Merry Christmas 2008!

Here are the kids on Christmas Eve. We did the traditional reading of Luke and 3rd Nephi. We had a limited number of actors so we used a nativity set to do the re-enactment instead of the bathrobe and towel thing.

This is the first Christmas for "Lexi Claws". She had a great time opening presents and playing with new toys.

We let the kids open one present on Christmas Eve on the condition that we got to choose it. Did you know pajamas are boring to open?

Here is the torture before being able to go down the stairs. "Mom and Dad, we cannot wait any longer!"

Finally, the presents. We had a great time!

Josh's favorite present was the Bionicle his sister gave him.

Sam loved his Pokemon game for the Gamecube. He pretty much played this the rest of the day and ignored his other presents.

We had a very leisurely day the rest of the day and it was great. We hope you had a great Christmas and wish you a Happy New Year!

My little musicians

The boys had their first piano recital tonight. They only started a couple months ago, so I was thinking this was a bit soon, but they were so cute. Josh played "Long ago" and "Hello class, how are you?". Sam played "Mary had a little lamb" and "Ring those bells". Sam played "Mary had a little lamb" a couple octives low and played it with style. Cari helped him find middle C for the next song. Josh got stuck in the middle of one of his songs and scratched his head in confusion. Very cute! The video is from the phone so the picture and sound are not the best. Next time we will remember our camera.

Happy Halloween!

This year, we had THREE days of Halloween.

DAY 1 - The Fall Festival:

Last weekend, on Friday, the kids had Fall Festival at their school -- an evening fundraiser where they were encouraged to dress up and come to a "carnival" of booths put on by the teachers. (They did not get to dress up on the actual day of Halloween, so this was it for costumes at school.)


Sam the Magnificent.... Just watch him pull a rabbit out of that hat!


Josh the Mummy found it a little tiring to be one of the walking dead.


Lexi, as a "Halloween" cabbage patch doll, was the hit of the evening. Everyone stopped to check her out, and she liked all the attention.



Of course, she didn't stay in her costume box all evening as she wanted to get out and see what was going on. So, we had to explain about the empty doll box when she wasn't in it. Don't worry about all that drool... no teeth yet!



Sam & Josh had lots of fun and looked adorable too.

DAY 2: The Church Trunk-or-Treat

As if you don't get enough candy on Halloween... The next night (Saturday) we again got into full costume and headed to the church for the Chili/Soup dinner and Trunk-or-Treat.

Is that Sam, Josh and Lexi in the car? Great costume Lexi!




After the event, Sam the Magnificent performed his best trick...



Abra-cadabra!


Watch me as I raise this mummy from the dead.


Waking up is hard to do!


DAY 3: The REAL Halloween

Finally the actual day of Halloween was here. And it was the FINAL day of putting on that blasted mummy costume -- you have no idea how long it takes to install a boy in a mummy costume until you've done it three times! (See all the wrapping above.)

David and Lexi were all ready with the treats for all the little trick-or-treat-ers.
Even Crissi (Cari's sister) and Aaron came dressed as doctors -- or did they just come straight from school without changing?


The two cutest trick-or-treat-ers got into the spirit of the evening and had a great time collecting treats. Hope you all had a fun and spooky weekend!

Goin' to the zoo...

Here is a recent trip to the zoo. Just me and the boys. Mommy and baby stayed home. We first started going to the zoo when Cari first started working from home. It was a way to give Cari some time to have peace and quite. We went often in the early days for this reason. It was fun to get outdoors and it was such a great learning experience for the boys. Our business has grown since and I am much more involved in the business now, so unfortunately we don't go as often. We sure had a great time this trip.



The elephants have always been a favorite. This time of year the kids can throw a carrot to the elephants. The boys always look forward to this.


The zoo has recently put in a new water cave. We were not prepared for this and I was really thinking the kids could play for a minute without getting wet. They played for a very long time and were soaked.




America's next top model?



Then there was this thing of mimicking the animals





And last but not least we went to touch the stingrays. Sam and Josh count how many they can touch. It is easy for me to count how many I touch. They have recently added sharks to this tank. None of us touched a shark.

GOAL!

Yesterday was a very proud day for us. Sam made his first goal! This was a long time coming. This is Sam's third season. When he first started he did not know much about soccer or organized sports in general, but after his first game he knew he really wanted to score a goal. So he was a little disappointed after every game since his first and I was a little sad for him each time. If you have ever watched little kid soccer it is a pack of kids surrounding the ball and this swarm just kind of moves around the field. His first season he definitely got into the pack, but did not really break free of the pack to take any shots.

The next season he got better and more aggressive. He worked hard at practice and was very good at listening to his coach. He got a lot closer to the goal the second season and took a couple of shots, but still was disappointed after every game. His coach was a little sad for him too, because he knew how hard Sam was trying.

The third season we put him on the same team with his second season coach. We liked this coach and also knew Sam would not need to prove himself. For the first three games Sam played well, but still no goal. Yesterday, Josh distracted us by climbing on Cari and I and the next thing we knew Sam had broken free of the pack and it was just him and the goalie. It was so awesome to watch him very deliberately take a shot and make it! Then it was very cool to watch him strut around the field. He wasn't sure exactly what to do. I think this will actually give him some confidence to score many more. After the game he left his uniform on and would not take it off until it was time for bed. It was so great to see this accomplishment that he has worked so hard for.