Another not-so-eventful month. With the freezing weather, we didn't get out much. However, I did get out with my fifth graders for a field trip!
Each spring we take a field trip to Steigerwald Nature Refuge. The students take a nature walk and do a service project. Every year it's a chilly, so everyone has to bundle up! It's a true northwest field trip - rain or shine!
planting trees
March includes character dress-up day, so of course I chose Hermione!
I snapped this candid shot of Brodie cooking in his onesie. Our heating system couldn't quite keep up with the freezing temperatures, so we did what we could to stay warm!
Judging by the number of pictures I took in February (only 4!) it must have been a very uneventful month. The snowy weather continued, but by the end of the month it started to clear up. For the last year I have been with the Beehive group (ages 12-13 girls) at church. All of the Young Women took an overnight trip to the Oregon coast which was a nice getaway from the snow.
We live down at the bottom of the hill, so there would be days when there was no snow at our house but as I started to drive to work the snow would appear out of nowhere!
All of the Young Women at the coast
These two cute girls were both in my fifth grade class 3 years ago!
Back at it! It's only been. . . 10 months? Yikes. Here is a month by month recap.
January included Brodie's 28th birthday! On the day of his birthday we were actually at the tail end of an overnight babysitting job for a family in our ward. To help make the day special, Brodie's parents stopped by the house to eat pie and open presents. Then a few days later he and I went out to dinner and dessert. I love you, birthday boy!
dinner and dessert
opening presents
We looove the kids we babysit. For Brodie's birthday, they put on a birthday concert with violin, cello, and piano numbers. So cute and talented!
Another big event in January was Brodie's chiropractic white coat pinning ceremony. This ceremony marked the halfway point through school and Brodie's next step working in the clinic.
Brodie's class
with some closer friends
proud of my boy!
other nuggets from January
After the truck broke down (for the 8th time) Brodie came to my rescue once again. I took this picture after he crawled under the truck in the rain and got grease smudged on his nose.
The horrible nasty weather continued through January which meant lots of snow days and time off school. We used the time to bake some warm, homemade treats!
I took this picture from our front porch on a rare day with no snow or rain
This year we spent Christmas in Seattle with my entire family! It's not often that we get to spend time all under one roof. Brodie and I planned on arriving on Tuesday, but because of the flu, we didn't get there until Friday night (the 23rd). We were still able to fit in all sorts of fun-filled activities!
On Christmas Eve we played games, including a minute-to-win-it activity with candy canes. I think I was the ultimate loser in the family. The nieces and nephews also performed a live nativity on Christmas Eve which turned out to be the cutest thing!
Christmas Eve live nativity
Will was a (disgruntled) wiseman, Anne played Mary, Levi played Joseph, Sophie was an angel, and Davey was the baby Jesus.
All the kiddos on Christmas Eve
With all the wonderful chaos on Christmas day, this was the only photo that I took. Brodie was so thrilled to pose with his stocking on Christmas morning :)
The day after Christmas we went to downtown Seattle for a night out (all thanks to my parents!) We stopped by the Sheraton hotel to check out the Harry Potter gingerbread house display. Every year growing up we would come to this hotel to look at the gingerbread houses, so it was fun to relive that tradition!
After looking at the gingerbread houses, we saw The Little Mermaid at the Fifth Avenue Theatre! Dream come true!
Tuesday and Wednesday we stayed at the cabin at Snoqualmie Pass and went skiing. Always a highlight of our winter! I love skiing with my fam. And the fact that it was a powder day made it even better.
After a morning of skiing on Wednesday, we were able to make it back to Bellevue to do an escape room. This was my first escape room and now I am hooked! It definitely helps when you have genius family members on your team. Not to brag (I'm totally bragging right now), we completed the most difficult escape room available and still had 15 minutes to spare. That's what I call CSI material!!
And to top off my winter break, I got to celebrate my birthday with my fam! I can't believe how much fun we fit into one day. We shopped, raced at K1 speed, ate lunch at Olive Garden, visited the dog park, ate a steak dinner, hot tubbed, and played games.
After 8 days of a whirlwind vacation, it was hard to come back to our normal life. Especially since it has been so cold! Although freezing temperatures mean that Luna gets to stay inside, and she is definitely not complaining about that :)
