Ice Skating

This winter, Natalie begged me to let her try ice skating.  In all the 16 years I've lived here. I never went ice skating.  So we signed Nat up through Parks and Rec and she did great.  She was always trying to do this bending down thing where you drag your back foot.  The experienced skaters do this.  She loved it so much that we went as a family for Kristen's birthday.  I have to admit it was really fun, even for me.  

 Cousins make everything more fun. Don't they look experienced?

 

Happy Birthday, Kristen!

This year for her Birthday, Kristen had a unique request.  She asked for letters.  She really is one of the last letter writers in America.  She longs for pen pals.  She has a few letter writing buddies, but for her birthday she asked for Birthday letters.  This is the  first one from Laurie Stoker.  She received letters all month and I have to admit it was awesome.  She got a lot of letters and was in letter writer's heaven.  Thanks everyone for making her dreams come true.

Kristen turned ten this year.  We actually won this amazing cake at a service auction from Michelle Farnsworth.  Can you believe how awesome it is. 

 Kristen's b-day started off with the usual breakfast in bed.  We took it down to her room which we call the dungeon.  It is not finished and the door is an old piece of wood that we used at a country fair to throw pies through. 

 We usually ask the birthday girl if she wants someone to stay with her and keep her company.  She even got a little entertainment.

 The lucky thing about turning 10 is you are in the dishes rotation.  Kyle claims to have been in the rotation since age 2.  He's very happy about this birthday.

Delicious!!  Party with the Mcdonalds.

Valentines Party

You know how exciting it is for a kid, especially a girl to buy that cheap box of valentines to give out to your friends. Olivia was that kid. She wanted to drive around to all of her friends and hand deliver  her Valentines.  That, didn't seem that fun to me, so we had a valentine exchange party at our house.  Mom, had received this cute fabric bag from her visiting teachers and found the pattern, then surprised us with making one for each of the guests.  They were so cute.  She and Olivia filled them with candy.  It was a super fun party and was cute how none of the kids quite knew how to put a valentine in each bag.  

New Years Eve

This year for New Years we stayed home.  Michael and Stephanie and kids came over and Kate had a few friends over.  We ate, played a few games and had a great time!

Pre-12:00. Are we ready to make some noise?

 

Happy New Year 2011!

The Program

On Christmas night we do a Christmas talent show called " The Program."  Usually we do this with Grammy and Grandad Jones and any other family who is visiting. 

Jeff and Kyle did the funniest skit.  It is a the sequel to their original funny skit Sportacus.  This was Sporticus II.  It was great and we all laughed.

Don't Suck Your thumb or It will Ruin Your Teeth!

Anyone who has a thumb sucker knows that they can't just quit when they want to.

 After trying the gloves, popsicle stick taped to your thumb, the hot fingernail polish, socks on hands at night, etc.  She would cry because she wanted to quit so bad, but it was so hard. We were blessed with an accident that didn't seem like a blessing at the time.

Anna was about 5, right around kindergarten.  She was playing downstairs by the couch and slipped near the big, wood desk.  Her chin hit the desk so hard that she knocked her teeth loose.  She took a chunk out of the inside of her lip and her teeth had cut through under the bottom lip.  It was so sore that she quit sucking her thumb.  I really think we would have struggled with that one for a long time.  The picture with the dandelions  shows her teeth that reattached crooked.

 This is a good picture of her crazy teeth.  She was still adorable.

 So after years of braces...
Here she is with the braces gone, hopefully forever.

Let me tell you a little story about a girl who sucked her thumb since the day she was born.  I suspect it probably started way before that.