Ethel M Christmas Lights

Last night my mom, sister and I took the kids to the Christmas lights display at Ethel M's. Its been a few years since we have gone and I must say I was impressed at how much it has grown. The kids loved it, especially Gabriella. Every reindeer she saw made her so excited. Much to our surprise even Santa was there. The kids got to sit with him and tell him what they wanted. I think Gabriella had the longest list. :) I was happy to see her walk up to him and list her wishes one by one, not what I expected since she would run the other way in other times we had seen him.
It was a good night... the kind of night that when you set out to do it your almost dreading it but it ended in a happy feeling. I'm glad we went.

A Christmas Carol...

Last Friday, December 16th, Brandon played the roll of the ghost of Jacob Marley in his class play of a Christmas Carol. He had the most lines of anyone and he did so good, didn't even mess up once. He even made everyone laugh with his theatrics, as his teacher said, he put a touch of Hollywood in it. I can see drama in his future. (hopefully just the acting kind)

Parent Observation Days...

This week was parent observation week at Alyssa's dance studio. Its the one week out of the year us parent are allowed in class to see what the kids have been doing.
I'll tell you, I was impressed and tired... I don't know how she goes to school all day and dances for 7 hours after!
I'm excited for the show this year, it should be awesome!

I love this picture just because there three girls have been dancing together for years. Its been fun to watch them grow as dancers together.






Irish class

Tap class.

Wrestling....

I love the slogan on the back of the shirts this year "Locally hated, Nationally respected"...so very true! I'm proud to be a part of this team.

Getting some last minute coaching from Coach Bill.







Last weekend Brandon took 1st place in the Legacy Stampede tournament. He had an awesome day of wrestling! He finished the tournament 4-0 and had no points scored against him in any of his matches. Let hope he keeps it up the rest of the season.

Spirit Day

 

Today starts a week of "spirit" days at Alyssa's school. Today was, of course Christmas spirit day.
Not only does Alyssa participate in these days but she always goes over board. I love her school spirit!

 

I love this Santa blow up that Jeff and Brandon put on the roof of the house this year. Its Santa in a helicopter complete with a spinning propeller and so far it has survived the Vegas winds!
I don't love it just because its super cute or because Jeff and Brandon worked together to tether it to the roof. I love it because EVERYTIME Gabriella sees it her face lights up and she waves to Santa. In her eyes that lighted up blow up is what will guide the real Santa to her house. In the meantime shes thrilled to death with the stand in.
Gabriella radiates the spirit of Christmas! She loves the music, the movies the decorations. She gets that its the celebration of the birth of Jesus. She has helped choose toys for toy drives and insists everything that is pink and sparkly is something her sister needs. She gets the spirit of giving and for that I am so thankful.

The first issue...

Where in the heck do I start?!

The kids are growing fast. Of course, that is after all what kids do.



Alyssa is mid way through her 8th grade year. She is enrolled in all accellerated classes and has maintained straight A's all year. She is also active with the National Jr. Honor society and volunteers her "free" time every Wednesday after school to help teachers in whatever they may need. Sometimes its grading papers, sometimes its answering phones in the front office..whatever they need.
Of course life would not be complete without dance and trust me there is no shortage of dance in her life. She is part of the "senior dance intensive" program at her studio. In other words she dances with the high school kids in classes that are intense and long. They require strict attentance and dress code and total to about 17 hours of dance in a matter of 4 days. Her detication to the things in her life motivate me.



Brandon. Oh my sweet boy. Hes in the 4th grade and I'm proud to say he also maintains straight A's. Of course he is still wrestling...a lot! He traveled to Colorado at the beginning of November with Jeff and about 15 other team members where he took 1st place at Big Horn Nationals.
He keeps us busy!!



Gabriella is 4! When did that happen. She is enrolled in "school" as she calls it with daddy. She just may be my biggest handful (dare I say that) shes done many "home improvement" projects with markers and nail polish. I'd like to say a special thank you to Mr. Clean and his wonderful Magic Erasers!
She is still laid back and just goes with the flow of the family.

I've been so bad!

I think about my blog often and actually find myself combing through old posts and remembering the moments. I actually like the fact that I have it here to look back on, some of the things I have blogged about may seem small or unimportant but to me, it brings me happy thoughts from time that would other wise just be forgotten. So...on that note, I'm back with a promise to myself to keep this blog updated. I don't care if I'm the only one to ever lay eyes on it, I'm going to to it.
Somehow, in the hustle and bustle of everyday life I've let the things I like kinda slip away, I'm going to reclaim some of them, starting with this blog.