Hidden Talent

This morning Princess told me that yesterday she was "turning her arm" and all the teachers came to watch. I asked what that meant, and this is what I saw....

Just Braggin'

So my Grandpa always says that every crow thinks their baby crows are the blackest. So true. With that being said, I want to brag about my oldest for a minute. We have had our share of struggles with this precious child. Remember the orange ticket fiasco? Ah, who could forget. And then there was this past October when he was almost kicked out of school. After a spontaneous meeting with the principal, school counselor, his teacher and myself, Dude completely turned things around. And by completely I mean a total 180. He was nominated for student of the month this month!!!!!! At his school there is only one student of the month per grade, so this is a huge honor. Especially for having been almost kicked out a few months ago. He has been doing so great!
I also had the pleasure of helping out at his school Christmas party. They did a gift exchange and he received a gift from a little boy in his class that has downs syndrome. After the exchange the little boy came up to him and Dude said, "Thanks for the present, this is so awesome!" Then the little boy said, "That's mine!" Dude said, "Oh, your right, here go put it in your back pack so it doesn't get lost." It was so sweet and selfless.
And then last Sunday we were asked to fast and pray for some family members. When I shared the situation with the kids, Dude immediately volunteered to fast. When I went to wake him up so he could get ready for church, he was already dressed and kneeling at the side of his bed in prayer. (So not normal! He is usually a bear in the morning!) I saw him several times that morning bowing his head in silent prayer.
He has provided some amazing mommy moments for me, and I'm so grateful. I love all my children, and they are ALL wonderful. I am truly blessed.

Kid Comedy - Megaman Edition

The kids took turns with the flu this past week which was no fun for anyone. Poor Honey Bunch had diarrhea and was saying that she was afraid of having an accident. She told me that she didn't want to go in her pants because she was afraid that I would throw her pants away. Megaman, so wise at 2, said, "It's okay! We can get you some new pants for 30 bucks on Friday!"

Saturday is a special day, it's the day we........

A little over a decade ago my typical Saturday entailed sleeping in till noon (10:30 at the absolute earliest), lazing about doing nothing, showering about 3 or 4 (and taking at least 2 hours to get ready), then hanging out with friends. I was thinking about that yesterday and laughing at how drastically different my life is now. In a good way. My day started at 8, which nowadays is definitely sleeping in. After cleaning house I got showered and ready(30 mins start to finish). Then I sat down to read a book while the kids were playing. My girls came in with a cookbook from the library. They wanted to make star shaped wand cookies. I heard myself saying, yeah, that sounds fun. What?!?! I'm not creative, or domestic, or culinary..............or am I? Well, my over a decade ago self wouldn't have done it. We didn't have a star cookie cutter so we made heart wands. Homemade cookies with homemade frosting (nothing measured out either)! I'm certainly a different person than I was. Thank goodness for that.
Oh and P.S., I never thought I looked like my mom until I saw this picture. Holy smokes, Myrna, we're twins.

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas, and hope that you all did too. This post is mostly random pictures from the last week.
For our Family Home Evening treat, we made these apple wreaths. I got the idea from the Friend magazine and thought they would be a fun and easy treat. Let's just say that apples repel peanut butter. :) They were fun to eat!

We took the kids to see Santa last Saturday. They were super polite! Santa was very impressed, especially when Dude only asked for a lego set, and then Santa asked if he wanted anything else and Dude said, "No, thanks." Megaman told Santa that he wanted his bag of candy canes for Christmas.

On Wednesday we had a party for the BSU/Utah game. My brother and his family sent us these awesome shirts. Thanks guys! GO BRONCOS!!!

We got about 3 inches of snow on Christmas Eve, so we had a great time throwing snow balls and having fun. The kids built this awesome snow penguin all by themselves!

After playing in the snow all day, we came in for our Christmas Eve traditions, including our homemade pizzas.

Before bed, the kids got to open one present, p.j's from grandma and grandpa B!

This is what Santa left for us. We can't wait to bike to school when it gets warmer!

Our kids were so spoiled with all their gifts from everyone, thanks so much!!! The girls got American Dolls and grandma T sent these adorable matching nightgowns.

Megaman got a train set, but when I went to take a picture, it was already broken apart. I'll try to snap one earlier next time! Dude got a star wars lego set and he and Doctor had a great time putting it together.

Here's a couple pics of our Christmas-y house.

Megaman's Christmas Rendition

Megaman loves to sing "Holly Jolly Christmas" (thanks to Princess' tap performance) but he puts his own little spin on the classic version.
Translation: holly jolly Christmas tree...oh ho the Mister Toes.....

Beautiful Bookshelves!!!!

Isn't my husband incredible?!?!

Time for another project...

Lucky for us Doctor loves to have a project! He is building some bookshelves in our basement right now. He just has a few finish pieces to nail on and then paint them. Hooray for a place to put the hundreds of books he bought over the summer!!!!

Princess' first tap performance!

Princess had her first tap dance performance on Saturday! She did a great job! It was almost impossible to get video/pictures because she was actually performing for a church function so we couldn't be in front to take the pictures. I'm sitting on the floor on the side trying my best, so sorry for the poor videography. I had to cut the video short, too, so the file would be small enough to post. Oh, and I couldn't get a picture of her whole class, there were about 10 kids. One of the kids couldn't make it, so her teacher stepped in.

Let the Christmas Season Begin!

The Christmas season can now officially start thanks to a little Christmas miracle. Well, miracle may be a strong word but I am super happy just the same. When I was growing up my mom had a cassette tape of the Braun Family singing Christmas In These Idaho Hills. Every year we would listen to it while we decorated the Christmas tree. It wasn't Christmas to me until we listened to it. Well, when I got married and moved away I wanted to buy the tape but couldn't find it anywhere. My mom made me a copy but it was poor quality at best. Every year I wished for the Braun Family to sing in the Christmas season. Last year I got the brilliant idea to google it and try and find it. I was unable to find the music but I happened upon the email of Muzzie Braun, of the Braun family. I emailed him my sweet story of growing up with his music and wanting to purchase a CD so that my kids could have the same memory. What I got in reply was something along the lines of, "Sorry but it is no longer available for sale." I was crushed. Well, tonight I was checking my email and noticed a message in my inbox from Muzzie informing me (and everyone else in his contact list, but I like to think of it as just for me) that Christmas In These Idaho Hills was now available!!!! Oh the joy!!!! I didn't waste a second before downloading it and have listened to it several times already.
Here's the link to download it yourself
http://www.cdbaby.com/AlbumDetails.aspx?AlbumID=braunfamily
It's only $6.99 for the whole album and, at least according to me, it's the best seven bucks you can spend on Christmas music. Your welcome. ;-)
No, they didn't pay me to advertise, but they should, right? Enjoy!