Air Andrew

Andrew was so happy to be done preparing for Christmas morning....

James' favorite christmas bingo gift... our neighbors, Sara and Noel, came for dinner, carols, and our traditional Christmas bingo game.

Kids in their Christmas pajamas...thanks Grandma Hill!

Fall Piano Recital

Jory participated in his first piano recital.

Ava decided to try to pull the camera out of my hands while I was taping Joshua's performance...

James played Arietta by Mozart...I missed recording his introduction :)

Birthdays, Princesses and Penguins

Joshua celebrated his 8th birthday! He was thrilled to get a skeleton for his birthday to decorate with for Halloween since he feels we are woefully unprepared to present a spooky enough environment for our trick-or-treaters :) He is looking forward to getting baptized in November! We can't believe how old he is...and what a "spec"tacular boy he is (note the new glasses - RED no less)!

We attended a Star Wars party....Ava...ever the princess

One step closer to her life's ambition....Thanks Grandma Duddi for finding the costume for her!

Ava is 3... and Fond of Dirt

Thank you Duddi for Ava's lovely birthday gifts! She adores them. The book is the new nightly favorite and the dog purse accompanied her to church this Sunday :)

...some pictures of the rest of the delightful birthday day....

Ava was playing outside by herself this afternoon for no more than about 5 minutes...but this was the result...

Jory's 5th Birthday Backyard Olympics

We had Jory's birthday party tonight. We did the 1st ever Backyard Olympics. We divided the kids into birthday "countries". We had the country of ice cream, the country of cake, presents, hats and balloons. The kids decorated white T-shirts with their country's emblem and this was their "uniform". We then had an opening ceremony where the kids paraded into the "arena" to the Rocky theme music. The kids had a great time. They did 6 different challenges (pin the medal on the Olympian, summer team bobsledding, the long jump, discus throw, ping pong ball races and jump rope challenge) and then a team relay obstacle course at the end. Jory, of course, had a terrific time and was so happy that he finally had his turn to have a big party at our house for his birthday.

Jory's Birthday

I video taped Jory opening his presents from his grandparents...but Ava bumped into me and the setting on the camera switched to fast record...(I wasn't aware of this until after) SORRY! He was SO excited though....

Sweet Seconds

I was cleaning up breakfast when I heard Joshua and Ava singing in the living room. It's nice to have moments of sweetness in between the normal arguing :)

Father's Day Camping Adventure

We went camping over Father's Day weekend to Lake Quinault. While there, we visited the Hoh Rainforest and Ruby Beach. We had a lovely trip. The kids had an amazing time. We camped with our friends, the Freemans. We only wish we could have stayed longer.

Beethoven and Ballroom

James and Joshua had a piano recital Saturday afternoon and a ballroom dance recital later that evening (after playing double-header soccer games preceded by swimming lessons). Overbooked?.....well, maybe a little.

Jory and Ava's Aspirations

Jory and Ava have decided what they want to do with their lives...

Ava and Her Dog Neo

I thought you might like to see how Ava is growing up! She LOVES her dog Neo (according to her it is "MY Neo"). In this video Ava is 2 yrs and 8 months old.

March Piano Recital ...cont'd

Here is James' recital piece: Minuet 2 by J.S. Bach

March 2009 Piano Recital

We had a piano recital last Saturday. I realized too late that I needed to record the performance digitally so that I could post it to our blog, so this is Joshua's recital piece performed at home :). I will have to post James' piece later. It was having technical difficulties :).