Ainsley's 12th

Ainsley turned 12 last week! My little girls is now in Young Womens with me! I love it and hate it all at the same time.  I just seems like she shouldn't be that old.  But I am loving watching the amazing young woman she is becoming.  She is kind and thoughtful and a good friend.  And she is getting old enough that she actually enjoys shopping with me (sometimes) and we can watch tv shows and movies together that aren't cartoons!  I love it!

Ainsley's actual birthday was on a Wednesday.  So she got to go to mutual on her birthday. How cool is that?  She had a combined birthday party with her friends the week before.  Ainsley has a gang of 5 girls that she hangs out with at school.  And four of them have birthdays between January 10th and January 20th.  Weird right?!  So the girls got together to celebrate all of their births.

The party was supposed to take place at our house...but unfortunately John and Emmie and I all had the worst flu that week.  I think we are all still recovering.  We were seriously near death.  Luckily other moms were willing to step in and help.  So Ainsley went off and had fun with her friends while we sat home and coughed and drank medicine and slept and watched TV.  I have zero pictures but Ainsley came home all smiles so I think it was a success!

Happy Birthday Ainsley!

Emmie's Room

Emmie is now 6.  And I have never decorated a room or done anything special for her on her walls. I hated the way the paint looked when we painted the house as we were moving in.  So I always just thought I'd wait to hang things on the wall until I repainted....flash forward 3 years...I still have not repainted!  On top of that she typically gets Ainsley's hand-me-downs.  My goal is to do something for her by this spring!

In the meantime, Emmie has taken it upon herself to fill her room with her treasures. And honestly I love it.  I don't know if I can take it down to paint her walls!

The decorations on her walls are constantly morphing and changing.  I love the random things that she finds worthy of a coveted spot on the wall.

And just because:

I found these pictures on my phone.  Emmie took them. They do a beautiful job of showing what is important to her right now.  She asked for an American Girl Doll for Christmas.  Although, she doesn't know what an American Girl doll is, other than the fact that it's an 18 inch doll.  Santa must have realized that, because in stead of one doll he brought her 2 my generations dolls, and a horse, and a bed, and a new outfit.  And she loves them all!

She is very good about making sure that her dolls, Reese and April, are constantly entertained.  She puts them to bed each night and gets them dressed and makes their bed each morning.

She is also good about taking the horse out for walks regularly.  I'm am loving how much fun she is having with these dolls.

Family Ski Day

Our family gift for Christmas this year was a family day up at Bogus skiing.  Except for Emmie. She has no interest in skiing.  She opted for a movie day with Grandma instead.  The plan was to go over Christmas break, but due to a really cold front and John's on-call schedule we postponed it to the Saturday after Christmas break. 

The good news is that Bogus has had tons of snow this year!  The bad news is that everyone in the valley wants to take advantage of the good snow.  We drove up with Kortney, Dan, Bria, and Bailey.  We were expecting it to be busy.  But it was insane!!! I couldn't believe how many people were there!  We just bought tickets for the coach lift since John hadn't skied for over 20 years, Ainsley and I have only been skiing twice, and everyone else was on the mountain for the first time.

Even though we had to fight crowds and most of the kids (and Dan) were learning to ski the day went really well.  Everyone was successful!  Owen is a little speed demon.  And Ainsley picked up right where she left off.  Even John had a blast...which was shocking seeing as how he didn't even really want to go!

Christmas 2015

It seemed that the time between putting up the tree this year and taking it down went way too quickly this year.  The month was full of fun and crazy.  We set up the tree as soon as we got home from Salt Lake. 

I'm not sure why Emmie is holding these particular ornaments in this picture...but I'm glad she is.  I don't know that I've ever mentioned the angel on the top of our tree (or maybe I have and this is just repetition!).  For years I looked for the perfect topper for our tree.  I considered all options.  But nothing seemed quite right.  Oftentimes the topper I loved wouldn't even stand up on the tree.  I bought and returned quite a few.  Then one December, when Ainsley was probably in kindergarten or first grade, she brought home this beautifully colored angel.  And since we had no tree topper, it took it's place on top of the tree that year.  It has somehow become a tradition.  I even found an angel that I loved this year while Christmas shopping but I couldn't bring myself to buy it.  For now, and for who knows how long, we will have a paper angel on top of our tree.

Flash forward to Christmas Eve!  Where Ainsley was in much better spirits than in the previous picture.  The kids all got Star Wars pajamas this year.  John took the kids to see it the week before Christmas...they were all fans.

We spent Christmas Eve with the entire Welch clan at my parents house.  We feasted and the kids put on an incredible program.  I'm so mad at myself for not taking any pictures!  But he performance Emmie gave portraying Frosty the Snowman is one that will be remembered forever.

We spent Christmas morning at home and had a great time.  Santa must have nailed it this year because each of the kids gave audible gasps as they came down the stairs this year.  John and I were completely blown away due to the number of thank you's we heard come out of Owen's mouth.  It was amazing!

After opening gifts my parents came over to join us for breakfast.  The kids and I spent the day being lazy but John had to go into work for a few hours (he was on call this year...it was a bummer).  We got to talk to John's parents in Australia which was nice.  And I spent my day drawing on Emmie's Boogie Board.  Kortney's family and my parents came back that night for dinner and to hang out.  It was such a nice day.  So nice that I didn't get around to doing breakfast dishes until 5:00 that night. I wish everyday could be like that!

15th Anniversary

John and I celebrated 15 years of wedded bliss last month.  And I didn't take a single picture of our Anniversary.  I was clever enough to get married less than 10 days before Christmas, and on my mother's birthday.  So celebrating has proven hard over the years.  This year we spent the morning of our anniversary at Costco, and then I went to lunch with my mom.  We did take time to go out the following weekend though.  And while I should post a picture of the happy couple...instead I'll post a picture of the awesome gift John gave me this year.  He surprised me with an anniversary band to add to my engagement ring and wedding band.  I love it!  John has always wanted me to have a more "impressive" ring.  I've always been happy with the one I've worn for 15 years now.  I thought it suited me well.  But I must admit that I'm in love with the sparkly new addition.

Thanksgiving and a Farewell

For Thanksgiving this year we were able to go down to Utah to spend the holiday with John's family. We also went because John's parents were leaving on their mission and their farewell was the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Alene's birthday was also on Thanksgiving this year! So there was a lot to celebrate at the Dinger house! We had a fun week! The kids played with cousins and we had time to catch up with family that we don't often get to see. There was lots of food and lots of crazy. But I think everyone had a good time.  

While we were there the kids got to play in the snow.  Our car died so we got to buy a new battery.  Yay.  We got to visit Temple Square.  And we got to hear John's parents speak in church.  They both did an amazing job.  We're so excited for their adventures in Australia!

Botanical Gardens

Every year in Boise the Botanical Gardens are decked out in Christmas lights. However, we have never gone because I felt the entry fee was a tad high for a family of 5.  But this year Paige offered us some discount tickets that she had access to and so we jumped at the opportunity to go for a more reasonable price.  And we loved it.  The kids got to visit with Santa. 

It took all of Emmie's courage to stand that close and have her picture taken with Santa.  She wouldn't even tell him what she wanted...I had to relay the message.

The lights were gorgeous and the weather was amazing. There was no wind and it was actually pretty warm for a winter night.

Unfortunately we only brought our phones so all of our pictures are lame.  But maybe we'll get a chance to go next year and we'll remember to bring the good camera next time! 

The Gang, And a Dance Recital

Emmie is lucky enough to have a group of the greatest little friends around.  Earlier this year I was emailed this picture of Emmie and her buddies on the playground at school.  These four girls do everything together.  They are all in the same class at school, they go to dance together every week, they go to church together, and when they aren't doing one of those things you can bet that they are playing at each others houses.  They play beautifully together and rarely argue.  But even when they do it's usually quickly resolved.....and almost always on their own!  A girl seriously couldn't ask for better little friends.

With that being said, Emmie and her gang had their dance recital in December.  They got to dance the part of the dolls in the Nutcracker.  They sure did look adorable!

And of course Emmie danced fabulously!  She was spot on.

I've actually been trying to convince Emmie that she could try other activities and branch out from dance.  But at this point she is convinced she wants to dance forever.  I guess only time will tell....