February started out with a bang for us... we managed to get our taxes done the last week of January.... so some tax refund fun was in store for us.
Yay!! Finally a (MUCH NEEDED)shed. No more scooting past shelves, bikes and other junk in the garage. Really I can't figure out why we have so much junk! The more space we get, the more junk we accumulate. Oh! and believe me we somehow NEED it all... HA! At least we have a place to put some of it now. Leah loved watching them build the "house for the bikes" it only took about 4 hours for them to get it all done.. this picture is about halfway done.
For Activity days, we created a "Heart attack" for the bishop's house. I have 11 girls in my group (plus my girls) they had a great time making cookies and signs to put out in the Bishop's yard. It was lots of Valentine's fun.
Emma was excited this week to get the Herpst appliance off... you can see it sort of in this picture. Basically it was 2 jaw joints that pulled her bottom jaw forward. She keeps the braces, but at least there is a lot more room in her mouth now.
Thursday morning I was babysitting so I sent the kids to school on their scooters so I wouldn't have to load all of the kids into the van to draive them to school. 10 Min later Emma met with disaster...
All cleaned up it's not too bad, but I guess it bled a lot at first. Emma got to stay home from school and play computer that day so that was a plus for her.
Here's just some other fun pics that were on the camera from this month.
Joey is still being cute as ever... he's much too attached to his paci though.
We celebrated with a combined party at Grandma Colton's and then for Family night we went Roller Skating at a local rink... the kids LOVED the roller skating... the adults... not so much. Either way it was a fun night.
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??
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
