The Big 12!

Josh turns 12 today. We tried to make him feel special. He had his favorite breakfast, dippy eggs.

He had a special day at church. He received the priesthood and also had his last day in primary. Then he came home to family and friends for a birthday dinner. We had a full house due to the torrential down pour outside. Wow what a busy day!

He got lots of fun presents too - thanks everybody

Zelda Spirit Tracks DS Game

The Big Cell Phone

Pokemon Ranger Guardian Signs

Two fun DVD Movies

And. . . . . the Potato Gun!

So fun!

Thanks everyone for making Josh's day special. 

Josh, I can hardly believe you're twelve. I want you to know that while you were being blessed with the priesthood and being set apart to the office of a deacon, I could feel the spirit in the room. I could feel that your dad loves you so much. I could also feel Heavenly Father's love for you. I asked you if you could feel the spirit during your blessing. You said yes you could. You bore your testimony today in church and I loved it.

You have a strong fun personality. You like to feel happy and have fun. You like to be silly and goofy. You often make me laugh - even when I really shouldn't be laughing. I love that about you. You are tender-hearted and very caring of others. You are going to be in middle school this year and you are very anxious. I pray that you will find good friends who let you continue to be yourself. You make me smile. You teach me how to love. I'm very grateful you are a part of our family. I can't imagine it without you.

Parent Teacher Conferences . . . . ✓

Last night Josh asked me to go online and make sure to sign up for Parent Teacher Conferences. I discovered then that Parent Teacher Conferences were the NEXT day.  Needless to say, I could not sign up for a spot.  I totally blew it!! The thing is, Josh had some areas I was concerned with and really wanted to talk to his teacher.  I figured I'd have to schedule a separate time - after school one day or at lunch or something. Which was going to have to work, because I have a head cold which has not been letting me sleep and I really didn't want to try to fit it in.

Well, today when Hayden came home he said, "Mom, mom (do you feel the sense of emergency here) . . . we have to go to Parent Teacher Conference TONIGHT at 7:30pm." I told him how I'd messed up and didn't schedule a time. He insisted we were supposed to go at 7:30pm TONIGHT!  He told me his teacher said so. I decided to trug on over AND try to fit in a meeting with Josh's teacher too. We did it! It worked out perfect!! Got them both done.

I don't have perfect report cards to share, but the kids are doing well and the best they can. It was a beneficial thing to do. Their favorite part?  The Book Fair.

Can't complain about that!!

Another Lost Tooth!

It's official - Jeffrey is the best tooth puller around. He is so gentle and quick with it. The kids are nervous but calm all at the same time. Josh's tooth was buggin' him - he was ready to have it out. He came in and said so. I told him to go to dad cause he's the best and Josh knows it.

So within a matter of minutes, the tooth was out and no tears were shed. Josh was so brave and Jeff was so quick and good.

Christmas Traditions

I think it's been almost every year so far in our marriage, except for maybe the first few that we have gone to the McFarlane's for Christmas Eve and spent Christmas Day with the Quick's. This year Mom & Dad Quick got to go see Mandy for Christmas Day so they had their party on Christmas Eve. It was a lot of fun. Gma Quick was SO SO generous this year!! She had 32 presents for each of us to open!!

WOW!! They had SO MUCH FUN!! They were so excited and loved each one!

We had fun just watching them open the presents and see their faces when their stacks were placed before them. :) :) :)

It was fun to see that Gma Quick had almost as much fun giving them the gifts as they did opening them.

Jeffrey & I got present's too :) :) :) We felt very spoiled!!!

Christmas Day ended up pretty quiet. The kids had a good time finding out what they received and had a fun time playing with their new toys.

Then it was just quiet the rest of the day. I realized I should have planned some fun things out for Christmas Day, but I had nothing.

Lynda White's family does a fun sock exchange as part of her party on Christmas Day and they have often gone to see a movie or they go up to the ski resorts and go sledding. That might be something fun & for us to do in the future for our family.