Here’s a bit of what we’ve been up to since Christmas:

We celebrated Nicole & Andrew’s January birthdays together while they were still at our house after Christmas.

On the last day of 2015 we took the boys to The Summit at Snoqualmie for their first skiing adventure on the bunny hill. We all had a really fun time.

Getting the nursery ready!

January means the start of basketball season. That’s Avery 2nd from the right.

The boys dressed up to go see Star Wars, The Force Awakens, at the theatre.

The boys at the breakfast bar

Silas with his buddy, Ethan

Doting on Ethan’s baby sister, Clare. They were both oohing and aahing over her – so cute!

Not the greatest picture, but if you look closely, you can see that Kieron is leading Silas on a jump rope/leash. Silas was more than happy to be the “fire dog” while Kieron ordered him around.

On a bike ride during a break in the rain

At the end of the month Avery tried a parkour class. I have never seen him take to an activity like this – he was glowing! We decided to sign him up starting in February. The owner of the gym was a finalist on the first season of American Ninja Warrior. Avery enjoys practicing and learning from him and the other instructors.

That’s Avery right in the middle in the blue shirt using the rope to climb the wall

At 20 weeks pregnant, we decided it was time for a bump shot.

Here’s our little leftie practicing his penmanship. We’re impressed with his fine motor skills and attention to detail.

Avery and Liam turned the Beyblade Stadium into a worm and beetle sanctuary

I love sweet moments like this. There was considerable bickering between these cuties earlier in the day, which made this spontaneous moment all the more enjoyable to watch unfold.

Craigslist score: a shed for Jonathan. Bonus: the guy threw in enough tools to sell them and completely offset the price of the shed!

We spent a Saturday in Seattle. We ate at Red Mill Burgers, visited the Olympic Sculpture Park, and stopped by the “Up House“, the inspiration for the movie, Up. Here’s a cool article about the owner, Edith Macefield.

The boys were so excited when Christmas morning came, but really missed their cousins. However, the pass opened early in the morning, so they were on their way. We started the morning off with cinnamon rolls and coffee and got straight to opening presents.

Our Wild Thing

Look what was in Daddy’s stocking. Santa really does know what’s going on!

The Avery’s arrived in the early afternoon. Time to visit and open more presents!

Caught these two under the mistletoe (as usual) 😉

Time for the dice game

Yorkshire pudding puffs, anyone?

Our Christmas Feast

The kids table

The kids couldn’t wait to play Mario Kart together

We didn’t forget to get some cute pictures of the gang before the day was over!

After much preparation and anticipation, Christmas Eve finally arrived. We received disappointing news in the morning that the pass would be closed all day, which meant The Avery’s of Pullman wouldn’t be with us for Christmas Eve. To lift the boys spirits, we let them each open a present in the morning.

Candy cane pedi!

Then it was time to prepare hors d’oeuvres for the evening

Mmmmm, ham dip!

Then Jonathan had a good idea…

Our little sausage ball. He can eat his weight in these!

Recognize this guy?
  

Me and the boys with Santa. It’s such a shame Jonathan missed him. 😉

Kieron with one of his favorite gifts, the card shuffler!

Forgot to snap a picture before the cookies were eaten…

We returned from Hawaii on December 11th this year. This left exactly two weeks to get ready for Christmas. Here is (a little bit) of what we were up to during that busy time.

Cookie baking. LOTS of cookie baking. With 5 kids in the house over the holidays, we needed a lot of cookies on hand. The boys are becoming good little helpers.

We watched a lot of Christmas specials. Here’s Kieron watching “Home Alone” for the first time. I was so excited to share this movie with the boys, and they all loved it. They were in stitches! They still love to throw around the quote “Keep the change, you filthy animal!”

Eating carrots “Rudolph style”.

Waiting for one of the gifts from their advent calendar.

Grammy & Papa watched the boys for a night so we could spend a night in Seattle.

Selfie at the Sorrento Hotel

More cookie baking with Grammy

Avery practicing Christmas songs on the piano. I believe Kieron was singing along here. Avery liked the accompaniment, but it distracted him from playing, hence the headphones.

Decorating the nursery! These old pointe shoes are coming in handy as decorations.

Grammy & Papa took Silas to Build-a-Bear to choose his Christmas present. He named his pooch “Marshall” and got him Olaf (from Frozen)  PJ’s.

Picking out Marshall’s heart

And putting it in before he got all sewn up

Then it was time to give Marshall a bath

And ring the bell certifying that he was born!

We got some snow the week before Christmas. Just enough to have some fun!

We took Kieron to get his vision tested, and it turns out the poor kid could barely see! Here he is getting fitted for the frames he selected. He put on his new glasses for the first time in January, and the look on his face was priceless!

We decorated a gingerbread house.

And sent letters to Santa. I forgot to snap a photo of Avery’s before it went in the mailbox, but here is Kieron’s.

Opening an early gift from Auntie Ashleigh and Mark

The day before Christmas Eve the boys all had dentist appointments. I made sure to schedule next year’s for after Christmas.