Merry Christmas!

 

Mustache Party

Our cute friends had a party for their younger son who recently turned one year old. Such a fun theme for a little sweetie. We had a great time at this lunch party today with our favorite buddies.

 

 

Michael and I made at least one child cry while wearing our mustaches. Surprisingly, James asked to wear my mustache; I didn't think I'd be able to convince him to try one on!

Boys' B-Day: Part 2 of 2

Sooo, here's part 2! Oh, this happened months ago? Don't worry about. This one's for you, Aunt Ciare. Hope you like collages!

 

We went to the exotic car show at our mall where the richies bring their cars to show off. Michael and James loved it. And I loved the beautiful morning and being with my guys.

 

 

 

My dear friend, Laura, took most of these photos from the party. It was so kind of her, especially because I didn't have the food and favors ready when the party started. Typical procrastinator.

 

The theme was "cute cars" and Michael helped me with the little cupcake toppers- I found the little plastic cars at the thrift store. The favors which I forgot to get a picture of were car-shaped crayons that I got on Etsy and little wooden toy cars. I also got little car stickers for the kids to put on papers with roads on them.

 

 

The guests at our party were our friends from playgroup. The best friends that a mommy and a kid could ask for!

 

 

We really lucked out to have such a nice sunny day in early June. The kids had fun in the yard and on the deck.

 

 

James wasn't really into blowing out the candle, but he did want to touch the fire. He was a little bit moody during his party because our busy day didn't leave much time for napping. Lesson learned!

 

 

Most of the kids helped us open presents- as they should have. Once the presents were out, we just had to start playing with them right away. 

 

 

This last pic is not from his party. This one is James loving on his turbo car from Bebe and Cece (Grandma and Grandpa Shepard). Michael later showed him how to crank the spoiler and then press the button so the car will drive on its own.

 

 

Michael kind of got shafted on his b-day this year. I don't think he minded very much. He actually likes that James can take the attention on their birthday. But watch out for 30 in a couple years, Michael (not that you read this blog), when I'm going all out!

Boys' B-Day: Part 1

Lovin' their "meat-meat"

 

Shopping for the party

 

At the park

 

 

After dinner and presents

 

 

(P.S. You might have been worried because of the blog silence. We're still alive! Phew!)

Books are love

I finally got a bookcase for James's books. $10 on Craigslist! The basket and bin in the corner just weren't working anymore for the number of bargain books I keep buying.

 

These are books given to James by his Grammaw and Grampuh Shepard (Bebe and Cece), Aunt Emily W., Uncle Jacob, little friend Brooklyn, and Mommy and Daddy. These were all gifts of love to one of the sweetest boys who ever lived.

 

It is so fulfilling for me to share my love of reading with James. We read every day before naps and bedtime. He really likes learning his letters right now and can identify maybe eight of them when he sees them. I didn't know that kids this age could do that.

 

Also a great place for his soft animals.

 

Just wanted to get a pic of my organization before James takes over. He was trying to grab the camera from me during this photo.

 

I told him to stand by his books and he started clapping. "Yay, books! Hooray!" 

 

A room without books is like a body without a soul.

-Attributed to Cicero

Christmas Letter 2012

♪♪♫♫♪♪ We wish you a merry Christmas,

We wish you a merry Christmas, ♪♪♫♫♪♪

♪♪♫♫♪♪ We wish you a merry Christmas,

And a happy New Year! ♫♪♪♪♪

 

 

 

 

Dear family and friends,

We are glad to have this chance to fill you in on the good and bad things in our lives. This year, we faced a few difficult losses. Hannah’s Grandma Hubbard and Great-Aunt Edith passed away. And we had a miscarriage at 8 weeks. Even though 2012 was a hard year, we still had many things to be grateful for.

We were blessed to move to the Seattle area and it is starting to feel like home. Michael is rockin’ his job at Microsoft where he is a software engineer on the Windows Team. He is exceeding expectations and gets along with his managers and co-workers very well. Hannah loves teaching and caring for James, despite his constant acrobatics and disinterest in eating. We can hardly believe that he is 18 months old now! He does some speaking and sign language and he especially enjoys books, trucks, and books about trucks.

A big part of our spiritual and social life here is church. Michael’s church calling is teaching the 8 year olds in Primary, while Hannah plays the piano and helps plan activities for the women in Relief Society. Recently, James started attending Nursery at church and has fun playing with the kids his age. Hannah has made some wonderful friends at church who all get together for playdates and lunches each week.

Since we live so far from much of our family and friends, we treasured our trips to the Midwest, Kentucky, Oregon, and Florida this year. We were lucky enough to have a few visitors—  we want some more, we want some more! Seriously, we have a room for you and would love to show you around town.

As we celebrate and make our own Christmas traditions here in Redmond, we hope that you find peace and joy this holiday season wherever you are. We know that true happiness comes because of and through our Savior, Jesus Christ. May the New Year bring you all the good things in life!

 

 

 With love,

Hannah, Michael, and James

Halloween

I was planning on just staying home this year and giving out candy. We are recovering from our awesome Disney World trip and some sore throats. But at the last minute, I decided that I wanted to go to the church for Trunk or Treat. I'm so glad that we went.

 

James's devil costume made its second appearance. He wore it last year to Breanne and Michael's super fun party, but he was just a tiny baby then. It cracked me up to see our little devil running around in his costume. I had a dog costume (that looks more like a bear) for him, but ironically, it ended up being smaller that the already-worn devil suit.

 

We took a minute for photos with our buddies, Laura and Brooklyn. This first pic is a little fuzzy, but I love that we're laughing.

James: "Hey Brooklyn, one of my favorite songs is about a spider. Very fitting for Halloween."

Friends. And yes, I am wearing my Jacob the werewolf t-shirt.

We also saw our other playdate friends and lunch buddies. They looked great in their Curious George outfits.

To top it all off, some friends from church (who are also our neighbors) called and invited us over for a party. We are lucky to have found such nice families to be our friends.

Bonus cutie: James in his new shirt from Disney World. Disney blog post coming soon.