March

The kitchen island is activity central most days after school.  Whether it's doing homework, legos, playing with synthetic sand, drawing pictures, or snacking, it's definitely the place to be.

Jack is very much into putting Lego sets together right now.  He is completely independent with following the directions and assembling the projects.  Like everyone else in the family though, he's kind of a perfectionist which can lead to angst when a particular piece is missing.  We're working on how to deal with problems like this when they arise!

For the kids spring break this year we took a mini local road trip in Southern New Mexico to some sights we have been wanting to see.  The first stop was Valley of Fire State Park where we walked on the nature trail through the lava field.

Second stop:  Pistachioland.  Jack in particular is a pistachio connoisseur.  It was fun to sample all the different flavors and see the biggest manmade pistachio in the world.

Third stop:  White Sands National Monument.  We hit it on a beautiful warm, still day with beautiful cloud formations changing the landscape all afternoon.  Our friends who had been there before lent us their saucer sleds which were great for sliding down the gypsum sand dunes. 

We had planned to meet up with Jackson's family (someone from her class at school) and the kids had a blast sliding and galloping down the hills all afternoon. 

Jack catching some air.

The sand was the softest, whitest sand we have ever seen.  It felt divine on bare feet and was perfect for burying each other.

That night we stayed at Inn of the Mountain Gods, a beautiful hotel on the Apache Reservation close to Ruidoso.  The indoor pool and hot tub were the highlight for Sasha and Jack.

The next day we drove to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  We walked down into the caverns via the natural entrance.  Jack had bought a souvenir miners hat in the gift shop before we went down, but still was pretty fearful of the dark cave at first. 

We got a snack at the little cafe down in the bottom of the cave.  Pretty cool!

Jack doing one of his many drawings. 

Sasha whipping up some brownies for dessert.

After church poses

Is she 7 or 17 here?  I can almost imagine the latter in this picture.

Sasha said she wanted to try La Crosse this spring, so we signed her up.  She had a really good attitude about it, but as you can see, she was by far the littlest girl on the field!

February

Sasha's reading nest in the basement

I had no sooner thrown out the last of the frozen Christmas cookies then it was time to make Valentine cookies!

We were all so proud of Sasha for completing her Book 1 recital this month!  She had a group recital with 3 others in her program at our house with a reception afterwards.  Her favorite song from Book 1 was Etude and the hardest one was Gossec Gavotte.

Look who started cello lessons!  He has a 1/10th size cello and is taking weekly Suzuki lessons with his 4-year-old friend Jaden.  So far he is very enthusiastic about it.

Happy 40th Birthday, Dad! 

For Presidents Day Weekend we rented a house with our friends the Thompsons in Crested Butte, CO.  It was a great ski weekend with highlights being riding the Red Lady chairlift all together, a gourmet fondue meal for Valentine's Day, and playing in the deep, deep snow outside our house.

Phil decided for his 40th he would like to go to Chicago with me, his brothers, and their wives for a weekend.  We got there a night before the others and enjoyed a superb meal at The Girl and the Goat restaurant.

The Chicago Auto Show happened to be that same weekend.  Phil was very pleased.

I pushed hard for the Art Institute and we managed to get there before everyone else arrived on Friday night. 

Drinks at Lost Lake tiki bar.  Ben, being the Chicago foodie that he is, planned great dining experiences for us.

Macau food at Fat Rice

Eataly

The 3 stooges

40-year-old with young wife

The ladies

Fancy dinner at Grace.  UNFORGETTABLE.

Farewell, Megan!  She is off to Brooklyn to start a new chapter in her life.  Oh, how we miss her here in New Mexico!

Jack is really into stuffed animals these days.

Pro Musica concert with Midori

January

We flew into Indianapolis on New Years Day where Phil's family had gathered at Joe and Teresa's new house in Carmel for a couple days.  Jack loved hanging out with his cousins, Jake and T.J.

Sasha's dream of sliding down a banister one day finally came true and she repeated it over and over.

We spent the next several days in Goshen at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Their treadmill provided hours of entertainment, mostly as they pretended to be suitcases on the moving runway at the airport.

Thumbs up for Grandma's delicious meals

Opening stockings

Choosing candy from the candy wreath is a favorite tradition

Jacob, Mary, and Sasha took turns reading the Christmas story this year before the opening of the gifts.

We all chipped in to throw a 70th Birthday Party for Phil's mom at the Old Bag Factory on a Sunday afternoon.  Phil was tasked with taking some posed photographs of the guests.

Happy Birthday, Jan!

My Christmas gift to Phil was a ski weekend away in Taos with a couple of his friends. 

Lisa, Tina, Mandy, Minda, and Amy (my Goshen College friends) came out to visit for MLK weekend.  We had so much fun!

Activities included local shopping, hot tubbing, Tent Rocks hike, Ten Thousand Waves, El Farol flamenco show and lots of laughs and reminiscing.

Our chosen destination for next year's gathering:  NYC!!

Weekend reading