Evan's First Violin Recital

Evan has been practicing and preparing for his first violin recital. As some of you know, he started violin in December. The pauses are him getting his fingers in the right places on the string. Mr. Craig, is teacher is helping him follow the notes on his music sheet.

Easter!

Another holiday blog post. I am sorry I am so neglectful, but life is busy as I am sure you all relate to.

For Spring Break this year we headed up to my parents house in Virginia and Easter weekend was the tail end of our visit. The boys were very excited to visit their grandparents and we had an all in all relaxing visit with lots of outside play time for the boys. We were able to venture down into DC for a day on one of the busiest tourist times of the year, with the Cherry Blossom Festival in full bloom, as it were.

We did not head to see the flowers but rather went down to the Museum of Natural History on the DC Mall. Lots of fun, but looking forward to doing it at a less touristy time of year.

Natural History Museum



Lunch first.



Leg bone.



T Rex! I think anyway, they have changed all the names since I was a kid.



The good old days.



Inspecting.



You have a little something stuck in your teeth.



Coloring eggs with Grandma.





Which color...



Uncle Mike sat with us and ate lunch, he really really enjoys his food.





What a dork.













Easter morning.




Egg hunt.

The Most Wonderful Time of Year

Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Birthdays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! A very busy December has led me to be remiss in updating the blog during the most eventful time of year!



I was quite busy with my jewelry business and James went to Romania for a week for a job interview the second week in December. The boys both had birthdays and we were snowed in at Grandma and Grandad's house over Christmas.

Thanksgiving Dinner, 2009

Now that everything has slowed down and we can pause to reflect and find December was a wonderful month filled with a lot of love and happiness.



We started December by putting up our "pre-lit" and by pre-lit I mean half the lights didn't work the day we first put it up 2 years ago. This is the last year for our artificial, and now that the kids are not crawling sleepless babies anymore, we decided next year we will go back to decorating a live tree.



Evan and Drew had a lot of fun decorating the tree, and seeing all their own special ornaments.



We started out the month with Evan's birthday, he turned 5 years old!



Grandma Earlene and Phil were so nice to drive all the way from Hickory to come to Evan's birthday party at the Little Gym.



Evan's friends and preschool classmates came and enjoyed pizza and cake.



Evan was quite excited to have his first birthday with a lot of friends out of our house.



Drew enjoyed the cake very much and was the subject of curiosity regarding his eating techniques.



I thought I might have to end up performing the heimlich maneuver but Drew eventually choked it down.



The last days of preschool included Evan's Christmas play where he dressed up as a shepherd.



Doesn't he make the cutest little bedouin? Evan was outstanding, singing and performing choreographed movements to songs. He was so excited to see me there and could barely contain himself. This play was particularly touching for me because it his last year of preschool.



I stopped by Drew's Christmas Party and was lucky enough to see him singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.





The second day at my parents' house we found ourselves in a big snow storm, and when it was all said and done, we were left with several inches of snow. The kids had a blast.





Grandma was prepared and had the sled ready to go. Both boys could have probably done this all day.





We all got a lot of exercise.



The boys helped build their first snow man.





Large quantities of hot chocolate and marshmallows were consumed after all their outdoor sojourns.



After many days of anticipating Santa, and many questions from Evan, we all greeted Christmas morning. Evan was fascinated with the idea of Santa, why does he not use a rocket ship instead of a sleigh? What does he do at houses which don't have chimneys? Who lives with him at the North Pole? Why does he have elves?... all which were very fun to answer.















After the snow started to melt and the driveway was plowed, the boys enjoyed the rollar coaster Grandma got just for them. They both tired themselves out on this one and Evan declared it was just as fun as sledding.













We all went out to dinner the night before Drew's birthday (and also the day we were heading back home). Drew chose Chili's and here Grandad is teaching him how to do a proper "cheese" smile.



We came back to the house for cake and presents, and Drew was delighted to be the subject of the "Happy Birthday to You" serenade.




Happy 3rd Birthday Drew!



The beginning of the month was rather like a guantlet with James being gone during one of the most busy times of year, and by the end of the month, we were all very tired. We are at home and rested up now, and ready to start this wonderful new year. The boys go back to preschool tomorrow, and we all couldn't be happier. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and New Year!