Christmas 2010

Our good friend Jessica took some family photos for us recently. Wow is it hard to get a good shot of all of us. We appreciate her hard work and are grateful that some of the shots actually turned out ok.








Ultimately this is what our card ended up looking like.

Picture Joy Christmas

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Bored

This is what happens around our house when Lyda is bored.

Kode becomes a girl.


Ruby becomes a baby boy.




Then she sits behind you while your blackmail photos are being taken and even puts bunny ears on your head.



See that crazed look in her eyes? She is not to be trusted.

Puppies

Uncle Jim's dog Annie recently had puppies. Our kids had been anxiously awaiting this moment since they knew she was pregnant. Finally the day came and we paid them a visit a few days later. The kids were in heaven. Even Ruby, who is not a fan of dogs, was brave enough to hold them. They really were super cute puppies and as tempting as it was to keep one, Steve and I held our ground and said no to a puppy. Until our kids are old enough to take care of a dog on their own, we just don't want one. And if we do get a dog ever, I don't want it to be a puppy. I hate potty training kids, I can't imagine potty training a puppy.

Birthday Flowers

I have the best mother-in-law. Every November she plants flowers in my front flowerbed for my birthday. Even this year when life has been really busy and hard. I love this gift. I do feel bad that she has to watch me occasionally neglect that same flowerbed. I'm trying to do better. Anyway, we all participated in the flower planting this time. It was a lot of fun for all of us, and my front yard looks so happy now.

Halloween Happenings

Our kids love carving pumpkins, or actually they love watching dad carve pumpkins because nobody likes cleaning out the pumpkins. It took a lot of convincing before Lyda and Kode would help clean them out. But there was absolutely no way Ruby was going to help. It totally grossed her out. This year we just had the kids draw the faces on that they wanted and then we cut them out for them. We had some very interesting looking faces.








Kode went easy on me this year and wanted a store bought Transformers costume. The past two years we have had to be creative when making his costume.


Ruby was a fairy princess, or something. She begged for the wings at the beginning of September and we sort of built her costume from there. Whatever she was, she was pretty darn cute.


Lyda was our creative one this year. She had initially envisioned every member of our family as somebody from the movie Princess Mononoke. But the other kids had other ideas. She stuck with the idea and I think she made a great princess. She was a little frustrated that everyone thought she was an Indian princess. Guess not everybody watches Miyazaki movies like we do. She is in total character in this picture.


We trick-or-treated at a couple of the neighbors houses. We always start with grandma and grandpa's house.






After we visited grandma and grandpa, we finished up the evening at the church party. We love this party. The kids are contained in a backyard, they can play games, see their friends and get half the candy they would if they went door to door.


Overall, I would say that Halloween was a success. And of course the kids are already planning their costumes for next year.

Perseverance

Lyda started at a new school this year. It was not a super easy change. More is required of her and she had some catching up to do. Her school teaches phonograms, and by 2nd grade everybody pretty much knows them. So for her to come in not knowing any of them was a big deal. Her test scores were not great at first but after a few tutoring sessions and lots of practice at home, she began getting 100% on her phonograms tests. We were so proud of her. She has had to work harder than she ever has before. I worried initially that maybe it was too much for a kid, but she has picked up some new habits and is doing great. Since she has been at this school, we have seen her improve in every area. She has especially become quite good at math. Her school does monthly award ceremonies and her teacher (who we love!) chose her to receive the Perseverance Award. She definitely deserved this award and it was a pretty proud moment for her and for us.

Pumpkin Patch

A few days before Halloween we decided to take our kids to a local pumpkin patch. So not like us, but the kids loved it. They got to play in a bouncy house, go on a hay ride, pet goats and pick out a pumpkin. It was a pretty simple little place but still charming.

My kids are way into making bunny ears lately.


On the hay ride. Surprisingly very little hay though.


The kids were excited to be able to pick out their own pumpkins.

Happy Five!

Three days after Ruby's birthday is Kode's. Kode always has really big ideas for his birthday. A big fancy cake, lots of friends at really expensive party places and pretty expensive gift ideas. All he wanted for his birthday was a Nintendo DS and fortunately for him I found a pretty good deal. So I told him that we would be having friends over at our house instead of going somewhere we'd have to pay to use. His birthday was in the middle of the week so we celebrated a little on the actual day and planned his party for Saturday. On his birthday he got to open up his DS and he was a pretty happy kid. Still is. And that little device is pretty darn cool. So cool that now Lyda wants one. I think we'll just share for now.


The night of his birthday we let him choose a restaurant to eat at. He is obsessed with Chilis because he can get his own little pizza, chocolate milk and that delicious chocolate cake at the end. As little as I care for Chilis (well, except I sort of love that chocolate cake too), they really did make his birthday pretty special.


Saturday arrived and the party finally began.
We made a chocolate cake and put crumbs of chocolate cookies all over it to make it look like dirt, and then we put army guys all over it.


We played pin the tank on the target.




The kids took turns beating a tank pinata.






And they ate pizza.


I can't believe that Kode is actually 5 years old. I know I say that about every kid, but man this time passing so quickly is crazy. He is a funny kid with a unique little mind. He really says such great things all the time. I actually started a twitter account just to tweet the things he says because he is cracking me up all day long. He is smart and asks good questions about things. He has been asking lately about germs and bugs and "Why did Jesus make germs?" and similar questions. He is super interested in space and will spout off details about the sun, sometimes he's even right about what he says. He is scared to death that a black hole is going to suck us in. This fear began shortly after daddy told the kids about a black hole just before bedtime one time. He loves playing video and computer games. He still loves super heroes and dresses up in his costumes. While shopping with me and asking for a million things for Christmas, he finally said, "I just want a machine that makes everything!" I thought that was pretty ingenious of him. But then the other day he reminded me that that's what he really wants for Christmas and he even drew a picture of the machine and told me how it works. I hope he isn't too disappointed on Christmas morning. We are getting him a new bike and I think he will love it. He has basically figured out how to ride a two wheeler and he gets really excited when his dad takes him out to practice. I can't wait to see his face when he sees the bike. When he is excited you can see it all over his face and I love it. He is a stubborn little kid but he is so sweet too. Before he goes to preschool, bed or if mom and dad are leaving, he says, "I love you a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, etc. times more than Disneyland!" And that is saying a lot. Love our big boy!

Three Years Old!

We celebrated Ruby's third birthday last month. Three! I can't even believe it. She is having a hard time getting those three fingers up so it looks more like two, but that is the only thing that is remotely two about her.

Ruby's first stop was at her Grandma and Grandpa Crandell's house. I love how serious Ruby looks in this picture as her grandma checks to see if she really is tall enough to be a three year old.


Grandma and grandpa gave her a tea set for her birthday. Grandma is the best when it comes to tea parties. Our kids love them. Grandma even loaded up a basket of goodies. She couldn't have been happier.


Kode and Ruby had a lovely tea party. Kode was quite the gentleman. Poor Lyda was sick and missed out on all of the fun.


That night we had dinner at Grandma Edmunds' house. Aunt Amber made Ruby a barbie cake which Ruby still talks about.




She was showered with gifts. She had been asking for a Nintendo DS, which Kode had been asking for too, but I told her she needs to be a little older before that happens. She seemed pretty content with the hand me down leapster from her cousin. Phew!


So Ruby has been an avid thumb sucker for the last year. I told her that three year olds don't suck their thumbs. She struggled the day of her birthday to keep that thumb out of her mouth, especially when she was tired. We decided to leave it alone the day of her birthday, but the next day she informed me that she wasn't going to suck her thumb anymore. I was encouraging but not really expecting her to follow through with it, but sure enough she quit. Cold turkey. For a few days she told me she was going to start again when she turns 4, but at this point she has decided that she probably won't start up again. So funny. This little, excuse me, this big girl is growing up so fast. She has such a fun personality. She loves to sing, dance and pretend to be princesses, barbie and random animals. She tilts her head when she's trying to be cute and she does these funny long blinks when she is talking very seriously to us. Kind of hard to imagine, but it is so stinking cute. Steve and I often talk about the trouble she is going to give us as she gets older. She is very stubborn and thinks that most rules do not apply to her. She is enjoying her little preschool class this year and amazes us at how quickly and easily she adapts to new things. Our lives are sweeter because of this wonderful little girl. We love you Ruby!