Christmas

For us Christmas starts the first Monday after Thanksgiving when we decorate our Christmas tree for family home evening. It was a lot of fun!





Santa visited our ward Christmas party this year. He even brought his list of good boys and girls for the kids to check and make sure their name was there. My kids were very relieved to see their names. They were all excited to sit on his lap and see if he was going to come visit them. Well, all of them except for Carley. The closer we got to Santa the tighter she held onto me. What is it about a jolly guy in a red suit that makes kids so scared? We usually have a tradition of going and getting a family picture with Santa, but Ryan was laid off before the day we had scheduled to go. So for this year these picts will have to do.

Each year I make matching PJ's for my entire family. Ryan and the kids got home late from G&G Braman's Christmas Eve (Sydney and I stayed home because she was sick.) so I didn't get any pictures Christmas eve. We tried Christmas day and they didn't turn out that great, but oh well. We had a wonderful Christmas and were spoiled by everyone. We even had a few secret Santa's drop some surprises at our door. I don't know who they are, and I probably never will. We appreciate their kindness toward us. On Christmas Eve all I could do was cry. Sydney was very worried. People kept knocking on the door and leaving things that made her mommy cry. Very traumatic for a 3yr old. Kinda funny now that I think about it. I hope that someday we can pay it back by paying it forward.

Hailey and Sydney got bubbles in their stockings and had a lot of fun trying them out. I had to include the pictures because of what Sydney does to Hailey!! I couldn't stop laughing.

Ryan got laid off today

What more is there to say. :{

The best baby shower favors EVER!

Brittany, my little sister, is having her first baby in January. This last Saturday my Fabulous sister-in-law Tasha threw her a shower. Since I live in CA and they are in UT I don't get to be a part of any of the fun stuff like this. I usually try to find a way to be there or be a part of it in some way. I really don't like being left out. Anyway, Tasha and my Mom called one day looking for ideas for a party favor. Tasha had a really cute poem, but didn't know what to put it on. My first suggestion was diapers, which would have been cute, but way too easy. The second and much more grand idea was Onsies. I think they turned out really cute. They were supposed to have candy inside of them, but when I went to put the candy inside it split the seams. I ended up putting the candy in a tool bag attached by the bow on the neck. I had also intended to stitch with brown ribbon around the neck line, but I ran out of time. They were a lot of work, but I think they turned out pretty cute. A big thanks to Ryan, who drew my template for me, and Hailey who put on all the cute rhinestones. Too bad they didn't get to the shower, I shipped them too late. Not that it really mattered anyway. After all the hard work Tasha put into the shower only one person showed up. Even the people who had RSVP didn't show. Come on people that is pathetic!!

The blessed end of MOVEMBER!!

For those of you who don't know, Movember is international mustache month. There are a few websites, google it. Anyway the main idea is not to shave your stash for the month of November. Ryan's friend Spencer recruited him into this great scheme. For the month of November Ryan had a wild thing living above his lip. It was funny to see the responses he got. A lot of funny looks, a few comments, and chuckles. Last Sunday, the last day of November, we had a end of Movember shaving party at our house. Basically Spencer and his family came over for dinner. After dinner they shaved their stashes while Riley took pictures. It was a lot of fun, but overall I am glad it is done.

October Part 3

Halloween

Okay I am really done going over October when we are in December, but the kids really want their Halloween pictures up. Halloween was really fun. We had Steven here with us which made it the best!! The little girls and I went to the beach with him for a few hours one morning. It wasn't the best beach weather, but the beach is always fun. He helped the kids, especially Sydney, carve their pumpkins. He even helped me get the kids dressed and ready to go trick-or-treating. I don't know if we would have made it out the door without him. I underestimated the amount of time it takes to put make-up on three girls and one boy. Riley was a zombie soccer player, Hailey was Snow White, Sydney was a princess, and Carley was a fairy. We went to our ward trunk-or-treat the first Saturday of the month, then on Halloween our friends invited us to their church's trunk-or-treat. (We had invited them to ours too. We have similar families and have a lot of fun together.) The kids made out like bandits. I think they got enough candy to last them to at least next Halloween. Riley kept tying to bribe Steven to do his chores with his. After a few days I took it away, and we moved on from Halloween. The kids had a lot of fun carving pumpkins with Steven. Having someone visiting always makes things more fun. The kids still ask when Uncle Steven is coming back. They loved having him here. After looking at some of the pictures he took I have to chuckle and wonder why! Some of them look like he was torturing them. I know the loved every minute of it though. Enjoy!!

Ryan Goes to Kindergarten

Each week Hailey's teacher, Miss Hale, has a "secret reader" come in and read the kids a story. They also get to tell the kids a little about what they do for a living. All week Miss. Hale gives the kids clues to let them see if they can guess who is coming. Well today Ryan got to be the "Secret Reader" for Hailey's class. We kept it a secret from Hailey so she could be surprised and she was. I took the kids to school, Ryan usually takes them, telling them that Ryan had a meeting he had to go to. That way Ryan could get there and set up and I could have an excuse for getting the little girls ready. It was a lot of fun to hear Ryan telling the kids what he does for a living. They were so into it and excited. They would point at the games that he has worked on and say "Hey I have that, or I play that!" It was really cute. He read them a story called Don't Give up Stanely that he wrote and illustrated in high school. Then he had them do a little mad lips thing. He told them that he was going to draw Miss. Hale's class room monster and they had to tell him what it looked like. He would say, "Miss. Hale's class room monster has __ hands." Then he would call on one of the kids to fill in the blank. They couldn't wait to see what the monster was going to look like. They went to computer lab, and when they came back Miss. Hale's class room monster was waiting for them. I was talking to the teachers in the back of the room and they said they were going to have a hard time topping Ryan. I guess the kids are not usually as engaged and excited as they were for Ryan. I think our kids will always win when it is bring your parent to school day. They all had a lot of fun and it was fun to watch. Way to be a great dad Ryan!!

October Part 2

The Pumpkin Patch.

Every year we take the kids to Bates Nut farm to pick out their pumpkins, see the animals, and have a fun family day. This year was even more fun because Uncle Steven, my brother, was here visiting and got to come with us. Thanks to him we have some great pictures. I desperately need to get a new camera.
The kids each picked out their pumpkins and we went over to the animals. We went on a Monday this year because we didn't have any Saturdays to spare. It turned out to be a lot more fun. There was hardly anyone there, and the animals wanted to be fed since they hadn't been fed by the crouds all day. They were eating right out of our hands. Carley, as we have already seen, is a big climber. She had a great time climbing to the tops of the fences. She would get really mad when we made her get down. After we were done with the animals we went into the cute little country store to see what they had and get everyone a little treat. We ended up getting everyone IBC grape, black cherry, and rood beer soda. Root beer is my favorite and there was only one left. My sweet family let me have it and they split up the other flavors. We got everyone their own except Carley. We didn't think she would be able to drink one on her own and could share with everyone else. She was fine with that until she got a taste of mine. She didn't want anything else after that. I have to admit I have taught her some bad habits, she is a root beer adict. Check out what a little shlup she turned into when she got the bottle to herself. Needless to say, I didn't get anymore. So much for MY root beer. Oh well I gave it up to a cutie.

October Part 1

October was a little crazy between soccer and the election. Here are the Pict's and stories that I wanted to post, but didn't have the time.

Soccer:

Hailey and Riley both did soccer this year. They both had a lot of fun, and want to do it again next year.

Hailey was on the Bumblebees. She wasn't the most enthusiastic player out there. For the majority of the games she would stand in the middle of the field and watch the other girls go after the ball. At one point the ball was kicked to her. She stood there and looked down at it. The other girls ran up and kicked it around her. She didn't even turn around to watch the ball, she just stood there staring off into space. She did make three goals over the season, unfortunately they were all for the other team. In her defense she was easily one of the smallest girls out there. She didn't like getting pushed around and knocked down. Also in her first practice she got knocked down and another girl fell on her. She hurt her neck so bad that she couldn't move it. We made weekly visits to the chiropractor for almost the entire season. She did perk up during the last two games because her Dad and Uncle Steven told her that they would both pay her 5 dollars if she made a goal for her team. Steven also told her that he would stick around a little longer. She tried a lot harder after that. So I guess the moral of her soccer story is hold out until the money is right, then go for it. She says she wants to play again next year. Her Dad and I will have to think about it.

Riley was on the Swordfish and had a pretty exciting season. This was the first year that Riley was old enough to keep score and have playoffs. It got quite competitive and was a lot of fun. The Swordfish went 9-2 for the season putting them in a great place for the playoffs. They ended up in fourth after a couple last minute heart breakers. It was a lot of fun to watch. Riley has a natural talent for soccer. The coach often pointed him out in practice as someone to follow. He would never give up. If someone took the ball from him he was right on it, and they rarely got far. I think he is also made of springs. Whenever he fell down he was back up again before anyone else had time to take two steps. He was also one of the boys they liked to play at goalie. He felt horrible when a few goals got through him, but he made some amazing saves. Where some of the boys would stop the ball, Riley would go all out and dive for it. There was no fear of sacrificing the body from him. He was on one of the only teams that actually played as a team. They passed to each other, communicated, and worked together. It seamed to me that the other teams had one or two stars that they relied upon to do all the work. The swordfish worked as one. They had some great coaches too. I was very impressed with the coaches and the amount of time they donated to the boys. It was a great team and a great year. Riley got awarded the go getter and one of the goalie awards from his coach. The coach also said that Riley was a big part of the teams success, that he was a good leader and example to the other boys. It was fun to see my son exhibit some of the qualities I hoped he would develop. I hope he continues to be a go getter and give his all for what ever he wants to succeed in. Big thanks to Coach Rick for all the great pictures.

I never go tired of seeing this happen. It was almost funny. Sorry other kid!! : }

You are trying to do what?

This morning while I was composing my first post for the day, I know I'm on a roll today this is number three, I heard Sydney get into the fridge.  I asked her what she was doing.  I didn't get a satisfactory answer so I went to investigate.  Sydney and Carley were standing in the kitchen looking at a broken egg on the floor.  I thought that is weird.  I asked Sydney why she got an egg out of the fridge.  "I don't know."  Okay.  I asked her to stay out of the fridge and went to get ready to leave for the day.  Again I heard her in the fridge so I came out to investigate. This time I found an empty egg carton on the floor in front of the fridge.  I thought that was a little strange, but decided that the broken egg must have been the last in that container.  I threw away the container and continued getting ready.  Finally I came into the living room where the girls were watching PBS cartoons, yes I plugged them in while I was getting ready, and told Sydney that it was time to do her hair.  Now look at this picture and see if you see anything out of place.

Don't see anything unusual, look a little closer.

Okay, if you still don't see it here is the extreme close up.

Yes, she was sitting on three eggs.  She was really upset when I took them away too.  I asked her why she had them. "Because"  I told her that maybe if I understood why she wanted them then we could work it out.  She said that something to the effect that she was watching a movie and wanted the eggs.  My best guess is that one of the cartoons had something about birds sitting on eggs and baby chicks coming out.  If you read the post before this you know that Sydney loves baby animals.  So much so that she was willing to put the time in and sit on those eggs until they hatched.  I tried to explain to her that it wouldn't work with our eggs.  I don't think she got it though.  When we were walking out the door she was back to begging for the egg so she could snuggle it and have it be her baby.  I love her imagination.  I forgot to add that to her birthday blog. Sydney has a very active and vivid imagination.  I am also amazed and grateful that she was so gentle with them that they didn't break on my chair.  She is probably grateful for that too, even if she doesn't know it. 

Sydney is 3!!!

Sydney turned 3 on Sunday.  It was a fun day.  She was so excited.  She wanted to make sure everyone knew that it was her birthday.  She told everyone she came close to that it was her day.  She is such a sweet and loving little girl that is full to the brim of vinegar and spice.  What else could she be with me being her mother. HEE! HEE!

Our family has a tradition that when it is your birthday you get to choose what we have for dinner.  It took Sydney two days to come up with Pizza.  I told her if she didn't tell me she was going to end up with cereal, she didn't think that would be too bad.

She was bursting at the seams waiting to open her presents.  I love this picture!!

Sydney's favorite presents by far were her little pig and camera.  She has taken or tried to take them with her every where.  

After cake and ice cream Sydney gave us all a little fashion show.  Notice her little pig. The only reason she didn't have the camera is because she was having us take "pictures" of her with it.  

She had a lot of fun with her princess cake.  

Sydney loves to be the center of attention.  She loves to preform.

  

She has a very outgoing personality. She has no problem going up to perfect strangers, saying hi, and making new friends.

She is protective of her little sister Carley.  She has no problem beating Carley, but let anyone else try it and that is another story.  

She loves animals.  Her birthday wish list consisted of a baby kitty, a baby horse, a baby calf, and a baby pig.  I told her she would have to talk to Howdy y'all Grandpa about most of those.  (Good luck Dad!)

She is a lot of fun.  Our family wouldn't be complete without her.   Happy Birthday Sydney!!  We love you!

On a side, but related note.  We started giving the kids allowances this last week.  I am proud to say that Hailey and Riley used their first allowances to buy Sydney birthday presents from them.  Tender moments.