10 Month Trouble!

Madeline turned 10 months on the 22nd, and I took these pics, and videos (see above) on that day...which should show you how much fun-and trouble- she's become! She is truly the clown of the kiddos...not to underestimate Hobbes' moments, but she is out to entertain-I wonder where she gets that? Enjoy our little spaz-girl!


Getting under her crib, so as to dump out her basket of dishes, and then proceed to throw them all over the room! Hobbes lovesss it when she does this, as he can 'participate,' but not 'initiate.' Convenient, eh?
Caught!
Another favorite pasttime...for which we shall have to discipline for....is the emptying of the book cabinet. She'll pretend to 'read' the books, and then when we leave the room, this happens. Our little hurricane.

Famous Carlton Dance (a compilation)

Bray and I found this on YouTube, and it made us miss Seth- so, Seth, this one's for you! Love you!

Celebrations!!!

Since both Bray and I had school/work on Valentine's Day, we decided to combine our celebrations with his birthday schtuff. So on Friday night, we made a nice dinner at home, and celebrated with Hobbes (Madeline was already asleep). Then Sunday,we celebrated Bray's birthday with my fam, and last night, on Bray's actual bday, we went out for dinner, to the restaurant where we had our 1st date! What a wonderful weekend!After he opened his present...
Trying to figure out a card...
Opening the iPod and recorder!
YAYYY!!!
Me and my mom.
Bray's homemade German Chocolate cake!

Reading cards, with the help of Hobbes.
Valentine's table!
Digging in-he loved all of it-orzo, salmon and asparagus! Sheesh!

I love my men!

True Brotherly Love.

Hobbes truly loves his sister- he now lets her play 'cars' with him. For those of you who know Hobbes, this is the epitome of love for him. (right now) It's pretty cute, as Madeline is thrilled to do whatever her big bro enjoys!

My little chef...

For Valentine's Day, I got Madeline some fake food...the other day she decided to help me cook, so here she is with her food and utensils!

Hobbes' underground nap.

The other day, I came home from work, and Bray took me into the kiddos' room to show me something- only Hobbes was nowhere to be found! He was supposed to be taking a nap, and this is where he ended up doing it.


Empty bed...
Hobbes, with some cars and blankets surrounding him, under his bed. So funny!

Big kid PJ's!

Old Navy was having a huge sale the other day- when I was supposed to be shopping for Valentine's- and so I got the kiddos some big kid PJ's-a first for Madeline! Here's my attempt to get a cute pic of them together in their 'Valentine PJ's.'

Making Valentines!

Madeline decided to try to eat hers...

Hobbes, making his beautiful/modern art picture for Gege and Bop. (which is on it's way, I promise!)

Snow and Cocoa Pics...

Here are a few pics from the day we ventured out into the DEEP snow...Hobbes pretty much ate snow the whole time, and sat in the tire swing that couldn't swing because the snow was right up under it.:)
Squinting in the bright whiteness!

Lovely mouthful of snow...
Madeline, all bundled up under the playset!
In some places, the snow was as tall as Hobbes!
Look, the snow is touching the swing!
Drinking hot cocoa, playing with playdoh, and eatin cheerios!
So grown-up!

Amazing.

This morning, Hobbes came up to me, put his arms around my neck, and whispered "Luf you." He then gave me a kiss, and went about his business of playing. It's moments like this where I am truly amazed at how wonderful it is to be a parent. Children are truly a blessing from God.

Playing together

This was tooo cute! (Although I'm sorry about Hobbes' runny nose-he's had a cold and it's never-ending!)

1st Chocolate chip cookie!

Here is Madeline's go at the cookie- she was acutally pretty ladylike, and I even got her waving!

A Snowy weekend...

Hello, everyone!
As I'm sure most of you know, this weekend was extremely snowy in most of the country! We have nearly 3 feet here, and thus had all the schools and most businesses close on Thursday and Friday. This was great, as it gave Bray 2 extra days at home! The only not so great part, though, was that both the kiddos and I got this nasty fever-cough-cold thing. The kids had it for most of the week, and I had it all weekend. This made it so that none of us really got to go play in the snow, but we all got to be bundled inside, watching movies and trying to get better!
I don't have many pics, as none of us have been very photogenic this week:), but here's a few of us entertaining ourselves! Oh, and by the way, Madeline and Hobbes have a new cousin! As of 2:50 this morning, Oz Maven Anderson (sp?) Wilkins made his debut! Congrats Bethany and Remy! Can't wait to meet little Oz!

Snoqualmie Pass, when we were putting chains on the tires...Gorgeous!


Hobbes decided that he would 'run' through the steam of the humidifier, and thus 'fly.' Who knows? At least he made a game out of it, right?
Madeline with her 1st chocolate chip cookie...she was waving her hand and making googly noises at them, so I succumbed and decided to see what would happen if she tried one!

Bray's singing...

Way to go, Bray!
On Saturday, Bray and I took off for Seattle, and left the kiddos with my parents. The weather was a bit treacherous, so we ended up using our chains through Snoqualmie Pass, and adding an extra 2 hours to the drive, but God was good, and we made it there safely!
Bray didn't compete until right after church Sunday, so we did a teensy bit of shopping, and running around in Seattle rain before heading to a church family's house to stay.
We went to Trinity Church in Seattle and then on to the competition from there. It was a long day, with 14 amazing singers. I've been to a lot of vocal competitions, of varying skill level, but I honestly can say that after each person sang, I thought, "well, this person could win,too!"
Bray did well, and won an encouragement award, or 4th place. We were not at all disappointed, and the judges had good things to say.
The best part, though, came right after the competition was over. The accompanist for the day was the guy who plays for Seattle Opera, and is also a 'scout.' He came up to Bray and basically gave him the Director's contact info, and told him he wanted him to come audition-that they were interested! After that, a member from Portland Opera also said they would like him to talk to them about possible jobs....this is a huge answer to prayer, as we were contemplating auditioning for these companies in the near future!
So pray that everything will go well, and God will guide us to the best place! It would be wonderful to have Bray working and officially being paid for what he loves and is blessed with!
Thanks to all who helped this weekend, we really appreciate it! We shall keep you updated, miss you all!

PS-this is an 'impromptu' headshot I took of Bray for some paperwork for a music program. Isn't he handsome? :)

While the parents are away the kids will play...

Kajsa and Bray went to Seattle this weekend for a competition, so the kiddos stayed at our parents, but we(Mike and I) saw a fair bit of them too - and got pictures. Mike even baby-sat by himself!Playing in the plastic tub!Madeline kept making these squinty-eyed faces every time we brought the camera out to take a picture!We still managed a few normal shots - she loves her public!
Tolerating a hug.

Crazy boy with the ball!

Jesus Loves Me

Bray is teaching Hobbes to 'sing' and this is the fave so far...probably because he gets to say 'me' so much-but we'll hope it's because of the words.:)

Madeline stands!

I caught Madeline right after she pulled herself up-but our camera was cold, so the color's a bit off.:(

Hobbes attempts to whistle

Quick update...mostly on my amazing husband!

Hi, everyone!
I'm sorry I haven't posted- I only had time to do the Louisiana montage, just to try to catch everyone up on pics! But I wanted to update you all on what we've been doing since we got back.
Bray began his teaching assistantship this semester, so he has had a full schedule of classes, teaching a voice class and studio, and about 8 or 9 students. He's also learning music for an opera this summer, competitions and recitals. We have 2 back-to-back competitions this month, one that was this past weekend in Coeur d'Alene, and one in Seattle this coming weekend. Happy results so far: Bray won 1st in the professional vocal division, and will be singing in concert with the Coeur d'Alene symphony mid-March! Not only that, but 1 of the judges is the director for the Coeur d'Alene opera company, and might want Bray to do a few operas next year, during school, which would be great for resume,etc.
This weekend is the regional finals in Seattle for the Metropolitan Opera competition...we would love for him to place, as 1st and 2nd then go on to New York for a week in Feb. which equals good connections, experience, possible $, etc.:), however we are just praying he does his best, and for safe travel-it has been icy, snowy and collld up here! (a stark contrast from light-jacket weather in Monroe:() There are some more vocal things up our sleeves, but I will post about those as they come about.
The kiddos are finally getting back to a routine-although they get to spend their 2nd weekend in a row with my parents for the comp. (hooray for family!)this weekend. Madeline is growing up so fast; just within the past week, she has started pulling herself up to stand and she has 4 teeth on top that have just broken through! (this made for quite a cranky week last week, but when we saw they were coming in all at once, we understood and felt quite sorry for her) To top it all off, she learned how to wave yesterday, and when she does it, she looks like she's riding a float-elbow,elbow,wrist,wrist! I shall try to catch it on video.
Hobbes is missing the warmer weather, as he got to play outside a TON at Gege and Bop's, and he's asked several times for Archer and swords, and although it makes me a little sad, I am glad he's remembering everyone, even when they're far away. He's decided to work on his acting skills even more, and thus will choose times to imitate everythinggg we do or say-including Madeline. Last night, I was whistling, and so he decided to do so as well-only he just pooches out his lips and goes hoooommm, then throws his head back and laughs like Randy on A Christmas Story. (In case you haven't seen that movie, watch it and you will discover Hobbes is a blonder Randy).
As for me, I got to play organ for a wedding last week, which was really nice, as I haven't played it in awhile. I am just trying to keep up with everyone's schedule, while searching for new and entertaining things to do with the kiddos! I have to go now, as Hobbes has climbed up on my shoulders and is wanting me to chase him-I hope you are all well, and we shall let you know how the competitions go!