Christmas Programs

We began this years Christmas programs with Journee's choir concert on the Dec. 7th. She did a lovely job and got to play the bongos on one of their songs.

Had to include this picture of the little man. He was all bundled up and ready to go watch Journee. Plus, he really likes to have his picture taken when he sees someone else get theirs taken. He is a cute little bugger.

Next, was the elementary program on the 15th. It is K-3 for Christmas. Allie sang some fun songs and Karlee got to be a reindeer, sing and had a short speaking part in the little play the 3rd graders do. 4th and 5th graders do the spring concert but 5th graders help do some accompanying. Kyle played the tenor recorder for several of the songs throughout the night.

Then on the morning of the 16th we got to go to Azurdey's first program. She loves the songs she learns at preschool and sings them to anyone who will listen. She did a great job getting up in front of everyone. Her favorite song from the program is their version of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

(I take pictures of them before we go so I watch the programs better and and maybe get a little video of them.)

Christmas Cottages

I had my Webelos make these rice crispie treat Christmas cottages at scouts and I thought it would be fun to do them at home with all the kids. They were much easier and faster to assemble than gingerbread. I made a point of standing back and taking pictures so the kids could come up with their own ideas. It was fun to watch them create and share ideas with each other. I think they turned out really cute.

(12/12/09)

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed Thanksgiving at home this year. I let the kids each pick a dish or two that they wanted to learn how to make and then let them help me make it. Journee chose stuffing and apple pie. Kyle-rolls and choc. cream pie. Karlee-mashed potatoes and coconut cream pie. Allie-broken glass salad and she put the relish tray together. Azurdey-pumpkin pie and Talon-punch. We also had turkey, ham and corn. We all agreed we had much to be thankful for.

If you look close you can see steam in front of Kyle's face.

Yeah Kyle!

We are very proud of Kyle and all of his hard work in Cub Scouts.During pack meeting on November 24th he was awarded his Arrow of Light.

I have had the special opportunity of being an extra part of his journey through cub scouts as I was his Bear leader and then later called to be his WEBELOS leader. I will miss having him with me at all the cub meetings, but happy for him to get to be a Boy Scout now. Way to go, Kyle!

Journee's 14th Birthday

So for Journee's birthday this year she didn't really tell me what she wanted for a cake except that she wanted chocolate wth white mountain frosting. Once when I first made a fondant cake she ate too much of the fondant and doesn't really appreciate it now. Well, I still wanted to do something that had the same sort of feel so I frosted the whole thing and then added some fondant decorations. She doesn't mind these because I make them out of chocolate chips and marshmallows and they sort of end up tasting like tootsie rolls. I really had no idea what to do for sure so I decided to go with blue since it is her favorite color. This is what I ended up with. I think she really liked it.

Fourteen candles!

She had a couple of friends over to hang out after school and have dinner and cake before mutual. Her dinner request was ribs and mashed potatoes. So we had bbq ribs, garlic mashed potatoes, corn, salad, rolls, and raspberry cream soda. Singing happy birthday to her.They were laughing because some of the candles were trick candles and were sparking.One more try...got 'em.

She didn't get much in the way of actual presents. She got a card from us letting her know we would take her and a couple friends out to dinner and then go see 'New Moon' when it comes out in a couple weeks (her request). She also got her love dollar and card from Grandma and pa Putnam, some money and a card from Grandma and pa Hyde and some peanut M&M's from the kids. We sure do love her and hope she had a wonderful day!

Halloween

We had a great few days of Halloween fun.

Brian was here for his annual deer hunt with Gerry. They both got bucks on Thursday. I had hoped to get a picture of them but missed out on the chance. We always enjoy his company.

Friday evening we carved our jack-o-lanterns and had our traditional Halloween meal.

We have dinner in a pumpkin, broccoli boo salad, pumpkin muffins (some with spice and raisins and some with chocolate chips), bubbling apple cider and ghosts in the graveyard.

We had some fun jack-o-lanterns. Kyle carved one at school and one at home. Karlee and Journee also did their own. I helped Talon and Allie and Gerry took on Azurdey's.

Talon sat really still to get his make-up on. It was afterward with his bouncy self that so much of it rubbed off on his hood.

Skeleton!

Azurdey sparkled from head to toe.

Tinkerbell!

Allie Cat!Spooky Witch!Evil Sorcerer!

Journee dressed up a little later with her friends. Still not sure as what. What do middle school kids really dress up like? :)

Passing out glow sticks and making plans for the evening.Jouree headed off with her friends and the rest of us went to our ward's trunk or treat. Kyle met up with Kaleb there and went with his group for the rest of the time. After the trunk or treat we went around a few blocks and then out to mom and dad's to finish off the trick-or-treating.Azurdey had her pre-school party on Thursday. I made some candy corn smoothies for her treat. Frozen apples, peaches and pineapple blended with yougurt and layered to look like candy corn. The other elementary kids had their costume parade and parties on Friday. This is the veggie and dip tray that I took to Kyle's class.