Kate's School Christmas Program

Kate had her Christmas program at school last Friday.  They'd been practicing in music class since August.  There were tons of kids on stage since it involved all the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students.  

They did a ribbon dance.

They played bells, performed a song with paper plates, and sang "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" but she was on the edge of the stage and I couldn't take many pictures besides this one...

 Ty had the cell phone and kept holding it up like all the parents with their iphones videoing. 

37 weeks

People say really odd things to me when I'm pregnant.  Some of my favorites lately have been...

- Older ladies at church.   "I can tell that you're having a boy."  (Really?  How does my stomach look like a baby boy?)
- Another mom from the bus stop.  "You look like you're going to pop."  (Ty asked me when I was going to pop a few weeks ago.)
- Another lady at church.  "You look really tired."  (Thanks!)
- The teenage bagger at Smith's.  "Are you okay?" 
- Another lady at church.  "Why are you here?"
- A sweet older lady at the gym asks me almost every day if I need a mat when it's time to do abs.  I've left early for several months, but it's sweet of her to ask. 

People have also been super sweet and generous.  The ladies in the classes that I go to at the gym collected money and gave me a card today.  One of Dave's co-workers gave us a really expensive stroller that she used for her one child.  Another friend gave us her car seat (since Kate's was made 9 years ago).  People have offered to make me diaper bags and car seat covers. 

I think we're ready for this baby to come.  He just needs to wait two more weeks until school is almost out for Christmas break. Ty reminds me every day that the baby can sleep in his bed with him.  Kate and Jack are sweet and pick things up for me and get me water when I finally sit down on the couch. 

Look at their excitement at dinner tonight...

Decorating the tree

Our tree this year is definitely the biggest one we've had.  It's about 7 or 8 feet tall.  The kids got to stand on chairs to decorate it.

Christmas Tree Hunting 2012

My parents and little sister came to for Thanksgiving.  We didn't do anything super exciting, but I enjoyed having them around.  Dave and my dad finished installing the rest of the kitchen cupboards, so now the kitchen stuff is in the kitchen instead of the hall closet.  And the hall closet stuff is back where it goes instead of being in my closet.  

My mom and I cooked up a storm and made Thanksgiving dinner.  Karen, Brad and Brendon came up from Albuquerque for Thanksgiving dinner.  It was a good day...lots of yummy food too!

The boys were constantly with Grandpa.  They made several trips to the middle school football field to kick field goals together.  

The day after Thanksgiving we drove over east of Santa Fe to cut down a Christmas tree.  After a little looking we found one.

 Ty enjoyed playing in the dirt.

 Jack brought his tape measure along.  He even measured the needles for us.

 Grandpa held up the tree while Dave cut it down.

 

 And the boys found sticks (guns and canes) to play with.

After we found our tree, my parents brought Kate and Jack home with them while Dave and I (and Ty) did a little Christmas shopping.  Then that evening the adults went to dinner and left the kids home alone. :)

Kitchen Helpers

The other night I went to a Relief Society meeting in the evening (I was teaching the ladies how to make one hour rolls).  When I got home I was surprised with a clean kitchen.  I thanked Dave and he said that the kids had done it.

Jack washed all the dishes and Kate put the food away.  Jack told me that it was really fun!  He asked if he could do it again.  Sure, anytime!

Pumpkin Carving 2012

On the Sunday before Halloween we carved pumpkins and made delicious doughnuts. 

Kate and Jack drew faces on their pumpkin and had me cut them out.  I carved Ty's first and the kids ended up wanting their's to look like Ty's. 


Kate's, Jack's, Ty's

Halloween 2012

Halloween was on a Wednesday this year, so the kids got out of school at noon.  At 10:15 I went to help in Kate's class during her Halloween party.  Ty got to come too.

 

Then we went to Jack's class party at 11:00.  They did two readers theaters for the parents.  Jack got to be in both of them. 

After school, the kids had some friends over for a playdate.  It was a beautiful day, so they played outside all afternoon.

After dinner we went trick or treating around our neighborhood.  I forgot to take pictures.   We went trick or treating with another family and they were waiting for us to clean up dinner so we could go.  The kids got tons of candy from going around our neighborhood.  Their favorite things were the little windup animals that our next door neighbor, Brooke, bought just for them. 

Ty had so much candy halfway through our neighborhood that he stopped trick or treating and said that he didn't want to get too much candy.  I think his bucket was heavy. 

Downtown Trick or Treating

After Jack's cross country race we went downtown trick-or-treating.  We didn't stay long, only about ten minutes or so...for several reasons.

1. It was cold!  Ty was wearing shorts at the race (because he refused to wear pants) and he got really cold.  The kids bundled up to go trick-or-treating, but Ty was still shivering.
2. Our ward had their trunk or treat the previous weekend and so the kids had already had plenty of candy.
3. It was crowded.  We waited in line to get these nice flashing glasses from our dentist friend's table.

We decided to meet Dave at Smith's (Dave had been at work).  We bought stuff to make hot dog mummies and rented a movie and went home. 

I guess you can't really tell from the pictures what the kids were dressed up as because it was cold...Kate was a gymnast, Ty was a pirate (he'd only wear his pirate hat, but it got in the way of his glasses, so he took it off) and Jack was Ironman.

Junior Cross Country

The high school cross country team had a big meet and invited the elementary kids from the county to come run a one mile race.  Jack was one of the few kids from his school to run.  

 Jack and his friend Eddie (#63) and some of Eddie's friends from White Rock.

 They ran a one mile course around the golf course.  Jack's friend, Rocko, is #69.

The course had a few hills.

 Passing a girl.

 Almost to the finish.  He and #78 tried to race to the finish.  Jack passed him.

 Waiting at the finish line. 

Jack gave up going trick-or-treating at the hospital to run the race.  He can't wait to do it next year. 

Respectful Kids

I went to the school today to eat lunch with the kids.  They had told me that today was the awards ceremony at lunchtime.  I hadn't heard anything from their teachers about them getting awards.  I told the kids that I was only coming to eat with them and that they weren't getting awards.

However, both Kate and Jack got rewards for being respectful.  I'm glad I was there.  They were very surprised!  I loved hearing their peers tell them congratulations.  It's a big deal in elementary school.