The last week of the year

I don't have any pictures...I know, your jaw is dropping. I retired the camera for the week and relaxed a little. Here's the goods and bads of the week:

Good: I got all of Christmas taken down and de-junked the kids' rooms
Bad: Our house seems so bare now. I really need to get curtains someday.

Good: We were fish-sitting for a friend for all of Christmas vacation. I did not kill the fish and the owner picked it up last night.
Bad: Our pet fish Rodimus is very fat and on a diet (or he has some fish disease).

Good: We've been to the park a couple of times because of the nice weather we've been having.
Bad: My car smells like stinky kids who just went to the park.

Good: We have a fun evening planned for New Year's Eve. We're going to McDonald's for dinner and having a movie night. Then the kids will go to bed by 8:00. (They're actually okay with this...they know they get really cranky if they stay up late.)
Bad: I haven't been able to keep my eyes open past 9:30 or 10:00 so Dallin will have to bring in the New Year by himself (not much new there actually).

Happy New Year!!!

Christmas Day

Christmas was great, like always! I'm a mean mom and make my kids get dressed and eat before we can open presents. Connor also woke up really cranky, and that carried on until his nap later...but other than that it was a fun morning!

We opened our stockings first. Each kid got a new movie (Savannah - Barbie, Zach - Scooby-Doo, Jacob - Tom & Jerry). Zach decided on Christmas Eve to set out a small stocking for his pet fish Rodimus. Luckily Santa was prepared and actually had a new fish toy for his tank.Then we read our first clue from Santa. He always leaves a little treasure hunt for the kids to find their presents. That's what he did sometimes when I was growing up and I remember loving it. The kids ended up finding a big bag in the laundry room. Our whole family got a new dustbuster from Santa (since that is one of the kids' jobs). Jacob & Zach each got a new Bionicle. Savannah got pretty dress up shoes, crown, and earrings. She kept saying "Santa is just so nice Mommy. I'm going to look so beautiful!" And she pretty much hasn't taken them off since then.

Connor got Alphabet Blocks from Santa and was in awe...

Then it was on to other presents. Savannah opened an envelope telling her to go and look in the computer room. This is what she found. She was SO excited! It was totally worth going out in the freezing cold and getting wet cleaning it off the night before (since it's used).

Connor was hilarious when he opened these Super Why toys. He got one from us and one from Jacob. He didn't see the front with the actual toys. He just thought the picture on the back was so cool. When we finally got him to turn it around and see the toys it was just that much better.

Dallin got some new clothes, shoes, giftcards, and a razor...

This was one of Jacob's favorite gifts...a whole stack of Bionicle chapter books (from Ebay). He's already read through some of them since yesterday. He also got a couple of small little Lego sets and has made all kinds of mock battles.

Zach's favorite gift...a fish Webkinz from Grandma. Heaven. Zach also got an I Spy board game that he was excited to play, and really good at.

I got a couple of giftcards, old family pictures on a flash drive (thanks Marilee!), earrings, a new book from Dallin, and a vacuum (that was badly needed...I'm so excited to get rid of the old one).

This was fun for the kids to open. They were really surprised for a minute and then excited. And then they forgot about it for a while. :-) Savannah wants a sister and the boys want a brother...typical. I've been craving Mexican food like crazy and had taquitos for breakfast yesterday. Not breakfast taquitos...just regular spicy chicken taquitos. I went to the doctor earlier this week and everything looks good so far!

The boys got a CD player for their room. They also got a cool new computer game that they can play over the network with Dallin. They spent the afternoon doing that.

Connor got a big Super Why from Grandma. He's been carrying it around ever since then. Can you tell the kids loves Super Why?

After we finished opening presents Savannah immediately got decked out in her "pretty stuff." She also got a "jewel" necklace from Zach that he had picked out and paid for just for her. Savannah LOVES the new game we got from Uncle Justin & Aunt Tanya (Sequence For Kids). I think total we played it at least 10 times with her yesterday.

Connor also got this fire truck couch from us. He have an old play couch like this that Connor drags all over the house, so he was really excited to get his very own. He loves to drive his Super Why "Why Flyers" all over the road on it.

Jacob helped Dallin put together my new vacuum...

Savannah bugged us every 5 minutes (all morning long) until I finally took her out to ride her new bike. I was surprised at how well she did on it, without any practice. She has a hard time going uphill, but otherwise does great all on her own! Then she got Dallin to take her out again later too.

It was a very fun Christmas and we're thankful for all the nice gifts we received. We're very blessed!

The Best Christmas Present!

August 12 to be exact. We're so excited!

Christmas Eve 2009

For Christmas Eve we went to our friends', the Corbetts for dinner. Afterwards we "acted out" the Nativity. It was short and sweet.

Our kids were Mary and the Three Wise Men...Angel Janalynn

Mary & Joseph (J.D.)

Then the shepherds came (Jake & Joey)

Jacob had to force Connor to come pay homage to the baby...

When we got home Dallin and the kids checked to see where Santa was. (He was off the coast of Africa I think.) They set out cookies for Santa and Zach left food for the reindeer in the front yard, in the freezing cold...it actually snowed again a little bit yesterday.

Christmas card class

A friend of ours owns an art school close by, the Cordovan School of the Arts. On Tuesday Jacob & Zach got to attend a holiday card-making class and loved it! Jacob said "That was already 2 hours? It went by so fast!" They each painted 4 cards.snowman, Grinch, tree, & Santa
Zach made a "police" snowman

Yesterday the weather was so nice that the kids and I went for a long walk on the trail near our house and played at the park. I think it was in the mid-70's. Today is super windy and 28 degrees. Gotta love Texas weather. Savannah & Connor went out (all bundled up) for about 10 minutes but just about froze in the wind. I made rolls and apple pie this morning while the kids have built forts and played computer with Dallin.

I also found out this morning that my brother Steven and his family are for sure moving to Texas! He got a job as a police officer in Midland, TX (about 5 hours away) and will be moving in about a week and a half. It will be nice to have them closer! Congratulations on the new job Steven!

Cute kids...

Annual kid picture before church on the Sunday before Christmas...(Thanks for the cute dress Rapier girls...Savannah loves it and has been waiting for it to fit for months!)

See ya' later butterlies!

On Saturday afternoon we finally said good-bye to our "pet" butterflies. The kids were excited because the butterflies took a little while to fly away, so we got to hold them and play with them for a little bit. Our friends' kids were over too and got to be part of it...

10th Anniversary

It's been 10 years!!! Dallin and I were married on December 18, 1999 in the Mesa, AZ temple. We went to San Antonio to celebrate while our awesome friends, the Benoits, took all 4 kids. It was even their own anniversary on the 19th, and they still had our kids for most of the day. We left Friday at lunchtime and checked into our hotel. We then went to the movies, out to dinner and then on a Riverwalk boat cruise. It was so pretty with all the Christmas lights and decorations.This is the Rivercenter Mall that surrounds one end of the Riverwalk...

In the morning we slept in and then went to a session at the San Antonio Temple. It was a relaxing trip and a great time.

Cub Scouts at the fire station...again

Yesterday we also went on a field trip to the fire station for Jacob's cub scouts (yes, it was a super busy day and I was exhausted by the end). I went along as a parent (and sibling) chaperone. We went during the summer, but Jacob's pack has all new boys in it and a new denmom, so we went again! Zach was actually excited to do this on his birthday and proudly wore his birthday hat from school wherever we went. I caught Connor saying "I love you Sunannah" and Savannah giving him a big hug back. I love moments like that.

My 4 little stair steps (although Zach's hat is blocking Jacob)...

We were holding this hat up when we took the picture since the helmet is so heavy they were worried about the weight on her neck. She was proud to have a try with it though!

5 eight-year-old boys plus 4 siblings makes for lots of craziness and fun!

Happy Birthday Zach!

Zach is 7!!! Yesterday was Zach's birthday. He's been counting down the days for at least a month. He got to open one present before school......a Dallas Cowboys hat from Daddy! He then got to eat his special "birthday" breakfast of choice...chocolate donuts (and a banana). He took chocolate Zingers to school for his treat to share. I told his teacher that we don't do any homework or chores on birthdays at our house and she helped him finish everything at school...even his reading, which was nice.

When he got home from school there was a card waiting from Grandma & Grandpa with $10! His face was priceless...all smiles. He insisted on immediately driving to Walgreens, where you can get a 2-pack of Webkinz for $10. He got cows and named the little one Fluffy.

We then went to the fire station for a cub scout field trip with Jacob. I'll make a different post of those pictures. We had a little time to kill and went to the library after so the kids could pick out some books for Christmas break. Then it was time to pick up the pizza for dinner...Zach's request of course.

After dinner it was time for presents! This little package held a note that told him he is signed up to take an Abrakadoodle art class after school starting in January. He's wanted to do that for a long time.

You can't have a birthday or Christmas at our house without getting books. His favorite right now is Junie B. Jones.

His last gift is a space projector. It has slides of all the planets and stuff from the solar system and it projects them onto the ceiling. It has 3-D glasses but they don't work that well. He still liked it though and was excited to use it when he went to bed.

Zach requested a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting covered in M&M's. He also picked out plain chocolate ice cream. Are you seeing the theme of the day? This kid loves chocolate.

We had a moment of trauma when Connor tried to blow out the candles before we were finished singing. Zach was not happy about that. Overall it was a fun day! And only one week until Christmas now!