Christmas Eve

A shepard, an angel, and a wiseman who insisted on being a king for the nativity. :)

A lamb who was not happy at all about his costume. He decided to sit this year out.

One of the traditions John and I started with our kids was to give them an ornament each year that represents something about them from that year. The kids love these ornaments and look forward to getting them out all year. This year we ended up with a Hannah Montana suitcase (K), a tinkerbell (E), a Little People firetruck (C), and a Christmas puppy (M). They opened their ornaments to add to the tree and headed to bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads! Now we are just waiting.... We have one VERY excited 3 year old that is listening for Santa's sleigh bells and can't figure out what is taking him so long to get here. He's planning to wait up to see Santa and trap him! Merry Christmas, everyone!

What the kids are up to...

Emily started piano lessons! She is so excited she can hardly stand it. She loves to practice and we hope that lasts awhile! She keeps asking when she'll be able to play songs like Kelsie. Emily is fiercely competitive so I have a feeling she won't relent until she feels she's reached that level of mastery.

She is also reading like crazy now. It is so fun! She just reached that point where she can pretty much read any book she picks up and she is always reading. Her favorite thing to read is the picture version of the scriptures which makes me so happy. Note how she squints her eyes and face up as she reads because she's trying so hard to figure out the hard words ( I really don't think it's cause she can't see...hopefully). I know I'll miss that in a couple of months. It's really cute.

Carter loves holidays and especially loves decorating his room for the holidays. He is currently coloring hundreds of Christmas pictures to hang all over his walls. It is a little calmer than the spooky Haunted House that over took his room in October. I love his enthusiam though.

Matson is the sweetest baby ever. Yip. I'm positive he is. He walks up to us and gives us hugs and kisses all through the day. If I come home from running errands he comes to the door to greet me and blows kisses at me and then reaches out his arms while he waits for me to come in and hug him. He melts me....well, really...all of us!

Kelsie learned an entire 5 page piano duet "The Entertainor" in less than 2 weeks. Her teacher and I are both pretty amazed at how quick she mastered the song. It just goes to show how much you can accomplish when you WANT to learn something! She is so excited to play the duet with her best neighbor friend at the recital. She practices it constantly! Fun times!

Carter's Fire Station

I had to show off Carter's latest creation. I saw this idea on one of my favorite education blogs (No Time for Flashcards) and had to make one with my little firefighter! He painted it all by himself. I was imagining it all red but he insisted on painting it like this. It turned out really cool and looks like it's on fire. I guess he knew what he was doing!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thansgiving with my family this year. My grandma Hansen came down from ID and it was really fun to spend the holiday with her. I've only spent 2 or 3 Thanksgivings with my grandma in my life, so it was fun for me. My girls also got to take her and Grandma Peterson to their Grandparents Day at school and they thought that having Great Grandma there was really neat!

Before dinner I helped the kids make turkey placemats.

They turned out super cute!

Carter getting ready for dinner.

After dinner, John broke out his new Bingo set and everyone had fun playing Bingo together.

Grandma and Kelsie playing Bingo. My grandma had more Bingo experience than the rest of us and kept winning!
Matson wanted to bring a pumpkin to the feast, just like the 1st Thanksgiving!

Then, we worked on a little service project. We decorated and filled "snack sacks" for the Food Bank. These sacks will go home with children whose families come to pick up food at the food bank. The kids loved decorating the bags, finding some of their own little toys to put in the bags, and filling them with snacks. Such a fun way to think of others at Thanksgiving. Thanks to my sister for arranging it. My girls loved that they got to help other kids and can't wait to do more.
Matson found his own way to be entertained. He thinks grandpa's empty medicine bottles are the greatest blocks ever! :)One last shot... I love this picture of Matson and Great Grandma. Matson loves Grandma and kept bringing her books to read to him. Of all my kids, he is my baby that warms right up to new people the most. He grins and makes friends with everyone, everywhere we go. At church, he walks around and find new people to visit and share his books with every week. He's a funny kid.

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Surrounded by the Things He Loves

This picture pretty much says it all. I went to check on Matson and found him sleeping on top of his dog with his books sprawled out all around him. I think he is even smiling in his sleep. :) I'm sure he is because nothing makes this baby happier than books and animals!

And our happy news of the week is that Matson FINALLY sleeps through the night. It only took him 15 months but it sure is nice to finally be there! I had forgotten what it feels like to sleep for more than 3 hours in a row and it sure is nice!

Reflections

Kelsie won 1st place in the photography category for Reflections! Her entry was entitled "A Gallery of Diversity" and was a picture she took of crayons spilled out on a piece of paper. She received a trophy and ribbon at an Awards Ceremony this week. She was very surprised when they announced her name and was so excited! Her entry now goes on to the Regional Level for judging. Good job, Kelsie!

Here are the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners that were at the Awards Night. Kelsie is standing next to her friend, Brianna, who won 1st place in the musical composition category.

Here are the girls with their entries. Emily entered the visual arts division with a picture she drew and received a ribbon.

Emily's Birthday and Cheerleading Party!

Happy Birthday to our cute 7 year old! Your birthday was such a fun day and we had such a good time spoiling you and celebrating our happy, spunky little Emily! We decided to do a cheerleading themed party this year because Emily loves gymnastics and wants to be a cheerleader when she grows up! :) This is her megaphone cake!

I wasn't going to do a party this year but when I saw this idea I just had to do it. It was so perfect for Emily and I love planning themed parties! When I told Emily we could invite a cheerleader to come to her party she was SO excited. She couldn't believe a REAL cheerleader was coming for her birthday! It was really the highlight of her whole birthday! Here she is with her cheerleader guests. When her friends arrived we played a couple of games, then we handed out pom poms and megaphones and they decorated their megaphones with glitter and foam stickers with their names. They turned out cute! Then our special guests arrived. They took them outside and taught them a couple of cheers and then taught them to do some jumps, etc... and showed off some tumbling skills! Then we videotaped all the girls doing the cheer together. It was really fun! Emily was really serious about learning the cheers and was very attentive! It was really cute.

Here are the cheerleaders teaching the girls a cheer. Thanks to my cute cheerleader neighbor and her friend for being the stars of the party. They did a great job with the girls and entertained them for a long time. It was a really easy party to plan, thanks to them!

The birthday crew

Sorry this is super blurry but I love that it captured her, up in the air, practicing her jumps!

After her birthday party, we had a little family party and she opened her gifts from us. She has been begging for a pillow pet for over a year and was so excited to finally get her favorite one--the giraffe! She was so excited to get it!

She loves her pillow pet! Happy Birthday Emily!

The day after her birthday her best friend Lizzie invited her over to open her present and have a late night. She gave her pajamas to match her doll Kirsten. And Lizzie had a matching set for her and her doll. They looked so adorable and had a fun night giggling together!

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School Dedication

Kelsie is in the school choir and she got to sing at the dedication ceremony for our new school. It was neat to be part of the opening of the school. I was suprised when I arrived to see the principal I taught under at Grovecrest. She works at the district level now and was at the dedication for the special needs school that is attached to our school. I was so excited to see her as I respect her greatly and enjoyed catching up with her. She told me to call her when I'm ready to go back to full time teaching so she can give me a recommendation. I thought that was really nice of her. It never hurts to know people in high places! We love our new school and love being a part of all the first of this FIRST year!

Happy Halloween

Here are this year's costumes. I have great neighbors who lent me costume for my 3 oldest to wear this year and they looked adorable! I bought Matson's at a garage sale for 50 cents and it still had tags! On Halloween we hit the school parade in the morning, classroom parties at noon, and then headed to John's work to trick or treat. Then we rushed home to get ready for trick or treating with our cousins!

Drew and Julie came over for dinner and trick or treating with us. We got to meet our adorable new cousin Sterling and had so much fun trick or treating with Ellie (AKA Rapunzel)! The kids hit our whole side of the neighborhood and got TONS of candy! We loved having them here!

Cute Giraffe. Matson was so excited when he got his first piece of candy from trick or treating. He didn't know what to do. He started shaking and grinning and then sat right down in the middle of a cubicle at John's work and started eating it (wrapper and all). :)

A scary pirate. Carter insisted on being a pirate this year although I tried to persuade him to be a cute monkey. He wanted to be scary. His favorite part was holding up his hook hand and saying "AARRR")!

Pretty Felicity: A Colonial Girl. Kelsie was delighted when I told her my friend had a Felicity dress she could borrow for Halloween. She looked beautiful and spent a lot of time explaining who she was... :)

A peppy cheerleader. Emily was out practicing her kicks and cartwheels along the curb all afternoon. It was the perfect costume for her.

Happy Halloween!

UEA Weekend

We had a fun visit from Aunt Michelle for UEA weekend. We got together with all the sisters (and my dad) for dinner at Applebees. It was so much fun. I may have had a little too much fun and embarrassed some of my family. :) The next two days were a marathon of family time with going to the Discovery Park, painting pumpkins, having birthday parties, and catching up. It was so fun to have Michelle in town. The kids loved seeing her and even Matson seemed to remember her and LOVED playing with her! Thanks for coming to visit, Aunt Michelle! We love you and miss you!

All the cousins with their decorated pumpkins

Emily, Carter, and Kelsie with their pumpkins

Happy Birthday John

Happy Birthday to John--the big 35! We pulled out some baby pictures on his birthday and couldn't believe how much he looks like our little Matson, especially since we've always thought Matson looks more like me.

John took the day off and got to go with Kelsie on her fieldtrip to the State Capitol. This was kind of cute. When Kelsie found out her fieldtrip was on her dad's birthday she said, "That would be the best birthday present for dad. He can come on my field trip with me." :) We thought that was pretty cute and John was excited to go with her. They had a good time and learned a lot and John came home very tired from all the walking. One of the boys in John's group told Kelsie, "your dad is really cool". John is pretty cool. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have passed the "cool" test to a 4th grader so I'm glad he got to go. :)

That afternoon we went to the pumpkin patch and to dinner at Cafe Rio to celebrate. Happy Birthday to John!

Catch Up

For Conference we made a tent to listen to the prophets speak to us (like the people who pitched their tents toward the temple to listen to King Benjamin speak). We've done this a few times but this year it worked really well. The kids loved it and they quietly drew pictures,etc.. in the tent.
Carter went on a fieldtrip to the fire station with our preschool. He loved it and still wants to be a fireman when he grows up!!!! He showed his true stubborn streak when he was playing at a friends house. He wanted a snack but refused to say "PLEASE" to get one. He told Talya, "my mom doesn't let me say that word". :) I couldn't have been more proud! So I guess we need to do a little work on his manners. That boy is so stubborn and he sticks to his guns when he decides something. I'm sure that will be a good trait at some point in his life, right?!?

Emily had her last soccer game. She is a talented little player and was completely delighted by her super sized medal! She and Carter have become the best of friends lately and love to play all afternoon together. I love it!

Kelsie is obsessed by Hannah Montana and loves her music. She went garage saling with me on Sat. and was delighted to find Hannah Montana paraphernalia everywhere we went. She got some real bargains and came home happy with a movie, Barbie, and singing stage. I guess it works out to start liking a pop star when everyone else has moved on. Kelsie is starting to have boy problems. It seems a bit early to us (she is only 9 after all), but she's got some boys that tease her and her friends incessantly at school. These particular boys came over to invite her to come out and play "night games" with them on Fri. night which her parents were not keen on at all (luckily either was she). I am really not ready for this next stage of life that is creeping up on us all too quickly.

I sold all the furniture in our living room a few weeks ago on KSL. I love my empty room, but it really bugs John. We are hoping to find a good deal on KSL for a couple of chairs or something to make it a bit more homey. Hanging a picture would be a nice touch too, I guess. Decorating is really not my thing. I wish I was good at it.

Primary Program

The girls had their Primary Program today at church. They did such a great job on their speaking parts. This is the 1st time I've been in Primary for the whole year and have seen the program all come together. The practice yesterday was mass chaos, but today everything came together and the kids did an amazing job. I love being a Primary teacher. I have grown to love these kids and I'm uplifted by their testimonies and faith. I'll admit that I miss Releif Society and having time to connect with other adults. I often don't go to RS activities because I don't even know about them and I feel out of the loop. But I do know this is where I'm suppossed to be right now. One of my favorite songs the kids have learned this year is "If I Listen with My Heart". I love this song that testifies of truth to me. I listened as 150 little Primary children sang the words to this song and I knew that there is nothing more important then helping these children to know and love their Savior. I have also learned that I do not need to be in an adult Sunday School class to learn and grow in the gospel. I have learned greater things about the gospel this year as I sat in a very noisy Primary room surrounded by 6 year olds. Here are the words to this song:

If I had been little child when Jesus lived on earth, I would have liked to walk with Him and listen to His words, But as I search the scriptures I can hear His words of peace, And if I listen with my heart I hear the Savior's voice.

I hear a living prophet speak the things that Christ would say, if He were here upon the earth to talk with me today. The prophet teaches how to live in righteousness and peace, And if I listen with my heart I hear the Savior's voice.

I feel the Holy Spirit as He teaches truth and right. He comforts me in times of need; He testifies of Christ. He speaks to me in quiet way that fill my soul with peace, And if I listen with my heart I feel the Savior's voice.