Welcome 2010

Aaauuugh, (long releasing sigh) the new year!!! Welcome 2010.

I know most people are usually sarcastic about new years resolutions, but being the very goal oriented person that I am, I actually love making new goals and find that yearly evaluations tend to motivate me more than feed me full of guilt.

Almost 10 years ago I made 10 year goals to put in a family time capsule. Unfortunately I didn't make a copy of these goals, (yea I know what's the point then), however I do remember a few of them. I think it's about time to check them off the list.

1) Learn Spanish
2) Learn to play the guitar
3) visit another country

Now that the holidays are over I'm more than ready to get back into our regular life routine. This means school and house work instead of so much down time. I need to dust off my house keeping system which has kind of slipped too. I've found the best "guilt free" system for me comes from HouseofOrder.com. It's the only system I've found where I'm not constantly cleaning, not constantly full of guilt and still doing the things that I like to do, all with a clean(er) house.

So here we go!!

It's a Girl!

We found out yesterday that we're going to have a little girl in May. Yes, we're excited. I was a bit surprised thinking the whole time that it was going to be a boy, but we're all pretty OK with a healthy little girl too! So that's our news for now.

Isaac's Big Birthday

caption reads "This is what happens when you have a kid a camera and a lot of time to spend."

Today my Isaac turns 8. It's been a big birthday for him. He has been so excited to finally start scouts and got his uniform at the beginning of the month so he could wear it to his first official Pack Meeting.

We're spending the day at Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen's house. Mahonri & Melissa took the boys out sledding behind the 4-Wheeler driving "so crazy" in a big field going round and round in circles. Then later on, Dennis took the older kids to the pool and they had fun there finding it little warmer than the snow outside. We're holding out with the cake and ice cream party until Saturday when we'll have family and friends over after he gets baptised. We did get pizza though!

The best part about Isaac is that he is such a leader. He knows what he likes and goes for it. He's very self motivated. He has a special spot for his little sister and loves animals. His favorite color is, well, camouflage and he loves to learn about animals and dinosaurs. He likes to ride his bike and fish and built things with blocks. He spends a good bit of time in the bathroom doing his hair making it look just right. When he grows up he wants to be a Wildlife Biologist and study bears.

Love you so much Isaac!

Christmas Sunday

After years of suggesting, hinting and very kindly asking with batted eyes, Dennis won out and he and I played an organ/piano duet in our Sacrament meeting program Sunday. Dennis is such an amazing pianist that he's a bit intimidating to play with. I told him that this was going to be his Christmas present this year. I would much rather sing than play the piano. Since I'd been practicing this song every Christmas season for 4+ years I guess that did help a little. I was definitely blessed with steady hands though and even managed to enjoy it.

Per tradition at our house, we gathered all the children together by the Christmas tree before church and took their picture in their new Christmas outfits. It's a funny experience and the outtakes are hilarious! Here is one of our usable takes though.

Top Toys

Ok so this is list of top toys that have made it through 4 kids and still come out favorites year after year. It's a mom's list so if you ask my kids they'd tell you something different but they tend to go in phases.

For Boys
1. Simple 2X4 blocks. (We've never bought blocks just used scraps & sanded them and my boys still play with them.)
2. Little People Farm and Castle (We bought the castle when it was gray for our boys, but girls love it too.Boys have these changed over the years!)
3. Plastic animals and dinosaurs. (The bigger the better with these.)
4. Cars and Car Mat (We splurged and bought a rug mat from Home Depot one year. It looks great and stays down.)
5. Bikes (What would we ever do without bikes!!)

For Girls
1. Squishy baby doll - These I got at Walmart and they look like cabbage patch dolls but they're like 5 bucks - They don't make them the same anymore. Their clothes don't come off :(
2. Little People House and Castle
3. Doll stroller. I don't know how many of these we've been through, but my girls love them.
4. Snap & Style Dolls, Pets and Babies - Perfect for little hands to dress dolls, cuz they just snap on.
5. Stuffed animals - my boys like these too!

The Nutcracker

(This is not a picture the ballet we went to.)

This past weekend Afton, my mom and I went to a Children's ballet production of The Nutcracker. I thought it would be so much fun to share this with Afton. She loves the story and I though it would be neat since she started ballet last year. We all had so much fun and really enjoyed it. It was perfect for a 5 year old. Afton's favorite were the Snowflakes because their costumes were so pretty. I think this is such a fun tradition that I hope we can carry on.

My First Nativity Set

My whole married life I have wanted to get a Nativity set to display at Christmas time. Now that I have kids I've been a little leery about getting anything too fragile though. A couple years ago my mother in law bought a Little People Nativity set that is just adorable, and a big plus the kids can play with it! I've been looking all over for a set for our house but they have just been so expensive. This year I noticed that my not so favorite store, Malwart, had them on sale. So being the savvy shopper that I am, I looked around and found that this was an amazing deal. Even my very favorite spot Amazon had them listed for an outrageous $75+. So I went to the local store and.. . . to my great disappointment found out that the store only bought 30 of them and they sold out the first day. (See, my not so favorite store.) I was a little disappointed. Well last weekend I was visiting my mom and what was at her local store . . . 3 of them for the same price!! (No I didn't get all three.) Wahoo!!! I was so excited! Now we finally have something to display. It's just so cute! I love setting it up and the kids have been playing with it a lot. Fun times!!!