Christmas Eve Gift!

The weather has been so warm, which is awesome. I love a white Christmas, but I'm not going to complain because today, on Christmas Eve we got to go hike "the Rock" as a family. We all made it all the way to the top and read Luke 2 under the star. It was great! Now we are hanging out, finishing up the wrapping of gifts and listening to Christmas music. Tonight we will have a special dinner as a family and open one present before we go to bed and wait for Santa to come. I'm a little sad because Nate is saying that he doesn't believe in Santa and Bryce is having his doubts. I personally believe that there should never come a time when a person doesn't believe in Santa so it makes me sad. I've let them know that Santa only brings presents to people who believe in him so I don't know if he'll bring them anything or not.
Any way, I wanted to explain about "Christmas Eve Gift". It's a family tradition that came from my mom's family, the Pope's. I don't know when they started it, but I googled it and apparently other family's do it too. We play it on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The way it works is you try to be the first one to say "Christmas Eve Gift!" or on Christmas Day, "Christmas Gift!" I remember as a kid getting phone call in the middle of the night from members of my mom's family trying to be the first one to "get" everyone else. My mom has a huge family and I don't know if everyone played, but a lot of them did. After caller ID came out we know when a family member was calling and we could just answer the phone with "Christmas Eve Gift". Before call ID would sometime answer the phone that way anyway but if it wasn't a family member they just thought we were crazy. It's a fun tradition that we've carried on with our kids. I guess I haven't done a very good job because when I got up this morning and said it to the kids some of them didn't know what I was talking about. I waited all day for my mom to call so I could "get" her, because it's easier to get a person if they are the one calling you, but she didn't call so I called her and she got me. Maybe next year.
Any way, some of the stories I read about it online said that the game had roots in the South, perhaps even starting during slavery. Some people play it where if someone says it to you first you have to give them some kind of gift. We don't give any gifts as part of the game it's just about the fun of trying to be the first one to say it. It's one of my favorite family traditions.

We stayed up as late as we could Monday night to watch the eclipse. We lasted til 12:30 when the moon was almost completely eclipsed but it was cold and we were tired and we couldn't hold out any longer.

We decided to go spend a couple of days in Sanford before Christmas. While we were there we had a mini Christmas with my parents and my brother, Trent and his family. All of the kids got knitted hats from Grandma and PJ's and games. We also went swimming at the Inn of the Rio Grande. We had a great time and it was really good to see Grandma and Grandpa at Christmas time.

I would love to be posting a super cute video of my sweet Mckay singing songs in his preschool Christmas program, but he refused to participate. I tried bribery, I tried telling him how sad mommy and daddy would be if he didn't sing. I told him that Jesus would be sad. I told him that Santa would be sad. He sooo didn't care. So he sat by me in the audience while all of his friends sang the cutest little Christmas songs and he was totally happy. What a stubborn child! I can't imagine where he gets it.
Today is the last day of school for the kids til the new year. So now the question is what to do with them for 2 weeks? They have been fighting so much lately. All I hear is, you're stupid...shut up...idiot...stop copying me! Seriously if it doesn't stop they are not going to live til Christmas let alone get any thing for Christmas. I hope that we can make it a special time for our family to be together. I want to be excited about having the kids home with me, but the truth is I'm scared. Like for real.

cat, hat, bat

McKay has learned the art of rhyming. All kids do it at some point and we moms hold our breath when they start with a word like truck. Yesterday at home he got out three rounds of "itch, mitch, b!$@#" before I could distract him. Then at Wal-Mart we walked up to a toy isle and he saw a truck. I hear him say truck followed by a very loud, very drawn out "fffuuuuuuuuuuuu" which he ended with an even louder "ck" He yelled it twice, just for good measure. I grabbed him and said "I need you to be quite in the store" at which point the man next to us gave me an "I wonder where he learned that" look, and we quickly left that area.

Happy Birthday to me!

this picture was taken on my birthday last year. I was on the trip of a life time in South Africa. You know it is summer right now in South Africa, and the beaches are beautiful and I had such an amazing time. It may have spoiled me just a little. So I'm trying to think of reasons that this birthday is better than last years. This year I'm 27 lbs lighter, that picture is scaring me. I also like my hair better this year. This year I had my A-mazing kids with me and my wonderful husband. This year Gracie thought I was turning 24. This year my family brought me breakfast in bed. I didn't eat dinner on the beach while the sun set over Table Mountain, but I did eat dinner at Outback with my 6 favorite people on the planet. This year I'm home and in the end that's the best place on earth.

things you missed

...because i forgot to blog them.

so i'm getting ready to send my 2010 blog off to be made into a book at the end of the year and even though these pictures are way old i want them in the book.




this is Nate with his 5th grade class in their Revolutionary War reenactments.
They studied the major events of the war then split up into groups, wrote scripts, made props and backdrops, came up with costumes, then acted it out for their parents and other classes.

These are pictures from Rock Ridge night at Chick-fil-a. The teaches and administrators helped out with serving food and stuff and 15% of the proceeds went to our elementary school. it was fun. That's the kid's principal, Mr. Ingram in the top middle picture. He Rocks!

These pictures are from baby boy's first day of pre-school and a couple from his second day because on his second day he had his new spider man lunch box. Ohhhh, the cuteness! I can barely stand it.

Thanksgiving

The only pictures I have of Thanksgiving are from the Turkey Trot, 5K. Which we rocked by the way. My best time ever, 36:55! It started out really cold by then the sun came out and it was a really nice morning. I was glad that I decided to shed some layers before the race started.
After the race we headed home, showered, changed, and headed to Colorado Springs for the feast. Most of the family was at Kathy's house for dinner and we had a really nice, relaxing time.
We got home from Kathy's at about 7:00 and I layed down with McKay and Gracie and Bryce in my bed. McKay was asleep before we got home. Gracie fell asleep after about 2 min. and Bryce and I layed there and talked. Then I got up and soaked in the tub and decided to check my email before I went to bed. I had an email from Children's Place announcing that all of the outlet's were 50% off the entire store. They were opening at 10 pm that night, so I changed out of my PJs and went to the outlets. 15 min in line outside, 30 min of shopping and an hour and a half in line to check out. It was a long night, but I got $400 worth of clothes for the kids for $150, cuz I also had a 20% off coupon and 10% for using my card. I was home by mid-night.
Sam also went black Friday shopping and didn't get home til about 4 am. I still don't know what all he got.

Universal Studios

Universal Studios was fun but by far my very favoritest part was the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I can almost taste the butter beer now. The Hogwarts Castle was great. The rides were fun, the little kids went on flight of the Hippogriff like 15 times. the stores were cool, although we never actually got into Olivander's because the line to get in was a mile long all day long. but we went to Honeyduke's sweet shop and Zonko's joke shop and the kids bought chocolate frogs and lollies and burtie bott's every flavor beans. later that day, when we were waiting for the bus back to the hotel, i was already feeling a bit yucky from all of the rides and i found a couple of every flavor beans that looked like pop corn flavor and i popped then in my mouth. as it turned out they were not pop corn but probably ear wax flavored i almost puked in the parking lot. any who, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was by far the most crowded place we visited but well worth it. i wanted to live there. the rest of universal was fun too. Sam's favorite ride was the Mummy. A bit intense for most of us though. We had a much better experience than we did 4 years age at Universal Studios in California, but that's a different story. I highly recommend it.

Disney World

i have to get this blog caught up before the holidays hit, because i want to sent it all off the first of january to be made it to a book. so here are some of our disney world pictures. i still have to get some from my mom so this might not be the last you see of our trip, but its a good start. the collages are all labeled so i won't go into a lot of detail about the pictures. seriously though, we had such a good time. the little kids still love meeting the character, and the big kids put up with it for the most part. they all agreed to pose with mickey and goofy. i've never seen McKay more in love with anything as he is with his mickey. mickey did get in trouble one time though and had to go to time out. i asked McKay what mickey did to deserve a time out and he said that mickey punched him. i said "no he didn't" and McKay said "ya, him did. him really did!" it was funny. any way, next up universal studios and the wizarding world of Harry Potter! i hope my mom got pictures at the beach. it was my favorite day of the trip and i didn't take any pictures only video.

the budding photographer

today i downloaded all of the pictures from my iPhone to my computer and I found these. Most, if not all, taken by Abby. 650 of them! pictures of herself. pictures of everyone else in the family. pictures of her snacks. pictures of her dolls. pictures of the cartoons she's watching. pictures of the computer games she's playing. pictures of her stuffed poodle drinking her soda on the plane ride to Florida (my favorite by the way). pictures of our front door. pictures of the car. pictures of the calendar. pictures of notes she's written. pictures of our garden. pictures of pictures in our house. you name it, i bet she has a pictures of it. this was fun, i think i'll leave my iPhone laying around more often.

Baby Boy had a Birthday

he is soooo not a baby anymore and i can't even stand it! McKay turned 4 last week. we rented Toy Story 3 and watched it 20 times. we got a Toy Story cake and had friends over and opened presents. it was pretty low key, but he had fun. Things I want to remember about McKay at this age: He loves school and asks lots and lots of question. His teacher said he is highly intelligent. duh. He still wants to eat at "chich-cha-lay" everyday. He calls aerobics "marobics", and used to call computer "muputer", but now he says cupooder. He still ends up in my bed almost every night and I really wish he would stay in his own bed, until he does, then I miss him and I'm tempted to go get him and put him in my bed. He loves to snuggle, and is pretty much the sweetest kid in the whole wide world! I love you baby!

Winter Park

i can't even bring myself to hate this kind of snow. as we were driving home from winter park last weekend, it was snowing and the mountains were beautiful. at one point the road was winding along the mountain lined by towering snow covered pines and i so badly wanted a picture of it, but there wasn't a safe place to pull over so we drove on until we came to a little spot were skiers and boarders park then climb the mountain and ski down. we stopped there and got a few shots. this spot wasn't quite as lovely as it was further up the road but it was still nice.

Girls Weekend

I had a nice little get away with some girls last weekend in Winter Park. We drove up in the fog and snow on Thursday evening and got settled into our condo. Friday Raina and Heather and I went skiing at Loveland. It was a great day for skiing and we had a lot of fun. Saturday we hung out at the condo. We went to the club house and ran and played racquetball and then soaked in the hot tub in the snow. It was lovely. I had intended on it being a restful relaxing weekend and that, it was not. Two of the nights I was up til about 4 am and then with all of the activities I was totally wiped out, but it was a lot of fun, and Sunday night I got to go to bed around 6ish, in my own bed.

Happy Veterans Day!

Isn't my grandpa hansom?! He is now 89 years old and lives with his wife Marjorie in Farmington NM. He has written a autobiography entitled "The Kid from Carson", and today in honor of Veterans Day I read the chapters, Military Service and Prisoner of War. He was in the Air Force in WWII and on March 9, 1944 on the return trip from a bombing mission on Berlin, Germany, his plain was shot down. The plane was on fire and so was he. He parachuted in to a field near Zwoole, Holland and was taken prisoner by the Germans. His face was badly burned and he spent the next 14 months as a POW, spending time in several prison camps, until they were liberated. I'm thankful to my granddad for his service and his example of patriotism and for recording his experiences for future generations. I also have an uncle who served in Vietnam. My brother served in Desert Storm, and I have several cousins who have served and are currently serving in different branches of the military, some of which are currently deployed overseas. I'm proud to know them and pray for them and their families. God Bless America.

SNOW!!

i don't love the snow. i don't love finding all of the snow clothes. i don't love helping the kids get the snow clothes on. i don't love helping them get the snow clothes off. i don't love the wet snow clothes left all over my house.
i do love to see happy kids playing in the snow. i do love drinking hot cocoa with cold kids after playing in the snow.

the don'ts won.

I want summer back!

FHE

We're not as consistent as we should be about having FHE. It's something we should work on cuz our kids love it and it really does help our family. Tonight we were a were planning on skipping it. Not like we just forgot we were actually planning on skipping it. I know, what's wrong with us. Anyway, I was in a great debate with myself over whether to go to bed at 7:30 or go to the gym. I took the dilemma to Sam for a final decision. He decided to call the rec. center and see if the basketball courts were open. They were, and we all went to the gym and played basket ball. some of us all so went to the treadmills and weights. It was a fun night. Gracie made 2 baskets after trying and trying and trying. But then she got hit in the head with a ball and sat and cried for the rest of the time we were there. Just a bit of an over reaction from a tired, overly dramatic 6 year old girl. She is going to be playing basketball on a team starting in a couple of weeks. I hope that her games end better than tonight did. After the rec center we came home, talked about our weekly schedule, talked about Thanksgiving and showing gratitude, song, prayer, bed. Tomorrow we are going shopping for Operation Christmas Child and getting treats. For now I'm going to start reading my Nov. Ensign, Conference Addition and then put myself to bed also. Happy Monday!

Happy 300th post

Okay here it is, 300 posts!! I have loved keeping this blog over the last 2 and a half years. It is the only journal that I have stuck with and enjoyed writing in and looking back at. I think it's because I'm not just writing it for me so I try not to write anything that I'm going to be embarrassed about later, which is a big problem I've had with past journals. So for my 300th post I'm going to look back at some of my favorite posts from the past. Like this one cuz I love this picture and I double love this kid and it makes me laugh every time I read it. Or this one because it was one of my few proud parenting moments and I was proud of my kids and it makes me cry every time I read it. And I love this one and this one, because sometime when my kids have kids, and those kids are making them crazy I can show them these posts and Ha ha, ha ha ha ha! And this one, because I sometimes I need to be reminded what a seriously great husband I have.
So I know that this post isn't super exciting, no big give-away or anything fun like that, maybe for my 500 posts celebration I do that. But for now I just wanted to recognize that I've stuck with something for this long cuz that's really not my style. I also want to thank my readers and especially my commenters. Your comments have been a source of much laughter and some tears (mostly happy ones) and lots of much needed support. I love you guys!

ps. I love you mom!

memories, like the corner of my mind.

I just spent the last 3 hours reading all of my 2010 blog posts, all 129 of them. I laughed, I cried, I remembered things that I have forgotten and was sooo happy that I had recorded them so I could remember them. I read through comments and was so grateful for this awesome way of staying connected to friends and family. I can't wait to get my 2010 blog book printed! I also realized that I had a total of 298 blog posts. This is 299. I've thought about doing something special for 100, 200, 300... and so on. I just forgot about 100 and couldn't think of anything cool to do any way. I didn't even know I had passed 200 until tonight. And my next post will be 300. So I'm going to try to think of something cool to do for it, but until I think of something I can't make any more blog posts. So this is it until I come up with some idea, or decide to do nothing again. Stay tuned!

I'm a runner

pictures from all but one of the races I've finished this year

I was just looking back through all of my "I'm a runner" posts. If you're interested you can read them HERE. Wow. I've come a long way. I didn't get here as fast as I had planned and I'm still not really a real runner, like really, really not really a real runner, but I have met almost every goal I set for myself this year.

Finish my first 5K in 45 min. Check

Finish the Bolder Boulder in an hour and a half. Check

Run a whole mile. Check

Run a mile in under 10 min. Check

Run a whole 5K- no walking. Totally Check

This last goal was originally meant to be completed in an actual race and after the Castle Rock Stake 5K I almost gave up on the goal all together. It had been a while since I had done any sort of running, but last week I decided I should give it a try and see how it went. I was thinking that if it went okay I might register for the Turkey Trot, Thanksgiving Day 5K. I went out side and started running. I made it around the block and decide that was enough. My lungs were hurting from the cold air. Then last Tuesday I went to the rec. center and started running, and it felt easy so I just kept running and I totally ran a whole 5k-no walking. It was a pretty slow 5k, about 42 min, but I did it. Then tonight I went to the rec. center and I did it again in 39 minutes. So I have yet to run a whole 5k-no walking, in a race, but I'm counting it. Plus, I just registered Bryce and myself for the Turkey Trot, so I have one more chance this year to do it in a race. We'll see what happens.

I totally couldn't have done it without the most awesome running buddy in the world, who practically dragged me through more than one of the races.

Thanks Heather

And thanks to Bryce who has done 3 of the 5 races with me and totally kicks my butt every time which motivates me to do better.

And thanks to all of the others who have encouraged me though out this year, and ran with me.

I have a rockin support system.

This is now sounding like a really long acceptance speech and I haven't even won an award.

So really I'm done.

*cue music*

So I just got almost done typing this post and somehow (because i have the most evil computer on the planet) the whole thing got erased. So after using some "not my Sunday words" and taking a minute to relax I'm going to try this again.

Okay...

Ready...
These are our Halloween pictures. I was able to talk Nate into being a hobo for Trunk-or-Treating at the church on Saturday night, but he wouldn't dress up for his school party or for Trick-or-Treating on Sunday. Wierdo. Bryce was Goofy. He wore the hat he got at Disney Land 4 years ago and the shirt he got at Disney World last month. Yes, I know I still need to blog about our trip to Disney World. One thing at a time people. Abby was a Witch. Gracie was a Snow Princess. Speaking of snow, there wasn't any on Halloween. Yay!! McKay was a monkey. He didn't really need the costume, cuz he is actually a monkey in real life, but he wore one anyway. I was a Witch and Sam was a party pooper, he didn't dress up. I don't usually dress up for Halloween either but this year I had a good reason to. My friend Heather's sister got married on Halloween and it was a costume party. The bride and groom and their kids were the Adams Family. You have to go check it out Here. The bride was walked down the isle by Beetle Juice. Seriously. It was a wild and crazy weekend and I'm so very glad it is over, but it was fun.

I have so many pictures of our trip to Florida that I need to download and post. It was an amazing trip and so many great memories were made, but for now I only have this little jem to share. McKay got a stuffed dinosaur, the one from Toy Story, from Granma Mary and Granpa Hal. This morning brought it to Sam and told him that he could bring it to work with him if he would "pinky promise swear" that he would bring it back. So Sam pinky promise swore and he and the Rexy went to work.

a lovely day

i had a lovely day with my lovely husband. everyday as he comes to kiss me good bye and leave for work i say to him, "no, no going." but he must and so he does, but not today. today he stayed and we got the kids to school then we went bowling. we bowled 3 games of which i lost 3. then we went to a chinese restaurant near down town denver, because i like chinese food and apparently sam likes me. then on a whim we went on a tour of the molly brown house. ever since i was a little girl and saw the movie "the unsinkable molly brown" i've wanted to go to her house. it was cool and i want to live there. we had to be home to pick up mckay by 1:30 so alas the date had to come to an end, but the loveliness did not. we came home and i napped for 3 hours. lovely. then we went to abby's 3rd grade music program. she rocked by the way. and now i think i will enjoy some ice cream.

story time with mckay

mckay-"can you read me a story without a book? the one about the pigs."
me-"okay, once upon a time there were three little pigs...the first one built his house out of..."
mckay-"bricks!"
me-"no, straw"
mckay-"the straws that we drink out of?"
me-"no, it's like grass"
mckay-"oh"
me-"the second one built his house out of..."
mckay-"bricks!"
me-"nooo, sticks. the third one built his house out of...(pause)...what did the third one build his house out of?"
mckay-"i don't know"
me-"bricks!...then along came the..."
mckay-"fox!"
me-"nooo, the big bad..."
mckay-"fox!"
me-"wolf"
mckay-"wolf!"

too funny. i love that kid!

last week i started this crazy starvation diet, with images of a thinner me pushing me forward through 4 days eating less than 500 cal per day. monday night, starving and frustrated, i had a slight emotional breakdown. okay it wasn't so slight. i decided to quit the diet. tuesday morning i woke up and was feeling okay, and by okay i only mean that i wasn't ready to start eating my children, so i decided that i would take my kids to school and then make a decision about sticking with the diet or not. i dropped my older 4 kids off at school and headed to drop my 3 year old off at pre-school. he goes to school at a lutheran church near our house. when i got there just before 9:00 i saw that there was a weight watchers meeting starting at 9:30. i'm sure that the meeting has been there at that time all along but i've never noticed it before because my son went to a classroom right by the front door. due to low enrollment his class has been combined with the class down stairs. to get to his new classroom we walk right past the weight watchers sign in area. it was a sign. i dropped mckay off at his class room and headed back upstairs and registered for weight watchers. i haven't been hungry, i've been sooo much happier, and i'm feeling super motivated. i know i'm in the honeymoon fase, but i think this plan is something i can live with long term. i'm back to working out everyday and i feel great. i've even been cooking and not hateing it. i'm really exited!!

first family 5k

I finally got the whole family to run a 5k with me. Don't they look thrilled. We had to get up at 6:00 this morning. Way too early for a Saturday. Bryce is my running buddy and was up ready to go by 5:45. We had to stop at Wal-Mart on the way to get an air pump for the stroller, then we were ready to roll. It was perfect overcast weather for running. Sam pushed the stroller almost the whole time because he rocks. Bryce took off from the start and finished in 26 min. 22 sec.!!! He's amazing! The rest of us finished in around 45 minutes. There was also a group of ladies from aerobics there. It was fun to be there with lots of friends and of course my amazing family!

Sam took Nate and Bryce to scouts and Abby to Activity Days and him and McKay went to get hair cuts so it's just me and my Gracie girl hanging out. We read five books that she chose and studied her site words and read her reading book from school and worked on her memory poster and now were going to hang out an snuggle. She is being so sweet, which hasn't happened much lately, and I'm loving having this time alone with her. Now we are going to do some puzzles.

(such a silly girl)

I need to start being grateful again because I've been really super blah about my life lately. So today I am grateful for the nice little nap I had, having Family Home Evening with my family and playing my favorite game "Apples to Apples", and finally making it to the grocery store (now we have milk for breakfast in the morning).
I was looking through my journal earlier today and I found a list. It's a list of things I need to do to have more peace in my life. I made the list on February 21, 2010. It has 13 things on it. The last three are "Breath". Of the other 10 I've only been doing pretty good at like two of them. No wonder I feel out of whack, frazzled, tired, frustrated. It's a good list. I know doing these things work. So what the heck's my problem!

The Hunger Games.

I just finished this series last week and have passed it on to a friend and to Nate. Another friend told me about it about a year ago. She's some one who reads and enjoys a lot of the same books I do, but when she told me about this one my first thought was 'no thanks, that's not my kind of book.' But then I kept hearing more and more good things about it, so I decided to read them. I'm so glad I did. I loved these characters. I laid awake at night worrying about what was going to happen to them, and trying to decide what I want to happen in the end. I think they are books that I'll want to read again. The characters and the story have defiantly stayed with me. I highly recommend them. The primes is completely disturbing, but the strength and courage and love displayed by the characters make these books hopeful and sweet and so impossible to put down. I only wish that Collins and written a forth book because I feel like Mockingjay is wrapped up too quickly. I was left with some unanswered questions. Also it's a good idea to read them all back to back because each book has an abrupt ending that leads right into the next book, so I was glad that I waited until the third book was almost released before I started reading them. Anyway, they are pretty quick, easy reads. Nate started The Hunger Games last Wednesday night and was finished by Friday afternoon. There is a super long wait list at the library so just go buy them, they're worth it.

Today I was at aerobics and there was this lady there that I don't know very well and she asked me about my son Nate and said that she saw me with him the day he dislocated his thumb. I asked her if she had a 6th grader also and she said that she has a daughter in Nate's class. Then she told me her daughter's name. After school I ask Nate about her but I couldn't remember her name. I told him I know it starts with a "B". So he started naming some girls from his class that start with a B. Breanna. No. Brooke. No. Then I started throwing out names, every thing from Betty to Beatrice. I was mostly kidding about that last one. Then tonight it just popped into my head. Molly. Her name is Molly.

I just had a wonderful 4 days with my beautiful friend Jennifer. She came to visit me from SLC. We went to the movies and got pedicures and ate lots and lots and lots of good food and I didn't get one picture of the whole visit. Dang it! Jenn was my roommate at Ricks College, so we've been friends now for over 14 years. WOW! She is moving to Seattle next week. I've never been there so I can't wait to go visit her. She is also expecting her first baby and I'm sooo exited to meet her, or him, but Jenn thinks it's a her. Anyway, it was a great week and I miss her already. Thanks for sharing your wife Juston. Love you Jenn!

McKay

McKay is almost 4 and just started his first year of preschool. His teachers are Ms. Emily and Ms. Lisa. He was totally against going to school back when we registered but now he loves it and gets so exited when we even see his school and acts so grown up with is backpack and lunchbox. I've loved having so much one on one time with him. He is really funny and just a super cool kid. He likes cartoons and cars and throwing balls and going to the pool and riding his bike. His favorite place to eat is Chick-fil-a, but he calls it Chich-a-lay. He wants to eat lunch there everyday. He always wants to help with dinner and he always wants to say the prayer. He loves to snuggle and have piggie back rides. He likes to dance and be silly and bother his older brothers and sisters and he laughs a lot. He brings so much fun and happiness to our home. I can't imagine live without him.

Gracie

Gracie is 6 and is in 1st grade. Her teacher is Mrs Breithart. She loves school. She works hard and does a great job at school. She loves writing and drawing pictures. She's a good reader but she would much rather be read to. She has lots and lots of energy and loves dancing and being silly. She loves her friends and is a really good friend. She is a great snuggler and a big mama's girl. She is friendly to everyone. She likes to watch tv and ride her bike and her scooter. She loves going to the pool and is working really hard at learning to swim. Her bedroom is by far the messiest one in the house. She's not very good at getting her chores done but she helps out some. She likes to have her hair done and get dressed up. She comes up with some pretty great outfits, and she changes her clothes about 5 times a day. Probably why her room is such a mess. She's so much fun and makes me laugh all the time. I love her to pieces.

Abby

Abby is almost 8 and 1/2 and is in 3rd grade. Her teacher is Mr. Jaques. She loooooves school, and loves learning. They are studying space and she spent a whole evening making a solar system. It wasn't an assignment, she just wanted to. She did a great job and brought it to school and her teacher hung it up in the classroom. She is a happy, silly kid. She likes to play with Bryce and take care of McKay. She's always loving on him. She has the cleanest bedroom in the house and is very responsible. She does her own laundry and helps with cleaning the kitchen and picking up the house. She doesn't like me to do her hair very ofter but sometime she'll let me. She tries to get away with wearing make-up and can't believe she has to wait 4 more years. She's very dramatic. She is very social and has lots of friends. Her best friend is Alex. She can be kind of shy with adults but surprises me how brave she is, like trying out for the school talent show and doing cartwheels in the family talent show at the Pope reunion. She just passed the swim test at the community pool a couple of weeks ago. She tried sooo many times through out the summer but she never gave up. She's amazing and I love her so very, very much.

Bryce

Bryce is 10 years old and is in 5th grade. His teach is Mr. Rasavage. He is in an all boy class and is loving it. He does great at school. He is a good reader and really good at math and is an amazing writer. He could totally be an author. Plus he has great handwriting. He's great at sports and loves PE. His favorite sport is football. He just got his bear badge in scouts and is going into Webelos. He likes running, and has done two races with me this year. Of course not totally with me, because he's a lot faster than I am. He is very thoughtful and caring. He has such a big heart. He is always willing to help. He does his own laundry and takes his turn doing dishes, sweeping, vacuuming, and cleaning bathrooms. And he does anything else I ask him to do, mostly without complaining. He likes to go to story time at the library and participates with all of the little kids. It cracks me up. He likes to play Wii and play in the front yard with friends. He will still hold my hand in public and even kiss me goodbye in front of his friends. He talks in funny voices a lot. He has a great imagination and likes to make up games and play with Abby. He's a great big brother. He's just himself and doesn't care what other people think. He's fun and silly and I love him to death.

NATE

Nate is 11 and 1/2 and is in 6th grade. His teacher is Mrs. Leuschner. She's super nice and he is enjoying school so far. She even called him from home to check on him the evening after he went to the ER for passing out at school. He loves to read and is currently on book 8 of the Penn Dragon series. He's good at math and has a great imagination. His favorite sport is football. Currently he has decided he wants to be in a rock band. He will play bass and his friend Alex will play guitar. They sill need to find a drummer and maybe a keyboardist and a lead singer, and a song writer. He likes to sing "rock songs", but hates singing in primary and in music at school because they sing "childish songs". He also likes watching tv, riding his bike, and playing on the Nintendo ds. He set a goal for himself to become an Eagle Scout when he's 14 years old, and he's working hard to reach that goal. When he grows up he wants to make lots of money so he's thinking about becoming a doctor. He want to go to the Air Force Academy. He's very open and will talk to me about anything and everything, and I do mean everything. He's becoming quite a gentleman. Most of the time he will hold doors for people without being reminded. He gets embarrassed easily but gets over it easily too. Sometimes he will still let me hold his hand in public. He tries really hard to be responsible and show me that he's growing up and can handle more responsibility and privileges. He helps out a lot around the house. He does his own laundry, and takes his turn doing dishes, sweeping, cleaning bathrooms, and vacuuming. If only he would clean his bedroom. He is a really good kid and I'm so glad he's mine.

weren't you just here two days ago?

Yes! Yes we were. I was joking with Heather today about how now that we have reach Nate's annual insurance deductible, he can go ahead and get sick or hurt all he wants because it won't cost me a thing. What a dumb thing to say. Only hours later we were back at the ER with a dislocated thumb. It happened at school during PE. It was at about 3:15 and the 6th graders were playing capture the flag out in the playing field. I was walking across the field with Heather to pick up the kids from school. I saw Nate playing then when I looked again he was walking to the teacher, Mr. K, with his hand out. Mr. K looked at it, called for another teacher and started walking Nate to the school. I walked over to them and saw his thumb. I had to look away and told them to go inside. I was following them but had to stop on the bridge and almost through up. I pulled myself together, mostly, and went inside. There was a police officer in the building and someone called for him to come look at it. I think he called for the paramedics, which I thought was kind of extreme, but they came and looked at it too and told me that I needed to take him to the ER to have it X-rayed and set back in place by a doctor. So off we went. Heather took my other kids and I called Sam to meet me at the hospital. It was pretty quick and not too painful. The numbing shots were the most painful part. They pulled it into place, X-rayed it, put a splint on it and sent us on our way. And we still had time to make it to the back to school BBQ, were Nate got to tell the tale to all of his friends.

2010 pictures

Last Sunday we went to the canyon to get some pictures of the kids. Here are a few of my favorites. Hopefully in a few weeks we will get a family picture and I'll actually send out Christmas cards this year.