Christmas Fun

It's been a nice Christmas break. Lots of relaxing, lots of good food and treats, and lots of sleeping in.

Here are the kids making cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. (Based on what he left the next morning, Santa must've really liked those cookies.) =)

The kids also decorated gingerbread houses that afternoon.

Christmas morning officially began around 7 a.m. when the lights in our bedroom suddenly came on. And then the music started. Unbenownst to us, the kids had been working on a song just for Christmas morning. They took a Jonas Brothers song and wrote new lyrics for it - all about trying to get parents out of bed on Christmas morning. Courtney was on drums, Alyssa provided the vocals, and Jordan rounded out the band on electric guitar. (And yes, he brought the amp.) It was quite the way to wake up...

Here's Courtney with her Webkinz llama (a.k.a Joe). Don't you love their matching Santa hats?

Jordan with some of his Christmas haul. What would Christmas be without a new Lego set?

Here's Alyssa with her new organizer for all of her teacher stuff. And Santa left surprises in every drawer.

Here's Jordan posing with his marshmallow gun. You stick a marshmallow in the top and blow, and it shoots out the other end. I found them at a craft show and got the family a complete set. I think we'll be finding marshmallows for weeks...

Courtney was thrilled to get this little hamster!

Alyssa with her Webkinz (Spot, Pork Chop, and Courtney)

Jason, Alyssa, and Jordan rocking out on Guitar Hero. We got the drums for Christmas, so now we have the complete band. =) Definitely a fun Christmas!

Goodbye, Furry Friend

Pretzel the Gerbil

March 5, 2009-December 17, 2009

R.I.P.

Poor thing... He was fine the night before, out of his cage and playing. The next evening, I went in to add some bedding to his cage and realized he was...(gulp)...gone. Courtney was devastated. It was heartbreaking.

We had a little funeral yesterday and buried him in the backyard. We all tossed mini pretzels in the hole. He was a crazy, messy gerbil, but he will be missed.

Whew...Busy Week!

This past week was one of those weeks...

Tuesday...

In our school district, the kids get to go to "BizTown" when they are in fourth grade. BizTown is a kid-sized town set up in a building downtown. It has everything a real city would have - a bank, hospital, town hall, travel agency, utilities, post office, radio station, etc. Prior to coming, the kids get to pick jobs (including holding an election for mayor), and they spend several weeks learning about their jobs, how to set up a bank account, and how to use a checkbook. Once in BizTown, the kids work at their assigned jobs, get paid, cash their paychecks, and then spend their money throughout the city. It's a GREAT experience and very fun for the kids (though exhausting and chaotic for the parent volunteers). =)

Here's Alyssa hard at work at her business. She was the CFO of the Food Court!

Wednesday...

Courtney's class had a special Writing Celebration where they each got to share a special story they had written.

Thursday...

Jordan had his Winter Concert for orchestra.

Because it was a combined performance, we got to hear songs from the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade orchestra groups PLUS songs from the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade chorus groups. Courtney couldn't quite make it... =)

Our favorite violinist

Saturday, early afternoon...

Alyssa's dance group performed at halftime at the UNCC women's basketball game.

They did a great job, and we got to enjoy a free basketball game. =)

Saturday, late afternoon...

Then it was off to Jordan's guitar recital. Here's Jordan and his teacher cranking out a very impressive "Crazy Train" duet.

Saturday evening...

We dashed home from the recital and went straight to our ward Christmas party. We couldn't have skipped it even if we'd wanted to... Jason was one of the Wise Men. =)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Every year, we make the trip to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with Jason's family. Every year, the time passes too quickly. Good food, a chance to relax, Black Friday shopping, the BYU/UofU football game (Go Cougars!), and cousin bonding were all highlights of the week.

The older cousins at the grown-ups' table.

The younger cousins (minus Claire) at the kids' table.

What's this? Children with guns? Despite our Southern residency and the obvious redneck feel of these pictures, our Thanksgivings do not include hunting. Uncle Jared got out the old BB guns and took the kids in the backyard to take shots at soda cans. They thought it was great. =)

This was also our first time meeting our newest niece/cousin Autumn. Courtney was definitely the most enamored with Autumn and was always asking to hold her.

Kelli (Jason's sister) and her hubby Adam blessed Autumn that Sunday since everyone was in town. We took up four pews. =) It was a great long weekend!

Star Wars in Concert

A couple of weeks ago, Jason and I took Jordan to see Star Wars in Concert. Admittedly, I'm a childhood Star Wars fan myself, but it was pretty spectacular. There was a full orchestra playing the music from all six episodes while sequences of clips from the movies played on big screens behind them.

Anthony Daniels (C3PO) was the emcee for the evening

Before the show started, we walked around posing with characters from the movies and looking at costumes and props. Here are a few favorites...

Jason and Jordan with a Storm Trooper

Hanging out with R2-D2

And there's nothing quite like rubbing shoulders with a Jawa

I thought these were hilarious. I guess Chick-fil-A was a sponsor? My favorite was actually Princess Leia Cow, but we never did get close enough for a picture.

They also had big backdrops from the movies that you could stand in front of for pictures.

Definitely the best movie prop there.

VERY fun evening. =)

October Fun

Every October, we have three fun traditions to look forward to...

Pumpkin Patch

Here are the girls ready to ride off to find pumpkins

Boring wagon ride apparently =)

Court looking cute with her pumpkin

This year, the farm had added a bunch of huge farm animals. Yes, the kids wanted pictures with every one of them. No, I will not post them all.

If you know Jordan, you know he would dream up this picture.

The best part of the farm...the slides!

Every year it gets harder for them to all fit in this tractor wheel! =)

Family Halloween Dinner

Our family Halloween dinner is usually held at Melanie and Ben's house, but they are currently living in a small apartment while waiting for their NEW HOUSE to be finished. So we hosted this year and tried our best to live up to their high party-throwing standards.

Luckily, "the Count" had heard about our change of location and was still able to mysteriously leave the ingredients for Squished Witches on our porch. Here's Ben leading the very precise assembly process.

For the Squished Witches to turn out right, everyone in the room has to take a turn stirring while saying his/her name backwards three times. =)

The final product (Don't worry...they taste better than they look!) =)

And then it was on to pumpkin carving... Here's Alyssa scooping out her pumpkin.

Court and Ben











Craig and Joanna




Jordan

Alyssa and Dad

I threw this picture in to prove that Melanie was really there. She just spent most of the nite behind the camera. =)

And here are her fantastic Halloween cupcakes

Our finished pumpkins

Halloween

Halloween ended up being a pretty jam-packed day. The activities committee at church put on a carnival for the Primary kids in the afternoon. Then they had the annual hot dog dinner/fundraiser, followed by trunk-or-treating in the parking lot.

Courtney as a flower

Alyssa as a movie star

The kids with Melanie and Max at the trunk-or-treat

Jordan as a hot dog =)

Jordan had helped run the booths at the Halloween carnival but donned a costume later that evening when we went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood for awhile. It was a little rainy off and on, but we walked around with friends, so it was still fun.

The kids with their loot =)