Family and Holidays

After only 12 years our Crock Pot broke.  When the new one arrived Spencer and Neil had a play toy that couldn’t be beat!  Not only was this box big enough to play in, Spencer also filled it with half the stuff in his room and brought it out to the living room for Neil to play with too.Aren’t they cute when they’re sleeping.  For some reason, our newest model (Neil) missed out on the sleep programming.  We usually get about two naps out of him one longer and one shorter - that is if you count 15 minutes as a nap.I just love some of the surprises I get when I download pictures off the camera.David and one of his mission companions came by for lunch – white chicken chili and fresh crescent rolls, thanks Rachel.  After lunch Rachel went to work and the rest of us played Parcheesi until I had to go to the school for the science fair.  David surprised the kids and came too.Mark’s project was seeing which was stronger: water or a water bottle.  The bottle won out even though it was a little misshaped until the ice melted.  And Jessie’s project was seeing if salt water had an effect on how quickly the temperature of the air above it changed.  She was trying to explain why the northwest has milder winters than we do.  She had a great experiment, but on her poster her question that the experiment was supposed to answer wasn’t stated clearly enough and so she only got a participation ribbon.  Poor girl, she was beyond disappointed, but smiled for the picture anyway.Abbie was cleaning her room and found a couple of things to take pictures with so they could be thrown away.  I love that everything on the elf, including his nose was rainbowed.We took David up to SLC so he could ship off to basic training.  Grandma had a tasty lunch all ready for us and we enjoyed visiting while the kids took the dog for a walk.Neil tried out a carrot and loved it.  We couldn’t even get it away from him when it was time to go, so Mark sat by him and when he fell asleep slipped it out of his hand.At the hotel saying good-bye to David.Rachel surprised my kids with a house full of Valentine’s.There were hearts all over the cupboards and down the hallway too.  And a sign posted by the bedrooms that read “only red or pink shirts allowed beyond this point.” The table was all set and decorated and heart pancakes were served for breakfast with all the trimmings.Mark got sick Valentine morning and kicked off our week-long-pass-it-to-everyone cold.  And we were so close to getting though winter without the usual colds. 

I did get to add one new plate to the collection on V-day.  Thanks sweetie.

Birthday Boys

To kick off the party for Mark each of the boys decorated a race car.  Decorated is a girly term…maybe we could say used some markers to quickly scribble on their favorite team for the Super Bowl. Rachel made these cute monsters for the celebration.  (It only took Ken five trips to the store to get all the supplies for the cupcakes and games!)The lighting… I just love Mark’s pose in this picture as he carefully watches over his treat.He didn’t quite get all the candles out in one blow.  Darn.After presents which included a couple of nerf dart guns (exactly what he was hoping for) the boys headed off to the church to play broom hockey.  For a puck we used rolls of toilet paper.  I wasn’t there to enjoy the fun of watching unrolling paper fill the gym, but Mark said they had a good time.  Rachel helped me finish putting together the boys balloon race cars.This is as close to organized as the chaos got as far as a race went.  Eight 10-year olds just aren’t real…ummmm….I can’t even come up with a good word here.  A few of the boys came back over after the party and a nerf war raged in the basement for the afternoon.

Jessie and Ken spent the afternoon working on her science fair project.  Do you love the blue teeth!Abbie and I had a little date and went to dinner at the Brick Oven with one of the coupons she got from reading.  We had a great time together, but eating out takes SOOOOOO long.  While we were at the restaurant Abbie saw a balloon artist going around to the kids and she kept turning around peeking through some decorations to see if he was close.  She was so hoping he’d come over, but kept observing how she was the only kid in the section we were eating in.    As we were finishing dessert, he noticed her and motioned to me to see if she wanted a balloon because her back was to him.  So here’s our happy girl with her bamboo eating panda.We celebrated Ken’s dad’s birthday with a totally delicious chocolate cake drown in caramel and whipped cream.  And we’re looking forward to a date with them this coming weekend to the Carl Bloch exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art.

A little here and there

Mark got second and third place in a couple of the pinewood derby races and fourth in his den.  It’s always exciting to hear your name.  A few of the highlights from the evening were…Abbie and Jessie not really paying attention at all but making funny faces at each other with Jessie’s friend and…my all time favorite was Spencer helping with the count down to each race.  “Three, two, one!”  HE LOVED everything about being here!Abbie’s 4-H afterschool class is Creative Cupcakes.  Here are her snowmen…the next day…..but their hats were still tasty.Spencer LOVES to wear his horse costume.  Sometimes when I ask him to put on his coat he asks if he can wear it instead, “because it keeps me so warm, mom.”  I sure hope it does because digging up snow in the garden doesn’t look warm.This was so sweet and funny!!!  Spencer changed my calendar for me….

Do you love our hair.  Spencer did it…now we match.Check out the egg we got from our chickens the other day!  I feel so bad for that chicken!  It did have a double yolk and the kids thought that was pretty cool.The kids (and Rachel) love to take pictures of Neil’s bed head.

January pictures

Neil is loves strings…this just made me laugh as he sucked on a tie from an apron while he patiently waited for me to get his rice cereal ready.  I convinced Jessie to taste some of the sweet potatoes and apples he got to eat the other day.  She was really surprised how good it was….”it tastes like pumpkin pie filling!” was her reply – lucky Neil.Abbie is so amazing with Neil and he lights up every afternoon when she walks in the door after school.  They were hanging out in the hall watching me fix Pasta Primavera for dinner and Abbie asked if she could share one of the carrots with Neil.  Neil loved it and was happy until I got dinner finished and could pick him up.Spencer, Neil and I got to go to the school and watch Mark’s grade show off their newly acquired Square Dancing skills.  He got to learn the Virginia Reel and one other dance.  He liked it way more than he thought he would.  Before they started learning the dances he was complaining to me about what they had to do, but then later when they had a couple of inside recesses because of the cold he convinced the teacher to let a group of them practice to fill the time.After the kids showed off the parents get to dance the Virginia Reel with their kids.  Spencer held Neil while I danced with Mark.  Unfortunately Neil didn’t really like this arrangement and started to cry.  Luckily one of the teachers came along and rescued both of them…that was so sweet of her!  After I danced with Mark they did one last one and Spencer got to dance with him.  Spencer was a little confused for most of the dance, but had a blast and Mark was so patient with him.  It was a great afternoon.We made a star of the week poster for Mark the week of his birthday and these were a few Calvin and Hobbes jokes that got included on the poster.  He and Jessie have so many of those memorized and it’s way more enjoyable to hear them retell them than to just read them yourself.Rachel was helping to entertain Spencer during his haircut by taking pictures of his silly faces….It’s pinewood derby time!  Luckily for us David was here and he helped Mark cut out a killer whale shape on the scroll saw and then they worked on sanding it down and he and I and Rachel painted it.  I’ll only mention the wood by the back wheel breaking off when Ken put the wheel on and the front wheel that wouldn’t quite get level for memories sake and say that overall it was a pretty good experience.For Mark’s birthday I made him a killer whale cake to match his pinewood derby car.  I think the multi-colored waves turned out pretty neat-o.We celebrated on Sunday with Ken’s family and then again on his birthday.  Because it’s ok to celebrate late and not really do anything on your birthday because you know you still have a party coming, but celebrating early and having nothing on your birthday is just depressing…not that I would know of course ;-).

Rachel made a LONG paper chain to decorate above his bed.  She even put it up without him waking up!  It kind of spooked Mark at first when he was waking up to see something hanging over him in the dim light.  But Spencer thought it was the coolest thing ever and has already requested decorations for his birthday too.

Neil tricks and the Berry’s Visit

First a few pictures of Neil.  Now that Neil is 7 months he’s big enough to fit into the 6 to 9 month clothes.  This cute outfit came from Grandma Jennie. Thanks!Neil has been able to roll over for quite some time now.  One of our favorite games to play with him is to put him on one side  of the bed and then to go to lay down opposite him and call for him to “come get me!”  And he’ll roll and roll and roll until he bumps right into you and gets some hugs and kisses.  Then you move to where he was originally and call him again and he rolls back to get you.  He just loves it!Spencer loves wearing the reindeer antlers he got at Christmas time.  The other day we were leaving to go grocery shopping and he asked me, “Mom do you think my antlers make people feel happy?”  While we were at the store 2 people commented about them and he was thrilled.  Do you love his silly smile?The Berry’s were able to come down for an afternoon of sledding.  It was a BLAST!  Angie and I chatted in the van while I fed Neil and Chris and Ken and the kids got started sledding.  When we came to join the fun they were making trains by holding on to each others feet.Ken and Chris were enjoining giving them a good push to get started down the hillThere they go!I had forgotten a hat for Neil, but Angie saved the day and we borrowed and extra they had brought.The climb back up the hill took a while…But we went again and again.  Sometimes in straight lines, sometimes in a circle, but always with an energetic push.Playing peek-a-boo with Neil – he didn’t get to ride down the hill.We stayed out so long we got to enjoy the beautiful sun set (plus we realized the baked potatoes we had been cooking back in the oven might be getting over done….oops!)Back at home we ate and then the girls drew horses and played while the boys put together a bunk bed for Rachel and I fed Neil – again.

We ended the evening with caramel apples and toppings….it’s amazing how many apples you can eat with a little caramel to go on them!!You guys are awesome, and we had so much fun!