Zach is 8!

Zach's birthday was on Thursday. He turned 8 years old! Zach will be baptized for our church on January 8. In the morning before school he got to open one present. He chose the heavy one. It turned out to be his own set of scriptures for church. Our birthday traditions include no chores or homework and picking whatever you want for all of your meals. When I asked what he wanted in his lunch he said "I want milk with my food!" (Usually he just has a water bottle or a juice box.) It was nice that he was so easy to please. For dinner we had pizza.Then it was time for presents. He got a Webkinz that he named "Frazil." (Pronounced like Frazzle)

A while back he had told me that he wanted a wallet to keep his money in. I passed the information on to Grandma LeSueur and she came through. From the LeSueurs he got a new wallet with $8 in it!

Our only other gift for him was this box. He was very confused when he opened it and just found a bunch of papers...

...until we explained that the papers were tickets for our entire family to go to Sea World on Tuesday for his birthday. He was so excited. For about the last year Zach has been really into ocean creatures. He has said that he wants to be an oceanographer when he grows up, so we thought this would be the perfect gift for him.

Zach requested a chocolate cake covered with Kit Kat bars. A "Kit Kat Cake." This is what I came up with...

We love you Zach!

Collections

I have a couple of collectors lately. Every day I open Jacob's lunchbox to find this...
This is his collection of Silly Bandz. If you don't know what this is just be grateful. They are rubber band bracelets in the shape of anything and everything that kids like to trade. Apparently Jacob does his trading at lunchtime. (Side note: Zach is not allowed to bring Silly Bandz to school. A classmate accidentally shot one at his teacher and they are now banned for the entire 2nd grade.)
And Savannah collects rocks on the playground. She puts them in her pocket and then stows them in her lunch box at lunch time. Every night when I make her lunch I take them out and add them to her collection. It kind of makes me curious what I'll find in Connor's lunchbox someday.

Strong Family Pictures

We got family pictures taken while we were in Arizona. We went to the temple grounds, forgetting that the Christmas lights were all up. Oh well, they still turned out great. In the picture at the top of our blog I actually photoshopped a little on my own to get rid of a few of the lights. The photographer was great! She did all of Dallin's siblings' families individually, then all of us together (over a couple of days). Our photo shoot only took 20 minutes, which is awesome when you have 5 kids that don't want to smile and sit still for very long. If you live in Mesa here is the link to her site:
www.kristencarterphotography.com

We came back later that evening for the large family pictures.

Dallin and his parents and siblings...

All 20 grandkids

Cub Scout Zach

Today was Zach's first day of cub scouts. He is a Wolf. His den went to a nursing home this afternoon to sing Christmas carols. Their families were invited to come along too. Jacob had his own cub scout meeting at the same time, but the rest of us went with him.The boys had made Christmas cards and Zach loved passing them out to the residents. He has been very excited to wear his scout shirt. It's been hanging in the closet for him to look at since Jacob got a bigger one.

Piano Recital

Yesterday was also Jacob & Zach's first piano recital. Jacob has been playing since he turned 8, but I've been teaching him. (He had a teacher for a month or so, and then she moved away.) Zach just started playing a couple of months ago. A friend of mine started a little theory group for 3 of us who are teaching our kids ourselves. Once a month the kids go to a house and play theory games, learn about a composer, and play songs for each other. Then we'll also have a recital twice a year. So far we are loving it. It is great for them to be able to have something to work towards.

Jacob played "Silent Night" and "Freight Train"Zach played "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" and "My Favorite Day"It just so happens that all the other kids in the group are girls. They needed some boys to even things out.

"Santa Claus is coming to town"

Yesterday was our ward Christmas party. We had breakfast and then worked on a service project, making dolls to go to Africa (or something like that...we missed the presentation). Savannah loved working alongside Dallin cutting out material from a little pattern. Connor helped too, cutting the large scrap pieces into millions of little scraps.

Jacob helped inside-out the pieces after they were sewn.

Then it was time for Santa! This face says it all...

Connor is terrified of mascots and people dressed up, but for some reason Santa doesn't phase him. He climbed right up and gave Santa a big hug. He told Santa he wants a baby chick for Christmas. In the car on the way there he told us he was going to ask for a diamondback rattlesnake. I was kind of looking forward to seeing the look on Santa's face when he asked for that one...oh well.

Zach asked for a reindeer Webkinz. He also asked me why Santa was wearing tennis shoes. I told him it was because we don't have snow here, so he doesn't need boots.

Jacob asked for books.

Landon stared at all the people smiling at him.

Savannah was TERRIFIED of getting anywhere near Santa this year. I finally coaxed her to take this picture, with me between her and the scary man. She was gone the second it was taken.

1 year 2 months 10 days

...and Jacob's braces are off!He was so excited for this day. He'll be getting a retainer next week (a blue one with a Superman symbol on it) that he'll have to wear for the next few years. Jacob had 3 baby teeth that were loose and they couldn't get the braces off of them...so they just pulled them out! He has 3 teeth with braces still attached to put under his pillow tonight.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We finally started getting ready for Christmas! Dallin's sister Melinda had us for Christmas this year. She told us to open both gifts early. The first was a "witch-a-ma-snifter." That is a total inside joke for their family and it was quite funny. I don't have a picture because it rotted before I thought about it. The second gift was "The Elf on the Shelf" book. It has a little elf with it that goes back to the North Pole each night to report to Santa. For Family Home Evening on Monday we gave him a name and placed him on the shelf. Meet "Winston the Elf!" When the kids wake up each morning he is in a different place. They love it...especially Savannah. She told all the kids in her class about our "flying elf."The kids have been begging to put up the Christmas tree since we got back. Yesterday they had an early release day so we spent the afternoon decorating.It finally feels like Christmas!