Why I Love Living in NC in the Winter

Taken in the backyard on January 13!!

Debut

Just after Christmas Katey had her first-ever piano recital!  It was a special day and we were glad to have lots of family in town to witness and enjoy Katey's performance.  She was a little nervous but she put on a splendid performance for us! Katey played:  Sunrise, Skip to My Lou, Turkey in the Straw, Angels We Have Heard on High (a duet with Alison, her teacher) and Jingle Bells.

 

Katey with her teacher, Mrs. Alison

Katey's first recital!!

We were also treated to the musical talents of Aunt Christy and Aunt Joanna, playing a beautiful duet! We hope Katey was inspired by their performance and sees what diligence in practicing can produce!

Christmas

Our family enjoyed a wonderful Christmas and New Year with family and friends.  This chica was rather lax with camera usage so there aren't many pictures after Christmas (and thank you to Brandon and Annie for taking most of those!). 

The quick overview is:  we celebrated Mike's sister, Joanna's 18th birthday together (partly by making pizza and throwing crust in the air to stretch it!);  we opened lots and lots and lots of wonderful gifts; ate lots and lots and lots of wonderful Christmas cookies and candy; laughed while playing games and watching movies; enjoyed seeing our kids play with Nate and hearing him boss the dog around; passed around some colds; played laser tag; went to Katey's first piano recital (more on that in another post); took a quick trip to Morganton to visit with the Molendorps for a couple of hours; rang in the New Year with Mom, Becca and Kevin.

And, here are some pictures to prove it all (well, some of it, anyway) happened.

  (No, Nate isn't hurting Seth - that is just our ham-ball, hamming it up for the camera!)