Holiday Festivities



Christmas just wouldn't be the same without a few pictures with Santa.  Luckily, this year, he came to our ward party and it was easy to get the cute shots with him and my kids.

Jacob

Kyle

Dallin

Santa even offered to take a picture with all 3 of my younger children.  He really does spread cheer!  :)

Even my older kids got in on the act, with their friends of course.  (Eric's in the green sweatshirt in front)

And Brandon.....who wouldn't smile, is the front right.

It was a fun night and there are more fun days and activities to be had.  Christmas is coming!!  Are you ready?

Kyle turns 9!

Kyle turned 9 on November 19th. He was so excited for his birthday to come. All week he kept asking if he could open his present early.....but the begging didn't work. He had to wait. Poor kid!

He got a Bakugan Arena, which was a ton bigger than I thought it was going to be. It "pops" out into a flat, round monstrosity. :) It's actually a pretty cool toy! (I might want one)....

His great friend, Spencer came over to play for a little while and he was in heaven. They had their millions of bakugans all over the arena, complete with a place for the cards and everything.

He also got a new "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book and a few silly bands. Birthdays just wouldn't be complete without a few of those.

I couldn't help but take this picture when he was asleep. This little guy is growing up, but he still hugs his teddy bear when he goes to bed. What a sweetheart!

We love you Kyle! Our family wouldn't be complete without you. We're glad you had a super-duper birthday!

Halloween 2010

Halloween came and went and it's almost Thanksgiving. I figured I'd better hurry up and get these pictures posted before I forgot all about them....

Jacob was a skeleton. There was a mask to this costume somewhere, but he wasn't interested in wearing it, so I didn't worry about finding it. Oh well, if he had a mask on, then we wouldn't be able to see his cute, smiling face!

Kyle was Harry Potter and I'm kicking myself that I didn't get a picture of him with the glasses on. They were hilarious. I don't know why he didn't have them on for this pic.....darnit.

Kyle and his friend, Spencer. The dynamic (and sometimes destructive) duo.....

Dallin was a ninja this year, complete with his very own homemade nunchucks.....made out of construction paper. You can see them hanging from his belt in the picture. What a creative kid.....

Brandon was a nerd! I don't say that to be mean.....he really wanted to be a nerd. And what better age to be able to pull that off, right? (No, he's not really a nerd.....at least I don't think he is)....But I've got to admit, he played the part well..... :)

And Eric....well, he was....um.....I'm not sure exactly. The man in black, I guess. He went to his first party on Halloween this year, separate from the family. He got together with a bunch of friends on the east side of town.

I'm not ready for these grown-up activities. Why can't we all just go trick-or-treating as a family? (even though he IS 16)......

The whole family, minus Eric, who had already gone to be with his friends. (See what I mean about Brandon "playing the part well?") hee, hee

It was a fun night, even though it was freezing and it rained some. Why can't Halloween be in the summer? I don't get it!

Tantrums

Jacob has been having a few tantrums lately. When he doesn't get what he wants, he falls apart. Last week, Jacob and I had a serious talk about his behavior. We talked about how sometimes we don't always get what we want. Sometimes the answer is no. Sometimes life isn't fair. He seemed to understand and told me he would try and do better. Since our talk, every time I could sense a tantrum coming on, I reminded him about our discussion and tried to get him to settle down. This hasn't always worked, but it has helped some.

I couldn't resist a few pictures of Jacob's most recent tantrum. Poor guy. It probably didn't help that his mother was snapping pics..... :)

And Eric couldn't resist sticking his face into one of the pictures.....he is a teenager after all. And it's always funny when it's not YOU throwing the tantrum. (Oh, and he got his braces off....what a good looking kid, even if he is making life worse for his little brother).

A few days ago, I got this letter from Jacob. Keep in mind he's in 1st grade and this is exactly how it was written....punctuation and spelling, even spaces.

"momy I am sory for thowing a tandshroum and I like appls and I like bunanus I hop I dont get in chrubl. I hop you have a grat wekend

frum Jacob"

Awww, it melted my little heart. What a sweetie! I'm so proud of him. And while I don't think the tantrums are completely over for my little Jacob, I think we're making progress.

This is the way I like to see him.....what a cute smile!

Today he gave a talk in primary on missionaries. It was sweet. Here is a little bit from his latest letter to me after his talk. (He wrote it during sac. meeting)....

"We can bey mishanerezz rit now I can bey a gud mishanre I now that jesis love's me sow mch..."

I just can't get enough of it. Tantrum or no tantrum, I just love this little guy!

Brandon's Post

Brandon keeps telling me that I haven't posted enough about him on my blog, so in honor of my secondborn.....here are a few pics of him.

Brandon has been playing the flute for a few years now and suddenly during the summer, he decided he wanted to learn to play the Alto Saxophone. He'd never picked one up before, but for some reason it looked fun to him. So his jr. high band teacher let him borrow one of his saxophones for the summer. Brandon immediately started practicing. We could hear him belting out the notes throughout the house at random times during the day. He was so excited. Then one day, we found out that someone in our ward was selling her alto sax. We immediately called and made a deal. And Brandon became the proud owner of his very own Alto Saxophone.

It's been a few months now and can I just say that this instrument is quite LOUD? We can hear it upstairs when Brandon is in his room downstairs. But it sounds so awesome and he loves it. He's become quite the little jazz player. And it's pretty much been all self-taught. Brandon also loves jazz music. He has a jazz CD that he frequently plays in the kitchen. Personally I've never been one to listen to jazz music, but it's so fun to see him "love" it. He listens intently and wants me to listen as well. He reminds us all about his upcoming concerts and even made me schedule his orthodontic appt to get his bottom braces on AFTER his November concert. "Because, Mom, it might mess me up." :)

Here he is with a friend of his and their twinner saxes.




And here they are trying to sneak up on Eric and then playing it loud right behind him while he's trying to watch TV. Eric didn't even see it coming.....it was pretty funny. And then Eric just tried to ignore them. Typical teenage behavior.....

Here are a few pics of Todd showing Brandon how to tie his tie. I love this ritual and I don't think it will ever get old as I watch each young man in my family learn this great skill. They are growing up so fast. I can't hold onto their childhood like I want to....

Brandon is totally "skilled." Apparently that's the new word these days....he and his friends use it all the time to describe themselves. (so funny). We love you Brandon!