A White Christmas

 

Our first Christmas in Woodinville, Washington and
it was a white Christmas! My parents visited us for the holidays from Ireland and it was the icing on the cake when it started to snow on Christmas Eve. Luckily we will all back and tucked up  warm in our house before the snow became too heavy. Many of our neighbors got stuck on the big hill leading up into our neighborhood.

Luckily Santa Claus got through the snow and delivered many wonderful presents for our whole family. But for Eoin the snow was the best present. He spent hours on Christmas Day sledding down the hill and even made a jump out of snow so that he could get 'good air'.

It was the perfect first Christmas in Woodinville.

Volunteering

One of my favorite things to do is volunteer at Eoin's school. This year I have been so blessed to be the class parent (who plans parties!), over see Teacher Appreciation each month and prepare the 'Giving Tree" for our local families that are in need. Here are just a few examples of what I have done so far :-)

The Big Dipper

Eoin's latest trick on the swings - he calls it the 'Big Dipper'.

First proper power outage

We had a two day power outage because of a big storm. At first Eoin thought it was fun to have candles and firelight but when he woke up the next morning and there still wasn't power the novelty quickly wore off.

Happy 10th Birthday Eoin

Eoin's stats: 10 years old, 5ft 3inches, size 8.5 mens shoes, size 16-18 pants and 14 tops and finally 115 lbs!

Pillow Fort

Eoin used almost every pillow in the house but his fort was AMAZING!

Kitty Love

Mittens and Eoin have become best buddies and are often found together reading, chasing each other or even asleep curled up together.

Goodbye Sappho and Welcome Mittens

Sadly we recently had to say goodbye to our 15 year old cat Sappho. She has the sweetest cat who loved to give us kisses, head butts and even groom us!

After a couple of weeks adjusting to only one cat we decided to let Eoin have something he always wanted. A kitten! Thanks to a local animal shelter we found a wonderful kitten who has enough energy to keep up with Eoin. Welcome Mittens!

Lake Swimming

Eoin really enjoys being in the water and has discovered that swimming in our local lake is the best way to cool down on a hot day.

Watch your mouth!

Sour candy challenge

Responsibility Time

  

We are using the summer to help Eoin develop responsibility for his day to day life. I created this chart and put it in a picture frame. We will then use a dry erase marker to keep track of what Eoin has achieved which will have a direct impact on his allowance each week :-)

Day out in our local town

Eoin and I explored Redmond today. They have a wonderful downtown area with shuffle board and bocce ball courts :-) Eoin also found a rabbit and got pretty close to it before it hopped away.

Moving Boxes are the best!

We did it - we moved!

We made it to Seattle!

And so our new adventure as a family begins. Eoin and I flew into Seattle today. Andy should be really close in the car with the two cats. Welcome to our new home!

Look what we did!

We are moving to Woodinville Seattle. Time for smaller schools, a closer knit community and country side!

Spring Break in London

Andy took Eoin to visit family and friends over Spring Break. They had a wonderful time in London, Sawston Cambridge and Northampton. Eoin's favorite part of the trip was visiting the Science Museum in London.

Our budding artist

When Eoin was younger and had trouble getting to sleep we use play him 'Bob Ross' painting video to help him relax. This videos have stuck with him and he has been creating some wonderful oil paintings. He has even entered them in competitions.

Kitty Love

Eoin has grown up with cats. We have two Sappho and Seamus. Sappho loves to snuggle with Eoin especially on a  warm sunny day.

No longer a thirtysomething!

 We had a wonderful weekend away celebrating my 40th! We stayed at the stunning Timber Cove on the Sonoma coastline. We had some fantastic hikes, fun family game time, beach exploring and fantastic weather. Overall it was a truly memorable 40th birthday weekend.

More sledding - almost crashed!

Sledding for the first time.

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Eoin's first experience of snow

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