Playing Store with LT

 B got this cute little cash register for Christmas and he and LT love playing store together with it.  

Decked out at Baba's house

Adler LOVES playing.  He gets fully into character and a few weeks ago was no exception.  He very seriously got all dressed as a construction worker.

Annual NYE Party

 We had two other families over for our annual NYE chocolate fountain/fondue party.  This year Nicholas was still in town, but my brother had plans and so my parents brought him over before heading to their NYE party.  As usual, things were chaotic, so the pictures are pretty terrible, but they give you an idea of the fun the kids had!

Archiving some notes

 I've slowly been going through all my drawers and cabinets in an attempt to not have too much stuff.  I found all these cute notes from the boys over the years that were getting ruined, but I wanted to make sure to remember them so I thought this was a good place to keep them.  Above is Landon's thoughts about me.

 This I found just 2 weeks ago as a surprise left by Adler on my nightstand.  

 From Landon.

indoor swimming

Many year round swimming programs have a reputation for being pretty intense and requiring a major time commitment. But we (okay Kari) found a program that is a little more laid back, which the older boys have been doing this fall and winter. They go to one or maybe two practices a week and do an occasional meet. LT recently swam in a meet in Jeffco that was a little smaller than some of the others. So there was less competition but there were still some very good swimmers. He swam well dropping some time and finishing in the top six in all his events (50 back and breast and 100 free).

multifunction gift

This ski rack attachment for the bike rack that attaches to our car was one of the Christmas gifts this year. B "helped" me assemble it and at various times he proclaimed it to be a house, a carwash and a firetruck. But the best part about the thing is now that it's fully assembled it is (for the time being) a miniature jungle gym in our living room.  

Holiday Talent Show

The boys and their cousins put on a talent show during a holiday family gathering.  They put a lot of time into preparing (complete with a 'security guard' at the entrance before the show) and they managed to include all the kids of various ages and make the whole thing pretty entertaining.  There were magic acts, coloring by B, some comedy, and musical performances that their oldest cousin announced while LT played interlude music on the piano. The video is of LT and his cousin playing Canon in D together on the xylophone and piano and you can hear B at the beginning trying to get in on the action by singing part of "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep".

bottle cap collection

The boys (mostly A) collected bottle caps during our Croatia adventure last summer. Admittedly this isn't exactly the most interesting picture but it does serve as a nice memory of the trip.  

dinning out with the big cousin

Photo credit to Papa. 

LT & Baba

From grandma camp last summer. 

Cousins and grandparents and uncles, oh my!

Holiday Program

Last year after the annul school holiday program LT said he was going to take the elective choir class this year so he could be in more performances during the program. I was supportive of the idea but sort of assumed it was just a passing thing that he'd forget about or move on from by the time, many months later, he actually had to make his choice for arts elective. But I underestimated how serious he was about it. He took the choir class the first half of the school year and performed in several extra songs during the program. He even had a short solo in one of the songs the choir performed - Holly Jolly Christmas! A was in the program too, of course, with his class and their 6-7-8 buddy class singing Seasons of Love.   

Myself

B is at that stage where he's wanting to do some things (getting out of the car or into his chair at dinner) independently and he'll proudly declare "myself" when he does.  We had our little box of gloves and hats out yesterday getting the big guys ready for school on a snowy morning and B rummaged through it and picked out this hat to put on. He happily told me, "myself" when I found him wearing it. 

Cookie Decorating

 One of my favorite parts of the holiday season is baking.  We always make cinnamon rolls (not negotiable) and some sort of holiday treat (at least one).  Its so fun that all 3 boys can help decorate Christmas cookies this year.

Art of a 2 year old

A has artwork in a published book!

The daughter of the woman who founded the boys school recently published a book in which she used several students art work.  A was one of them and so we went to the book launch at the Tattered Cover last week!  We are so proud of him.