St. Luke's Christmas Pageant

Last Sunday was the St. Luke's children's Christmas Pageant.  Louis and Alice revisited their roles as a shepherd and an angel, respectively.

Alice found one of the extra Baby Jesuses. 

The angel chorus.

Alice singing to Louis.

It was a very cute pageant again this year.

Christmas Tree 2015

Here are some pictures from our trip to the Christmas tree farm this year.  It rained so much this December that we were beginning to wonder if we would ever get the chance to go get out tree.  Luckily there was a break in the weather, and we rushed out to the tree farm.

 Alice loved all the "baby" trees.

 She would pet almost everyone that she found.

 This looks like a good one.

 Hector started cutting the tree.

 Katherine pitched in.

 Alice supervised.

 The unfurling.

Unpacking the ornaments. The kids helped decorate a lot this year.

Thanksgiving 2015

We had a small gathering for Thanksgiving this year, Hector's sister and niece came over and I cooked us all a petite turkey dinner.

Check out that bird.

This was our first attempt at a family picture.

And our second.  Louis really wanted to get those bunny ears on his sister.

Hector (and his beard) carving the turkey.

Cheers everybody!

After dinner we played some rousing games of Racko.

Climbing the Apple Tree

Here are some more pictures from this summer that I hadn't posted yet.

Hector built a ladder so that the kids could climb up the apple tree in our yard. 

All of the kids love it, but I think that Alice loves it most of all.

Alice's New Bike

Here are some pictures for a while ago that I hadn't posted yet.  A couple months ago Alice's much loved balance bike met an unfortunate demise when someone left it in the driveway. 

It took her a little bit to get the hang of peddling and braking, but Hector was there to help her.

Halloween 2015

We had a very soggy Halloween this year, our first since moving to the Pacific Northwest (surprisingly enough).  The kids convinced Hector to take them trick-or-treating anyways (Mom was under the weather and stayed home to hand out candy).  Even though they only hit up a few houses, everyone was trying to unload their candy and they still came home with overflowing buckets.

Alice wanted to be a "Super Hero Princess".  She loved how her costume came out, even if she had to wear her rain boots instead of her sparkly shoes.     

Louis decided to be a wizard again (but not Harry Potter, he insisted).  I fully supported Louis' decision to re-use his costume from last year.

 Action shot.

Pouring rain aside, the kids had a fun Halloween.

Happy Birthday to Brooke

A couple weeks ago our niece, Brooke, turned 13.  She had a big sleep over with her friends, and then Angie invited us all over the next day for cake and presents. 

By special request of the birthday girl, I made a six-layer rainbow cake.

Check it out, because I don't know if I will ever make another one.

Brooke got an anime poster from her mom.

Happy Birthday, Brooke!