Leopard Cake

A friend of mine needed a birthday cake for her daughter's 18th birthday.  Her daughter has some leopard spotted pjs that she loves so her mom asked if I could make a cake with leopard spots on it.  I found a place online that sells the sugar paper and bought a few sheets.  I made it really simple and I think it turned out pretty cute!  The girl loved it and was so happy with the leopard spots.

Twister

The kids love playing Twister and sometimes one of them will spin the dial while the other plays the game.  Then they switch.  This day it was Ethan's turn to be twisted up.  It's hilarious to watch them. 

Ethan's Tie

Bryan has been teaching Ethan to tie his tie.  His first attempt went...okay...but it was a little too small.  We had a good laugh before Bryan tied it for him.  They work on it each Sunday.  Good try Bug!

The Owie

Bryan and I ran an errand and Ethan wanted to practice babysitting Courtney.  So we decided to let him and, after training him like Courtney insisted, we were off.  I got a phone call from them after a while and Ethan just said, "Mom, Courtney is hurt."  I said, "How hurt?  Is there blood?"  Ethan told me that there wasn't any blood and put Courtney on the phone.  She said that she had been dancing in her room and tripped.  She hit under her eye (thankfully!) on the corner of her dresser.  Ethan had made her an ice bag to put on it so it wouldn't swell.  I told him he had done the right thing and that I would be right home.

I think he did pretty well for his first try at babysitting. 

Ethan's Basketball Game

Ethan has been playing basketball on the Snow Canyon Youth Hoops league.  He has been learning to be more aggressive.  He is the kind of kid that doesn't want to hurt anyone and I think a foul would really throw him for a loop.  But last week at practice (which they have 2 times per week) he decided to get in his friend's face and the two of them just shoved each other.  Ethan realized that it is fun to get under someone's skin.  So Bryan has been working to get Ethan trained in using his bum to push into people.  It's pretty funny and Ethan really enjoys it.

Dad is King!

The kids love to wrestle with Bryan.  In the mornings, they both have to be wrestled to the piano before they will practice.  It's actually really funny watching Bryan and Ethan race through the house.  Bryan will put chairs in Ethan's way and Ethan will crawl under the table to get away.  There has been one casualty in their morning wrestle matches...my glasses were on the table and Bryan crushed them as he tried to climb across the table. ;)

Bryan wins every time.  It will be an  interesting day when Ethan gets big enough to win becaus then we will have to figure out another way to get Ethan to practice the piano. hahaha!

Courtney's Breakfast Order

I guess Courtney decided to make my life easier and leave me a note with her breakfast request on it.  I found this on the counter last night as I was finishing up for the night.

Translation:  "Please make toast for me in the morning.  Wake me up when it's done but not too early or I will not wake up!  Love Courtney"

Cute girl!

Pizazz at Snow Canyon High School

On Friday, Courtney had another performance.  This time it was at Snow Canyon High School.  We all went so we could watch the game.  Ethan took his camera so he could try it out and take pictures of Courtney dancing.
Here are some of the photos he took.  I love her smile.  You can tell she is having the time of her life!  And Ethan did a great job taking photos.

Book Report #8

Ethan read a book called "Eyewitness, I Survived the Attacks of 9/11."  He only had 2 book reports left to do and this was his 8th.  He read it last month but didn't know what to do for an interesting book report.  He has set the bar high with his other reports and didn't want to let anyone down.

We went to breakfast for our monthly "date" and he said it was starting to stress him out.  So we brainstormed about what he could do.  We came up with making a cake.  So we baked a cake and then Ethan helped me frost it.  On Monday, I took the cake up to his class at the end of the day and he did his report.

Ethan had the ingredients for the cake which he had taped papers to that had the characters, plot and scene on them.  He put on an apron and then put the ingredients in a bowl to mix them up.  Then he gave the bowl to me to take to the school kitchen to have them "magically cook it."  While I waited in the hall for 2 minutes, Ethan took questions.  Then he asked me to bring the cake in.  The class went nuts!

We served them the cake while Ethan answered questions about how to make it.  He did a great job and had a great time doing it. 

He only has 1 more book report to do and it is supposed to be a biography.  We have to try and find one that will be interesting for him. 

Pizazz at Dixie High School

We came back from Denver on Wednesday and the kids started school Thursday.  That evening, Courtney had a dance performance at Dixie High School.  She was a bit nervous because they didn't practice during the break but they did a great job.  She loves dancing and it shows.

Tubing

On New Years Day we wanted to go skiing but it was WAY TOO COLD.  So we decided to try and go ice skating but was WAY TOO EXPENSIVE and really crowded.  But there was a golf course next to the frozen lake where we went to skate.  At the golf course there were a bunch of people sledding down the hills.  Signs were posted telling you that you would be fined if you participated in any winter sports on the course, but apparently everyone ignores the sign...so we did too.  It was really cold but we had a lot of fun, especially Ethan.  Correction, Courtney had fun but there was a little dog running around that scared her and so she didn't have as much fun as she could have.

The kids were a bit disappointed to not have gone skiing so we may have to take them to Bryan Head later in the season.

Denver

We woke up REALLY early on Saturday (the 29th) and left for Denver at 5:05 a.m.  The kids were very anxious to get there and we didn't want to be driving at night.  We made good time until we met up with traffic around Vail (I think).  There had been an accident, or so they said, and it took a while to get past the area.

We finally made it and were happy to be at Grandma and Grandpa Pack's house!  Courtney was excited to sing karaoke with Grandma and then we discovered the best thing ever...Just Dance!  It is the most fun game.  You follow the dance moves of the game and get points.  We all got hooked (except for Bryan, who played it once to say he had but wasn't too impressed) and played for a long time.

 Monday was New Years Eve and we went to the mall to walk around.  Courtney got to jump on a bungee ride (which made her a bit motion sick) and she also went on the carousel with Grandma.  Ethan got another Lego.  And Grandpa, Ethan, Courtney and I rode on a motion ride.

Here is the video of Courtney bouncing:

 We celebrated New Years that night using the East coast time...2 hours early...and with everyone on Google chat.  Everyone logged onto their computers and watched as we celebrated with Jeff and Lisa on the East coast, Julie on the West coast, Andrew in Provo and the rest of us in Denver.  We thought this would be good enough for the kids but it wasn't.  They stayed up until midnight Denver time to celebrate.

Jumpin' Jacks

Courtney's friend, Peyton, has a birthday on New Years Eve and we are usually gone.  This year we were going to Denver.  Courtney was really disappointed when we got the birthday party invitation and she realized that we were going to be gone.  So we called and arranged to take Peyton to Jumpin' Jacks (where he would be having his party) and to lunch on the Friday before we left for Denver.

Courtney was pretty excited and they talked and talked on the way to Jumpin' Jacks.  We were there about an hour before Ethan, Courtney and Peyton got tired and were ready to go.  So we loaded back up and went to Iggy's for lunch.  The kids were hilarious and had a great time at lunch.  Then we dropped Peyton off at home.  Courtney felt better about missing his party.

Christmas Morning

WE had told the kids that they had to sleep in on Christmas morning, but they were dying to get up so we let them get up earlier.  We figured that we were all up so we might as well get on with it.

Here they are just dying to go and see what Santa brought them:

Here they are on Christmas morning:

Courtney got a karaoke machine and Ethan got a camera from Santa. They were in heaven.

 We spent the rest of the early morning opening our presents from each other before my parents and Leigh Ann showed up.  Then we finished opening presents and had breakfast (crockpot breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls and oj) and played with toys.  It was a great morning!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we did our usual traditions.  We had a pizza picnic on the floor in front of the Christmas tree, played the chimes (we are getting pretty good at them too), read the Christmas story, made cookies for Santa, and generally made the kids wait as long as we could before letting them open their Christmas pjs. 

When we finally couldn't delay them any further, we let them open the pjs. 

Usually I find fabric that I want to use to for their pjs and then I search around for shirts.  This time, I found some shirts that I liked on clearance at Old Navy then I spent the next few days trying to find fabric that would go with them.  It wasn't too hard and I had fun sewing their pj bottoms.

We ended up wtih a storm trooper and a soccer girl.  They liked them!