He won!

Hooooray! Dwayne entered his piece, Cage for One, in the Percussive Arts Society 36th Annual Percussion Composition Contest for Multiple Percussion Solo, and he WON FIRST PLACE! This is a huge honor, comes with a little money, and means that his piece will be performed at the annual convention! Next on tap, publication!

I'm so proud of my hubby!

Summer is here!

Well, it's official, Redding has reached summer. Each day starts out at about 70 degrees and just climbs from there. Jealous?

Still here...

... just busy.

We put an offer in on a home to purchase yesterday! For those who are MSL minded, the house is at 3934 Ethan Ln, MLS #09-2446. We've toyed with the idea of purchasing for a long time, but have decided to move now because there are so many great opportunities between interest rates, prices, etc. However, house shopping takes a LOT of time and energy, especially for first-timers like us. Now we're in one (of many) waiting phase to see what the bank thinks of our offer.

Other than that, we're all attempting to settle into a summer routine. When Dwayne finishes school, we generally skip town for a few weeks, then spend the next few figuring out just how many hours per day we have as full family/daddy working/mommy working/ etc.

Snow trips in April

We decided to take a family drive up to Mt. Lassen to celebrate our semi-official beginning to summer vacation. Oddly enough, Dwayne only planned to take jackets, but Andrew was set on bringing hats, gloves, scarves, the whole bit. Upon arriving, we realized just how different 4000 feet of elevation can be weather-wise - there was still snow on the lake edge! We bundled up, played a little in the snow, and quickly ate our lunch... then drove home! Peter in his very cute hat... He wasn't really wild about the snow. Too slippery to walk on, and too cold and wet when you fall.

Andrew with his (mom-made) snowman. He insisted on both a face and hair...

Q-tips and other fun...

Andrew rather joyfully cleaning out his ears (see video below)

Peter with his "goatee"... I don't remember if it's ketchup or chocolate.

Andrew playing with some friends at the park...

St. Valentine, the late

Okay, so St. Valentine isn't actually tardy, it's me. Grandma Ski sent the boys very cute Valentine's Day cards with presents inside, and the process of opening them was so adorable we had to share... on mommy-of-toddler-time-frame. THANKS GRANDMA SKI!Andrew loves getting mail, especially with envelopes to open...Look at the turtle on the front!And monies! Time to feed the piggy bank!This was Peter's first mail, and he was clearly thrilled just to have it!Although, he seemed a little unsure as to what to actually do with it...

Aww, who needs monies when you've got blue eyes like these?