Lately...

It has been busy as we ramp to Easter.  The kids have been hiding and searching for eggs in the yard for several weeks now.  They all had elaborate Easter parties at school.  The day of the parties Will said ' it was the best day of my life'.

In other news, we have moved Holden up to the boys bunk room.  Lily didn't want to be left out so has been sleeping with them too.   The transition has been a lot smoother than we anticipated.  Holden said it was 'awesome' and 'I love you!'.   Right away he started sleeping through the night in his own bed rather than joining us in the middle of the night. He also started doing more things on his own like making his bed and buckling his car seat. So he must feel more like a big kid now.

 My cowboys, playing with party favors from a birthday at Little Buckaroo's ranch.

We had a wonderful time in Antigua at Veronica and John's wedding.  The friends of the bride and groom stayed in these four casitas with adjoining courtyard.   We were treated to a homemade breakfast in house each day, then spent our days exploring, visiting the local sites and hanging around the pool.  The town is a maze of cobblestone streets, peppered with antique churches and surrounded by volcanoes.  The guys were lucky to see a volcano erupt smoke while they were on the golf course.

The city was festive. In preparating for Easter holy days all the churches were decorated with these sawdust drawings.  On sunday there was a huge parade through town which drew hundreds of thousands of spectators.

David gave a few pointers.

Antigua was the original capital of Guatamala and has many churches over 500 years old.  They have been damaged by numerous earthquakes, but still very beautiful.

Holden's 4th Birthday Party



We celebrated Holden's 4th birthday this weekend, with a party at our home and Tiny Tails petting zoo.  Holden was delighted to introduce each animal, a baby Bearded Dragon, Chinchilla, several bunnies and more.  That big smile made it all worth it.

The baby hedgehog Ludwig Von Hedgehog was the star of the zoo.

Will


All the children got to take turns holding the animals.

Lily



Evan

  Evan wanted to hold Ludwig but was a little bit wary of the hedgehog's spines.
 

Cousin Jack and best friend Hunter flank Holden while everyone sang to the birthday boy.

Holden relaxing the day after the party in the tent David constructed for him.  This photo was taken through our front door window pane so I wouldn't disturb him.

The tent  still needs the finishing touches...the fabric will be made from a cute dinosaur print sheet, it just needs to be hemmed and add elastic bands to secure.  But the kids seem perfectly content with the makeshift sheet.

We love you Holden!

A quiet moment before the party...

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all! We just returned from the children's mass at church....we lasted 5 minutes more than last year....progress?  We are soon off to celebrate Christmas Eve at David's sister's house with all our family. 

Looking forward to seeing the kids faces in the morning when they see what Santa has brought.  Will asked for Santa to bring his lovey 'Blue Dog' which has been missing over a year and a half, he has been talking a lot lately about how much he misses him....and even though Blue Dog is not made anymore, thanks to eBay he is returning!

This next week will hopefully be a lazy week, David is home all week and Amanda will be helping most afternoons so we may get to catch up on sleep, some reading and a few house projects. Evan want's Dad to teach him how to ride his bike without the training wheels, I think it was this time last year when David taugh Will.  And maybe the kids will settle down from the Christmas high that has lasted all of December.  It has been a frenzy of joy and mischief around here. 

Wishing you happiness and a bit of peace this holiday season.

Angels

The pre-k classes were the angel corus in the school Christmas pageant.  There were six songs to learn,  numerous rehearsals and lots of pillow case ironing.  Finally, the big day is here.

 Angel Evan

Angel Lily

 Angel Will

Holden gave each of them a pre-show hug. He was so proud of them.

David made it home just in time to see the pageant. His flight arrived after two in the morning. He was rewarded for his late travels with the sweetest little voices. And a very impressive job by the teachers to get everyone to particiapte with ribbons and halos intact.

Wise Men

There has been a constant stream of festivities ever since Thanksgiving.  Holden's three's pageant was yesterday, it was a 'pick up' pageant where every child can be whatever they would like to be in the christmas story...there doesn't just have to be just one Mary, or angel or sheep or whatever.  Holden as you can see selected to be a king.  He looked so sweet and actively participated, remembering the words to the songs. By the end when we were allowed to snap photos he had his crow pulled down and was being silly.

Holden has had been enamoured with this little girl since the first week of school, he asked her to marry him several times.  She finally said yes! 

Breakfast with Santa

We had our annual breakfast with Santa in Lakeway with Grammy Clare.  The kids were excited to see Rudolph again, and we managed not to knock him over. Yea team!

Holden remembers what he wants...a blue microwave, FOR BOYS!

Christmas mouse from Santa.

Lily's letter to Santa.   After 'May I please have'..in her handwriting...'Cat costume and a fluffed up dog and two mittens for girls.'  Love, Lily

The Arts

Lily's art school had a show this week. She attends weekly classes with KP, a talented art teacher who holds classes in her home studio. They are introduced to different master artists each week so you will see that influence. Lily loves her creative time and has made new friends.  No surprise, she feels most comfortable hanging with the few boys in the class.

Here is our proud artist by a couple of her creations, self portrait and sunflower.

Art displays. The teacher gave each student these 'artist' ribbons.

Holden enjoyed the show...and the cookies.

Lily is very dedicated in all her activities, art or school. Here she is practicing all of her letters....she studiously completed the entire alphabet.  

 

Lily also had a dance presentation of the nutcraker this week...or as she says 'the nut show'.  I needed my action setting for these photos, they are a blur but you can kinda get an idea of how much fun she is having expressing her self...and having mom's undivided attention.  It was a low key, in class presentation so I got a few cuddles in between songs. Btw - her class has four set of twins!!

This ballet/tap/jazz class is followed by lunch with the theather. The boys and I watched the puppet show presentation after school.  It's been a good outlet for her to have all this creative time on Monday's while the boys are in school.

  

Top 5 Fall Moments

Our fall has been packed.  Here are a few of our highlights from falll...

1. We had our first tooth fairy visit.

Lily lost her first tooth on David's birthday and her second bottom tooth the day before Thanksgiving.  She noticed her first tooth missing while taking a bath, we were out to dinner but our babysitter texted us so we had time to plan for the fairy visit. 

We had rose petals from our table at dinner, so I scattered those around her and we put a coin under her pillow. We didn't have any dollar coins so we improvised and used one of the pretty Australian coins from David's business trip.  She looked so sweet sleeping in a bed of rose petals, I wish I had captured a photo.  The boys were a bit envious and are hoping to get a tooth fairy visit soon.  Now we are prepared and have a stash of gold dollar coins.


2.  Pow Wow. 

Black Foot (aka Fast Runner - teacher selected this but Evan prefers to be called Black Foot so we obliged at home), Soaring Hawk and Tiger Lily. 

Black foot and his owl totem.

The American Indian unit at school ended with a fabulous pow wow. The kids crafted their own costumes, the boys made shields and the girls crafted babies wrapped in a papooses. Evan's class made intricate totem poles. Their teachers are impressively creative.



3.  Trick or Treating. 

Evan, Lily, Will and Holden Bots

 The kids requested robots this year, so we created these homemade costumes. The robots turned out great. Only they were easy to trip in and they kids would be stuck on their robot tummies and needed to be repeatedly rescued. At least the box prevented any injuries when they hit the concrete.

Evan 'Robocop'

4. Soccer and More Soccer.

Between, David's game, the trip's game and Holden's game, Sundays were all about soccer.


5.  Will, Evan and Lily's 5th birthday at the Science & Nature center. 

We decided to keep things simple, they each invited just a couple of friends from their class and we enjoyed an afternoon at the Nature Center with a wildlife touch and learn event.