Gingerbread Men

Marianne invited us to com up and decorate Gingerbread men. It is always so fun to do things with them. Thanks Marianne for the fun tradition.

Garrett's Gingerbread Man

Devin's Gingerbread Man

Olivia's Gingerbread Man

Reading

We read a book to Devin every night before he goes to bed.  He was bringing me a book to read to him.  But Garrett intercepted him and said, "I will read to you."  Then he takes Devin back to his room and they snuggle under a blanket and Garrett reads him "Duck Tales Adventures."  It was so sweet to watch.   These two can fight and argue.  But it is nice to see that they do love each other.

Letter From Santa

Garrett wrote a letter to Santa and Santa wrote a letter back to him.  He was so happy to get the letter.   Now Olivia and Devin want to write him a letter too.

Visiting Santa

Late Night

There were 10 extra kids at my house on Saturday night for a late night.  It was loud, it was crazy, and it was a lot of fun!  The kids have been begging to have a late night(7pm-10 pm).  We finally let them.   Each kid got to invite some of their friends. We tried having them play spoons altogether but that wasn't working so I split them up.   Then we watched Arthur Christmas.  Olivia's Group watched it downstairs on the projector and Garrett and Devin's Group watched it upstairs on the T.V.  I had snacks that were devoured immediately.    The kids like to have these fun nights. 

 

Olivia's Group:  Taylor, Beth, Celestine and Maddy and Jenna joined us later.

Garrett's Group: Michael, Eli, and Landon

Devin's Group: Kassi, and Payton

Pinata

Olivia made a Pinata at school to be part of the decorations at Las Pasadas.  Jeremy joked about hitting it with a stick and she was appalled.  She put a lot of time and work into making this.   Maybe we can convince her on New Years Eve to let us fill it with candy and break it.

Las Posadas

Olivia was in the 6th Grade Spanish Play: Las Posadas.  It is the Mexican Version of the Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem.   She was a pilgrim.

Getting Ready for Christmas

We got home from Vegas Saturday evening and on Sunday after church we put up the Christmas tree.    We decided to put the tree in a new spot this year by the window and we really like where we put it.   Each of the kids really enjoyed putting on their own box of ornaments.   The stocking are hung and we can't wait for Christmas.

I love this picture and looking at his tie.

Devin was excited to get out the Fisher Price Nativity and play with it. 

The Magic of a Moment: Meeting My Principal

The Magic of a Moment: Meeting My Principal

by Max Colledge

We just moved into Cedar Hills in May. My Mom took my to school to register for 4th grade. When we arrived at the school it was quiet. I was afraid the school might be a military school. It's not easy to go to a new school. Then, out of nowhere, appeared an angel in disguise, awesome Mr. Brunner. He smiled at me and asked me what grade I was in. I told him I was in 4th grade. He said I looked like a pretty smart guy. How did he know me so well? He told me I am going to the best school. I guess it wasn't a military school after all. Principals are not scary, they're magical. Mr. Brunner was nice to me and it made me excited to go to Cedar Ridge. That was a magical moment for me.

A student submitted this at Jeremy's school for his Reflections Project.  Jeremy doesn't even remember this incident but it made an impact on the student.   

Devin's Drawing

We downloaded a free drawing app on the ipad.  This is Devin's Picture.  It is him driving a car wearing green shoes on a nice day.   I thought it was super cute.

Two Cute Boys

We have been working on the boys looking at the camera and smiling with real smiles.  They are getting better.  At the end of the year I really want to go though all my pictures from the last year and post a lot of their goofy pictures.  Thank goodness I have a digital camera so I can take lots of pictures and hopefully I get a few good ones.

Devin's Room

Noone wants to see the before picture but I bet you can imagine it: Clothes everywhere, trash on the floor, blankets, toy spread all over. tubs dumped out.  But Jere and I spend a couple of hours and helped him clean it.  We took out a bag of garbage, had 2 DI bags, and we assumed if the clothes were on the floor then they were dirty.  

But here are the after pictures.  We now use these pictures to show him what we want his room to look like.  No it doesn't look like this for very long but we are trying.  

I know the bed isn't made but the blanket and the pillows are on the bed.

Garrett's Thanksgiving Program

Garrett was a pilgrim in his school program.  He had one line:  "Today we enjoy the traditional feast that the pilgrims began long ago."  I didn't get to go to program because it was at 9:30 in the morning and I had to be at work.  But I asked my friend to take some pictures for me.   He makes a cute pilgrim.

Thankgiving

We went to Vegas this year for Thanksgiving.  We had dinner at Bryan's House around 2:00. There was a lot of yummy food.   There was especially a lot of yummy pies for desert:  There was Apple, 2 3 Pumpkin, Razelberry, Chocolate Silk, Chocolate Cheesecake, Cheese Cake, Lemon Meringue, Pecan, Berry.  As we were eating the pie I was talking to one of the cousins and we decided that we should just skip the turkey and just eat pie since it is our favorite part anyway.
We all had pie for breakfast the next day plus for dessert the next night too.


It reminded me of when Jere and I took a music class in College and we wrote a chant to do with Tchaikovsky Nutcracker suite the Danse Russe.

http://ia700409.us.archive.org/35/items/TchaikovskyNutcrackerSuiteBernsteinPt2/04Tchaikovsky_TheNutcrackerOp.71-DanseRussetrpak.mp3

Each part goes with a part of the music
I like to eat lots of pie
I like to eat lots of pie

Cherry, Pumpkin, Apple Peach
Cherry, Pumpkin, Apple Peach

Gimme Gimme More
Gimme Gimme More
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme,
Gimme more

I ate too much
I ate too much

It hurts, It Hurts,
It Hurts It Hurts It Hurts It Hurts It Hurts!

The next day we took the kids down to the Caesar Form Shops so the kids could see the Giant Fish Tank.

Malachi, Garrett, Josh,Isabell, Samantha, Cynthia, Olivia, Carrie, Hannah, and Devin all but Corrina were there.

While we were at the Fish Tanks we saw President Uchtdorf.  It was kind of weird seeing someone you see on T.V. during Conference but it was pretty cool too.  

We came back home on Saturday. 

November Quotes

Devin: Jeremy was subbing in primary. Devin didn't see him at first and all the kids were a little rowdy. Then Devin finally saw him and he yelled, "Guys you know there's a principal here."

Devin: He brought me a package of Oreos and said, "Here Mom, I brought you these as a present and you can share with me."

Devin: He saw the word "DOG" He says, "Look Mom, D..O..G. I reply, "What does that spell" and go through the sounds. He interrupts and says, "It stands for Devin, Olivia and Garrett."

Devin: He has started making up jokes. Here is an example. "Why don't frogs wear swimming trunks?" "Because they climbed the fence and jumped in"
(I know doesn't make sense but he laughs and laughs)

Devin: When asked to go find something in his room he comes back 2 seconds later. He says, "I can't find it I looked in the entire universe."

Devin: On a Monday where he stays home with me, "Mom, I am not going to get dressed, today is Pajama Day."

Garret: Can I play electronics?
Mom: No
Garrett: (a little later after a friend gets here) Mom, Can I play electronics?
Mom: No, Ask me again and see what I say.
Garrett's Friend: As they are walking away What will she say?
Garrett: Groundment

Devin: To delay going to bed he says, "Mom, I need two hundred huggies."