Thanksgiving and Jonathan's 12th

More than anything else, Jonathan wanted to spend his birthday in St. George (Thanksgiving week). He wanted to hang out at Grandpa's house with his (and my) cousins! He also asked if we could all go to Golden Corral. Wish granted.

We left for the cabin on Tuesday (November 24th). We stayed overnight and played, then headed to St. George on Wednesday afternoon, where we stayed until his birthday night (Sunday, the 29th).

We all had so much fun. We played at Grandpa's with all our family (uncles, aunts, cousins, Grandpa, Grampy and Aunt Mary...) We celebrated Thanksgiving in the traditional, huge, delicious way (at the reception room at Grampy's--with my dad's traditional dinner--YUMMY!) We went geocaching (high-tech treasure-hunting with a GPS) all over the area (pictures to follow). We went to the St. George Temple Christmas Lighting Ceremony with cousins. We had a birthday dinner at Golden Corral on Saturday with EVERYBODY! To top it all off, Care hosted a birthday breakfast on Sunday morning (with Jonathan's requested menu: chocolate-chip pancakes, sausages, fruit, oj, cake and ice cream)--where my cousin, Nate, presented Jonathan with his own copy of a movie Nate had made with the kids over the week. It totally rocked! What a perfect week! Now we have a VERY pleased 12-year-old!

Other Fall and Winter Activities

The other kids have been plenty busy, too. Jess has been dancing up a storm. At least twice a day, we'll find her in ballet clothes (of which she has inhereted many outfits, so we do a LOT of ballet laundry at our house!)

She also sings and plays, constantly entertaining us:

Jennifer loves to dress her up, and one day, they actually did a photo shoot:

When she's not playing with Jessie, Jen spends most of her time playing the piano and dancing. She was in the Nutcracker again this December (a "party girl"--on stage 37 minutes per performance!!!) She was absolutely gorgeous! She's also doing great in school--and having fun, too. Here is a darling gingerbread house she made the last day of school before vacation:

Jonathan loves school, his friends, and his most awesome teacher. His class is a perfect fit for him this year! He's often working on a school or programming project that he loves, but he took some time out this winter to crochet a scarf for the 6th grade service project (they knitted and crocheted scarves for the homeless for Christmas.)

He also keeps us on our toes with his random funninesses (Very random and VERY funny!)

Jer's Creations and Activities

Jer's been busy this fall and winter, inventing and playing like crazy! We love what he's come up with:

Here's a jet and runway that he made. The jet is controlled from below the runway, and it actually ascends during "takeoff".

This is a ladder he built for a bear that his Uncle Dale gave him...

Jeremy and his cousin Peter spent a couple of days in November creating this amazing aircraft. It can fit two kids, and it has a tail and wings (wings not pictured here), a gas tank with a tube to fill from the outside, working doors and windows, a parachute, a bomb bay (with rock "bombs"), a laptop (monitor for the instruments) and actual seats!

He, of course, has been in the snow every available opportunity...

And a major acheivement was his enthusiastic participation in his 2nd grade class performance of "Glow--The Musical". He was a firefly!

Fall Leaves!

In an attempt to catch up our blog, I'll run quickly through some fall and winter highlights. First, here's Jess in our backyard in November (isn't she cute?!?!?!)

Snowy Day!

This has been the perfect snowy Saturday! Here are the kids:



Before we knew the morning had started, Jer was already outside with the neighbors (Olivia and Clara) making a snowman. I looked out the window, and Jer was making a nice path through the backyard with a very large snowball. Then I noticed Jessie (in her hat, gloves, boots, coat, and of course a dress!) Following behind Jeremy were Olivia and Clara, each along the same path, with their snowballs. Soon, Jer was at the front door, requesting a scarf. He found "parts" and accessories in the yard (and on pumpkins I haven't quite taken down yet)! Pretty cute snowman, huh?

Jess has been looking forward to making a snowball all fall!

Jonathan made pancakes, homemade buttermilk pancake syrup, scrambled eggs, and oj. Dee-licious! He also managed to entertain us with his now perfected pancake-flipping skills. His pancakes were making Olympic-style triple flips by the time he was done!

Jen grabbed a couple of pancakes and headed off to Nutcracker rehearsal. She's in the party scene this year, and she seems to really be enjoying it! Including rehearsals and regular class time, she's dancing 4 days a week right now! Jen's such a beautiful dancer!

When Jen and I got back, we found Jer out in the cul-de-sac with his new "Pinewood Derby" car. (I can't bear to tell him there's a weight limit at the Pinewood Derby!) This is what he designed and built on the day he was home sick from school this week... It has been proven to hold 2-3 people, and makes for a very good ride! Today, he was giving it the road test!

p.s. Jeremy had show and tell on Thursday. The theme for the month (hooray for him!) is "Something You Have Made". He wanted to take his new "Pinewood Derby" car, but I suggested it might not fit in his backpack... Jen reminded him that he has a to-scale matchbox dump truck that looks exactly like the dump truck his big car is on. Within 5 minutes, he had created a perfect replica to take to school for show and tell!

Happy Winter, all!

2009 Halloween Pics

Well, we just finished celebrating three days of Halloween. Thursday, Jen got to dress up for ballet class and Jess wore her costume to preschool. Friday, Jonathan, Jennifer, and Jeremy all dressed up for school (they each had parades and parties) and they and Jess wore costumes for the ward Halloween/Tailgate party. Saturday, of course, was Halloween, and Mike took them all trick-or-treating. They had so much fun!


Jonathan created his own Egyptian costume. At school, his class has been doing an Egyptian unit for a couple of weeks, and they ended it by all dressing up in Egyptian costumes! (He won "most eductional costume" at our ward party. Congrats on the good work, Jonathan!


Jen decided to be a witch again this year, happily adding quite a bit of "boo-tiful" makeup (which, lucky for me, she can do by herself quite well, now, thanks to ballet performances!)


Jeremy wore his favorite ninja costume (bless his heart for being such a good sport! He added a new "weapon"...)

Jessica insisted on being Cinderella, a part she has played perfectly every day since last Christmas, when Santa brought the costume!

Jonathan's Cooking Adventures, Updated

Jonathan's been extraordinarily busy in the kitchen. He makes some sort of treat nearly every afternoon. (This has not proven to be helpful to my waistline!) He posts details of his adventures on Facebook, and I occasionally get feedback from my hungry friends (like, "Will you please tell Jonathan to quit Facebooking about all his cooking...or at least bring me some!")

Some of his recent recipes have included:

--Soft Pretzels (see photo above)
--Homemade Candy Corn
--Pumpkin Cream Sandwich Cookies
--Homemade Twinkies
--Tapioca Pudding
--Halloween Jello Jigglers
--Apple Slices (a version of apple pie with an iced crust)
--Fudge Brownies with Fudge Frosting
--Pumpkin-shaped Sugar Cookies
--Mini Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting
--Many varieties of smoothies
--Lemon Meringue Pie
--Lemon Squares

Get the idea? So do I... Perhaps I should teach him to cook dinner next?!?