2018

This GIF from the summer perfectly sums up what our year has been like: five children, lots of action, slightly out of focus, probably too many pajama days, and really big personalities.

Happy New Year!

The Lock

I found this on the floor near our art supplies. Guess who it belongs to? I'll give you a hint: there's only one blonde that lives in our house.

Ride On

We played Ticket to Ride for the first time tonight. It was fun and difficult for the kids and ended in some tears (which reminded us why we don't play board games as often as we'd like), but I think we enjoyed it while we were playing it.

Topher slept for part of the game, then he sat awake on my knee for the rest. In theory Sophie and I were on the same team. But when she got tired of the game, she entertained both Topher and herself by taking pictures. It was a good way to spend an evening.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We had a wonderful Christmas day that included unwrapping gifts, building Lego sets, talking with family, delicious food, and staying in our pajamas all day. Topher was a good sport while we opened presents and he spent the rest of the day trying his hardest to get into all the new stuff that was left on the floor.

The other kids waited patiently at the top of the stairs while Bryan and I (with our assistant Topher) made sure we were ready to open presents.

When they heard the Christmas music the other kids came running down to check their stockings.

Topher thought it was all quite exciting.

Topher opened (and tasted) the first gift of the morning.

After we finished unwrapping, the kids spent several hours building their new Lego sets.

Then we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner. I think this was the best roast Bryan has ever cooked. I made dressing from scratch for the first time and the kids actually ate it, so I'll be doing it that way from now on.

It was a peaceful day, for which I was very thankful.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

The Artists Revealed

Thank you to everyone who voted! The kids all enjoyed hearing your guesses. Many of you got one of them correct, and some of you got two right, but no one guessed all of them. Are you ready for the reveal?

One: Sophie

Two: Phoebe

 Three: Peter

Four: Cooper

Thanks for playing!

Home Decor

Tonight the kids decorated gingerbread houses. They loved it and they each had their own approach. I told them I would post the pictures here, but let you all vote on who decorated each one. I'll number them, then give the answers on Monday. 

Would you take a minute to vote in the comments? 

The kids are excited to see if anyone can figure out which artist created each masterpiece.

One:

Two:

Three:

Four:

A Difference of Opinion

While Sophie was at preschool on Tuesday, Bryan and I did some final Christmas shopping. As we perused the book section I found Remarkable Books, which is all about beautiful books. In other words, it's a book about books. I showed it to Bryan, then this exchange happened immediately.

Bryan: A book about books? (pause) That's kind of lame.

Me: (gazing adoringly at the pictures) It's so pretty!

Just Dance

We loved watching Phoebe's and Sophie's dance classes over the last two weeks. Phoebe takes beginning ballet. She was very graceful and now I have some ideas of what she can work on at home to keep improving.

Sophie does ballet, tap, and acro in her class. They started with ballet. You guys, Sophie was kind of amazing. She could feel the rhythm and had a natural sense of the music. And she threw her entire self into each dance. She was so fun to watch.

Then they changed into tap shoes. Oh dear. Her skills did not transfer from ballet to tap. Her main goal appeared to be producing the loudest sounds possible. No fear though, I think I'll be pulling my tap shoes out from their box in the basement so we can have some private tutoring at home.

The Audience

I spent most of yesterday curled up in bed. Thanks to Bryan working from home, I got to really rest. When I woke up this morning I still felt sick, but so much better than I had. Tuesdays are our busiest days, so I jumped in and did what I needed to do. That means I'm now regretting being so productive and thinking about sleeping more tomorrow to re-recover.

One of the many things we did today was to visit Sophie's dance class. Last Tuesday we sat in on Phoebe's, part of the annual Parent Visitation. I'll share pictures of that tomorrow. For today, I will share this picture of those of us in the audience. Topher loved the music and dancing.