Mitchell's Birthday Party and Kindergarten Program

Mitchell wanted a pirate birthday party this year. Here are all his mateys saying "ARRGH!"


The kids and I found some pictures of pirate cakes online to find ideas to help us make this cake. The whole process was a lot of fun, expect for the night before the party when the cake stuck to the bottom of both pans we baked it in and would NOT come out! After much blood sweat and tears, this was the result. Mitchell loved it! He didn't care that it almost caved in, or that the plank almost fell off. I don't think he even noticed. He told me his favorite part of the cake was "the sharks in the water eating the fishies!"

We found this really cool pirate ship pinata. Here is Ava, Pirate Princess up to bat.

Cap'n Mitchell and his Pirate Princess, Ava. and Kenna :)

The end of the treasure hunt! Yay!

For dinner we served hotdogs cooked to look like octopus and mac and cheese shells.

The food was a big hit!

Here are the pirates coloring their pirate pages.

The pirate bunch about to give their gifts.

Mitchell with his painting that was used in the program.


Some handmade tamborine action




There is something about this shot that reminds me of Ian. :)


With his FAVORITE, Mrs. Bigler! Mitchell has really liked his Kindergarten teacher this year.

Birthdays and BYU Spring Football

McKenna's 10th Birthday!

This wasn't McKenna's year for a big birthday bash, so we just had Grandma and Grandpa over for cake, ice-cream and presents. It was fun.

McKenna with Grandma Cynthia and Grandpa on her birthday.

BYU Spring football practice/scrimage is opened to the public. So, of course Hans, I mean WE, couldn't miss it. :)

Hans' and Grandpa's birthday celebration.

Can you decode the meaning of the numbers on the cake?

The kids had fun coming up with it.


Mitchell dons his spiderman finest to the party!

Meggie, Grandma Cynthia, Claire Bear and KennaBug all wanting to lick the frosting off of the candles! Okay, maybe not Grandma.

P.S. The answer to the candle riddle: Hans turned 37 and Grandpa turned 71.

Claire's Tubes

We finally discovered, after months of seeing doctors, doing tests, and being concerned, that Claire couldn't hear at all out of her right ear and only about 50% out of her left due to a lot of fluid in her ears. She also wasn't walking yet at 21 months because of the fluid which made her dizzy and affected her balance!

So....even though she has never had an ear infection, Claire had a little surgery to put tubes in her ears and drain the fluid. Thank goodness it worked!


This is Claire right before they took her back for surgery.

Here she is abusing poor "Lamby". "Take THIS!" She says as she stabs him in the eye.

This lamb has been in the family since before McKenna's birth. It was a baby shower gift, and has since become each child's favorite stuffed animal when they're young. Mitch still fights Claire for "Lamby rights".

The surgery was a huge success! That same day Claire started walking in circles, doing standing squats and giggling inbetween each one, and adding new words to her vocabulary. Yay for modern medicine and the wonders it can work!

Cousins Visit

Brandon, Celia and their kids came to Utah for a family wedding and we got to visit with them for a day! The kids had a ball playing with their cousins! We sure love and miss them!

February Fun

So I had a little fun decorating our entry way table this year for Valentines!



This was crazy hair/hat day at the kids' school!




The kids took this of Claire. You gotta love the double rivers coming out of her nose!




Mitchell was the hero of the week at school and got to bring Curious George home for the week. This is George getting ready for church.


Meghan and her friend at school showing off their Valentines I-pods we made at her class party.
They were made of conversation heart candies and Reeces peanut butter mini cups. They were a big hit.

Claire loved being with the big kids! She always does.

The girls!

Spelling Bee

McKenna qualified for her school spelling bee which was for all 4th 5th and 6th graders. Out of all the students (in those 3 grades)about 40 qualified for the school's spelling bee.

She was extremely nervous, as you can see in these pictures. In fact, she didn't even really want to end up in the school competiton, and almost threw her qualifying round because of it.

However, through this she has learned that "I can do hard things." It's been a good experience for her. And the best news is... She ended up placing 6th overall! She was surprised she made it that far, and was definitely relieved and smiling afterward.

We are so proud of her! Way to go McKenna!

(These pics aren't the greatest, I was using my zoom and was way at the back of the gym. But you get the idea.)

More December

It was a comedy of errors trying to get this picture taken. It was after church and we were all dressed up, so I thought, "Hey, why not?"

The problem was we didn't have anyone to take the picture. Mitchell kept whining to get out of his "church clothes" Claire had wet through her diaper and the warm spot on my side was getting progressively bigger with each passing second, and McKenna and Meghan kept poking each other! Hans was mumbling "Serenity Now!" under his breath and I was literally praying vocally to prevent myself from strangling the nearest child!
After much debate, Hans finally ended up setting up a ladder in the family room, and carefully placed the camera on one of the rungs. (We don't have a tri-pod. I now realize this is a very sad fact.) It took several shots to even get a fairly decent one. So....here's to "fairly decent". Merry Christmas!

P.S. While flying back from GA to visit my little sister, Amber, the first part of Jan. I left my camera under my seat on the plane. I realized it shortly after passing the security gate, but unfortunately it was too late to go back. Delta called from baggage claim up to the gate to see if it was still there and... no such luck. It was gone that fast--stolen! So sad. All of my Christmas pictures and videos were on the camera! This "fairly decent" family shot by the tree is our only visual reminder of our Christmas this year. I'm so glad I made my family take this picture afterall!


Meghan and her two best school friends after their "Gingerbread Kid Caper" program!