Owen's Music Program

The second graders were in charge of the musical presentation this year at their school.  Owen participated with what little enthusiasm he could muster.  His face below is just a sample of the excitement that he demonstrated that night!  Owen had a speaking part as well.  He did a very good job.  He even listened to our advice and spoke slowly and clearly! 

I would post a cute picture of his face...but I don't have one :)

I was also impressed that they had the audience and the kids sing Silent Night.  I haven't heard anything close to a religious song at school in a long time.  I thought it was wonderful.  (And also the kids new music teacher is a woman from the ward I grew up in 15 years ago.  Crazy!)

Sledding

The morning after the parade we woke up to snow.  We don't get a lot of snow in Boise.  So even when we get a little bit we have to take advantage of it.  So even though there was BARELY enough snow to sled...sled we did.  And in case you were wondering, it was still frigid outside.  Freezing.  And windy.  I was miserable, but the kids didn't seem to mind.

Winter Light Parade

The studio where Ainsley takes piano lessons decided they wanted to have a float in the Meridian light parade this year.  It sounded like a wonderful idea.  So Ains signed up.  And I volunteered to help out.  And then it got really cold.  Like 2 degrees cold.  And then the parade didn't sound so fun anymore.  But we went.  We started out all smiles. 

John sat with the kids and watched while Ains and I walked.  The full on snow gear and hand and foot warmers didn't seem to be touching the bitter cold that night.

Finally they saw us walking by. 

And then they left because they were so cold!  And then Ainsley and I made them come pick us up because we were so cold!  I don't think I warmed up for days.  But...we got to light ourselves up and walk in a parade.  So I guess it was all worth it.

Visit with Santa

There is a new shopping area by our house called The Village.  It's a trendy place with a lot of cool things inside.  There is a water fountain that dances to music every hour (think Bellagio, but about 1/4 the size), outdoor fires, ice skating rink, etc.  And this year they also had a special house for Santa.  We chose to go on a night that was FREEZING. I think it was 11 degrees outside.  And it was windy.  We were chilled to the bone.  But we got our list to Santa....so it was worth it right?!

 

Emmie declared that she wanted a teddy bear.

Ains told him that she wanted girl legos.

And Owen asked for a rubic's cube. 

I wonder if Santa will deliver?

A once in a lifetime event.

I got a call from Kortney in November.  She wanted someone to make stockings with her.  I reluctantly said yes.  This task has been on my to do list for a decade.  Literally.  When John and I were newlyweds I bought some fuzzy red and white stockings at Target on clearance for $1.50 a piece.  Just to hold us over until I made some.  And then I decided I should wait to make them until our family was complete. Or at least that's what I told myself.  Really it was just a task I was dreading.

Kort and I worked on these for what seems like forever.  We planned, watched you tube, videos, shopped, and got in way over our heads.  I had to make many phone calls to people who actually knew how to sew along the way.

Since we are completely unskilled we decided to quilt the stockings as well!  Smart, right?  I'm not sure why I thought I should try out a new skill on something that I planned on lasting forever.  I honestly never want to have to make these again.  But alas, the stocking are finally done!  And I think they turned out pretty well.  They are full of mistakes.  If I get motivated one day I might sew around the top again so that the ric rac lays better.  And I'm going to have John's mom embroider our names on the cuffs the next time we make a trip to Utah. But other than that they are complete.  Now go ahead, tell me how pretty they are!  (Oh, and Kortney's turned out pretty cute too...same design, just different fabric.)

Thanksgivings Main Events

The week of Thanksgiving was full of fun.  It was the year that my entire family was together for the event and we filled the week full of all the fun we could.  We bowled, saw movies, played basketball, played board games, ate, ate, and ate, and we played our first turkey bowl.  Which is something that I actually have pictures for!  Yay me!

The kids also discovered loom bands.  So they bought a ton of them.  And spent a lot of time making them.  Which made mom happy.

Kortney also found out that she was having another girl that week.  I think the plan had been to have a boy.  Funny how things never seem to go according to plan.

Syd also made an announcement right before our Thanksgiving feast.

What was funny was that we all thought she was making the +1 sign for Kortney to hold.  Which Kortney was refusing.  And then we were all complaining that Syd had ruined the picture and we'd have to take another one.  I believe Kortney's exact words were, "Awww, Syd!  She's holding the sign!  Now we have to do it again! Wait, are you?!"  It was pretty funny.  So there will be two new Welch babies born this year.  Fun!

.....Oh, and we also did some black Friday shopping, which now is more like black Thursday shopping.  We all scored the deals we wanted in only a few hours of shopping and we were in bed by 1:00 Thanksgiving night.

Puzzle. Take 2.

Last year I attempted a puzzle with my family during December. It was terrible.  And yet for some reason I bought another puzzle this year while we were out shopping one day.  I bought a puzzle that was half the size (only 550 pieces this time).  And I decided we would start it during November to be sure we were done before Christmas this year.  Well, I 'm happy to report that we finished before Thanksgiving! And not to brag or anything, but I did most of it.  Just sayin'. And now the great debate is whether or not to attempt last years puzzle again.  I'm thinking probably not.

Emmie Is 4

Emmie turned 4 on Saturday! I think she had a great day.  She woke up to Ainsley and Owen decorating the house for her.   They worked magic with the streamers this year!

 

That after noon we went to see Despicable Me 2.  It was the first time we had been to the movies as a family in a long time. Usually I take the kids when John is working.  It was a fun outing, and I love that our kids are old enough to do that! 

Then we came home and Emmie played just dance.  One of her few birthday requests.  We made pizza for dinner and then Family came over that night for cake and ice cream. 

If this next picture were a video you would see that after I lit Emmie's candles, I immediately blew them out as I was trying to blow out the match.  Emmie took it like a champ and patiently waited for me to light the candles again. Such a pleasant girl :) 

She waited so patiently to open her gifts all day.  And when the moment finally arrived she was a bit like a sugar deprived kid given an entire bag of Halloween candy. She went crazy! There was paper flying as she tore in to them, and I'm pleased to say she loved every one.  She was so excited it just made us all laugh.

She wore her new Tangled dress all night, and wanted to wear it to church.  We managed to convince her that it might be best to just wear it after church. Don't want to make everyone jealous after all!

Emmie is such a fun member of our family. 
She is silly and happy and tender hearted. 
She loves princesses, and candy.
Lately she's really into coloring and drawing.  And she is actually good quite good at it. 
She can write her name (although she still can't tell you a single letter!)
She also can't tell you how old she is if you ask her, she just asks me in a whisper voice and then she can tell you.
She loves cold cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  (Rice Krispies, Honey Nut Cheerios, or rainbow cheerios-Fruit Loops, are her favorite.)
She wants to be a dragon when she grows up.
She loves to play barbies and Polly's.
Her best friends are Elsie, Susie, Molly, Brycen and Deacon.
She loves to sing.  She has several primary songs she sings loud and proud but my personal favorite is when the Cup Song comes on the radio and she is singing, "When I'm gone"  at the top of her lungs. 

Halloween!

Halloween this year was full of all kinds of crazy!  The cast of characters included....

A Ninja (Coal the black ninja from Ninjago to be exact)

A Witch

And a Fairy

We carved pumpkins like crazy knife carver people...

We trunk-or-treated (lame if you ask me, but the kids love it. Probably just because they love candy.)

 

We also partied in our respective classrooms...

And like any good mother of three I only took pictures of my youngest in her class party.  Ya, I'm cool like that.  The kids Halloween was full of candy parties, trick-or-treating (at John's work and around the neighborhood).  They got sooooo much candy.  Ains and Owen trick-or-treated for hours!  They even went out with the cool parents that drove their kids around after everyone was cold and tired.  I think they got a solid 3 hours of knocking on doors and getting candy.  We have candy that will last us until next Halloween for sure.  I've taken a lot of it away and put it in the freezer.  Mostly because I had to wash Owen's sheets due to the fact that they were covered in chocolate.  And that's when I said, "Enough is enough!!!"

Despicable ME

John and I went to a costume party this Halloween season.  Syd let me borrow her costume.  Can you guess who we were?  I thought it was pretty apparent that we were Gru and his minion....but one person thought I was a scarecrow.  Really?! 

Ainsley's Award

Ainsley recently won an award for her artwork.  Elementary school students in Meridian competed in an artwork competition put on by the fireman.  The kids were supposed to draw something that showed fire safety.  Ainsley worked on hers for one night at home...and then we promptly forgot about it.  And then we got an email.  She won first place in the fourth grade division.  Way to go Ains!

One of her best friends, Katherine, won second place.  It was quite the occasion.

And here is Ainsley with her teacher Mrs. Walker.

The After Math

Our drive home was a bit of an adventure.  And by adventure I mean miserable long drive.  The kids did so well on the drive to LA that we decided to make the 16.5 hour drive all in one shot.  We were just ready to be home.  We left San Diego around 8:00 that morning and were scheduled to be home around midnight.  But there were a few bumps along the way.  The first one was Ainsley getting car sick again and throwing up in the car.  We weren't as lucky as we were on the way down though.  This time there was puke on the seat and floor of the car.  We cleaned it up the best we could and continued on.  Then we stopped at a Walmart for some food because we knew we would be driving through the barren desserts of Nevada during dinner time.  Then we stopped at a home depot we saw on the side of the road when we all realized there was still the faint smell of barf in the car. 

Then we started making decent time.  John drove the bulk of the way.  We made a stop in Vegas for some food and shortly after that John started feeling sick.  Fast forward 5 hours, 4 stops for puking, and we finally made it home.

I drove the last 5-6 hours with John semi-conscious moaning and apologizing.  There was rain, 5 hour energy drinks, and luckily sleeping kids before we pulled into the driveway at 2:00 in the morning.  The next 3 days were spent doing laundry, resting, and with 2 more kids getting the stomach flu.  I can't think of a better welcome back to reality that the flu.  Poor Owen and Emmie had rough time with it.  And Emmie had to miss her fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch.  Owen came home from school today still feeling exhausted and under the weather. 

We're all hoping that next week is a little less eventful!