A Toothy Grin

So I took the kids in to the dentist for a check-up the other day.
No biggie.
Except when they casually told me that Annika has an extra tooth.

Huh?

Ummm. Okay.

She has an extra tooth located somewhere between her two incisors.
When we got home I looked really hard and figured out which one was the extra.
The dentist said it happens occasionally.

But still...
Weird.

At least the orthodontics bill won't be as bad as I thought. That extra tooth has kept an extra space for the big teeth to come in.

Red Dragon

Kade had another belt test on Saturday. He did fairly well, despite being nervous. The test ended up taking over 3 hours. Quite a long time for an 8 year old. He hung in there and made it to the end but was very tired when it was all over.

Here he is doing a form with his staff (bo): He also had to do several forms with his nunchuks:

They have to do some self-defense as well. Here he is doing overse wrist (I think): Don't mess with the little guy!



At the end of the test, the kids do some sparring with each other. Kade has a competitive streak in him. But no, we do not encourage Kade to beat up girls... Unless he is at Karate.
In fact, the parents of the girl he is sparring with here with jokingly told me they want to stay in touch because they would love it if Kade married their daughter.



In the end, it was all worth it...
We are pleased to announce the advancement of Sempai Kade to the rank of Red Belt in Little Dragons.
Congratulations! Good Work Sempai!

A Birthday Guy

Happy Birthday to my guy!

We celebrated with yummy grilled ribeyes (I had a grilled portobella mushroom, which was really quite good and the kids had hot dogs, because they don't like real meat).

He is a big fan of banana cream pie. I cannot make them very well (surprise, surprise), so that was provided courtesy of Village Inn.

We had a nice evening eating, celebrating, and enjoying family movie night.

I didn't actually interview him, so these are my best guesses:

Favorite color: Olive green. Every time we go shopping for clothing for him, he ends up with something that color.

Favorite food: Tony Roma's ribs, when he can get them. Or my Chicken Cordon Bleu. Or steak.

Favorite activity: Hunting, fishing, shooting, watching movies.

Thing that makes him happiest: His family.

What he wants to be when he grows up: A pilot in Alaska.

What he is now: An engineer. Who explodes stuff once in a while.

Favorite vacation: That is a hard one. I think that he liked Disneyland, although he may complain that I didn't stop long enough to let anyone eat. But we also had a lot of fun at Mount Rushmore and Chicago.

Happy Birthday to a great husband, father, son, and sweetheart.

A Birthday Girl

Annika is 7!
What a great 7 years it has been. She is definitely a handful--you never know what she will say next. (I'm sure her school and primary teachers get an earful.)

I would never have guessed that my 4lb 14oz little bundle of surprises would have grown up to be such a healthy, intelligent, and articulate young lady.

She got some books and a bike for her birthday.
Only Annika would get this excited about books:
Of course, the main character's name is "Princess Annika", so what's not to love about that?

We made her go on a "hot and cold" search to find her bike. We had hidden it in her room. As per the family custom here is her birthday interview:

Favorite color: Pink, of course!

Favorite game: She immediately answered "NOT Monopoly" (or Bawl-opoly, as we have come to call it at our house). She really likes Easy Money and Candyland.

Favorite Food: Lasagna (pronounced Lawn-zawn-ya), spaghetti, pizza. She is my least pickiest eater, and is always willing to try something new.

Best Friends: Bailey from school, Kayleigh from school, Olivia and Gracie from church.

Favorite Vacation: Sea World

Favorite Book: whatever she is reading at the moment. Right now it is Harry Potter and the Scorcerer's Stone. (She is really a great reader).

Favorite toy: Her Barbie that has wings that turn into a dress, and her Nintendo DS.

Favorite Song: The ones she makes up. She loves to sing and will occasionally get into trouble at school for singing while she does her work. She said she wants to be on American Idol someday.

What she wants to be when she grows up: A nurse and a mom.

She is such a sweet girl. She is always willing to help out at home and is generally a happy girl who is easy to get along with. We are so glad she came to live with us, even if it was a little early (in so many ways).

We love you!

Found It, Kept It

Last January I decided to start keeping track of things I get for free, including rebates I get.

Through the year I tried to keep track of the things I got. I think I may have forgotten some of them, but I listed the majority of them.

The purpose of tracking it was to show myself (and Burke) that the rebates actually end up being worthwhile. So now he just lightly teases me when I am filling in tiny lines on rebate forms and stuffing the envelopes with grocery receipts.

I ended up with nearly $300 this year, which would have been enough to pay for an Ipod if Santa hadn't brought it.

WooHoo!

My Latest Favorite

Streaming Netflix.
LOVE IT!
Especially when I am sick and Adrienne wants to be entertained.
And when I should be cleaning but want to veg with my baby on the couch instead.
I think popcorn's on sale at the store this week...

How did I ever get along without it?

He Belongs

To the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Kade was baptized January 2, 2009.
He was so excited.
During family prayers the whole week before his baptism he prayed that people would feel the Spirit at his baptism.
I think his prayer was answered.

I did a spotlight to share how special Kade is,

Grandma W talked about baptism, Grandma T talked about the Holy Ghost.

We all knew that Grandpa W was there.
Thanks to all the family and friends who supported him in this big step.

We love you Kade!

A Train Ride

While Burke was home, we worked on Nathan's Traveler requirement for his Webelo. He had to read a public transportation schedule and plan a trip.
So we took the train south.

We saw a 3D Christmas movie. (We finally found a 3D movie Adrienne liked).
We happened to be in the big city when they were planning a big concert. We went in and warmed up after looking at the lights. Adrienne fell asleep and I just HAD to stay in the concert to make sure she didn't wake up. Burke took the other kids out to look at the rest of the lights.
There were some really great dances at the concert. I especially liked the Celtic dancers; they are amazing.
Some of the dances weren't so amazing (Burke called one of the groups The Geriatric Folk Dancers).

Um, Better Late Than Never?

I think that is the mantra for my life. I'm sure my mom would agree, as would Burke (although I haven't been late for Church for ages).
Life has been busy. I have been working on getting things ready for a new Primary year, including getting teachers, a bulletin board, and binders ready. I haven't gotten around to doing the CD's yet. In addition to that, I have had Christmas, New Years, a baptism, and a birthday. Plus, Burke was off of work for the whole week between Christmas and New Years, so we took time to enjoy his company.
I have fallen behind in blogging, so my goal is to cover everything this week.
Starting with Christmas:

We had a nice Christmas Eve with a dinner at my sister's. Then we met up with Grandma W and headed to the city center to look at the Christmas village.

Of course, when we got home, it was time to open the annual Christmas jammies.
The kids all had cute jammies, and some cute (if I do say so myself) robes I sewed with my new Christmas present.
After that, we read the Christmas story from the bible and went to bed. At least, I did.

I was unaware of Burke's nocturnal sneaky activities. He accuses me of being very snoopy, so he had to go around to the neighbor's and gather up the gifts he had hidden there....
There were more surprises to be found in the morning.

Christmas morning was a blast. The kids ran out to see the spread.
A new bike for Nathan, a karaoke machine for Kade, a Nintendo DS for Annika, and a CD player for Adrienne.
A new calculator for Burke (yes, Santa knew he was an engineer without a functioning calculator...sad, sad).

Santa is full of surprises.

Burke and Kade made me a new step for my bathtub. It is quite a reach for a shorty to climb in and I have almost fallen a few times while getting in and out. Therefore, I had casually mentioned a few dozen times over the last 4 years how much easier it would be to have a nice step to climb in and out.
Burke sneaked off a few nights and went to a neighbor who is an amazing carpenter and made me a beautiful, thoughtful, matching knotty alder step for my bathroom. I loved it.
Thoughtful (and handmade) gifts are the best!

After opening gifts and relaxing for a while, we headed off to see The Princess and the Frog.
Very cute, and a nice way to end the day.
Grandma W stayed with us through Christmas Eve and into Christmas Day. We enjoyed her company and the kids were so sad when she left the next day to head to Disneyland.

Eating Icing, or Building a Gingerbread House With 4 Children

School was out.
What to do?
Make "gingerbread" houses out of graham crackers and royal icing.
They learned what Neccos are (and they are hard to find).
They learned how to make "snow" out of white icing.
They learned that you really do get a stomach ache if you eat too much candy.
I learned that Nathan does not ascribe to the "less is more" school of thought, Adrienne REALLY likes chocolate, Kade is very creative, and Annika's fine motor delay appears to have cleared up.
I also learned that it is even more fun if I let them do it their way.

I am proud to say I was "hands-off" for most of the fun.

I think we all enjoyed it that way.

Most importantly we had fun--together.

Fancy Dancers Part 2

Here is a clip of Adrienne's dance. Too cute.

For some reason, Annika's video is slightly out of focus. You get the general idea.