On Your Mark.......Get Ready.......GOOOOOOOOO!!

So this was Carter's first Pinewood Derby and he was soooo very excited!!!
So we followed the path to the pit stop and registered his car and you could make any necessary repairs there too.
Then it was off to the photo ops.....
as you can see Carter enjoys his picture being taken!
Here is the track.........
Here are his competitors........
Here are the trophies that our Cub Committee Chair made for the boys....super cute and creative I think.
Here is Carter with his pit pass on and his trophy and car......he didn't place in the finals but who cares it was fun for him!!

This is the whole group of boys.
Of course I had to get Walker and Kenna's picture!!

Hangin' Out With You Is My Favorite Thing To Do......

I hadn't been feeling good for a few days and on the first day Walker and Kenna pretty much played quietly outside my bedroom door in the hallway being good to each other and being good helpers for me until Rob got home at about 9-10 am. On the secound day same thing. So on the third day when I awoke at 9:30 instead of them waking me and I noticed it was quiet and remebered Rob wouldnt be home till like noon I went downstairs and they had turned on PBS and got my electric blankie and were just being soo good and they hadnt even made a big mess. I am one lucky Mom.

Lamb of God.......Primary Activity Day

This year our theme for Primary is:

I Know My Savior Lives

“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth” ( Job 19:25)

So traditionally our first activity of the year is to meet your new teacher and to introduce the theme to the children. We showed them the bulletin board that monthly we would be moving a pair of feet around from one location to the next to chronicle the life of Christ.

Then they watched a sweet slide show with pictures of Christ set to the new song for this year which is "I Know That My Savior Loves Me".

Then the children rotated to their class to meet their new teachers.

Or to the treat station where they could decorate some heart shaped cookies. They were heart shaped to remind them of the love the Savior has for them. Our Primary President spent forever cutting and baking cookies with her husband the night before...way to go Carrie!!

The other rotation was the craft location where they made a lamb craft to remind them that they are the sheep and the Lord is the Shepard. I spent for ever painting 100 plates black,cutting 100 pipe cleaners for the mouth, going to a couple of stores for enough pink pom-poms for the nose and punching 200 ears for the lambs....at about the 100 mark I thought about maybe making the lambs be special and have only one ear each but I didn't want any of the children to be traumatized so when that part was finally done my hand was all deformed and cramped up for awhile!! The poem that we put on the back of the lamb said:
"Jesus is my Shepard, His little lamb am I.
He knows me by name;I know that he's close by.
I'll follow him in faith. And to prove my loyalty,
I'll obey all His commandments, for I know that He loves me."
The kids had a fun time and it turned out great.

Rocking around the Christmas tree, let the Christmas spirit ring......

This year I was a little stressed about how we were gonna make it a good Christmas for our children because since we are self employed in the construction trade our income has dropped drastically. We stressed to the children that this would be the leanest Christmas ever and I worried that they didn't fully understand that and would be disappointed on Christmas morning....BUT this was a wonderful Christmas!! They received the main thing they had asked for and a few other things.

Cooper got up at the crack of dawn as usual and we kept telling him to go back to bed until one of the babies awoke. Well finally at 6 a.m. we let him go wake them up. They were not to sure about the whole thing at first!

Cooper had been having behavior issues for awhile leading up to Christmas so Rob had told him Santa wouldn't be coming to see him because he was on the "Naughty" List. So he never made a Christmas list since he was only getting presents from us but he was still happy with the few things he got.

Cooper loves sports so he got a new Phoenix Suns Jersey. He also collects the Guinness World Record year books. He is all about facts and information so he was thrilled to get the 2010 edition!

Walker was so excited to get the movie he had been wanting!

This Bionicle was the only thing Walker asked to get for Christmas. He was absolutely certain he was gonna get it from Santa because he kept asking Santa and he would run and help anyone and everyone with anything and every time afterwards he would ask/point out that he was being good and nice so Santa would come. It was quite handy there for awhile when I needed him to do chores he was running and skipping as he did his and Kenna's too!! Sometimes cleaning up stuff with out ANY ONE asking him too......it was heavenly!!

I didn't get many pictures of Carter because as usual he was running all over and never in one spot for more than a second. He is always a hard kid to buy for he likes many things and rarely has one specific item that he wants. So he got a Bionicle so that he could play with Walker and of course he liked it.

Kenna enjoyed the clothes,lotion,purse,glasses, dolls, and play kitchen things she got.

She really wanted Santa to bring her a motorcycle.....not a bike but a REAL motorcycle!! It took alot of convincing that she would not be getting a motorcycle so she had better pick something else so she finally decided a bike would be fine!

She was so thrilled with her bike. She pointed out the color and the basket and the streamers and how pretty they were just like I knew she would!!

When we asked Tanner what he wanted for Christmas his list was short.....socks and a electric guitar. Well the socks were a sure thing but the guitar we told him we would try but no guarantees. We told him to think of something else...something cheaper just in case. He said that he would rather us not waste any money on other things that he really didn't need or want if he couldn't have a guitar. He wasn't sassy, rude, or trying to lay on the guilt just his normal direct and to the point self.

He got the Harry Potter movie because he has always been a fan and our tradition had always been when the next movie would come out him and me would have read the book then get lunch and go to see the movie on opening weekend together but this year we were unable to so he was glad to finally see the movie.
He was so thrilled when he did get his guitar he was choked up and misty eyed as he thanked me over and over....made me cry too at how appreciative he was.

He has been teaching himself how to play and is pretty good.

After presents we had our traditional breakfast casserole, baked french toast with homemade buttermilk syrup, fresh fruit and cinnamon rolls. Then my parents and lil sister and her fiancee came for the traditional Christmas Ham dinner with all the fixings....YUMMY!! So it was a low key Christmas and the peace and joy and happiness was abundant!! This was our first Christmas in this new home of ours and I loved it and Rob said it was his favorite Christmas ever!

'Twas The Night Before Christmas........2009

Our Family tradition is that we all get together on Christmas Eve with the Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. We started this the second Christmas after I had moved out of the house. I wanted to spend the time with my family and so I had suggested we all gather at my place which we did, and have been doing every year since for the last 18 years I think it is. We always do the meal potluck style so no one person has the burden to feed all 25-30 of us. We usually have it at my house or my parents house. We usually do a gift exchange too.
I didn't get alot of pictures not very many wanted their picture taken.......
Here is part of the group getting ready for the presents.

This year we had it at my Mom's house again. Since the economy has hit everyone bad this year we didn't do a gift exchange the kids opened their gifts from Grammy and Papa so that Grammy could see each child as they opened their gifts. Grammy puts alot of effort into picking just the right gift for each child while still staying in her budget and I think she did great in getting a special thing for each child. Kennedy loves her Snow White Barbie doll.
My Dad one year surprised us "Kids" with a present this is not the normal though. That year all the girls got this Salsa chopping machine because he had one and just can't live without it so he got all us girls one. He got all the boys Leather-mans that year. Ya know keep it all even and fair! This year with him serving/working at the Cannery we got jars of jelly/jam to add to our year supply. I got Peaches, Strawberrys, and 1 Raspberry Blackberry. I thought the Strawberry would be my favorite but the Raspberry Blackberry was most delightful!!

Sissy is a reader.............

My friend call one evening and asked if we could watch her kiddos while she and her husband attended a wonderful fireside by Mark Mabry. I of course said sure. My kids were so happy to have their friends over. Kenna had played with them before but this time for some reason she had a fascination with their baby. She managed to get him to sit with her while she read to him. It was so cute. He just kept eating and listening to her tell him all about the book. I don't really know what all she was telling him but he sure paid attention........until his fruit-loops ran out!!

p.s. notice the book is a disney dictionary..lol....

I Love to see the Temple.......

Went to see the Temple Lights for FHE in December. We had my parents go with us too. We all had such a super great time. Loved all the beautiful lights.
A sweet missionary offered to take our family picture.
My parents went with us so Rob insisted they get in the picture too.
Cooper,Carter, Kennedy, Walker and Tanner
The Christus statue in the Visitors' Center. The kids were in awe looking at it.

Walker asked me why they had a firework up on the top!! haha I love that goofy kid!! :)

Kenna, Tanner and Cooper

This is a typical picture........
Tanner and Cooper wrestling around. Carter trying to get in the middle of the action. Walker watching everyone else. Kenna off in her own lil world!!
My Mom and Dad and Carter. We were so happy that they decided to go with us. It was nice to spend time as a Family and the peace of the Temple grounds just made it that much better! Rob and I are so grateful for all the help my parents give us with the boys and getting them to school every morning even though it can be a pain and inconvenience to them. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

O Christmas Tree, O christmas Tree...........

Well Rob has always had a grouchy disposition when it comes to putting up Christmas lights.......actually anything to do with Christmas gets him grouchy!! We call him Scroogy Mc-Grinch and it fits him well!!
What a sweet surprise when I got home from my primary meeting back in December before Christmas Scroogy McGrinch (AKA Rob) had bought and put up outside Christmas light decorations. They were even the ones that the week before I commented on in another yard that I liked and how many you would need to have to look the way I would like it. Thank you hunny!!!!

An evening with Santa..........

We had our Ward Christmas party this week and let me tell you it was..................GREAT!! The activities committee really took into consideration the ages of the children in our ward when planning it. The majority of children in our ward are under the age of 8-9 years old. So it started off with everyone being told that Santa had been sighted in the area and if they would sing loud enough he would hear them and come for a visit. So of course we sang and Santa came running in.

Santa told the children what he has been up to and asked if they had been good of course. He told them while they ate their dinner he would wander around and visit then later the children could tell him what was on their list. He then helped them recall the real meaning of Christmas and talked about the Saviors birth.

Walker was in awe of the whole thing!! We had a delicious ham dinner with all the fixins!! Super yummy!! Then they had a craft set up in another room for the children.
The craft was pipe cleaners that we strung with beads and made into a snowflake. I didn't see one child complain about the craft they were all so excited!!
Walker enjoying his project.
Kenna getting her craft on!

Even Cooper made one which surprised me because I thought he would claim to be to old.

Carter put his finished snowflake on his shirt because it was a "spider". After this all my boys turned their snowflakes into spiders which made them even more fun to play with!!

After the craft we went and the kids got to visit with Santa and tell him what they are wishing for Christmas. Kenna was to scared to go up to him. Walker was a bit nervous but he wants a Spider Bionicle sooo bad he risked talking to Santa up close. Carter could have went on ALL night talking but we cut him short after a bit so everyone behind him in line could have a turn. Santa's helpers gave them a treat.

Then we went back to the cultural hall and had dessert and visiting till it was over. It was great to be able to just have a chance to visit and make friendships with the different people in the ward with out having a program and needing to be quiet. I love that it was low key and that it was geared towards the children so there wasn't the crying and frustration out of boredom. Way to go activities committee another success!!!