Fill in the Caption

Hope this picture makes you laugh as much as it does us! Michael and I were rolling laughing coming up with a caption for this photo, but instead of using one of ours, we thought it might be fun for you all to write a caption instead. Leave your best material in the comments section and the one we love the most will  get a super awesome prize (in addition to bragging rights).

Winter Gala

Grayson's school hosted a "Winter Gala" tonight where several classes performed a medley of songs. We were afraid we'd see a repeat of last year's tragic concert performance, but what a difference a year makes.

This year, instead of being frightened by the crowd, Gray went up in front of everyone (early) and stood next to the school director as she was welcoming everyone. We had to tell him it wasn't his turn yet so he wouldn't stand up there while the younger classes performed.

When it was finally his turn, Gray sang loudly and did all the hand motions. We were very entertained and proud of our boy.

You Just Thought Christmas Was Over

On Saturday we celebrated the last of our family Christmases with my step-dad's side of the family. A lot of this family lives several hours away from us, so it's always fun to be together and catch up.

There were only about half of the great-grandchildren's generation there, but we managed to get a picture of the handsome boys. I love that Grayson is holding hands with his big cousin.

Ladd, Van and Grayson

After a few hours of playing and bonding, Grayson said, "I want to be best friends with those boys, mama." I told him they were even better than best friends, they were cousins and that means you're friends for life. His eyes and smile got wide and he was satisfied. 

Showing Daddy How it's Done

For Christmas, Grayson received a Buzz Lightyear and Woody shaving set, complete with berry shaving cream, a mirror and a plastic razor.

Even though Michael uses an electric shaver and Gray has never seen him use a real razor, somehow he knows how it all works. I'm guessing he's watched his Pappa shave during one of his visits. Pretty cute.

Impromptu Picnic

So we've been making good on some of our resolutions and last weekend decided to go exploring at our local park. We packed up for an impromptu picnic because the day before had been sunny and warm. 

Unfortunately, the day we went a cold front was rolling through which put a kink in our plans. As you can see below, it's so cold, Michael can't even open his mouth all the way to smile. Burrr...

We decided to take our picnic to the car and enjoyed finishing our lunch out of the wind.

Once we were full, we headed to a nearby field to fly a kite. It may have been too windy to enjoy a winter picnic, but we're all about the glass being half full, so we used the wind to our advantage for kite flying.

Gray wasn't super entertained by the kite since there was an awesome playground in sight, so we headed over to check it out.

As another make-good on our resolution list, we attended a children's music class this week at our local library. We all had fun learning new songs, dancing and meeting new friends. The class meets weekly and we're going to try and make as many as we can. Michael was the only daddy in attendance and it made me thankful to have a partner that doesn't mind singing and making a fool of himself in public. 

Ringing in 2012

We hosted a small "fun-due" (fondue) party for New Year's Eve and took advantage of the gathering to take an annual snapshot of our group's kiddos. I love seeing each child grow from year to year, not to mention the number of kids has grown by two this year as well.

From left to right: Cora, Emma, Liam, Bea, Claire and Grayson

Future best friends: Baby Bea and Baby Claire

New Year, New Possibilities

After a rough start to 2011 and some other unexpected pitfalls throughout the year, I am looking forward to saying goodbye to the past and start fresh. That said, I did accomplish my goals of getting off crutches and potty training Gray (both of which seemed nearly impossible last January).

Lately, I've been thinking about what I want to accomplish in 2012. Not just for myself, but for our family. After consulting with my cohorts (Michael and Gray), we've come up with the following list.

• Enjoy Gray's last year of not being tied down by an elementary school calendar (2013 and kindergarten will be here before we know it!). That leads us to the next one...

• Take more day trips and weekend getaways. We've got such busy schedules during the week, it's easy to spend our weekends catching up on laundry, errands, etc. and forget to have some fun. We need to make more time for adventure and spontaneous exploration.

• Break out of our usual dinner lineup. I'll admit, I'm stuck in a meal planning rut. Limited winter produce doesn't help, but I'm thankful that Gray is a pretty open-minded eater and I'd like to expand our culinary repertoire.

• Tackle some of the major home improvement projects we've been talking about for years. I want our home to inspire and re-energize us, not be a stressful reminder of what needs to be done.

• Make specific plans to nurture our passions and hobbies:
• Michael: furniture making/upholstery, mountain biking, art
• Lindsay: writing, tennis
• Gray: music, soccer

We realize this is a pretty ambitious list, but we have to at least put it out there and try. One thing is certain...2012 will no doubt bring change both in and out of our control. I hope you all will help us stay on track and make the coming year one of adventure, accomplishment and continual learning.