Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas Activities with the Family!

There is a little train at the Renton landing that we rode last Saturday. I was just going to take pictures but then I couldn't resist getting on last minute. The kids loved it even though it was just down the street and back and then around. It was great!
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the kids loved this big tree.
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And then we went to see SANTA CLAUS!!!
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Will my kids ever look at the camera?
And then it was off to a cute little cupcake shop for Christmas cupcakes.
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And Tony and I were able to attend a Christmas dinner party with a group of couples and I realized how NICE it is to hang out with friends together. We haven't done that lately with Tony's crazy schedule. It was refreshing!

Max's First School Christmas Concert!

*Side Note* My husband is awesome and deals with his camera-toting, always picture taking, and camera breaking wife. Unfortunately, we have had 3 cameras in the 7 years that we've been married because *things* happen. This last time, I dropped the camera when we were taking after pictures at the half-marathon. He surprised me with a new, water-proof, shock-proof camera that still takes better pictures than our last! It arrived just in time to take video of Max's first concert. I don't know how to upload the video yet, but...here are a few pics.

I learned that even at a preschool Christmas concert, people can be rude and move in front of video-takers. Also, I swear EVERY parent (husbands AND wives) were videoing. It was crazy.

This first picture didn't turn out because I don't know how to take a photo in the dark yet. Haven't learned the camera and I don't have mad photog skills, but this is a zoomed in group shot. Max is on the bottom.
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This is having punch and cookies afterwards.
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They were adorable!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Since I love seeing Christmas lights and decorations, I'm going to post ours. They brighten things up so much!
Our front door!
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O Christmas Tree!
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I'm posting a few favorite ornaments just for posterity...
This Santa in the airplane was given to us by Tony's coworkers when he was in the hospital after the crash.
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I love snowflakes! These were purchased from a friend's daughter years back for a school fundraiser. I love them.
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A nativity ornament from Stacey's visit to Germany.
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Santa in a kilt. My parents sent this when they were on their mission to Scotland.
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The answer to our lack of a mantle. I finished the sign yesterday.
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This wall hanging was made by Grandma Kate. It's gorgeous!
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A close up of my favorite picture of Mary and Jesus.
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A new place for Christmas cards.
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My collection of nativities from around the world. My favorite!
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The kids' nativity
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Max's nutcracker army!
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And we listen to a lot of Christmas carols at our house. Tis the Season!

Reindeer Festival

The Cougar Mountain Zoo isn't very far from our house. We hadn't been because it seemed pricey so we decided to try it out during the Reindeer Festival to see if it was worth the price.
It was a cute zoo with cougars, reindeer, emus, wallabies, a lemur, cranes, 3 tigers and that's about it. We had fun and the zoo was decked out with Christmas decorations.
The cougars are very relaxed even in the cold.
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The boys fed the reindeers some apples.
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Emus are scary looking birds ; )
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Feeding an Alpaca.
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Taking a photo op
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Storytime with an elf
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Face painting
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And a picture with Cosmo the Cougar who must have been visiting Issaquah.
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So for my friends who were wondering, this was a fun visit, however, if you have a rich Aunt Suzie (which we don't) come and visit and she insists on taking you there, it will be fun, but as cute as it was, it wasn't quite worth the price. It was fun to experiment though.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Busy Days

I haven't been the best about blogging lately but don't let that fool you, we have been busy. This past Wednesday was a super fun, busy day. We went to an Eric Ode concert at Max's preschool. He sings great songs and has a puppet. The kids sang and danced. It was quite the party.
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Later that day we went to Snowflake Lane in Bellevue. It was fun to take pictures, dance to the drummers (or cover our ears, depending on who we were) and watch the snow (soap bubbles) fall. It really is kind of magical.
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You can't see the "snow" that I was trying to capture.
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Playing afterwards
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And a quick visit to the mall
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The 2011 Epperson Family Letter

Now with a title like that...

Our 2011 year has been full of fun. Our most exciting news is that we are expecting baby #3 in June of 2012. This of course has led to some interesting conversations with a curious 4 year old. I'll spare you the details. Max says if it's a girl, he wants to name her Kelsey. If it's a boy, Fred. Ryan says the baby's name should be Venna. Hmmmm. We'll find out the gender mid-January!

In August, Tony left his job with Horizon Air to work for Boeing. This was a great move and he loves helping build/modify the P8-A which is a military plane. His hours are kind of intense with school and work and then working some weekends. We miss him a LOT but we're grateful he has these wonderful opportunities to be doing what he loves. Tony has started flying remote controlled airplanes as well as real airplanes this year. This is a hobby the boys completely support. Max even has his own plane.

Debbie still loves being a stay-at-home mom/property manager/appointment secretary/volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate for a young girl in foster care. Whoever thinks stay-at-home moms have it easy is crazy, bytheway. Life is busy and fulfilling. Debbie helps teach joy school and keeps the boys involved in church, friend and community activities. She's also been working on the home little by little to fix it up and add flair. There is still so much she'd love to do.

Max turned 4 this year. He started preschool and still does joy school with his friends. He learned to ride a bike with no training wheels which he told anybody and everybody about afterwards. He loves to be a helper and he really is a good one. He loves to "read" and draw and he really loves spending time with his friends.

Ryan turned 2 this year and he is a shy little jokester. When his personality comes out, it really comes out. He talks quietly but he is always smiling and saying silly things to make you laugh. He also loves "reading" and playing with cars. He just loves being outdoors whenever he can. Both boys have loved having a pet. Grandpa J has lived with us while he worked temporarily in Seattle and he brought along Saydi dog. The boys love having her around and have mostly been really sweet to her.

We took did several camping trips and small trips this year. We do love to explore. Most of our crazy moments are recorded on this blog so feel free to follow our adventures here!

We appreciate all of our family and friends and look forward to celebrating the birth of our beloved Savior. He is everything to us! Joyeux Noel!

Love, Tony, Debbie, Max and Ryan

Our family pictures were taken by our cousin, Becky Jenson who we adore!

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Sunday, December 4, 2011

Church Christmas Party

Tony had to work this weekend so he wasn't able to come. Grandpa and the boys and I went. I had responsibilities that kept me away from the party most of the time so Grandpa watched the BYU game on ESPN on his phone, lol. Here are a few pics of the set up.
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Max ditched us to go sit with his friend.
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Eating dinner was fast, but...the reason is because they had a great idea to have a kids area set up in a big classroom so that the kids had somewhere to go besides running around the tables. We had a video playing, a play doh table, some board game tables, a huge set of legos and a table where you could make a Christmas chain. So that was available until dinner was ready and then as soon as the kids were done with dinner (I shoveled my food down) it was open again. Then when everyone was done with dinner and it was time for the program, we took the kids back to their families. I loved it.
And here is part of the program. Sorry about the spooky eyes, I don't know how to edit that. My favorite part is the missionary playing an angel with his name tag on the outside. Totally awesome!
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Here's Ryan watching the program. You would think by this picture that my kids were enthralled and listening wonderfully. Not so much, but I got a good picture of one second when they were listening. ; )
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We had a great night. We have a great group of people at church and even though I mostly interacted with the kids in the kids' area, I had a great time!