December 2018

Declan's most prized possession right now - his box of mini squishmallows.  We went through some old fabric pieces and cut each one of them a blanket.

More amazing sky.  And yes, I take all these pictures while driving.

As I woke up the boys this morning for school, I thought, what comfort, what privilege.  Surrounded by cozy, warm, and mostly clean things.  I'm sure we don't understand how good we have it!

A few of the twins art creations...the first is Declans, the house one is Xanders, and then top is Declans and the bottom is Xanders  of the tree pics.

Weekly dinner at the Macphersons!

Cute Declan.

The remains of 4 boys haircuts!  Let's see...I think it goes (from top to bottom)...Declan (the darkest), Cache (the lightest), Xander (the wavy), and Easton.

Time for the annual gingerbread/graham cracker house building.

Xander's friend, Rayaan, joined in as he doesn't celebrate Christmas and wanted to try this crazy tradition out!

What is going on with Costco gas lately.  It always looks like this.  

I mean, who doesn't love Amazon Prime!

Happy 8th birthday Declan and Xander.

Kick off the party with Marcy and Kensley, their best teenage buds from when they were 2!

Yep, I had to tell him his pants were too small because somehow he didn't notice.
I'm kind of impressed he can fit into his 8 year old brothers clothes.

Enjoying the party bag gifts from Beatriz (my bosses) Christmas party.

The twins got several lego kits for their birthday.  Xander got started on his Minecraft set right away!

Declan is testing out the 'snow ball' toss game for the winter class parties.
My friends always assign me the games and they cover the crafts and snacks.

The boys found the shape container from the closet...

Nope, that's not creepy at all.

November 2018

You have to love Virginia and all the amazing seasons.  Just a few of the beautiful trees on our street.

Weekly dinner at the Macphersons. 

I appreciate all the little things we can do to reduce, reuse, and recycle.  

The elementary school art teacher made these awesome recycle garbage cans for the entire school.

Our skies have been insane lately.  

Cache and his handsome haircut.

Our first lego club of the year. 

 The craziest 6 hours of the fall (with over 20 boys in the club).

Declan and Xander's 2nd grade diorama.  100% kid made.  I'm getting better at not 'helping'!

I enjoyed another amazing trip to Oregon to help out Marcy.  Oregon is so beautiful.  It brings back so many memories.  I feel like a tourist in my own hometown as we drive home from the airport and I am taking pictures out the window.

I lived in Oregon for 18 years and I don't think we ever went to the beach in November.  Such an amazing day at the beach.  Love haystack rock.

Love these sisters!

I won the prize for capturing the picture with the biggest splash.

Emily's photo bomb...

And Marcys!

Tsunami Evacuation Map.  Yep, couldn't done without thinking about this!

Mt. Rainier in the distance.

When we visit Marcy, we always eat at Mod Pizza, yum!

We really should have done a before/after picture. 
Marcy's storage units for preschool.  Getting closer to organized.  We used a few shelves on wheels which will come in handy, but it's still a lot of bins to manage!

Our first snow of the season.  Nothing crazy, but after an hour of getting out the snow clothes and figuring out what fits, the kids had a fun time.

Our annual community Turkey Trot was a success.  The storm blew through the night before leaving a few extra obstacles.  But the actual event had great weather!

Loving their matching PJs.  Such cute boys!

Pretty awesome to have a civil war battle site in your backyard.  The 4th grade classes walked to their field trip to learn more about the battle at Balls Bluff.

I am loving this girl.  The only kid brave enough to bike in this cold weather with her fluffy helmet and pink bike.  You go girl!

I was probably about this age when I first saw jaws.  

Thinking I will skip having this generation watch it since I may never recover!

Yep. This is happening.  

Emily teaching the family how to play Exploding Kittens.

Cache was our manpower to removing 100's of cans of expired canned food from the basement.  

David got it from a friend, but I just don't see myself using it.  We have lots of quality long term food storage and I'm trying to 'lighten up' the feel of our house by getting rid of things we don't need or use.