Opening Presents...A Day Early

Bryan's birthday is today (November 24th). We have really confused the kids this week with birthdays. My Dad's birthday is November 23rd and we were going to my parents house yesterday to watch the BYU vs. Utah game. So my mom decided it would be easier to have my Dad's birthday dinner Saturday (a day early) instead of having us drive over two days in a row. After dinner, we had cake and ice cream and then my Dad opened some presents. But we were a day early and the kids had been told all last week that after Grandpa's birthday is Daddy's birthday.

Ethan worked really hard last week coming up with a present he could make for his dad. We put our heads together and thought of doing a coupon books. I gave Ethan some paper and told him to come up with coupons he would like to give Bryan and how many of each coupon he wanted to do. Then I found a site on the web that made coupon books. You put in the info and then print them out, cut them apart and put a cover on them. Ethan was thrilled! He came up with some fun coupons (breakfast in bed, clean your room, wash your car, take out the trash, make your bed, hugs and kisses, a game of catch, etc.). Ethan decorated a cover for it and then he hid it in his room so dad wouldn't find it.

Sunday afternoon we were talking about Bryan's birthday breakfast. We were going to make him eggs, sausage, hashbrowns and oj and give him a breakfast in bed. Ethan was really nervous about this because he hadn't given Bryan the coupon book so we couldn't give him breakfast in bed until Bryan had given Ethan the coupon for it. Ethan was really getting worked up about it. Finally, Bryan decided that the giver of the present is the person who gets to decide when the person receiving the gift should open it. So Ethan ran straight for him room to get the present.

Bryan loved it and Ethan was so happy. He had Bryan rip out the coupon for breakfast in bed and then Ethan wrote Bryan's "order" on the back of the coupon so he would know what to make ;)

Courtney, of course, had to go get her present for Bryan too, so he opened their presents last night. Courtney told Bryan that she would help him open his gifts because "I'm a really good present girl." It was cute.

Here are some photos:

Another Princess Birthday Party

Courtney's friend, Hayley, had a princess birthday party on Saturday. Courtney was asked to dress in her most "royal" clothing. Thanks to all these little girls in the neighborhood, Courtney has gotten a LOT of use out of her Snow White outfit she got for her birthday party last August.

Courtney was so antsy all week, waiting for the day to come. When we received the invitation on Tuesday, I asked Courtney what she wanted to get Hayley for her birthday. Courtney didn't hesitate, she said, "Mom, I think she really needs some princess pajamas." She had found some princess fabric in the basement that I had bought a while ago but never used and thought it would make nice pjs. So I made a nightgown out of the material and it turned out really cute. Then we went and bought some slippers to go with it. Courtney was so excited.

That morning we got her all dressed and ready. She happily carried the present down the street to Hayley's house and had so much fun. The played games, decorated crowns, played with some ribbon wands, decorate mini cupcakes and opened gifts (that's all Courtney could remember). It was cute to see all the moms pick up the little princess girls.

Here's a photo of Courtney when she was ready to go (she was dancing so they are kind of blurry, sorry):

Soccer Videos

Here are some videos of Ethan playing soccer today. The first one has him dribbling the soccer ball. He has really improved with his ball control.



Here is a video of Ethan guarding his "guy" on the other team. He was really nervous that his guy would get the ball so he was pretty protective.



In this video, another kid on the team scores a goal and you can see how excited Ethan gets. It's pretty cute!



This is a video of when he was playing full back (his favorite position).

The Last Game of the Season

Today was Ethan's last soccer game of this season. They played a rain-out make-up game last night and then we had a team pizza party afterward to celebrate. (It was cold and windy but the boys didn't mind, they played around with pizza in their hands for a long time while the parents froze!) This morning was the last scheduled game. It was pretty cold so Ethan wore a jacked during warm ups, but once the game started he wasn't cold any longer.

They did really well. They have focused on getting the basic skills down (passing, positions, etc.) this year so they can really build on them next year. All the boys want to come back and play with the same team next year so it should be a lot of fun. Ethan did great dribbling the ball and was really into the game. He loves it and when he sat down after his last rotation he said, "I can't wait for next time!" I reminded him that this was the last game of the season and he said, "I know. I'm talking about next season! I can't wait to start playing again." I was glad because it's something he is really good at and something he loves to do. And Bryan enjoyed helping coach. Their trophies this year look really cool so the boys were all excited to get them in the end.

Next year Courtney will be old enough to play and Bryan has already volunteered to be her coach and Ethan volunteered to be the assistant coach. We asked her what mascot she wanted for her team and she said she didn't care, "I just want to play soccer." She wants to follow her brother.

And he's a great brother to follow!

Here are photos of their last game and I'll post some video later today (Ethan's playing on the laptop on www.lego.com and I don't want to bother him.)

Piggies

Courtney and I went to the Thrift Store on Friday and she made a bee-line to the shoes...no surprise there. She found the cutest piggy slippers and had to have them, luckily they were cheap! They are really big for her but she loves going around the house saying "oink, oink."

It came out!!

At 5:15 this morning, Ethan came busting into our bedroom saying "Red alert, red alert!" He ran to the sink, took his tooth out of his mouth and spit. Bryan and I just had to laugh. He pulled out his tooth!

I asked Ethan later what had happened. He was laying in bed wiggling his tooth with his tongue when his tooth fell out onto his tongue. It kind of freaked him out so he held it there, ran to our room and spit it out. I think the thing that worried him the most was that there wasn't any blood. I'm not surprised because the new one is already sticking out of his gums.

Now he wants to take the tooth to school to show his teacher that it fell out. I tried to explain that the hole in his smile would prove that it had fallen out but he doesn't seem to think that would be good enough proof.

Here is a photo of his new smile.

Cute Kids!

I took some photos of the kids and I thought I would post them because they were so cute!