Where did December go?

The last week of school before Christmas Break, Sarah had her 1st Grade Christmas program.  She was so cute up there with her class.  G &G Colton came to see it along with Grandma Nilson. Here are a few of the photos and a short clip from it:

Emma also had her Recorder music program.  A neighbor called it "music only a Mother.. or Grandmother could love" :)  It actually was really cute they all did a great job preparing and presenting the program. They also presented it for a care center for the elderly nearby.  Emma really liked doing that.

This year the kids had an entire 2 weeks off for Christmas break. So they had to work hard the week before Christmas. We managed to get the baseboards and walls in the basement all clean and many other little jobs done. We went sledding one day and out to see a movie another day.

We also celebrated our usual "Santa Clause Party" with the Greater Lee family (my mother's family) the kids liked that and got to see and sit on Santa's lap and get an early present.  they all got a radio-controlled car from him, except Joey who got a regular toy car.

Christmas Eve was a sad and happy occasion this year as my Grandmother is usually presiding over that party. Since she had passed away so close to Christmas she had already set aside money for Christmas and the party so we continued with the party as if she and my grandfather were still there to be with us. This was the last time we would celebrate Christmas Eve with my uncle's family, a tradition that has continued for I'm guessing at least 40 years. It was a special night and we all had a great time. At the end of the evening we each took an ornament from my grandmother's Christmas collection home with us to put on our own trees.

The pinatta...ie,  lots of kids with bats diving for candy

Opening one last present from Nonni

This one is for the record books... Dan is playing a game of musical chairs against Bryan. (Sort of an inside Joke... Dan would never play any of the Christmas Eve games)

Unfortunately this was Zack's year to work Christmas Day and he had to get going bright and early to work. So to change things up a bit we decided to invade my parents house and have Christmas there. We watched the nativity story before bed and sent the kids to bed. Leah kept sneaking up but I don't think she realized Santa was trying to work. We were up at 5:30 to open presents so Zack could get off to work on time. Santa sure found us there and also decided to leave stuff for Grandma and Grandpa too. I'm not going to mention what everyone got because it doesn't really matter much, lets just say that everyone got what they wanted and more. We are very blessed to have each other and the joy of spending time together and remember Christ's birth

We went to G&G Nilson for Christmas dinner and gathered with the family there.  We had an enjoyable time with them.  Grandma and Grandpa gave each of the kids a savings account... where each Christmas and Birthday they would get a deposit from them. At the end of the evening,  I was sure glad to head home.  The lack of sleep/ stress and wound up kids had done me in... I think I slept 14 hours straight ( that only proves the kids were tired  because they slept that long too)  The day after Christmas was nice, we got to relax all day and play togther.

We finished off the month with our usual New year's Eve party!   Our friends Jason and Sarah came (but had to leave early) Nick's family and Angie's family were all there. We had a good time eating, visiting and watching "Mr. Bean" episodes.

I only have one picture to sum up that evening.... out with the old in with the new??

Rosie Colton

This last week we lost my grandmother, Rose Marie Colton.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/deseretnews/obituary.aspx?n=rose-colton&pid=136590398

Here's a slide show I prepared for the funeral.
She will be greatly missed.

Carving pumpkins and Halloween fun

Friday, the kids were out of school for teacher prep day. So we spent the morning carving pumpkins. Leah insisted on a "Sad" pumpkin, Sarah did her pumpkin almost completely by herself. I was impressed at her independence in the task. Emma copied a spiderweb pattern on hers and cut it out, she did a pretty impressive job. Bekah had fun this year and actually touched the pumpkin insides, which I couldn't get her last year to do.

Sarah and her pumpkin




Monkey Boy!

Indiana Jones

Tinkerbell refused to wear her wings :)

On Halloween, we went trick or treating while Zack stayed home and answered the door. Afterward we had hot chocolate, doughnuts, and watched a movie. Emma invited a friend to join us for the festivities. They all had a great time and ate WAY too much candy

Happy Halloween!

Smile Pains!

So a few weeks ago, a friend of mine, Melanie Cameron,who is from Washington where we used to live, was looking for someone to go to Los Angeles with her. She half-heartedly asked if I wanted to go, not really thinking I would take her up on it, but the more I thought about it the more I couldn't stop thinking "that would be sooo fun!" So I took the bait and told her I could make it.

After a nice date out with my hubby (before sticking him with 5 kids for the weekend). I flew out to LA for 4 days of happy fun. We spent 2 days at Disneyland and CA adventures. It really is the "Happiest place on Earth". We went to Medieval Times for dinner another night. I thought it was awesome, and really enjoyed that show. Melanie had her baby, Summer, with her, and because of her medical equip we were able to fast pass most of the rides and the ones the baby couldn't ride, we could do the stroller swap/single rider deal so we really didn't have long wait times anywhere.

It was great to have some "me" time for a bit where I could be goofy and laugh and not be in charge. We dubbed the vacation "dumb luck" because we had a lot of airhead moments of getting lost, running late, etc. But we still made it where we needed to go and had a great time doing it.

I even went a bit Crazy Chicken as I worried about getting checked out, fighting traffic to the airport and getting the rental car turned in. I guess Melanie will still be my friend after seeing me get all worked up , HAHA

The kids weren't too sad to find out I went to Disneyland without them, they liked all the fun stuff I brought home for them. Someday we'll get the whole family there...

Melanie and Summer

Yup, you guessed it. These are the Chip and Dale dancers we saw...

Melanie is heading off to jump in the Brair patch with Briar Rabbit

Medieval Times

Outside It's a Small World

Pumpkin day!

It's Fall!
The Saturday before Halloween was declared "pumpkin day". Since I was leaving out of town that evening to California, I felt like I should do something with the kids before I left. So we went hunting for pumpkins or a"pun-kin" as Leah says it.


We found a farm in syracuse that had a roadside pumkin patch and got them fairly cheap. Afterward we went out for pumpkin flavored shakes.

I'm so behind....

Here's Leah doing finger painting for Preschool at our house


Emma turns 10

Joey's 1st Birthday

So I am behind again... sigh. I will do better from now on, I hope.

Sorry, for the most part this is a pictureless update... I don't have time to get the photos organized and uploaded.

The end of summer brought us 2 weeks of swimming lessons, 2 trips to Lagoon, and multiple shopping trips to get ready for school.

The girls all did great in swimming, Sarah will be retaking lvl 2 and Bekah will be retaking level 3 next year. Emma passed lvl 4 which gives me peace of mind that she can swim across the pool easily. Leah who was scared at first, did great by the end of swimming lessons. Joey is a monster in the water... he thinks its the greatest place to be and will jump and pull and go under water, he hates being in the baby floaters.

We took a day and went to lagoon as a family and spent some time at lagoon-a-beach and riding rides. Then I took the kids the next week and did the "bounce back" with their cousins. They had a great time, we hadn't been to Lagoon for a couple years and they were old enough to enjoy it more this time. I still can't get Bekah and Sarah on the big rides though.. I did force them onto the white roller coaster and they both screamed/cried the whole time. Maybe next year...

School started the last week of August, much to my relief. They were all excited and so cute the first day. Emma is in 4th, Bekah is in 3rd and Sarah is in 1st. Leah has been driving me a bit nuts now that she is home with no one to play with. So I started her in a few activities, play group exchange on Tue and Thurs mornings, Music class on Tues afternoons and a preschool exchange on Mon and Wed afternoons. She is a very social little girl so it will help her a lot to have those activities.

We also celebrated a couple Birthdays, Joey turned 1 the first week of September along with Emma, who turned 10. So we had a combined party with the Nilson's and with the Colton's. Emma got to have a date out with G&G Colton, a 10 yr old birthday tradition and they spoiled her with dinner at Red Robin and some Lego Indiana Jones and a reading pillow. Emma had sent out a detailed list of what she wanted for her birthday to her grandparents, including things like her own computer and satellite TV and a couch for her room. Crazy girl!

Joey was sick with a cold and didn't really enjoy his birthday too much. I'll took him to get some professional pictures done which turned out darling, I'll try and get a slide show posted of them. The poor kid just isn't getting as many professional shots as the other kids did, I feel bad.

Zack has been very busy at work the last couple of months, he has been picking up shifts as much as possible, working doubles, or on his days off. He does try to only work his assigned weekends and not extra there so he can make it to different weekend activities and church. He has slowed down a bit now that summer is over.

I enjoyed the first couple weeks after school started of actually staying home and getting a little caught up, we had been on the move all summer so was nice to just be home for a few days. Ive been walking the kids the school in the mornings and have only had to get into the van a couple times for trips to the store. Okay.... the last few weeks have not gone as good walking, its getting a bit too cool in the morning for the kids in the stroller.

Bekah and Emma had their first piano recital of the fall in September, it was a quick one they each only played one song, but they did great. Bekah is really picking it up fast and doing well. Emma is finally to a point where I think she will start playing pretty well. On Saturday they did another Halloween recital and they played a few more song and wore their costumes.

In August, Emma was surprised with a letter from the White House. Last year Emma had written to Obama just after the election all of her own desire. She got a letter back from him, it was just a form letter and not very personal at all, but was neat for her. I thought we should frame it and hang it where Grandpa Nilson could see it every time he comes over just to drive him batty.... hahaha

Now we find ourselves in the middle of October. Time is going by too fast. I'm usually pretty busy keeping the household running and helping with homework and reading. The kids are busy in school and playing with friends everyday. Halloween is looming in the next couple of week and Christmas is around the corner... goodness! I feel like I just got done with the 4th of July.

I will hopefully be posting a bit more often and getting some more pictures up to view but who knows :)