Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.  Although we battled the flu and colds all month we enjoyed being able to spend so much time with family.  If you were expecting a holiday card from us, sorry; it just didn't make the short list this year.  Here are some pictures to enjoy instead!

The Santa presents and stockings.

 This year we gave the kids their own tree to decorate.  We put the tree in the family room.  Each year they'll get to add their new own ornament to the tree.

Paige with Cookie, her new puppy.

Liam, not all the way awake yet.  Our kids were up before 6 a.m., CRAZY!!!

 Dylan showing off two new Skylanders.  He was pretty excited.

Each of the kids got a hand-held video game system.  Here they are testing them out.

Halloween Preview

I know Liam looks like he's crying, he's actually squinting to keep the sun out of his eyes and laughing, all at the same time (It's the best picture I could get of all three of them at once).

Dylan, the Ninja

Paige, the Pink Princess

Liam, the Fireman

The kids all wanted to try on their Halloween costumes today.  I figured it was a perfect time to take pictures because tomorrow is literally going to be crazy busy!

Hope you have a Happy Halloween!

Finally - a new post, but don't get too excited.

I figured if I went to all the trouble to change the background/colors on the blog I'd better include a new post with it.  Sorry, no pictures, but here's a quick update.

Dylan started 4th grade and turned 9 at the beginning of September.  He's loving his new school and all the extras that come with it (advanced math group, junior ranger club, chemistry/volcano science group, field trips etc.)

Paige started kindergarten this fall.  I ask her every day what her favorite part is and without fail she always says recess :)  She loves playing outside, riding her bike and anything to do with dogs.

Liam turned 3 last week and had a fun Lightning McQueen party (or "white-ing duhqueen" in his words).  He's quite the chitter-chat and loves to dance/sing.  He also loves Hot Wheels and has a growing collection of over 50!

Pinewood Derby

Dylan had his Pinewood Derby last month.  He and Bill had fun researching car designs, using power tools and picking out paint and decals etc.  Dylan had a lot of fun that night and ended up doing pretty well.  He got 7th place, out of 27 boys and 1st in his age group.  He was pretty excited.

What we've been up to

Here's a quick little run-down to get you caught up on our family.

Dylan:

• Is enjoying working on scouting badges and will earn his Wolf next month
• Will be transferring schools in the fall to participate in a new Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math curriculum
• Will be starting machine pitch little league this spring
• Went ice fishing with grandpa and caught the biggest fish

Paige:

• Is loving preschool and riding the bus
• Enjoys gymnastics, especially the trampoline and balance beam
• Will be registering for kindergarten next month
• Loves playing outside, no matter the weather

Liam:

• Is a non-stop chatter box
• Enjoys singing time in nursery
• Loves playing with cars and building with Legos
• Loves to play Super Mario Bros. on the wii with Dylan

Jen:

• Is working on adding some color to the house and painting rooms
• Training for a half marathon in April
• Trying to figure out how to write grants for the PTA
• trying to stay sane chasing after 3 busy kids :)

Bill:

• Enjoying his new job at SUU
• Planning his dream yard to start landscaping this spring
• Running, biking and lifting weights
  
• Working on implementing a travel component to his teaching position and take students to South America next Spring

I'll try to do better at keeping the blog updated, but no promises ;)

Paige turns 5!

Paige turned 5 last month. We had a great time celebrating her birthday. Bill has a cousin who lives here in Cedar and can make awesome cakes. I asked her to make a dog cake for the party and it turned out awesome! Not only was it cool to look at but it was one of the best tasting cakes I've ever had. We were a little sad that we had to cut into that cute puppy, but it was sure worth it.

Building a snowman

Paige and Liam working on building a snowman. Paige was very proud of her creation.