charis is 10!

 Our God daughter, Charis (from Texas), got to choose anywhere she wanted to go for her 10th birthday and she chose to visit us! We did what we could to make her birthday special and that included a trip to the snow! We drove past Blue Pool campground along the McKenzie River and found several inches of snow on the ground and it continued to snow while we played! After playing for awhile, we ate mac and cheese and drank cocoa before heading home. We went out to eat at Los Dos Amigos Hacienda for a fun birthday dinner and ate chocolate chip cookie cake for dessert. Fun day!

On Christmas Eve, the kids decorated gingerbread houses before we ate sushi at the Ruddick's house, went to church, then drove around to see Christmas lights. No photos were taken of anything but the gingerbread houses, apparently...or else, they're all still on my phone. ;)

Cohen's 10th birthday: a party at National Academy of Artistic Gymnastics. It was a wild fun time and Cedar nearly lost a fingernail, but much fun was had! ;) He did lose the nail a couple weeks later, but it was not a big deal. :P The kids had tons of fun, as expected. Such a cool space to play! Happy birthday, Cohen!

fiesta cultural 2015

 Fiesta is always such a crazy long day & night, but I do enjoy it immensely. It can be hard to see the kids through the tears in my eyes at times. They all do such a great job! They sing & dance their hearts out & this mama loves it sooo much. :)

 There's Finley!

 Principal Senor Cuadros

 Cedar got to stand on stage with the other kindergartners & fifth graders to sing a couple of songs.

 Then Maestra Sanguino's kinders performed first. Can you see Cedar?

 Maestra Andina's Second graders. Finley's wearing blue pants.

 There's Griffin!

 Then Cohen!

 And Ronan! He's a fifth grader so this is his last fiesta!

 Cousins!

Kenton's parents rescued Elsa (& us) & took her home after Finley's performance. She was done before the performances even started. :]

mama-made quilts

 Last year, I decided to make twin sized quilts for all three of my children for their next birthdays. I love the idea of them sleeping snugly under mama-made quilts. Now that I finished the final quilt for Cedar, I made the kids pose for a photo shoot. :) They were due for some portraits anyway!

Finley Stoerman - almost 8 1/2!

Cedar Tenhunen - almost 6!

Elsa Roedel - 20 months!

Three sweet Henry kids.