Author Archives: we4keenes

We have a tradition that we stay home, just us, on Christmas Eve and morning. Well, we go to church, but other than that we stay home. And I love Christmas Eve service, so that’s a highlight. Getting ready to leave for church   When we got home from church, we had a fabulous dinnerContinue reading “Christmas at Home”

Christmas Eve. My favorite church service of the year! We dress up, take photos, feel merry, and celebrate the arrival of our Savior. I recently thought about how devastating that must have been for Jesus, to leave the perfection of heaven that he had enjoyed for all of eternity to dwell in an imperfect worldContinue reading “Christmas Eve”

We have started a new tradition with my family in which we gather the weekend before Christmas for decorating cookies, opening gifts, and enjoying good food together. We started the evening singing Christmas carols with Preston on guitar. We played some Rummy before dinner as well. After dinner, we settled in for cookie making. OfContinue reading “Pre-Christmas”

I should write Winter “Performance.” Having seven four-year-old girls do any sort of organized performance basically elevates their instructor, Miss Diadra, to sainthood. It was mostly us watching class, and a chance for Haley to wear a tutu and a special hair piece in her bun (holly berries!). Still, she was very excited. Jim evenContinue reading “Winter Performance”

This week, I spent three days training at one of the Microsoft buildings in Bellevue. I had a room at the Hyatt the whole time I was gone, starting Sunday night. So Jim and the kids came to Bellevue on Sunday and we enjoyed an evening out together before they went back home for theContinue reading “A Night in Bellevue”

This year we are enjoying our Advent season in several different ways. We choose to focus on the love story between God and His people during this special time of year. I made an Advent calendar with pockets last year, and this year I found a great activity (thanks, Katie!) to use with it. WeContinue reading “Advent”

We had such fun hosting our friends the Schmalzes overnight. We had a yummy dinner, and while we were cooking, the girls dressed in matching Elsa dresses and painted their toe nails (thank you Grandma Keene!). In the morning, the kids could be found snuggled in arm chairs, reading Golden Books. Then we went andContinue reading “Thanksgiving Week”

I found out last week that I got a recognition and a certification. First, I was selected as a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert for 2015. Some of you may remember this as the reason we got to go to Barcelona in March. This year, the Global Forum is in Redmond, Washington. 😛 The participants fromContinue reading “Announcements”

In the past eleven days, I have traveled to Palm Springs, Anaheim, Great Falls, Billings, Missoula, and Portland. Not in that order. I went to Palm Springs for Kent School District for the iNACOL conference. It was 89 degrees. At the Hard Rock Hotel with my work teammate, Laurie Friday morning by the pool TheContinue reading “A Little Travel”

UW has this great Daddy-Daughter program, and this year Haley and Jim got tickets. They get to attend women’s sporting events and sit in the special “dads and daughters” section. It comes with a t-shirt for each person and lots of other little giveaways. Last night was the first event and they had a greatContinue reading “Date Night”