Sleeping Queens

For Christmas Dave's Sister, Mary Kay, gave the kids a really fun card game called Sleeping Queens. It has been a BIG HIT and we have played it almost everyday since we got it. It is a lot of fun for the whole family. Kyler is able to play without much help and Tayden can play with some coaching or on a "team" with mom or dad. Ady needs a partner to play with, but still enjoys it a lot and asks to play it often. It uses some math and some action and a lot of fun silliness. It would be ideal for a family with several school age kids. We LOVE it!!! Its available at http://www.amazon.com and you can get super saver shipping on it!!

Bye Bye Nursery!

Ady has now officially moved on from her Nursery class at church. She was sad to leave her wonderful teacher (pictured above on the last Sunday in December, this teacher really was so great, I was sad that Ady would have to leave her too). I thought Ady would have a harder time than she did on the first Sunday in her new class. Two of her little friends also moved up, so that helped Ady feel reassured. The three little girls acted so grown up and sat so quietly in Primary. I was really impressed. Ady still misses her old teacher, but she is adjusting ok and has her two good friends with her. I can't believe how quickly the time goes by. It seems like only a few months ago that Kyler left Nursery and moved up to Sunbeams, and now Ady is a Sunbeam!

Kyler also had a big change. He had a wonderful teacher for CTR 7 also (pictured above) and had to move up. He is now a CTR 8. His new teacher is excellent as well and happens to be a teacher that he has had at church two times before, in Nursery and in the second half of the year in Sunbeams. She is a really sweet lady that used to be our neighbor before both of us moved away from each other (the taxes were so high on that street!). She always brings fun treats and gives out loaves of homemade bread to everyone at church. Kyler was happy to have her again as a teacher, but nervous because he is now in the Senior Primary. (they move up a year early here because the Junior Primary is so much larger than the Senior Primary). He is the youngest kid in Senior Primary and only he and one other girl are only in first grade and beginner readers. The other kids all read very well. The first week he was asked to read two verses out loud and did an excellent job. I was so proud of him. He felt self conscious though, because he thought the whispers he was hearing were snickers at him, but actually people were all really impressed with how well he could read and were whispering "Is he only in first grade?!?" After I told him that people were impressed he felt a lot better and now loves to go to Senior Primary. I can't believe how grown up and mature he is getting to be.

Tayden moved up to a new class (CTR 6) also but kept the same teacher. She hasn't been there a lot, but was excited to be able to be with his class again, so I am hoping she will be more consistent this year. His friends have been with him since nursery though and they all get along really well. The girls on the two ends and the other boy are all from the same family (triplets) and are his BEST friends. He loves to play with them. The other girl in their class is also sweet and has been in their class since they were babies. The are a good class and I am excited to see them continue to grow and learn together.

I am still the Primary Chorister and I love it. I was a little burned out at the end of last year after all the new songs we had to learn, but I have renewed energy for this year. The new list of songs has given me new ideas and I am excited to have so many new kids in Senior Primary to be my soloists for the program. So far they are all doing a great job learning "I Am a Child of God" in Spanish.

Dave is still the Young Men's President and busy with all the scouting and activities that that involves, but he really enjoys the group of young men that he teaches and the other leaders that work with him, so he is still happy to be doing all the work it takes.

OK, Ok, I'm finally here!!

I know you all missed me :)

School is back in and I just finished working 5 nights in a row, so I finally have some time (and energy) to blog again!! I will start with a big recap (because my brain wont just let me skip it all and start from here)

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CHRISTMAS

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For Christmas Eve my side of the family all gathered at my brother, Mike's, house in Greenwood. We had a fun time together, decorating gingerbread cookies, eating and opening presents.

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Christmas morning was spent at home. We had a nice relaxing day together with just us.

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Santa filled our stockings and left presents for everyone

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Even though the kids were all sleepy (as you can see) they were eager to see what Santa had brought them.

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Ady got the Swimming Baby that she so desperately wanted. This turned out to be a hot item and Santa had a difficult time locating one, but of course he is Santa, and he came through. It was the only thing she talked about for weeks before hand. Thanks to Santa's "sister" Ady's Christmas morning was perfect.

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Kyler got the Remote control Truck he wanted

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And Tayden got the Swimming mask he asked for.

Mommy and Daddy got an under cabinet DVD player for the kitchen. No more snacks in the living room!! (no more messes in the living room either! right!)

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All in all it was a nice Christmas. Thankfully its over again until next year though :) It wears me out. At least we didnt travel this year. We were sad not to see Dave's family, but it was nice to just relax at home.

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I will blog some more tomorrow to do some more catching up.

Post Holiday Blues - (I thought I posted this a few days ago!)

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I have the post holiday blues. It will improve once school starts again and I have more of a normal routine. For now I don't have the patience to be on here while the boys are being rambunctious in the background. I now understand the line from the "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"

"And mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again...."