Cole's first piano recital

Cole's First Piano Recital

Last night was Cole's very first piano recital.  I think I was just as nervous as he was.  I could tell he was nervous, but he handled himself so well with such maturity and calmness.  I absolutely love listening to him play the piano and watching his love for music grow.  It is one of my favorite events of his I've had a chance to witness so far.  I hope he continues to love music and playing the piano. 

 

 These are all of Cole's piano teacher's students.  We really like his teacher, Donovan.  He has been a great influence and mentor.

A Mild December

We've been spending a lot of time outside as it's been a very mild December.  Our neighbor down the street has a "Little Free Library" where you can bring a book and take a book.  So sweet.  Love!

 Speaking of sweet, the boys often end up in the same bunk even though they have their own beds.  They have been doing so well sharing a room thus far!  But I'm sure that won't last forever.  We have 2 spare rooms, luckily.

 Our partially painted house with primer up in great room... Craig has been working so hard.  We also had ceilings painted and our master and dining room.  Once I have light fixtures up, I'll put some before and after pics on the blog.  It's coming along!

 Christmas tree with boys' homemade ornaments, which are my favorite!

 Playing chess with Grandpa over Thanksgiving break

 Max is up to 237 "bead things" that he has made!

 A stop at "peek a boo" santa house

 Boys have been having so much fun with this Lego Starwars advent calendar

 Luminary walk the weekend after Thanksgiving.  We took Cole's new school friend, Holden.  It was a fun evening but very, very crowded at the Arboretum this year!

 Took forever to get through the woods, luckily there was an apple cider station for refueling. :)

 Maxy was tired and wanted to be carried the whole time.

 A visit to Santa of course.  Cole is hoping for an xbox, but Mommy and Daddy think he is too young.  We told Cole that Santa will know.  Max is hoping for Minecraft legos and a bunch of little random things.

 Maxy helping Daddy paint.

 Beautiful sunset

 One of Cole's "personal narratives"... love this!

 An afternoon jeep ride on a beautiful day with 2 great buddies

 At the dentist, no cavities, yea!

 Cole made this picture for Stampy, a guy who does Minecraft videos.

 And then Max had to make one too of course. :)

 Annual gingerbread house

Daddy's Story read by Grandma

Thanksgiving

We had such a nice Thanksgiving weekend (besides our basement flooding!!!)  Ed and Joyce visited from Florida and we spent our first ever Thanksgiving with them and the kids.  We all headed to Topeka for Thanksgiving day to be with GG, Poppy and Chris' family.  The cousins had a blast as usual and spent a lot of time playing GG's piano. :)

 Back home decorating for our first Christmas in our new house!

 Minecraft wither... boys are really into Minecraft these days!

Max's First K-State Game!

I got home really late Friday night from my work trip to Aruba and we left very early the next morning for the K-State game!  It was Maxy's first game!  Craig and I had plans to go with Sara and Curt and then we took the boys and they got to sit with GG and Poppy.  It was a very chilly day, but we bundled up and with the sun, it wasn't so bad!  The boys had such a fun time as they had been wanting to go to a football game all season!

After the game, we headed to Aggieville and to show Curt the sights of Manhattan since it was his first visit.  GG and Poppy left with the boys around halftime and we met them back in Topeka.  It was such a fun day!  I'm glad we got to go and the boys got to be there too!