Valentines Day 2011

flowers for Alyssa and Reagan, from Dad:-)

Valentines Day this year was perfect, dispite a couple of setbacks.  The positive: All the kids were happy because it was Valentines Day, and liked waking up to special treats at each of their spots at the table. I was happy becuase they were happy.  I didn't have to cook dinner:-)))) Mike picked up a pizza for the kids and Chinese food for us.  The best gift of all! We made Valentines cookies in the afternoon which served as dessert that night, well, that and delicious chocolate covered strawberries brought over from a friend! I also got some beautiful flowers, which is all I really wanted for Valentines Day-something to brighten up the house:-)
The negative: Poor August was sick, and had to stay home and miss his Valentines Party at school.  He was very much looking forward to the party, and I could tell he felt sad, although his fever left him feeling worse!  The highlight for his day was when his friend Ryan brought his school Valentines home from school and delivered them to our door-he was so happy about that!

The day was great, and I can't believe we just had Valentines Day.....where is the time going???

One Wild Waterfall

We had to go check out the waterfall one drizzly January day, after much rain, and it was SO wet that I couldn't even pull out my camera, let alone look at the waterfall for more than a couple seconds before turning away.  August, Alyssa and I made the trip while Reagan napped, and it was just what we needed.  We ended up soaked, but felt so alive being out in the rain and the mist of the gorgeous falls. I have learned that half the fun is getting there, so we make sure and park in the lot across the highway, so we have to take the walking bridge over, which the kids really like. They spend more time climbing around on the rocks than looking at the falls, but when you are a kid, nature is enjoyed differently than when you are an adult, and I'm fine with that.  I just like that we can all appreciate something together. 
I did pull my camera out right before we headed back over the footbridge, and snapped these two pictures of August and Alyssa:-)

A few more new hats....

This is Reagan's hat, and she wears it often! I love all of her cute girly hats, but this one seems to fit her personality more:-))

This hat took quite a bit of work, and YES, it is a hat; although, I could have easily stuffed it and secured a stick inside and it would have made a great stick horse for the kids.  I didn't really want to say goodbye to this hat, because it turned out pretty awesome and I'm not likely to make one again!

I made two of this hat in request to someone who wanted my traditional soccer beanie hat, but made more girlie.  The two girls had brother's who would be playing soccer, and the parents wanted them to be able to show some team spirit!

My fuzzy bear beanie.  This isn't a new hat, but a modified bear hat.  The person who ordered this hat loved it, but wanted a monkey hat.  So, I simply enlarged and lowered the ears and voila....a monkey hat! This pic. is un-edited, but perfectly suitable for my family blog!

This is MY hat, and I absolutely LOVE it. It feels and looks great.

Alyssa's Ballet Session II

Session two ended yesterday, and a new session begins next week.  As a general rule, parents are to drop off their students for class and may not stay, as the room is very open and staying distracts the dancers; however, the last week of each session is observation and free dress week, and parents can stay.  I like observation week! I like to see what Alyssa is learning. Also, I can help her at home by knowing what she should be doing to improve. Alyssa really wanted to wear her tutu again, so that was what she chose this second time around!
For those of you who don't know, I just switched Alyssa from the day time 3/4 class (a creative movement ballet/tap intro. class) to the more challenging 5/6 class (a pre-ballet class).  This was her third week in the class, and some of the girls in this class have been in ballet for a couple years by now! She is doing well in the class and I like that she is being challenged a bit more!  Also note my beautiful pink hair bun covers over a couple of buns, including the instructors:-))  Alyssa's new instructor also happens to be the owner of the academy.  She is so kind and a great teacher, and when I asked Alyssa what she thought of Miss Katie after her second class with her, she replied, "OH, she is WONDERFUL!."  Yeah:-)

We just put our fees down for the costumes for the June recital, and I really look forward to that.  The girls will start learning a routine for that late February. 

Wrapping up 2010 Part TWO

One thing our family has plenty of, now that we live up here, is snow gear! I don't think I could say that before!!

August has mastered how to build a snow ball!  I have never properly rolled a snowball, and still don't really know how to do it, but August has it down!! Look at this one he started.

I'm smiling because I can touch the sky and the mountains when Dad throws me up in the air!

Yes, I'm a scenery kind of girl, so here are my scenery pics.!

Ryan came home from his Dad's house looking a little, uh, shabby!  I think it is time to buy this boy a razor.

He loves, LOVES his electric guiter! He practices on it daily, and uses the included dvd to learn skills.

O.K.....but wrap this year up before it is time to wrap up 2011!  For our second week of Christmas break Mike had the whole week off, and we had a nice time being around the house, which is basically what we did.  Mike was really hoping for snow on his week off, and in case snow didn't come to us, we decided to make a trip and head up to the pass.  These pictures are from our trip to the snow.  Matthew was sure snow was on the way, so he opted out of this trip.  That night, everyone got their wish filled, as a good amount of snow came to us, and stuck around (no pun intended!) for the duration of the week.

Wrapping up 2010 Part One

I haven't posted anything in a bit-I guess I've just been too busy!  I originally thought I would sum up all of December in one post, but as I was uploading photos I realized that just Christmas alone was going to be too large a post, and that is limiting the photos I put on here.  This is the closest thing I have to a scrapbook, and that is why I post these pics.  They are random and some of my favorites.  I hope to one day use this blog as a guide to create my hard copy scrapbook if I so desire, or at least get this blog printed out!

The Snoqualmie tree lighting ceremony.  This was our first year going.  Santa was there, and there was caroling, horse drawn sleigh rides, and cocoa.  Honestly, it was a bit of an over-rated event, as the lines were long and it was cold out!  The kids were bummed they didn't get to ride the sleigh. 

Reagan was terrified, so I had to accompany her to see Santa.  Matthew asked for a computer, August a snowboard, Alyssa Go-go my walking pup and pooping puppy, Reagan asked for Mickey Mouse.

My siblings taught me to pick my toes!  I like to take one shoe and sock off and have at it.

"How about this tree?!"

Our Christmas card photo of the year.

Gingerbread House and cookie time!

Matthew, Alyssa and Reagan decorated our house this year.  August had a friend over and was busy playing with him instead. 

Christmas EVE...we are SOOO ready for Santa to come!!

Santa came, Santa came!!!

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This was the Mickey Mouse Reagan asked for-he dances and sings and is VERY cool!

A special gift August made for Dad, wrapped and had placed under the tree the night after we put it up.  He stayed up every night in the week preceding Christmas assembling gifts for each member of the family, and then sneak downstairs before bed to place them under the tree.  He melted my heart as I watched him take such great care in carefully choosing gifts based on what he thought each each person would like.  He would go to the loft closet where I keep the gift bags and select a bag for each.  One might be a birthday bag, another said "Congrats Grad", but he was none-the-wiser, and he would take tissue paper and wrap the gifts and create a card for each. He was so excited to give these gifts to us!

August and his new dirt bike and full face helmet.