Over Night Adventure

We decided to go with some friends to the Great Wolf Lodge for a night in Mason. It ended up that some other friends went too. The party eventually became 5 adults and 16 children! We had so much fun!! The place was huge! With all of the friends having the large spectrum of ages, was so much better too. There was always someone they knew nearby. The kids (and I) didn't want to stop swimming. It was such a great time.

Micah's 9

Unbelievable. What a great kid we're blessed with!

My Trio

Here is the video of Sophie and Micah, accompanied by Daddy, playing Fernando Ortega's song If I Flee on Morning Wings for the opening ceremony at CC (Classical Conversations-- our home school group).

Judah Moments

Life is certainly anything but dull around here. This week there were two particular funny moments. One, was Judah 'helping' Sophie put away the clean dishes from the dishwasher. Behind her back, he was dropping the spoons into the full milk container that was on the counter. Rather than try to get them out, I just stuck the milk back in the fridge. At least they're clean spoons, right? Most people hardly noticed. They thought it was just ice in the jug for a while. Daddy was the lucky one to find all of the silver at the bottom!

Later one evening, my husband and I were sitting on our bed, each working on our respective laptops, when we heard this low continuous beeping sound. It seemed to have started right at the same time the heater kicked on. My first thought was the heating system was going haywire. We both held up our laptops, trying to see if it was coming from it. Nope. It stopped. We turned off the light and it started again. Finally, he jumps out of bed trying to find it and it stops again. Several minutes later, we found Judah had buried deep under the covers the Taboo game buzzer.

If we were given a book as newlyweds, that would tell us all the things our kids might do, we would never have any. But, it's these sorts of moments that I can't stop laughing and hope never to forget them.

Back into Paint

This year I've decided to take on some painting projects. Friends of ours, who have their own dentist practice, asked me to paint some murals for their office (their son has been one of my faithful art students). The theme is Old Timey Baseball. So this past weekend, I worked on the first project. It's been 5 years since I've painted a mural, so I was a little nervous. I went with a vintage/ Dick and Jane kind of style (from the old children's books). All 4 kids are resemblences of their own 4 children.






Notice the 3rd pendant...hee hee.

I had a lot of fun and look forward to Project #2!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Love,
Sophia, Micah, Joshua, & Judah

Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government

shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace

there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Girl's Night Out

Sophia and I have a tradition that when we complete a violin book, we have a night out. So my husband booked a hotel through Priceline for downtown Cincinnati. We started our exciting day, however, by going to the Nutcracker Ballet. We met Nena there and enjoyed the wonderful performance.

Afterwards, Nena treated us to lunch and gave Sophie an ornament to remember the special day by. I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful mother-in-law.

After lunch, Sophia and I went to a few stores downtown. The candy store was a favorite of hers and mine was the art supply store.

We stayed at the Hyatt by Fountain Square. It was so pretty. With all the Christmas music in the sky walks and the snow all around made it especially magical. We had to ride up and down the escalators just for fun.

After checking in the room, we decided to head up the Carew Tower. There is a viewing deck at the top. It was snowing, so it wasn't the clearest day, but we still had a great time.

We then headed to Fountain Square where there was ice skating. Sophia had soo much fun.

After skating, we went to the Rock Bottom Restaurant where Soph had a couple of refills of hot chocolate.

The Chrismas lights were so pretty. Even the carriages were all lit up.

The hotel lobby had an amazing gingerbread village on display.

We ended our trip the next morning, riding the free carriage ride around the block. It was a very special time and I'm so thankful for such a lovely daughter.