Welcome 2014!

The day after Christmas we went to the children's museum, one of our favorite hang outs! Noelle was thrilled to be their "Artist of the Week!" She said people were extra friendly to her, and every time she saw anyone smiling she would say, "I bet it's cause they liked my picture, and they know I'm the artist who made it."
It made me so happy to see her so happy, and I was very glad I gave them the anonymous tip about a snowman of the highest caliber, drawn by a young aspiring artist who would undoubtedly value the title "artist of the week" more than all of her Christmas presents combined. And it was true, she did!

We also made our city out of lincoln logs, which got destroyed by a Godzilla baby the second we walked away from it.

 So we headed over to the other side of the museum to help make a giant fort. Since the day after Christmas is Boxing Day, they told everyone to bring all of their present boxes to make huge houses out of. We used about 3 rolls of the museum's tape, but we ended up with a three bedroom box condo, complete with a chimney, mailbox and tons of windows.
Then Noelle, being the artist of the week, drew a picture of a dog and brought it to Stanton excitedly and said, "Look, we don't have to pretend we have a dog anymore because I just made us one!"
To which Stanton replied, "Okay, but that's still pretending."

 For New Year's Eve we went to First Night. It's Spokane's HUGE family celebration. There were tons of fun activities, shows, crafts, etc. We were there with our friends for 7 hours!

 We got to be in the New Year's Parade downtown. It was freezing, but we marched between a band and a giant dragon balloon float, so it was worth the chattering teeth.

 We also got to roast marshmallows in the middle of the street. For some reason making smores outside in the middle of downtown made it extra fun.
Then we went on another horse drawn carriage ride with our friends and our 6 kids total, and completely ruined a guy's marriage proposal on accident, not the kids...me.
We were all packed in pretty tight, so when he knelt down, his bum was on my knee, and when I figured out what he was doing, I was just so excited so I started screaming, before he even asked her. I screamed so loud she had to ask him what he said, twice. She finally figured it out and said yes, and I started tearing up and then asking them a bunch of questions, such as "Can I come to your wedding?" and "Don't you think our rings look exactly alike?" I'm ashamed to say I totally invaded their moment, until I finally realized how obnoxious I was being and stopped talking all together. I'm so embarrassed, but I was so caught up in it all.
I do have to say though, after getting to know them both briefly, I'm thinking the proposal may have been too sudden for her, and that she was most definitely not the type of girl to prefer a public proposal. I'm just saying.

Then the clock struck kid midnight (10pm) and Robert and I showed our kids how to really party! We saw a crazy ice sculpture!

 We stuck our heads in weird wooden cut-outs!

 And we dressed up like funny people!

 Then we met a make-up wearing, Jewish, rope spinning cowboy. His unicycle tricks were impressive, but he lost control and almost hung us with his rope a couple of times, which was a little frightening.

 Then Ronald McDonald solicited us for a picture. It was a slow night at his booth. I told him he should hand out free Big Macs instead of candy canes next time if he wants to draw a crowd.
He kept asking Noelle to switch shoes with him. She didn't like that too much. 

Winston fell asleep around eleven during the sound effects/comedy/magic show. The last thing he did in 2013 was drool all over my pants, which is fine by me because even his drool is adorable!

On New Year's Day we went to the historic Campbell House for a tour, which made me talk with a British accent for much longer than anyone wanted me to.

While we were there we learned how to make cookies with Helga. She made the kids "Viggle" (which i think meant wiggle) before they put the cookies in the oven.
She said Noelle was such a good helper that she could have live there and have a job. Noelle gave her a concerned/dirty look and turned her down. That's my girl, never leaving Mommy!

After that we went next door to the art museum. Noelle liked the Indian display best. She thinks their purses are very fancy.

A few days later we went on a big outing with lots of friends! Winston did not want his picture taken!

The Science Center was so much fun, and the boys had a blast creating stuff!

And the day wouldn't be complete without a little art.

That weekend we went on a day trip to the Gold Mine in Kellog, Idaho. We were the only ones there, and got a private tour 500 feet under the earth! It was fascinating!

They gave us little flashlights to examine the mine walls. They said to look,not to touch, but some of us may have.We also couldn't help but making up all sorts of "mine" jokes while we were there. So whenever he asked to borrow our light or told us to follow him we said things like, "What's "MINE" is yours" or "Don't MINE if I do." I thought it was funny and he pretended to nicely.

Before Christmas break ended, I took the kids to the gymnastics place for the open gym, and they thought it was the coolest place ever! Stanton climbed so high and jumped right into the foam blocks. It's kind of scary cause you sink right in. I felt like I was in quicksand when I tried.

Winston loves the trampoline and the bars.

Noelle's favorites are the balance beam and the bars.

We were sad that Stanton and Noelle had to go back to school, but Winston and I have been doing some learning of our own. When he matches a gumball to the right color, he gets to eat it. It was easier than I thought so he got to eat 8 gumballs right off the bat, and then go brush his teeth.

We've also started Learning Group back up again after the break. Winston loves having all of his little friends over to his house! After the lesson a few of them headed out to play in the snow.

And when the snow cleared up we went to the church ball field to launch Stanton's model rocket that he and Daddy built.

It went so, so high! It drew a crowd. We were all impressed!