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Church Performance

When I watch this I just smile.. Parker worked really hard on her signing and you can see that she takes it very seriously.. not shocking.. :) She IS the member of our family who has been known to tell the check out cashier at Wal- Mart a bible verse or two... it is a wiggly video.. I was holding both Violet and the camera... Abe is in it as well. He does not know the signing part.. he joined Parkers class two weeks before the performance..

Decorating the tree

We had fun decorating the tree. James did not have fun putting it up that is FOR SURE!! It was an ordeal to say the least.. It involved a few things..

a. 6 attempts to get it into the stand..

b. a few choice words..

c. a trip to home depot by me

d. an electric saw

e. a borrowed hand saw

f . some teasing from the neighbors

e. some more choice words

but alas, success. Truthfully, when it is easy to put up the tree, it just doesn't seem the same..

The Thanksgiving Feast

Every year, The Kindergardners have feast for Thanksgiving. They learn five songs, make a bonnet, pilgrim hat , or native American hat, and make their favorite family dish to bring to share. All the families come and eat together. Abe is in the middle back, and has a Native American Hat on . This is the first time I have been successful uploading a video.. I hope it works!

More fall pictures

always..

I am telling you that whenever I am feeling a little lost, I can look up and see one of these..

Soo I am wayyyyy behind..

Here are some Halloween pictures from October. I realize it is December, better late than never. We had a wonderful Fall this year. Beautiful weather for the most part.. I mean, it ISSS Washington- this is all relative you know. James was home for the most part- again it is all relative ;) Finished up soccer in November.. Great soccer seasons for both Parker and Abe. The older two started piano lessons and seem to love it and are progressing nicely. They do both have ulterior motives. Parker needs to learn to play the piano because she really wants to play the violin. The deal is, since we actually have a piano, she should learn to read music on it, and prove that you are serious about it, and THEN comes the violin. So far, so good. I am POSITIVE that Abe's motivation has to do with learning to play the guitar to be a rock star and get all the ladies. Not even kidding... Abe had a feast at his school with 170 -yes- 170 other 5 year olds. There are 170 Kindergarden students ... I am a little scared for the first grade teachers next year!

As a family we had a great Thanksgiving. It was very low key and laid back. James had two weeks off before his business trip and it was very relaxing.. I felt like I had house husband.. It is always a HUGE help when he is able to help with the car pool, bus stop, and errands. I feel like the two weeks before the trip is always bittersweet. Great that you are home non-stop for two weeks, but yet it is really difficult to go from full-time dad to NO DAD presence.. Such is our life, and there is no changing it.. so I must just put my chin up. No sense in complaining.. nope.

birthday celebration!

Parker is a proud eight year old.. :) She was sooo very excited to turn eight. When we asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday, she said she just wanted a very small party this year. She really wanted to go to Libby Lou's a store at a mall in Bellevue. When I looked into it to make plans, I discovered that all of the LIbby Lou stores closed! YIKES! So we had a glamour girl gathering at a local children's salon. It was very fun and the girls had great time. They had their hear done, makeup, and nails done. Of course, afterwards we HAD to go out for pizza. even Vi got in the beauty action!