Pajama Time!

I'm excited to welcome one of our family's favorite children's authors, Sandra Boynton, to help me with today's blog post (okay, so really I'm just copying her adorable book, Pajama Time). Our topic: Eli's Pajama Party. :) Take it, Sandra....

The moon is up.

It's getting late.

Let's get ready to celebrate.

It's Pajama Time!

Pull on the bottoms.

Put on the top.

Get yourself set to pajama-dee-bop--

it's Pajama Time!

Now, some are old and some are new.

Some are red and some are blue.

Some are fuzzy.

Some are not.

But we can all pajammy in whatever we've got.

It's Pajama Time!

Ooooo yes, it's Pajama Time!

Some are pink and some are green.

Some are the silliest you've ever seen.

They might be stripey, or polka dot.

But we can all pajammy in whatever we've got.

It's Pajama Time!

Now all around the room in one big line,

wearing our pajamas and looking so fine.

It's Pajama Time!Hop into bed.

Turn out the light.

You can have a party in your dreams tonight.

It's Pajama Time!

Well, now don't you just feel like she wrote that book just for us? :) Now the backstory...Eli has been asking for months (literally) to have a pajama party. Once I figured out that he really meant just a party - NOT a sleepover - I was game! So he invited a few friends from school and a few "regular" friends (Eli's terminology!) for a pajama party. He made the invitations (seen above...and I added a few pertinent details), organized the pajama parade (seen above), decided on a craft (no-sew blankets)...

chose a menu...and even made up a game!

It was really fun to watch him really take ownership of this event from the planning to the execution! It was a very fun evening...for us and our little man!

Swimming!

One of our favorite things about Nana & Pa's new house is the community pool. We made our first of many trips to the pool on the last day of our visit with Lucas and Uncle Jeremy. I am so thrilled that my kids absolutely love swimming! I am also thrilled that our adult to kid ratio allows me to take a few laps while everyone plays!

Both kids had an absolutely fantastic time in the pool, and we're looking forward to many more afternoons of swimming with Nana & Pa!

More fun with Lucas

On day three of Lucas' visit we all headed to The Children's Museum in Seattle and had a wonderful time playing! First stop was Cog City, where the kids explored cause and effect with the help of balls, pipes, and vacuums.Next up was the Construction Zone. Uncle Jeremy, Nana, and Lucas worked hard together to create a one-of-a-kind house that sprouted legs and started walking around. When it spoke, it sounded mysteriously like Lucas! :)Daddy, Abby, and Eli worked very hard building a house of their own.This was the last weekend of the special Clifford exhibit at the museum, and the kids absolutely loved it! Lucas and Eli couldn't get enough of this conveyer belt for feeding Clifford.And Abby went exploring on her own. She especially enjoyed Cleo's backyard.Last stop was the Imagination Studio, where Abby did her first painting!

After all of our fun at the museum we had a delicious dinner at Buca di Beppo to celebrate Pa's birthday!

Family snow day

Every year we look forward to a visit from cousin Lucas and at least one of his parents. This year we had a great long weekend with Lucas and Uncle Jeremy. Of course, first stop was the sledding hill!Abby very cautiously checked out the snow.But she warmed up to the idea, and had a great time sledding with me.This was Eli's third year making this trip, so he hopped onto the sled without hesitation this time.Here comes Lucas...Uncle Jeremy hits the slope...Pa had a great time, too! In fact, we all did!Eli had a little "snow snack" as he called it!He was frustrated by the snow pack; he worked hard to make a snow angel, but couldn't make an impression.All the fun made for two very happy grandparents!On Ryan and Eli's last run, Eli decided to get a little creative with his sledding technique!

More adventures with Lucas and Jeremy on the way!

Family portraits

We were blessed to have Uncle Larry take our new family portrait in December. Uncle Larry is a very talented professional photographer but doesn't often do portraits because he specializes in commercial and corporate photography. We did convince him to photograph our wedding eight years ago, and this is the first time he's photographed us since! This Christmas Uncle Larry decided to offer a portrait special to his clients, friends, and family wherein he would provide a portrait session and all the images in exchange for a donation to the charity of your choice. We loved the concept, and jumped at the chance to participate. We absolutely loved his work with us. It was SO much better to go and have fun with Uncle Larry than try to get the kids to look genuinely happy in a department store studio! So, here are some of our favorites...As usual, I loved some of the "outtakes" as much as the "real" photos!

Thanks for capturing our family so well, Uncle Larry!