Christmas 2010

Here are all the things that the kids left for Santa this year. Mason had a letter asking a few questions and his wish list. Kennedy left an ornament that she made at school.

Check out Ryker in the background. He wasn't into opening presents. He just wanted to watch a movie, so we let him.

Even though we only have a few pictures, we had a great Christmas. They kids loved their gifts and I loved watching them be so excited. Since they are young it is really easy to keep things simple and they are still so happy. (I do wish I had a few more pictures though.)

*SNOW* 2010

It's so exciting when it snow around here. We had quite a bit this year and the kids loved it. I remember playing in the snow as a kid and having the best time. But boy oh boy... its so much work when you're the mom. Getting everyone all dressed in their gear, then undressed when they want to have some hot chocolate, then re-dressed to go play again, and on and on. I wasn't quick enough one morning and Ryker got himself ready to go play in the snow. He isn't worried about the details.

We had to shovel quite a bit this year as well. Our walks/driveways and several others who aren't able to shovel their own.

Daddy's Boy

Ryker is such a Daddy's boy. He loves his daddy. Every morning the first thing Ryker says is "Dad?". Asking where his dad is. When Don gets home Ryker is always so excited. Ryker always wants to sit by Don or on his lap. And he would much rather Don put him to bed than me. It's makes me so happy that my kids have such a great Dad and that they love him so much.

HALLOWEEN 2010
We had a cat/leopard (?), a giraffe, and a vampire. Super easy this year. All hand-me-down's and stuff we had around. Awesome.


Halloween always ends up being so stressful for me. My kids love this day and I try to squeeze way too much in, making it not too fun for me. We trick-or-trick in the late afternoon to all of the shops in the up-town shopping center. This is fun for the kids because it is still light and they can see all of the other costumes. We then rush home for dinner then head over to the church for our ward Trunk-or-Treat. This is fun to see lots of friends. Then I always want to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood because its so fun to see the kids getting excited over the decorations. And because I love walking down the sidewalks that are covered in the fall leaves and I love the crisp air. We also try see grandparents in there somewhere too.

In the end, its all fun, but a little too much. However, I know we will do the same thing next year.

Pumpkins

We love to go over to Uncle Paul's pumpkin patch. There is no crowd and we get the royal treatment. (A long hay ride, Hot Cocoa, and lots of wonderful produce.)

We then went to Grandma and Grandpa Peterson's to carve our pumpkins.

We were happy that Uncle Chad and Aunt Musashi were there to carve with us!

Fall Soccer

Kennedy and Mason both played soccer this Fall. Kennedy loved practice. The games...not so much. She didn't like all the people on the sidelines watching and yelling so she mostly stayed back and played with her ponytail. (nervous habit)

Mason was on a team of boys that were all older than him. (His b-day is 7 days too early to play with his own grade.) So he didn't really like it too well. The boys had all played together before and he felt a little left out. He did manage to improve dramatically through-out the season.

I guess we didn't take any pictures of Mason out on the field. We only have these super fabulous ones of Kennedy. :)

First Day of School

We now have a Kindergartner and a 1st grader. They were excited and ready but I was not really ready to send Kennedy off to Kinder this year. She just seemed too young to go.


Mason loves school and was excited to go back. His Kinder teacher moved up with him and I was so happy about that. She is great and has done well at pushing him to perform at his level.

Kennedy kind of had 2 first days of school because she had a short day with me and then her "real" first day. I was so nervous, she actually looks a little nervous here too. She gave me such a big hug when I was leaving.

On the third day of school she didn't even want me to walk her up to her classroom, she wanted to go by herself. So I stayed parked where I could see her and her tiny little booty walk all the way down that long sidewalk to edge of the school and then I was so worried if she was in the right line. I had told Mason he had to stay with her until she was in the right place, so I had to tell myself she was just fine.

That next month I would always watch her run down the sidewalk as fast as she could toward her classroom. One day the 1st bell rang as she was about half way there and when that bell rang she kicked it into high gear and her huge backpack was bouncing all over the place. She looked so cute as she was dodging the older kids trying to get around to her door before the teacher opened it. I wished I'd had my video camera.

Swimming...

This was our daily activity this summer. The kids feet were raw by august. (The other little boy in the picture near Kennedy is a friend, although he does kinda look like he could belong to us.)

Boating with the Moody's

We had so much fun this summer boating with our friends. Our kids were a little scared at first but slowly started to really love it. Mason still wants to feel safe but Kennedy is willing to have a little more of a wild ride. It scares me because she bounces so high on any little bump and I am afraid she will go flying off and then be so traumatized she won't want to get back on.

Emma is pretty confident and a little crazy too. :)

Don and I even had a turn.

Swimming Lessons

I usually have the kids do 3 sessions of swimming lessons each summer, which is 6 weeks and they are all ready to be DONE after the first session. There are some things that they can choose to do or not to do, this is not one of them for me.

Ryker usually just wonders around and plays on the chairs.

These two play in the kiddie pool while their brothers are having their lesson.

These kids have become quite the swimmers. Mason has been in level 6 these past 2 years (that is why he thinks he should be done) and now needs to perfect all the strokes that he has learned. Kennedy is still in level 3 but by the end of the summer she was doing very well with her crawl stroke and could hold her own anywhere in the pool.

It is so nice when you can go to the pool and your kids can swim and you don't have to worry about them. Thankfully their best friends are members too and so they have someone to play with when we go. It is always hard when we invite other friends because my kids forget their manners and just want to play in the deep end and their friends don't know how to swim well enough.

Next year I will have Mason do swim team and see how he likes it. If he wants to be done after that, I will be more open to it. However, I am hoping that if he earns a few ribbons he might think that it is fun and want to keep going for a few more years. Swimming is the best activity for these kids in this hot weather!

Ryker

This little boy is so much fun. He is crazy, wild, and into everything and I can't get enough of him.

Tennis Lessons

This year our pool offered tennis lessons in the morning during swimming lessons and Mason said he wanted to try it and I'm so glad he did. He had fun and it gave him something to do after his swimming lesson while he was waiting for Kennedy to get done with her lesson.

I know these pictures are awful...I hope that someday I care about having a nicer and camera and about taking more pictures. Maybe some pictures where you can actually see the kid. These are literally the only 3 pictures of his tennis lessons and I think he took for 6 weeks. I am awesome.

Couples Backpacking Overnighter

We went on an overnight backpacking trip with 4 other couples and had so much fun. (Much Thanks to Holly for keeping Ryker and my parents for taking the other 2.)

Suiting up for the hike in. It really was a nice easy hike, next time we would like to go a little further and do something a little more challenging.

Once we arrived at the small lake, Don and Jeremy started jumping in. Here they are discussing the angles of the jump. :)

Then they decided to swim across the lake...here they are on the other side.

Here is a little glimpse of the "campsite" and us cooking dinner.

It really was a beautiful place to sit and relax.

Here is mine and Don's set up. Funny thing...during the night I could hear something small outside our tent, then I could suddenly tell it was ON our tent so I got my flashlight and shined it around until I saw a little mouse climbing up the mesh on our tent. I woke up Don and made him get it off with a shoe...I was a little jumpy after that.

Hiking out the next day. The time went by way too fast. It would have been nice to stay another day.