Zach's 9th Birthday

Yesterday was Zach's 9th birthday. He started the day by opening a new watch before school and then having chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.

Connor, Landon and I spent a few hours with him at the school also. We brought him McDonalds for lunch. Then we got to watch all the kids participate in a dance that the entire school learned, even the teachers, principal, and all the staff. It was for a grant or something. Savannah has especially loved learning it. My camera does not take good pictures of moving people, but you can barely pick out Zach in this one. He has on a green long-sleeve shirt and his face is just to the left of the kid with the orange UT Santa hat.

After the dance we party-hopped between all of the kids' Christmas parties. We went to whichever room was loudest and walked the halls in between. Landon wanted to fill the noise if it got too quiet when the teacher was talking. He especially loved stealing everything off of Zach's desk, which is when he went back into the stroller.

Savannah was all business when making her craft. She loves having Landon come and visit her class when I help each week, and the teacher and class love him as well. We go while Connor is at preschool usually. We didn't spend much time in Jacob's classroom because they were playing quiet games the whole time.

After school Zach played computer all afternoon until it was time for his party. He was allowed to invite four friends for pizza, cake and a movie. Zach requested a square chocolate cake with peanut butter M&Ms all over it.

One of his presents from us was a little bag full of foreign coins. He loves coin collecting right now and was very excited.

He got a couple of Bionicles and a Barnes & Noble giftcard from all of his grandparents. From his friends he received some Beyblades, a wallet with cash, a lego set, and Star Wars pancake molds. We will get to have X-wing fighter and Millenium Falcoln pancakes for breakfast on Christmas.

The boys watched "Phineas and Ferb: The Second Dimension" while playing with legos.

Connor & Savannah got to watch their own movie in the computer room.

Landon got free reign of the rest of the house.

This morning Zach used one of his presents from us, a mineral and gem digging kit. I love all of the interests that Zach has and am excited to see what he ends up in for a profession someday.

We love you Zach!

Christmas Performance

A friend in our ward organized a group of kids to go and sing at the nursing home this year. All four of my older kids said they wanted to do it, so they have been practicing the last few weeks. They've had a lot of fun and learned some Christmas songs that they didn't know before. They did a great job when we went to the nursing home on Wednesday. We go to another one on Sunday to sing in the hallways.

Jacob has also been practicing "Hark How the Bells" on the piano and played that for the residents as well. He did a great job.

Jacob, Zach, Connor and Matthew sang the 2nd verse and the end of the 3rd verse of "Little Drummer Boy." Connor forgot to come up and sing with them though.

Connor was just so excited to be there. I could actually hear him really well on a few of the songs (when he wasn't turning around watching the girls behind him singing).

Savannah was really into it as well. She's been practicing at home and I hear her humming all the time.

There were a couple of funny things from the residents that I got a kick out of. One old man behind me loved one of the little boys, but I still don't know which one it was. He kept saying "Look at that cute little boy! The one in the jeans!" Almost every child there was wearing jeans.

Landon was amazingly good. Normally he likes to scream for fun now when we go places, just to hear himself. But he sat quietly in his stroller through the whole performance, just watching and listening. When it was over I came and refilled his snack tray with some bread that I had ripped into little pieces. The old man in a wheelchair next to him just reached out and grabbed a few and ate them right up. It was so funny, like he was eating popcorn while watching a show. I quickly moved Landon away though so the guy wouldn't steal all his snack before we had to leave.

It's Gotta Be Jazz

Jacob's 5th grade musical was on Tuesday night. They did all jazz songs, and he seemed to enjoy himself.

They had a live jazz band accompany them and he really liked being right on the end next to the band.

Today the middle school students came and did a performance and presentation for all the 5th graders. They have to start picking their electives for next year in a couple of months. Jacob has decided he wants to try either orchestra or choir, so we'll see in a few months which one he ends up in.

Santa!

Today was our ward's Christmas party. We did a breakfast and then saw Santa. I was in charge of all the tables and Savannah came with me to set up. She was a great helper and decorator.

Landon was pretty cranky all morning and screamed when I took his pacifier and blanket away. So I gave it back to him, but he still didn't want anything to do with Santa.

Connor broke his glasses in the parking lot, but luckily we have a spare pair at home. He asked Santa for a diamondback rattlesnake stuffed animal.

Savannah asked for sparkly fake fingernails.

Zach asked for a Nintendo DS (again). Santa told him that he would check with mom to see if that's something that would be okay, but told him he better have some backup ideas. Smart Santa.

Jacob asked for some fancy Nintendo DS also. He got the same answer as Zach.

They had some crafts for the kids to do also.

This isn't about Santa, but explains why Landon was so cranky this morning. Yesterday I took him to the doctor. He had broken out in a nasty rash all over his body and I thought he was having some kind of allergic reaction. He has Fifths Disease, which is basically just a specific type of cold virus. But when kids get it they also have the rash with it. Now that he has the rash he's not contagious, but the doctor said it could last a few days to a few weeks. Poor little guy.

This is just a cute picture of Connor and his best little buddy. They go to preschool together and are in the same primary class. They play so cute together and I love to listen to their little conversations.

Miley the Snake

We got a pet snake.

Just kidding. We HAD a pet snake for the week of Thanksgiving. Miley is a corn snake that belongs to one of Jacob's teachers, and is the classroom snake. I was totally fine with Miley staying for a week because we didn't have to feed her or clean her tank. She is used to being handled by tons of kids every day and doesn't bite at all. (In case you're wondering, all of the kids in 5th grade had to have their parents sign a form if they wanted to be able to hold the snake.)

As you can probably guess, Connor was in heaven for a whole week.

Miley loves to wind through the kids' shirts. Connor thought it was funny the first time, but wouldn't let her do it again.

She also loved Connor and Zach's glasses and tried to crawl up there to rest. It didn't work so well though because she's a lot heavier than the glasses.

One day the kids were looking for her in the tank and couldn't see her anywhere. The tank was totally shut tight and I started to freak out for a few seconds. Then we figured out she had completely burrowed under the straw (or whatever is in her tank) and you couldn't tell at all. So after that we didn't worry if we couldn't see her in there.

Connor let Miley play with Stripey (his stuffed snake). He liked watching her slither all over the hard floor.

Landon didn't know quite what to think at first.

Then he want to grab at her with his death grip.

So for the snake's protection, Landon was banned from being anywhere near her for the rest of the week.

Connor misses Miley tons, but is content to have his stuffed snake to talk to all day. I'm happy the kids got the experience, but happy she's back in the classroom and I don't have to worry about a snake escaping into my house.

Thanksgiving Week

We had a quiet Thanksgiving week at home. We have so many blessings and were thankful to have time to spend together. Savannah helped make pie and rolls the day before Thanksgiving.

She also lost her other top tooth.

Dallin taught the boys the rules of football.

Many hours were spent helping Daddy put shelves together.

And Zach confiscated the leftover boxes to use as his "bed."

Before:

After:

I'm missing how Landon-proof our old entertainment center was, but hopefully over the next few months he'll learn to keep out of things some.
Merry Christmas to Dallin...a little early.

Savannah Banana

Savannah absolutely LOVES school. Everything about it. She was so excited about this "landform" project that we heard about it every day for a week before they did it. She was so proud to bring it home.

Savannah also still loves to dress up. I love watching her come out of her room, because I never know what crazy things she's going to put together. It's even better when her best friend comes over to play. They change at least 3 times while she's here.

On Saturday Savannah even tried being a piano teacher.