Williams Christmas party

Dennis's company had a grand party for the kids for Christmas.  They went to the children's museum here is Houston.  Let me tell you, it is so awesome, it is huge, and has tons of stuff for all ages, even Dennis and I. 

Kidtropolis, an amazing mimic of a adult world.  So amazing,  Julia and Sawyer loved it here, especially the restaraunt.

Williams had a backdrop up and took a picture of the family.

Ryan participating in one of the many craft opportunities.

Being silly!!

Outside water play.  Ryan loving building with these pipes.

"Mom, no more pictures!!" 

Little chemists! or whatever scientist field this falls under!

How strong am I?  Not sure who thought this was more fun.  I wonder if there is a weight limit on this child's toy?  Glad Dennis was having fun!

Did I mention that Dennis was having fun!!

Face painting, a fun family activity!

We will defiantely be coming back.  There was not enough time to even do all that we wanted, let alone spend a lot of time doing it!  These pictures are just a few of the many things that we were able to do.  If you have kids or are a kid at heart, this is a must visit for you!!

Piano Recital

Ryan had his first ever piano recital in December.  I hear him play all the time while he is practicing at home, but I was not prepared for how great he did!  He was so "professional" and played so well.  I really think that he has a talent for the piano.  He seems to really enjoy it and I do not really have to fight him to practice.  I hope he sticks with it, I know that it will be something that I will enjoy listening to forever!!

Julia's holiday party

After I was done helping with Ryan's class, I headed to the 1st grade wing to help with Julia's class.  I was so gald that it was staggered like this so that I could go to both parties.  Julia's party was a lot less extravegant, but still fun.  The kids ate and played bingo.  There is always way to much food for the kids.  Julia is quite the clown in her class.  I never know if it is because I am there, or if she is always like this.  Julia has a great teacher and let Sawyer just join in with all the activities.

Sawter enjoying Mrs. Castilles reading chair

Julia and her "favorite" friend in her class

3rd grade and Ginderbread houses

For Ryan's holiday party, the third graders made gingerbread houses.Well actually graham cracker and milk carton houses.   What a huge activity for a bunch of young kids.  I could not believe all the goodies that they had to decorate thier houses.  It would have been chaos, but there were so many parents there to help.  I think that it was one parent for every 2 kids!  That is awesome.  Ryan did an excellent job with his house and was very creative in his construction, maybe a little of his dad is wearing off on him. 

The finished house!

Ryan's birthday outing

Since this was not a party year, (we only do friend parties every other year), I told Ryan he could pick one friend and go somewhere.  Well he could not choose between two new friends and then Dennis invited our nieghbor, so he took three friends to ITZ.  I guess the lucky little bugger got a party anyhow!  Dennis took the four boys to ITZ and ate and played games.  Ryan had a lot of fun and Dennis realized how hard kids are even when they are having a lot of fun.  I am glad that Ryan has found some great friends here in TX, and that there are such fun things to do in TX.

Another trip to the zoo!!

We made another trip to the zoo, this time with Sawyer and his little friends from his pre-school group.  It makes me sad to think that this is my last little kid that I get to take to the zoo with his little friends!  It was a good day.  Sawyer's favorite animal is the Okapi.  Since it is winter here, the Okapi's barn was open so they were inside where we could not see them.  Sawyer was so sad. but because he is a problem solver, when we saw a worker he asked where the Okapi were.  I did not even know he knew who the workers were.  Thats Sawyer for you.  Anyhow, the worker was so impressed with this little boy, that he called the okapi barn and they urged them out and we went back and looked at them.  What a crazy, but determined little boy!

Sawyer and his little friends

While we were at the zoo, we heard this very loud animal sound, we thought that it was a recording playing on the speakers becuase it lasted so long and was so loud.  We could here it all through the whole zoo.  Well, it was no recording, it was these monkeys making the sound.  They are the loudest creature and it was amazing to watch.  They filled their throats up into a bubble and then opened up and wailed.  Very cool!!

Sawyer and his buddie!!

Scout Play

For Pack meeting in December, the cubs put on a toy play for the senior citizen's center.  Ryan was a robot.  He really took it seriously and learned his lines and was a great performer.  The thing that really surprised me, though, was his behavior after the play.  He went up to the seniors and shook thier hands and interduced himself and wished them a Merry Christmas.  I think he will make a great missionary!  I love this kid!!

Happy # 9 Ryan

Ryan is 9 years old.  Can you believe it?  It is hard for me to grasp!  He is becoming quite a grown person.  He is really into music stuff right now.  One big sign that he is growing is his appetite.  Ryan use to eat very little and only because we made him, he now is impossible to keep full.  He eats all the time.  For his birthday he picked out a loft bed with a desk underneath.  The metal is camo, so he loves it. 

He picked out pizza for his meal.  Easy for me, just had to order it, my type of meal.  He also had a ice cream cake.  I bought some trick candles, I thought that it would be fun, but I must have bought some duds, because he blew them out the first time and they never lit again. 

Star of the Week

Julia was star of the week the last week before the long Christmas break.  She was so excited!  She put a lot of work into her star poster.  It was really hard for me to let her do it all by herself, but I did.  She thought it was the collest thing in the world.  After I saw the pride she had in her finished project, I was very happy that I was able to let her do it be herself.  During the week, she was interviewed by her peers, got to take show and tell, got a special pencil and had a guest come read the class her favorite book! 

Julia with her star poster

The results of her class interview.

Christmas Cookies

I have always wanted to make cookies for our neighbors and this year we finally did it.  It was actually a lot more fun then I thought that it would be and a lot less wok then I thought that it was going to be.  I think that the secret is, I made the dough and then I let the kids do what they wanted, no micro managing and no impatience.  Ryan and Julia did the rolling of the dough and the cutting of the shapes, while Sawyer napped.

When the cookies were all cooled and Sawyer was rested, he joined in on the fun and helped put the frosting and sprinkles on.  This was really hard, but I totally let them decorate how they wanted!  They had a lot of fun and then we put them on plates and delivered them to all of our neighbors. 

While we baked cookies and decorated them, Dennis was busy making elk jerky!

Although we did not share any of this, we aren't that nice! haha!!!   It was so yummy!!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, the annual Christmas card photo.

This is one of the pictures that will be included with our Christmas card, and you all will get to see it when I get them sent out, hopefully tomorrow!  I love Christmas trees, I think that we should leave our up all year this year.  What do you think?

Ward Christmas Party

Our new ward in Texas seems to have a lot of people that have lived in Hawaii and one time in their life.  I was not surprised when the theme for our ward Christmas party was a luau.  One ward member taught a different dance to different groups within the ward.  Julia learned one with the primary and Ryan learned one with the scouts.  The night of the party all the kids looked so cute on stage.  Sawyer is in nursery and because they are so young, they were not taught a dance, but of course when kids were invited on stage, Sawyer was front and center.  (This is the kid that asked santa for a stage for Christmas).  All my kids are performers, each in their own element, but still they all love an audience.

This is Ryan being "cool"

And this is Ryan being real!

Choir Concert

Ryan had his first choir concert of the year the beginning of December.  This is a choir that he had to try out for and he goes to school early twice a week to practice.  He is really enjoying it and if you have ever heard Ryan sing, you would agree that this a a wise path for him to follow.  He has an amazing voice, I love listening to him sing, which he does do all the time!  The choir did an amazing job.  They are split up in to parts, I am so impressed that third and fourth graders could sing different parts altogether.  It was a very enjoyable concert, I think Julia loved it the most since she spent the whole concert participating in her new favorite passtime, texting!

friends and our pretty fall tree

This tree is on our backyard and at one time it was so beautiful.  It had every color that a leaf can turn in it.  There was green, yellow, orange, red, purple and brown.  Everyday I said I need to get out there and take a picture of it.  Of course, as always, I was a day late!  The previous night it froze and all the beautiful leaves looked like their color had been mixed with black.  So imagine this tree brighter and more pretty.  And yes, I did say that it froze.  It only snows every 10-15 years here in Houston, but of course the first winter we are here is snows.  I did not get any pictures of it, because I kept thinking that it was going to start snowing and then I would take a picture, but I soon realized that the almost invisible flurries, was what texans refer to as "it is really coming down".  There were other places in Houston that got more snow, snow that actually made it to the ground, but where we live, we only saw in barely floating toward the ground. 

This is Ryan with his good friend Caden.

And this is Julia with Caden's sisters, Grace and Maddie.

All these kids have a lot of fun together. 

Welcome Christmas Season

Nothing welcomes the Christmas season better then putting your Christmas tree up.  I love this activity.  I love pulling out the ornaments and remembering all the ornaments that the kids have picked out in previous years.  I love how much the kids love putting their own ornaments on the tree and the place on the tree that they put them. Ryan's are high this year, but only on the left side of the tree.                
                                      

Julia's are in the middle of the tree-right in front and all together.

Sawyers are all hanging on the bottom of the tree almost touching the ground. I have had to move his ornaments up to put the presents under the tree!

And of course I had to get the picture of them in front of the finished tree.  They were all in a very silly mood, so instead of the beautiful Christmas card picture , we get a silly one!