Madison is officially a TEENAGER!

The time has come the walrus said... for Madison to be thirteen. I won't talk about how incredibly weird it is to think of myself as a parent to a teenager. I will say that having Madison in our family for the last thirteen years has been a blessing- I love her soooooo much.

She planned her own party this year after school with her friends and told me it was her BEST party yet (except that Joy couldn't come). Madison and her friends played games, had ninja wars, listened to music, ate munchies and cake, and just had loads of fun. I stayed in my room to give them space and just popped out for pictures. I'm glad she enjoyed turning thirteen- Happiest of Birthdays to you MADISON!

When you give a kid a camera...

These are the pictures you will get-

BY MADISON
(that last one of her friend in the snow is totally fake- so don't worry)

White Winter

Nothing like a good snow... that comes to visit for a short time, then melts away quickly. James could only stand being out in the cold for a short time too, but he loved being pushed around on the sled. The boys were disappointed that the snow didn't stay longer and kept trying to make snowballs out of pathetic amounts of snow for days after this "big" snow.

Games and Grammie T

Grammie Terrie flew back home to CA today and as always we were sad to see her go, but we did get to play alot of games with her while she was here. She got us a bunch of fun new ones for Christmas.
I'll get to see more of my mom over the next week because I'm flying down to CA tomorrow to teach some show choir choreography. The songs I'm teaching this year are all from the 80's (my fav) so I'm excited!!! Jump, Africa, and Livin' on a Prayer. I've already finished choreographing them, now I've got to teach them.

The Largey "High-Fives" of 2010

For those of you who would like a recap of our

Christmas letter HERE IT IS...

Jeremy: Going on a scenic car ride up coastal CA (stopping at beaches & Redwoods) with the whole family- Getting a free truck- Being offered “new” jobs at the shipyard about 4 times- Puking for the first time in 15 years at the fair (spinning rides did me in)- Watching a couple of major league baseball games with the kids (plus watching their games too).

Shauna: Blogging most of our family events (Jeremy says “If you don’t get a picture of us doing something… does that mean it never happened?”)- Spending 2 weeks with my fabulously fun Mom in CA (all by myself)- Watching Madison at her sixth grade promotion as I waved, videoed, hugged, and totally mortified her- Getting to see my 3 big kids play soccer as Jeremy and I hunkered down in the rain to watch them- Listening to James as he babbles to me all day long to tell me his deepest random thoughts.

James (2): Learning to open doors…this has been rewarding- Having mom dress me up as a GIRL and take me to the mall for “Where’s Malldo” (it was a game of disguise!)- Eating some of everyone’s Halloween candy (I can open doors)- Running with balloons all over the house for my 2nd b-day- Any time I got to spend with DAD.

Grant (7): Starting a new school (1st grader in the Montessori program) and making a new really good friend- Going on “Goliath” at Magic Mountain and loving it- Teaching myself how to do back flips on the trampoline- Winning first place on my sea turtle art at the county fair- Going to CA to have some summer fun.

Carter (9): Getting to play baseball and soccer (plus becoming a better goalie)- Earning my Wolf Badge for Cub Scouts- Being a Zombie at the Fall Festival at school- Getting my own room (Grant shares with James now)- Finishing the awesome Percy Jackson series.

Madison (12): Becoming an “official” babysitter (I get paid)- Watching Jaws with Hannah and my Dad- Starting Junior High and Young Women’s (a church group)- Falling off my Mom’s new treadmill and getting another face injury- Replacing my iPod after it went for an unintentional swim (babysitting helped with this one).

These were the top five memorable experiences from each of the Largeys for 2010. We hope you enjoyed the year as well and made many good memories of your own! Happy New Year!

Snuggles, Bags, and Cute Girls

Madison and I had some quality sewing time going on this month to help make some fun bags. Her friend Hannah was sewing up a storm too and made Madison a Snuggie. We were ALL snuggly in our Christmas robes for New Year's Eve when my mom got to come for a short visit.

The BEST present we opened was....

OUR KIDS.

They all fit inside the big box our basketball hoop from Santa came in! Thank goodness Santa didn't go as crazy as last year... or the whole family might have fit into whatever box he brought. HO HO HO Merry Christmas!

Annual Pics in Front of the Tree

This is a Harris tradition that I've carried over into my family. PJ pics in front of the tree on Christmas Eve. The kids groan when it's time to take pictures, but I think they secretly love it!

Angel Gabriel Gets the Jitters

Grant opted out of the ward nativity this year. He said he would not be a donkey AGAIN this year unless we paid him. Carter was the Angel Gabriel and had some lines he had to memorize and deliver. Well, he got a little nervous onstage and started picking at his feather belt, so wisps of fuzzies began swirling all around the nativity. Some of the "animals" even took to blowing the fuzzies to keep them in the air. "Gabriel" did do a beautiful job on his lines, despite his jitters.

Creative Christmas Chaos

I've been flexing the creative muscle in my brain to come up with Tree Costumes (tomato cages covered with green blankets) and Crafts for the boys craft day at school.

Now- I know their tree costumes were not the most beauiful, but it only took about an hour of my life span to make them and I do so love to save time. I used the time I saved to have a brief nap before their choir performance at school and we were nearly late- oops.

Saved Time=Nap=Lateness=Chaos.... I couldn't put their cosumes on until we got to the school and ended up trying to do it super-speedily in the parking lot. It was dark so I couldn't find the hole I'd cut out for Carter's head and began to have fits of hysterical laughter. Seriously I could not stop laughing... this impaired me for when I was trying to put Grant's costume on, so I didn't notice that I only got half of his face showing until he was onstage singing. I STILL start giggling when I see these Christmas tree costume pictures of the boys and remember them asking if that's how they were supposed to "look".