Rockin out to Jingle Bells

Steen had his preschool Christmas sing. He did a great job...especially considering he didn't even want to get dressed to go because he was worried he couldn't remember any of the songs. My favorite was him rockin' out to Jingle Bells while the teacher is trying to shh their bell ringing until the chorus.

Here is some advice from preschoolers...if you build a snowman...don't make a pet out of it...don't bring it home to sleep with you...it might run away, but first...it will wet your bed! LOL!

Rudolf is such a classic. Watch for Steen's friend Emma on the left side of the camera...she keeps loosing her antlers.

Twas' the Night Before Christmas

Michaela played Mrs. Claus in the third grade school play. It was so fun to watch her perform! She got the stomach flu the night before the Wednesday performance and actually had to stay home from school. (One of her understudies covered for her...LOL) Luckily she was better the second day (although a little pale).

Here is Mrs. Claus pouring Santa some hot chocolate and assuring him that everything is going to be O.K.
Taking the final bow...way to go third graders! They need to take their show on the road!

Michaela turns 9!

Michaela is 9 years old and sweeter than ever!

Just before her 8th birthday when she donated 12 inches of hair to locks of love.

Dance picture 7 years old.

Violin Recital Age 6

Michaela 3 years old!Halloween - age 2.5The day she was born!


Happy Birthday to a sweet girl! She truly has a gift for loving people as they are. She is creative and loves to read! She plays the violin beautifully and has fun playing with her American Girl Doll Lizzy! We love our Michaela!

Andrea's Recital

Andrea finished her violin Suzuki Book 1. We celebrated her accomplishment by having a book recital where she played 18 of the pieces from her book for family and friends. She did an awesome job and it we were grateful to those who could come and support her! Afterwards we had donuts, hot chocolate, homemade cinnamon rolls, etc. Way to go Andrea...on to Book 2!

Rachel's present

Elisa's sweet cousin Rachel knit some booties, scarf, mittens and hat. It was adorable. We tried to take some pics of Rachel and Elisa all dressed up, but we caught Elisa at a bad time...the pics were still worth posting. Thanks Rachel! You are sooo talented!

pArTy!!

so on Tuesday...my friend Jen says, "you wanna have a Halloween party this weekend?"...and so it happened...the very last minute Halloween party hosted by the Fairbanks and the Wests. It was great...I didn't have to clean my house...just come up with games. Jen did an awesome job with the invitations and table spread!

The hosts with the most!

Love the dry ice effect in the punch...there were actually black spiders swimming around in the green jello liquid! Great job Jen!

FeAr FaCtOr

RoUnD 1: used q-tips from cleaning out my kids ears...Each team had to have one member eat 3 q-tip tips (top and bottom). Their score was the time it took them to finish and swallow!

(used marshmallows and peanutbutter chips and cut up q-tips)

RoUnD 2:Stuffed roaches..aka dates stuffed with cream cheese and chopped nuts for a crunchy effect.

Shanna ...how do those stuffed madagascar roaches taste? I hear the inside has a nice crunch.Stephanie and Justin had to leave early. I hope it wasn't to go to the ER after I fed him nuts during fear factor...I guess I should have asked about allergies before the fact.

RoUnD 3: Bubble gum blowing contest with 3 pieces of bubble gum...not as easy as it looks

RoUnD 4: Kitty Litter Clean up

We kept adding fresh warm poop (tootsie rolls)...but I think they were actually harder to swollow when they were warm.

The look on Russ' face...priceless!

Round 5: Little Fingers...deboned and in au jus sauce!

I think they missed the picture where I looked like I was going to gag...who knew vienna sausages tasted so discusting!

RoUnD 6: Vampire Blood- a shot of tobasco sauce!

every team member could participate and get -20 points just for drinking the shot...no time limit.

RoUnD 7: MONSTER Meatball eyeballs

RoUnD 8: Reaching hand in a bucket of ice to find the correct key to unlock pad lock

The winners! 1st place got movie tickets. 2nd place got a kneeder's gift card.

The newlyweds (2.5 years) Maybe next year they will be the pregnant nun and priest. *heh, Heh...j/K...another private joke from the party! :-)

What a cute couple...normally they look scary so they are actually in costume as a cute couple !

Yes...that was their costume. I guess the alternative was the boy from beaver dressing up as a hunter with his buckshot hat..,

Craig and Shanna..."winner winner chicken dinner" ...yeah they won all the games...we won't invite them next time! :-) j/k Other famous moments was Craig doing thriller and then, "elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, wipe a tear...blow a kiss!"

Mike the flasher with his awesome tatoo...flasher part is another story! Wendy and her butterfly lashes...way cool. I thought she was flirting with me all night because she kept fluttering her lashes!

The Potato Head Family!
Is Mrs. Potato Head eyeing Mr. Potato Head?

The perfect teenagers! Tell me Doug...is that a mole on your ear? Jen...will you get off your phone?

Hope everyone had fun!

Happy Birthday Steen!

I can't believe my baby boy is turning 4! Where has the time gone? Steen has been so much fun...I just LOVE being his mom!

We celebrated his birthday with a toy story party and invited his friends to dress up in their halloween costumes....guess what my family is doing for halloween? Toy Story! (Michaela is little bo peep but she doesn't have her hat or shepherd's cane in the pic)

they decorated their goody bags

played some games...
and enjoyed the pinata! We actually tried the pull string pinata this time. I wasn't sure how it would work out...but every kid got a chance to pull a string and then Andrea had a turn and pulled the magic string that made the pinata break open. Does anyone know???? if you pull the right string, would it have opened on the first tug????

One thing I love about Steen is he is MR. SOCIAL! He really has lots of friends and not a day goes by that he doesn't play with at least 1 or 2 of them!

Woody and Jessie...is that not the cutest??? I just have to tell you that this girl's dad made her costume!!! WAY TO GO IDAHO!

Grandma in her costume as a cowgirl...freckles and all! So glad Grandma could drive over...it was her first time since the surgery!

It was a blast to infinity and beyond!

After the party Steen had a blast playing with his new rockets...him and his buddy were shooting them up the stairs to see who could make it go the farthest...definitely a hit!

Scootin' Around!

Elisa has started scootin' around to get to toys the kids leave around. Can we say...SCARY! Time to start child proofing the house!

Celebration Concert

Last week was a busy week. It ended with the girls performing in the LDS Conference center as part of an 2000 person ensemble with violins, pianos, violas, cellos, basses, flutes and voice. It was awesome to be a part of and there is nothing so inspiring as seeing young people play music together! The last song was written just for this event and was not an easy piece as it was very orchestral (meaning they had to learn parts not just melody with long measures of rest in between and synchopated latin rhythms.) However it sounded great! Grandma and Dad came to watch. Where was mom?

Well I was down in the front with the 10 grand Steinway pianos helping seat students. For the last 3 weeks, I've been part of rehearsals for a Ten Piano concert that occured the night before and part of which was repeated at the big Gala event. I coached a couple of the songs and some of my students participated as well. Lots of work but well worth it!