Suprise family extravaganza!

The day begins with taking the girls ice skating for their first time :) This is the ambitious group who has not stepped on the ice yet!

Here is Annabelle having a fabulous time ice skating, with many falls and all, she loved it!

Chris and Annabelle skated for about 2 hours together!

So here are Ella and I, about 45 minutes in, off the ice, as I fell pretty badly on my knee, and Ella bumped her head on the ice. We became the official picture takers.

The girls of course chose McDonalds for lunch, and Ella found a very clever way to
hold her drink :)

And our last stop was the $3 movie theater to watch "Despicable Me". I was happy to put my leg up, and the girls laughed quite a bit. Great family movie! We ended the lovely day with pizza making and yet another movie (Toy Story 3), and then we put two very tired girls to bed :)

Rainy fun

We spent some time in downtown Portland, rain, cold and all, with Chris' dad and stepmom and sister. It was kinda crowded, and cold for us old people, but the girls had a BLAST, skipping down the street in puddles, walking with umbrella's, riding the MAX train, and being with their family! Oh how I need their perspective more in my life. Thank goodness it is a new year! :)

Christmas 2010

This Christmas was different for me than ever before. I hosted Christmas this year, and usually when I host, I am completely preoccupied with the details so as to make everyone's Christmas experience a relaxing and fun one, and in the process I lose perspective, and forget that Christmas is time for reflection on Christ's birth, not to mention end up using credit cards so that everything is just perfect! This year, I chose not to do that, and I just let everyone help out with the meal, and details, and it was such a joyful Christmas. Plus, I had my mom and dad and brothers here, we were definately missing my baby sister, but it is not that often that we all get together, and it was in my home. My dad's snoring and all....I wouldn't trade it for the world :-)

Ella and Uncle Ian (my younger brother)

Ella and Tata (Chris' sister)

The girls singing happy birthday to Jesus! A tradition from my childhood :)

My family at my church for Christmas Eve service

The whole family :) I love these people and feel extremely blessed!

decking the halls

I am really into the Christmas spirit this year, and am loving all the decor and music around me, thus had a pretty fun time sprucing up the house this year! We even put lights on the outside of our house this year...first time ever!

belle my ballerina!

Annabelle performed in a Christmas, end of the year, ballet performance last Sunday night. It was so much fun to see her out there, perfecting each move. She does everything she attempts so well, and I am incredibly proud to be her mama!

Partying like it's 1975!

Chris and I went to a friends 40th birthday party 70's style on Friday night, and had a whole lot of fun getting outfits together, and growing special facial hair, etc. Chris still has his mustache and sideburns. I did notice a few looks in the store the other day....although I will not worry unless he starts to drive a windowless van.

So much to do...

**Note the bottom sentence of Annabelle's to-do list for last weekend: "remind mom and dad to give me a surprise". Yes, she just lost a tooth, and that darn tooth fairy forgot to put money under her pillow 2 nights in a row! This girls parents are just that bad. So bad in fact, that it forces their 6 year old to write a subtle "to-do" list to remind us that we need to get the job done**

Birthday Fun

October is always a fun, busy month for Chris and I since we both have October birthdays. This year, we really lived it up with a birthday dinner at HopWorks Urban Brewery in Portland with friends, I got a weekend away with a friend to her beach house on my birthday, and then Chris and I got to go to a cabin right on the Puget Sound in the Seattle area with another couple, this last weekend, thanks to the wonderful friends we have who agree to have our girls overnight (such a blessing, since we don't have grandparents in town!). I forgot to bring my camera to HopWorks Urban Brewery, but we did get to sit in a cool little separate room that was once a vault. But here are some pics of all our fun:

Happy 36th Chris!

Kristin and I in Pacific City, Or

My hot husband, finding lots of clams on the beach

Isn't he a beautiful little guy?! They are ALL over the place on the Puget Sound beach, it was like taking a field trip to the tide pools... we also saw a ton of clams and sand dollars, and even some crabs that were taken back and cooked right up!

This is the gorgeous view of the Puget Sound from our cabin.

Preschool time!

So Summer and I began a Monday morning preschool routine for our little ones last year, and are continuing on into this year. Addy and Ella are loving the "school" time together :)

All about the beer

So Chris' latest and greatest hobby has been beer. Not just because he likes to drink lots of it, but because he enjoys experiencing all the many local and international beer flavors there are out there, and pairing them with the right food, etc. Portland is really the best place to do so, short of moving to Germany, which is NOT going to happen anytime soon. Anyhoo, the Curry family went to the Hood River Brew Fest on Saturday, and had a great time. Until 5:30, kids are allowed in, and they had lots of things for the kids to do, and food vendors, etc.

Beers were tasted, faces were painted, live music listened to, and danced to, and I even found a beer that wasn't fruity, that I enjoyed! The kiddos did great, and it was well worth the trip!

My delicious beer (Belgian style Kriek) and my little Hawaiian Belle!

Ella,who looks like she belongs in Avatar, and Annabelle, ready to head to Hawaii!

Nothing like a cute little girl with a blue face, dancing, to grab your attention! :-)

Chris and the little goof ball

Daddy with his girls

Joy of Dance

God has been gracious, and we were able to enroll Annabelle in ballet 1A with "The Joy of Dance" this Fall. She has had 1 class so far with Miss Tasha Irwin as her teacher! It is really so cool, because Tasha and Danielle Irwin are now running "The Joy of Dance" studio and I got the privlege of seeing The Irwin girls grow in their faith and ballet skills while attending Hinson Church and working with them in the youth group, and they have grown up to be beautiful, talented, God-fearing girls who dance for the Lord, and glorify them in their everyday lives. This is why I chose "The Joy of Dance" for Annabelle. My hope is that as they teach her she will see the benefit of using her talents and gifts for God's glory.

Annabelle's first day

Annabelle had her first day of first grade at Walnut Grove Elementary School yesterday! She was so excited, she was up at 6 am, reading in her room cause she couldn't sleep. This girl lives to learn and be social, two things that going to school provides. Her favorite thing about this year...well two things: she got Mr. Peterson (her favorite teacher), and she gets to eat lunch at school. She was so proud of herself, the first thing she said to me when she got off the bus, was; "Mom! I ate all my carrots!". You give them a little independence and they prove you proud! I am hopeful that this is the first of many good decisions this little beauty of mine will make :)

Camping in luxury

Annabelle with two of her buddies, Isaiah and Mikayla

All of the kids (minus the 3 Sweeney kids who left a day early)

The whole group

I just followed in suit with Ella...

Kristen, Jenn and I

The Curry family went camping for the first time together as a family over Labor Day weekend. It was a really great time "roughing it" at the Thousand Trails Campground in Chehalis, Wa. If you have never been to Thousand Trails...while yes, we pitched our tent and made our own food, we also had access to a pool, a hot tub, mini-golf, and other fun things for the kids to do. Not so serious camping, but FOR SURE the way to go with kids! We went with our lifegroup and had a grand total of 17 kiddos, 12 adults and one large group campsite, where the kids gleefully rode bikes together, swam, and ate lots of other people's food. Kinda a dream for a kid. It was really a lot of fun, and we really couldn't have asked for better cohesiveness within a group. The kids did fabulously. We even got a compliment from the older couple staying at a campsite across the road from us. Not too shabby!

Daddy's little Lakers fan

Thanks to the brightly colored clothing options at Children's Place, Ella can root for her daddy's basketball team, and look stylish. And yes, Ella picked this outfit all on her own too, that is the beauty of it all :)

rockin the 80s in the 00's

Oh yeah. Annabelle is sportin' the side ponytail today (totally her request), so I put her hair up, and she runs into the bathroom to check it out and comes out struttin' like she is walking the catwalk...then says, "hey Ella come look at my hair". Ella replies: "ooooh". Annabelle says: "is that a good oooh, or a bad oooh?" Ella replies: "a bad oooh."

Toes!

So we painted Ella's toes for the first time the other morning, a sparkly pink! She was so very excited! We are working towards painting the fingernails, but she has to stop chewing them off first! She has incentive now. I'm hoping it works! At least she has stopped chewing off her toenails. :-/

Fashionista?

I just had to post a few pics of Ella's recent fashion. She has been all about picking her outfits lately, and we can't help but smile at the awesome creations she comes out of her room wearing :) There are so many more, but here a few that we actually captured on camera...