I grew something!!

For the first time ever, I have successfully grown an indoor plant.

Honestly, my kids are so proud they talked about it for weeks.

superbowl.

We were really pumped for the Superbowl this year.  I mean matching food, drink, and fingernails pumped.  Jack know every guy, every play, and spent the week leading up watching Seahawk history and greatest hits.  And somehow making snowmen at half time was the best part:

Writing about it now is still painful.

here's a lovely lady

Headed to a party

oh February,

you're so darn short.  Let's see if I can catch up.

my new favorite kid.

He literally begs to do chores.

Happy Birthday Jack!

Jack is nine.

Nine.

His day started out just right with Ava making him bacon and eggs for breakfast, then I took him to lunch, he made it back to school just in time for PE and then Will came home with him after school and they played basketball and football, opened presents, and we all went out for dinner, and then he finished the night watching his new Seahawks greatest hits video.

Jack.

Just saying his name makes me smile.  

He is such a sweet, cheerful boy but more than that, I see daily what a tender-hearted, hard-working big kid he is becoming.  It is such a JOY to parent him.  

playoffs

Jack was really bummed that his final game was right in the middle of the Seahawks game but it turned out just right.  We missed the first terrible 3 and 1/2 quarters and got to Ed's parents just in time for this:

touchdown.

2 point conversion.

Win in overtime.

And then followed it up with some Seahawks birthday cake: 

Jack.

After 2 months of practice, Jack finally had his first AAU tournament this weekend.  It started out a bit rough.  Some of the teams were easily a head taller than Jack's team, some had matching shoes and personalized socks (socks!), and all of them were at least one grade up.  But by the last game, they hit their stride and played their little hearts out.  Jack was everywhere...rebounding, stealing, shooting, dribbling straight through their wall and having so.much.fun.  When his size finally catches up with his heart, there will be no stopping him. 

Scoring on a free throw.

cowboy day!

my (big) buddy.

I picked Henry up from school last Monday and was surprised to see he had a full blown case of pink eye in both eyes.  Sheesh.  We busted straight over to quick care and I suddenly realized my baby is actually a big boy.  When did that happen??

playoffs

 Ava kept the kids busy with crafts so we could watch the big game:

brace face.

So the kids went back to school and in one day Ava got braces, started jr. high basketball, and had her first practice for the jr. high play.  It was a rough week and it involved a lot of this: 

snow!

We spent the first week on January sledding like crazy.  I think Jack spent a good 6 hours a day outside during the break.  If you squint, you can just barely see him, out at the neighbor's at 8:30pm, building the biggest snow fort I've ever seen.

resolution.

Jack's planning to read the Bible though in the year:

how much do I love that face and those knobby, bruised knees.

Hello 2015!

We kicked off the new year by hauling our kids out of their warm cozy beds and into the snow for sparklers and fireworks and then back inside for wine and chocolate: 

and snuggles by the fire: 

while we talked about the highlights of 2014 and what we're looking forward to in 2015.

Honestly, I'm most thankful for these awesome little people who, at any time of the day, can list a pile of things they are thankful for and then ask each other the sweetest questions.  Some of their highlights?  Watching Ava run and Jack play football, listening to Jemma learn to read, sleep overs in Ava's room, seeing each other get up on water skis, bringing Cooper home and losing Ruby, and everyone's biggest moment....Henry's first day of school!

Looking forward to a year with my favorite people!