A NUTCRACKER TEA - 2018

Naomi and I had the opportunity to attend Northwest Dance Theatre's A Nutcracker Tea on Saturday afternoon. Neither of us had ever seen any performance of The Nutcracker before, so it was fun to go together. Tim took a couple pictures of us before we left and I'm posting both. I like the first one because it's a better shot of our faces, but the second one makes me see how grown up she's looking. Time flies!

We had someone take a picture of us in the lobby when we arrived at PCC Sylvania's Performing Arts Center, then headed to our seats for the show.

We went to see Grace, a friend of Naomi's, but knew there would be three other girls we know in the performance, as well as the production manager. When we started flipping through the program and watching the show, however, we discovered we actually knew nine of the performers and the NWDT board president. It was cool to see so many familiar faces and we really enjoyed the show. We were able to catch Grace afterwards for a quick picture of her and Naomi.

What a fun way to spend part of a December afternoon!

BRACES ON FACES - 2ND SET

Devon had an appointment at Senestraro Family Orthodontics yesterday and is now sporting braces. I'm completely blow away by how quickly this happened! Just like we did with Silas earlier this year, we took a picture of all of us and the pie chart I tracked our progress on.

This pie chart makes me smile. (And the 75% slice makes me twitch because I absentmindedly wrote the date in the wrong spot. I confess to almost printing a new pie chart and redoing it at that point.)

The support I received along the way as I worked my Pampered Chef business was amazing, the little checks I've earned from Amazon affiliate links and Random Conversation Starters sales have helped, and some unexpected gifts have filled my heart even more than they filled the pie chart.

I took a picture with the second little W to receive braces after we got home. I'm super excited for him!

Two kids down, two to go! The next sets will be a slower process, as I'm no longer working a part-time job to pay for it, but that's fine. Those kids are younger and there's no rush. We'll just keep plugging away at saving money and filling up pie charts until we've paid for all the #BracesOnFaces.

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for friends who are different than me in their beliefs, thoughts, feelings, personalities, skills, and interests. What's something that you're thankful for?

DECK THE HALLS - 2018

Last night Silas and Devon cleaned themselves up a bit for Deck the Halls, a Christmas party with our church's high school youth group. They were crunched for time when they left, so I snapped a few quick pictures before they hustled into the car. It's fun watching these two brothers turn into young men! And it's funny to watch them spend their own money on ties. Never thought I'd see the day.

It cracks me up how their personalities come through in pictures, even ones taken in a hurry.

Their first stop was to take pictures with some friends. A shot of the brothers.

A shot of Silas and Natie.

And a fun shot of various siblings and friends.

Next stop was Wilsonville Lanes for bowling with some of the other kids from youth group. Another shot of Natie and Silas. 

And one with a whole bunch of other kids who struck down pins with them.

Finally, they headed off to church for the party, which included some photo booth time. A shot of Devon with some other freshman guys.

 Being a goofball by himself.

Another brother shot.

There's a reason we consider Devon the "ham of the fam"!

Look down by the poinsettia. Photo bomber!!

A shot of Silas and a bunch of friends.

Same group, minus a few friends.

And a shot of all the guys.

They had a great evening!

Photo credit: Alicia Moore for the three pictures in a home, Natie Moore for the two in the bowling alley, and ACCF for the ones at the photo booth.

SOME CHRISTMAS FUN

There are still eight days until Christmas, but our month has been filled with festivity!!

12/1 - Silas and Natie went to Follow the Star in Gladstone. Natie had been there before, but it was Silas' first time. He enjoyed it!

12/2 - Naomi strung the lights for our tree in the afternoon while she and Devon were home alone one afternoon, then all the Ws, along with Gabriel, cranked some Christmas tunes and hung ornaments that evening.

12/3 - Silas took Natie along to the Woodburn Fire District's Christmas party. Picture with Santa? Check.

12/13 - Devon, Naomi, Tyler, and I hunkered down to watch White Christmas and eat candy canes together. 

12/14 - The little Ws and I spent our morning making dozens of Christmas sugar cookies. 

Three little Ws (one's barely visible in the back of the picture) and I headed out to drive through the living nativity at Hoodview Church of God, then checked out some Christmas lights around town.

Here's just one of the stations they had set up.

Silas was gone most of the day, but the other Ws and Gabriel spent the evening decorating sugar cookies after Tim got home from work. So fun!

12/15 - We all got to watch the Christmas Ships Parade for the first time in a few years. Both fleets were out, the rain held off, friends joined us, and we ate cookies. Couldn't ask for a better evening! Took a picture of our group before everyone else arrived.

Had Devon take a picture of me and Tim.

Took a few imperfect shots of all the kids. There was no way they'd all take us seriously and look at the camera and avoid blinking and give genuine smiles all at the same time. So, here's what we got. Good enough.

One more shot of our group.

12/16 - We had a great evening filled with Christmas songs, hymns, and cookies with our church family. Since we love Kit and sit together at every service, and since everyone thinks we're related anyway, we wanted her in our family picture.

Of course, there's also been Christmas music playing every day, Advent readings, various combinations of Ws going Christmas shopping together, and wrapped gifts slowly appearing under the tree. It's a fun time of year!

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AFTERNOON AT CENTENNIAL

I was going to sit on the front porch and enjoy a book in the sunshine for a bit during down time yesterday, then decided to load everyone up and head out to soak up the blue skies instead. The unanimous vote was for Centennial Park, so drove down and spent the next hour and a half enjoying the beautiful weather. 

Devon and Tyler took a quick break from a long game of tag all four kids were playing together to pose for a picture.

Naomi and Silas took a break while we did the loop of exercise equipment, but he decided to be punky and not smile.

So she helped him.

Success!

All four sibs hanging out at the parallel bars.

We tried to take a group shot to prove we were all there together, but something went wonky and our attempt was an utter failure. So Tyler took a picture of me by myself to go with the sibling shots. Good enough!

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for technology that allows me to hear voices and see faces of my family and friends who don't live close enough to conveniently hang out with. What's one thing that you're thankful for?