Piano Recital

Brooklyn started piano lessons this September. So far she LOVES it. She is playing the piano every day, and always remembers to go to her lessons (which is good, becuase I have been known to forget things!)Last night was her recital at Beacock's Music and she did so well. She played "We Three Kings" and "Away in a Manger". She practiced at home speaking LOUD so that everyone could hear and she practiced her curtsy. Grandma and Grandpa May came and Cody was even good for most of the evening.

Crazy Hair Day & Nathan's Nativity

Friday was crazy hair day at Brooklyn's school. A few days earlier Brooklyn drew me a picture of how she wanted it. This is what we came up with!

Olivia and I went to Brooklyn's class for their Christmas Party. The girls made some fun crafts. Then we all headed over to Nathan's pre-school for his Christmas pageant. He was a Shepherd boy. He is such a cute boy! All smiles as usual. His class sang some cute Christmas song and wished us "Feliz Navidad!".

Festival of Trees

A favorite family tradition of ours is to go to the festival of trees. This year it seemed like everything was going on in the same week. On Wednesday we had the Festival of Trees banquet, then a Relief Society progressive dinner on Thursday, Friday was Casey's office Christmas party, Saturday morning we took our family to the F of T then went to my parent's to help film their Christmas movie, then dropped Brooklyn off at a birthday party, picked her up and went to my Mom's birthday party to make gingerbread houses!
The F of T banquets was so nice. It was unbelievable how much they were auctioning the trees off for! Some were posted for sale at $25,000! We were just there for the food. And it was so good! We could cut the steak with a butter knife! Yum!
On Saturday at the F of T the kids enjoyed taking care of their bear at the bear hospital (we are getting quite the bear collection, we're been going for 6 years x 3-4 bears each year = 18-24 stuffed bears! We might have to start giving them away!)and getting their faces painted and some crafts. Cody's favorite part was watching Providence Hospital's music video to "Down" by Jay Sean. He was mesmerized! He watched it through 3 times!

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving activities began with candy apple turkeys. We invited a neighbor over on Monday night and created them at Callie's house. This is one of Casey's family traditions and the kids love it. Then on Wednesday, Ashley and I went over to Callie's and we had a pie party. We made all our pies for Thanksgiving. It was so fun! Ashley made apple pie in a bag, I made 2 cranapple pies and a strawberry raspberry, and Callie made some mile high strawberry pies and a banana creme pie. A friend stopped over and we had a blast visiting and baking! Plus on Thursday morning I could just relax! No frantic pie making! What a concept!
On Thursday we went bowling with my parents, Callie & Brandon, and the missionaries. It was really fun. As usual I got a lot of gutter balls, and Olivia got a double strike, much to Brooklyn's displeasure. Brooklyn had a little melt down about not winning, she gets a little to competitive sometimes. Then we headed over to my parents for Thanksgiving dinner! My mom made some yummy cranberry sauce with kind of a citrus flavor and the "Beautiful" pie, Callie made yummy rainbow jello, and Ashley made 12 layer salad. Cody was awesome, he was just happy in his highchair, and our other 3 kids feed and serve themselves, so Casey and I had a very relaxing meal! Then we watched a movie and ate pie.

Soccer Finale

Brooklyn played her last soccer game of 2009 on November 21st. Her team played in the Kohls Cup. It was a very cold day and they had 4 games. Casey was gone on a camp out and Callie was busy for the second game, so I had to bring Olivia, Nathan, and Cody by myself. They were not happy. It was so cold and muddy. But Brooklyn had fun and was able to play some other positions than goalie. We went home and got cleaned up and went to her Coach's house for a team party.

Here's one of our Christmas Classics from 2007. 2009 is still in production.

Trunk-or-Treat and Trick-or-Treat, with a hint of the Flu

On Friday we took our costumes out for a test drive at my parents ward "Trunk-or-Treat" party. The kids were so excited to get dressed up.
Brooklyn wanted to be a "Vampiress" so I added a collar and lace to her witch costume from two years ago. Plus I got her some vampire teeth at Walmart which were very soft and fit her just right(not like the ones I remember growing up. They were so hard they would cut your gums up.)
Olivia REALLY wanted to be Hannah Montana. For 2 years I've tried to keep her away from Hannah Montana (Olivia is very impressionable to teenager things. She tries to grow up too fast, so I was trying to avoid teenager shows.) But Casey rented the Hannah Montana Movie and now it's all about Hannah Montana. She's playing the music on the computer and dancing and singing to it. It is pretty cute... Anyway got her some sparkly leggings, and made her a sparkly long tank top, then for her jacket I bought a long sleeved t-shirt and cut it down the middle and cropped it. Then I added some bling from the fabric store. We got her a wig and cut the bangs and of course got a mic.

Nathan wanted to be a transformer. My first plan was to get a bunch of boxes and cut and paint. Then when I was at Walmart I saw the Optimus Prime costume and mask for $12 and 3 hours of my time was defiantly worth at least $12. So, boom, Nathan's costume done! No hair and makeup needed. Oh to be a boy.

Last month I had this vision of Cody as the Incredible Hulk. (He does bear a resemblance...with the hair and how he bursts out of his clothes...) So I made him a sleeper out of green fleece, and then made some shorts and cut them up. I probably could have made a cut up shirt also, but I was done. He did not like the whole make-up part. But he HAD to have a green face. My favorite part of Halloween was always wearing the make up. It was so fun to paint your face to look different.

The party was fun, we ate chili, the kids got to play some games and the weather was perfect for the trunk or treat.

The next day we had Olivia's last soccer game. She did great, she made 4 goals. At halftime Brooklyn and I took off to her game. Casey took the other 3 to a party with a bounce house for Olivia's soccer team. Casey said Olivia seemed kind of slow and quiet. That evening after we got all dressed up for trick or treating Olivia was hardly talking.

The original plan was to eat at Callies' house this year. Callie was sick though so we ate at my house. Mom and Dad saved the day and brought some yummy chicken chulupas. When Casey got back from Trick or Treating Olivia just went and layed down on the couch. She had a sore throat and bad cough and a fever. Nathan had had a fever on Wednesday and now has a cough, and Cody also ended up with a fever that night.
So at 10:00 at night I went to Walmart and stocked up on Tylenol and cough drops, and got a new humidifier.
I took the kids in last week and they all got the regular flu shot. And I was planning on waiting in line for the N1H1 (swine flu) today. But since practically all my kids are sick, I didn't go. Now I've got 3 sick kids and I'm just waiting for it to get Brooklyn and hoping it doesn't get me! Maybe if I drink vinegar I won't get it...vinegar does everything! Worth a try...

Pumpkin Carving

Last night we carved our pumpkins. This year Brooklyn did hers all by herself, a scary witch. Olivia cleaned hers but I helped with the carving. I did Nathan's skeleton. And Cody and Nathan helped me with the big one.
*Note to self: Next year insist on carving out in the garage, even if still Casey doesn't want to. A few extra minutes moving cars and laying newspapers will save me 2 hours of cleaning and moping!!!*