December 2011

Rebecca is a sweetheart!  She gets so much attention from her siblings.  Amanda and Megan are especially good to play with her.

 

Jared attended a robotics day camp at Thanksgiving Point.  

 

Jared also won a competition from US Synthetic to draw safety posters that were then used in a calendar.

Ethan loves to be the center of attention and enjoyed the skit done with his Cub Scout den.  He also received some awards that night.

Joshua's school class had a fun day with each child wearing pajamas and bringing a decorated "train car."  The 1st grade classes paraded through the school as trains.  They then watched the Polar Express movie and ate donuts and hot chocolate.

Christmas is a favorite time of year and I love traditions.  Our family nativity pageant with the kids is always nice and often interesting.  The interesting part comes as the kids decide which part to be.  This year with our limited cast, we still ended up with a sheep and camel (maybe it was a cow) and a reluctant Mary.

Christmas Eve brings new pajamas.  Amanda and Megan's pajamas also came with matching nightgowns for their dolls.

Santa did not disappoint--new dolls for Amanda and Megan, tool box with tools for Jared, baseball net for Ethan, laser tag for Joshua and a tea set for Rebecca.

 Christmas was sure a lot of fun for Rebecca this year!

 

During the Christmas break, we spent a night at a hotel as Todd had a free night.  The kids loved having the swimming pool to themselves that night and then again in the morning.

The month ended by attending the funeral of my aunt Louise.  It was a very nice funeral and nice to be with family.  Even the van ride to California with my parents and siblings was enjoyable.  

 

My mom and her brother will especially miss their dear sister.

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November 2011

When I wait this long to blog, it is hard to remember even what we did.  At least I have some pictures to remind me!
 
Amanda, Ethan and Megan played in a piano recital.  It went well, although Amanda and Megan really do not like recitals.

 

 

 

Ethan's class at school put on a play.

 

Megan and Amanda took an after-school class for paper crafts through 4-H and the school.  The 4-H classes last several weeks.

Joshua and Ethan's 4-H after-school class was  jump roping.

 Thanksgiving was spent at Ryan and Tani's home and of course was delicious!

 Thanksgiving day was also Rebecca's 2nd birthday.  

 

 

Brent's family came to Utah for a visit so we had all the family over to our home for dinner and visiting.  It is always fun when we get together!

 

We ended the month by decorating our Christmas tree.   Our tree tends to have most of the ornaments towards the top because it seems to be more fun to decorate from the ladder!

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October 2011

October began with Ethan's 9th birthday party.  He invited a bunch of friends to the park for a kickball game, food and of course, presents.

 

Ethan also finished up the fall baseball season.  His team did well considering they are a new team and are in a very competitive league.  Ethan is pretty fast so he was the first batter and he loved to steal bases.  He played right field most of the season.  Baseball is a pretty big commitment with practices and then doubleheaders each Saturday.  Ethan loves it and is on a great team with good coaches and parents who do remember the games are for the kids.

Megan and Amanda did several Egypt projects for school.  They are wearing their Egyptian headdresses they received for their birthday that Grandma and Grandpa bought on their trip to Egypt.

The men put together a shed for the back corner of our yard.  

The kids and I went to Spookapalooza.  It had a lot of fun activities for the kids and booths for the parents.  Shannon and her mom and sister had a booth selling Norwex cleaning products.  They hired Jared to tie and give out balloon animals/creations as incentive for people to stop at their booth.

While they were working, the rest of us with cousins played.

Ethan and Amanda both were chosen to go on stage to help with the magic show.

With Jared's new balloon skills, he and the other kids sold balloon creations in the neighborhood.  The balloons seemed to be a big hit.  Jared was also hired to do balloons at a birthday party.

A few days before Halloween, we continued a favorite family tradition of making homemade donuts.  In the picture, Jared is drizzling them with glaze before delivering the hot donuts to friends.

Halloween is always fun!  Before trick-or-treating, we eat broccoli cheddar soup in bread bowls that look like pumpkins.  For a few years now, the college cousins (nephews and nieces for Todd and I) join us for the yummy soup.  The guys then hang out watching sports and handing out candy.  The rest of us head out for trick-or-treating.  In recent years, we've split up into two groups--those that have a candy agenda and those of us who are content to go the pace of the youngest.  The weather was beautiful and my costume actually turned out to be too hot!

Joshua went as a knight to school and then a turkey for trick-or-treating.

  

Ethan (in case you were wondering)

 

Jared donned a last minute costume so he could take the fast group trick-or-treating.

 Amanda

 Megan

 Rebecca (and Mom)

 

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