piano lessons, festive outings, mom sleepover

well that was certainly the busiest week we've had in a long time! tis the season, right? :) 

 last monday i spent most of the (school) day at u-village shopping center with vanessa and her mom karen who was in town from halifax. we did some shopping and also went for lunch at 'din tai fung' which was so good. 

tuesday afternoon ashford had his very first piano lesson. he asked me a couple months ago if he could learn how to play piano, so we started looking for a teacher and ordered him a keyboard. we found a guy who teaches out of his home not far from us and other families from school have used him. i'm excited to see where this takes ashford. 

wednesday after early dismissal from school, i took the kids to target to get a couple things we need for holiday plans. then we watched 'jingle all the way' when we got home. making our way through all the favorite this month. we mostly love that movie because it was filmed in the twin cities, otherwise it's pretty terrible. haha !

thursday evening we had two different activities on the calendar, so we had to divide and conquer. azalea had her last soccer game of the season (and maybe ever?). unfortunately, her team lost their tournament game 0-1. her coach is not coaching next year and many of the girls aren't returning, so we'll see what happens. 

meanwhile, ashford and i headed up to edmonds for dinner and a play with a big group of his buddies from school and their moms. his friend sebastian was playing 'grandpa joe' in a production of willy wonka. we started off dinner at 'the victor tavern'. it was a bit chaotic with 10 kids, but fun. then we headed to the black box theater at edmonds college. the show was fantastic, and we were so happy to support sebastian! 

friday evening we had tickets to see a christmas concert put on by a band called 'warren dunes'. the band members are ashford's baseball coach from last year, his wife, and his brother. the show was at fremont abbey which is a converted church and it was a super kid friendly event. thatcher met us there after work. the show was really fun with great music! 

saturday morning i prepped cupcakes and appetizers for my mom sleepover that night :) ashford went to arlo's for a few hours in the afternoon. vanessa picked me up to go to our friend heather's for the night. our other friends erica and meredith joined us too. it had been over a year since the five of us were all able to be together. we had a cozy night in with cocktails, appetizers, baked ziti, and cupcakes. it filled my cup right up! 

unfortunately, ashford got sick in the night (fever and congestion), so it was back to reality on sunday.  we had a chill day at home, which was much-needed. 

the kids have one more week of school before the two-week break. ashford will be home until he's better. i'm also getting a sore throat and still have some shopping to do for his birthday and for christmas. eep!