French Braids

Okay...NO ONE else in the whole world is going to appreciate this as much as me. So just ignore this post...it's just for me. I can FINALLY french braid Tatum's hair!!!! YAHOO!!! I've waited for over 2 years to be able to do this. So...like I said...only I care that Tatum now has real hair:)

Max's Spooky 5th Birthday Party!!!

Make a Smilebox invite

I am having a really hard time believing that my little Max is turning 5!!!  We have been talking about this party for about 6 weeks now--I wish I would have thought of it around Nov. 1st when all the Halloween stuff was on clearance!  It's super hard to find anything halloweenish in January!  But we managed just fine.  We had Max's party a little early this year and Max was super excited about it all.  He was telling all his friends at preschool about how "spooky" his party was going to be.  Apparently he stretched the truth a bit and we had a few kids a little scared to come ("a haunted house with dead bodies coming out of the ground")!  But I'm glad that everyone did come because we had such a great time!  

We played "Pumpkin Bowling," "Eyeball Ping-Pong Bounce," and the "Mummy Wrap."  Everyone enjoyed pizza, cheetos, witch's brew (kool-aid with dry ice), and of course cake and ice cream.  The cake was a spider!!! 

Despite all of my organizational efforts, the kids had the BEST time just running around the yard playing together!  Max was soo happy with all of his gifts.  Mrs. Packer (Max's preschool teacher) even surprised us with a visit!!!  

So all in all it was a FANTASTIC SPOOKY party!!!

Tatum is a Maniac!!!

Okay, so I couldn't resist!  Tatum was just too darn cute!  She is playing with this toy piano that ALL 4 kids have played with so it's like 10 years old but still a favorite.  AND she is wearing her favorite PJs that she just got for Christmas.  She calls them her "Chickie Boom Boom/Santa Claus jamies."  Explanation:  Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is currently her most favorite book to read and every page of the book has a polka dot border--hence, her polka dot pants.  And there's Santa Claus on the shirt--self-explaining.  It's funny what these kids come up with!  So here she is!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSuxQlucCuM&layer_token=6fd53438263d7cdc

New Year's Day 2010

Oh my gosh!!!  We have avoided the snow for WAY too long!  Up to this year the kids had never seen real snow before--last year we went to Chic-fil-A one lazy evening to have dinner and it just happened to be "Family Night" and a snow machine had been brought in and a patch of snow was made in the parking lot--sad, I know.  Sooo...we promised the kids "real" snow this year and we delivered!!!  

We drove to Deming on Thursday, December 31st to go and help my family pull off a surprise 25th anniversary party for my sister and her husband.  Always fun to be with family and the party was a complete surprise which was a small miracle in and of itself!  And then on New Year's Day, my younger brother, Travis, and his family drove to Silver City with us.  We were getting a little nervous because we sure weren't seeing a whole lot of snow but then all of the sudden...SNOW!!!  As we were driving up the mountain to Pinos Altos, Max was looking out the window in total awe.  He said, "I never knew that snow was REAL!"  Poor Arizona kid!!!

We had borrowed snow clothes from friends in our ward and we were all completely outfitted for the event.  So we stayed nice and warm and dry all day!  It was the PERFECT day.  There was no wind, no new snow falling, and we had a whole hill to ourselves.  we spent hours playing and playing.  The kids all had 3 things on their snow agenda:  

1) Make a snow angel 

2) Build a snowman 

and 3) Sled!!!  

Tatum and Sabey LOVED going down the slope together!!!

Travis....need I say more?!

Let me just explain to everyone that my dad has been a farmer his whole life!  So it really was cold this day but my dad is made completely of leather!!!  He had no need for his jacket and he doesn't even own a pair of gloves!!!

Well check, check, and check!!!  Ethan was the biggest surprise to us.  He is our kid that is "allergic to roller coasters" and yet he was the one with limitless energy to keep climbing the hill and sledding down!  We all had such a great time!  The kids are already asking to go again next year.  I think I will be buying some snow clothes now that we know how much fun we've been missing out on!  (It wouldn't be as fun in he wrong clothes for sure:)

Grandmas Sherry & Donna--the Cheerleaders of the day!

This is a short little clip of Tatum & Cousin Sabey sledding on their own!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmh5P5_ueZg&layer_token=9af722a06bdf4042