It's that time of year again...

...for pinewood derby!

Alex and I don't really enjoy these things, but the boys like it, so we do it.  It was Jared's first year and Nathan's last year for pinewood derby.  The theme was superheroes, so Nathan's car was "two-face" and Jared's was "Robin".  They didn't put much effort into design... but they did get a little purple, orange, green, and red paint on there.  They didn't do so well on speed either, but hey, they had a good time.  Actually, since the numbers were few, Nathan got 1st for speed in the Webelos at the pack race.  Jared got 2nd for speed in the wolves (Jared's car wobbled down the track for some reason...)  

They didn't place at all in the district race, but they still enjoyed it.  

Happy Birthday Nathan!

This was a non-friend party year for Nathan, so we just had a nice family celebration.  He opened presents first thing in the morning, followed by breakfast.  

He requested spaghetti, breadsticks, and peas for dinner, followed by cake.  Nathan wanted a purple Lego cake - yes, purple is his favorite color.  His cake was similar to Owen's, but I also did a Lego head for him.  I guess it looks a little funny to have a Lego head on a platter... maybe this would have been more appropriate for Savannah (who loves to pull the heads off Legos)!  I had a little left over, so did a mini LSU cake.  That's why he likes purple anyway.  

Sparks were flying!

 Nathan also wanted Dr. Pepper floats, but we had to save that for another night - too much sugar already.  After cake, we watched the 2nd Hobbit movie at the neighbor's house.  

Happy birthday to Nathan!

Christmas break/New Year's

The day after Christmas we headed to Mike and Carrie's place to spend a day with them.  It was fun to hang out and let the kids play.  The boys loved jumping on the trampoline and playing with Nicholas and Ryan's new Legos.  We took an outing to the La Brea Tar Pits - it was pretty cool, but not much to it.  I think the highlight may have been running down the hill outside the museum...

They liked trying to imitate this...

The last day of the year, we went for a family bike ride.  We used our new bike trailer, which Weston and Savannah really enjoyed.  I ended up biking about 9 miles!  After about 1.5 miles, Owen had a little accident and bonked his knee.  We didn't take the first aid kit with us, which Aunt Jane sent us (and must have known we would need), so I biked back home to get a band-aid.  After patching Owen up, we continued on.  It was pretty hard for Owen to bike the 3 miles to the beach, so after we got there, I biked home.  I drove the car back to pick up Owen (and Savannah), while the others biked back home.  So, Alex, Nathan, and Jared biked 6 miles, and I got in 9 - not too bad for an afternoon outing. 

We watched a movie (1st Hobbit) at the neighbor's house on New Year's Eve, and then stayed up playing games with Nathan and Jared to ring in the new year.  

We enjoyed a double feature at a drive-in theater on New Year's Day - Night at the Museum II and the 3rd Hobbit movie.  The kids actually did pretty good considering how long we were there - LOTS of popcorn consumed!  On the 2nd and 3rd, we did an outing to Monterrey Bay Aquarium and the Fresno Temple - we stayed overnight in Fresno.  It ended up being a pretty tiring weekend more than fun.  Oh well.  We stopped at a Wal-Mart on the way home to buy Legos that were on sale and we got ice cream as well. So maybe the kids had a good weekend! 

Christmas morning!

The kids were up pretty early, but we made them wait a little bit before opening presents.  We could hear them talking and speculating about everything.  I think they waited nearly 2 hours by the time they got to open presents.  We needed to get the grandparents on FaceTime to watch the frenzy, and we waited as long as possible before having to get out of bed.  It was probably about 8:30 when the present opening began.  They were ready!

We asked the kids if they heard anything during the night...

I missed the first part of Weston' response on video, but when we asked if he heard anything, his reply was "I saw a bug!"  Of course he was talking about what he JUST saw - there must have been a bug by the presents.  We all got a kick out of it though, since it was such a random response.

Several short videos from opening presents:

Owen is my favorite present opener - he has the best reactions and comments.  "Dun dun dunnn!"  

In one of the clips, Owen is quick to point out that we already have THREE of those Lego sets.  Ha ha.  He just can't get over it.  But to Weston, the one who got the present, he could care less about a duplicate.  It has orcs in it - the more orcs the better.  Everything is great!  :)

Enjoy. 

Busy... and cute.

They had cinnamon toast while they were waiting to open presents.  A while later, I finally made some eggs and bacon for breakfast/lunch.  I made sugar cookies later too.

This is what I was looking forward to doing - a personalized puzzle that Sam and Audrey sent us.  Love it.  Thanks you guys! And thank you to the rest of family for all the great presents!

We had a good day!  

Spreading Christmas joy!

These were our teacher and friend gifts this year, including the label on the scout leaders gifts (I didn't take a picture, but they were cute).  The second picture in the collage below was the mint truffle cups I made for a cookie exchange.  We delivered some homemade plum jam (which Alex made this year) to some of our friends.  Lots of sweets!  Thankful for good teachers and friends!

For a few weeks at the end of the year, we had a 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 year old (until Nathan turned 11 in January).  

Christmas Eve

We did our traditional Christmas story and hymns by candlelight, followed by birthday cupcakes for Jesus.  We each made a personal gift/wish for the year and then got to blow out the candles.  My gift this year was not to miss a day of scriptures - to read for 30 minutes every day this year.  So far so good!

The kids also got to open their new PJ's.  We had a good laugh this year, as the boys thought one of them was getting a pair of Barbie PJ's.  They saw me making a sports pair for Savannah, and wondered about that.  I jokingly said that I messed up on one of the boys PJ's, sewing it too small and had to use that one for Savannah.  But I didn't have enough fabric left for all of them, so one of them had to get Barbie jammies.  They believed me and were all so worried which one of them got those ones.  I went along with the joke and wrapped up a pink princess shirt of Savannah's for Nathan to open.  I loved seeing his reaction to seeing the pink in his present.  (Of course it would have been better if I actually had a bigger pair of Barbie jammies, but it still got a good laugh.)

I really did sew one of the sports PJ's too small, so I went ahead and made them for Savannah.  I also made a cute pair of blue flower ones for her, so she got two pair.  I let her choose which ones she wanted to wear, and she wanted what her brothers had.  I guess it's a good thing I made a pair for her.

  

Ready to get all nestled and snug in their beds!

princess Savannah is TWO!

 I took some pictures for Savannah's birthday party invitation.  She didn't want to sit still much and look at the camera, but I got a few good ones.  She's so pretty!

The birthday invite...

The big day!  She opened her presents first thing in the morning.  She seemed to like everything!

I found some blue flip-flops at the thrift store and added the flowers to them - a little "bling".  They turned out cute.

We had a lunch party with a few friends on her birthday - princess and stars theme.

Lunch was simple - fruit, crackers and cheese, and different kinds of sandwiches.  

She was excited about her dress cake.  But when it came time to sing, she got really shy and almost cried.  I forgot that she doesn't like the attention or people looking at her.  The cake was yummy...until it fell on the floor!  Oops.  A royal mess.  :)

Savannah has really grown up in the last few months.  She runs now (tries to keep up with her brothers and runs away from mom), the booster seat for the table is in the garage, and she has lots of words.  Her speech has really taken off.  We could only come up with about 20 words at 18 months old.  She has at least 200 now - basically can repeat most words you say, and she is starting to talk in sentences.  She is now up off the mattress on the floor in a regular big girl bed.  She loves shoes and accessories, and loves taking care of her babies and bear-bear.  Such a cutie!

Owen is SIX!

This was Owen's year for just a family birthday celebration.  He got more Legos and money to buy more Legos... We threw a few "useless" items (like game, clothes and puzzle) in the mix.  Ha ha.  This kid is really into Legos!  The Chima Lego sets are particularly popular right now.

He requested omelets and bacon for breakfast, rolls and lasagna for dinner, and a blue Lego cake for dessert!

We all got a kick out of the bright blue frosting!

He got a special birthday crown at school that he was really proud to wear.  The last picture is from his school Christmas program (or holiday sing, as I think they call it...).

Handsome 6 year old!

A couple videos from the program... 

Hard to see around the video paparazzi!

Take a hike!

This is what I wish I could have done during the busy Christmas season... take a hike!  Not really.  :) But I am glad that Alex and Nathan were able to sneak away for some father and son time.  

2OH14 Christmas tree

Nothing too exciting... decorating our old fake tree.  ;)  Savannah was quick to find the shoe ornaments to hang on the tree!

31st temple - Newport Beach

Despite being in CA for 4.5 years, we hadn't been to this temple yet.  We have now made it to all the temples in CA (San Diego, Newport Beach, Redlands, Los Angeles, Fresno, Oakland, and Sacramento).  We were able to go to the Newport Beach Temple over Thanksgiving break.  (I think this makes #31 for us).  I guess we checked off all the temples in CA - now we can move right...?