Gingerbread houses

Today the kids put together a Gingerbread house all on their own. It was lopsided and only stood for a few minutes but they were very proud of themselves! 

I snapped this one at the exact moment the whole house fell apart!

The kids loved eating the house as much as building it!

SLC had a choir concert tonight. She was one of the only ones that had memorized the songs. It was at the same time that the boys had swimming lessons so Scott missed the concert but she was happy that I videoed it so he could see later. We went out to donuts and hot chocolate with her little friend afterwards!

Last night this is how we found SLC asleep. She won the ROFL (rolling on floor laughing)  beanie as a "White Elephant" gift at Activity Days last night. She wore it to bed, falling asleep with her book and surrounded by her stuffed animals. 

Basketball

Sometimes to guarantee a win you've got so have a few supersitions. How about: wearing mismatched socks, crossing your fingers and having your mouth open the whole game. Well, if those things will mean he'll win, SH has committed to them! 

                                (Click on photo to make it full-screen)




Look closely....it's NOT COOL to trip the kid whose mom can provide evidence of the scandal!! And yes, he did come crashing down!

I think there was another famous Basketball player that stuck his tongue out when he played too and he ended up really rich so....yes, this is normal ;)

Thanksgiving Break Shenanigans

We're just getting back to school after our Thanksgiving break. We were invited over to a friend from our Wards home for Thanksgiving day. They also had another family over that we met and their little boy and The Baby had a great time playing games and running around! 

Kerplunk! 

 Scott had last week off so on one of the days we took the kids to an indoor bounce house. There is this inflatable obstacle course:

Daddy and SH went head to head on the air hockey table! It ended up being a good thing Scott had last week off because he sprained his ankle pretty bad while playing church basketball. So he needed the weeks to hobble around and heal!

What has SLC been up to:
She LOVES baking and cooking. One day over break she made Jelly Bean Popcorn (cooling on the back counter) and angel food cake. She was very proud of herself and her delicious treats!

And supper proud of herself for getting Honor Roll for the first Report Card in Middle School as well as Octobers Student of the Month!

For Activity Days last night she made these mini apple pies in jars....yum!

The Baby's antics:
Yesterday I heard him talking to his stuffed friends saying: "Time to line up for a family photo!" Hahaha, can you tell he's the son of a Photographer!?

I thought this was funny....he insisted on wearing his coat upside down when we left his Gymnastics class last week:

 He has also learned a hard lesson. No matter how many times mom and dad insistes on wearing shoes and socks, The Baby fights it. It has finally gotten cold enough that his little toes got so cold that he learned to wear shoes outside from now on! I just felt bad because he was really misserable. Here he is trying to get warmed up!

To help him warm up quicker he was given my hat and a warm cup of cocoa with giant marshmallows! 

The Boys are taking a swimming class on Wednesday nights while SLC takes a gymnastics class at the same time. Here's The Baby perfecting his Backstroke:

The Baby's been having some separation anxiety the last couple of weeks when I've tried to drop him off at school, Primary, Gymnastics and swim. He starts complaining that he doesn't feel good and just cry's and resists going. It's so sad! 

SH loves his swim class but for some reason even though he's supposed to be in a separate class, his joins The Baby's and he thinks he's much more advanced than his little brother and shouldn't be combined. Regardless, he does love swimming like a fish!

SLC's hand-stand in Gymnastics.

Preschool "Feast Day"

Yesterday was The Baby's "Feast Day" at preschool in honor of Thanksgiving. His class dressed as Indians. Last year he was a Pilgrim. They had a cute feast of vegetable stew, pumpkin bread and applesauce that they had worked so hard to make in his class. Scott has this week off from work so he got to come too (and good thing he has this week off because he sprained his ankle pretty bad at basketball on Saturday!). 

The Baby's "Indian name:" Dog Who Scores Goals

He's had a rough week this week not wanting to go to school, gymnastics or church without crying. He didn't want his picture taken with one of his teachers.

SLC got her first Middle School report card and got "Honor Roll." She was October's Student of the Month as well and loves doing extra credit assignments. She loves school and is doing great!
SH and The Baby started a 5 week long swimming class this past week and they both love it. Every Thursday SH has a play-date with his best friend Jack and I think it's helped him feel more comfortable with his friends because he got another little friends phone number from school and asked for a play-date with him too. We met last Monday for lunch and even though they just ran around half the time not even together, I think socially it really benefits him.
My really good friend and neighbor had their baby girl last week and yesterday I got to go take some photos of her:

NYC

There's a man in our Ward that's a Drama teacher at a local middle school who just got done with "Annie The Musical" and so as a reward to the kids they took the kids to NYC to see Annie on Broadway. There were a couple extra seats and SLC and I were invited to go along! We had to pay for the bus ride and the ticket. We left by 6 am then made it to Times Square by 11:30. We walked around the mega M&M's store, grabbed lunch and then watched the show. We ended the day with riding the big ferris wheel inside Toys r Us in Times Square before returning on our bus ride. It was a great adventure and my first Broadway show. The weather was perfect and we had a great time! 

This is the ball that drops on New Years Eve. 

SLC in Times Square!

All the advertisements around times square:

"Yellow" at the M&M store!

This is a candy scanner. It scans you and tells you what color M&M you are. SLC was Light Green

Hershey World...

This guy was making spray paint art on the sidewalk for money. It was beautiful!

This bilboard was up on one of the buildings and there was a camera on the audience. SLC and I are below the guys feet.

This girl was handing out pamphlets for a show on Broadway

As we walked into the Palace Theater for "Annie" I was instantly impressed with all the old time decorations...

Not the best view but this was the view of the stage from our seats!

The ceiling and walls had this amazing carved moulding

After the show we went to ride the Ferris Wheel inside Toys r Us. We were excited to get the Mr. Potato Head car. A little friend from church also came along with us. 

Having a blast on the Ferris Wheel!