Glee

I love vacation. I have time to watch t.v. and my new favorite show - Glee. I started watching it recently and love it. I went out and bought the dvd of the first season today. We've watched several episodes tonight. It is funny and I love the music! I love vacation.

Christmas '09

On Christmas Eve we went to Grandma and Papa's house. Hannah was super excited to get a Laptop from Papa. It is little and red and came in a very cute Harajuku laptop bag. We know she is going to love using it.

Haley and Hannah making Jones look pretty.

A new scarf and fancy new disco hat for Hannah

The annual tradition - matching pj's from Grandma.

Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars and more Star Wars

Grandma Toot-toot, Dick, Pat, and Dalton came over for Christmas brunch.

Grandma brought him a new bed/pillow. He loved dragging it around, trying to get the rope off.

Now he loves sleeping on it.

Late Christmas afternoon my mom and dad came back to have dinner with us. We had a really nice time. I think they decided to leave when they just couldn't take anymore of "Wii Sing-it!"

It seems like Christmas came fast and now it is gone! We spent the last two days taking down everything so the only signs left of Christmas in our house are the presents still lying around. This is the way we like it. We decorate early and then take it down right after Christmas. Now we know we can just relax the rest of the break.

Starring Alec as "Bert!"

We are so excited for Alec. This year he and his friend Brian were asked by their music teacher, Ms. Hinami to join Honor Choir. She also began planting a seed in their minds about trying out for the school production of Mary Poppins. A couple weeks ago the auditions began and she once again encouraged them to try out. Brian really considered it but decided not to. I was surprised when Alec decided to do it (he usually only likes to try new things if he has a friend for support). He really worked on his lines, reciting them in a British accent, and learned two songs for the audition. Hannah and I waited in the hall while he went in. We couldn't hear him well, but we could hear the teachers cheering when he was done. He came out excited and later said, "As long as I don't get the part of Bert, I'm okay!" His favorite character is Bert, but the role is too big - or so he thought. Monday the cast list was posted. Alec was home sick so Hannah and I went to check it out after school. And the part of Bert goes to . . . Alec! Hannah couldn't wait to tell him. He didn't believe her and I had to convince him. He was a little overwhelmed at first but excited. He told me there was a part of him that was hoping to get the part. There are two casts and each cast will perform in two shows. When Alec is not playing the role of Bert he will be one of the extras. I think this will be a lot of fun for him and I'm so appreciative of Ms. Hinami who encouraged him to do this. We know he will do a great job! Rehearsals will start in January and the performance will be at the end of April!

Christmas Spirit

This year it has been a bit hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit - it can just be so overwhelming at times. Sometimes I do want to say, "bah humbug," but I know these are special times and I need to savor them. Some bright spots that I have really enjoyed this holiday are the Christmas Creche at the Maple Valley Latter Day Saints Church. The church has a beautiful display of Nativity Sets from around the world that people from all over the area donate for this. We met our friends the Moultons there, listened to beautiful music, and enjoyed the evening very much - wish I had some pictures!

Now, my cards are done and the presents are wrapped and under the tree. Time to relax and enjoy.

One of my other favorite events of the holiday was going to Alec's honor choir concert.

Can you find Alec? He is to the right of the choir teacher. We were sitting in the center of the theater and the choir teacher was right in front of Alec. When she swayed back and forth we could see Alec!
Alec and Brian are in honor choir. Every week they get to school an hour early to go to choir practice. I don't hear Alec singing much around the house but his choir teacher, Ms. Hinami, says he has a beautiful voice and easily sings in-tune. We are pleasantly surprised that Alec and Hannah both picked up a musical gene somewhere!

Snowflake Lane

My parents treated us and Sue, Haley, and Chris to a night at the Hyatt in Bellevue again this year. Papa took the kids to a great arcade where they played games for over three hours! This gave us a lot of time to shop (and to lose, look for, and find my new cell phone). Last year I lost my keys (never found those) so I was just sticking with tradition. It was nice to be able to shop, rejuvinate at the hotel, and shop some more. This year only David, myself, and the kids went to the Snowflake Lane light show. The others made the deliberate choice to NOT go, remembering how disappointed we were in it last year. I guess we were optimistic it would be better. Well, I know it gets some people in the Christmas Spirit, but I felt like we were torturing the kids. The next day the kids saw Santa (hey, the kids behind us in line had to be in their early teens). We just got the picture back and I think Alec is actually taller than Santa Claus this year.

Chris and Alec looking at the lights "in awe."

Do these smiles look forced or what?

Crystal Creek Tree Farm

It is tradition for Hannah to "pick out" the "ugliest" trees she can find!

Living in Maple Valley, you don't have to go far to find a Christmas Tree Farm. This year I didn't know if we would be coming home with one though. Last year we made the mistake of getting a tree that was huge, so we were being very careful this time. Then you have the 10 year old and 8 year old sibling rivaly going on. Anything Hannah liked, Alec didn't. Anything Alec liked, Hannah didn't. It seemed like we walked around looking at trees forever! We finally agreed on one and I would have to say it is a perfect size and shape!

Gymnasts

Hannah and her friend Madalyn go to the Auburn Gymnastics Center every week. They started in September (I think) and Hannah really loves it. At home we often have to avoid getting kicked as her feet are always flying in the air as she does cartwheels and handstands. She is proud that she can now do a backbend!

On Ice

A friend gave Hannah and I tickets to Disney on Ice. It was great because it was at the new arena down in Kent and we had fifth row seats. When you walk in the merchandise is pretty tempting. Hannah immediately chose this Tinkerbell cup with a snowcone in it. How can you pass that up for $12?! At intermission I indulged her by getting her cotton candy. It came with a fantastic tulip hat. Again, how can you say no to that?! Needless to say, she definitely passed her sugar limit. We had fun watching the show, though when I asked her how she liked it, she just smiled and said "It was kinda little kiddish."

Family Photos

November blues

Okay, so much for posting pictures or even taking them this week. If I did take pictures to "show" our week, you would see Children's Tylenol, a thermometer, lots of tissues, and very unhappy people. Alec is home for the fourth day this week. This brings his total days of school missed this year to somewhere around ten. I've lost track. I came down with a fever, chills, etc. but thankfully it seems to have been a 24 hour thing. The Swine Flu has me freaked out but I am hoping he is on the upswing now. I'm sure Virginia Mason is sick of me calling. As soon as we are all better, it is off to the doctor to get flu shots. I'm so done with this!

November

It is so easy to just post pictures of the special events. I'd like my blog to be more of a record of our daily lives, so I'm going to try and post a picture a day (sometimes at the end of the week) for the month of November. Here is a picture from yesterday. I took the kids, and Jones, to Lake Wilderness and we went for a walk around the lake. It was such a nice day and I realize that I have really come to love the fall.

Trick-or-Treat

kind of a scary pair

The smile makes her look a little sweet, right?

Katie (what a pretty witch!) and Hannah

So glad Hannah bounced back and could go trick-or-treating. Nothing can stop her from candy.

What a great looking group!

Jones on Halloween

So cute as "The King" and . . .
just so wrong as Napoleon.

Jack-O-Lanterns

You won't see any pictures of us at the pumpkin patch this year. We made our annual trek to Carnation and when I went to capture the photo of the kids with one of the scarecrows, I got the message "no memory card." Ah, yes, it was at home in the computer!

Alec knows a lot about cryptids and chose a chupacabra for his carving. He thought this was the best jack-lantern ever.

Hannah chose the bat.

Girls only like guys with skills

N: So, we're pretty much friends by now, right?

P: Yes.

N: So, you got my back and everything, right?

P: What?

N: Never mind.

Alec and Brian were the hit at the trunk-or-treat party last night. Their Napoleon and Pedro impressions are right-on!

Today I am so hoping that Hannah is going to bounce back.
She came down with some bug on Thursday. She missed her class party and a Halloween Trunk-or-Treating party with good friends last night. We're hoping she'll feel better and be able to carve pumpkins and go out for candy tonight. I don't know anyone who loves candy more than Hannah and she was so excited about her costume this year and trick-or-treating with her friends. This morning she seems better so I'm hopeful. Last night when she cried it just broke my heart.

Happy Halloween!

We love Halloween!

Last weekend we went to a party hosted by the Felsl Family and the Jaeger Family. It was so fun to see everyone in costume! Alec is a great Napoleon Dynamite and really gets into character. Hannah went from wanting to be Sharpay from High School Musical to Goth! She borrowed a few things from her cousin Haley (like the tutu) and we went shopping at Hot Topic. She looks pretty freaky in the picture but she actually looked cute in person! I'm hoping to get some better pictures this weekend. They still have two more chances to dress up so they'll get good use out of their costumes.

He still needs to work on Napoleon's dance moves.

It's hard to see the nose ring and lip ring in the picture, but they are there!

We hadn't dressed up for years but when I saw these costumes, I thought David would make an excellent spock.

Not a real clear picure but this showed her jewelry a bit better.

Hanging out at the party, enjoying an eyeball on a fork.

Taylor, Claire, Hannah, and Avery