Halloween and All Saints Day

We love costumes around here, so Halloween and All Saints Day are two of our favorite holidays. Thank goodness I started getting over my all-day morning sickness early enough to have time to work on costumes. :)

 The week before Halloween, our school had a family Halloween party. Here the first graders get ready to show off their costumes in the costume contest.

Grace the unicorn and Daniel the Seattle police officer did not win, but we still think they looked awesome.

This guy was our big winner of the night. He won the costume contest for preschool boys AND won a cake in the cake walk! Way to go, Matthew!

 On our way to do some pre-darkness trick-or-treating at Grandma Eva's house.

 These guys always love visiting Great-Grandma Eva, but on Halloween they get extra treats. :)

 This was our second year participating in the All Saints Day Mass at our church. We decided to pick non-warrior saints this year, and ended up with a St. Francis, St. Peter (who looks angry here for some reason) and St. Juan Diego.

 We forgot to take pictures of the rest of the many saints who showed up to celebrate with us, but here are our cute little saints outside the priory. Happy All Saints Day!

Back to school

It's that time again...  I can't believe the summer is officially over and the big boys are back in school. Daniel is really excited to be in first grade this year. Matthew isn't as excited about going back to preschool. He was really hoping to be in kindergarten this year, with a new teacher in a new classroom. Hopefully he'll still have fun. We love the preschool at St. Alphonsus and think it'll be really good for Matthew.

Before school started, Mr. S hosted an "open gym" for the first graders and their siblings. That place was crazy! The kids all had a great time, and it really got Daniel excited for school to start again.

Daniel and his friends created a hurdling game out of the gym mats. Daniel can really jump!

Matthew tried too. Not quite how it's supposed to turn out, but he had a ball anyhow. :)

 First day of afternoon preschool for Matthew!

 Aaron wanted his picture taken, too. (And we had plenty of time, since I locked us out of the house on the way to school and we had to wait for Daddy to come save us.)

After school on their first full day of class. :)

Christmas Recap

I just downloaded photos off the camera looking for a particular photo taken last week and saw that we had not downloaded pictures since before Christmas. Oops. The holiday season was busy as usual, and fun as usual. Maybe too much fun. January is not officially over yet, so I'm going to call it a win that we've gotten anything posted at all about Christmas. :)

 Daniel and Matthew all dressed up for their school's Christmas concert.

 Who's ready to sing?

 Rare picture of all of us.

 Super cute preschoolers wearing their elf ears. Matthew was so excited to sing, then got a bit of stage fright and basically stood with his hands in his pockets the entire time. 

 He was still a cute little elf, though. :)

 Daniel's kindergarten class sang "Away in a Manger." It was pretty impressive. They had all of the words of all of the verses memorized.

 Time for gingerbread house/cookie decorating!

 These kits are super fun, everything is ready to go and makes you feel like a real artist...

 The finished product. I'm not sure why we're having such a difficult time with our smiles.

 Christmas Eve Mass with lots of family at Blessed Sacrament. 

 Christmas morning jammies.

 The boys were very blessed with lots of fun gifts. Here's Daniel trying a fake bite of the new felt s'mores.

After last year's super cool fire truck gifts, Matthew associates Christmas with fire trucks. All he wanted this year was a new fire truck. One that can "go by itself." I think we got it right. 

And we will end with this gem. The orange in the stocking was a big hit for Aaron. Who knew you could get so much joy from fruit?

St. Alphonsus' Parade of Nations

Daniel's school, St. Alphonsus, holds an annual Parade of Nations (kind of like the Olympic opening ceremony).

Each class is assigned a country to represent, and the week of instruction incorporates the food, arts, and history of that country.  Of course, it all culminates in an all-school concert and parade.  The kids are pretty cute dressed up to represent their respective countries, and the festivities get somewhat involved by the end of the week (which also corresponds to the end of school).  Enjoy!

Now that Auntie Laura is back in Seattle, Daniel was able to have his Godmother drop him off for the start of festivities.

Mommy, Matthew, Aaron, and Auntie Laura wait anxiously for the opening ceremonies.

St. Al's really pulls out all the stops for this.

Little Matthew can't wait to go to school...

The nations enter!!

Daniel's preschool class represented Romania!  Here, Daniel masters the art of looking away from Dad taking pictures.

 And here...

And the face block....

 And the half turn away...

Finally!  An enthusiastic frontal picture.

 The next morning saw all the nations parade around the block waiving flags and chanting their country's name.  The neighbors LOVED it.  There's nothing like hundreds of kids in a giant line, filing past your home and screaming at 8am.

 Mom and Dad spot Daniel in the crowd!

Here, Spain and Greece show their colors.

 

 What a great event.  Great job Daniel!  Romania would be proud.

Jog-a-thon!

About a month ago (I know, we're behind), Daniel had his first jog-a-thon at school. Due to rain, the event was moved into the gym, but it was still tons of fun. We weren't sure what to expect from Daniel, since he'd never done anything like this before. He ended up running at least 2 miles in 30 minutes --we're not sure how far exactly, since his lap counter lost track of him for a bit after he changed into his shorts. :) Despite the inaccurate counting, Daniel had a blast, and so did we!

 Entering the gym. Daniel waves to the crowd like an Olympian.

All the preschoolers lined up, waiting for instructions.

 One last wave to the crowd before heading to his starting position.

Matthew waits patiently for the action to start.

 Daniel's pre-running stretches.

 And, he's off!

 He had a lot more fun running than some of his classmates...

Staying strong. Daniel ran for at least 20 minutes before we told him it was okay to take a break to walk.

The whole family had a great time! Thank you everyone who helped Daniel raise some money for his school!

Robot skills

Today one of Daniel's teachers at St. Alphonsus commented to me that she was very impressed with Daniel's "robot speaking skills".

We're so proud.

Thanks and epic picture post

A big THANK YOU to all the family and friends who have given us dinners, prayers, babysitting, and support while we welcomed Aaron into the world.  You have all been so kind to us and given us so much.  We truly appreciate everything, and keep you all in our daily prayers.  God bless you, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

As it's been a while since we've posted, enjoy some recent photos over the past month.

Daniel, the working man.

Play time with the Stamschrors!

Aaron meets Brynn!

Crawl Race: Maximilian and Matthew

 

Aaron takes the Australian wonder-bed "Amby-Baby" for a test drive.  Thank you for the loan, Bernsteins!

Though the sun was out, it's surprisingly difficult to smile in 25F weather.

The family picture smile bribe.

So comfy.

Daniel drops in on one of Aaron's pictures.

It's the night of the big Christmas program at St. Alphonsus, and Daniel pays close attention.

The beautiful sound of 30+ preschoolers singing in unison.

Playing house at the annual Goff Christmas party.

Caitlin and Daniel playing "wedding" with bridesmaid, Cora, in tow.

Role Reversal: now it's time for Daniel and Cora to get married.

The big day with friends, Nick and Caitlin.

The annual kid Christmas picture at the Goffs...but sadly we forgot to take it until after the Marcus left.

Best gift ever: the box.

Daniel reads Aaron the book "Angel in the Waters".  If you have kids and don't have this book, get it.  It's adorable.

Daniel warms up for the big concert with his brother.

Gotta tune before you play.

Daniel and Matthew rock out on their "tu-tars".

Blocks are the best; courtesy Matthew's Godfather, Fr. Jordan.

Merry Christmas, Fr. Jordan!

Aaron grabs a nap on Uncle Victor.

Auntie Laura gets some snuggles from Aaron and Matthew.

Aaron's Godparents: Matt and Katie Eusterman.  Thanks again for making it out to Seattle guys!

Play-date with the Eusterman girls, Ellie and Cecilia.

Daniel and Ellie read together.

PLAY FORT!!!!!

Ellie and Daniel get ready for the Aaron's baptism.

Buddies!