Holiday Spam

Truly, Christmas lights in a dark season are one of my favorites.  And I took a lot of pictures over the holidays.  If you missed fb, here you go.

We unexpectedly saw a friend at  Carpinito, while we were drinking hot apple cider, shopping for vegetables, and greeting two very unhappy reindeer and a bored camel named Moses.

I spent a decent amount of time in early December sitting at the piano learning parts for recitals.  I did a lot of accompanying.  Given the amount of music I needed to play artistically and the amount of time I had to practice, I practiced more intelligently and efficiently at the piano than I had before.  I've been thinking about that as I've been teaching some of my students who are slow to progress due to busy lives.

 Below:  not my photo.  We joined some other studios for a big concert at the Maple Valley LDS Church Nativity Festival.

And we took our Thursday group classes to play during the Christmas concert at the SDA church around the corner from us:

Jared and I (not my photo!) also played a couple of movements from the Messiah at our church's Christmas program:

Studio recital at the retirement home in Auburn:

Studio recital at the church where we teach in Gig Harbor:

Bad picture of a video I didn't take from our church's candlelight communion:

Hike at Snoqualmie Pass the day before our departure to Texas.  Snow pack was 29 inches.  

I carried Laurel on the hike, obviously.  And Lazarus was grumpy, so I carried him, too, allowing Jared to help Anne with snow shoes and sled....

First ever flight with 3 kids:

Followed by our connection:

I got to go to both Christmas Eve services at home.  This spot really is home now as my parents no longer live in the neighborhood where I grew up:

Christmas Day.  The boy was busy trying out new gifts.

Ed and Justin brought a game Ed never liked playing with his sisters when he was growing up.  It was still dumb:

My sister always had these same two fingers in her mouth when she was tiny:

Gift exchange with Emily and Morgan:

Born one hundred years and four days apart:

Musical fun at Emily's:

Morgan's adorable dog:

My guys 💙

My mom busted out with the party hats on the 30th as we were leaving on the 31st.

Happy New Year!  We arrived back at SeaTac after midnight Pacific time.  Which was after 2 am Central.

Gratuitous baby pic.

Another hike at Snoqualmie Pass for Jared's birthday.  It was exactly two weeks after the first, and the snow pack was now 49 inches.

Texas, finally

Where I left off in the previous post, we had missed our flight to Texas.  They had offered us a red-eye leaving about 5 1/2 hours later to JFK, followed by a morning flight from JFK to Austin, arriving Sunday around 1:00 pm.  We declined.  We took our same scheduled flight one day later.  No red-eye with two four-hour flights and two little kids for me when we could go home, party with Jeff, and come back the following evening.

Sadly this shortened our five-day Texas trip to four days.  But we packed it in.

I was not particularly methodical about picture taking, so you are going to get a lot of randoms.  Quality varies a lot. 

Today we are back home.  Kids are playing in the back alley with Jared while we are all holding out for afternoon nap time.

My parents put together quite the nice little 5th birthday party for Anne with balloons, dinner, a huge pile of fun presents, and strawberry shortcake.

Anne shows Emily and Morgan her new dishes for eating on her back porch table.

Lazarus puts on his new kitty ears and makes himself cozy by the fireplace.

Doing rocket balloons with Justin in front of GG's bottle tree and bottle bushes

Hill country spring in full bloom

Another fun gift - slime!

Snack time in the front yard with GG

Anne attempts surfing in the wading pool on the back deck.

Lazarus follows the neighbor's chickens around the front yard.

GG loves rocks and likes to arrange them.  Each rock has a story.

Play dough!

Front yard swing

When the stench of the dead deer in the yard, combined with the squabbling of nature's janitors (buzzards) got to be too much, we went for a lovely warm evening to the playground in town.  It was the most fuss-free three hours of the trip.  Score!

Beautiful Handiwork

When we were at my parents' home over New Years, I went through a large old family chest of drawers from the 1800s, filled with handmade sewn items from the 1800s and 1900s.  I brought just a few of the beautiful pieces home with me.  I have no idea what I might do with them, other than wash, dry, and iron them.  The handiwork is incredible, and if you've ever bought cheap craft store lace, you cannot image what old handmade lace might be like.  If you're ever at my house, I can show you these things in person.  Beauty abounds, although not necessarily in my photographs...

Detail of a handkerchief edge

Odds and ends of lace

The red is still brilliant.

A lace cuff

Dainty gloves

Lace handkerchief

The first of many detailed, folded handkerchiefs

A beautiful undergarment

Hem detail

Lace and ribbon detail

Bodice detail - front

Bodie detail - back

WWI Red Cross nurse's bag.  Such beautiful floral fabric, and still in bright colors!