Pierced Ears!

McKenzie decided to spend her Christmas money on getting her ears pierced.  So the day after Christmas we went to Claire's.  (It was full of teenage girls busy spending their Christmas money.  I felt very old.)  But anyways, Kenzie was quite brave, and only looked rather nervous for a minute.  The lady asked if Kenzie wanted to hold the teddy bear, and Kenzie said no.  When it was done, she was very pleased.  She sure is growing up fast!

Christmas Afternoon

 Christmas afternoon we went to Aunt Caroline's out in Stansbury to exchange gifts with the Arnold family.  Parked outside of Aunt Caroline's house was Uncle Arnie's fire truck.  He had to work on Christmas, but was able to come by for a bit and the kids thought it was terrific to get to go inside the fire truck.

 Cameron liked all the shiny knobs and buttons, and pointed at everything.  He was impressed.

 Christmas isn't Christmas without a lot of hot chocolate and croissants!

 The cousins all draw names, and Camille was so excited to give Cameron a present! 

 Kenzie was excited to have a poster to color and a dry erase board.

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The big hits of the evening, however, were the bear-shaped chairs the youngest kids got from Grandma and Grandpa.  Parker, Paige, and Tatum watched movies in them and it was quite cute.

Cameron loved his seat.  He bounced in it and sat there for the longest time!

 I thought this was cute - Cameron snuggling with Hayden during movie time. 

Something random - this was across the street.  I liked the snowman nativity scene the neighbors had.  They even had snow sheep!  Funny.  It was a fun, but long day.  Cameron was asleep before we reached the freeway, and Parker kept saying, "I am really, really so tired." It was a good Christmas!

Christmas Morning

 The kiddos were all so excited to look under the tree Christmas morning! 

 Kenzie and Parker were serious present-openers this year.  Parker gasped and exclaimed with delight over every present.  McKenzie grinned and chuckled over all her stuff, and Cameron took a break to eat a snack but spent the rest of the time playing with his toys and swiping Parker's new calculator.

 McKenzie was so thrilled to get the Lego Friends pool set from Santa.  She had it all set up by the afternoon, too!  She's very good at following the instructions and putting the sets together.

 Parker was thrilled to get some "ninja swords" and so was someone else -

 - Cameron wasted no time picking up a sword and preparing to fight Parker!

 It was pretty cute.

 Kenzie with her loot.

 Parker with his haul!

Cameron with his new toys.  It was a busy morning, but they were well spoiled!

Christmas Eve

 I forgot to take pictures of the grandparents, or of dinner, but I did take pictures of the sibling gift exchange on Christmas Eve.  Here's Parker opening Cameron's present for him.  Parker couldn't wait for Cameron to open it any longer!

 Kenzie was super excited that Parker picked out Legos for her.

 Grandma and Grandpa Arnold gave the kids each one of their presents early, too.  Cameron and Parker both got planes.  Cameron immediately knew what to do and flew it around.  The kiddos were all so excited, but it was only the tip of the iceberg!

Santa's Cookies

 Today McKenzie helped me make sugar cookies.  She read the recipe, helped add the ingredients, rolled out the dough, and helped color the frosting. She was very excited to be making special cookies for Santa!

 This poor kid has an ear infection, but he still had fun dumping sprinkles all over.

 Yes, Cameron has a Santa hat sticker in the middle of his forehead.  Welcome to our world.

Merry Christmas!

Kenzie's Dance Recital

 This year Kenzie is only taking clogging.  She'd like to continue with jazz, but the time of the class didn't work this year.  One benefit to that was she only danced once, so we didn't have to deal with the crazy flurry of activity known as hurry-and-change-in-the-bathroom-hurry-your-next-dance-is-in-five-minutes!  It was nice to just watch her dance, then pick her back up and head off.

The Little Brothers were great sports. Parker absolutely loved watching the few dances we sat through.  He clapped enthusiastically after each one.  Cameron wasn't sure what we were up to, but he was pretty good about taking it all in quietly. When I picked Kenzie back up afterwards, I made sure to tell her Parker and Cameron enjoyed watching her, and that made her quite happy.

So here she is!  Kenzie is the third from the left.  During the first part, another girl is right in front of her, but eventually they space out a bit and you can see Kenzie better.

Happy Birthday to My Little Brother

(This picture is so fitting for us - notice Kyle's hand is in a fist.  Obviously we were not huggy-touchy-feely siblings!)

Today is my little brother's birthday.  It was years before I was even able to mention him vaguely to my kids, and even still I find I don't say much, but I thought in honor of his birthday I would take the time to write down five random memories I have of him.  These are just the five things that pop into my head from time to time.

1.  His Barbara Walters ("Ba-Ba Wa-Wa")Impression. It wasn't funny because it was a good impression, but rather it was funny because it was pretty bad.  It didn't matter what he said in that voice, though, I would think it was hilarious.   
2. His Wrestler Toys.  Of all the toys we had, I can picture those rubber wrestler figures and how it was my job one day to entertain Kyle with them so he would hold still for a sliver to be removed.  I don't even remember where the sliver was, just that I had those toys up in his face and I was trying very hard to be funny and entertaining.
3. The Petunias.  I always wish I had told this story at his funeral, but I didn't think of it until later.  It's one of my favorite memories of how literal the kid was, though: for Mother's Day one year, I drove us to Fred Meyer and told Kyle to pick out some petunias (I pointed to the display, even) while I picked out a card.  I found a card, and came back to the garden area only to find Kyle in the exact spot I left him.  He would pick up one petunia, read the label, frown, put it back, and then pick up the next petunia, frown at the tag, and continue.  I watched him for a second and finally called over, "They all look fine!  Just pick a couple!"  He was obviously exasperated as he responded, "I can't find any petunias!  These all say 'perrenial'!"  
4. The Time He Asked Me About How to Talk to Girls.  (See above photo and guess how awkward that one was.)  I'm just still flattered he asked.
5. Swimming.  This is the story I tried to tell at his funeral, but wound up losing my train of thought and not quite finishing, so I'll finish it now:  We went swimming often as kids, and since I was taller than him I used to help pack him around to the areas deeper than he could stand in.  One time I remember accidentally going out too far along the slope towards the deep end.  Now, there were lifeguards at the pool, and this encounter took about thirty seconds, but I honestly believed in my little-kid mind that we were going to drown.  I was under the water, but still holding Kyle, and I can still vividly remember using all my strength to push him up above the water so he could still breathe (he wasn't a tiny kid, either!).  After those few seconds, I had managed to move back to the shallower water, and all was well.  My favorite part of this memory, however, is that a few months before he died we were taking Kenzie for a walk in her stroller and I mentioned this day and asked if he remembered us going out too far.  Kyle had no memory of ever being concerned even slightly when we were swimming.  I was so pleased that not only had I protected him before myself, but I had done such a great job that he hadn't even realized there was danger in the first place. It remains one of my favorite memories of our relationship.

So Happy Birthday, Kyle.  Maybe go do your Barbara Walters impression for Allie today. 

Gingerbread Houses

 

Of course, McKenzie did ask, "Why are you calling them gingerbread when they're graham crackers?"  Technicality aside, though, we had fun putting them together last night.

I was amazed at how much candy Parker managed to cram on there!

 Cameron went for a simpler approach - this is what he did with his house!

Holiday Lights

 Three kiddos all bundled up and ready to go... but where to?  Thursday night, after they had their pajamas on, we then told them to put their coats on and head to the van.  I gave clues the whole way to Thanksgiving Point, but there were no guesses.  Then we arrived at the lights display, and Parker exclaimed, "I knew it!"  (Sure you did.)

 There was a lot of pointing from the second row.

 Cameron and Parker were quite impressed.  (Kenzie still enjoyed it but was quieter about it this year.)  We heard plenty of "Whoa" and "Wow" from Cameron to make up for it, though.

Parker was the only one who wanted to get out of the warm van to see the reindeer, so I went quickly with him.  It was cold enough that Parker admired them for only a second!

 

We got home only a little after their regular bedtime, but the boys were both completely worn out.

Kenzie and Parker's Turn

 It's only fair to show what Kenzie and Parker have been up to, since Cameron seems to get all the pictures lately.  The other day we made gingerbread men, and McKenzie had a hard time with the icing! 

 They had a good time making quite a mess, however.

Aren't they cute?  Such big kids now.

I couldn't resist ending with this one.  A lot of what Kenzie and Parker do for me is attempt to corral Cameron.  He is the busiest kid I have ever met (yesterday I found a spatula in the toilet!).  Kenzie and Parker are so great about playing with him, making sure the gate to the stairs is shut, warning me when he's eating off the floor, etc.  Cameron gives them hugs and high-fives in return.  It is very cute to see.

Silly Cameron

 Here's what we've been doing for fun lately, since it's so darn cold and snowy lately.  We put the headlamp on Cameron and enjoy watching him walk around with it on.  (When he stood by the window and noticed the light out on the snow, he gasped, "WOW!" several times.)

He loves it!

 Here's some more randomness - for some reason Cameron prefers to play on top of the board (which will someday be the top of my piano bench).  He's happy I guess.

 I found Parker's old teddy bear sweater the other day! 

Cameron now "helps" me clean up after he eats!  What a funny kid.

My Kids Are Strange

 Here's Cameron giving high-fives while wearing Kenzie's sunglasses!

 Watching Magic School Bus from a box.

 Yep.

I have no shortage of pictures like this.

This is by far my favorite.  It needs no explanation!