First Comes Love...

We had a white Christmas in Issaquah this year! Celebrations began Christmas Eve.  We had Kevin's parents and Uncle Mike and Uncle Kent over for dinner and a sleepover.  It was so much fun settling in with family, watching the snow come down as we relaxed by the fire with cocktails and good company.  The kids were especially excited that everyone would be spending the night and as it worked out, it was best this way with all the snow. The kids loved their gifts (Abigail's karaoke machine being an all around favorite!) and we topped off a great meal and dessert with a snowy walk around the neighborhood.  Even Mabel got in on the fun, pulling the kids on a wooden sled built by Kirk years ago. It was hands down my favorite Christmas Eve in recent memory; a perfectly magical celebration! Ben's smile... ha!  

Wishing you a joyous day with those you love most. Merry Christmas!

Here are some things Abigail has been working on in class during the Holidays.  Increasingly, I see her bring home more freestyle art and love seeing her personal expressions / what she is drawn to create:

Here is George's latests work. It's beyond adorable watching him bring it home and explain to me what he's made. A short but sweet installment: Created with Ms Judy (SLP)

George gets the award for kid most excited for Christmas this year and his Christmas Social earlier today takes the cake! He's been walking around with the invitation to his party in hand for more than a week now and asks us to read through the program multiple times a day.  He was so excited to perform their three songs (Red, Red Hat, 5 Little Gingerbread, and Silent Night) and decided to wear his suit 😍  In addition, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, and Mamie joined us which made it extra special for our little star! Here are pictures and video from his big day: Off to school - it was also pajama day for K-3 (invitation in hand)

How did I let this much time get away without a most important brag-post: school pictures! Abigail is in Kindergarten, George is in Pre 4s and in my not-so-humble opinion, they're the cutest. Abigail, 6 years old, Kindergarten with Mrs. Bechtol George, 4 years old, Pre 4s with Mrs Rowe and Mrs Glaze

Tonight we joined St Joe's for the annual Christmas Concert at Mary, Queen of Peace. The Kindergartners performed two songs (which we've been hearing Abigail practice for a few weeks now) and they were just adorable. Abigail was so excited and confident and the boys loved dressing in their suits to honor her big night  (although Ben went home with Kevin immediately following Abigail's performance - sleepy 2 year olds...)

Our holiday traditions continued this past week (and I'm starting to feel like we could shave a few traditions off the list...I'm exhausted already!) Last Tuesday night after Abigail's Girl Scout holiday tea, we met Mamie and Papa at Cheesecake Factory for dinner then to Snowflake Lane.  It was a special year being Ben's first time and the kids had a great time; parked right in front of all the action! Here are some pictures from the evening:

While visiting the Girl Scout store for the first time this Fall, I met a woman who helped me navigate the world of Girl Scouts and gave me some awesome ideas - one of which was having a Brownie Troop host a tea party for our Daisy Troop. Lucky for me, I'm friends with the 3rd grade Brownie Troop leader (and the 3rd graders just so happen to have Kindergarten buddies at St Joes!) so it seemed a perfect fit to get a party in the books. The 3rd grade brownie troop "hosted" us earlier this week for a perfect afternoon with the ladies.  The party was complete with Turkish tea cakes, herbal tea and hot coco, games, and a get-the-sugar-rush-out dance party! Here are some pictures from the event:

I didn't think I would be at kid #3 and able to track a first piece of art, but when I never do any at home I suppose it becomes more obvious  ;) Ben worked on this a few weeks ago with George during his speech therapy session.  I had some paperwork to fill out, so Ms Judy offered to bring Ben in for George's sessions.  Both had a great time and Ben was thrilled with his masterpieces! He's been pointing at it with pride on the bullet board for a few weeks now  💕

We saw Santa last night! The kids are always extremely excited to see Santa each year, and this year all three were totally on board.  No one was scared - they all couldn't wait to see the big guy and let him know exactly what they wanted for Christmas.

We had a very relaxing Thanksgiving in Leavenworth this year.  Mamie and Papa decided to join Anne and Ian for their first year in Jersey, so it was just us, Victor, Catherine, and my parents. We spent the holiday weekend eating, drinking, and setting up for Christmas (George is REALLY into Christmas this year and was thrilled with the idea of setting up Gma and Gpa's tree the day after Thanksgiving). Here are some pictures from the weekend: