Sisters Visit

All my sisters came out for a visit. It was so fun! We did all kinds of things, even things we wouldn't normally do. Maybe not a good thing. :)  After the several trips to the airport to get them, we had a wonderful time just being together. We went shopping, out to eat, spent some time in Boulder, had a missionary discussion with a waiter, played some sand volleyball and a night of karaoke. We are getting old. The clubbin' scene was not a good one for us. We started out at a bar, but were the only ones not drinking, and then we were on about a 2 hour list before we were going to get to sing, so we left and went to another place and got to sing within 10 min. Some probably less than appropriate song choices. Haha! A great night with some great ladies! Special thanks to Brian, who stayed behind with the babies and even got one to sleep. He's a keeper.

 

We thought we'd do a serious picture, but it was terrible and we ended up laughing so hard we were crying!

So fun!

Basketball

Cooper and Caroline decided to play basketball this go round. This was Caroline's first time and she really enjoyed it. Both of them did well and really improved over this season. It's fun to watch them get the games and improve on their skills.

11 years old

Well Elizabeth turned 11! Crazy! One more year until she's old enough for Young Women's and she'll be starting middle school. Cu-ray-zee! She has been wanting a sleepover forever, as do all the kids, but we've decided not to do them. I go back and forth on this decision, along with many others, because I remember having sleepovers and how much fun they were. However, I'm more aware now of the evils around and even less aware of things that happen at other people's homes. It's been a interesting challenge with many of the friends since their families don't go to our church. Even though it's not a fail safe, at least you have a little insight to their families through church and a basic same beliefs. Anyway, that's a totally different discussion. So.... with this back and forth, we decided they could have a birthday party sleepover when they were in 5th grade. That way they get that experience, they are old enough to take care of and entertain themselves but not too old that they're into a lot of trouble. We'll see how it goes. So, Elizabeth had a sleepover here and of course had a great time. She was wonderful to let her siblings feel included for a large part of it. What a good big sister. They basically just hung out and watched Percy Jackson. I think all in all it was a success.

For her family party, Elizabeth wanted to go to Jump City, so we did. The kids had a blast. Brian and I didn't think we'd be up for 3 hours of jumping, so we just paid for the kids, but we had a good time watching them play and have so much fun. For dinner we went to Boston Market, which no one really liked and I found out in the end, Elizabeth said we could go there because she thought it would be easier on us because there wasn't any wait. She's such a sweet and thoughtful girl!

 

Pretty Ballerina

My Dad is working on a secret project with Bella dressed up as a dancer, so I thought I'd post a few of the cute pictures here. I took some pictures and then had to transpose her into a scene. It was fun and I think she'll be excited when she sees it. She's a pretty Ballerina! (I love how you can see Charlotte peeking out from behind Bella. Haha!)

Pink Party

Right before Christmas break, Bella asked me if she could have a pink party. I don't know where she came up with the idea, but she wouldn't let it go. Of course, during the holidays, the last thing I wanted to do was to have a party, so I asked her if we could do it after the Christmas break, maybe closer to Valentine's day. She seemed ok with that, but never let me forget. So.... after the break, we planned a pink party. Normally I would say no, but she's never had even a birthday party and I was keeping it pretty simple, more like a play date, so it was fun. We went to the store and bought some pink plates and cups and table cloth and cut out some pink hearts and hung them with some pink balloons and that was just the right touch.

She invited about 4 girls (plus Charlotte) and told them to wear pink. We decided to paint their nails pink, decorate sugar cookies with pink frosting and eat some pink food for lunch. We added in a freeze dance game and a musical chairs game and the time went by quickly. They got little pink jelly bracelets for being the winner of the round and then we just handed the rest out.  One girl showed up with a present and I had to tell them it wasn't a birthday party and that set Bella off a little. I think she thought you get presents at every party and wanted to keep it. I told them to save it for her birthday... in 6 months! Ha! Funny girl. I had to take her into a different room to talk with her about it because she was really upset, but it all worked out ok and it was a fun party. She said, "next I want to have a purple party" and Charlotte said, " I want an orange party". I had to put my foot down on that!

Wrapping up 2013!

December is always filled with lots of school activities and parties and then church parties, neighborhood parties, work parties, etc. Lots of parties and lots of fun!

Our first festive activity was our gingerbread house decorating. I decided to make the houses this year instead of using grahm crackers and it would have been great if the clock wasn't ticking and the kids weren't waiting. Next year I will make them a few days in advance. It was still fun though and the kids all enjoyed it and we had fun doing it.

Kiki ( Caroline) and Isabelle both had their winter dance performance which is always fun. I love seeing them develop their talents and then have the confidence to show them on the stage. It was a fun Christmas theme too, so that got us in the Christmas spirit. They both did a great job!

 Our first party of the season was Brian's work party. It was downtown at a hotel in Denver on the coldest week of the year! It was sooooo cold! I had been trying to find something nice to wear and wanted a nice dress since I never dress up. I couldn't find anything modest that was pretty and I was getting frustrated! I had a black dress I'd worn before but it was knee length and then I didn't have any decent shoes to go with it and then I felt like it was "Mom" looking. I don't know. I was striking out everywhere. Then on the day before the party Brian said he wanted to go shopping with me. I had found a dress but it was straps and the jackets over it looked dumb so I was going to return it. We decided to run into Macy's but I was leery 'cause they're expensive. Brian was picking out all kinds of dresses and having me try them on. It was kind of fun and reminded me of a date we went on when we were in dental school and I just tried on all these prom dresses for fun. Some old guy came up to Brian and told him he was a lucky guy. Made my night! :) Anyway.... there was one we both liked and Brian said he wanted to buy it for me. He told me I couldn't look because that would make me not want to buy it and he wanted to buy it for me so that I felt pretty. It was a really sweet thing for him to do. I still had to buy a jacket to keep it modest, but I think it worked out pretty good. I loved the dress and I felt pretty all night. I got tons of compliments on it and really felt special that Brian cared enough to give me that kind of night.

 

We had a fun time eating and performing and socializing. Brian sang a couple of songs and I accompanied him and Chuck on one of them. They had a photo booth which was fun, and they had a cartoonist there who did a drawing of us. I'd never had that done but always thought it would be fun. It turned out so fun. There was also a parade going on outside the windows of the hotel and that was fun to see as well. It was a great night.

The next night was our ward party and we had a good time there. The decorations were fabulous and then we had some food and a little primary program where the kids sang a few songs and acted out the Christmas story. There were a few other songs in there as well where Brian sang one of them. After, there was the "special visitor" and he finished out the night. I volunteered to take the pictures for all the kids that came. That kept me a little busy, but it was fun. Good times.

After our Christmas parties, the kids had their school parties and then there were just various activities that led us up to Christmas day. To try and keep the spirit of Christ as our focus, we took a bunch of blankets that we had made and donated them to a homeless womens and childrens shelter. The kids had each picked out a fabric and we tied or sewed them. It was a great opportunity for us to work on serving together. Always feels wonderful to serve.

Christmas morning the kids were so excited and so were we. It's fun to watch them get excited and to enjoy the spirit of Christmas. We set up bells on the stairs so they have to ring them to wake us up so that we get to see their faces when they walk in the room. Apparently they woke up an hour before they rang the bells. They wanted to let us sleep in a little. How sweet is that?!

It was a lot of fun to watch all of them open their presents and to see the looks on their faces. Such a magical time, young and old. We were blessed to be able to give and receive gifts.

Later that day, we met up with our dental friends, the Skinners, Lopezes and Matthesons and enjoyed some food and playing games while the kids played around as well. We brought our chimes for everyone to try out a few songs and that was fun. Now that kids are getting older, we'll have to try them a little more to make it a real tradition.

Brian took off some time this year which made all the difference. We were able to enjoy fun as a family and relax as well. There was a house down the street that is totally decked out for Christmas! We had to go see it even though it was 2 days after Christmas. It was pretty amazing.

We also went to the Denver Museum and had fun checking out different things and seeing a fun 3D movie. We got rock band to go with the XBOX and got the Beatles games and it has been so much fun!!! Brian and the kids played for hours and then sometimes I'd catch just Brian playing by himself. It's a pretty fun game.

Of course on the Sunday after Christmas, we had to take some pictures of the kiddos in their new Christmas outfits, so we had our mini photo session and they kids did great. Glad we got a few shots of them looking all fancy.

The kids are in a great stage where they can find fun and not always need us so it's a little more relaxing. I'm sad to see them growing up but happy at the same time. We have some great kids and I love each of them so much!
December came and went and we finished up 2013 with a lot of fun!