the arts and the outdoors

Well, I only have a few more days to blog if I am going to post anything at all for December. Neglecting my blog as I have gives the impression that we haven't done much for the past few months, when quite the opposite is true. Too much to tell, in fact! But the pictures will show a little of what we've been doing. I am having a lot of trouble arranging them the way I want, but this will have to do.

Above, Naomi is all ready for her first choir performance of the Christmas season. She "designed" her outfit herself, coming up with the idea of using my scarf as a sash for her black dress. Both of the girls sang beatifully, and also did a great job in the character roles in the Christmas musical.

Nomsi snuggling Bo by the Christmas tree.

Sarena and I took our girls to the Pacific NW Ballet Nutcracker. It was fun to see them enjoy it. Naomi and Eva enjoyed talking about the costumes afterwards, and little Anika could not help but dance in her chair during the most beautiful scenes.

Andrea and the boys had Josiah over while we attended the Nutcracker- he had about a million times more fun dressing alike in camo and elk with little Timmy and shoving popcorn in his mouth than he would have being quiet at the ballet. He also enjoyed a few games of checkers and Uno.

Here is Eva at her Christmas piano recital. This was a special one because she chose to play "White Christmas" from some sheet music that Grammy used to play. It was a little challenging to learn, but she did so well. She was pleased that Grammy came to hear her, too; that was a real honor.

Daddy was so proud of Eva's hard work.

We have been spending a lot of time outside- exercise and fresh air for me and the kids and the wild dog too. Here Josiah and and his friend Cole are suprised and then delighted as a tree they were climbing broke and sort of slowly crashed to the ground. After they took in what happened, they laughed hysterically for about five minutes.

Hiking around Peterson Lake- a new favorite spot.

Here is the scene at partially frozen Shadow Lake... Bo was entertaining us by jumping wildly onto the ice, sliding around, falling in the water, scrambling to get back onto the ice, and then ripping off chunks with his teeth so he could drag and shake them around. His enthusiasum for frigid water is astounding.

Our Christmas picture.

An attempted Christmas picture. It was later determined that Bo was not a subject suitable for "just so" photographs. Getting the three kids to "look at me!!" is hard enough. With the dog, it's just too much! I am pretty happy with that crazy picture above, though. It is reality, these days!