamed cauliflower and broccoli with cheese sauce, rolls and wine.  It was delicious!! Nine adults and 3 children enjoyed the evening: Damian, Megan, Avery, Mike, Victoria, Rachele, Jay, Elise, Nolan and Rachel's parents Wayne and Cam---and me.

Christmas Day started with sharing all the great things that were in our stockings. Santa came through with a Cinderella dress and shoes for Avery-she immediately took off her pj's  and put on the dress. Mike and Vic cooked an English breakfast for us--tomatoes, sausage, bacon, toast, beans, eggs. Megan and Avery separated the gifts into piles and we dug in--one at a time. Avery spent time with each gift, changing clothes as new ones were opened and playing with each toy.  It reminded me of Christmases past and how much fun Christmas is with children. Damian gave Megan a sewing machine so I will be expecting to see new pillows and curtains in Avery's room the next time I visit.

Megan's 35th birthday and Boxing Day! Mike, Vic and Daisy left for the long road trip back to Colorado. Mike had a bad case of the stomach flu last evening but was feeling a little better in the morning. I made pancakes for Megan's BD breakfast and we left Avery with Damian to go out in search of Christmas bargains. Megan bought a couple of Christmas decorations for the mantle (50% off) and plenty of wrapping paper for next year. We had lunch at Kornblatts Deli and stopped at a paper store where Megan became enthralled with the craft of embossing. Everyone is getting homemade embossed thank you notes this year.

Monday--Avery had a dentist appointment where she had her teeth cleaned-everything is A-OK. We spent the rest of this rainy and cloudy day inside reading and napping. At 6:00 Megan was surprised when one of her friends  came by to take her to dinner for her BD. Damian and I knew about it and did our best to keep it a secret. I was invited also and there were 7 of us who enjoyed an Italian meal-good company and good conversation. To help Megan celebrate were: Amber, Christie, Rachele, Sara, Stacey, and myself.

Last day of my visit. Avery has been sick on and off for the past few days so she did not go to school as planned. We all went to lunch at a sushi place where the different sushi dishes came around on a track and you picked the ones you wanted. We then went to Target and to Michaels where Megan bought more 'stuff' for her new creative adventure of embossing.

Flight to Denver on Wednesday at 11:00 to arrive  DIA at 2:22. Katherine to pick me up.

PS
A few observations about Avery:
*She loves to dance-especially ballet-and watches Angelina Ballerina where she copies almost exactly what Angelina does.
*She loves her milk! And she loves broccoli.
*Be careful what you say as she repeats everything.
*She loves to be read to-and she loves to read the books by herself.
*She changes her clothes many times a day.
*She has a beautiful smile and laugh.