Happy New Year!

Wishing you and yours all the best for 2010!

The Best Snow on Earth!

Highlights:

Myles finding our camera in the snow!
Dad doing a back flip (wish I'd had the camera out for that one!)
Johnathan going down on the saucer all by himself
Being on top of the snow bowl surrounded by mountains
Having a beautiful, warm day
coming home for cocomotion

Sweet Memories

One of the sweetest parts of Christmas for me is watching the girls give gifts and homemade cards to each other and to Myles. One of my favorite memories of Christmas this year was finding Macy hiding under the coffee table with her stocking full of treats. She was happy to hand me her wrappers. She was SO excited about her bubble gum that she chewed it all by the time we sat down for breakfast! She was also super excited about "lip stick" (chap stick). Ahh, the simple things in life!

I also like our tradition of giving a hug to whoever gives you a gift. For those who sent packages, we send you a long-distance one!

Christmas week

Blast from the Past

Back in 1983, little did I know that my future husband was gluing his school picture on an ornament for his mama, too.

Horton Hears a Who

This was a fun game the girls got this year that they enjoyed playing with their cousins. This board game proved to be anything but boring, especially when we threw a dragon, an umbrella, and some Hubba Bubba into the mix! They were laughing so hard, I was glad we didn't have any accidents.

Carly loses her 1st Tooth

She put it in a baggie to save so she could show Grammy. When I looked at it, I thought it was weird that it looked gritty. Myles said, "Oh, that's cinnamon and sugar on it." She lost it while we were eating butter with cinnamon and sugar on fresh, hot bread. So, it turns out, she lost her sweet tooth!

On the first day of Christmas Break, My True Love Gave to me...

extra sleeping in for me! I woke up to this cute scene of Myles and the girls spending quality time together. How times have changed. I remember my brothers waking up at the crack of dawn to watch cartoons. Now, it's PBS Kids online! (video clips, games, etc)

After breakfast on their first day off from school, Carly and Robyn started playing school right away. They made weather charts, helping hands, and a schedule for the day, which included playing Christmas bells for music and going sledding for PE. They weren't going to waste a minute, and loved being the ones in charge!

Dashing through the snow..

in a one-wheelbarrow sleigh. This was Myles' idea a couple years ago of how to go caroling without the girls getting too tired. Even though they're big enough to walk now, they still think it's so fun!

While You Were Sleeping...

Carly made a life-size pilgrim ("too bad there weren't Christmas colors available, or he could've been an elf, mom") and the girls had a fun photo shoot.

For Unto Us a Child is Born

Miss Amber did it again. Somehow, every year, it is even more amazing! I love starting out the Christmas season with this dance recital. Macy loved waving to us. Carly took her part very seriously, and was able to enjoy it, too. So glad to have another dance year with Sara!

Celebrating with Cousins

www.aretegymnastics.com

This is a super fun place you'll have to check out if you're local. You can pay $5 to use their equipment for 2 hrs. during open gym on Saturdays. A great place for kids to play, especially during the winter months!

Parrot Party

Happy Birthday, Carly!

I love this girl!

I remember taking pictures of Carly Noel in a Christmas stocking and inside our big wreath like it was yesterday. It's hard to believe she's 6, (She told me she doesn't feel any different today) and yet she's grown up so much this year. She's taken off on her two-wheeler, learned to read, and is dancing away. She continues to be thoughtful and sensitive beyond her years. She also cracks me up. She's a good friend. When she gets an idea in her head, she figures out how to make it a reality, whether it be how to make her own purse or how to host a parrot party.

She brings me joy. I love it when she smiles and her eyes light up. I'm so glad she's in our family and that I've gotten to spend another magical year with her.

Happy Birthday, Carlita!

Live Nativity

This was pretty exciting for us and the kids! We've never been so close to real camel before.

They were a little disappointed that there wasn't a live baby, though, and that Mary didn't ride in on the donkey. (I think maybe he was a little too small).

Thanks, Edyn, for the invite, and Mom for the yummy cinnamon and orange rolls! What a great way to start the Christmas season.

Daddy Daughter Date

Myles started Carly's Birthday week off with a date to an international Christmas dance performance. I think I was as excited as she was. She was so cute about getting to go on a Daddy Daughter date all by herself, especially at bed time!

PS Thanks for the darling dress, Aunt Sue!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

We were so excited to wake up to a world of white. It finally feels like December!

Robyn was so cute about volunteering to shovel while waiting for her ride to school. Later, Carly did the same. We had a blast sliding down the snow-covered slides in our slippery snow pants at the park!

Macy (while licking the snow): I like snow. It's good for our bodies.

Carly (singing): Shoveling the snow is fun to do, fun to do to do to do, shoveling the snow is fun to do to do to do to do!

Carly (after getting ALL bundled up for school): I have to go to the bathroom!
This reminds me of my mom telling me how when I got the perfect attendance award for preshool, she thought it should've gone to her instead of me. She'd get me and my twin brothers all bundled up in our snowsuits and buckled into the car when one of them would have to go to the bathroom, every time!

I think the cold weather puts me more in the mood for baking. Macy helped me make bread. When I explained to her what yeast does, she said, "That's so cool!" Then, we read "Where Does Bread Come From?" in Richard Scarry's book "What Do People Do All Day?" Able Baker Charlie uses a little too much yeast.

Numbers

This is a great game Myles played with his family growing up that we played at Thanksgiving. You'll want to keep it in mind for your big Christmas parties!

You know how it goes. You've worked all day or maybe even all week buying and preparing food. Everyone's eaten it before you can hardly blink, and then the HUGE mess in the kitchen awaits you. This game is a fun way for different people to get to work together for short amounts of time to get a big mess cleaned up quickly so you can move on to bigger and better things.

Depending on your size of kitchen and size of mess, start with 2-4 people in the kitchen. (This is a good game for kids, too. It gives them skills--math skills, helping out skills, moon boot skills...) They can choose whatever they want to do to clean up.

Everyone else sits at the table enjoying each other's company. One of these people thinks of a number between 1 and 100. You go around the table, having everyone guess the number, each time the person thinking of the number saying either , "lower" or "higher." The lucky person who finally guesses the number hops up to help, relieving the person who has been helping longest in the kitchen. The person who is relieved thinks of the new number.

Thanksgiving Highlights...

Mike making cookie turkeys with the girls
Myles fixing the car
Apryl's pretzel jello
turkey in brine
street hockey
Robyn learning to play chess
hike to the canal
girls sewing purses
sleepovers
story times
just being together
sing along with guitars
Robyn's pilgrim place settings
Ryan's baptism!
deer sighting
Elayna's smile
Ethan's sense of humor
Catch Phrase
Foosball
leftover pie for dinner
sunny days

Gram's Visit

A visit with Gram wouldn't be complete without...

a trip to McDonalds with a play land, getting ice cream, reading stories, movie night with popcorn, having fun every minute!

This time, Gram also got to go to 2 museums (one with Carly on her field trip) and the library, have dinner at our house with Uncle Mike and Great Uncle Tom, feed the ducks, watch Carly ride her bike, and have fun with glitter gel paints.

Art Lessons with Great Uncle Tom

It was SO wonderful to have Uncle Tom come visit us! He is someone who is gentle, constant, and talented. He is someone who takes time for people and always does a good job.

He brought us back some dirt from Death Valley to watercolor with. It worked great and was lots of fun!

Robyn's Race

Robyn ended up placing third and helped bring the trophy home to her school. It was fun for her to get to run with some girls from her class. I'm enjoying watching her take interest in her own things, like running and playing the piano.