Epperson Family Christmas Letter--2013

     Christmas is almost here and there is finally a moment to sit down and reflect on the blessings of 2013.  Just a tiny bit over a year ago, we found out we were expecting another baby.  Now our darling Evelyn is 4 months old!  She has been our greatest gift this year.  Last night we gathered with family and she was given a name and a blessing by Tony, through the power of the priesthood.  This little girl is surrounded by lots of love and is meant to bless the lives of many.  We love her so much.  She's smiling, laughing, rolling over and making US smile everyday.
     Her big-little brother has really come into his own personality.  Jase is a loving, sweet boy.  He gives kisses and hugs to everyone.  He is walking, dancing, and signing.  He understands more than he says right now.  We think he prefers to kiss rather than tell. ; )
     Ryan is a sweet, independent boy.  He has a way of making us so frustrated and then being so sweet.  He started preschool this year and still does joy school.  He loves water, riding his bike and being with his friends.
     Max is in first grade.  He excels in school and always loves to go.  He can always be found building something or reading a book.  He is a LOT of help with the two babies.
     I love being a mom.  That never changes.  Being a mom is very tiring with two little ones at home but it is the BEST!  I love teaching kids at church and I love being with my kids and finding fun activities for them.  2013 has been a year of fine tuning my time management skills between family, work and church responsibilities.
     Tony has had a great year.  He was hired to be a substitute teacher at South Seattle Community College where he  received his second Associate's degree, this time in Aviation Maintenance.  His primary job is still working on the P8-A at Boeing.  He loves his job.  He always joked about not knowing how to raise a daughter, but he is pretty amazing with his baby girl and she has him wrapped around her finger.
     We're in the middle of another adventure so I'll have to share more pictures soon.  Here are a couple of favorites...

 Joyeux Noel!  We hope we can all reflect on and treasure the love Christ has for us.  May your days be Merry and Bright!  Gros Bisous!
     Love, Tony, Debbie, Max, Ryan, Jason and Evelyn
 

Thanksgiving 2013

We traveled to Oregon to spend time with family on Thanksgiving.  We started with the annual "Huff and Puff Before You Stuff". 

 

Dinner was at the church.  Everyone contributed.  It was a lot of fun.  I love being around family.  It's so fun to see all of the littles running around and getting along (mostly).  Love this family I've married into. 

 

One night we saw Gravity which is very intense but good.  We played games including Cribbage, of course.  I got to see a dear friend Becky, who lives in Hillsboro and go shopping.  Tony had some "man time" ; ).  He got to see his Uncle Roger and Uncle Randy.  On Sunday, we visited at Great Grandma Bernice's house.

 

We have so much to be grateful for.  Our prayers continue to be full of thanks to a loving Father in Heaven for each day and all the blessings we share.

Ryan's Preschool Thanksgiving Feast

We volunteered at Ryan's Thanksgiving feast before we left for Oregon.  The kids were so cute.

 

 

After the feast Mrs. McKinley asked everyone what they were thankful for.  Alanna was thankful for Jimmy and her mommy and daddy. Tyler was thankful for the whole earth. William was thankful for leaves and Halloween. Ryan was thankful for missiles. What ??? And snakes.  Yep.

Putting Up the Tree

This year we put up our decorations a week before Thanksgiving because there was only one weekend we'd be home before we left for Christmas and we wanted to enjoy the sparkling lights as long as possible.

This is a video of Max rocking out to the Trans Siberian Orchestra which he was really doing.  Pretty funny.



And Voila!

It's always getting ornaments moved by the littlest Epperson boy. :)

Jason and Evelyn

This first video is from October.  The second one is from November.  Too cute!

 

Max Cuteness

Yesterday evening, Max prayed that "he would be good when mom came to his school".  He told me at least 5 times how excited he was to have me come to school.  Today, I got to help in his reading class (which is a different teacher) and then in his class.  I did some projects for his teacher (cutting and copying) and then helped the kids with counting collections and grouping them so they could count by 5, 10, etc.  It was so fun.  It was also fun to see how excited the kids were to talk to "Max's mom" or "Mrs. Epperson".  The teacher had them all thank me at the end and then as I was leaving the school, they saw me from the lunch line and called out "Good-bye, Mrs. Epperson" over and over.  I seriously felt like a celebrity.  A total pick-me-up for someone with post-partum hormones. :)

Stay Calm and...

Yesterday morning I ran some errands and worked out.  I had 2.5 hours to myself and as I was stretching after my workout, I decided that I really some calm music to listen to while I stretched.  I just needed to quiet my mind and actually relax.  So I had a great post-workout stretch and decided to keep listening to my meditative music as I walked to the store to get a few things.  I browsed the Christmas decorations and just enjoyed the calm, the lack of noise and the time to myself.  When I was done browsing, I started to leave (still listening to my calm music).  All of a sudden it dawned on me that I had stuff in my hands and I quickly turned around and paid for it, joking with the store employee.  Sometimes you just need to get away and (almost) steal.  and bytheway, when I googled "Keep Calm and Steal" because that's what I thought of, why had someone really made a sign with that slogan?  Really people? haha.

Veteran's Day

For Veteran's Day, we decided last minute to visit the Museum of Flight.  We listened to the Boeing Employee's Band play songs as a tribute to veterans.

 

Looking around at everything but the camera.

Evelyn seeing mom's favorite plane, the Gee Bee.

 

They have a new exhibit on Amelia Earhart.  I didn't get pictures of it, but here is the engine that flew in her plane, the Lockheed Vega and it also was the engine of the Kingfisher, Grandpa Bob's plane. 

 Here is the plane Amelia flew, well, not the actual one of course.

The boys brought planes with them and were flying them around the whole time.

 Playing air traffic control.

 Jason staring at the airplanes.

 And of course we always have to take a picture in front of Ryan's favorite too, the Corsair or Skipper in "Planes". 

Planes!

Tony and I took the boys to see "Planes" two weekends ago.  The boys dressed as aviators.  Max doesn't have a bomber jacket anymore so he wore his Boeing hat.  They had so much fun. 

 

 

Ryan fell asleep.  Too cute!