Pinewood Derby... Granola Style

Davis' final Pinewood Derby has come and gone.  He got really creative this year and decided to make a granola bar for his car!  I think it turned out pretty cool and he definitely had a fan club rooting for him all night, chanting "Go, Granola!"

Some of his #1 fans included his parents and siblings.  It was an exciting race!

He ended up coming in 2nd place according to how many races he won and he was pretty happy about that!   

Ginger Dee is FOURTEEN

We have a 14 year old!  Talk about feeling old.  We had our traditional "family" party where we showered her with gifts.  Teenage girls are fun to shop for!

Since her birthday was on a Friday, Ginger invited a few friends over for a party from 5 to 10.  Thankfully, she planned all the games and activities.  I just took care of the food.  She requested build your own sub sandwiches for dinner...

Then the girls split into groups and made videos that were hilarious!

Ginger also requested a chocolate chip cookie pizza topped with vanilla ice cream.  (and it was pretty darn delicious if I do say so myself.)  

The girls played all sorts of games and I had fun just listening to their "girl chat".  

Ginger got the wii game Just Dance for her b-day and it was a big hit!  

Another gift was Pictureka and they finished off the night playing that.   I think the girls had a lot of fun!

Mallory & Ginger

Here's Ginge before her very FIRST Stake Dance!  She was so excited (and a little nervous, too!)  Don texted all of the Young Men to remind them that it was his daughter's first dance, to treat her like a lady when they asked her to dance AND to be sure to tell her that she "smells like rainbows".    Well, several boys did just that and Ginger was so confused and a bit embarrassed until one boy finally told her that her dad had told them to say that.  It definitely made for a funny, memorable night!  I waited up for her to return home and she was ALL smiles telling me about every second of her first dance.  One of the highlights of being a parent.  

Happy Birthday, Gingey Girl!  You are an amazingly, wonderful daughter and we love you so much!

Snow Days go away, come again another day

We woke up one morning in January to find a winter wonderland!  I got the call at 6 am from the school saying school would start 2 hours late, so I went back to bed!  The kids got up a few hours later thinking that school was cancelled so they got dressed in all their snow gear and were so excited to go out to play...until I woke up and told them it was time to get ready for school.  Talk about devastation!

Well, a week or two later, we got hit by a crazy snow and ice storm that cancelled school for 4 days in a row!  The first day was awesome.  It was way too cold to go outside and there wasn't really any snow to play with, just ice that was too dangerous to drive on. So, we slept in, played games, watched movies, baked cookies, etc .  The 2nd day was very enjoyable and relaxing as well.  We were loving this forced vacation, especially since Dad was home with us.  The 3rd day was a bit of a struggle to get through, and by the 4th day of us being cooped up in our house we were not having much fun!  The kids needed to get back to school!  

We had our very own ice skating rink right out our front door.  Being the great parents that we are, we let the kids go out and slide around in their regular shoes....until Ryan slipped on the ice and came in screaming with a bloody lip!  Oops.  

The boys were definitely outside the most, despite the 20 degree temp and wind chill in the teens!!

Feel free to 'double click' on the one above to get a good look and Ethan's expression of pure happiness.  

I came out in my pj's for about 3 mins.  It was cooooooold and the wind just cut right though you!

Rolling the Night Away

No school for Martin Luther King Day meant rollerskating for us!    We went with some good friends and had such a great time.   This was only Ryan and Davis' 2nd time rollerskating and they were practically pros by the end!  ;)

Ethan was attached to me the entire 2 hours which made for a great work-out for me!  It was pretty exhausting lifting that kid with one arm every 5 seconds since he was constantly falling down.  I really didn't think he was having that much fun, but he did not want to stop!  He really loved it and for days after, all he wanted to do was go roller skating.  

These four girls were stuck together like glue.  They are the best of friends and were hilarious to watch.  Here they are doing the "hokey pokey"...

It was really so much fun, but the kids were so sore the next day!