Let's Dance

A couple of weeks ago my girls had a little informal dance recital. I really did not tell anyone about it because I figured it was just a work in progress one and I didn't think anyone would care to come. I know I need to be better about just telling about these things and letting family and friends decide for themselves if they want to come. So if you are one who would have come please don't be upset with me, I am really bad at this sort of stuff.
So this recital was dubbed a work in progress and it was super informal. No costumes, no fancy lighting, just the kids showing what they have been learning so far. I have to say that my three girls were the best looking and all did so good in their dancing. I love seeing how much they have progressed from the previous year.
Avynlea and Rylee performed the Ballet dance they have been working on and they did really great. They are on their way to becoming fantastic little dancers, making their Mama oh so proud.
Rylee got a pink leotard for Christmas and Avy got a blue one. They were told to wear a solid colored Leotard with a skirt for the recital. Avy did not have a skirt to go with her blue Leotard and I really wanted them to match so I thought I would have them wear their black leotards with the black skirts, but I could not find Avynleas Leotard, it has gone missing. I have since found out that it has been at her friends house hanging out for the past two months. She went to a birthday party one night right after dance class and because she changed at their house her Dance clothes got left their forgotten. What a relief to know where her stuff has been. So since I had no black Leo for Avy and since they needed pink tights without holes I went to Wal-Mart to get some supplies. While there I grabbed a pink leotard for Avynlea, pink skirts for both and pink tights for both. Luckily the items were all pretty cheap. Really cute but really cheap..how I like it! Once we got home and got them dressed I realized that I got two medium skirts instead of small. My girls are super thin and so the skirts sagged a bit. I told Rylee she needed to keep her belly pushed out in order to hold up her skirt but instead of pushing out she kept sucking in. I kept saying "no push OUT" but she didn't get it and kept sucking in. Oh well, they were adorable!




Kenedy got to perform her hip hop number they have been working on and she did amazing! This girl has some dancing talent! I love it! She was nervous but she did great and she had a lot of fun performing the routine she has been working on for months. She had two friends who wanted to come and watch and so we brought them along with us. It warmed my heart to see her friends there supporting her and telling her how great she did. Kenedy really has a super group of friends and I love that she has that support and love from them. Not all of her friends were able to make it but the two who did were really sweet to come and watch!
Kenedy's teacher told the girls to wear whatever shirt they wanted, jeans and tennis shoes for the dance. Kenedy chose an appropriate shirt for the number with my help but instead of tennis shoes wore her boots. She does not have tennis shoes only boots but it worked and she looked great!


Natalia, Kenedy and Cassie

Scout Pack Meeting

Last week was Rykers first Pack Meeting. I having never been in the boy scout program did not know what Pack meetings were. So apparently the families all go with their scouts and this is the time that any badges or patches that have been earned get handed out. We got there fairly early because Kefford had some Bishopric stuff to do so the waiting around got old but when the Scout Master came in looking for volunteers to help in the flag ceremony Ryker was pleased as punch to be able to volunteer. Ryker was so cute walking in with the troops flag. I really love seeing him so excited about things, it never gets old!

How cute is my boy? Granted his eyes look a little wonky but that is what happens when you take a picture of someone in the middle of a blink.

Ryker earned his Bobcat patch and so he was awarded that one this night. They pinned it on upside down because he had to do a good turn in order to get it turned around the right way. I thought that was odd but it's tradition and I guess it is a good thing. :0) His good turn was to clean up some in his sisters room. What a good brother!

After he got his patch he was given a pin that was a smaller metal version of his patch and was told it was for me and he needed to pin it on me. Scary! Ha! I knew it was coming and so I wore a sweater to make it easier on both of us. No pin sticks here! Kenedy had achievement days that night and could not make it so she gave us her camera and told us to take pictures. I never got around to it..oops..but Avynlea took it upon herself to try to get a picture and so in the bottom picture you can see our own little paparazzi. Too bad she couldn't figure out how to work the camera and thus no pictures for Kenedy. bummer.

kids!

This is a funny story. I left Rylee to play at her friends house while I went to the school to help out in the kids classrooms. When I got back i was talking with her friends Mom and Rylee kept telling me she had a secret to tell. I finally told her to wait till we got in the car and I hurried to finish up the conversation. Once we got to the car and Rylee climbed in she leaned in to whisper her secret in my ear "I took a marble". What? She said it again and not quite sure knowing what to think I looked in her backpack to see if she really did take a marble. Sure enough there was a red marble underneath some of the papers she had in there. I gave Rylee another little lecture, this time about taking things that do not belong to us and then I took the marble and returned it to its rightful owner. She is such a crazy kid. Have to give the little lady props for her honesty!

While I am thinking about it I might as well write down a funny that happened to me at the kids school. Rykers teacher usually has me go out in the hallway with one of the students to help them individually. I was in the hall helping one of the boys in his class one day when suddenly he turned to me and said "Something smells stinky". I immediately drew my head further back away from him because I knew it was my breath, I had not yet eaten that day though it was past lunch time and I could taste that my breath was kicking. In the seconds that it too for me to process all of this this honest little boy looked at me and said "It could be your breath". I of course, acting like the mature adult that I am quickly retorted "Maybe it's YOUR breath". It kinda silenced him but we both knew who had the stinky breath. I now actively chew breath mints any time I even think about volunteering at that school! :0)

Happy New Year!

On New Years Eve I went to the store to get a bunch of grub for our annual new years party. Our tradition is to party here at home with our kids with lots of food, fun games and good movies. Once every thing was ready we all filled our plates with Tator tots, mini pigs in a blanket, fried chicken, chips and salsa, and nachos, quite the spread! Once we all had our food we sat together in the family room to watch Lord of the Rings. I know that might sound weird but we couldn't decide on anything else and it was playing on TV so there you go. After we ate I broke out the cookies, See's candy and made root beer floats for everyone, yum yum. At about 9:00 I put the two younger ones to bed and then the rest of us settled down to finish our movie and wait for midnight. I am not ashamed to admit that I fell asleep first. I didn't even try to stay awake, been there done that. I am way too sleepy at night to make it that long. According to the one who managed to stay awake till midnight Kenedy fell asleep next and then Kefford at about 11:30. Yup Ryker was the lone man ringing in the new year. That kid has way too much energy!

The next morning we drug ourselves out of bed and turned on the Rose Parade. I love watching the Rose Parade but it is not something my kids have really gotten into. Maybe that will come as they get older. While everyone was lazing around I made a Jalapeno dip for the Peterson New Years Day party. This was a recipe I found on a blogging site I like to read and it got rave reviews from all those who ate it. I did not get a chance to try it out so I was pretty nervous about it making it's debut at the party. But I have some guts and so I went with it.

Keffords Grandpa Farrell and Grandma Marge have the Peterson Party at their house every year. It is a fun tradition that I love of getting together with all of Keffords Family on the Peterson side. Not everyone is able to come every year but that is OK because we know/hope to see them at the next ones. While there we ate good food, I am happy and relieved to report that my dip was a hit and got eaten up really quick..phew :0), visited with great people and enjoyed a little football. Finally it was time to open presents. Grandma is always so thoughtful and thinks up really nice things to get us all. This year the Great Grandchildren got Dr Seuss or Winnie the Pooh books plus a stuffed animal to go along with it. I didn't get any pictures at the party..:0/ but I did take a picture of the kids with their fun gifts not too long ago so we could send thank yous.

They love their animals and books and i thought it was such a fun idea. The married Grandkids and their spouses got a book on Joseph Smith with a picture of Grandpa and Grandma in it from their mission. They served in the Carthage Jail area and have developed a deep love for the Prophet. I love that they are passing on their Heritage in this way. We also got some things for our food storage. Everyone got a timer with one of Grandmas sweet poems and on the paper was a number and that number represented what food item we got. Kefford and I managed to get a couple of bags of brown sugar and chocolate chips! Love it!

We had a really great time spending New Years Day with people we really like and look forward to seeing those who were not able to be there, at the next one!

Lessons learned at the library

I took Rylee to the library today because she loves it there and I had some books on reserve. When we first got there she wanted to play on the computers so we did. I let her play for about half an hour and then it was time to be heading home. Before we went to the check out desk I let her pick a movie to get and then we went to check out. For some reason she decided she needed to be loud and so she started this really annoying screaming yelling thing. I told her to knock it off and she kind of did. I did not have my library card, I had Kenedys, and there was a book that I had reserved that had come in but was not on the shelf yet so I asked if the librarian could get it for me. She said that since I did not have my card I would need to show my ID. That was in the car so Rylee and I walked out to the car, got my ID, left the books and movie we already checked out and walked back in to get my other book. While the girl was off finding the book Rylee started edging away towards the doors I told her to stay inside and I kept an eye on her. She was standing right by the door just waiting when this kid opened the door and walked in. Rylee saw the opening and ran out. I ran out after her and yelled for her to stop she looked at me, laughed and kept running. I finally caught up to her and when I grabbed her I told her that was not OK and that because she was naughty she had to take back the movie she picked. She started crying and was super loud but I ignored that I took her by the hand went back in got the book I wanted walked back out out to the car got the video and marched her back in and made her put the movie in the return slot. She was not happy and was really crying/ screaming hard. Once we got back to the car I gave her a little lecture about why what she did was wrong and why she had to put the movie back. I really hope she learned her lesson cause I do not want to have to go through that again!

Where did all the comments go?

Lately the comments on my blog postings have really tapered off. I used to average about 10 comments per post and now it has dwindles to about 3 or 4. I LOVE comments like most people do I am sure. I really try hard to comment on others blogs because I know how much I like it and i want to return the favor. I realize that lately I have not been as good about leaving comments and so I have really been working on that. Also I realize my postings have been pretty sporadic and so maybe people have not been checking as often. Well I am here and I am trying hard to be a more regular blogger. Not just for the sake of all of you out there reading but for me in keeping track of our lives. :0) The Blog book making website that I use to turn my blog into a book is called Blog2print. One of the biggest reasons that I love this site so much is because it gives you the option of having the comments included in the book. I love reading the comments and most of them are ones I want to keep forever which is why it is so exciting to have them included in my blog book. So won't you please start leaving me comments again? And if you don't normally leave comments will you check in every once in a while to let me know you care? :0)

Christmas Day

Last year before the kids went to bed on Christmas eve we told them they were not allowed to get up until seven. This year we didn't give any specific time and that proved to be dastardly. Our kids woke up and were out of their beds at 5:45 am! Yeah that was early. But they were excited and so we let them get their stockings and come into our room to open them. Of course no pictures were taken. I can tell you that Ryker tore into his stocking and got all of his stuff opened first, Kenedy and Avynlea were both equally patient while opening their stockings and came in sometime in the middle with their opening. Little Rylee was the last to open her stocking. it was so, so, so cute to see this little girl sitting on the bed with her stocking resting on her little stretched out legs slowly opening her stocking presents. Precious! They all were so excited and loved everything in their stockings. Oh something I just thought of, that night when it was time to go to bed I told the kids to put on their new pajamas again and Rylee looked at me and said "Is Santa leaving our stockings on our bed again?" She thought that wearing the new pajamas meant it would be Christmas again every time she wore them. How cute is that? Too cute! So the kids got done opening their stockings and were anxious to go down and see what Santa left them. Previous years Kefford made the kids get dressed before being allowed to go downstairs. It was something he grew up doing and he somehow implemented it in our home. I have always hated this practice of getting dressed and decided that this year I was going to fight him on it. The kids all wanted to be allowed to wear their pajamas downstairs and I saw nothing wrong with that. Heck I wanted to wear mine. So after many days of arguing about it I finally got my wish. I told Kefford that I would make sure their hair was done but how cute were they going to be wearing their new cute pajamas that I made for them while opening their presents. I won! Yes! Finally after waiting for Kefford to shower and dress and patiently getting their hair done the kids were allowed downstairs. They came down one at a time and they all were good about posing for the camera!

After checking that Santa ate his cookies and the reindeer got their snack the kids admired the tree with the candy canes and all the glorious presents underneath! Once the kids were done looking around at everything we got down to some serious present opening. Kefford told Avynlea she could play Santa this year and hand out the presents but that did not work so well. A lot of the presents I wrote the name on the paper and unless you knew where to look you could not see it and Kefford numbered most of the ones he wrapped so we had to do a lot of helping with the reading and knowing who each present was for.

The first present they got to open was the final gift from my Moms 25 days of Christmas thing she did. This gift has been greatly anticipated by all the kids but mostly Rylee. She was so anxious to get to the bag that was fully packed. So they opened it and found Disney themed silly bands, so fun. they were really excited and loved everything about the 25 days of Christmas thing she did!

So the kids got to open their presents and this year we had a little bit of a theme going on it was the year of the fake outs! Not a lot but enough to make us laugh. A couple days before Christmas Kefford said he wanted to make the two older kids be grateful for what they got and not act bratty if they didn't get what they wished for so he was going to hide the presents and then after we were all done pull them out. I was really worried about this idea because I really did not want tears or bad moods to spoil Christmas. I told him maybe not. But then Kenedy got really snotty about something and I told Kefford lets do it! So we did. We hid the two major presents they were getting behind some books and after everyone was done opening their presents we waited a little bit to see how they were going to react. they acted pretty good, a little quiet but not bad so Kefford pulled out Rykers. As soon as Ryker got it he lit up a little and once he made the first big rip of the paper and saw what it was he was jumping out of his pants he was so excited. We got him the number one item on his wish list a DSi but Kefford took it a step further and got him the limited edition XL red one. He was so happy. He has been wanting one for a couple of years now but this is the first year that he really showed he wanted one. I am glad that we waited till now to give it to him, I think he appreciates it a lot more.

The number one item on Kenedys wish list was a digital camera. Kefford kept teasing her and saying that she already has a camera and it just needs new batteries. She kept saying no it does not take good pictures and that she needs a better one. They would go back and forth all the time like this and so while I know she was really hoping for a new camera, I am not sure what she was thinking about whether she would get one or not. Finally he pulled out her last present and gave it to her, when she pulled off the paper and saw the box she got excited and said "a camera!" Kefford said no that is the box from your Moms camera. She looked bummed but then opened the box to see it really was a new camera just for her. She was also super excited with her gift and I am glad that we were able to make that happen for her!

The third and final fake out came from me to Kefford. He pretty much knew what most of his presents were which is a disappointment for me. I love surprises but Kefford does not care so much but I wanted to give him a surprise. He knew he was getting a new Wii game for Christmas but what he didn't know was that I got him a DVD that he has been wanting for quite a few years. He once saw the movie "Duel" by Steven Spielberg and became a little obsessed with it. Every so often he would look into getting it but then would make a decision to not get it. I finally bought it for him and since i wanted to surprise him I wrapped that up in wrapping paper knowing Kefford would think it was the Wii game and I wrapped the Wii game up in fruit snack box so it would not look like the game. I gave him the DVD to open and he was thinking he was so smart saying snarky things like "oohhh I wonder what this is" wink wink, and "Maybe it's a movie". Oh man I was giggling so hard and really almost jumping on the couch I was so excited for the reveal. Once he finally got it open he was so surprised and I yelled out "haha fake out!" Oh man it was the best. I was laughing so hard and he was so surprised. It was really great!

We had a really great Christmas morning. It was fun and relaxing and everyone was super happy with what they got. I got Kefford an intake for his pickup truck and he spent the morning putting that in while I spent the morning baking bread with my new bread machine. We also got the Family game night for the Wii and the kids and i had fun playing with that while Kefford worked in the garage and while my new gadget baked us bread.