It's Been Awhile....

Sorry.  It's not that we've been so terribly busy.  I mean, we have, but not so much that I couldn't blog.  So I'll just do one post and catch everyone up to date.

The first big exciting event happened to Regan.  She went from this (2007)

To This

(That is the goofiest picture of her!)

To This

Yay!!! No more braces for Regan!!!  I don't think you realize how crooked your child's teeth are until they put braces on them!  She has a clear retainer and hopefully when we go in for the last time next month they will say she only has to wear them at night.  Then we'll get to start all over with Hali!  Oh joy.

Zoey started dance in January and she so cute!  She loves her teacher Miss Cindy.  We've been at the dance studio since Hali was the same age as Zoey and have really like it.  In February they have a Princess day, where the girls can dress up like their favorite princess and they have a tea party.  Zoey was in HEAVEN!

 

She calls all these girls her best friends, even though she doesn't know any of their names!

Hali had a Daddy/Daughter party at the church.  It was 50's themed.  So of course the sewer in me had to make her a skirt.  I ended up helping two other women make skirts for their girls, too.

 

Here's a better one of her skirt

Other than that, we've been getting through school, looking forward to fun stuff planned this summer, planing a trip to Hawaii in the fall, potty training Zoey (hate it, glad it's the last time!) and hanging with friends.  Compatition dance starts in a month and we are looking forward to the yearly comp in St. George.  Hope the weather's good.  Anyway,  I'll try to be better about blogging!

I'm A Little Embarassed

We have a 9 ft artificial tree.  And you all know, I love to have lots of lights on my tree.  A couple of years ago, I outdid myself with lights, but I had it arranged so that all I had to do was unplug a couple strands here and there and I wouldn't have to remove them from the tree.  So as we were taking the tree down last night (Yes, last night,  I've been a little lazy)  we decided we needed to take the lights off and redo them next year.  They were starting to come off in places and were just looking messy.  I don't think I really realized how many light were actually on the tree.

Yep.  All that came off my tree.  It took us about an hour to get them off and while we were doing it Scott said to me, "This will cure you of the need to put so many on next year."  Nope, probably not.

Ice Skating

Last weekend some friends of ours invited us to go ice skating with them at the Olympic Oval in Kearns.  Scott and Regan had just been skating with the YM/YW in our ward, but it had been years for me and Hali, Porter and Zoey had never been.  We didn't get skates for Zoey and I regretted that later.  Next time for sure.

The Oval had these great little, blue walker things for kids learning to skate.  Porter was like this mad man with that thing!  He LOVED it.  Maybe we need to get that boy into ice hockey.

Regan didn't want skates.  I guess she had struggled so much at the YW activity that it just wasn't fun.  But when she realized that none of her friends were there, so she could use the walker thing without being embarassed, she wanted skates.  So, nice mommy, took off her own skates so that Regan could take a couple of laps around the ice.

Hali had so much fun, too.  But then Hali can pretty much have fun anywhere.  Give her a friend and an activity and she's good.

Zoey just played on the sidelines with her little friend, Jacob.  Or as she calls him Jacom.  I think she would have liked to try the skates.  Next time.

She would NOT smile for me.  Usually, you point the camera at her and she automatically grins, but for some reason that night it had the opposite affect on her.

It was so much fun!!  We need to do that again!

Christmas 2009

I have to admit, I had a hard time getting into Christmas this year.  I'm really not sure why, but it just didn't excite me like it usually does.  But my kids sure got into it!

And that was just on Christmas Eve!  We let the kids open their Christmas jammies and their presents from each other.

Christmas Eve Regan asked me what time was the earliest I would let them wake us up.  Not seeing the trap, I said 6 am.  So Regan set her alarm for 6 am.  Stinker.  Next year I'll say 9.

The kids got fewer presents this year.  Santa only brought them four.  I found on a blog last year that someone had done the coolest thing!  You get from Santa Something You Want, Something You Need, Something You Wear and Something You Read.  I loved it so much that Santa did that at our house this year, too!  I thought for sure I would hear grumbles and cries of "that was it?!" on Christmas morning, but that didn't happen at all.  It was so pleasant.  I think because there were fewer gifts, that the ones they got were the ones they really wanted.  It cut out all the "junk" gifts.  You know, the fillers.

Zoey was Thrilled with this gift:

Grandma and Grandpa got Porter his very own tool set.  That way next year when we go to visit, Porter can use his own tools instead of borrowing Grandpa's. He also got lots of legos.

Regan got a vampire shirt, and while there is no picture of Edward on it, she liked it anyway.  We also tricked her by putting a toy cell phone in her stocking.  At first, she just looked at us and said, "Very funny."  But written on the back was a coupon she could redeem for a real one.  She's in heaven.  LOVES her phone.

Sorry Hali.  I'm not posting any pictures of you this year.  For some reason all my pictures of you opening gifts also include me.  And trust me when I say, there were no pretty pictures of mommy on Christmas morning.  Maybe Christmas jammies need to be given to mom and dad, too.   But she had a great Christmas, too.  Lots a jewelry and an iPod Nano.  Hot pink, of course!

I hope everyone had a great holiday!

Mom, I Have A Confession To Make......

We opened your Christmas present early.  (insert sheepish grin here).  See, being the planners that we are, we had already decided on what we were going to buy with the money.  And we decided that it would be much better to have it on Christmas, rather than have to buy it after Christmas.  We bought this:

It's awfully pretty, isn't it?  Much better pictures with this bad boy than the little one we've had for the last few years.  Scott's in heaven!  And we've been taking lots of pictures.  Why.... we took this cute one just this morning with your adorable grand kids all dressed in their Christmas finery:

I have to throw in a picture of Regan and Hali, especially, since I made both their skirts.

Hali's skirt took me forever.  I don't think I want to see another ruffle again for a long time.

PS.  The "money vessel"  is stunning.

Milestones

I love the fact that my kids are getting older.  There are so many more things you can do with more independant kids.  But at the same time, I hate that they are getting older.  I'm seeing time slip away and I just don't like it!

Porter had a big milestone yesterday........He lost his first tooth.

Apparently, it just popped right out of his mouth at school.  He was really nervous before it fell out, because he thought it would hurt, but he was proven wrong.  And this time the Tooth Fairy, who is really unreliable at our house, remembered to show up!  It was so exciting!

Crazy Hair Day

Update on the snow:  When I got home from picking kids up from school, I decided to try the snow blower, just for the heck of it.  And it worked!!!  So, I plowed the driveway.  A snow blower always leaves just a thin layer of snow on the ground and it's been so cold that it hasn't melted, yet!!!  BRRRRR.


It's Spirit Week at the kids school.  So far they've had crazy sock day and crazy hat day.  Well, today is the classic....Crazy Hair Day!

 I was rather surprised that Regan wanted to dye her hair so badly that she'd go for pink.  She's so not a pink girl, but this was the only temporary dye we had.   We also put sparkles in it.

 

 Hali went the braid route.  She really wants her hair to be all crimpy tomorrow.

 

It took me like an hour to do all those little braids.  I told her she had to give me big props for that one. 

Too Much Snow!!!!!

Today, I left at the same time I usually do, to take my kids to school.  First mistake.  It snowed over night.  Lots and lots of snow. I should have left earlier.   As I got out of my neighborhood there was a long line of cars that I was supposed to turn into.  So, I decided to go right instead of left and go a round about way to the school.  Second mistake.  I think everyone else had the same idea.  What should have been a 10 minute ride, turned into an HOUR.  I had Scott call the school to let them know the kids were going to be late.  Apparently, they had quite a few calls, because they told him to just have the kids go straight to their classrooms rather than check into the office.  It was crazy slow.  We cheered when I could finally accelerate to 20 mph.  Most of the trip I hit maybe 2 mph.  I almost declared it a snow day, but the traffic was just as bad going back as it was going forward, so the poor things were 45 minutes late to school.  So, crazy.

When I got home, I put cartoons on for Porter and Zoey, then bundled up and headed outside to use the snow blower.  I got about two rows done and then......it died.  I filled it up with gas and tried to turn it on.....nothing.  Hmm.  Checked the oil.....plenty.  Tried it again.  Nothing!!!  Called Scott, tried a few things more and.....nothing.  So I pulled out the shovel and cleared off the walkway to my door.....looked at my enormous driveway and the obsurd amount of sidewalk (corner lot) we have and decided that maybe a little (ok, alot) of snow on the drive isn't such a bad thing.  I'm sure that Scott will come home tonight and that darn snow blower will start right up for him.  At least, I hope so.  I am so not doing a winter without one.