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 :).

Christmas

our traditional Christmas morning picutres at the top of the stairs

The kids in shirts from Duddi

Ava and her beloved tent

the Christmas runner Duddi made for us....Thank you!

After a long day :)

We have had a wonderful, peaceful (well, as peaceful as our house can get) Christmas day. We hope you had an enjoyable day as well. The kids did better this year at understanding the true meaning of the day...a mark that they are truly growing up. Andrew liked the kids new toys almost as much as they did :)...(and I have to admit...I had a bit of fun playing with Ava's multilingual doll). James's highlight of the day was playing star wars with his brothers. Joshua's highlight was the bow and arrow he recieved (yes we are regretting it...no one is safe from the suction cup!). Jory's highlight was the bakugan ball in his stocking...you have to be nine or four to understand :). Ava's highlight by far was her pop up castle..."Come in my castle please" was requested about a million times today. Thank you to everyone for the lovely gifts. We miss seeing you all this year, although it is nice not to have to travel...or pack! Merry Christmas!

Peace

The kids got out all the instruments and were playing along to music.

It's so nice when the kids get along.

Thanksgiving

Grandma and Grandpa Hill came up for Thanksgiving. We went to Leavenworth, WA for a night. We stayed at the Enzian Inn, the same place we went to with Duddi when she came for Thanksgiving.

Snow Masterpieces

Andrew is experiencing delusions of grandeur and has created a luge that goes from our playstructure in our backyard down to the cul-de-sac. Supposedly it is great fun to go down. All I know is that I hit the fence post and decided to be done. The "Igloo" he created next is pretty neat I have to admit.