Christmas Morning

Christmas Fun

 Looks comfortable doesn't it?

 There is nothing better than having friends over. Except maybe gathering a bunch of stuffed animals and putting them on the table!

More fun in the living room.

O Christmas Tree

 This year instead of putting ornaments on the tree the kids wrote nice things that they did for other people on the tags and then put them on the tree. They were hoping that if they filled the tree with nice things they had done for other people that Santa would replace the tags with decorations!

Santa came through! He even left some of Rudolph's bells on the door! (I think that was Jocelyn's favorite part!) The kids were so excited on Christmas morning when their tree was decorated and Santa had left his gifts!

Christmas Party

 Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Jocelyn and Jordan missed out because they weren't feeling well.

We did bowling and Alexis loved that we were glowing!

Christmas Drew

 I woke up before anyone else one morning - it's a VERY rare thing for that to happen - and I found Drew asleep under the tree. He woke up as soon as he heard the camera, but I caught him all snuggled up!

It's not very often that you get to lose both front teeth right before Christmas! It was even more fun because they got to share it together!

Christmas Lights

For John's birthday this year his Dad took him to see the BYU v USU game in Salt Lake City. I figured while he was gone I would walk around Temple Square and see the lights with the kids. John's Mom didn't like the idea of me walking around alone with the kids and she couldn't come so we got a hotel! It was so much fun! Beth came to visit and introduced my kids to Talking Tom - I've forgiven her. We went swimming, multiple times. And they got to eat pizza in the hotel room! They thought it was the best night EVER!

Cheer Recital

This year the girls decided to do cheer instead of dance.

They still walk around the house doing kicks and jumps - it's super fun!

Alexis has perfected her one handed cartwheel and she's pretty darn good at doing the splits too! Madison loves to try everything and loves to do her kicks - especially into the back-end of some of her siblings or parents.

Birthday and Celebrations

 She's a ladybug, dressed in an owl costume.

(You would never have guessed that, hence the reason I had to tell you!)

 Madison trying to break the pinata.

Madison's friend Diego was turning six and invited the entire family to his birthday party. They are a hispanic family, and the family of my two girls' crushes. His mom made some amazing food and the party was so much fun. It makes me think I want to party like that for birthdays and any other event that I can think of!

 John has always been so against putting up the Christmas tree before December 1st that when he asked if we wanted to put it up before Thanksgiving the kids went nuts. We decided to do a Thankful Tree for Thanksgiving. Everyone who came for Thanksgiving had to write at least two things they were thankful for, to put on the tree. 

Apparently Jocelyn is hoping to join Ariel in her misuse of household items!

Drew's Seven Year Check-up

 No glasses needed for Drew

Jocelyn was trying to show me her grumpy face but she inevitably ends up smiling!

Drew checked out as normal! Eyesight is great, blood pressure was great, and he's still skinny! He finally hit the forties for weight! Good thing he doesn't want to be a football player huh?

Drew is a lot of fun and challenging all at the same time. 

He loves any type of game. *board *computer *phone *tablet *Wii

He is an amazing reader - chapter books by himself!

He loves to take care of animals. Spikey (His pet gecko) is still his favorite. He loves the only remaining chicken and the turtle too. He wants to save his money so he can buy a bearded dragon. I'm not on board with this yet. They get way to big for an indoor pet.

He loves to play with friends and hasn't hit the 'I hate girls' stage yet. Unless you ask about his sisters and then 50% of the time he'll tell you that he doesn't like them. 

He has to have things done right and efficiently. If the girls aren't doing something the right way he'll get so mad he looses his temper. Frequently this means they end up getting hit, kicked or yelled at. When he's trying really hard not to do those things he'll just burst into tears.

When Drew does like his sisters, he can be so sweet to them. He'll build forts with them, pull them around the kitchen on a blanket, read to them or help them with whatever it is they need.

He's learning that he loves to help cook. Especially if it involves cooking something where he gets to lick the bowl.

We love our Drew Man and can't wait to see what type of man he turns into as he gets older.

Eggs and Laundry

 A fun science experiment with eggs....

we took three eggs and put them in different solutions to see what would happen. We put two eggs in vinegar and one in karo syrup. We even put dye in one to see what would happen. One of the vinegar eggs cracked open and let out its insides without breaking them. It was fun to watch the yolk slowly come out. The egg that we dyed was only colored on the inside! Cool, I know. We then 'bounced' them to see how high they would go before they broke. I think we only got a couple of feet up before they broke. It was fun to watch the eggs swell and shrink depending on the medium we put them in as well. Overall, it was given a thumbs up by the kids.

This is Madison's pile of shirts/dresses for one week. There ended up being 24 total items. She went through 3+ per day! It's a good thing she's so gosh darn cute. To prove it, she took a selfie - 

Missing Teeth

 John finally got the truck he's always wanted! He even got a red one with gold trim. You wold never be able to guess he's a 49ers fan!

 Counting your candy can be exhausting.

 Madison was complaining that her tooth really, really hurt.

The dentist said that she had somehow ground the back of her tooth down and the pulp was showing through. He put on a sealant to help - it didn't. The next day we went back and he said he'd have to pull them. He gave her the shot to numb everything but it didn't work. He gave her a second shot, but it also didn't work. Then he pulled out the big guns. She got the nitrous oxide, which didn't help much, and she also got a third shot. The third shot was a mix of the first two plus a sedative. She was very close to being completely out. He pulled the first tooth and she didn't have a clue. As soon as he touched the second tooth and was tensing up and trying to push him away - all while completely out of it. That poor tooth was so bad. The wake up portion of the whole ordeal was hysterically funny. She kept telling people that they had two noses and four eyes and two mouths! I recorded it so that she'll think twice about ever doing drugs!

She was in tears because she didn't want to loose her teeth, but as soon as they came out she was excited for her first tooth fairy visit! The tooth fairy didn't disappoint, she got a big chapstick and a dollar bill!

Shortly after Madison had her teeth pulled, Drew lost one of his front teeth!

Not too long after that, Drew lost his second front tooth! 

They were both able to sing "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" for Christmas this year!

Sweet Drew and Madison are still learning social etiquette. Case in point.....

Madison had a friend over, who she happens to have a crush on, and whose older brother Alexis has a crush on. Drew came home from school and as soon as he saw Madison's friend he yelled: "Alexis has a crush on your brother!" Alexis turned beet red. Madison not wanting to be left out yells: "and I love you!" Let the games begin!

Max Gets Married!