Blue and Gold Dinner

We had the Blue and Gold dinner for the cub scouts and their families last night. Our ward pack has combined with two other ward packs now which is nice because we all had so few cub scouts. But together we have a really nice group of kids (and a very big, crazy dinner because of that!)

Jonathan's cake contest entry (with some help from mom!)
The theme for the contest was the commemoration of the 100th year of scouting. He won the "best planned" award for his cake! I think I was the only mom there that didn't have to cut his cake for the kids at dessert time! Sweet! So easy when you have mini cupcakes!

He received his Webelos badge, religious knot, fitness award, and handyman award.
We are so proud of our cub scouter!!! His goal is to get his Arrow of Light by the end of May. I know he can do it!

The had pinatas for the game of the evening (and it was out of control!)
Jonathan was one of the last few that had their turn at bat... one swing later...

PURE CHAOS! Notice James (brown pants and shirt) dog-piling on top of the kids to get the candy. What my kids will do for some sweets! It's obvious that their mother doesn't give them candy very often :)

Rattie Nattie

Daddy gave Jilly a new nickname recently. She woke up one morning looking like she worked all night on her hairdo. Too cute!

"Stop! Don't take my picture! I'm not beautiful yet!"

The "I'm-Not-Quite-Awake" look.

Wow! She cleans up real nice, doesn't she?! What a pretty girl!

Wake Up!!! It's Christmas Morning!

I love Christmas morning! It's so much fun when your kids are bouncing you out of your bed because they are so excited! They can see all of the gifts under the tree on their way to our bedroom, but we FORBID them from going downstairs until we brush our teeth and look marginally presentable. We didn't take a lot of pictures this year, but here are a few of my favorites...

Josh decided the night before that someone should play "Santa" and hand out the gifts to everyone one by one. Ya, that lasted for about 1 present per person, then it was fair game for all! No one paid any attention. But Santa gave the kids lots of fun gifts this year. Some of our favorites are...

Jonathan was so happy to get the new GI Joe DS game! Yes, it was on his list to Santa and Santa actually gave him something that was on his list.... I love 10 year olds! (hint of sarcasm)

Jilly got all of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters and a few of the stuffed animals that she didn't have as well. She is so in love with all of the "Mickey" friends!

Jon and Josh got ipods... Wow! Santa is nice!

Jilly watching her new "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas" movie. The love of her life!

Jimmy got a new bike!!! He was so excited! No hand-me-down for him! Santa got him a Lightening McQueen bike with training wheels and he LOVES it! He wants to go out every day and have me watch him ride his bike. Notice how he is wearing his Lightening McQueen clog shoes (yes, they are the same ones he's been wearing for about a year and a half!).
Thanks Santa for all the nice gifts!

Josh's Winter Program

I feel obligated to post this since I love my son dearly, but to be honest, I have no idea what the point of his class Winter Program was all about. It was based on the book "Snowmen at Christmas" and they had different classes act out different parts of the story. But watching K-2nd graders can be so "painful" at times and I didn't really get what was going on! And I was trying to take pictures and watch Jimmy and Jillian at the same time, which is almost impossible! Of course they were all cute and sang a few songs. I was so proud that he did all of the movements for the songs and even smiled! There was one little boy that screamed the last song that they sang. There were so many of us in the audience that were laughing so hard we were crying. I love these performances solely for the fact that they give the kids an opportunity to perform, and that's a huge self esteem boost that all kids need! Josh was great!

New Primary Song

Here is the new Primary song for 2010 that is not in the Children's Songbook. This is a great side show... take a peek!

Jonathan's 1st Piano Recital

Jonathan had his first piano recital after 2 1/2 years of lessons this past Friday night. He was fantastic! He played 3 pieces: the first was Wake Up Call, next was Keep the Commandments, and the final piece was Jingle Bells. He played perfectly and we were so proud of him and all of the effort he put in to practice for his performance.

Jonathan with his teacher Lorie Martin and Trevor Martin. Jonathan and Trevor take lessons together every week and have been friends since he was 2 years old. Thanks Lorie for having the recital and being such a great teacher!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

We were SUPPOSED to go as a family to hunt for a Christmas tree this year, but Jillian came down with a fever and she and I stayed home while the boys all went on the annual hunt again. Earl is such a sport! I don't think they were expecting to see so much snow! Of course, we don't own snow clothes (why would we???) and the boys thankfully had their heavy coats. I think the boys had more fun playing with the Knudson family in the snow than looking for a tree (except Jimmy who was miserable the whole time!). But they didn't let their mommy down and found a beautiful tree to bring home.

They had to drag the tree back to our truck! Thank goodness the Knudson's truck is a 4 wheel drive. Can you tell how relieved Earl is that the adventure is almost over?!?

Earl stopped on the drive back for a Kodak moment. Handsome boys!

Yes, it is beautiful! Jillian kindly redecorates it every day for us too!