And Then She Was Eight

Here's some select shots from my little girl's 8th birthday.  She asked to have some girlfriends sleepover, make cupcakes and ride horses.  So that's what we did!  Her birthday present was getting her ears pierced.  I have always maintained she couldn't do it until she was 8 so this is quite a milestone for her as all of her girlfriends have had ear piercings for years now.  They were all so excited for her and full of sage wisdom.

Ladies, START your engines!

The kiddos spent some time with friends while hubby and I spent the last few days in Vegas, watching the NCAA basketball tournament with some friends from college.  When we got back we picked up the kids (and a friend) and headed over to Fontana to watch the NASCAR sprint series race from the cheap seats.  We were delighted to find that the kids not only figured out how to keep on their headsets but they actually ENJOYED the race and could follow the action.  I can see this becoming a fun family activity.

Celebrating Literacy

Every year the kids' school has a reading competition week.  They must read a certain amount of books to reach different levels of accomplishment.  Both kids got the highest award for reading in the program.  That's one of the reasons we enjoy this school.  It celebrates character and personal achievement as well as individual grades.  Great job kiddos.  Daddy and I are so proud of the people you are becoming.

 Here's my daughter with her girlfriends who also did well.  Kids are a reflection of the friends they choose and she has chosen some really great young ladies as friends.

Puppy Lovers

My princess joined some girlfriends to celebrate one of their birthdays recently and the theme was puppies.  The girls each got to "adopt" a stuffed animal puppy and they played some puppy-related party games. 

We love any excuse for a party and this was a fun one.

We finally got some winter weather!  While it was too warm to snow, it was still fun to go out and play in the rain.  Around here the rivers overflow and rush so strong that they will carry large logs down into the gorges with or without our help.  We prefer WITH...

 

Then the best part is stopping by the malt shop on our way out of the forest to warm up and get a treat!

Unseasonally Warm

Since the weather has been so unseasonally warm this winter (we have had almost no snow), we put the boat back on the lake the the boys decided to try a little fishing.  It paid off!

A Rough Way to Start Your New Year

Luckily we were just posing on New Year's Eve and it wasn't our car. 

Have a blessed Christmas everyone. 

Say CHEESE!

All together NOW!  "All I want for Christma-th ith my two front teeth".  My little cuddle bug is SO stinking cute right now.  I admit that he has gotten out of a couple of sticky situations with me in the last couple weeks just because I can't get mad at him with that adorable little smile.  I guess it's a "mom thing".

European History

This year, instead of doing a Christmas program, the second grade classes decided that they would put on a show about all of the geography and ancestry work they have been doing.  My daughter, having almost entirely European heritage (25% Danish, 25% Italian, Lots of German and English and a dash of French), got to participate in the European portion of the show.  She even got to go down center stage with two friends and say the only non-group speaking part in the show.  They did a great job, as did the three second grade classes.  Here she is with her friends in all of their glory:

The Star of the Show

It's my daughter's job every year to put on the star atop the Christmas tree and this year was no different.  This is a great time of year to establish traditions and this is one of ours.  I will be sad when she's too big for him to lift up there.

Best Tree Ever

We wandered around the tree lot, looking for our perfect fir.  Was it this one? No, too spindly.  Was it that one? No, it's lop-sided.  How about that one? Nope, there's a big bald spot on it....

 Then out of no where, the kids (plus a friend of my daughter's) carried across the lot this nice douglas fir.  They picked it out themselves and with their enthusiasm at it's peak levels, how could we deny them?  It was, after all, a pretty nice tree.  So they carried it up to the counter, then out to the car all by themselves, pleased as punch to be the primary contributors to our decorating decision.  Who knew they could be so strong?  Now if I could only get that kind of enthusiasm about taking out the trash...

Merry and Bright

I just love a good children's Christmas production at the church.  The worse it is the better it is. There is no ruining it for me.  I love it when the kids do great and I love it when things go wrong.  It reminds us that we are all human and fallible and covered in His grace.  This year the kids did a wonderful job performing in the church choir and although my daughter was right in the middle row, singing her little lungs out, my son decided it would be a good time to try to wiggle those loose front teeth out of his mouth.  As it turns out, he was unable to wrench them free of their captor gums but in the mean time everyone else put on a great show.  In his defense, he his the youngest of the group and it was past his bed time so he (and his two kindergarten buddies) was pretty sleepy and absentmindedly looking around instead of singing.  Oh well, it was adorable and I wouldn't have it any other way.  By the way, kudos to my good friend who's son spent the better part of three songs with his shirt up over his shoulders, playing with his belly button to the delight of the crowd.  He is a another little charmer :)  At least they both stayed on stage and didn't fall asleep!

My Beautiful Nieces

They are obviously not little girls any more.  Haven't they grown into beautiful ladies?  My sister just sent me this picture this afternoon and I miss them terribly. 

Character Counts

Congratulations to my darling daughter for being chosen for an award for her outstanding character.  They chose a girl and boy from each class and the character trait they were exemplifying was "respect".  Well done my darling girl.  We are so proud of the person you are becoming (shown here with Daddy and with the principal).

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Some girlfriends and I get together every year and make LOADS of candies for our christmas season.  Here is a sampling of part of what we put together this year.  It's a nice excuse to get to spend time with some wonderful ladies and eat a little chocolate too - what could be better?

Another Nutcracker

Every year the kids get to go to the nutcracker performance with their grandparents.  They were particularly lucky this year because BOTH sets of grandparents were in town so they got to go with all FOUR of them!

Another Snapshot in My Brain

Dear future me,
While the kids are driving you crazy and not listening and being, well, BRATS, remember that there have been times (although it may be hard to remember right now) when they have been sweet and quiet and darling and that you wanted to keep them...

This was one of those moments.  She is SUCH a good big sister to him.

Silly Kids

The kids had some friends over this weekend to play and do crafts.  At one point, I walked into the back yard to find them using my hubby's lumber (intended for a future deck expansion) like they were life-sized Lincoln Logs!  It was such an industrious use of their imaginations that I could bring myself to get mad about it.  Besides, they were having such a good time and agreed to put it all back when they were done.  I'll let you guess who wound up putting it all back over a week later when the snow melted...

Run Forest, RUN!

We took a little trip to Vegas to watch Erika run her half-marathon.  The kids were excited to cheer her on and see Uncle Eddie for a couple of days.  We stayed in a hotel too, which means that jumping on the bed was permitted...

...note to self - Jumping on the bed may result in loss of teeth....

 Congrats to Trevor on losing his second tooth and congrats to Lily for being the one who kicked it out!  In her defense, it was already so loose that it was sticking straight out, but it's a pretty cool story to be able to say you kicked someone's tooth out!