Piano Recital

Wilson and Leo have been practicing their pieces for a few weeks and today was recital day. They got all dressed up for the big event.

Leo was first and Wilson was second out of about 20 performers.They were definitely ranked by ability as the last performer played Mozart and Leo and Wilson...didn't. I'm not sure if you'll be able to get the videos to play on the ship, but I uploaded them just in case. The boys did great.

Here is Leo playing Skipping Frogs.

Here is Wilson with Noah's Ark.

Their reward for a great show was root beer floats at Red Robin after. They were in heaven.

Heartbreaker Part Two

Walked in on this scene tonight when I came to say goodnight to Wilson.

"I just wanted to sleep with Dad tonight."

Can't make this sh* up, babe. We have the sweetest kids ever!

Real Snow!

We finally got some real snow here! We woke up Friday to a winter wonderland. It was really pretty. School was canceled and you can imagine the kids were excited.

Leo was cute when he saw all the snow, "Is it Christmas?"

 

We started the day off with some chocolate chip pancakes.

We all bundled up to head out. I had snow pants for Leo and Archie. Wilson wore two layers of jeans and Ivy had some of Archie's sports pants. Putting on gloves took about 15 minutes as usual... 

The boys and neighbor girls were sledding down the big hill.

Siena took Ivy for a ride. She might not look miserable here, but Ivy pretty much hated every second in the snow. I ended up taking her home for a really early nap after about 20 minutes.

Archie, of course, loved it!

He took some sled rides with Leo.

The kids built a pretty good snowman.

And, made some snow angels.

 Leo invented a new technique for snow angeling. I don't think it will catch on.

They definitely needed some hot chocolate to stay warm.

Super fun day in the snow. Not pictured is me in my pajamas all day and a few (okay, many) hours of movie watching. We had fun!

Hopefully we'll get some more snow this winter so you can enjoy it, too!!

Love you!

Snow!

 Well, it snowed here (pathetically, in my Iowa opinion) and the kids flipped out. Here are some pictures of them before school in their jammies and winter gear. trying to play in the snow.

 

They were slipping and sliding on the deck for a bit and Leo thought he need more action so he grabbed a skateboard for the ice.

 Archie got cold so he joined Ivy in the viewing area. Leo didn't bust once! The kids had a lot of fun for about 20 minutes and came in when Wilson pegged Leo twice in the face with his snow balls. They're hoping for some more snow later this week!

Christmas Decorations

 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Silverdale! Man, those decorations were not easy to find in the garage - - but a great excuse to start cleaning it out! The kids and I blasted some beach boys and decorated the tree all morning. It was a lot of fun. We all have our favorite ornaments and the kids surely know yours!

 They are obsessed with the music box from your parents. I sent your mom his picture and she was happy we still had it.

 We got some mistletoe for the first time ever and the boys are having fun running from me when I surprise them under it. Leo especially, as you can imagine, has been terrified of my kisses :) 

I'll see you under it in a few weeks!!

We got some decorations outside, too. I ended up in the tree to get the job done, but it turned out really cute so I'm happy we look a little festive for the neighbors. Tonight, I'm wrapping presents for our kids and family. I will send them out this week. Still need to finish up those Christmas cards, too! Eek, this always happens...

Heartbreaker

"What are you doing, Archie?"

"Waiting for Dad."

Christmas cards

Our Christmas cards came in, so I've been busy addressing and writing little messages on them all. Updating so many of the addresses... can our friends just stop moving already?? 

Thought you might like to see them. Aren't our kids so cute?!?

The boys and I were really laughing at how tall Leo is in the family shot. You look so handsome, babe. xoxo!