Merry Christmas 

from the Albrecht's!!!!

40 is the new 30!!!!!!!!

Rapunzel

"Rapunzel" with her frying pan and her cloth with a little bit of ice in it.

Mazey loves to dress up.  Loves it.  She got a Rapunzel dress for Christmas and has gotten good use out of it.  As I was out running errands I happened to get a phone call from Conan telling me that Mazey had just accidentally hurt herself.  She had been playing "Rapunzel" and had found a small little play frying pan.  She was going around whacking things and pretending that she was hitting "Eugene" (always Eugene--never Flynn Rider).  So as she whacked the stone fireplace the little frying pan bounced right back at her and hit her on the lip!  She was very sad and cried for a while and then they all had a little laugh and a talk about not pretending to hit "Eugene" anymore.

Emily's New Look and Year -End Field Trip

A couple of months ago Emily decided she wanted to chop her hair off again.  I tried to talk her into leaving it long but she was determined to whack it off!

  I do think she looks adorable with it in a short bob though.  Thank you Shea!

While I'm talking a little about Milly I should mention the field trip I was able to accompany her on.  Since the girls are at a new Charter School we are getting accustomed to doing things a little differently than public school.  One of them is if you want to volunteer as a parent to go on a field trip, you must be what they term "PALS II" certified.  In other words I had to watch a short video on the proper etiquette of volunteering (more or less-this also qualified me for PALS I certification) and then haul myself (and the littles) up to Taylorsville to be fingerprinted.  

Did I mention that I also had to pay $20 for the application fee and $10 for the actual fingerprinting? 

No?

Well, I did.  

It was more than a little inconvenient but I must admit I do like the fact that ALL volunteers that assist the students must be fingerprinted.  

On to the field trip.

On the bus

In front of the commissary

The fourth grade class went about 20 minutes up the road from us to Camp Floyd.  I have never been there before and I must admit it was very interesting.  I was stationed in the commissary and handed a sheet of paper that describe what the commissary was and how it functioned.  The students came in groups of 8-10 and I gave my little spiel and then they got to look around.  The best part was that I got to be there with Emily.

Emily is loving gymnastics.  She would go everyday if we would let her (and if we wanted to pay the huge tuition!)  On Saturdays you can go to the gym from 10-12pm and for a small fee play on all the equipment.  We have only gone a couple of times but the girls sure do have a great time the entire time we are there.  Here is a small clip of Emily (back in May) working on a back hand spring/flip.

Please ignore my play by play.

And one more co-starring Uncle Mike:

Good Practice!

A few weeks ago the 7th graders participated in a "Parenting Preparation" experiment.  Each students drew a slip of paper that told them if they were assigned a "boy" or a "girl" or  even if they were getting twins!  If they drew "twins" then they drew twice more to see if they were getting boys, girls or one of each.  Lyndsie was assigned a boy.  Then each student  was to bring a hard-boiled egg (which the teacher signed the bottom of) and something to carry it in.  Lyndsie made this cute little carrier out of card board and duct tape.  Then she made little "clothes" for her baby "Timothy" to wear.  Some of the rules they needed to follow for the entire week were:

1. Rock the baby every hour for 2 minutes
2. Feed the baby for 1 min every 4 hours
3. They had to sleep in the same room as you
4. Needed to be 'changed' 3 times a day
5. Baby could not got to bed before 7:30pm
6. Baby needed to wake up at the same time as you
7. 'Bathe' baby each day
8. Sing the baby to sleep each night
9. Keep the baby 'clothed' (make simple clothing)
10. Keep baby with you-or have a responsible babysitter

For extra points you could apply for "adoption" or "foster care" which Lyndsie wanted to do immediately!  She wanted a "girl" and so after the very first day she came home with a little foster child.  Apparently, if you left your baby in any classroom, it was taken away and given to the "State" to care for.  Within the first day quite a few students had already forgotten their responsibility as a "parent" so Lyndsie came home with a little girl to care for as well.  I felt bad for the student who had forgotten but Lyndsie took the responsibility seriously and was a great foster parent.  After 3 days the forgetful student could go to "court" and petition for their child back.  After Lyndsie returned the first foster child she claimed a second one (another girl).  She made a crib for the little girls as well.  When she had an all day volleyball tournament, she asked Emily to babysit and left her with a long list of things to do to make sure the "babies" were taken care of.  Emily proceeded to make a double crib out of duct tape for both babies.

Lyndsie showing off her "babies" she took care of.  

Close up of the baby cribs and outfits.

Double baby crib made by Emily, complete with cover!

I do think this was a great experiment for the week.  However, I was just as glad when it was over as she was....no more stressing over dropping eggs, having the Littles knock them off the counter, making sure they were "fed" for a whole minute, etc.  (Lyndsie is my perfectionist when it comes to rules.)   Lyndsie was an incredible parent!  Glad it will be a few years until the real thing, though.  :)

Happy 6th Birthday Camryn!!!

Camryn is officially a year older.  She got just about everything on that list of hers that she so thoughtfully had me write out.  We had her open a couple of presents in the morning (celebrating with sticky-buns for breakfast) and then saved the rest for later that evening.  

In the morning waiting to open presents

Precious Moment statue from Gma and Gpa A.

We waited until Sunday (when family could be there) to blow out candles and eat cake and ice cream.

Some things to remember about Camy:

• There is no pecking order for her.  She does not care who is the oldest...SHE is in charge.
• She has the most beautiful blonde hair.  I love it.
• She has loved Kindergarten and Mrs. Wyatt as her teacher.  
• Camryn's future occupation should probably be as an Attorney.  That girl can argue her point!
• She loves playing with the cats and is great at chasing chickens.
• She struggles closing her eyes at night and is generally grumpy in the morning because of it.
• Camryn has always had two volumes...Loud and Louder
• She is in gymnastics and loving it
• She is extremely good at math (they were already on 1st grade math by the end of the year).
• We call Camryn our "Spit-fire" for all her energy she exudes 

Camryn is an awesome, energetic, little girl who requires lots of attention (and patience.)   :)   We love having her in our home as she keeps us on our toes and fully awake!

Un-Usable BBQ

Emily went outside to put the chickens back in the coop and collect eggs for the day.  She had been noticing a small bird that had been flying in and out of the BBQ grill this afternoon.  

Let's take a look-see shall we?

The BBQ

Let's open the lid and see what's inside...

Ummm, who put all this straw/hay/grass in here?!?!

WHAT????

Emily and her "find".  I don't think we will collect these eggs.  :)

The eggs are such a beautiful blue.  Last year we found a nest with eggs in it on top of our propane tank.  However, the tank was metal and in full-sun so the little birds did not make it.  The BBQ grill is in the shade on the porch.  BUT it is NOT a hotel!!

What to do?

The Countdown Has Begun!

On Tuesday, one of the older girls mentioned that she could not believe it was already May.

 "May? It's May! That means only 10 more days until my Birthday!!!" --was Camryn's response.

That evening, when she heard me come into my room, she climbed out of her bed and came into visit me.  She had retrieved a pencil and a paper and proceeded to tell me that she would like me to make a list of the things that she wanted for her birthday.  I obliged.  Here is the list as it now stands:

CAMRYN'S BIRTHDAY LIST: (all the things she is hoping for--fingers crossed!!!)

*Little Horse
*Real Money
*Play Money
*Mary Engelbreit letters that spell out her name (Big Sis Emily has a set on her dresser)
*Pez Dispenser
*Beads (that you can iron together)
*Beads for Necklaces
*3 or 4 Baby Chicks
*Bracelets
*Elephant Trunk from the dollar store
*Peacock Costume

This list has only had one thing added to it in the last 4 days...A trip to the dump.  Yep.  She came in and told me she would like to go to the dump!  

"I have been there before with Dad, Mom. It's not that dirty.  There are all sorts of things there to find. I want to go and look for "Twinkie". (Our old, broken, 'Roomba' vacuum cleaner that you could turn on and walk away from--the girls named it "Twinkie".  It was long ago hauled off to the dump.)  

Hmmmmm.  I'm gonna have to mull that one over for awhile.  

Mazeyism

The following are self-portraits done by Mazey.  While posting these photo's, Mazey came over to see what I was doing and said, "That's me! I'm so cute Mom, I'm so cute." I kinda love when they sneak the camera and take photo's from their view-point. This was the first time Mazey turned the camera on herself.  So funny when they figure out how to pose and smile.

I can just picture her snapping a photo and then quickly turning the camera around to look at the picture, adjusting what she wanted in order to get a different look, and then snapping a new one. 

Here are a few favorite "Mazeyism" from the last few days:

"Mom, my nose keeps falling!" --nose is running from allergies

"We did that lasterday." Yesterday, or possibly last night?

Mazey-"Where is the brown chicken?" 

Me-"The brown chicken's are outside." 

Mazey-"No the brown chicken you eat!" 

Me- "Honey, I don't understand what you mean? Does anyone know what Mazey is talking about?" 

All the girls within earshot look as perplexed as I do.  Then a light bulb goes off and Milly says..."I think she means she wants some Turkey Jerky!"

This and That

A little of what we have been doing lately...We discovered, quite by accident, that our Little's love to ice skate!  The Older's had been wanting to go for a while and so one Saturday we did just that.  The rink we went to had these cool little "holders" that the little girls could hold onto and it made all the difference.  Ice skating was all that was talked about by Mazey and Camy for at least 3 weeks solid.

 Love this photo of Lyndsie.

 With about 45 min left Mazey caught the hang of skating and was all over the rink by herself!

Camy and Mazey got "big" girl haircuts....meaning Mom didn't do the trimming this time.  We took a couple before and after shots but I can't find one of Camy's "after".  Oh well.

Camryn did NOT want to get her hair cut.  Problem is she has the thinest hair on the planet and it looks just so dang cute cut into a bob.  We kept hers on the longer side of "short" and it really does make her look so darling.

Checking herself out in the mirror to make sure it doesn't get cut too short!

 Mazelyn's first time getting her hair washed at a salon.  She looked so cute and grown up sitting on that booster seat getting her hair all fancy!

 I was only planning on a trim for her since her hair is fairly thick and easy to do.  However, once she saw Camryn's new look she wanted her's the same.  I was afraid she would regret it as soon as we got home but we decided (and pumped her on the fact) that she looks just like Rapunzel AFTER Eugene (always "Eugene" and not "Flynn Rider") cuts Rapunzel's hair.

 The best "after" I could find.  I love her new look.

After literal months of Emily begging me to sign her up for gymnastics lesson, I finally got my act together and put her and Camy in a trial class.  Camy was up first and loved every minute of her hour long class.  Emily got started on her class and as I watched her I thought that maybe she should be moved up a class to a harder level.  When first talking with the secretary I was told that they had a Beginning Level (which was Camy) a Level I and a Level II.  We decided to try Emily in a Level I class and go from there.  So after watching her (which her class did have a few younger girls in it) I decided to see if she could either move up a Level or at least be put in a class with older girls her same age.  I spent the next 25 minutes filling out paper work for both girls and not paying much attention to what was happening to Emily on the floor.  After her class was all over she came bounding over to me all excited and quite enamored with gymnastics.  She then asked me if I had seen her on the bars and beam and vault.  No, no I had not.  "Your whole class did all of that?" I questioned.  "No, just me."  "What do you mean just you?" I asked.  Apparently the head coach (and owner of the gym) was there and watching the girls.  She came over and took Emily over to bars and had her do a few things.  Then to the beam and vault.  Emily was thrilled with herself.  Soooo....as we were walking out the door to the car, the secretary came over and grabbed my elbow and proceeded to tell me that the head coach would like to have Emily enrolled in the Level III Competition team that practiced twice a week for a little over 2 hours each time.  WHAT?!?!  Emily was beyond ecstatic and Camryn was beyond miffed that she wouldn't be going for 2 hours twice a week as well. :)  

Here are our "gymnasts" at a BYU meet we were watching.

It's been a Great Vacation!

I miss keeping a record of my little family.  As always, life has been busy!  This picture is from a recent "Sister's Weekend" that I just returned from.  It was full of relaxation and lots of great food.  Here's to keeping a better history!