You know you're in Spokane when the line to visit Santa Claus is only a few families deep or there's no line at all! Happy day! I love the magic of Christmas. And even though you're not supposed to take any pictures with personal cameras, I still did. Another thing about Spokane. People are so nice. Santa pointed to my camera and had the girls smile.

Happy Christmas from these two ragamuffins!

Holly and Greta love to wear knee high socks, or "knee hocks" as they're often called at our house. These girls are so cute! When I dress them in blue and pink/red, it makes me think of Mary and Laura Ingalls.

Happy Halloween from a black kitty (meow!) and the cutest Elsa I’ve ever seen. According to my daughters, both roles require seriousness, but I cracked through their frosty exteriors and snagged some smiles. Have fun, be safe!

I just love these sisters.

This is why we moved to Spokane. Or one big reason out of the dozen. A long weekend in Yahk. A short drive to spend quality time with my family. Holly and Greta loved it. And I loooooved not feeling stressed about fitting in as much bonding time as possible. It's so nice to be able to feel a little more mellow about family time! That's a major win in my books.

We met my sister's baby, Theia, the girls played with all the pets, Holly and Greta had morning cuddles with their grandparents, wheelbarrow rides from Gramps, story telling, playing with fire, we spent time with my Aunt and Uncle, Uncle Peter gave Holly and mani/pedi, we played games, etc... It was like it wasn't even cold and rainy!

It was a weekend I needed to affirm that we did the right thing. Because let's face it, moving is no joke!

It was a little tough to send Holly to school this year. We've only been in Spokane for 2 weeks and I feel like we know very little about the school. I was nervous! Holly was nervous! Imagine my relief when I picked her up at the end of the day, asked her how her day was and her response was an enthusiastic, "It was great! I had fun!" Phew! It all went well. She's still our happy Holly. Here's some photos of my big girl on her big day.

Can you see Greta making faces through the door window? Honestly! Greta is turning into such a class clown. She's discovering she likes to make people laugh and does she ever make us laugh! Love these two sisters.

Greta starts preschool tomorrow!