Cheerleading & Poor Sick Baby

Andie had her first cheerleading performance at a Preston JV Girls basketball game, and she was soooooo excited! 

She finally got to wear her uniform.   

and a little make-up. 

How could these two be sisters?  They look nothing alike to me. 

But Jane sure likes to do whatever Andie is doing. 

See what I mean? 

 

Andie is about to do a beautiful cartwheel! 

 It was so fun to watch her cheer routine.  She did awesome!

I just had to include this picture of Jane a week ago when she was sick.  I don't exactly know what was wrong--she just had a fever and didn't sleep for two nights.  I'm a rotten mom because Ryan came home from playing church ball and Jane was screaming her head off.  Where was I?  Sound asleep, of course.  I am such a deep sleeper, even the cries of my own children don't wake me up (good thing Ryan is around).  Anyway, she climbed up in my bed and put herself down for a nap the next day.  She's so cute when she's sleeping!

Dancing Queens

Pinewood Derby--Man That's a Job

Well, we've had our first Pinewood Derby experience.  Our little wolf, Jack, had to make a Pinewood Derby Car for Cub Scouts this month.  We learned that this is a family affair.  Mom drew the design, did some touch-up painting, stressed out about the car for an entire month, and tried not to get annoyed with all the tools, sandpaper, paints, and other junk on the kitchen counter.  Dad did the cutting, drilled holes in the bottom, stuffed it with quarters, and nailed the wheels on.  Jack worked on the car quite a bit, too.  He sanded, painted, and helped put stickers on.  He had a really hard time deciding whether to do a spider theme or a pirate car, but he eventually settled on the pirate idea (which is good because someone else ended up doing a spider car at the derby).

 I love his concentration face.

 

Captain Jack's Pirate Car--Best Looking Car in the Show
(that wasn't an official title--just a mom's opinion)

Getting Ready  

Waiting... 

Watching...

and...

Celebrating!   

Way to go, Jack!  He had so much fun.  He raced seven or eight times, and he only lost once.  The night was a huge success (and I am glad to have all of the pinewood derby stuff off my kitchen counter).  Something tells me this is not our last Pinewood Derby.  We'll be sure to hang on to that car for Gary.  I'm kidding (sort of).

Christmas 2011

Christmas morning:  Gary woke up at about 7:30.  Still no sign of the other kids.  Ryan finally had to wake up Jack and Andie with his really loud "Ca-ca, Ca-ca" noises when it was almost 8:00.  They came running up the stairs to see what Santa brought them.

Jack's first reaction..."Awesome!"  They love the new bikes.  Too bad Santa brought such a summery present.  They probably won't really get to enjoy them for a few more months.

Gary's first Christmas was just another day to him.  He got new binkies and sippy cups from Santa.  So exciting.

The ugliest wrapping job in history.  And what could be in that box?  I could swear Ryan was getting me a new phone for Christmas.  This is the point where I'm starting to feel a little stupid... 

The kids got lots of books.  The Ramona Collection for Andie.

 Origami Yoda for Jackson.

I woke Jane up to join the fun.  Risky, I know.  But she couldn't help but be in a good mood when she saw her bike. 

And a new baby! 

My favorite of Jack's presents:  a Utah Jazz jersey. 

He's in shock. 

Merry Christmas to Jane. 

Merry Christmas to Dad! 

and.........I WAS RIGHT!  I WAS RIGHT!

I guessed that Ryan was getting me a new phone.  The huge box and heavy weight (provided by a dutch oven we've had for months) and hideous wrapping job all helped to throw me off just a little bit.  I got a new phone.  I didn't think I wanted it until I got it.  I LOVE it!

Ryan didn't think he wanted it either.  He's been bragging about how much better his Android phone is.

It took him two whole days to decide he liked mine better and he went today to buy himself an iphone.

Merry Christmas to Ryan.

After opening presents, we got dressed and went to church.  Later that day, we went to the nursing home to see Grandma Vada.  We took my computer so she could Skype with Jessica and her family.  It was a nice visit (even though the room gets kind of small with 4 kids).  That evening, Dad made steaks and shrimp for our candlelight dinner.

It was a wonderful Christmas!  I'm so glad I got to spend it with my awesome husband and the 4 best kids in the world!  The holidays remind me that I have so much to be thankful for.  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we went to Grandma Jackie's house.  The kids dressed up and acted out the Christmas story while Kim narrated.  Jackson was a shepherd, Andie was Mary, Brynn was a wise man, Ben was Joseph (and he held the star), Brighton was the Angel, Jane didn't really participate very well (but she got to hold some money as a wise man), and Gary was baby Jesus.

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve meal at Grandma Jackie's house.  I ate way too much!  We spent the day there letting the kids play with toys.  We also watched Christmas Vacation, which I had never seen before.

Gary and the Green Beans plus a Very Sad-Looking Christmas Tree

Well, we haven't been in any hurry to introduce Gary to solid foods.  He has tried rice cereal exactly twice, and he didn't seem too excited about it either time.  I decided to let him try green beans today.

 He seemed open-minded at first.

But then he tasted them.  No good. 

Sure, he looks happy in this picture, but the part you missed was him holding the green beans in his mouth for a really long time without swallowing.  Then he finally figured out how to spit them out, and that made him pretty happy. 

And I guess we'll wait a little longer on the solid foods.  Don't worry--he's not starving.  Look at those cheeks!  He's only seven months old anyway.  Jane didn't start eating solid foods until nine months.  

My only child who wanted to eat early was Jackson, and he's been hungry ever since.  For example, we had French Dip sandwiches for dinner last night.

me:  "Do you want one or two sandwiches?"

Jack:  "I'll probably have three."

me:  "Two is the limit."

...and after dinner...

Jack:  "What else can I have?"

And that's pretty much how every meal goes at this house.

OTHER EXCITING NEWS:  It's Christmas break, which means no work for me until January 3!

The stockings are hung and waiting for Santa to come!

These are our new stockings.  Aren't they cute?  Ryan nearly died that I wanted to spend $100 on Christmas stockings, but I REALLY wanted them.  Poor Jane has never even had her own stocking.  Now everyone has a stocking and the names look good--unlike our old, mismatched stockings that had the names written in glitter glue that I messed up because I'm not good at stuff like that. 

Here's our ugly tree.  The kids decorated it themselves, and surprisingly, I haven't even moved any of the ornaments to make it look better.  My OCD must be cured!  Of course, it looks worse every day because Jane keeps taking ornaments off the tree and pulling the hooks off of them and saying, "I broke it," and most of the time I can't find the hooks so I just tuck the ornament in the middle of the tree with no hook.  Even the presents look like a scattered mess because Jack and Andie are at the age where they think it's important to take all the presents out from under the tree and SORT them into stacks.

Of course we made Christmas sugar cookies.  The kids cut their own cookies and decorated them.  Even Dad joined the fun and made the frosting! 

Yes, there were sprinkles all over the floor. 

So excited about the cookies. 

Yummy. 

Finger-lickin' Good!

I'm so excited about Christmas!  I'm giving Ryan a taste of his own medicine by trying to guess what he got me.  It's very obnoxious, but he deserves it because he ALWAYS does that to me and he ends up finding out what he's getting way before he opens the present.  I think I've pretty much got it figured out.  If so, I'll be sure to brag about it on this blog.  If not, you'll probably never hear about it again because that would just be too embarrassing to admit that my plan backfired.

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!