Pine Wood Derby 2011

"Most Futuristic," we were voted this year. Jared and London had a grand ol' time researching yet another new design of Pine Wood Derby cars. And this is what we got. I helped with the paint job, of course, but it wouldn't look half as cool if those boys didn't do such a good job with the wood working part of it. And here's all the competition. Crazy eh? The cute little pink crayon in the back row actually won. Apparently the crayon design is a fast one, we'll see if it shows up at NASCAR, but for Pinewood Derby it's great.

3rd Place this go around. We've discovered over the years that the key to a fast car is to get the weight right before you get there. Taped on quarters really cut down on wind resistance.

London and the other Cubs having a good time. They really didn't care what place they came in, as long as they could just hang out together. Left - Right on the Cubs: Carson Obourke, Liam Moss, Kent Mohr, London, Ty Kennington and the full head on the bottom is Sam Strathearn.

Valentines Playgroup

Aren't they so stinking cute! We made little Valentine Headbands ("Crowns Mommy, they're Crowns") at Playgroup today. They turned out so good, and the kids looked so cute I had to snap this shot.

But poor Xander on the right has a teeny little head and that band just slipped right down. I tried to get everyone to smile a second time, but that was not going to happen. This was 1 of at least 8 shots. Best you can get from five 3 year olds. But a much more favorite time of the day was our make shift slide. Due to our bedroom change around we have 2 extra mattresses that make the most perfect indoor slide ever. Safe and soft! I just had to remind them to take turns and not run over each other one the way down. :)

Colonial Confectionary

London's 5th Grade class is learning about Colonial Times. They were all assigned a certain career to research. They had to make a store front sign, write 1 page about what their job would have been, and do an oral presentation.

Of course the project was handed out before Christmas but we didn't get down to work on it till about 3 days ahead of time.

But I must say it turned out quite nicely. A friend of our, Allison Bowman, has a boy in 5th grade too. They'd made their sign out of wood and just painted it and she had some leftover. So we made this beautiful sign, wrote the 1 page (handwritten mind you, typed would have been MUCH longer), practiced out the Oral Presentation about 10 times, and even made some home made Caramels to hand out to his class. As a Confectioner is a Candy Maker after all.
He got 100%, way to go London!

Man! Not Again!

Sometimes you just don't want anymore help around the house. I swear as soon as the older 3 get home from school all heck breaks loose.

Today Sicily wanted to drink the rest of Phoenix's Gatorade that he didn't finish out of his lunch box.

Mom, "Sure Sici that's fine."
Sicily "Glug, Glug, Glug...Oops!"
Bang!
Roll, Roll, Roll!
Those are 12 inch tiles! I didn't know a bottle could roll that far, that fast.

And this of course is all happening while I'm trying to make dinner, (strongly) encourage piano practice, helping with homework and I think the dryer buzzer just beeped to tell me it was done.

Welcome to my house. :)

Crazy Dog

Our new little puppy is really great. He only barks when there's a stranger at the door, he doesn't dig, jump on people, or lick you to death. He really doesn't have that bad of breath. And when you send him out front to play with the kids he never takes off down the street. The only problem is...
he won't come back in. London and 3 other 10 year old boys chased that dog around for a good 15 mins and could not catch him. It's just a game. And man is he quick!

Relapse

Phoenix had a relapse in his Flu late last week. Poor little guy just could not stop coughing. The nebulizer was the only thing that worked. And even then he still missed another day of school and church on Sunday. But I am happy to say we are ALL now healthy. And what's better, for once, Mom never got sick....Knock on Wood! Thank Goodness. Because even Jared caught it and I don't know what we would have done.

Sisters Sisters

My girls have recently decided that they love each other unconditionally. Last week we did a room change, the boys now have separate rooms and not only are the girls in the same room, they are also in the same bed. I knew if we gave them 2 Twins Sicily would end up in Aspens bed every night anyway. So they are in a Full bed together and they love it. Sicily can no longer fall asleep with out Aspen being there by her side. And when Aspen gets up for school, at 6:15, Sicily bounces out of bed with her. Last night as I tucked Sicily back into bed, after her going potty, I gave her a kiss good night. "Momma, kiss Aspen too." And though Aspen was dead asleep I gave her a kiss too. Sicily is so concerned for her Aspen.

This morning at breakfast I asked Aspen, "Do you want to sit by Phoenix or Sicily?"
"Sicily!" Aspen said.
To which Sicily responded, "Because you love me. And I love you!"

I love that they love each other.

State Report

Aspen picked Alaska. We had a lot of fun yesterday drawing, coloring, and glittering our poster about Alaska. We thought it turned out pretty well. I never knew Alaska was that large in comparison to the rest of the USA. It's 2 x's the size of Texas.

In her oral presentation she had to give 2 reasons why she'd want to live in Alaska:

# 1. In Barrow, Alaska it's light for 87 days straight, so you don't have to go to bed for 87 days. "But Mom it's not even dark outside."

# 2. In Alaska you have Moose and Bear come right up to your door step.

Funny what they find amazing about a place.

3 Little Sickies

I should say 4 little sickies really. Aspen was out of school Thursday and Friday of last week with a spiking temperature and nasty croupy cough.

Well apparently it has a waiting list, because it hit London in force Monday night, so he's now missed Tues and Weds of school.

It then quickly moved to Phoenix who made it to school on Tues but not Weds.
And now Sicily has it too.

Of course Jared is out of town this week with work, New York no less. He gets back tonight though, thank goodness. But to be honest it's been the easiest sick house we've had in a long time.

They have NO energy and don't even care if there's a movie on or not. All they want to do is sit and stare at the wall. It's so sad really. But it only lasts about 2 days. London should be up for school tomorrow, and Phoenix and Sicily will be good by Friday I'm sure.

Pretty sure it's the Flu! So if I were you I'd stay clear of our house till the weekend at least.

Scrambled Eggs

Sicily was finished with her breakfast this morning, but took one more huge bite before she got down from the table. It was too big of course, so she spit it back on her plate amongst the plate full of eggs.

Sicily - "Daddy I done."
Dad - "Can I eat the rest of your eggs?"
Sicily - "Yes, but don't eat that part...it has my germs on it."

The After Nap Event

The after nap time is not always filled with smiles. She did not want Daddy playing with her, so she was hiding under the blanket so he'd leave her alone. Much to her dismay that didn't work.

Little Troll

We found a little Troll hiding in our bag of mini carrots. Isn't he cute.

New Years Eve

I was too busy having fun to take any pictures so I'll just record what we did in words this time around. Our awesome friends the Allred's offered to Host the 10:00 New Years Eve Party this year. There was plenty of really good food, drinks and friends. We set up 2 Wii's and the kids ran crazy.

In the end we kicked them off one Wii and plugged in "Just Dance 2." As married, family adults we just don't get the chance to dance all that often. It's funny what people are willing to do when everyone else is doing it. :) And when your kids are forcing you out of your chair and pushing a Wii remote in your hand you really don't have much choice (every Dad there).

We left around 10:30 and the kids were still buzzing when we got home. Some neighbors were shooting off firework so we hopped on our bikes, put glow stick bracelets on all the kids and went to the park at 11:00 at night to watch the show.

There were 2 separate homes in the neighborhood shooting them off. And we had a good laugh at the cop that kept going back and forth between the 2 trying to catch them in the act. Fireworks are not allowed in our neighborhood.

We headed home at 11:45, watched the Ball Drop in Times Square, banged pots and pans (which Sicily and Beaux were not fans of) then forced the kids into bed.

It was a good New Years Eve!

Just Dance 2

We found the best Wii game known to man. It is so stinking fun, really gets you moving and gets everyone involved, even those not playing along. Mostly because they're just laughing at you while you think you can dance.

Lassie and Beaux

I don't know how she found it but "Lassie" was on TV one Christmas afternoon and Marlene, the kids and dog loved it. Poor Beaux. Every time Lassie would whine or bark his ears would prick up, he'd start looking around the room, eventually looked out the window cause he could NOT figure out where that dog was. :)

Christmas Favorites

A real Bow and Arrow, complete with a bale of straw with target in the back yard. The best Pillow Pet ever. Huge, Huge, Huge! More like a Bed Pet. Perfect for movie watching.

You'll shoot your eye out. Real live BB Gun and an airsoft gun from Uncle Mark and Aunt Wendy (thanks!).

Webkinz Oreo. She sleeps with this everynight and hasn't shed one tear about our real Oreo since Christmas.

The biggest highlight that the kids were sworn to secrecy about (threatening of no presents for Christmas if they told) Dads new Leather Jacket. He's wanted one to wear with his bike forever and we got an awesome deal.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Elf PJ's

Santa's little elves come to our house on Christmas Eve, using their jet packs of course, to bring up one gold wrapped present each. And of course they are new pj's. Aren't they cute!
This shot is of course following our Nativity post so the craziness is obviously still lingering.

Nativity

Like most families on Christmas Eve we try to read the Nativity story. And this year we decided to act it out.

UN-like most families our Nativity was not the most beautifully organized skit. And thanks to Marlene laughing along with all the chaos it kept the Spirit of Christmas there with us all.

Sicily of course was Mary, she's such a good little Mommy who else could we choose.

Next we move on to our Angel coming to the shepherd and his 1 sheep. Or would you just say shoop."Sit Sheep, Sit! Good sheep."

"Mary you forgot your hat."

"The Star, The Star do you see the Star?"
"OH! I'm the shepherd?....I thought it was the Wise Man that made the sheep sit."

"Do you see the star sheep? Do you see it?"

"LOOK AT THE STAR!"

Mary singing "Hush little baby" in the background.

"Quite sheep, Jesus is sleeping."

And for some reason we're all in white, except Mary.

Thanks Daddy for the great Narration, that I'm not sure anyone really heard. And thanks to Marlene for documenting this craziness.

Wrapping, wrapping and more Wrapping

I'm so glad Marlene was here for Christmas. We didn't rush around like we usually do when she's here, but we had a heck of a lot of fun all the same. And with Christmas for 4 kids, if it wasn't for her I would probably still be wrapping presents.

People actually hire Marlene to wrap all their gifts. They'll bring her paper, tape and their entire Christmas, come back the next day and it's all magically done. Loving that she was here!
Jared on the other hand built card castles while we wrapped. :) He pays Aspen to wrap his gifts.

My Awesome Hubby

I don't know how many of you know but I have the most amazing husband there is. Good singer, ballroom dancer, can cook really well, loves kids, speaks Spanish, is an awesome Engineer and can fix or build ANYTHING. There is not a better husband out there.

So to prove the anything point, check this out. I don't sew, I try but I can't really claim that I'm really good. But I was literally an inch away from finishing some curtains and my needle jammed in the fabric. I couldn't get it out, it wouldn't go up and it wouldn't go down. So Jared being Jared took it all apart and somehow, I honestly don't know how, got my curtain out. And even more important was able to put the sewing machine back together. :)

Thanks Baby! You're the best!

Running Wreck

With all the yummy Christmas food in the house I was desperately needing some exercise. Phoenix needed some one on one time, so we combined the two and went for a running/bike ride. I ran and he biked. It was so fun. We even took the dog. Life was good, we'd crossed the bridge, ran next to the river and were just heading back over the bridge to head home when things took a turn for the worst. Literally!

The sidewalk on the bridge is wider than a normal sidewalk so I thought I'd run up right next to Phoenix instead of behind him. Bad idea apparently. He's only been on the 2 wheeler for about 2 weeks and is still a bit wobbily. As I came up next to him he veered, bumped my hip with his handle bar and lost control. We both went down in a heap.

I honestly don't know what happened. But when I got up my knee was completely scuffed and bleeding, my shoulder too and also my opposite shin. Phoenix was a little tangled in his spokes but otherwise ok.

Discovering all of this my next thought was to look around, and too my great pleasure there was not a soul to be found. YES!!! Nobody saw us wipe out. I must say though, that probably would have made one awesome "Funniest Home Video."

Sicily's Famous Apple Pie

Aunt Marlene did a wonderful job teaching my girls how to cook while she was here for Christmas.

Sicily's greatest creation was her beautiful Apple Pie. SOOOOO GOOOOOOD!! The best part was mixing the apples, "Scoop aaaaaand Flip, scoop aaaaaaand flip, scoop aaaaaaand flip." She was so cute and those little apples were all very evenly coated with their sugar and cinnamon. Add a few beautifully cut hearts and you have one scrumptious apple pie.

Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate

Christmas time means Chocolate time in our house. I typically have a Chocolate Dipping Party with some friends, but every one's on a diet so I made them all myself this year. Marlene was here too to lend a hand keeping kids out of the Chocolate, which is much needed. :) Yummy Gheradelli's Milk Chocolate gooeyness. Mix this with a bit of Whipping Cream and Peppermint Oil and you have the best Truffles known to man. Recipe credit goes to my amazing Aunt Kathy. We made some Raspberry Truffles too this year which were also a big hit.

I never had to worry about taking in too many extra calories during the process. As soon as I was done with a bowl there was a child waiting a willing to lick it clean.

And the end results!! Of course with a child unwilling to give me 2 seconds to take a picture before she snitched a few.

And though we did keep quite a bit for ourselves we were very happy to share with our neighbors and friends. Yum, Yum, Yum!!!

The Lion and the Lamb

He's not the sweetest lion in the world. And don't worry this was his stuffed animal not the kids. Every Saturday my boys have a job to clean up after the dog. London cleans up the poop, and Phoenix cleans up the fluff. Not a week goes by that Beaux doesn't rip up at least one stuffed animal. The best part is he just keeps playing with it even though it's flat.

New Chapel

We are lucky enough to be blessed with our new Chapel. Isn't it beautiful!!! It's lay out is just like Jared's parents church in Idaho. It always amazes me how the church can build the same building and teach the same things no matter where you are in the world.

Before:

After:

Let's See Santa

Santa came to the Big Bass Pro Shop just before Christmas and we had to go see him. Phoenix and London were both sick when Santa came to the Ward Christmas Party so this was our chance. But of course we had to have a look around while we were waiting in line. Not all of Santa's animals are sweet and kindly. :)

This guy was giving a fly fishing demonstration and feeding the fish in the tank. Sicily was enthralled. And those dumb fish just kept taking the bait.

Phoenix found the perfect gift for Aunt Marlene, remote controlled even. But we wouldn't let him buy it even though he really, really wanted to.

Had to look at the guns of course. And a quick glance at the bows.

And the Grand Finale. He was a really sweet Santa. Even asked Sicily what she wanted. We love Santa.

Houston Rockets

Jared took the boys to the game. That had such a good night eating anything and everything. Jared said the game was good too. I'm glad they had a good time.

A Childs Prayer

Phoenix and Sicily don't always get along with each other, but every now and then something happens to remind me that they really do love one another.

Sicily was going to a friends house to be babysat while we took the other kids to the movies. The night before Phoenix was just overwhelmed by this and so concerned for her. So this was his prayer: "Please bless Sicily that she will have fun at Bailey's. That she'll get to play with Baby Dolls and go in Bailey's room. Bless that Parker will be nice to her...." (he is always nice by the way), just things Phoenix was concerned about. And how thoughtful to remember to put in a bonus wish for her favorite toys for her.

That same night as Sicily said her prayers, "Please bless Phoenix not cry, and his tummy not hurt." He had had a few time-outs that day and the fake tummy aches tend to follow.

We have had a child lock on the inside of Sicily's door for the longest time. But we just took it off, much to her delight. Though now she is, once again, coming out many times to go "potty." Jared threatened to put it back on her door and when she prayed that night, "Please bless me stay in my bed so Daddy no lock door." :) It's hard not to smile when they say stuff like that.

I'm sure glad Heavenly Father understands and listens to all of our concerns. Even children get worried sometimes and need the comfort of prayer.