Esther's Gingerbread House Raising at School

Although this is not the best picture of my beautiful Esther, it's the only one I've got!! (Thanks Megan!) On Friday morning, I went to school to help Esther with putting together her gingerbread house. It was amazing how many parents were there!! The support of parents at our school is quite spectacular.

Kid's Christmas Party

I had this crazy idea to let each of the kids invite two or three kids from school to a Christmas party at our house, without another adult with me...it was fun...but a little crazy...as all parties should be. Here are some pictures...

Christmas Eve Program

Emery and Nana playing the piano. Esther has taught Emery to growl so she does it all the time now." That couldn't have been me growling in that picture." This is the "Emery cycle." Do something crazy or naughty and then look all innocent and cute. Oh, and please disregard the black eye...no need to call child's services...Emmy just flipped a lid into her face and got her first black eye.
The girls and I...




We call this the "Emmy Wiggle" toward the end!!

The Nutcracker in Seattle

Aunt Merrilee, Aunt Kim, Nana, Cousin Julia, Esther, Rebekah and Me all went to the Nutcracker the Friday night after Thanksgiving. Other than poor Rebekah suffering from "raging" strep throat, we had a wonderful night. The sets were amazing and the dancing was magical. The girls have been dancing around like ballerinas since then.

Is that really snow?!

Well, the kids called it snow. Tom called it slush. We tried to make the most of it by taking a walk in the snow and doing our best to have a snowball fight!!

Emery loved it...and she kept her hat on. Miracle of all miracles!!

This was her first time walking in snow. Last year, she wasn't walking yet.
Benjamin and his buddy Riley!!
They had fun trying to throw snowballs at each other. At least with it being so slushy, nobody was going to get hurt.

Getting ready for Christmas!!

For this Christmas, we decided to get a real tree. And since Tom couldn't walk, his brother and father helped us get it. Thanks Fred and David!! Rebekah was in charge of taking pictures while I decorated...this is the only one that didn't come out fuzzy.

This was the finished product. It turned out great!!

We made a gingerbread house that the kids actually decorated themselves. I put it together and they decorated it...it was a lot of fun!! I would have taken pictures during the process but that was impossible!

This is the kids tree that they got to decorate!! It was fun having two trees!!

The kids love playing on the stairs! My favorite picture is of Emery peaking her head through the garland. She thinks she's getting away with something!

Here's the mantle with our stockings. This is the first year that I have had a mantle and a fireplace to decorate!!

Family Pictures

We had some pictures taken by Tom's sister. Thanks Kim!! It was really sunny so we're all squinting a little but it still works.

The Lovely Month of October

This is one of my favorite pictures from the month. Tom and Esther were going to a Daddy/Daughter Halloween Party. They were so excited to be dressed up as superheroes. We love our superheroes in this family.








The kids had so much fun dressing up. Emery was a lamb; Esther was Supergirl; Rebekah was Hannah Montana; and Ben was The Thing. We carved pumpkins and had a lot of fun!





We went to two different pumpkin patches for field trips for Ben and Rebekah!!









Mommy spent a lot of time baking. She made her first homemade apple pie--from scratch. Thanks Amy!! She made Esther's school treats for her birthday, cupcakes for the Autumnfest and for the party and some Halloween candy. And this was all in one day!!












We made some fun witches shoes for the kids' teachers and mommy's visiting teachers!!










Esther turned 9. She had a really fun craft party. She had lots of friends come and it was the quietest, calmest party we've ever thrown. If this is what it means for them to get older, we're okay with that. It was great. Happy Birthday Esther. We love you.

Catch-up from the Summer

We swam a few times over at our cousins house!! Doesn't Emery look quite gorgeous in her swimsuit.




We got our faces painted at the Sumner Festival!!



We went and saw Nana and Granddad's play!




The kids got their first camel ride!



They got to ride on the carousel



They got to groom some sheep!!



Play in water!!




We went to the zoo a couple of times this summer. The kids really enjoy it. They love the toys and the animals.




Grandma came and visited to help out while I recovered from surgery. We couldn't have done it without you. Thanks Grandma!!