Our Little Ballerina

We signed Isabel up for ballet lessons at the community center last month. They lasted for 5 weeks, and for Isabel that was 5 weeks too long. She was so excited for her last class, I think she almost threw herself a party. My theory is that she doesn't like being told what to do. I guess our little ballerina will be turning in her tutu.

A Little Sun Please

Well, you know that old wives' tale that Seattle is the rainiest, dreariest place to live. This year it has been proving to be true. But I think we have finally turned a corner. We are getting out to enjoy a little sun a much needed warm weather. Maybe we won't have to break out those Vitamin D supplements after all.

Isabel loves out Dandelion filled yard (much more than we do)

Josiah plans to spend many hours this summer blowing bubbles

A Little Culture If You Please

So one thing I love about Seattle is that all of the museums are FREE the first Thursday of every month. I have never been able to take advantage of this, but after today I plan to much more in the future. We started off the morning by taking the bus into downtown to visit the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). Once there we had a rocky start after I had to pry the kids away from the Dynastic Chinese statues, and Isabel touched an ancient stained glass window and I got yelled at for being a negligent mother. But once we found the kids area, we had a ball. Isabel dressed herself in Roman soldier gear and togas. Josiah enjoyed building with various artsy blocks. We finished by designing car shaped head gear giving a nod to the museums exhibit of recycled cars hanging from the ceiling. Isabel's favorite piece of art was the paint splattered toilet. She is hoping to remodel ours to make going to the bathroom a more exciting experience.

Later that night the family took a trip to the Museum of Flight. It's full of old a new planes, housed at the old Boeing factory. Isabel loves the real size front section of an old TWA plane. While Josiah loves being able to run free in a place that he thinks is too cool for kids to be allowed. He also loves pretending to be a fighter pilot.

I won't get TOO close to those statues

It's my size mom, can I ride it?

Can I fly this one too?

Throwing around our parachute jumpers

Snow What?

So really, it is almost April and this isn't Michigan so what in the world is it doing snowing in Seattle. I mean it hardly snows in the winter. But yes, we actually did get some pretty heavy snow on Friday. Although it did melt by the end of the day I guess it got us in the winter spirit. We decided to go with it and enjoy this last hurrah of cold weather and head to the mountains for some real snow fun! We found an empty spot off one of the forest service roads and made our own little snow park. Jason carved us out some wicked sled runs complete with steps to climb. Isabel had a blast walking through the "deep snow". Josiah LOVED sledding though he didn't really brave climbing in the snow until the end. We took a great hike to a nearby river and had fun throwing snowballs into the rapids. We had a couple of close calls in the hike as both Jason and I sank in the snow a good three feet. It almost swallowed me alive, but really it was a blast.

Okay, now really, spring can come anytime!

Jesus has risen

Before the bunny and the eggs, there was Jesus, the real reason for Easter. Isabel amazed me with her uncanny ability to remember the resurrection story.

Here are some of the other things we did over the Easter weekend.

Walking together on the way to the egg hunt

I'm the cutest bunny ever

Josiah filled his basket to the rim

Isabel in her pretty Easter dress

Josiah wanted to look like Daddy for Easter

Slave Labor

This is why we have children, right? Okay, not really, but my children LOVE helping with chores right now, so I'm not going to discourage it. The day is going to come all too soon when they are going to resist helping, so I'll take the help while I can.

What Winter?

It may be cold, but there's nothing to stop us from getting out to have some fun. We spent the day hiking in the park and feeding the ducks, that is until the geese, seagulls, and crows showed up in full force. Though we can only visit the park once or twice a week, (it rains a bit here in Seattle) the sun is right around the corner.