Valentine Boxes

I've never been a huge fan of Valentine's Day.  It's nice, but always way overdone in my opinion.  I never remember making Valentine boxes as a kid- either we didn't do it in NY or it never made a big impression, I don't know.  Anyway, it's quite the tradition around here.  I am always glad when the kids make their box or bag at school, which is sometimes the case.  This year all 3, even our 4th grader, had to make a box at home.  They were all excited and into doing it, thankfully, and now that they are older they can pretty much do it themselves.  I had to take pictures because I thought each kid did a great job and suited them perfectly.

Leopard print duck, tape- need I say more about this one?!

She liked someone else's idea so went with the duck tape but is always thinking of others and knows her dad loves cheese even more than she does, so it is to give to him on Valentine's Day once she is done with it at school.

Big brown box, other large pieces of cardboard, sliver duck tape, masking tape, and 2 detailed maps of the layers of the ocean, complete with a giant squid floating at the bottom.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Birthday time again!!

We had a great weekend celebrating Elaina's 8th and Owen's 10th birthdays.  What a blessing they both are to our family!!!

Firsts

Owen had some big firsts during his birthday month this year!

Robotics Final Competition- their team came in 27th place out of 65 teams.  Great finish for a brand new, young team!!

Owen was dubbed "Ring Man," appropriately for this contraption he built to make the robot move and place a ring- and it worked consistently for all 3 rounds!

They had to research and present a project for this competition as well.  Their team's choice was a very informative presentation on composting.

We also enjoyed going to his first band concert.  It was amazing to listen to how much these first year musicians accomplished in just 15 weeks!

Christmas Memories

My dress up girls- Elaina likes to wear the "tree skirt" every year before we put it under the Christmas tree!

Jammin' Santa with his Red Nosed sidekick

A neighborhood visit from Santa on the firetruck!

A favorite tradition- decorating gingerbread houses

One of the kids took this picture at some point- I guess they love our fireplace/mantle decor at Christmas as much as I do!

Christmas Eve 2014

Santa pancakes on Christmas morning!!

These are a few of their favorite things...

Erik and I had a fantastic trip to Niagra Falls over the break!

There was a rainbow in front of Rainbow Bridge!!

They were so creative with our penguin magnet this year- everyday it was something different.
Audrey's is a rock star,

Elaina's is a pirate

and Owen's is an alien.

Our family enjoys pretending about Santa and Audrey had fun visiting him!  She didn't get her wish of "a real baby cheetah who doesn't grow up and is always nice to her," though!

Audrey has her yellow stripe belt!

The girls had a fun time at their dance Christmas party performing their dances.  Audrey's was to "Holly Jolly Christmas."

Elaina danced to "O Come All Ye Faithful" (ballet) and a jazzy version of "Away in A Manger"

Owen's chillin' on another of his favorite gifts!

The girls are sporting their hat/scarf/mitten combos on the way to the bus stop!

A favorite tradition

Cutting down our Christmas tree is one of my favorite traditions.  We had a great time on a not so cold day finding "our best tree yet" according to Erik and Owen:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our little Indian girl

The Anderson boy cousins got their own special table for the big feast since the regular table has become too small for this crowd.  Baby Alex can join them next year!!

Coloring Fun!

We visited a fantastic nativity display at a nearby church.

Girl Power!

Our girls are into Tae Kwon Do, dance, piano and soccer this Fall.  They are both having a blast trying some new things and continuing with some favorites!

Elaina had a fun soccer season1

Audrey won 1st place for her pattern and 2nd for flags in the last TKD tournament.  

She is so happy to finally have dance class!

Jazzin' it up!

My beautiful dancin' girl.