Winter Program

Earlier this month, the kids' daycare put on a winter program at a nearby church.  Each of the older classrooms was assigned a country and they spent the weeks leading up to the program learning some songs from that country and other fun facts.  Kate's classroom was assigned Australia.  So they got to learn all about koalas, kangaroos, boomerangs and didgeridoos.  They also made great outback hats out of paper and old corks.

The night of the program, they all wore their hats along with khaki pants and white shirts.  They marched in to the room to a song from Men at Work.  Kate was carrying an Australia flag they had made out of paper.  They then proceeded to sing "The Kookaburra Song" and "Waltzing Matilda".  They did a great job!  We were so proud.  Here are some photos compliments of my friend Merina (Cameron's mom).  She has a much fancier camera than me so her pictures turned out much better!

Before the show with her friends Cameron and Hailee

Cameron and Kate - little lovebirds

Kate holding the flag.  Cam holding a boomerang.

The whole class

After their performance, waiting for the next class to perform

8 Years of Wedded Bliss

8 years ago today Dave and I were married.  Hard to believe it has been that long!  To celebrate, we took a quick weekend getaway to Napa - just the two of us!  We spent the weekend visiting wineries, shopping, eating delicious food and watching movies.  With the Oscars coming up next week, we had some catching up to do! 

Here are some pics from our fun weekend!

Dave tasting at the Silver Oak winery

Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc restaurant where we had brunch on Sunday

Dave enjoying his brunch

The two of us in Yountville

The two of us outside Hall Winery - our favorite wine of the weekend

Dave outside Hall Winery

Chateau Montelena Winery

Our eclairs from the famous Bouchon Bakery (another Thomas Keller establishment)



Valentine's Day

I know a lot of people have mixed emotions about Valentine's Day.  But I am one of those rare people that really love it.  I collect heart-shaped things.  I love Brach's candy conversation hearts.  I love receiving overpriced flowers from my husband at work :).  I used to love making handmade cards for all of my loved ones before Jack was born and consumed all of my time!  So now I love going to the store and picking out the perfect cards.  

It appears that Kate is beginning to follow in my footsteps.  She was very excited about Valentine's Day this year.  This was the first year that she picked out her cards all by herself - Disney Princess ones, of course.  And then she carefully wrote her friends names on each one.  It took a couple of hours (and some of my patience), but she did a great job.  

Kate working on her cards

Jack also got cards for his friends but needed a little help from me addressing them!  He went with a Cars theme for his.  They both had a lot of fun at their parties.  Kate's class got to make english muffin pizzas and Jack's class got to enjoy a fun snack mix made by their teacher.

All the cards Kate received from her friends

Here is the card Kate made for us - guess it is time to get her enrolled in dance classes!

And the card from Jack

After school, Dave picked up the kids and I met them at a restaurant for dinner.  I gave them their gifts and we all exchanged cards.  Unfortunately the service was extremely slow.  We had been there 30 minutes and they still hadn't taken our order.  And that is when Jack started to lose it.  Once he started his tantrum and screaming fits, we knew it was time to leave.  So we went home and cooked a frozen pizza.  Happy Valentine's Day to us!

Kate reading her new "Silverlicious" book from Grandma & Poppa Graham

Jack eating his dinner at home after we had to leave the restaurant

 Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!

Dave's Birthday

For some reason, Kate has gotten it into her head that for birthdays, girls have princess parties and boys have Spiderman parties.  So when I told her that Daddy's birthday was coming up, she insisted on a Spiderman birthday party.  So of course, I did it up - Spiderman decorations, Spiderman wrapping paper, Spiderman balloons and a Spiderman ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins (

Rocky Road

ice cream with chocolate cake - his favorite).  I picked up Chipotle (another favorite) for dinner on the way home from work.  While I was paying for the food, Dave called to tell me the battery in his truck had died and he was stuck at work in downtown Seattle.  Change of plans! 

I made a detour to pick him up an unplanned gift - a new battery from the auto supply store :).  Then I picked up the kids from daycare.  The 3 of us started the party without the birthday boy as he had to wait for the garage service to arrive to give him a jump start. 

Party minus the birthday boy 

Once he finally arrived home, we broke out the cake and presents. 

Spiderman ice cream cake!

Kate with a blue tongue from the frosting!

Jack helping Daddy finally eat his birthday!

It was a fun party once Dave finally arrived home!  He got to round out the evening by installing his brand new car battery!  Woo hoo!

A New Play Set

We received some inheritance money when my grandmother passed away in November.  After giving it some thought, we decided that she would have loved to get something for our kids that would bring them hours and hours of joy - a play set!   So we visited the Rainbow Play Systems store to try a few out.  After testing out a few, we found one that was just right for the space we have in our side yard.  It was installed the following weekend. 

Introducing the Jane Pertain memorial play set:

Anxiously watching the installation

Poor guys installing in the pooring rain 

The finished product!  

Jack trying out the slide!

 And Kate's turn

Big boy climbing the ladder all by himself!

We are looking forward to years and years of fun times on our new play set.  Thanks Jane!

Snowshoeing

Our department at work took a break from our busy schedules to enjoy some time in the great outdoors (we are in fact an outdoor retailer!).  We spent a Friday snowshoeing up at Snoqualmie Pass.  Although we did get rained on - got to love the Pacific Northwest - we had a great time.  Here are some pictures from our fun day:

Nice weather for some snowshoeing!  Good thing we are all well stocked in outdoor gear!

Dave, one of our guides from the REI Outdoor School

And we're off!

My director Joe.

A beautiful reflection

Me with two of our project managers, Claire and Brooke

 Breaking for lunch in the snow

 My buddy Rob relaxing during our lunch break

  

Overall a great day!