Singing In the Rain

Here is my first attempt at uploading video to the blog. We will see what happens. If it works, it is adorable. If it doesn't work, it is still adorable, you just won't get to see it. I will add some pictures just in case. These are all from our playtime in the rain yesterday. The rain stopped almost as soon as we got outside, but we still had fun. At least, we had fun until John bent over to examine the animals on his slicker more closely and ended up taking a bite out of the sidewalk. He has an impressive scab, but doesn't seem any worse for the wear. And he doesn't appear to have any trauma induced phobia of rain, umbrellas or zoo animals, so that's good.

Family Pictures

With all of the traveling we did for the holidays we managed to take a ton of great pictures. Here are a few of the most fabulous. The first is all of the cousins on the Winston side (John, Rose, Isabelle, Ryder, and Gabe in the back). The second is all of the cousins on the Evans side (Toby, Madyn, Moziah, John and Rose). The last is the four generations of John Winstons (John Gilbert Winston, John Stephen Winston holding John Evan Winston, and John Frank Winston).

A Little More Christmas

We spent the Christmas holiday in Charlotte, NC at my parents' house with all of my brothers and sisters and their families. My Grandma Tolley and Uncle David came too. It was another great chance for Rose and John to see family that they don't get to visit with very often. They also got another chance to visit Santa, although that didn't work out very well for Rose this time either. She wouldn't get close enough for us to get all of the cousins in the picture. You can se Madyn and Moziah, but poor Toby is just out of view.
We had a great time and did all kinds of fun things, including family portraits, a white elephant gift exchange, lots of fun shopping, a trip to the raptor center (are you really surprised?), and tons of good food both homemade and at restaurants. We even recorded a family CD, and I recorded a Christmas CD as well. John was a little too young to perform, but Rose sang a couple of songs. Let us know if you want us to send you a track or two. Or maybe I can figure out how to post them online. Rose loves to listen to both CDs while she is going to bed. It was a great way to save some special memories.

A Very Macy's Christmas

This year we finally did Santaland and Macy's. It was incredible! We went with our friends Amanda and Trevor who were visiting from Arizona. It was insanely busy, but we actually didn't have to wait in line long at all. Plus, the time we spent in line was really fun because it wound through Santaland and we saw all kinds of amazing things. We chatted with elves, watched some fabulous toy trains, danced with bears and ballerinas, and did a lot of other things. In fact, the time in line was the high point of the excursion, because once we finally got to see the big man himself Rose was too scared to talk to him! I couldn't even get her to sit next to him by herself. It wasn't a problem, though, because on the way out they had a little station where you could send an email to Santa. So Rose still managed to tell him what she wanted. He must have got the email too, because he brought her exactly what she asked for! Amazing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent almost 2 weeks out in Illinois for Thanksgiving this year. It was wonderful to spend so much time with family and friends. We even took a side trip to Iowa to see some friends from BYU (and stop by a raptor center of course). We did so many fun and amazing things it would be impossible to describe them all. A few highlights were a couple of children's museums, the raptor center, finally getting to see Wicked (amazing!), the circus, lots of great food (including two delicious Thanksgiving dinners), and all kinds of fun with our family. Rose and John loved seeing all of their relatives, and had a blast playing with everyone. It was a great trip, and I wish we could do it more often.

Happy Birthday Rose

Well, I can't figure out how to rotate the picture, but doesn't she look cute? This was the first of many birthday celebrations, the now-traditional PANCAKECAKE. Our big three year old was thrilled to wake up to this special breakfast. She spent the day celebrating with all of her family in Illinois (we were on vacation) and getting spoiled rotten.
She also celebrated with her friends once we got
home. She had an owl-themed birthday complete with owl games and an owl cake (check it out in the picture). It was a hoot! (I know, bad pun...I couldn't resist!) Just one more way to feed the birds of prey addiction.