Winter Break

This short break from school has been flying by!  The kiddos have been enjoying doing a whole lot of nothing!  Cameron named his panda Jumbo and has been carrying him around any chance he gets. 

Taking down the Christmas decorations is nowhere near as much fun as putting them all up!  I asked Cameron if he'd like to help put away ornaments, and he said, "Um, no thanks!"  I should learn not to phrase it like a question!

Teaching Jumbo how to play Minecraft. 

Parker excavating for gemstones.  Such a mess, but those safety goggles crack me up.  Parker even stopped at one point and said, "Are the goggles even necessary?"  Cameron piped up, "Yep, they are!" so he kept them on!

Family movie night, watching The Incredibles 2 that Parker got for Christmas.  Very low key around here, but at least they're having a great time!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning - the boys stayed behind the piano bench barrier until Kenzie was up and everyone was ready.  Chris was putting his Christmas fish in the oven to warm up and he took this picture.  I thought it was sweet.

The boys were so excited to finally get to see their presents!

Our teenager was slowly waking up (it was 8:00!) but Cameron and Parker were so happy to get their panda bears.  Cameron had asked Santa for a stuffed panda, because it turns out he's been jealous only Parker has gotten a panda every previous year!

Such carnage!  Stuff everywhere!  They were having a great time.

Cameron got several transformers, which are probably his favorite thing to play with, so he was very happy.

Parker just sat there playing with his electronic fishing game for the longest time.  

Kenzie was happily cuddling her stuffed animals and trying on new cozy sweaters.  

Cameron packed up his medic bag to head out to Grandma and Grandpa Arnold's, and fell asleep on the way there.  Christmas is always a lot of work!

 The craziness of present time!

 I didn't get very many good pictures this year, but here are the younger cousins all being silly together eating lunch.  They played and played and played all day.  It started snowing in the late evening, too, so the drive home was a long one, but the kids all said they had a great Christmas!

Christmas Eve

 

Christmas Eve afternoon - everyone laying about, watching Rudolph while waiting for dinner!  Chris had to work but was able to do most of it from home and finished up a bit early, so that was nice.

This year we had cornish hens, cheesy potatoes, and asparagus.  I even made a giant flower out of rolls, which I thought was kind of fun but Cameron refused to even try.  

 The kids put away their laundry with lightning speed because they knew once the boring chores were out of the way, they could finally exchange their presents!  (What was super cute was all evening they were thanking each other and saying, "I have the best sister ever," or "You're the best brother!")

 Kenzie gave Cameron a set of paint and his own little canvases so he can paint just like her.  He was thrilled and started painting right away.  When he finished with the first canvas, he muttered to himself, "Okay, now I need to get another masterpiece paper."  That made me laugh.  He painted Christmas trees where the top comes off and lasers shoot out of the star.  He's a funny kid.  We finished off the evening with some peppermint ice cream cake and then tried to get the excited boys off to bed!

Lately

Some random pictures to catch up on the day to day around here - McKenzie made a Tardis from Dr. Who in her ceramics class.  She was very pleased with how it turned out!

The boys still love to watch Nailed It, a fairly quirky baking competition show.  Now when they enjoy something I've cooked, they often compliment me by yelling out the catchphrase, "Nailed it!"

Before dinner each night I find myself having to ask the boys to clear off the table.  Often art supplies or schoolwork clutters it up, but plenty of times we have warring factions of ninjas defending their castles!

Finally, trying to take a nice picture of the kiddos with the Christmas tree.  The kids always think they are so funny!

Merry Christmas!!

Kyle's Birthday Post

Completely random memories I have thought of over the past few weeks for this year's family history post:

Hot Dogs & Baked Beans - One day Kyle needed to find a local restaurant to take a picture for a school report, so he asked me to drive him.  I am terrible at directions, so we drove up and down the one way streets in our town for the longest time before we realized where this restaurant was.  During this long adventure, however, we were searching through the radio stations and came across a twangy country song. The only line we heard was some guy caterwauling the phrase, "Hot dogs and baked beans..."  We were hysterical.  We would sing that line anytime we wanted a good laugh. I can still hear that all too clearly in my head!

Switching Rooms - We used to play a game called "Switch rooms" which just meant we played in the opposite bedroom with each other's toys.  I usually gave names to his Hot Wheels and had them go on dates (I'm not making this up; the "girl" was the '80s Corvette with the pink pin stripes! haha).  Kyle would play with my Littlest Pet Shop animals.  I remember coming back to my room and seeing the carnage at the ice cave.  He was having the polar bear, which was one of my favorites, attack the penguins.  "Why would you do that?"  I exclaimed, horrified.  "The polar bear and penguins are friends!  They go down the ice slide together!"  Kyle looked at me like I was nuts and said very seriously, "Polar bears eat penguins."  That makes me laugh now to think about, but at the time I was not amused!

It's Out if I Say It's Out - We used to set up the badminton net from time to time and play in our yard.  Apparently Kyle got tired of wondering what was out of bounds and what wasn't... he took the trencher and tried to dig out a badminton court in the yard!  The best part was that it was horribly crooked.  He got in so much trouble for what he thought was a great idea.  Maybe that shouldn't be as funny as I think it is...

Salesman - In middle school, our fundraiser was to sell magazine subscriptions.  I have never cared for selling things, and I remember being at my dad's work and really really really not wanting to have to approach his co-workers and ask them to buy a subscription.  Kyle did it for me!  He marched up to everyone and loudly asked, "Do you want to buy a magazine from my sister?"  Then I would bashfully smile with the paperwork.  I think it worked on a few people, too, so that was great!

Waldo - There used to be a cartoon featuring Where's Waldo, and at certain points in the show a clock would count down while you tried to hurry and find Waldo in the picture.  Kyle would put on his Waldo Halloween costume and run down the hall.  I'd stand at the end of the hallway, making ticking sounds and swinging my arms around, acting like the hands of the clock to count down the time.  When the time was up, Kyle would pop out from the doorway he'd been hiding in and wave just like Waldo would in the cartoon.  It was highly entertaining.

Happy Birthday, little brother!

Cookies

It's cookie season!  Earlier this week, the kiddos decorated sugar cookies.  The boys delivered theirs to their Primary teachers.

In case you wondered, yes, I am out of green sprinkles now!

Parker even used the bigger sprinkles to make buttons on the snowman, and later he meticulously used sprinkles for eyes and a face, too!

This evening Kenzie rolled out the gingerbread dough and cut out all the gingerbread men.

The kids had fun drawing funny faces, bow ties, and anything else they could think of.

 Finally, this made me laugh - Parker dropped his cookie right when I took this picture!  His gingerbread man had broken off on the appendage Parker was holding and he took a tumble right into the rest of them... the kids thought it was funny to give me the mangled cookie when I asked which one I could eat!  He still tasted great, so whatever!

Getting Ready for Christmas

Cameron laughing that the cat loves to sleep under the tree.  I've put some presents under there now, and she wasn't too happy for her favorite spot to be cluttered!

 Kenzie's fan club waiting at her band concert last night.  They brought along their putty to keep themselves entertained.

Kenzie and her flute, front and center as always!

 I feel like we just barely went to a band concert, but it's cute to watch the boys clap and cheer for their sister and to see how much Kenzie is enjoying it (plus, ice cream afterwards!).

 And finally, how cute is this?  We've been doing our Christmas scripture "reading" by watching the little church videos that read the story.  The kids are glued, so it works for me!

Snow & Lights

 Cameron and Parker are loving the snow!  They come home from school and the first thing they do is put on their snow pants and head outside.

 Usually they just want to flop in front of the TV after school, so it's nice the snow keeps them so busy!

 Then last night we went to see the Christmas in Color lights.  We've done that for a few years now, and the kiddos were still super excited.  Even our teenager was bobbing her head to the music and having a good time.

Here's a short clip of the music and the lights.  

As it finished, Parker said, "I feel satisfied."  That kid makes me laugh.  We are glad they are having fun getting ready for Christmas!

Date Night

 We don't go out often, so it needs to be recorded - Saturday night Chris and I went out for Japanese Ramen, and we discovered that Japanese melon soda is really tasty (we bought an extra for Kenzie's "payment" for watching the boys, and she was thrilled).  Before we sound too adventurous, I will now admit that the waitress brought me a fork because my attempt at using chopsticks was so pitiful.  Baby steps towards being cultured, I guess!

Then we spent forever in downtown holiday traffic trying to find a place to park near the arena to make it to the Jim Gaffigan show.  I had used our credit card points to book the tickets, so I didn't realize how close the seats were - we asked three ushers where we were supposed to sit, because we weren't expecting section "F" to mean "Floor."  We were in the fourth row, super close right next to the stage.  That made us laugh, because I would love those seats if we were watching trapeze artists or a play, but for a comedian just standing on the stage we probably didn't need to be that close!  It was still fun, though.  A guy behind us had a really awkward guffaw that he barked out from time to time, and the lady next to me got in trouble for trying to take pictures, but otherwise it was not too different from the seats we usually have!  It was another fun evening with my favorite date!  

Festival of Trees

Yesterday after school we visited the Festival of Trees at the expo center over in Sandy.  We hadn't been in a few years, and Kenzie said she wanted to go.  I liked this Bumble and his cute little light-up campfire.

Parker and Kenzie checking out the Harry Potter themed tree.

 Parker really liked the Hot Wheels tree.  He now wishes our tree could have a track winding around it!

 Kenzie thought the bookcase tree was an amazing idea!

Cameron was grumpy and didn't want to take any pictures, until he saw the Pokemon trees.  Then he smiled for his first, last, and only picture and then immediately went back to whining to go home.

 Kenzie was taking a picture of the My Little Pony tree "for a friend" so I teased her about that.  

At least Kenzie and Parker were enjoying walking around!  They were good sports posing for some pictures for me.

Parker's Piano Recital

This cute boy had his Christmas piano recital Tuesday evening.  They performed at a memory care center not far from our home, just like last year.  

First Parker played a few songs by himself.  Here is a short clip from one of them.  He did pretty well, even though he was nervous.  The residents sang along with any tune they recognized, which flustered many of the kids but Parker hung in there!

At the end a couple of the kids each did a duet with their teacher.  I moved to where I could see Parker better to make the video, and I was highly amused to see Parker with his tongue hanging out in concentration!  He does that all the time when he's really thinking!

Parker is a sweet kid.  He sure loves Diane and enjoys visiting with her each week at his lesson.  He always leaves with a big smile and a little candy.   After Parker very nervously helped pass out cookies to the residents, he then helped himself to a well earned treat and exclaimed, "I think I did well!"  We agreed!

Happy Pie Day!

The day before Thanksgiving Kenzie and I have dubbed "Pie Day."  We made six pies and a cheesecake this year.  Here Kenzie was about to start pumpkin brownie pie, which she made all by herself.

Here she had just finished decorating the Oreo pie and the pumpkin brownie was cooling.  She also made a regular pumpkin pie all on her own, too!

For Thanksgiving we went to Wes and Hannah's.  I had to take a picture of the three brothers as the Plaid Panel.  They are so alike that they dress alike.

Cameron getting ready to eat.  He was beyond thrilled for the canned cranberry sauce, and told anyone and everyone, "My mom made the cranberry sauce!"  He was also proud that we had brought pop.  (He did eat a homemade roll, but didn't brag to everyone that I made those!  It was just the pop and cranberry sauce that he loudly told everyone I had made.  We all thought it was funny).

Cute Kenzers ready to eat her dinner (and who knows what Cameron was up to!).

Parker was super excited for some turkey and mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce.  Maybe I should just give them all a can of cranberry sauce for Christmas (it is my specialty, after all!). 

Nobody can agree if it's make-a-silly-face or not, so this was the best one I got.

 The evening finished off with a large assortment of pies (this isn't even quite all of them!).  I kept going back and forth from the van to bring all our pies in, and jokingly said, "This is my last trip - I expect applause when I return."  Of course everyone took that as a challenge, and I entered the house again to much fanfare and lots of clapping.  I am related to a bunch of goofballs!  Besides pie, there were lots of games played throughout the house, and even though we had been there for six hours, Cameron was still disappointed to go home, so it must have been a fun day for him playing with his cousins!  Happy Thanksgiving!