Another Preschool Field Trip

Tyler had a preschool field trip to the bowling alley this month. He had a lot of fun. Camden was still sick, so I held him in my lap for the entire game and just instructed Tyler from my seat on the couch. He bowled with 3 other little boys and I don't even remember his score in the end.

The only down side to the field trip(besides Camden being sick and not being able to play, too) was that neither of his friends from our neighborhood were at the field trip. So he didn't even know the boys he was playing the game with.

Fun with the Kids

I had to return a Christmas gift in Sandy so I stopped at Scheel's on the way back so the boys could ride the Ferris Wheel(that is always Tyler's favorite ride at Lagoon and any carnival) We also walked around the store and took a picture with the bear and the monster truck.

Ashley got this 100 piece puzzle for her birthday and sat down and put the whole thing together all by herself(she did let Camden put the last piece in for her)

We have had an unusually warm winter. So I've taken the kids to the park a few times. This picture was taken on the day when Tyler was finally better after having the flu. Camden was just starting to show signs of being sick. Danny was out of town and we were all feeling the need to get out of the house.

 And then 5 days later we got our 2nd significant snowstorm of the season. It came on a Saturday so the kids went out to play in it as soon as we let them in the morning. Danny also took them sledding later that day. Camden missed out because he was still sick.

 Ashley helped the boys climb to the top of the web at her school.

 It made me nervous to see them up there, but they were so proud of themselves for getting there.

I signed up for a mini triathalon that will take place the end of March. As a result, I have been spending a lot more time at our rec center training. The boys have benefited because I've been more willing to take them swimming on my swim training days since I'm already wet. It usually takes most of the day when I let them swim, too, but they sure have fun.

Ashley's 10th Birthday

 We celebrated Ashely's 10th birthday a few weeks ago. Her birthday happened to fall on a Wednesday this year which left very little time for us to actually celebrate(between school and piano lessons and youth activities, we had about an hour). That hour was just enough time to eat a quick dinner, open some presents

 and eat her cake. She requested a "Casey" cake. After scanning through pinterest, this is what Alyssa and I came up with. We were pretty proud of our fondant dog.

 

Because her birthday celebration was cut a bit short, we celebrated a little bit more 2 days later by going swimming and out to lunch at Golden Corral(the kids love the chocolate fountain and the cotton candy there).  Ashley's favorite things are dogs, super mario brothers, swimming, friends, and playing with her siblings. She is currently learning piano and participating in a children's choir. She does well in school, even if she thinks it is a bit boring. She is our talker and can go on for hours about her dreams or the games she plays with her friends. She can even carry on a conversation with complete strangers. We love having her as part of our family.

Random Christmas Fun

December is always a busy month and it is always Danny's busiest time of year at work so I tend to have to get to the girls end of year activities on my own. We did a school choir concert, a piano recital, Ashley's after school choir concert, 4 different parties for Alyss, and a Marie Osmond Concert for me. Not to mention Young Men's activities and a Relief Society activity. Most of it, I didn't get pictures of, but I did get a picture Ashley's choir concert(one of the things Danny actually got to attend).

After the girls were out of school, I took them to the mall to check out the Harry Potter event they had going on all month. It was crowded and more of a Harry Potter themed shopping area, but we did do some other fun things at the mall like ride the train.

On Christmas Eve, we went over to Gawbie and Grandpa's for a family party. We had a delicious ham and tamales dinner. Then we got to decorate the men like Christmas trees.

We had a nice program and then enjoyed some Christmas goodies and hot chocolate. Then we opened presents. It was a fun afternoon.
Back at home, we let the kids open their one gift, Christmas jammies. This year I made jammie bottoms with Labrador retrievers on them in honor of Casey.

 On Christmas, they were excited to see that Santa visited.

And it isn't Christmas, for me, without a picture of the kids on the stairs. Miner traditions are engraved into my heart.

We had a nice Christmas season and a happy new year. We were happy for the time that Danny took off around the holidays, especially after the busy season at work.

Alyssa turns 12

Alyssa had a great birthday. She wanted a rice crispy cake for her cake this year. She even requested to decorate it herself.

She got to have a friend birthday party, but we limited the number she could invite to her closest school and neighborhood friends. She wanted to do a baking theme, so after researching a little and talking with her about some of the things she wanted to do at the party, we decided to do a mini version of Cupcake Wars. They started with decorating aprons so that they wouldn't dirty their clothes.

Then we split them into two teams and let them choose from 5 different cupcake recipes(vanilla, coconut, gingerbread, funfetti, and lemon). We gave them 15 minutes to get their cupcakes into the oven. One team chose coconut and the other chose funfetti. I thought both team's cupcakes turned out delicious. 

 While the cupcakes were baking, we took a break for some games and then presents.

When the cupcakes were ready, we gave the teams 15 minutes to design 3 different cupcakes representing things that describe Alyssa. The first one was an artist theme, the second an author theme, and the third a Christmas theme. They had 15 minutes to design their cupcakes and get them on a plate for the judges. They were provided with about 6 colors of frosting, a huge selection of sprinkles, and fondant. I thought they created some fun cupcakes.

The judges chose their favorite from each category and the team that got 2 out of 3 took home the prize. I think the girls had fun. Our only snag was running out of time at the end because we got started late due to traffic delaying a few of the girls. The cupcakes also took a lot longer to bake than expected. But Alyssa thought it was fun and that is what was important.
On her birthday, we went out to the Japanese Steakhouse again this year. She has chosen that for her birthday dinner probably 4 out of the last 5 years.

Thanksgiving Break

The kids had the whole week of Thanksgiving off of school. We had really nice weather, so we spent some time outside. Danny worked Monday, Friday, and Saturday that week. On Monday, Alyssa finally got to have a much anticipated play date with her friend from school. They have been planning this play date all year. While she was at her friends house, I took the other kids swimming at the Provo Rec Center(where we have passes). The pools were really cold, though, so we didn't last very long compared to normal.
Danny was home on Tuesday and we took the kids to a daytime BYU Women's basketball game. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into until it was too late to turn back. There were about 50 schools on field trips attending the game that day. The Marriot Center was full of screaming kids. The noise level was incredible. Our kids were not happy, not only because the high pitched screaming, but also because they were hogging the jumbo tron(our kids are used to getting on the jumbo tron because of our usually seats being close to the camera man). They were excited about getting a white pom pom.

We lasted for 3 quarters and then took them out to lunch. Danny worked on finishing Alyssa's room remodel for the rest of the day. Mostly he installed this shelf.

We spent most of Wednesday cleaning and prepping for Thanksgiving. We hosted for most of Danny's family this year. We missed those who weren't able to join us. We didn't even take any pictures, but dinner was good, and the company even better.
On Friday, Ashley got to go play with a friend from school. While she was at her friends house, I went on a bike ride with the other kids. We stopped at a park for a little while and Alyssa found this tumbleweed.

They had fun playing with it. That evening, we joined the Wheeler's at the Thanksgiving Point Christmas light display. It was expensive, but pretty amazing.

Danny wasn't able to join us because he was working and he was missed.
On Saturday, the weather was nice again, so we tried out a new park. We read online that you could feed ducks there so we came armed with a bunch of different duck food options, including oats, corn, peas, birdseed, and lettuce. The ducks ate it all and the kids loved it.

That evening, we got to go watch Ashley sing in the Santa Parade with her choir. The weather, was fortunately, mild. We were unfortunate to have seats next to some pretty annoying kids, but we tried our best to ignore them. 

Parade selfie!! I love how nicely Camden smiled for the picture. He loves to see himself in selfie mode and always smiles so well for pictures that way. After the parade, we went over to the tree lighting ceremony and listened to Ashley and her choir sing one more time.

It is a small group, but they sounded good. We skipped the hot chocolate and cookie line since we didn't have Daddy with us and headed home for our own hot chocolate and cookies.
On Sunday, we put up our Christmas decorations. The kids were so helpful this year and we had it all done in less than 2 hours. Now the lights are on whenever we are home and the kids are constantly wearing their Santa hats.

We are looking forward to the Christmas season ahead of us.

Tyler's First Cavities

We were so sad to hear that Tyler had to get cavities filled when the kids went to the dentist in October. He had to get 7 fillings!!! He has always been pretty good at the dentist, but with the number of fillings that he had to get, the dentist wanted to put him under for the fillings. We had done this 2 different times for Alyssa, so it was nothing new for us, but we were not excited about the extra cost.
Here he is sleeping still after the procedure. He took forever to wake up. The anesthesiologist finally came in and gave him a few good shakes to get him to wake up.

He did really well with the whole procedure and is now diligent with his brushing and flossing so he doesn't have to "get the shot again at the dentist." Camden is equally as diligent with brushing and flossing because he wants to do everything that he sees Tyler do.

Fall Leaves

 We don't get that many fall leaves because our trees are all still fairly young, but we got enough to make a decent pile two different times. On of the times, we took some pictures.

They were even willing to help pick up the leaves after playing in them.