Kennedy's Christmas Piano Recital

Kennedy played well at her Christmas recital Tuesday night. We are so pleased with her progress over the last year and a half. Kennedy She truly enjoys the piano and has a great teacher. Here she is with two of her friends, Emily & Elizabeth, waiting for the recital to begin.

Silent Night by Franz Gruber

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YotpB27LWzs

French Carol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd5S6s56SsM

Kennedy's first duet was with her friend, Emily. They played The French Carol. I was so happy to see how they were able to pick right back up after the little mistake. The girls did such a wonderful job. We are proud of them.

Nutcracker and Ice Skating

I took Jackson and Kennedy to see the Nutcracker. Kennedy loves the ballet. It was our fifth consecutive year seeing it together. Jack had been asking for a couple years if he could go, so this year I decided he was ready. He was very polite during the production and only once did the lady in front of him turn around and ask him to keep his feet off her chair. But when it was all over, he said that he didn't care if he ever saw it again.

A few years ago, Kennedy and I started going ice skating after seeing the Nutcracker. It has been a neat way to top off our day. Jackson was thrilled to join in the tradition. It was his first time on the ice and he did an amazing job. He fell continually, but every time, he got right back up and tried it again. I loved his determination and perseverance.

Kennedy enjoyed herself, too. She is growing up though and did not want to hold my hand while skating this year.

We finished off our time with some peppermint hot chocolate and a visit to the model train inside the Seattle Center House. It was a lovely day with my precious children.

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas

Right after Thanksgiving I took the children to Nordstrom for the 9th annual Santa photo.

Jack and Harrison wrote letters and read them to Mr. Clause. Both boys are asking for a flashlight for Christmas. McKinley's first Santa photo.

Jack looks so grown up to me.

Cousin Karsten came too. He had the peek-a-book photo taken.

Please note that this photo was taken before Mikey's candy-cane-in-the-hair trick.

Here is the YMCA Santa.

Our little McNugget's 2nd time on St. Nick's lap.

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Tonight Kennedy said she wanted to draw a picture of Santa, Rudolph, and Frosty kneeling down to worship Jesus in the manger. I'll post if she allows me. I think it is a great idea.

Why Our Two-Year-Old is Not Allowed to Eat Candy Canes Anymore This Christmas

Elfy Fun

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/9PWQ8bZSXWezu7UW?cmpid=ey_fb_self

Click on the above site for some laughs. Just wait and the clip will play on its own.

Enjoy!

Family Collage

This is what I spend too many hours working on last night when I should have been sleeping. Most of the photos were taken by our friend, Leah. It is a pretty good representation of our family this year. I scanned them as one photo and sent it off to Costco to have our Christmas cards made out of it. Tomorrow I'll pick it up and see how it turned out.

We are so thankful for our family. It has been a wild ride these past several months, but I know that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.

P.S. If you double-click on the image above, you can see it magnified.

Thanksgiving 2009

We celebrated Thanksgiving early with my side of the family a few weeks ago at my grandma and grandpa's home. So yesterday we spent the day with Ken's family. Here is the entire crew: two grandparents, their four children with spouses, and twelve grandchildren.

"Mikey no yike mashed potatoes," he said on the way to Grammy's and Papa's. I thought it was funny that he was already thinking ahead about the holiday meal. Notice we didn't make him eat any.

Sweet little girly cousins

When we came home, we put together our annual gingerbread houses. The boys worked on one together and the girls (mostly Kennedy) did our own.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's a little Thanksgiving art for you to enjoy...

Kennedy made name cards out of this picture for the grand feast at Grammy and Papa's.

Harrison's cyclops turkey.

Mikey's version of a turkey.

We praise God for our many blessings and give Him thanks today.

Psalm 95:1-6

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song.
For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.
In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him.
The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;

2009-2010 School Pictures

Nothing quite shows a child's growth like the annual school photo. It marks the year and freezes the child in time. We just received our school photo packets this week and thought we would share them.McKinley

3 months at the time of the photo

Nursery

Michael

2 years

Nursery

Harrison

5 years

Pre-K

Jackson

6 years

1st grade

Kennedy
8 years
3rd grade


While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.

~Angela Schwindt

Daddy Daughter Date

Kennedy loves going out on dates with her daddy. Last weekend they dressed up and went out to sushi and shopping.

Kennedy returned looking like a beautiful snow princess with all of the accessories Dad picked out with her. I love that they could spend the special time together making memories and having fun.

Ken enjoys taking the boys to the hardware store and wrestling around on the floor with them, but it is neat to see a different side of him when he takes his daughter out for some special one-on-one time.

She's Four Months Old!

Mickey's four month birthday was yesterday. We had her healthy check-up and all looks well. She's in the 75th percentile for weight, height, and head circumference. She is smiling a lot and just learned to roll over. McKinley is genuinely amused by her siblings and extremely tolerant of their poking, prodding, and "loving" gestures.

I love that profile!

The big kids are cheering McKinley on as she attempts to roll over.

Here is this month's Grammy-Cam video (narrated by Kennedy).

Enjoy!

Our Halloween Crew 2009

Mikey donned the bumblebee costume, Harrison was Spiderman, Kennedy was fire, our little punkin' was McKinley and Jack sported police officer attire. They dressed up and met their other cousins at Grammy and Papa's house for dinner before heading to church for a harvest party.

Our Great Punkin'

Fall Photos

We have been enjoying the fall. The pumpkins, leaves, weather, and longer school hours have all been reminders that our wonderful summer is over.

Grandma Karen came last weekend for a visit. It was nice to spend some time with her before the snow falls in the mountains and makes it trickier for us to see her.

Grandma was impressed by Jackson's improvement in reading.

When I was a kid, we would have had to rake the back yard for almost an hour to get a leaf pile this big. Now days, it just takes a leaf blower and a few minutes.

...and even less time than that to mess it up!

I love it!

Kennedy took this picture as "evidence" when she came to let us know what Jackson was up to.

Junior Hoopsters

For the last five weeks Jackson has been attending Junior Hoopsters, a basketball skills class through our local community center. It has been fun watching him learn to dribble and shoot the ball with other kiddos his age.

Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.

~ Michael Jordan