Welcome to Double Digits!

Allie turned 10.  That is still unbelievable.  I became a mother ten years ago.  Wow- it feels like... a hundred?  Two hundred years?  Oh wait, did I type that out loud?  

We have loved her for 10 years and even longer.  Allie requested a piano cake.  Pretty easy  to do- whew- and  I was so excited about how perfect Kit Kats would be for the black keys.  I really like Kit Kats too.  Jason was nice enough to get a shot of the cake by itself (I was kind of sad there wasn't a good shot of Wesley's cake before it caught fire.  Just fun to have a record of the cakes in all their homeliness).

 Take a deep breath, there are a lot of candles this time!

Allie is growing up.  She complains about having to share a room with her three year old sister.  AND all the chores and extra responsibilities she has and how unfair it is.  The boys always complain about how Allie always gets to stay over at friends longer, eat dinner with them, go to Activity Days and stay up late and how unfair it is!  I just have to laugh at the irony of it all.  I remember the exact same complaints growing up.  It seems you can't have your piano cake and eat it too.

Happy 6th Birthday to Wesley

We now begin the even years.  Now instead of telling people my children's ages are 9,7,5,3,1 I will have to stop and think about it, about how old each of them are.  At least until October when they will be 10,8,6,4,2.

This was one excited boy!  He woke us up early and asked why the birthday decorations weren't up yet.

 Wesley requested a tank for his Special Shapes cake.  That was my attempt at camouflage with frosting.  I realized it was missing a third camoflaging color.

 The silly shot (raisin faces).

The tank cake.  This is a shot of the cake after cannon gun caught on fire.

Wesley loves his snake hat!  When he put it on Luke says "You look like a worker!"  And Wesley said, running down the hall to look in the mirror "I am co-worker!  I work at the bank!  His pet spider named Bad Boy that Uncle Carter and Aunt Jen gave him was a huge hit!  He had to build it himself (with Dad and Allie).  He got a homemade Star Wars pillow case from "Aunt" Emily which he loves.  All in all it was a great day.

Not a Creature was Stirring...

December Celebrations

It is the most wonderful time of year!  Again!  I can hardly believe the month is half over.

This year it was Rachel's turn to put up the star.

I am a Jedi! Like my brothers!

I like to sing while practicing.  It is also confusing to my opponent during a fight.

I am a sleuth and stealthy!

But not always.  One time, in September, at our street block party I stood up on a chair.  And then the chair tipped over backward.  I landed on my face.  I will admit that it hurt... just a little.

My dad helped me feel better.

 And my other secret to strength and agility?  Turns out my hair was weighing me down.  It had to go.

 This fancy device, this concoction of goodness, is the secret to my ability to stay focused and remain completely motionless.  Well, almost motionless.

The new me!

Halloween Festivities

Who is that Rockstar?!  Oh, not a rockstar but a spy girl!  Let me tell you though... Allie felt like a rockstar! 

 Can I tell you something else... she is wearing my boots.  They are big on her but not that big that she couldn't walk around in them including for trick-or-treating.  She keeps growing and complaining that her shoes hurt... the shoes that I just bought!

Halloween parade at the school.  Always entertaining!

This is Luke in his ninja mask... which was too big.  I told him we could fix it.

The big kids weren't the only cutely dressed children.  Rachel was adorable.  We had to go to the store that day and she got so much attention (she LOVES it too).

For the ward Trunk or Treat party Jason, Wyatt and I dressed up as a theme.

I should make you guess but I will just tell you... The Man with the Yellow Hat, George, and myself Professor Wiseman (who turned into a woman for the modern PBS Kids show- versus a man in the original books).

Jason with Rob Magarrell (he is the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric and the one that I work with for Primary).

 Beautiful Bella the cat with Rachel trunk-or-treating.  The  teenage boys were asking Jason about her. :)

This is Jason and the boys standing by the final drop off  of  the obstacle course that he and the YM created.  That was by far the biggest hit of the games that evening!  All the kids loved it and went through it many many times.

 The Jeppsons- we just loved Miriam's costume!

 This is my good friend Julianne who made Wyatt's costume (as well as her little lion and monkey daughter and penguin son.  Our theme was her idea).

 Wesley noticed how his ninja mask would make his ears stick out if he tucked it behind them.  So that evening for his costume he was an "Elf Ninja".

 This was the center piece for the tables.  I made 17 of them.  Whew.

And lastly, Halloween night right before our quick jaunt through the neighborhood.  It was gusty windy and cold so we didn't last all that long.