Trimming the Tree

Don telling a story of his mission ornament



Michael helping Luke hang a decoration



Hayley hanging the glass balls

Trevor hanging his baby ornament



Jake the Elf & Michael the Goof  :)



Luke & Michael All Decked Out

Luke Decking the Halls

December Programs, Projects & Parties

December is always a busy month, full of special programs and activities.  Trevor and Hayley were in their Winter Program at the school.  Hayley did a a special Chinese Mushroom dance, and Trevor was in a Chinese skit, as well as the "transitional" narrarator throughout the entire program. They both did a great job. The cafeteria was packed so Jake sat on the floor in front of the stage and was our officially photographer.  He did a great job!

December is also our grandparent day at school, paired up with the bookfair.  Grammy & Grandaddy came and had fun eating with Jake, Hayley & Trevor.  The food, company & books were great!

There were too many school projects to mention during the month.  Hayley's culminated in a country expo for the parents to tour, so that is the only one we got a picture of.  She choose The Netherlands as her country, and had a lot of fun learning about it & talking to her Dad about his trips there.

Hayley also had a fun Activity Day's party, celebrating all the great things they did this year.

The school year ended with the elementary school having class parties the last day of school. I helped with Jake's winter party, where they made cornhusk dolls (or action figures in our case...doesn't that look like a jedi cornhusk figure), poinsetta plates, decorated sugar cookies & lots more.

Michael spent the month taking the PSATS, doing lots of projects and of course, taking finals.  I think the best thing about finals week is that they got out of school a couple hours early every day & he got to play some basketball before hitting the books for the next day! 

Luke was busy being dragged everywhere, but loving seeing his big brothers & sisters at school, thinking he was a part of everything.

It was a fun, busy few weeks, making us ready to enjoy a little time off to spend together!

Checking HIS List

Jake took this year's visit to Santa very seriously. He was a man with a mission. There is a Star Wars toy that Jake has been wanting "forever!" If anyone could make that happen, it was going to be Santa Claus.

Apparently Jake knows the value of advertising and wanted to make sure there was no confusion with Santa on exactly which Star Wars toy it was. So he brought the picture with him to show Santa.

After patiently standing in line, hopping from one foot to another, unfolding and folding his paper over and over, it was finally time! This was one serious conversation!  Good Luck Santa!

Jake isn't taking any chances this month.  He has been keeping busy, helping around the house, cleaning his room & even came home after school yesterday and made Santa a glitter glue card that said "I LOVE YOU SANTA CLAUS!"

Visiting with Santa

We got to visit with Santa Claus a few weeks ago at the church Christmas party.  I think it is safe to say, Luke wasn't a big fan of the jolly ole' man in red.  Trevor took him up (since he was "too old to go himself").  Then I had everyone jump in for a quick group shot before Luke escaped, screaming for his life.

Jake on the other hand, was shaking with excitment over the prospect of speaking with Santa. 

Hayley was sweet but not quite as decisive as Jake in telling Santa her Christmas wishes.

Santa took it all in stride, continuing to ask Trevor questions above Luke's screaming.  My favorite...

Santa: "Have you been eating your vegetables?"  Trevor (starting to laugh) "No way!"

But Santa, or Luke calls him now "Ho Ho", was quickly redeemed as Luke grabbed the candy cane on his way out & quickly stopped screaming.   In fact, he ran back up to Santa's helper with the candy canes after he ate this one, and she put another in his sticky outstreched hand.  He didn't even notice the big man in red seating next to her.  Maybe we will start with the candy cane next year :)

Now Hiring Dishwashers

Last week I was washing dishes and stepped away for a minute. When I came back a minute later, I found this...

My shadow has a new favorite hobby! Now every day Luke pulls the chair to the sink & tries to wash the dishes. He is a little obsessive about it, and gets mad if I don't turn on the water for him.  I think he needs his own scrub brush for Christmas!

Me & My Turkeys

Fun with my turkeys on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving week-end was full of fun.  Getting into the spirit of things, we made Turkey Apples after school let out for the holidays Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday we made the house smell delicious with 4 different types of pies. Thursday couldn't come soon enough! Apparently, pumpkin pie works well as a hat as well...

The best part of the holidays is always spending time together with each other. 

Some of our favorite people came to visit for Thanksgiving, Don's sister Rachel & her fun roommate Theresa.

We spent lots of time together up at Don's parents house, eating delicious food & having fun playing games together, watching football, going to movies and of course, decorating Grammy's Christmas tree.

Fall Fun

It's been a busy month.  Once we got past all 5 kids getting a stomach bug within 48 hours, it's been smooth sailing.  Here are some of the fun highlights:

Michael is hard to keep track of some days...and nights.  Between school, playing ball with his friends, going to dances and camping, he is one busy freshman.

Michael, Quinten & Ade at a Stake Dance

Trevor has been busy with school projects which have included oral reports on the Mormon Migration, West Virginia, and his favorite, the Sweet Potato Harvest.  Last spring his class planted sweet potatoes as part of a science project & were able to harvest them this month.  He brought home 9 pounds of sweet potatoes for me to cook up & bring to school for a Sweet Potato Sampler day.  The majority of the remaining hundreds of sweet potatoes were donated to the Houston Food Bank.  Definitely one of the best projects they've ever done!  

Trevor & his friend Grant enjoying the fruits of their labors.

This month Hayley won the award for number of field trips.  I was able to go to one of the trips to a local college science lab where they did a few hours of hands on science experiments, including making lip gloss.  Hayley won the Character Star of the week at school last month for being kind and cooperative.  She also made her broadcasting debut doing the morning pledge at school during the morning announcements.  It was fun to hear her over the loudspeaker.  This week Hayley got her hair cut, so a picture of the new 'do will be coming soon!

Hayley with her neon green test tube

Jake has had a great fall.  He loves school and has made lots of new friends.  A quick game of tag after school with his friends on the playground is mandatory before we can leave most days.  It's fun to see older siblings join in on the game too.  Jake was able to go to his first "school friend's birthday party" this month.  What could be better than a party at a firestation.  They got to climb all over the truck and get the tour of the station too, followed up by pizza and cake with ice cream.  It was the perfect morning with his friends.

Jake with his kindergarten buddies at the fire station.

Luke is just lovin' life. He mimics all his older siblings and friends, and thinks he is as big as they are. If they can play it, eat it, or in my case, cook it, so can he.  During the school day, he keeps busy with the 2 kids I babysit, but his favorite time of day is always when everyone comes home from school.  We just love his fun smile and easy going personality.

 Luke discovering a love of Play Doh...especially playing with the containers.

We can't recap the month without a mention of Don's birthday.  We had fun playing and partying together, and of course, eating the delicious Texas Sheet Cake with Blue Bell Ice Cream.  Good times!

Our Tree

Last night we put up our Thankful Tree, a fun tradition we started last year.  Everyday we add at least one leaf that says something we are grateful for.  We also talked about this great talk by President Monson. Here is a snippit of the talk:

"A grateful heart, then, comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives. This requires conscious effort—at least until we have truly learned and cultivated an attitude of gratitude. Often we feel grateful and intend to express our thanks but forget to do so or just don’t get around to it. Someone has said that 'feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.'”

So Let's Give Thanks!

The Gratitude Challenge

I stumbled across this - what a great idea, especially to start November & this amazing season!

http://www.gratitudechallenge.com/

Happy Halloween

We had a week-end full of Halloween fun.  Friday night we finally went and picked out our pumpkin.  There were lots of fun ones to choose from.

Saturday morning it was time to carve.  Jake designed the face and Hayley, Jake & Luke had a blast with goop and seeds.  Luke thought it was funny to dump the container of seeds back into the pumpkin when we were just about finished. 

Saturday night was a fun trunk or treat at the church. 

The cast: a jedi, a pirate, a cowboy, and a cheerleader

Jake went as Obi-Wan this year again, sticking with the Star Wars theme of the last 4 years.

Hayley cheered us on all night long!

Trevor plundered all night long.

Luke was one of many Woody's there...although he was an original,
wearing Michael's costume from 12 years ago when the 1st Toy Story came out!

Luke finally figuring out what it is all about!

Jake & his best buddy Emmy, still trying to "hit the jackpot!"

Trev's bounty was over 16 pounds! (Hayley was close behind with 15 lbs!)

Sunday afternoon we had fun separating and counting the good stuff while watching a Halloween movie together. 

Hundreds of pieces of candy...Sweet dreams for sure!

Hope your Halloween was spooktackular too!

Halloween 2010