Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!

Grandma Tina was afraid that we would not have anything to do on Christmas Eve so she thought up some games and a FHE lesson and a craft that the kids L.O.V.E.D. That is in addition to all the amazing food that she made for us to consume.

The Mitten/snowball/spoon relay was the favorite of all.

Another tradition: New Jammies.

Oldest to youngest: Drama, Pooh Bear, cousin E-man, cousin Roo, the Boss, & Bea.

Christmas morning brought many smiles, happy faces and happy children. 

With a new mountain bike for Drama (adult size)...

an Ipod touch for Pooh Bear... 

Princess dresses for the Boss...

and Pop-on pals for Bea...

 

Best garbage bag ever. It started as a bike gift bag but Drama's bike didn't fit. This year Grandpa only hauled one garbage bag to the curb. I don't think his garbage men like him very much anymore...

Poor, Dad. I think he is worn out from all the fun. He spent a lot of time in this position...

Christmas Eve Bowling

Christmas was a whole lot of fun this year. We went up to Grandma Tina's and Grandpa Phil's Christmas Eve. We got there just in time for bowling with the cousins. My little brother thought up this tradition long ago and it is still just as much fun as when we were all younger.

Bea didn't really get the whole bowling thing...

Drama and her cousin E-man comparing scores, intensely....

Pooh Bear looking for that elusive strike...

Me, tolerating the annoying paparazzi (a.k.a Mark. It's one thing for me to be in everyone's face, but I have to draw the line somewhere.)...

The Boss, well, the Boss is just the Boss. Apparently, she too is hounded by paparazzi...

As always, Bea takes a lot of hands to keep her out of trouble...

Pooh Bear and cousin E-man showing off their amazing bowling shoes...

Cheering everyone on...

We had a ton of fun, thanks for letting us come!!!

Pooh Bear's 2nd Grade Thanksgiving Play

November 19, 2010

Every year Ms. Cox's 2nd Grade class has a Thanksgiving Play. Some kids play Pilgrims and some play Indians.

Pooh Bear was cast as an Indian. Good thing that Drama had a report on Pocahontas last year, we recycled her costume for the play.

Grandma Van Horn came down to watch the play but she mostly wrestled with Bea while I wrestled with the Boss and vice versa.

Seriously, cutest face in the class....

Singing At Grandma Van Horn's Piano

For some reason the Boss thinks that the world revolves around her. She also believes that everything she does is super cute. Time to dig out that FHE lesson on Humility...

 Clearing her throat and getting our attention. Ahem.

The Beginning....

And the song is building......

And a grand finale......

Somedays

December 1, 2010

I am just not in control of the situation......

Drama's Book Report

December 3, 2010

 

When I was in fourth grade, a book report was, well, a report on a piece of paper. Now-a-days a book report consists of making a castle out of a graham cracker box, a couple of toilet paper rolls and a lot of imagination...

Drama was a little bummed out that she only got a 95% on her October book report. She lost points for neatness. So, she literally redoubled her efforts on November's report, a Historical Fiction. She chose to read about Queen Elizabeth.

Working draw bridge, Young Queen Elizabeth waiting just inside to greet her guests, flower garden, a glossary, and summary of the book.

Well done, Drama, you deserved every last point!

Nym-sastics!

December 9, 2010

Bea and the Boss started taking Gymnastics (the Boss pronounces it "nym-nastics") this month! (This was a trial class because the coaches wanted to make sure that they would like it. Ha! They start their real classes next week at Gymcats!)

Oh man, how much fun can two little girls have at gymnastics? It is truly A LOT.

They start out in the little gym and then they get to play in the big kids' gym on the big trampoline, in the big pit, swing on the rope, jump on the springy floor, walk on the tall beam.... too much fun.

So much fun that I can barely keep up with the two of them, let's not even talk about trying to take some pics of the action!

Pity Party

Welcome all to my Pity Party. You may or may not have noticed that I have not blogged at all this month. I'll pause for the collective *gasp*. I know you all think that I have forgotten about you and that I may not love you any more, but I assure you that that is NOT true. And here are my many excuses for not blogging this month:

1. Christmas. Hello, magic maker here, how may I help you? I have understood for years why Christmas was not my mother's favorite holiday.

2. New Job. Yes, I re-entered the work force just before Thanksgiving. I am now employed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know, right, have to watch my language. I am working for the Audio Visual Department and I will be writing user manuals for their new archiving software. It's a pretty amazing gig and I can't believe how lucky I am to have this opportunity. But, I had to look for a daycare solution for the Boss and Bea. My amazing previous daycare provider abandoned me and started teaching school so I had to start from scratch and find someone new, in about a week. But I had faith that the Lord would help me find someone to take care of my precious little ones. And I was right. I found an amazing woman, who had spots open and was willing to work with my crazy schedule until I got settled into a routine. The girls love going to Heidi's to "play with the kids."

3. And if making Christmas magical and starting a new job (one that I have no idea what any of the acronyms stand for) was not enough for one month I had gum graft surgery this week and I am seriously grateful for pain killers. I also fit 27 hours of Professional Engineering Continuing Education into this month so I can renew my PE license which will expire the end of March (but you have the have the credit hours in by tonight). Can you say, "procrastination?" My excuse here is that I wasn't planning on renewing my license but at the last minute decided it was probably easier to do the credit hours and renew that decide later that I wanted to re-instate my license.

So, there you go. All my reasons for ignoring this blog, (that I love doing, btw). I had a goal earlier in the year to have more posts this year that I did last year. I'm not going to make it but I am going to get a few in tonight. They will probably be out of order and random but any post with pictures of my crazy little trouble makers is a good one, right? Can I get an Amen?

And to make this post worth your reading time, here are a few gratuitous photos:

Bea (Love the gummy grin) - Feb. 28, 2010

The Boss (@ a Children's Fair in the Southtowne Expo) - Feb. 6, 2010

Drama (Best Big Sister EVER) - March 16, 2010

Pooh Bear (displaying one of her many school creations) - March 1, 2010

New Family Photos, Reprise

As you all know we had a do over on our family photos. I am so glad we did because I think that these are One Hundred times better that the last set.

Here are a few of my favorites. I have also update the girls on the side....

All the ones of the girls turned out amazing, they are so photogenic.

Man oh man. This looks so much better blown up to 16 by 20 and hanging over my piano than the previous one did. Don't you think. (I know I didn't show the previous one, but trust me, it's better. So just nod your head yes.)

Don't you love it when your pictures make your heart smile?

I have uploaded them all to Walmart's photo website so if you want copies, email me and I will send you the link unless you are a creepy stalker and then you are out of luck. If you just want to see them all, cause you are a creepy stalker, I have also uploaded them to Picasa, here. And I put some on Facebook just cover all my creepy stalker bases, cause I heart you all! (I just noticed that you can order photos from Picasa now, lucky you, stalkers! But I took extra time and uploaded the larger files on Walmart's site, so  if you want good photos you still have to email me. Ha!)

Also, if you wanted to be surprised when you open up our Christmas card (which isn't coming for a while because I just ordered them Sunday night), don't look over to the right there were I embedded it in the sidebar. Shutterfly said they would give me a $25 gift certificate if I "shared" it all with you here on the blog. And we all know that there is not much I won't do for a free $25!

I almost forgot to give props to our totally amazing photographer: 

Kristen Spencer

Here is her Facebook page

& her website.

Highly recommend this little lady if you are in the area, or not, she's worth the trip. 

She's A-MAZ-ING with the kids.