Just a Couple of Things

    I'll start with our newest basketball wonder, Isaac!  He had his first game last Saturday at 8 a.m. and it was his first time playing on a basketball team and it was also his first time playing with this team.  We hadn't gotten the notice about any pratices up until then and so he hadn't met his coach or his fellow players and apparently he didn't need to, the kid is a natural!  He made the first three baskets of the game and several after that.  He pretty much made every shot he attempted.  Now he may not dribble all the time but he moves a ton and thankfully when you're only in third grade you don't get called for traveling or most other things and they only play 4 against 4.  He played again on Tuesday night and was just as successful at shooting.  Now with a little practice he just may be one of the star players.

This is a shot of him before the game sharing his basketball with a fellow player.  (He's a nice boy too!)

   And not to just single out one but let me add another child to our "Amazing" list.  Kayli is a CHAMPION!  That's right, she won the Iron Chef competition at her middle school with her 3 other teammates.  I don't know all of what they cooked up but I do know Kayli's contribution was home made ice cream and thankfully it all came together despite last minute notice on her part.  Let's just say the night before the competition her dad was a little frustrated with her.  Here she is wearing her award apron.

  

And last and least really, I found the cutest chair while checking out a new little boutique in American Fork.  It's a perfect addition to my basement and some day it will have a spot of it's own.  For now I'm using it as a desk chair until this basement can be worked on a little more.  Greg is actually working on shelves in the storage room and if HIS plan works my work out equipment can go in there making the basement a little more 'homey'.  And if MY plan works I'll be getting new carpet in the very near future, if I can decide on the right color.  Yellow and white walls with black and white accent colors...  any suggestions on a carpet color that is both a good match and would be forgiving with six busy kids?  Feel free to make any comments on this before I choose all on my own and make a choice I might regret.
   Here's the chair I bought just so you can get an idea of what my taste is.

Happy 2012!

    Well it's here, 2012 and we've survived the first several days of it.  I'm sad to say I didn't take many photos, in fact I only have one on my phone that I took on New Years day but Brock took about 25 with my phone the other day and I saved a few for your viewing pleasure.  He's quite the Photog.  I erased the blurry ones but here are a few of my favorites....

McClane hanging out behind bars to keep him safely away from the working treadmill.

Sad, locked away 'Twain'.

A self taken photo of our sneaky little 3 year old Photog.

A shot of the paraphernalia allowed in their 'prison'.

A close up of Brock.

And a super close up of Brock's mouth.

And another shot of sweet baby 'Twain'.

  So here are the two photos of our New Years activities.  Unfortunately I didn't take any photos New Years Eve with our friends over to celebrate with us.  I was too busy playing several games of "Pit/Spoons" and enjoying visiting with our great friends and neighbors.  Really it was just a great excuse to make several treats I've had a hankering for, namely my Grandma's Jello Cheesecake and slush in addition to several other tasty concotions shared by the neighbors and us.  The kids had fun but were a little disgusted with the early and short firework display our neighbor had and they were also a little bummed when the neighbors left a little before midnight but the kids still managed to make a ruckus all on their own as the clock struck midnight and I had my house clean and in order shortly thereafter so the new year could start out right.

   We also had a fun get together with some of Greg's relatives New Years Day/Night that was also fun and I'm proud to say I was on the winning team of our riotous game of Family Fued thanks to Craig and Torie Samuelson (Greg's cousins) who brought the game and ran the "show".  Team 2 ROCKS!!  Here are my two photos of our New Years.

The boys were thrilled to end the year 2011 with these Texas bad boys!



And here's the only photo I got of our New Years Day/Night celebration.  I was trying to get a shot of  McClane chasing the dog.

Hope you all have had a great New Year so far and here's to praying this entire year is one of joy, laughter and a million bucks!!  (One can always DREAM!)

Christmas Came (And went) Quick!!

   Well Santa came despite my protesting but he did have a trick or two up his sleeve.  Thankfully all the kids were good sports and were totally fine with waiting until after church to open the majority of their gifts.  They actually slept until after 7 a.m. which shocked me and then after they were finally all ready and we got the traditional photo of them lined up in the hallway youngest to oldest they went in and found....
   The tree and most of the gifts and stockings gone.  There was just a small pile of gifts and a note from Santa.  They did get to open the gifts they'd bought each other which kept them happy and occupied until we could get back from church.  It's a good thing church was only an hour though because I don't know if they could have held out much longer.

They're not sure what to think at this point.

Here's Mark reading the letter from Santa.

Then they started opening the gifts they bought each other.  Everyone was quite pleased with what they got and gave.

Here's Brock's fun gift that he destroyed at least three different times throughout the day.  Greg finally put it all in a sack and stuck it in the basement.

And here's our cute baby who was quick to find the marbles from Carter's toy and stick them in his mouth.

   Finally the big moment arrived and boy were they excited to see what mom, Dad and Santa had in store for them.  And don't worry, they didn't wear their pjs to church but changed back into them once church was over.

Oh yeah, a trampoline!  Mark is screaming hysterical.  (Seriously we had to tell him to be quiet, it was really obnoxious.)

Brock wasted no time finding a way up to the presents.  You can see in the background that Greg had to hurry and remove the tree before the kids bounced it off.

Grandma and Grandpa even came up for the fun and helped with the kids.  McClane was 100% satisfied with this one toy but for some reason Santa had one more for him.  He'll probably appreciate it some day.

I got a nice weight vest to add a little more challenge to my workouts from the kids.  It's a good thing I requested that or I might have taken offense to that kind of gift.  J/K

And don't worry, the kids got more then just gummy bears for Greg.

And here's just a few of our visitors that came later that day.  Josh and Camille and Jackie and Jovi.

  So that's about it for our Christmas.  It was a great day and we've had a pretty nice week.  I did spend a good day and a half making up collages of all my photos from the last year and sending them to be printed.  Remind me to never let that much time pass before getting photos printed.  That also cost a pretty penny but at least it's done.
   Now off to the New Year!!!  I hope you all have a great year and that this past year was a good one as well.

Christmas Cancelled?! Maybe

   Have you ever had a day when you're just one more mess or upset away from calling a "Time Out"!?  Monday was one of those days for me.  Really this whole month I feel like these kids are pushing the limit nearly non-stop and of course the first day home from school is always a bit harry but I, for some reason, forget this every time.
    I thought the day was going pretty well.  I had the boys up doing chores early and got out the door at a decent hour to do some shopping with Isaac along to help.  I even came home from my errands to find all was still well at home, then it started! 
    First it was Carter making a prank call to 911 and getting a call back from the dispatcher to make sure nothing was really wrong.  Luckily a police officer didn't actually show up at the door but I think he was on his way because he did do a drive-by.  You can imagine I had a chat with Carter and he was grounded for the remainder of the day.  So now I think it's safe to take a little moment to veg out in my room, which is what I would typically do on a normal day, but I should have known better with all these kids home, including a couple friends. 
     After a little while I decide McClane should be checked on but instead of being a diligent mother and doing it myself, I send the 14 year old girl to do the job and her idea of checking on the baby is yelling down the stairs to ask if he's down there.  I was aware he was down there but I'd asked specifically for her to check and make sure he wasn't in any trouble or hurt because I know how oblivious the boys can be with him.  So I finally get off my lazy behind to check for myself and boy was I in for a shock. 
     First I find my basement in utter upheaval.  The couch and chairs were turned upside down and the boys were just lying around watching tv and no one really knew where McClane was.  The nice neighbor boy was quick to jump up and help look but of course the damage was done, because there was McClane in the bathroom where he'd played in a toilet that hadn't been properly flushed after someone had gone not just one but two, and yeah, it was nasty!  So now I'm losing my cool.  Friends are sent home and furniture and "other" messes are cleaned up and I'm nearly done with these kids.  Then Mark comes home from playing at a friends and I send him out with some trash and Kayli decides to lock him out with the locks we've recently installed to keep Brock in the house and he gets mad and actually tries busting through the door and busts a piece of molding away from the wall around the door.  So now I'm really done and I'm not kidding, I would have taken down the Christmas tree and decorations right then if I'd thought it would have done any good but Greg stopped me and thankfully after Monday things improved and the rest of the week hasn't been nearly as bad.
    McClane did have a minor run-in with the treadmill which was sad but thankfully he didn't require medical attention but this is the result of his fall.

This was just shortly after it happened.  It's burned and scraped but thankfully he's tough and hasn't really complained much after the initial incident.

   Please don't judge me, I'm usually very vigilant about keeping him away from the treadmill but I was hoping with all the kids home they'd help keep him away and he wasn't actually trying to get on the treadmill like he normally does when I'm on it, he was just too close doing other things and fell.  Trust me, lesson learned and this won't happen again.

   And here's proof that even baby proofing the whole house doesn't always keep him out of trouble.
So that's a little of our week.  I could regale you with more but I've shared enough for now.  Now lets hope our Christmas Eve and Christmas day go as planned.  Merry Christmas!!
   

Can You Say White Trash!?

   It's official, our house is the "white trash" of the neighborhood.  It wasn't enough that we had some lights applied with a "flair" by the neighbors but someone thought it was necessary to add to the decor with this monstrosity.....

   The saddest part is this tree actually is fuller and bigger then our own artificial tree in our front room.  I guess if no one claims this after the holidays we'll maybe add it to our boxes of decorations for next year.
    And just so you know it has working lights that blink and don't blink.  It's really quite an addition to the front yard "display".  Thank you Anonymous donor we hope to pay you back some day!

Have a Merry Christmas ALL!!

Not a baby anymore!

    The time finally arrived for my baby to become a little boy.  Those fine wispy blond locks had to go.  They were tangled and getting food in them hourly and I saw no other option then to give him his first haircut!  Here's Baby Twain and then Big Boy Twain....

 Going,

 Going,

 Gone!

  

He's still pretty darn cute if you ask me and it's been nice not to have to look at the rats nest he usually has all over his head.

   We also had the neat experience of attending a Living Nativity this week.  Here in Alpine there's a family that started this tradition several years ago and we've never taken the opportunity to go but decided to give it a shot this year and it just might be our new tradition.  No doubt the spirit was felt as we got to walk into a room where a young couple stood over a live baby "Jesus".  It was really quite spectacular and despite the crowds of people it was well worth fighting the freezing cold weather to remember the true meaning of Christmas.  Here are just a couple shots of the kids petting the CAMELS.  I tried taking more photos but it was too dark.  It was so neat though, they had Roman soldiers roaming the trails and little stops along the way of the Wise Men sharing their experience, the shepherds, and several other cool Bethlehem scenes.  Anyone in the area should make the journey in the future if you can.  They only put it on for a few nights of the year and there's no charge but they do ask for donations that go towards the Huntsman Cancer Center and Operation Smile or something similar.  Anyway, here's the camels.

Super neat Christmas tradition and one I hope my kids won't forget and will want to attend again next year.  Hope you all had a fantastic week.

A Festivus for the rest of Us!

   Ok, so this post really doesn't have much to do with "Festivus" but it was a Festival of Trees.  We love going to this event every year and seeing all the original and fun Christmas trees and all for a good cause.  This year Mark had the chance to sing at the Festival with his school choir group.  Unfortunately it was in the middle of the day and none of us were able to attend but I'm sure the other parents there took photos that they'll share some day.  We decided to go last night as a family and we saw some pretty fun trees.  One of our neighbors had decorated and donated a tree for his Eagle Scout project and it was pretty impressive.  Here's a few of our/my favorite trees from last night.

These first two photos are of our neighbors scout tree.

His grandparents actually bought the tree so I'm thinking our neighbor might just get a few of these camping items as gifts.

You can't help but love a "Christmas Story" themed tree.  One day we will own this atrocious lamp!

Um, could there be any more snoopies?!

This one was right up my alley, a chocolate Christmas!!

Or maybe a Harley Christmas would be fun too.

A group shot after purchasing a little treat at the "Sweet Shop".

Kayli and her best friend Toni.

This was a Harry Potter tree that Kayli and Toni insisted on getting a photo of.

Then this morning Santa and Mrs. Claus came to City Hall and we made sure to be there for the big event and see them arrive in style.  Last year Kayli was sick so we didn't have a photo with all six kids and santa so this was our opportunity and I think we got a pretty cute photo.

Merry Christmas!!