It’s an exciting time to live in the northwest! I’m not even a fan of football, and I’ve been swept up in all the brouhaha. We had a few friends over to watch the (amazing) playoff game. Since the win, I’ve been busy knitting Seahawks hats for all the boys. We’re all looking forward to the big game (which is also the end of football season)! 😉
Yes! With this post, one of my New Year’s resolutions is achieved! For the first time in more than a year I am current on the family blog! YES! I am going to try to keep it this way!
One of the first big changes of the new year was that Silas moved into his big-boy bed. He was climbing out of his crib and doing flips in the pack-n-play, so we felt he was ready. Here he is reading with Avery.
And there’s little old him, in his big huge bed
Jonathan took the boys snowshoeing one afternoon
Here are the boys on a bike ride. They’re so cute in their matching (Seahawks colored) jackets!
This boy likes to cook!
Silas started at the farm school this month. He was sooooo excited! I’m happy to report he’s having a terrific time, is incredibly proud of himself, and Kieron is enjoying his role as big brother/mentor. (They’re in separate classes, but spend some recesses together.)
On a walk to the library
Here’s the boys and our next-door-neighbors going after the resident mole (on Blue Friday)
Avery is playing basketball this season. We cheer him on at his games on Saturdays. He’s the one on the left in the orange jersey
We bought the boys a Wii for Christmas. They love it. Here’s Kieron playing.
My friend, Anh, came to visit. We had a great time catching up.
Another fun and successful Christmas is in the books. My family came to spend the holiday with us. We had a great time together, as always. We took a ton of pictures, and I had a hard time culling them, so I’ll just let them tell the story!
All the cousins in their Christmas jammies
A few days earlier, shortly after Grammy and Papa arrived…
Christmas magic in progress
Christmas Eve selfie
Cheers! (This boy can guzzle the cider!)
Kieron is really into making silly faces for the camera these days.
Waiting for Andrew…
The Avery’s arrived late Christmas Eve, so we saved some of the traditional festivities for the following day. Nicole spent the majority of the evening with the adults.
Meanwhile, the boys had some serious Lego activity to attend to in the play room
We did open a few presents on Christmas Eve
The kids wrote a letter to Santa
The kids all slept in the playroom. Nicole and Kieron went right to sleep, Avery and Andrew stayed up talking. We saw Silas on the webcam sitting upright looking around for a very long time before he finally laid down and went to sleep.
Christmas morning:
“Is this for me? Can I open this?”
Okay, time to put all these toys together!
More Legos! Just what we needed!
Playing the dice game
There were three whoopie cushions in the game, which made for a noisy and funny finale
Okay, that was fun, now time to make some dinner!
The kid table
Our neighbor’s dog, Ellie, was with us over the holidays. Here she is begging for roast
Ellie made quite an impression on my parents. Don’t they look like natural dog lovers?
Guess who’s at the door!
Starstruck!
Avery and Andrew have it figured out this year, but not these two!
Ah Hawaii. The last time we went, I was pregnant with Silas, and this year we decided it was time to go back. We spent the first three days on our own in Wailea, and had a terrific time. We played in the pool and at the beach, and ate delicious seafood. It was nice!
Here’s Jonathan and me at happy hour
Meanwhile…
One of the perks of a vacation: breakfast in bed (donut holes and Cheerios)
With my littlest cutie
At the pool
We met another family at our hotel with two little boys, 5 & 2. They all had a great time playing together during our stay.
On day four we swung by Costco for pizza, then picked up Ashleigh and Mark (and later Nana) at the airport and headed to Ka’anapali.
We spent much of the remainder of our vacation here:
Our minions pampered us (at times)
Snow cones!
Silas enjoyed the slide on the pirate ship
  
Everyone loved to warm up in the hot tubs
        
Hey ladies!
Having a POG with Nana
Our donut hole monster
We spent a lot of time at the beach too
Avery went snorkeling for the first time and got to see turtles up close
On our last day we tried to get some cute portraits with the boys. It went okay. Kieron brought his A game, but the other two were, ahem, a little uncooperative.
  
And before we knew it, it was back to reality. Here are the boys at the airport.
They were super flyers!
All three slept on the flight home! I even got to read (a lot of) a book!
Here are a few pics of what was going on at our house in December when we weren’t visiting Santa, in Hawaii, or celebrating Christmas:
Jingle came back the day after Thanksgiving
Big bro and little bro
When you’re potty training your two-year-old in December, sometimes this happens
Helping Daddy fix the Subaru… or was it the van?
On this particular afternoon, I was preparing dinner when I heard a loud commotion coming from the playroom. I raced upstairs to make sure there was no blood, only to find this scene: boys racing cars. Typical.
Avery and Hayden
More baking
Frosting
Silas roasting coffee beans with Daddy
