Jaden takes 3rd!

Jaden barley snuck in this year to compete in her school's UIL (University Interscholastic League created by the University of Texas) story telling competition. Three children from her grade were selected to represent Mary Marek at the district level competition. Jaden was selected as the alternate. She continued to attend practices every Monday after school with the understanding that she was back up. Dutifully, Jaden and Kyle arrived early Saturday morning the day of competition just in case one of the three students was late or a no show. I expected Kyle and Jaden home with in the hour but was surprised to receive an enthusiastic phone call from Jaden telling me that Franklin had not arrived and she was going to compete. As fate would have it Jaden continued through 2 eliminations and left her own Mary Marek Elementary team mates in the dust -- taking 3rd place overall in the district (which consists of 14 elementary schools). Last year Jaden placed 2nd in the same competition. She says this years win was much harder and, therefore, means a lot more to her. Good job, sis. We are proud of you!

Of course, much of the credit goes to Kyle who is the "bed time story" guru. He is often found telling the kids elaborate fables before tucking them in at night. He has a ginormous imagination. Even I am captivated by his stories. I usually hear the kids bellowing laughter from upstairs and I'm pulled in.

Here is video of the announcement of winners. I wish we had a video of her in action. However, no one was invited to watch. They performed in front of the three judges only. I guess it makes sense - no peer pressure. But, what we wouldn't have given to be a fly on the wall. By the way the award ceremony started late. We sat through 60 minutes of what I consider Hannah Montana concert like screaming (as you'll witness in the video) while waiting for the judges to make their final selections. We should win an award for keeping our sanity!

How we spent our Christmas

This year we stayed at our home in Texas for the Holidays. Here's how we spent our Christmas.

I got an amazing early Christmas present as the option for delivery was either the Friday before Christmas or after Christmas. Kyle surprised me with a piano. I don't play. I wish I did. However, learning to play had better be one of my top resolutions for 2009. Kyle plays. Jaden is taking lessons and we hope the rest of our children follow suit. Long story short, we have been looking for a piano on craigslist ever since we moved into our new house. We found this one online and it happened to be in our same city a few miles away from us. We drove over looked at it, played it and of course loved it. We thought the price was decent, loved the color and great shape it was in and couldn't argue with it being delivered and tuned as part of the deal. It seemed to good to be true. Then we started talking ourselves down from it. We wouldn't be living beyond our means by purchasing it but the economy is taking a turn. Maybe we should just hold on to our money. In the end I gave up on getting a piano in the near future. Obviously, Kyle had other plans. He tried to have it delivered while a friend was supposed to get me out of the house. But Jaden came down with an illness and it seemed I wouldn't leave so easily. Here is a picture of the beautiful and even more beautiful sounding piano that has made our house feel like a home! Thank you Kyle. I love it!

Christmas Eve Day we attended the Houston Ballet Nutcracker. This is a long standing tradition that Kyle's family has. They have always attended the "cracker" as they call it on Christmas Eve day. We loved it. Afterwards and non-traditionally, (although I could see it becoming a tradition) we drove through a downtown McDonald's drive through and ordered some dollar menu food. Classic! We hurried home read our last countdown to Christmas scripture story, watched the Luke 2 video, opened PJ's, made cookies for Santa, scattered reindeer food on the lawn, prayed that Santa would be guided safely to our home and tucked the 2 oldest in bed together.

We planned not to take Reese with us. However, she woke that morning with a slight fever. We took her with us and she did great. She slept until intermission and literally watched the second half without budging an inch on my lap. She loved it. We were glad we took her after all.

Let's pretend I made these pajamas. . .

The look of bewilderment. . .

The look of down right excitement. . .

Christmas Day dinner. We enjoyed a Christmas ham with all the trimmings. It was so relaxing to be on our own as we were able to spend every second with our kids. Afterwards, we visited a nearby rest home for some Christmas carolling. Can I just say it scared the crap out of my kids! Mission accomplished. . . just kidding.

Here are a few more highlights from December:

What keeps us busy. . .

Jaden: middle row first dancer on the left

This was an informal 1 minute nutcracker dance her teacher let us sit in on.

Jaden quit gymnastics in the fall of '08 and has taken dance since then. She takes 2 ballets, jazz and tap. She liked gymnastics but it's interesting to note how much more excited she is to go to dance. She is really starting to have a passion for it. She is always twirling around the house as she sets the table or walks to and from places, often running into walls, counters, cupboards and corners. Ty and Reese get the award for sitting through all of her dance classes. However, Ty's recent DS he got for Christmas will, hopefully, help dance fly by for him.

Ty taking the ball down field. His soccer team's name is the Fireballs. He will start up again with the same team in the Spring. They had an awesome first season.

Here is a story I just have to post about one of his games. We have some friends who also have a son on the team named Jake. After the first couple of games with their son not having scored a goal, bribery set in. Here is the deal they made: if Jake scored a goal his reward would be a Wii game. Ty caught wind of Jake's parents bribery. At the next game Jake stepped it up and he was doing better but a couple games came and went with out Jake scoring. So the next Saturday rolls around. Ty and Jake are in the game together. Ty gets the ball and starts kicking up field towards our goal, Jake is by his side. Ty weaves in and out of a few players keeping the ball and Jake at his side. Jake is following along with Ty. Ty is nearing the goal and just at the last second with no opponent near Ty backs off from the ball and allows Jake to score! Everyone is cheering while Ty and Jake each run to their parents and yell: (Jake) "I scored, I scored now I can get Lego Batman!" (Ty) "I let Jake score, I let Jake score now he can get Lego Batman!" It was pretty cute. As thoughtful as my little boy is I can't let you think he did this to help boost Jake's inner confidence. You guessed it. Ty was looking out for number one. He plays at Jake's house at least 2x a week. Jake obviously owns a Wii. Ty's family, however, does not (to Ty's dismay). That same Saturday Jake's family invited Ty to go to the video store to pick out the Wii game.

Reese crawling keeps us busy. Reese has been crawling for over a month, recently she has turned into a turbo crawler/stair magnet. We can't keep up with her. I need to get a larger gate to help put my mind at ease. Until then. . .

Viewer Discretion Advised. . . it's real cheesy

Here we are roasting our ward and its members at our ward Christmas Talent Show. Sorry, most of you won't get the inside jokes but on the whole if you are affiliated with our church you might get a laugh out of it.

On The First Day of Christmas in our Ward We See:

1 Our Bishop handing out candy (played by our Bishops wife)

2 absent home teachers

3 "greetings and salutations" (as our 2nd counselor in the Bishopric repeats EVERY time he conducts)

4 Please be reverent (hard to do in a ward with over 100 primary children, over 50 nursery kids, and over 30 pre-nursery children. . . with no end in sight)

5 NURSERIES (no joke)

6 weeks of dinners (with the arrival of new babies monthly, this is a task for sure)

7 emergency preparedness (comes in handy when you live on the gulf coast)

8 Enrichment evites

9 million meetings

10 ward split rumors (ya think)

11 sleeping residents (our ward is primarily made up of doctors, resident doctors, med students, law students and lawyers. Why all the children you ask?)

12 pregnant ladies (hence the nurseries)

It was fun to perform but most of the fun was in the making of it! Nice job ladies.

Thanksgiving 2008

This year we had Kyle's family in town for Thanksgiving. His sister Jasmine flew in with her 4 kids for almost a week. Shane (husband) is currently deployed to Afghanistan, which allowed for the visit as they would normally be living across the sea in Japan but are living in Utah with family while he is away. We were just so glad to have them for as long as we possibly could. In fact here are Jaden and Ty's top ten reasons why they were so excited for the "cousins", as they call them, to visit:
1. because you are you
2. fun
3. hot dogs
4. movies
5. sleeping on tramp
6. staying up late
7. making pizza
8. donuts
9. forts
10. plays

The day before Thanksgiving Kyle's Dad and wife Geralyn flew in for the "meal." We spent the entire day in the kitchen and loved every minute of it. We tried a new turkey recipe (thanks Miriam) that required: injecting the turkey, using flavor injectors, (yes this was a first for me) with a special recipe of flavor, stuffing it with butter and peeled, sliced apples and throwing it in the oven the night before Thanksgiving Day! It baked for 12 hours! It was so nice to have that process completed when we woke up Thursday. I am convinced that is the way to do it. The turkey was delicious and it literally fell of the bones.
We stuffed ourselves over and over that day. We were so thankful for everyone that visited and are grateful for all we have been blessed with.

Reese gets her first taste of Great Grandma Lavonne's famous homemade rolls. She devoured them!

Reese Lynn hanging with Grandpa Lynn. Just as Reese warmed up to Lynn it was time to go! Let's hope they can pick up where they left off at the next get together.

Jaden's baptism . . . finally!

Jaden turned 8 in August. Originally, her baptism was scheduled for September 13, however, instead of family visiting that weekend we had an unwanted visitor named hurricane Ike. We are happy to announce that Jaden was baptized this past Saturday, November 15th 2008 by her dad. It was very sweet. As she and I were taking pictures around the church she told me, "I can't stop smiling. I feel so happy" as is evident in all of the pictures below. We are proud of Jaden and the decision she has made. She is a great example to us and her brother and sister. We love you Jaden.
Recently, Jaden had a school assignment that required her to bring items that described her (an artifact box). After presenting those items she was asked to choose one item and prepare a written piece that explains why she selected the item and how it has made a difference or has helped her to be the person she is today. Jaden chose her necklace that says "I am a Child of God" and her CTR ring. This is her written piece (word for word including spelling):
"One of lifes greatest questions is "who am I?" I know who I am. I am a child of God. This neclace and ring have helped me to grow to understand that. I know God loves me & each & every one of you & he allways allways will. I hope all of you will make good choices in yourlife, & hope you make it a good one."
Thanks to all of our family who came to support us. Grandma and Grandpa Johnson drove 13 hours from St. Louis, MO. Mom played a beautiful piano solo called, Baptism by Paul Cardall. Grandma Patsy flew in on a bumpy flight from Provo, Utah. Pat gave a wonderful talk on the Holy Ghost and presented Jaden with a hand made quilt. And Nick and Katy (8 months pregnant) drove from San Antonio, Texas. Jaden felt very special and we loved having all of you here!

The opportunity presented itself. . .

I had to jump at the chance to have all of my kids dressed as their nick name for Halloween 2008! The idea revolved around the fact that Jaden (the oldest and most opinionated),on her own, wanted to be a lady bug. Then it was just a matter of convincing Ty that a Tiger was "faster, cooler and more ferocious" than a power ranger! Reese on the other hand didn't have a say either way.
Also, Kyle and I can not take credit for nick naming our own children. All of our children received their nick names from my sister in-law Jasmine. She is the queen of nick names. What ever nick name she bestows - sticks.

JADEN - Our "Jady Lady"


















TY - Our "Tiger" or "Tiger Liger"

















P.S. We are fully aware of how feminine the valour tiger one piece looks. All I have to say is that all 22 Party City's were out of the one we wanted after 2 of them promised to hold the Tiger costumes for me. This was all Target had left. It's a large child size. We cut off the legs. Ty thinks it's AWESOME!


REESE - Our "Reester Bunny"


















KYLE - "I'm just a pay check"