First Tooth Here and Gone!

This is a memorable day for Victoria. She lost her first tooth today. It was wiggly for about a week and a half and now its gone! She was very excited to be like one of the big kids now. I couldn't resist putting this picture of her with only 4 teeth. I love it.

PF Changs Marathon

My dear friend Suzan ran the PF Changs marathon on Sunday. She is so awesome! She spent this whole year training. It took deep dedication and focus. Something that I know I would never be able to do. There were 30,000 runners. 23,000 ran the half marathon. 7,000 ran the full with only 5,700 actually making it to the end. Incredible. 26.2 miles! Wow. Here she is crossing the finish line! Woohoo! Suzan you are amazeing! So I wonder what she will do next? Hmmm.

Rock Band

Kaleb showed me his latest Lego creation. A Rock Band complete with the Rock Miners.

This is the lead guitarist.

The keyboardist.

Ahh, the drummer. The lead singer with his microphone being held up by the audience. I can hear the crowd now... Victoria had to show me her creation. She said Jared helped her with the car because it was a little hard. It is amazeing what little kids start out building and what they come up with when they have matured.

Rain Rain Rain

It's about time that it rain in Phoenix! It has rained all week and we absolutely are loving it. It rained almost a whole 24 hours yesterday. The down side is flash flood warnings. That we could do without. I had to drive Daphne to her Sign Language class yesterday and then take Victoria to Ballet class on the way home. We felt like Winnie the Pooh when the 100 acre wood flooded. I wish I had the camera with me to catch Victoria in her ballet outfit with a heavy jacket and pink Hello Kitty rain boots that she wears all year even during the summer. She finally got to actually wear them for what they were meant to be used for. Just lovin the weather! Soon it will be bright sunshine...we'll be lovin that too!

Victoria's Box

We gave Victoria a big paper mache box to paint for Christmas to put her American Girl doll clothes into. She thought about it for a couple days and then said that she wanted to paint "the sky with a city". It took Daphne and I a little while to figure out what exactly she was talking about. Between my direction and her painting it turned out beautiful. She completely painted the sky and the houses on her own. I just out lined everything and painted the sun that she drew. We worked on it for several days which is an accomplishment for a 5 year old. I think she was getting tired of it moving slowly. Waiting for paint to dry when you are 5 is f-o-r-e-v-e-r!

I wanted to be able to mark it somehow with her age...so she told me the things that she loves and I wrote them around the edge of the lid. She had so many things that I wasn't sure if they were all going to fit.

I love how it turned out. I am pleased with myself that I actually was able to step back and let her paint it how she was painting. It is so hard to do that sometimes. Now we just need to wait for it to warm up enough to spray seal it.

Snowmen at Night

Have you ever read this children's book? It is the cutest book. Do you ever wonder why after you make a snowman you look at him the next day and one eye has slid down and his nose is hanging off, his arms that were once pointed up has one broken and the other lying on the ground? This book explains it all.

These little donuts were perfect for edible snowmen!

Nanny

It was Nanny's birthday January 4th. She turned 82 years old. She is the sweetest lady. Many of you have heard me talk about her over the years. After living in the same house for 15 years you kind of get to know your neighbors a little. Especially this one. I can see her front door from my front door. We watch out for her and do things that she can't do which is ver little in her old age. She and I are alot alike. She is the Grandmother I never had. We all love her. She cracks me up sometimes with her ways...she lived through WWII in England. She was a real english nanny, married her polish husband who flew for Britain, lived in Australia on a sheep farm then moved to the US with her two little children at the time. Then after her husband died, married her hawaiian husband and rebuilt the first christian church out of rubble on the island of Kuai all on her day care money. She is unbelieveable. She still dries her clothes without a dryer...which is pretty easy in Arizona. She won't convert over to anything really electronic. When our lights go out in a storm I know to go over the next morning to reset the clock on her oven so she can use her stove. I do alot of her phone calls that say "push 1 for this or push 2 for that". Our modern technology is baffling to her. It is sweet. She thinks that my kids are the smartest in the world because they know how to use the copy machine let alone the computer. She lived in a total different time period. A very interesting one. I think I know more about her than I do my own grandparents. I love her. She and I have a spiritual connection that God uses all the time. She will pop into my head like the Holy Spirit is trying to tell me something. I will call her and sure enough she needed something and was about to call me. It happens all the time. She is a sweet lady.

Happy Birthday Kaleb!

We celebrated Kaleb's birthday today! He's 10! I can't believe our sweet little boy is almost a teen! EEEK! I know, we have plenty of time! He spent the whole day before with my parents at the Science Museum, and then to dinner....and then a little shopping. He came home with this really cool robot that he has had his eye on for quite a few years. He was pretty happy. He even waited until the day of his birthday to open the box. What will power....(oh yeah, I forgot, we have alot of that in our house.)

Nothing like eating ice cream sundaes out of snoopy dog bowls with your kid sister. He is a great big brother and a great little brother! He knows exactly which one of Daphne's buttons to push that day. How he knows that I have no idea! I think he is a natural. I believe his father did the very thing to his sister growing up. Hmmm the apple doesn't fall far from the tree....

We had dinner at Kaleb's favorite place to eat. Souper Salad. Okay, mine too. I am always happy when it is Kaleb's day to pick where to eat. He chooses my favorite every time. The kids took a picture with our favorite waitress over the years. Her name is Shamoon. She is polynesian. We met her when Jared was just a tiny baby. When I was pregnant with Kaleb we would see her atleast once a month. That is when Souper Salad was affordable with kiddos eating free and all. Now it is almost an arm and a leg just to eat salad. I don't get it. Anyway, everytime we see her it is like seeing an old friend. She is a very nice lady. Very wise. So whenever she would see the kids she would just keep saying it was a matter of time before they grow taller than her. I remember when her daughter was 16 and learning how to drive and now she is 26 years old. The thought of a 16 year old just felt so far away. Not any more. I found this picture of Kaleb when he was only 3. He is still as cute as he was way back then. And still as skinny! He is a lean, mean, fighting machine who wouldn't hurt a fly. Hee hee. It is hard to believe that he is 10. He will always be our little guy.

Ballet Class

Victoria had her first ballet class today and was floating in seventh heaven! On the way in she kept saying "I can't believe I get to do ballet!" She has been asking for quite some time. Timing is everything. I think she will really appreciate the opportunity to be in this class. Her Nana and Poppa blessed her with the whole outfit for Christmas. She looked so cute along side all of the other little girls, smiling every minute. She was so excited about her big day that she was out of bed this morning at 5:45 wanting to know when she could get dressed in her leotard. I love it. Such enthusiasm! Now if I could just bottle it for when she is 15!

Snow in Flagstaff

We spent the day in Flagstaff last Saturday. We took the dogs with us since we can't quite trust Sammy in the house. He likes to chew still. Both Henry and Sammy had never experienced snow before. It was kind of funny. They both walked around licking it. Our son has grown. He is no longer a boy. It is almost like having another man in the house now. Sam discovered quickly that he just wanted to run as hard as he could. His legs were much shorter than the depth of the snow making it comical watching him leap up and sink under the surface. He just didn't want to quit. While Henry was freezing his patootie off, Sammy was warm and full of energy. We actually traveled to three different spots. We usually stay in one spot for a couple hours, eat lunch and call it quits. But this time we were enjoying being out in the fresh air and were pursuing the ultimate hill for great sledding. I like this picture with the sun sparkle. That is Kaleb way out there. It is so like him to just walk straight out somewhere. He couldn't resist the fact that he was walking where there was only fresh snow...no prints. I wonder what he was thinking about. A rare occasion. A picture of Kirk and I. I am so thankful to have such a hard working husband and a great Father to my children. We make a good balance. He tones down my energy. This is what happens when the big sister bombs the little brother with a snowball when the little brother is soon to be bigger than the big sister. Never underestimate the strength of the little brother. Victoria and Kaleb took over the fort that Jared and Kirk were building. Sometimes you win just because you're little...and cute. So we found this great hill to slide down. Kirk and Jared did a great job of making a path for the saucer. Sammy and Henry had the greatest time chasing eachother and racing the kids down the hill. It was the funniest thing to watch...snow flying. They were running as fast as they possibly could and then wrestle together at the bottom. It was like parting the seas for whoever was on their way down. Several times they almost got run over. The two maniacs! Sam could have lasted all day. Henry on the other hand got cold and needed to warm up in the van. Kaleb hanging on for dear life and racing the doggies. This is what you look like when you are 5 and not too scared to go down the hill alone but scared enough because you are sliding pretty fast. If you keep your eyes closed you may survive. Daphne...flying through the air. I wish I could have gotton the picture of her actually in the air. I guess I missed it. This was a little harder on this 40+ body than what I remembered. Kaleb was just heavy enough that Kirk could barely pick up his feet so he drug them all the way down...which didn't slow them down a bit! It was great. Jared spent his time between sledding building a snow shelter. I guess all of those Man vs Wild shows inspired him. We were very impressed. He wanted to try spending the night in it. It was pretty sturdy. The setting sun topped off our day. Jared's shelter is the cave to the right in the next picture. Once that sun started going down it sure got cold. We didn't want to go home. We were having just too much fun. A great way to just get away from it all...until you get cold and wet and then home sounds really nice.

Daddy Daughter Time

Daddy volunteered to play with the doll house with Victoria on New Years day. Daphne and I were quite amused listening to the "story". Victoria told him that he could play with the "dad, the grandpa and the dog". Though I don't think the dog was very cooperative. We heard alot of "bad dog". Daddy was a good sport even if the doll attacked him.

Something Happened!

Something went horribly wrong... Kirk has always insisted on dollar size pancakes. To the point of me feeling like it was wrong to cut into any pancake larger than a child's palm! The new year hit and all of a sudden he is making these enormous pancakes. I am just happy to not have to make breakfast. So really he can make them any size he wants to.

Great Christmas Book

If you want to read a great book to read as a family during the Christmas Season, this is the book. I heard about it and got it with the intention that we would read it before Christmas. It never happened. It took us three nights to read it after Christmas. We couldn't put it down. Even Victoria sat through it and listened. I don't want to tell you any details because you have to just trust me that it is very well written and will make you cry. I couldn't cry because I was the reader. I didn't want to be sobbing through the words. It really grips your heart and makes you think. That's all I am going to say. Just read it.

Barbies

For Christmas Victoria asked Santa for a "boy barbie". Santa was so awesome that he was able to just throw it in his bag and have it for her when she woke up. It was a little shakey though, her brother said only good little girls get what they want. Other ones get coal. She was really worried that she was getting coal in her stocking for her behavior. She is a very willful child. Nothing that we can't handle but boy is it hard keeping ahead of. ANYWAY....Her barbies really needed some new clothes. I was looking through the barbie box and noticed that all of the clothes were from when I was little(completely 70's) and from when Daphne was little. And of course I didn't like anything that is out there to purchace. So I sewed her some 1950's patterns that I had. What a great way to use up all of those scrap pieces of fabric. Of course now she has a long list just thinking that I can whip them out in a jiffy. I have to say that they turned out really cute. And normal! No mid-drif showing. She is only 5. What 5 year old needs a doll with teenager clothing. Victoria named her boy barbie "Junior". That name has been an imaginary friend of hers for quite a while. It drives Jared crazy. Well onto another project.