December Birthdays

It always feels like such a whirlwind during December, with two birthdays and Christmas. So here's some pictures of our new ten year old, who had her birthday first!

It's our tradition to help bake the birthday masterpiece.

 Wow, candles in double digits!

 The gang all helping with the magic cake disappearing trick.

 Awesome super powers.

The loot.

The loot unveiled.

And wearing the one gift mom made especially...

Aah. A good birthday.

And to keep the month exciting, another birthday four days after Christmas. . .

Our youngest asked for a tire cake, so he could have a Cars birthday party.  Here's the result.

 He was so excited to have his cousins come, and join in all the games, like the Mater obstacle course, where you had a mirror and had to "drive" backwards...

And of course, eating spare tires, or "tires on a rope."

And more presents.

And blowing out six candles. 

Michael even had face painting. 

Although in his case, it was hand painting. And at the last minute he decided not to have a lightning bolt, but a Christmas tree for his birthday.



It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas

One of the benefits of having moved around quite a bit is that we have picked up different traditions from various good friends we have made around the country.  Every time we perform the family Christmas Nativity play we will remember our good friends the Perkes.

This year our Wise Man #2 was very excited not to be a shepherd. (She has been a shepherd every year in various church plays for years.)  Our kimono clothed shepherd could actually read the script, and our little angel just glowed.  Our red clad shepherd made sure his little brother acted out his parts properly. And our Wise Man #1 got to act in the play and not be the piano accompanist.

Not seen in the play is the said accompanist (aka Mom) and the Angel Gabriel (aka Dad.)  We loved having our cousins and their families over as we performed our play this year.  And we tried out one of their Christmas traditions this year: fondue. 

It really is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.  Even with the cactus and sunshine.

Spelling Bees and Band Concerts and Choir

We've hung up our lights and decorated our Christmas trees. We've exchanged names for Christmas gifts, and the giggling and whispering has begun. One more week of school left, and already we've competed in spelling bees, and performed in jazz band, band, and choir. 

What a wonderful time of the year. 

Tomorrow we celebrate Karina's 10th birthday and we'll have a piano recital in the evening. Half the family will sing, or play, in the choir at church.  And Christmas is still a couple of weeks away.

7th grade band concert.

10th grade art show

Jazz band concert

Kindergarten spelling bee--2nd place.

2nd grade spelling bee--1st place. 

4th grade spelling bee--2nd place. 

7th grade spelling bee--2nd place.

What a wonderful time of the year.

Happy Turkey Day

As Turkey Day approaches, all turkeys suddenly have a pressing desire to disguise themselves.  After all, if the farmer does not recognize the turkey, the turkey will not be, well, dinner.

Hearing about the plight of the poor turkey from our kindergartner, we as a family decided some intervention was in order.  So, this was our FHE project on Monday night:

Clown Turkey: Michael's contribution.

Space Turkey: Matthew's brainchild.

Ballerina Turkey, courtesy of Karina.

Dragon Turkey, by Kayla 

 Harry Potter Turkey--by Kimberley.  

 

Batman Turkey, courtesy of Brent.

Ghost Turkey, by Delwyn.

From our Turkey Safe House to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

Good Things Arizona

So one Saturday morning we all got up early and helped beautiful the elementary school and the middle school here in Arizona. Mostly we hauled the (big) rocks you see behind us, to prevent erosion when it rains.

This was the first time that the whole family was actually helpful at a service project.

I love my not so little helpers.

 

Halloween Costumes

We went trunk or treating at the church last Tuesday and our kids had so much fun with their costumes this year.  Kimberley and Kayla won the award for most original costume.

 Matthew (Luigi) and Michael (Mario) have been working on their costumes since fall break. And "practicing" on an almost daily basis.

 Karina has a great eye for detail. She made sure that she had an eyepatch, and even some gold coins (tucked in her bucket.)

Brent's job was handing out candy from our "trunk".  (There were teeth on the bottom too.)  Mario and Luigi are eating the cupcakes that they (finally) won from the cupcake walk.

And we haven't even gotten to Halloween yet!

Here's what we were working on during FHE on Monday.  Good thing we hadn't recycled all of those moving boxes yet!

Wedding Bells Are Ringing

So this is the real reason I flew up to Idaho: Isn't my niece beautiful?

Here are all my brothers and sisters except for my brother in South Africa.  We are posing outside of the Logan temple as we wait for the bride and groom to come out. What a good looking family.

My sister made the wedding cake.

Here is the father of the bride (my brother in law) hastily putting the finishing touches on the pulled pork, which was served at the reception.

Three sisters with very tired feet at the end of the day! (Actually, this was totally posed, as we are hoping to guilt our sister into decorating for our children's weddings! Do you think it will work?)   

 So much fun visiting with my brother, his new wife, and my sisters.  The wedding was beautiful, too, although I did miss Brent and our munchkins.  Always good to come home again.