Our Year in Review 2009

First, let me say that we hope that all is well with every one of you who are reading this. We truly hope you are doing well.
I guess I'll start with Abby. She is our little "firecracker". She makes us laugh and crazy all in the same day. She is full of energy and imagination. You never know what will come out of that girls mouth, but whatever she says will either make you laugh or make you go "Oh, my goodness! What did you do?" Like the time when she decided to cut her own hair. Many of you remember that post. Or just the other day she was playing with Elsa and we heard her say, "What is your name, dude?" Or when she plays "house" with her Mom and she proclaims that she is the mom and her Mom is the baby. Then proceeds to play the part and expects her Mom to as well. Abby just turned 4 in September and we can't believe that she is going to go to kindergarten next year. She is growing up so fast and so smart. She loves being a Sunbeam and loves all of her little friends in her class. She is pure joy to have in our family and we are glad she came to us.
Elsa is in 1st grade and is doing so well. She still hasn't said anything to her teacher or her classmates, but that doesn't stop her from making friends and participating in class. She has 3 little friends that love her and treat her as if she talked. Her teacher was telling me that one day she was watching them talk and they carried on a conversation with Elsa as if she was talking to them. At school Elsa is quiet, but at home it's another story. She is going to be 7 in February and she does not let any of us forget it. She is very imaginative and creative in everything she does. She also loves to draw and write stories and poems and is pretty good at it. We love Elsa and are so glad she is part of our family.
Calvin is 9 years old and in 3rd grade. He loves school and is in the gifted and talented program. He has a good teacher this year who is willing to challenge him which is such a relief to his Mom and Dad. (They had a hard time with Dallin and his teachers.) Anyway, Calvin is working on his Bear in Cub Scouts and is loving it. Although he would never admit it, he loves his sisters and brother a lot. When the school year started, Elsa needed help to find her dot where her class lines up to go to class. I secretly watched as Calvin took Elsa by the hand and showed her where her dot was. Also, there were a couple days when I let them walk to school together. I also secretly watched as they walked hand-in-hand to school. Calvin, is such a sweet and sensitive little spirit and we are lucky to have him as part of our family.
Dallin is 10 1/2 years old. He is in 5th grade. Yes! You read right. We have a 5th grader on our hands. He is home schooling with Nevada Connections Academy this year. As I said in Calvin's paragraph, we had quite a time trying to get Dallin's teachers, in years past, to challenge him. This school is working out great for him and he is loving it. It is still is hard to get him to stick to a task, but when he does, he does a great job. He is a Webelos scout and loving every bit about it. He has his Webelos badge and is now working towards his Arrow of Light. He loves his brother and sisters. He loves the gospel and tries his best to be a good example to his siblings. We love Dallin and are glad he is in our family.
Britta is still the Assistant Cub Master. She loves being in Cub Scouts with her boys. She is also the teacher of the Valiant 12 class and loves to teach those kids as they go from primary to young men and young women's. She is a busy wife and mother and loves to do digital scrapbooking, sewing, crafts in her spare time. She loves the Gospel and loves her sweet husband and children.
Clint has been working for American Asphalt and Grading for almost 7 years. He was just recently laid off and is currently looking for work. We are confident that with his skills and knowledge of his field he will find a good job soon. He is still serving as the Young Mens President and loving it. He loves to go on camp outs, hiking trips, mountain biking trips, etc with the Boys Scouts. He just went out to shoot bows and arrows with them and took Dallin and Calvin. They loved it and I know that Clint is thrilled that our boys are old enough to do stuff like that with him.
As we ponder all of the things that our Father in Heaven has given to us, it brings deep meaning this Christmas season. What IS the true meaning of Christmas? It is celebrating Jesus Christ and ALL that he did for us. We are so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven and the gift of his only Begotten. We hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas. We love all of you!
The Singers
Clint, Britta, Dallin, Calvin, Elsa, and Abigail

Our Family in 2009

On Sunday, we did our annual Christmas pictures. This year we did them after church, so the girls hair wasn't just so. Oh well, I think they still look good. It was an interesting experience trying to get the kids pictures. Abby didn't want to get in the picture and the other kids were goofing around with each other and I was getting frustrated (but not enough to not take pictures of it all), then suddenly Abby got in and they took an Awesome picture.
Not bad huh?

Christmas at Bass Pro Shops

Last weekend we went to the Bass Pro Shop so that the kids could see Santa Claus and do some of the activities that they had. We got a good surprise when we got there, because not only was Santa there, but his wife was too. It's pretty rare that any kid sees her, right? :) While we waited to see him the kids did all sorts of activities. The boys were more into fishing with the Wii, shooting the red ryder b.b. guns, virtual hunting games, and the R.C. cars. The girls liked writing letters to the big guy himself, playing checkers on the enormous checkerboard (until a kid came up to us and sort butted his way into playing) he kept saying, "On your next turn, I'm gonna play, o.k.?" I finally just let him play altogether. (Elsa was fine with it.) Then the girls had fun making candy cane reindeers, and they also liked the R.C. cars, and the shooting gallery.

Here are some pictures..... Elsa was smiling because she was beating me!The only reason Calvin was shooting the pink gun was because it was open!The girls love to ride 4 wheelersShe was sad because she didn't know how to hold the gun.She got the hang of it and did great!
She's a regular Annie Oakley!

Abby's such a nut!

Today, after church we did our annual Christmas pictures by the tree. When it was time for each kid to take their own picture. Abby went right up and did this pose. I could not resist such a cute little nut and took the picture. Then, of course, I had to take it straight to Picnik.com and put a santa hat and beard on her. She's so funny and makes us laugh atleast once a day.

The Spirit of CHRISTmas

This is such an Awesome example of what this time of year is all about. Sometimes we need the innocence of a child to remind us. Enjoy!

Snow flakes in the house?

Today, my kids and I decided to make our own snowflakes, since it probably won't snow again this year like it did last year. Of course we're not giving up hope. We're just trying to get in the Christmas spirit. (Not that we need help to get in it.) We love Christmas around here.
Abby and Elsa had fun making them. Abby felt a little frustrated at first when she would open hers up and it fell apart, but she got better as she went. Elsa loved making different ones, and she made some pretty cool ones. Dallin even made a couple. I made a couple, then really got into it and made everyone's initials in different snowflakes. See if you can see them. (D for Dallin, C for Calvin, E for Elsa and A for Abby.) This was a fun, spur of the moment activity and now we have snowflakes up in our dining room to help us stay in the Christmas spirit.

Traditions in the making

I love that all of my children are old enough to not only enjoy Christmas and EVERYTHING that goes with it, but that they are old enough to participate and, in most cases, help out in preparation of the many traditions/festivities of the season. (And they're happy to help).

On Monday, for family home evening we made gingerbread houses. We had so much fun. We also got our tree that night as well. It was a surprise for the kids. We told them to get ready and get in the car, we were going to Lowe's. They thought that Dad just wanted to look at tools. "Boring." Well, when we got there, we walked around for a while, then finally walked outside where the trees were and picked one out. Needless to say, the kids were very excited. On Wednesday night, we decorated it. It was Abby's turn to put the star on top of the tree. Elsa had fun decorating the tree.Calvin had fun too!I can't believe Dallin is so tall, when it's his turn
again to put the star on top of the tree he won't need a ladder.Abby loved decorating the tree too!Notice most of the ornaments are at the kids level.
After they went to bed Clint and I rearranged the ornaments.How does our tree look?
Then we had eggnog together. The weather is finally acting like it's winter. On Monday we got a lot of rain. Usually when it rains here it only rains for about 10 min. Not this time, it started at noon and stopped at about 8 p.m. It was great, especially because we NEEDED it. It's suppose to rain all weekend too. Yeah! Anyway so now we can (and have) broken out that hot cocoa and marshmallows. Yum!

Abby got a little blog

After asking everyday for the past week she finally wore me down and I helped her create her very own blog. Since she can't type, or let alone spell (or read). I will be helping her with her posts. She will, however, be telling me what to write and what pictures to put on. So go here if you want to see her cute little blog. Since she and Elsa are so little and cute, I will be changing their blogs to private blogs. So if you'd like to view their blogs every now and then, just leave a comment and give me your email if I don't have it already and we'll "put you on the list." Actually I think Dallin and Calvin's will go private too.

I finally post on Elsa's progress

If you'd like to see Elsa saying her sight words. You can go here.

Spider Calvin finally posted