Christmas 2012 Highlights

Our Christmas celebration began with a visit from Santa in Ohio.  Santa rang our doorbell Thursday night before Christmas and had a sack full of presents for the kids.  He sat and read them a story before asking each of them what they wanted for Christmas this year.  Even Dallin sat on his lap for a minute with Mom at his side.  After talking with each one, Santa then handed out presents from his giant sack and posed for pictures.  It was a fun break of tradition, but I missed the traditional groggy morning excitement when they normally wake us up before sunrise to open their presents that Santa brought while they were sleeping.  

Here are a few of their favorite things this year:  Dallin - Mickey Mouse camper, Sesame Street house, Vtech karoke robot, tool box; Owen - Hex bugs, Skylanders Giants for the Wii, a new Nintendo DSi XL with lots of new games, LEGO sets; Ashleigh - a real camera, LEGO Friends sets, Monster High dolls, DSi games, Barbie golf cart; Trenton - Kindle Fire, Skullcandy headphones, Settlers of Catan board game, Diplomacy board game, books, clothes & money :)

We headed to Iowa for Christmas with the Borders family only to find a lot of snow!  The kids insisted on playing in it even though it was freezing and very hard snow!  We don't see snow very often, so it was a big deal!

After Iowa, we headed to Illinois for Christmas with the Kauzlarich family.  Thank goodness they are only a few hours apart!  It was great to be able to see every single loved one this holiday season!

Borders cousins in Iowa enjoying the snow!

Borders cousins before opening presents at Grandma Borders' house

Kauzlarich cousins on Christmas Eve

Christmas Train Ride

 We went on a fun train ride this past weekend since Dallin is a big train fan.  We really lucked out that the weather was warm and the rain held off during our trip.  The train is an old historic one that operates year round 20 minutes north of us.  The excursion was a 30 minute train ride down, followed by 45 minutes with Santa and cookies, and a 30 minute ride back.  Dallin was very impressed that he got to ride on a "fast choo-choo", which is funny because the train travels at 10 mph!

 The train was a big hit with Dallin.  He was very serious while the train was moving, but he loved every minute of it.

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 Santa's elves came through the train cars making balloon reindeer for everyone.  

 Train stop for a visit with Santa and hot chocolate and cookies.  Thank goodness the rain held off because it was all outdoors!

They got to write a letter to Santa and color Rudolph during the stop.

2 1/2 already!

 Dallin is 2 1/2 already!  Where has the time gone?  This is about the point where I start thinking I can handle another baby because life gets a little easier for Mom at 2 1/2.  Not sure this time whether I'm quite there, so no baby #5 yet :)  Dallin is a busy little guy - he loves playing with tools, Legos, and baby dolls.  He loves Elmo and Mickey Mouse at the moment.  He just stopped wearing diapers last week thanks to a little push from Grandma Borders.  He has been my easiest to potty train and as Grandma said, I think he was going to potty train himself if I didn't jump on it.  So proud of my little man.  He is growing right at the same rate as his older brothers - 75% for weight and 80% for height.  We love our big boys!

                           

Trenton's Birthday Celebration

WE HAVE A TEENAGER!!  Trenton turned 13 today!  He celebrated with a few of his closest friends yesterday with some pizza and paintball.  

Trenton is an AMAZING young man.  He is a natural leader who is respected by his peers at school and church.  He doesn't let much bother him.  He has set high standards for himself and avoids hanging out with those who don't share such standards.  He is an excellent student (although he inherited his father's procrastination).  He is a saver rather than a spender, and doesn't value material belongings much.  He is helpful at home, often watching his younger siblings.  He is currently busy developing his talents in fencing, the flute, and Boy Scouts.

Love the full face masks they had to wear!

 These look like some pretty bad dudes, don't you think?  The paintball place they went to was quite impressive.  It was an outdoor arena across 40 acres, much of it wooded.  They spent a lot of time crawling on their stomachs to find hiding spots.  They played with 15 other players in their group, but there were around 150 people playing in the entire arena.  They had a great time with just one minor injury and a few paintball welts.

The Many Faces of Owen

Every family needs a little personality and someone to keep life interesting...Owen gives us that and more! He makes us laugh and cry, smile and cringe, sigh relief and worry (a lot), but he's our Owen! We love watching him learn and grow each day. 

Some days there are lots of happy faces...

 some days there is lots of goofiness...

 some days there is a lot of sneakiness...

 some days are a total surprise...

and some days are pure joy!  The funniest thing about these pictures is that he made of all the faces without being prompted.  I just held the camera in front of him and started taking pictures of him.  He came up with his own expressions.  And, yes, he colored his nose yellow with a marker while in bed last night.  That's our Owen :)

Trans Siberian Orchestra!

 Trenton and Ashleigh joined me at a Christmas Trans Siberian Orchestra concert last weekend as a reward for their excellent school work (and because I really wanted to see them!).  They were as awesome as we were hoping!  Can't wait to see them again next year!

This is not your ordinary orchestra.  They are more like a rock band with a crazy light show. 

Halloween 2012

 It was a wet and cold Halloween this year, but everyone still enjoyed dressing up and getting a little candy.  Trenton decided to go out one last year with us, but he only made it down one street before he decided he was too cold.  Ashleigh was a rock star, Trenton was a Jamaican dude, Owen was a zombie pirate (his face is painted, but it's hard to tell), and Dallin was Thomas.  I could not have picked a better costume for Dallin this year because it easily slipped over top of his heavy coat!  

 Dallin would have went trick-or-treating forever if I would have let him. He loved his Thomas costume and Thomas candy bag.  He had been wearing it for the past week, so he was well practiced for this Halloween ritual!   Several houses this year gave us non-candy items, like cookies, chips, and crackers.  One house was giving out Nature Valley granola bars, and Dallin was not impressed.  He refused to put the granola bar in his candy bag because it was not something he wanted to take home with him! 

Dallin was so happy to go trick-or-treating, can you tell?

 

Happy Halloween!

Trenton's First Band Concert

 After just 45 days of band class, the 7th grade band had their first band concert last night.  It was amazing!!  You would not believe how well they can play after just two months of school!  This is their first year of band too!  We are very proud of how much Trenton has worked to learn how to play the flute.  It is a difficult instrument to play, and he really struggled in the beginning.  He stuck with it though and he now has a private instructor who is really helping him along.  Jazz band try-outs are in December, so keep your fingers crossed for him!

Trenton is not the only boy who chose to play the flute! 

The principal (the goose) and the assistant principal (the french chef) along with a couple teachers acted out a skit that went along with one of the band's songs.  It was super cute, although Dallin was quite afraid of the goose who kept running around and hiding during the music.

Fall Fun

 We had a huge leaf clean-up day out at the camper last week.  We had forgotten what it was like to have trees that drop a million leaves in the fall since our old Kentucky home!

 Shorts in October?!  We really enjoyed some unusually warm temperatures last week!

 We tried to make it to the pumpkin patch this year, but our schedule is packed these days!  There is hardly a night when all of us are together, so as a last resort one week before Halloween, the little two helped me pick out pumpkins at a little farm near our house.  We didn't get to pick them from the patch, but we still had fun finding the perfect pumpkins!

 Cute baby boy!

The finished jack-o-lanterns.  We are pretty traditional in our carving :) 

Sweet Ashleigh girl!

 I love this sweater on Ashleigh!  She wore it for her school pictures last week, but says she doesn't plan to wear it again because it was itchy around her neck.   She is most comfortable in cotton tshirts. At least I got a picture of her in it!  If it came in my size, I would have one for myself!

Ashleigh is the best little mother to Dallin.  She is so sweet and tender to him.  He adores her.  I found them yesterday reading books together after Ashleigh got home from school.  I don't know what I'd do without her!  We had a quick mother-daughter trip to Illinois last weekend with Aunt Julie and had a great time together.  It was fun spending alone time with her without the distractions of home. 

Limo Lunch

Trenton was treated to a limo lunch during the school day last week thanks to supportive family members who purchased enough magazines from him to win this special prize.  Trenton got driven by this limo to a pizza restaurant with a group of other 7th graders, missing an entire class period.  He had a great time!  Thank you!!

Busy Day

 Owen and Ashleigh wore matching outfits today without planning to do so.  Owen got dressed after Ashleigh was gone to school, so it was a cute coincidence that he picked a shirt that matched hers.  They thought it was so funny when they both got home from school and saw each other for the first time of the day.   Trenton and Dallin couldn't resist getting into the picture.

Mr. Cool.  Dallin's been sporting these sunglasses since having his eyes dilated with some very powerful eye drops yesterday.  His eyes will be dilated for 48 hours, making these sunglasses very helpful on these sunny days!

Being stuck with dialated eyes didn't keep Dallin from playing around the house.  He loves to play babies with Ashleigh, but at least his baby is a boy.  This is his baby...Handy Manny.  Handy Manny fell out of the stroller one time and Dallin gently picked him up and asked him if he was okay.  Then he pretended to feed him some crackers.  It was priceless!  Handy Manny is covered up with a blanket right now in a baby bed.  So funny!