My little buddy John reading his books while I'm doing my scripture study. I love how he knows the routine of what we do after dropping the kids off- clean the kitchen and read scriptures!
I walk through the kitchen and see John chilling in the basket talking to Mango.
With the temple reopened I've been able to go each week because John's preschool lines up perfectly with the temple schedule. So grateful for the peaceful time of reflection, service and learning each week that the craziness of our Sacrament meeting pew sometimes doesn't quite offer :)
Cake making mess.
John doesn't like crusts, but he'll put the sandwich back in the perfect square!
We tried doing our lights differently this year because our front builder-installed bushes are gone now. Jim loved this because I did it all lol.
Mango loves to eat by us at dinner. He hops to and from Nicole's shoulder and if she's not careful he will lean in and grab food from her fork.
Cousins on the same team!
Mango after bath time
Sunny is still the best roommate for Nicole. Such a peaceful, slow, happy little lizard.
Michael and Jacob continue to take their crabs to a friends house for crab dates.
Jim loves his saltwater tank and keeping everything alive and happy.
And beta fish can survive much neglect and hardship.
65 pounds of fudge this year. Lots of work but great for the company.
Nicole's team won a game!
Nicole has really taken strides in self confidence with basketball. Her height usually places her against the biggest, toughest girls and I've been surprised to see Nicole jostle for position and elbow her way into a rebound. This might come naturally or with minimal encouragement for some, but for Nicole this is HUGE. And I love it!
I figured out how to do 5 batches of fudge at once. It is a bit of a juggling act but saves so much time!
Another close win! I do the scoreboard for home games and it's SO hard to keep quiet.
Mike shooting fouls shots. This is his and Jake's last year in basketball. The trend in the boys games is total ball hogging by the best 2 players who take every shot and the other players just hope to get rebounds. Kinda lame and no real player development. And although they boys can actually play just fine they are not year round club players and nowhere near the level of kids years older. So it's farewell to my favorite sport (sad!) for them, but soccer is such a great fit for them. Soccer also much funner for the kids because if one of them has practice the rest can play on the playground/other fields. Oh and one other major point here: 10 sweaty boys in a huddle after the game is amazingly stinky. Pretty sure you could cut the smell with a knife. My poor boys have heard me more than enough on the joys that deodorant provides to all those within sniffing distance haha.
Such a highlight to see this view!
Quick picture at another game they won. Nicole works really hard in the school league. Her rec league is very hard- girls 13-15 with many from JV/V high school teams. Totally crazy, especially when Nicole is still the tallest and is facing 15 year olds playing in high school and she's in 7th grade. And just learning to be less sweet in games.
Christmas cookies for teachers!
At the Christmas program for preschool John was totally unafraid (remember Katy bawling tears when I waved hello?)
Diana's class went to see the Nutcracker ballet
Diana is doing awesome at school now that she has figured out how to apply herself to math learning :)
John with his teacher! She was the one who had Michael and Diana and loved them both. Perfect fit for Johnny boy.
Nicole with classmates doing a service project. Best part was that this pic was posted on Facebook on a Friday. Our family rule is that Nicole has to wear long pants if it's 32 or below when we walk to school. So when I looked at this picture she was totally busted! haha. It's SO hard to have this rule because the school is kept at a totally comfortable temp and they are outside just walking to school and don't do outdoor recess if it's below freezing.
Diana and I played games at a class party right before Christmas break.
They decorated gingerbread houses which was impressively messy! If a kid's parent didn't show up their house was usually a disaster so we went around trying to help everyone. One girl told me she ran out of frosting (she had a huge tube of it to start) and denied eating it when I suggested where it all went. haha. There was no doubt she was on a sugar high for a while!
John and I were Diana's assistants, but whenever I wasn't looking John would reach over to another kid's pile of candy and sneak some. He was a happy boy.
I took my primary class and we went to an assisted living facility and sang Christmas carols, then came to my house to drink hot chocolate and play laser tag.
We got to spend a little time with ward members living there as well!
The Sunday before Christmas we have a special breakfast!
Nicole added green biscuits- bushes?
The days before Christmas when school is out and it's cold outside can be long. We spent a morning making gifts for each other.
Michael's gift was a magic show with his standard hilarious invitation.
I think one or two tricks actually worked and the rest was a wonderful effort on his part!
We went way overboard this year on gingerbread houses but with all the time before Christmas I wanted something to take up a lot of time. And this fit the bill!
John enjoyed taking little bits and pieces all week from the creations!
Most Christmases are bitter cold so we were thrilled to have weather turn warm and comfortable!
Christmas Eve we did our usual nativity. John was slightly dangerous with his shepherd's crook. This is always the favorite toy.
Christmas morning coming down to open presents!
The girls and I are taking a girly girl trip in Feb to enjoy their sweet little girl enjoyment of Disney stuff.
John loves his dino slippers
Katy begged everyone to play Pretty Princess with her.
Then played by herself and gathered every bit of jewelry possible haha
Diana got a cookbook and made homemade mac n cheese
Mango has relaxed with everyone and Diana loves having him on her shoulder.
Nicole's hair down is Mango's dream nest.
Rollerblading with the kids behind their school
And we finally got all the leaves from the backyard.
The kids found a MOLE! And had fun playing with it. Jake said they wanted to keep it until it grew ugly. haha
A fun pic from Katy having fun with her class. I love pics they send from school.
