Lovin the PJ's, Lovin the Curls

Okay these are Jamesy's "sausage" pajamas. Jeremy refers to them that way beacause he thinks James looks like a little stuffed sausage in them. Jeremy does bath time with James nearly every night since he sees him for such a short time (James is usually in bed by 8:00) and Jeremy loves to put James in the sausage PJ's. What he doesn't love is James's long hair. He keeps saying.."This boy needs a haircut!". I am the haircutter extraordinaire round these parts and I'm lovin the curls James has right now and I don't want to cut his hair short. I've actually named my persona that cuts hair "Trish". She likes to gossip and is sort of an airhead, but she gives a great haircut. She has been cutting Jeremy's, Carter's, and Grant's hair for years.

Egyptian Art

I've been teaching art once a month at Madison's school. February's theme was Balance and the art project involved making imprinted Egyptian Sarcophagus Tombs. After making the imprint the kids traced and colored over their design with Sharpies. I've been doing the art docent thing since October and I really enjoy it. I just tend to procrastinate in planning what we're going to do sometimes. Luckily Madison's teacher doesn't mind my fly by the seat of my pants attitude!

Girls just wanna have fun!

Here's Madison with the big birthday party she's always wanted. She went with about 10 of her friends to the Bainbridge Island Pool and had a fun-filled birthday. The girls played the "What IF/Then" game, did the present thing, and had some cake (BTW Costco's chocolate sheetcake is way better than the vanilla). Then they jumped in the pool for some swim time. I'm so grateful that all my kids are fish so I don't have to worry about them at the pool. Jamesy hasn't learned how yet but I'm sure his bigger siblings will help him learn.

Ready, Set, GOOOOO!

Carter had fun racing his car at the Pinewood Derby. It was neat to see how different all the cars ended up looking considering that they all start out as a boring chunk of wood. Carter was awarded the "Best Sportsman" of the night, and came in fourth place overall. Not too shabby considering that there were about 30 boys participating. Everyone got a fun twinkie car trophy and an award of some kind at the end of the night. I think Jeremy and Carter enjoyed working together, and will continue to do so when working on projects in the future. Maybe build some furniture next boys? Or install some wood flooring?

TWELVE at last!

Here we are partying at home for Madison's 12th birthday. She gets to have a bigger pool party with her friends at the end of the month. Besides getting her ears pierced she was pleased to get clothes, an iTunes gc, and lots of books. I got her The Thief, Goose Girl, Ender's Game, New Moon, Eclipse, Catching Fire, and a couple more. I can't wait for her to finish some of these books so I can read a few of them. Carter helped me with some creative decorations to make the place look festive. Happy Happy Birthday Madison Dear- We Love You more with each passing year.

Working on the Car

Carter and his Dad have been spending some quality time together this week working on Carter's first pinewood derby car. The race itself takes place on Friday and Carter is getting more and more excited with each passing day. Jeremy had a good place to work with Carter thanks to the rolling work tables he made while I was in CA teaching choreography. What industrious boys we have in our family!

Ear Piercing Screams of Joy

The long-awaited day is finally here! Madison is 12 and is officially old enough to get her ears pierced. She thought this day would never arrive, it seemed so far away. It seemed that way to me too! I can't believe my leetle girl is 12. Am I that old? (No answer necessary please.)

Madison's friend Joy went with us to the mall for the event and afterwards I took the girls shopping. They bought jewelry, candy, buttons, and soda. Typical twelve year old fare. I can't recall the last time I went out with a girlfriend and bought fun stuff for myself. Madison soak up your youth while you can!

WARNING... from Grant

For a kindergarten writing prompt the students in Grant's class listened to a book called The Gingerbread Baby, then wrote about something they would run away from. The picture above was displayed by Mrs. P (above)in the hallway and it made me laugh. I hope he stays far away from the end of our driveway, and the zooming cars there, for the rest of his life. Run Grant run!

Rolling in 2010!

Remember a while ago when I wrote a post about relatives giving my kids awesome toys, that Jeremy and I probably wouldn't buy... This super wammadime bumper ball was a Christmas present from Aunt Hollie and Uncle Sean. The kids played and played in it until they were feeling a bit too green from being in a "spin cycle". But the very next day they wanted to do it again! Jamesy just liked to loaf around inside of it and hang out. I personally think he had the right idea. Hollie and Sean- my kids think you have some excellent present-picking skills.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2009 LETTER

We’ve enjoyed another year in the Northwest and we think ALL of our family and friends should move here to enjoy it with us. Here’s a bit about each of our endeavors, adventures, and awards for 2009…

Jeremy has continued to be a hard working engineer at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, and as YM President he’s had loads of fun working with the youth of our church. Jeremy’s family awards include: Grill Extraordinaire, Busy Beaver, Best Wookie-Noise Maker, Electronic Whiz, Happy Camper, and World’s Greatest Dad (for the 12th year in a row!).

Shauna has been working with the Young Women at church, but has been asked to be the Stake Primary Secretary instead. Apparently the knowledge that she loves to organize overshadows the lesser known fact that she has no typing skills. Besides her family work, she also choreographs for a show choir in CA and does amateur photography. The awards she’s been given for ’09 are: Family Historian, Top School Volunteer, Coolest Chauffeur, Spontaneous Song Guru, Best Blogger, Craziest Mom, and Food Producing Machine (awarded by James).

Madison is enjoying her last year at elementary school and was elected as ASB VP this year. She had fun playing soccer for the first time this fall and she continues to excel at playing the piano. Madison loves to help me with James and is currently training to become a super babysitter. Madison’s awards are: Creative Cat, Book Eater, Aspiring Writer, Best Hungry Bob Voice, Most Stylish, Fun Socks Collector, and Great Game Player.

Carter got baptized in October and loves being a cub scout. He wants to check stuff off in his scout book every day. He played a second season of soccer this year and tried baseball for the first time. Carter throws his entire being into whatever he is working on and is a fireball of energy. Awards he’s earned for 2009: Most Energetic, Best Apologizer, Earnest Worker, Outdoor Enthusiast, Critter Collector, Pokémon Expert, Speediest Sprinter, and Hardest Batter (nicknamed “The Bullet”).

Grant got hit by a car while riding his bike this summer and ONLY broke his leg. Phew. He will be restarting gymnastics in Jan. Grant has enjoyed playing baseball this year, and has also been having fun being a Kindergartener. His awards include: Best Cheeky Monkey, Giggly Guy, Star Wars Expert, Most Improved Reader, Lego Architect Builder, and Movie/Video Game Fanatic.

Our sweet baby James, the joy of our family, is learning how to do everything by himself at the ripe old age of 1. He constantly entertains us, although we know that isn’t his sole purpose for being on the Earth. He really likes following people around and discovering new items of interest. James’s awards for 2009: Most Popular, Best Halloween Costume (Yoda), Greatest Growth, Walker AND Stalker Pro, Best Kisser, Deepest Thinker, and Snuggle Bean of the Year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR

With Love from- Jeremy, Shauna, Madison, Carter, Grant, and James

We Love Technology...

We had a bit of electricity in the air on Christmas. We've held out on getting any form of game system for a long time. We have finally caved and bought both the boys a DS. We also got Madison an ipod. Now we'll have to make sure we are not always "plugged in" and ignoring the here and now. My friends with kids say it can be done, so I will have courage as we venture forth into an electronic wonderland. Once again "Santa" was overly generous this year.

Christmas Eve Traditions

On Christmas eve our family reads about the Savior's birth in the scriptures. Sometimes we just listen, sometimes we try to act it out, but mostly we just try to feel the spirit and focus our family on the birth of Christ. We also open one present a piece, which is always jammies. The boys always groan about this and ask why they can't open something "good" instead of jammies. I also hide a pickle ornament somewhere amongst our tree after the kids have gone to bed. Whoever finds the pickle in the tree the next morning gets a special present (usually something to share). This years pickle present was a large bag of Lindt truffles. Chocolate is never a bad gift. I hope our kids want to continue some of our family traditions when they have families of their own in the future.