Christmas Performances

It's been a busy couple of weeks around here. Maddie had a little Christmas program with her pre-K class and it was so cute! They recited a poem about the Christmas story, sang a few songs, and then decorated cookies. Then, last Saturday, she had her ballet recital. Her class did a routine to sweet song about baking a cake, hence the chef costumes. She smiled through the entire performance and was even singing along to the words - too cute!

We also paid a visit to Mr. Claus and to my surprise, Brogan was totally willing to sit on his lap and even told him his request (a jingle bell). Maddie's requests for Webkinz, a scooter, and Fruit Loops (yes, the cereal!) were also relayed so we'll see if Santa comes through...


Our little ballerina

Striking a pose

Visit with Santa

Maddie and her special friend Mylo - apparently these 2 are quite the romantic item lately (according to their teachers). So cute!

Maddie and some of her school friends during their performance

Party Time!

It's that time of year - Christmas parties galore!! We hosted the annual roomie holiday - "Thanksmas" - and as usual, it was chaos. 8 adults who haven't seen each other nearly often enough, combined with 8 kids between 18 months and 5 years makes for some nuttiness. But we wouldn't have it any other way! 5 days after that little gathering, Jon and I hosted our annual Christmas party with our friends from our various walks of life. We had a great turnout and really enjoyed seeing so many people at the same time! I have so much fun decorating the house and getting the food ready in advance of the season so it's fun to share it all.

Roomies - Christine, Carrie (30 weeks prego!), Anna, and Meg

The "savory" table at our party - meatballs and many cheeses with all sorts of fruits, nuts, crackers, etc.

The "sweet" table - chocolate fountain with dipping items and cookies/bars galore!

Roomie kids - Josh and Kaitlyn McKee, Grace and Nora Wallace, Maddie, Adelaine and Lukas Goodworth, Brogan

Story time with Uncle Adam - the kids were enraptured!

Thanksgiving Feast!

Yesterday was Madeline's pre-school Thanksgiving Feast - so much fun! Jon couldn't join us as he's been serving on a jury all week so it was me and the kids. Maddie's class (in the Native American costumes) joined with another class (dressed as Pilgrims) and sang a few songs. I took the video on our old-school video camera, which means I don't have a digital file to post. But I'll write the lyrics to one of the songs as it was just too funny! After the "show", we all enjoyed a teaser Thanksgiving meal - can't wait for the real thing on Thursday!



"Mr. Turkey"

Mr. Turkey, Mr. Turkey
Are you getting nice and fat?
We are waiting for Thanksgiving
So what do you think of that?

Mr. Turkey, Mr. Turkey
Do you ever wonder why
People eat you at Thanksgiving
Instead of Chicken Pie?

Brogan has learned most of this song and it is hysterical to listen to the two of thing sing it. There are funny motions that go along with it, too.

Odie and friends

Little Mr. Odie is settling right in to our family. He and Hazie are best buddies and playmates now. Odie loves to pick a fight and Hazie is incredibly tolerant, but definitely puts him in his place when needed. We're all enjoying having a little kitten and he's quite the snuggler. Enjoy the photos!


Watching leaves and birds in the backyard

Naptime snuggles on the kitty castle

B, Maddie, and the little fuzz ball!

Sharing Jon's lap - so fun to have 2 lap kitties!

Halloween Fun

We enjoyed a very fun Halloween yesterday. Started the festivities at a friend's brithday party where Maddie won the best costume prize - so fun! Then we came back to our 'hood for trick or treating and an informal block party in the neighbor's front yard. We had the fire pit going, adult beverages flowing, and plenty of candy for the kids...great for everyone!!


Me and Maddie - thanks to Erin for the great Foothill Pep President duds!!

Dorothy and the scarecrow

Our jack o' lanterns

Maddie and her puppy pumpkin

B was excited about his design!

Rodeo "Odie" Meyers joins the family!

We've been talking about adding a second cat to our family and this little guy just happened to "find" me over the weekend. I was on a walk with a friend and we passed by a woman who had just taken a box of kittens out of her car (she was on her way to the park to see if she could find homes for them). I knew once I looked inside it would be hard to resist so I called Jon and he was up for it! Little Odie is a bundle of adorable, fun energy and I think he'll be a great addition. We're taking him to the vet today to get him checked out, as we've been keeping him separate from Hazie just in case there are any health issues. We'll keep you posted on how their introduction goes...

Brogan turns 2!

Our little guy is 2 - wow! We had a great time celebrating with family at Brogan's "things that go" party. Just about all his gifts had wheels (or pictures of wheels!) and he was thrilled. We are so blessed to have so many people in our life that love our kids. Thanks to all of you!

Riding the scooter he got from Aunt Sandy, Uncle Dave, Gigi and Great-Grandpa

The train cake Auntie Erin and I made

Presents!

4 generations of Lasswells - Gigi, Great Grandpa, Sue, Lynn, Erin, Jon, Meg, Maddie, and Brogan

Loading the excavator from Aunt Kate/Uncle Travis/Sarah/Austin into the back of the dump truck he got from Aunt Tina/Uncle Will/Joel/Amy/Emily

New York City

Jon and I just returned from an awesome long weekend in NYC visiting Erin and Wilson. The kids stayed behind, though I doubt they even realized we were gone since they got to spend 2 days with Will, Tina, and kids and then 2 days with Sandy and Dave. Lucky kiddos!

Our trip was prompted by the purchase of tickets to see U2 in concert at Giants Stadium - an unbelievable show! All the concert pictures are on my facebook page but I threw one in here, too. We spent the rest of the weekend exploring the city (as best we could with Jon's sprained ankle) and visiting with friends. I teamed up with Erin's good friend Kate to throw Erin a surprise bridal brunch - it was a blast! We relaxed at Erin and Wilson's apartment where we played a fair share of Wii games and bonded with our nephew, Bruce the cat.


Me, Courtney, Erin, Chris, Minnie, Erin G., and Kate

We did the Circle Line tour around Manhattan - a perfect day for it, obviously!

The Brooklyn Bridge

Me and Erin on the Circle Line boat

Times Square

The ridiculous stage set at the U2 show

Wilson, Erin, Me, and Jon at the concert

We had a most delicious lunch here at Shake Shack in Madison Square Park

Summer videos

I always forget to post videos to my updates, so here are a few from the summer. Enjoy!

Maddie is quite the adventurous one when it comes to anything related to the water. We were at the Old Town Hot Springs in Steamboat and she saw some big kids jumping off the diving board. She had never done it before but decided she just had to try. So she walked to the end and didn't even hesitate to jump in. After a couple of jumps to Jon who was waiting to "catch" her, she decided she didn't need him there any more and would just jump and then swim to the side by herself. Pretty cool!

Brogan is quite the fish, too. He had a blast in the little kid area at the hot springs pools. No fear of the water for this kid!

Just a glimpse into a normal day around our house - crazy kids doing crazy stuff!!

Last First Day of Pre-school

Maddie started her final day of pre-school last week. She was a quite hesitant on the "meet the teacher" day (quite out of character for her!) but once we got in the room, she loved it and has been running to her room each day since. Her teachers seem great and we are so blessed to have a Christ-centered pre-school that is also committed to teaching the important fundamentals. Can't believe she'll be in Kindergarten next year!


Mrs. Erin and Mrs. Janell

Our sweet little Madeline

Heaven on Earth - Steamboat Springs!

As we do every year, we headed to Steamboat Springs in honor of our anniversary. It doesn't matter to us that our annivesary is in May; as long as we get up there some time in the summer, we're happy! Our friends, the Mays, are always so generous in letting us stay in their beautiful condo for the weekend - thanks Chris and Resa! This year we did several activities that we've never done before, despite our 20ish trips to this amazing mountain town. The kids are old enough to enjoy some things we couldn't do before and it was great! Here was the breakdown of the weekend:
exploring activities at the mountain base
Yampa River Botanic Gardens
Mini-golf
family naps
hot tub
dinner at a new restaurant in town - Boathouse Pub (right on the river downtown!)
day at Old Town Hot Springs
more naps!
meeting up with college and MPI friends
mini-hike

We had perfect weather and really enjoyed having an entire weekend with just the 4 of us!


Hangin' at the Hot Springs - Jon bought Nachos and Brogan couldn't get enough of the delicious cheezy sauce!

Maddie and me - our little fish wasn't tall enough to ride the giant waterslide (see background of this photo) so she went ahead and passed the swim test in order to do so! She rode the PITCH BLACK tube slide (230 feet long) 3 times and absolutely loved it!

The gorgeous Yampa River - just outside the great little restaurant we discoverd

Classic Steamboat photo - the horse outside F.M. Light and Sons

Trying on western gear inside the store!

Picnic at the mini-golf course. Maddie chose to play golf rather than do the alpine slide (a choice she admitted regretting later that day!), but B LOVED the golf!

He was determined to make this putt...

At the botanic gardens

Our little cuties!

Roomie Camping Trip

This was our second annual Colorado roomie camping weekend and compared to the inagural trip last year, it was one million times more enjoyable! Most of that had to do with our perfect weather, though having all the kids one year older definitely helped, too. We went to Wellington Lake, a beautiful private park/campground only about 1 1/2 hours from home and it was beautiful! Everyone got along well and had fun exploring the campground, wading in the lake, catching minnows, and roasting marshmallows. It's always so fun to have our group together and see the kids growing up; we just wish Anna and her family were in Colorado to join us on these weekend adventures!


The 6 kids (l to r): Nora Wallace, Josh McKee, Brogan, Kaitlyn McKee, Grace Wallace, and Maddie

Playtime in the lake

Brogan loved having a big boy to hang around with. Joshua was very patient with him!

Grace and Maddie; best buddies all weekend

Brogan loved roasting his marshmallows! Don't think he actually ate any of them, but that's not the point, right?

We rented a canoe one afternoon and took turns taking the kids for rides around the lake

Mealtime was always a bit crazed, but quite tasty!

B and Maddie checking out the beautiful lake