I have an assortment of pictures to share from February. We are having a quiet day at home today since Anna isn’t feeling well. We did a lot of snuggling this morning, and thankfully she seems a bit better this afternoon–not 100% but up and about at least, and eating a little. Hopefully she is on the mend! Max was very sweet about checking on her and asking her how she is feeling. As a result of the sickness, we had to wash Anna’s two favorite stuffed animals. Max wanted to put two of his special bears in as well. They both did fine with having their animals in the washer and dryer, but the last 20 minutes or so of drying time they sat just outside the laundry room and watched the dryer. Max reported each time the minutes counter changed: “Now it says zero one nine!” “Now it says zero one eight!” etc. Very cute. 

Happy Valentine’s Day from Maxwell and Anna! Below are pictures from our Valentine mini session with Justine of Tallis Photography. Max is looking forward to a Valentine’s Day party at preschool. He helped me make some homemade valentines and eagerly signed his name to every one. The big news in our house is that Anna is using the potty! We started on Saturday and she is doing really well. A few accidents here and there, but mostly tells us when she needs to go and waits until we get to the bathroom. Her promised reward is a family trip to Build-a-Bear this weekend. Both kids are eagerly contemplating which animals they will choose. 

I’ve gotten behind in blogging again, I’ll try to get back on track. We are doing well and had a wonderful Christmas. Once I get the Christmas pictures off the camera and on the computer, I’ll do a post with those. In the meantime, I’ll share the pictures from our December mini-session with Justine, of Tallis Photography (formerly J. Shelton Photography). These were taken at a local garden shop that does lots of fun Christmas decorations. Enjoy, and I’ll try to be back soon!

More December pictures to share with you all–can you believe it, new blog posts three days in a row! The kids are enjoying doing Christmas-y crafts this year. Last weekend our Advent calendar activity one day was to make cinnamon dough Christmas ornaments. The kids dumped in the ingredients, I mixed the dough, and Max rolled it out for us. They had fun choosing which cookie cutters to use and the house smelled amazing afterward.

The next installment of our December adventures! Let’s start with the Christmas tree. We continued our tradition of cutting down our tree on a farm. However, we had to alter it a bit–when we arrived at the farm we’ve been to the past few years, we were greeted by a sign that said, “Closed–Sold out!” This was a surprise as it was the first weekend in December, so we were not feeling like we were late to the game. Thankfully technology came to the rescue–I put out a PSA to my local moms’ group, and a friend recommended another farm nearby. A quick search on my phone for the address, and Siri kindly directed us there. This farm still had trees, and we chose a nice tall one. In fact, the tallest tree we’ve ever had; Jeff had to trim a bit off the top once we got it home so that we could fit our star topper on. The weather was sunny but unusually cold for Seattle (12 degrees!), so we kept the excursion on the shorter side. The kids love having the tree up and they really enjoyed decorating it this year. 

And finally, a picture of the kids enjoying one of the Advent calendar activities: “Eat a treat”

I’ve been delinquent in my blogging this month. We’ve been having great fun enjoying the season, Jeff’s family is here now and my dad and Helen came earlier this month. The kids are so excited for Christmas this year, especially Max. It’s so fun to share traditions with them and make new ones as a family. This year we have two Advent calendars–one that I put a new activity in each day, and one that is a giant felt Christmas tree with felt ornaments to snap on each morning. Max wants to do those right away when they get up and always remembers whose turn it is to do which calendar. 

In September Max started taking a “Creative Music and Movement” dance class at a local studio. Each week parents stay outside the room but can watch through the windows, but today was observation day so we got to sit inside the room and take pictures. Max loves the class and the teacher, Miss Sarah. It’s really fun to watch, they are doing all kinds of fun things–moving like animals, doing obstacle courses, waving ribbon wands–but I can see the precursors of ballet underneath. 

Here is the last batch of pumpkin patch photos! These are from Max’s preschool field trip. We got to go on a wagon ride, pick out a pumpkin to take home, watch the pumpkin cannon, and play at the play area. Max was thrilled that his teachers were there and wanted to sit by Miss Tally on the wagon ride. I was glad to get a picture of them together, we are lucky he has been blessed with great preschool teachers! He really loved Miss Megan last year so she was a hard act to follow, but Miss Tally has been equally wonderful and seems to have captured his affection also. It was a fun morning with my boy!

Maxwell and Anna are flying by to wish you a Happy Halloween!

Here’s the second installment of pumpkin patch photos. These ones are from our trip to the farm by our house. As you can see, it was a cooler cloudy day, but still dry. I really wanted to get another in our annual series in front of the “How tall this Fall?” sign, so we checked that off the list right away. This year the kids were really into the pumpkin cannon, and Max even shot off a pumpkin of his own, with Daddy’s help. They both covered their ears when it would go off, but still wanted to watch. This was also the trip where we picked out pumpkins to take home. Max went for the biggest one he could find, and enjoyed trying his hand at steering the wheelbarrow.