They make me laugh

Here are some pictures of a performance I attended, ahem....downstairs....of the nutcracker meets a hip hoppin' Santa. It made me laugh so hard I felt like I had done 1000 crunches.
The kids often put on these "performances" that take just a couple of practices, usually courtesy of director Baili. They always entertaining, sometimes a little long, but fun. Well, they were super excited to get me downstairs for this special Christmas one. Baili and Kami danced around, Baili flinging Kami left and right, spreading both their arms out like they were swans gliding on a lake.
Then Jacob shows up looking like he does in the pictures, boy scout shirt, homemade hat (that I couldn't get quite to his liking), gloves, church pants, & sword? Can anyone say "nutcracker"? He was funny enough to look at and talking through his paper mustache but when he put on some crazy song and started dancing all over the place, I lost it. Tears ran down my face as I tried not to openly laugh out loud and hurt his feelings but seriously........HILARIOUS!!!!
Its probably one of those things where you had to be there to really enjoy the true abdominal effect but if you just glance once more at the first picture it'll give ya an idea of how funny the moment was. He was very much in character. Bless his nutty heart......
......and then...out comes SANTA...aka Ryan with a balloon stuffed under his coat! These kids have way too much time on their hands, I think! Seriously though, they love to create and act and dance and have all kinds of fun. It was very cute and fabulously entertaining.


Things I've heard from my kids recently that seemed fitting in this post......

Driving home from school one day, I mention to Baili and friends that I'm tired of doing housework and chores. Her friend, Lauren, says...."Oh you have the same hobbies as my Mom"

Kami at the dinner table, me in the kitchen...
"umm Mom, I don't wanna burst your bubble or anything....." (pause)
"i don't like your potatoes!" (pause)
"did I burst your bubble?"

and by default Kami got her own room also......

Bailis New Room

blogging diarrhea

I was talking to my Dad on Christmas day and he said.......".I've got it now, I see how you do this blogging thing, you do nothing for weeks and then you blog 5 or 6 at a time" Yep you got it on the nose, thats my MO. It's how I roll.....hee hee! check out all the posts from tonight, I'm trying to get caught up before 2012.

Seriously?

CUTE!!

A Devine Tradition

We love the tradition of going to Nana's the day after Christmas. The kids always look forward to hanging out with cousins and playing in the open country air. The boys played some fun game with Gavin & Tyrone's new guns. Baili took pictures and video of the girls and they all chased goats and cats. The adults hung out mostly inside laughing and chatting and eating treats of course! We love Lucas's yearly treat of the family movie with pictures from the year gone by. Good job Lucas....go you! Really, it's so fun to sit and laugh and cry at all the pictures. We had a great St. Stephens day (what we grew up calling it in Ireland)!

The pictures say it all....Merry Christmas

ok here's just a few words....Skateboard, Fur real Frenzies, New bedroom, Red Hi Tops, Wii Games, Air Hogs Helicopter, Gift cards, Hair Stuff, Ipod, Basketball, Perfume, Clothes, Shaun White stuff, Sewing Machine, Chocolate, Games, Doll, Skel-animals, massage.

Baili Plays Cello

Baili had a concert at Cadwallader Middle School in December, where shes learning to play cello.

Christmas Cheer

Meet our family Elf - Lucky! Santa sent him to us this year to keep and eye on the children and report nightly how they are behaving. Each night he returns to the North pole with a report on how the kids did during the day. When he comes back he finds a funny little place to hangout around the house and each morning the kids try to find him. He has made the holiday super fun and kept the kids behaving too.


The boys cub scout pack gathered a huge donation for local homeless kids right before Christmas. We read an article in our local newspaper about some Clark County School District students that are homeless. Some of them only eat at school through the free breakfast and lunch program. Many of them don't have clothes, underwear or coats.
Our pack decided to help and gathered lots of supplies in just a few days. We brought the entire back of my van full of clothes, underwear, hats, gloves, coats and 10 huge bags of food donated by a local union, to Catholic Charities with two days to go till Christmas. I brought some boys along with Jacob and Ryan to drop off what we collected. It was a great experience and I think it impacted the kids to see that other kids really have so much less than we do. On the way home I brought the boys for a treat and look what we found, a wholesale candy store.....Ryan thought Christmas came early...ha ha!

Baili's Photography

Birthday Roadtrip

Look how cute these girls are! Baili took three of her friends to St. George to celebrate her birthday with her. We have a family rule of no sleep overs but made a slight adjustment for such a special birthday. Baili planned this for months and was sooooooo excited to stay overnight, hanging out and playing together. We swam at the hotel, ate dinner, shopped till we dropped, did our own manicures and stopped into the temple grounds. When we got back to Vegas all of Baili's friends came over for a party. She is seriously the cutest thing ever....I love her so much. Watching her grow and develop into her own person makes me so proud of her.
Happy Birthday sweetie!