Pride and Prejudice Ball 2018

Maira's end of year figure skating performance 2018

Maira stepped away from figure skating for a year because she wanted to spend more time doing drama. But after Christmas, she decided she wanted to go back to it. Before, she liked it but still complained often when it was time for lessons. Now, she loves going and wants to spend as much time as possible at the rink. We eased her back in with one lesson/week but now she's taking lessons twice a week as well as helping teach the younger kids which adds up to about 7 hours a week at the rink. After a summer break, she'll be back at it in the fall with 7-10 hours per week plus a few competitions as well.

Backyard Woodpeckers

Jess built a backyard woodpecker feeder which he can watch from his "office" at the dining room table. He filled it with suet and then had a great time taking photos of all our bird visitors. However, as there is no squirrel deterrent built into the feeder, he has also had fun shooting squirrels with his airsoft gun. Highly entertaining all around.

Family Day Weekend 2018

Lucky us, Spencer, Hannah and little Elowyn came to visit us over the Family Day weekend. Shae even got to join in a family D&D game via FaceTime.

Everyone had to fight me for a chance to hold Elowyn! You can tell from these pictures that Hudson is the youngest and so holding a little baby is an unusual experience for him!

February Birthdays 2018

John's birthday is the day after mine so we had a joint birthday dinner again.

And on my actual birthday, Jess and the kids had a little celebration for me:

Maira's 11th Birthday

Why do my kids insist on growing up so fast? I blinked and this little cutie...

...has turned into this lovely girl:

Maira got three birthday celebrations this year: one on her actual birthday, an extended family birthday dinner, and a friend party (which because she's 11 now, was Harry Potter themed, of course).

7 boyfriends?!?!

When she got home from school on the actual day of her birthday, she found an acceptance letter from Hogwarts waiting for her!

On the night of her party, her friends were invited to enter through Platform 9 3/4:

And their treat bags were filled with goodies from Honeydukes:

And her cake was a replica of the one Hagrid made for Harry on his 11th birthday: