Christmas 2010

GINGERBREAD HOUSES

Both Maxx and Sofia made gingerbread houses at school.  I forgot to take a picture of Fia with hers, but here is Maxx's masterpiece.  In case you cannot tell, it has Luke Skyewalker on a snow speeder, Darth Hershey's (Vader), a couple heavy duty troopers, and a Chickenwalker.  Star Wars on the mind. :)

A friend of mine gave me a gingerbread house to decorate.  What a fun idea!  The kids and I had a great time decorating it.

FANCY SMANCY CLOTHES

Maxx and Sofia in their new fancy Christmas clothes last Sunday.  I ordered Abby a skirt online and it still hasn't come. :(  Sad thing is I saw it at the mall a couple days after I ordered it.

SECRET SANTA

Abby woke up to a secret santa surprise.

TEMPLE LIGHTS

I took the kids to see the lights at the temple thinking it would be a wonderful spiritual evening.  ha ha  They fought and complained the whole time.  So much for sacred grounds.  Anyway, only took a couple pics.

Can't you just feel the love in Maxx's face?

SANTA COOKIES

Decorating cookies for Santa!  Suzanne started the cut-out cookies for Santa tradition with the kids the last couple years.  The tradition must be continued!  Santa was lucky to get some stale gingersnaps from the back of the cupboard the year before.  Needless to say, Santa is very grateful to Suzanne. :)

PJ'S

Like many other families, we open up PJ's on Christmas Eve.  Maxx's are Lego Star Wars, Sofia's are Dora, Abby's are Oscar the Grouch.  I think this is the first year I have done "commercialized" pj's for Christmas.  I'm a traditionalist at heart.  I prefer not to advertise for TV shows and toys, but the kids loved them!  I guess that makes me the fun mom this year, or maybe I'm just getting soft. ha ha

Weird speck on Abby's pj's must be dust on my camera lens...

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Checking out the stockings...

 Santa didn't forget Daisy...

Sofia made these for us in preschool.  They turned out so cute!

Our traditional gifts...Sofia gets a kalidescope.

Maxx gets an airplane.

Abby gets a snowglobe.

 Trying to figure out the song...

Our ballerina...

Baseball player...Only Fia could pull this off!

Daisy thinks she is a lap dog...a very heavy lap dog. :)

Dad doesn't mind.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Purple Star!

Sofia earned her Purple Star today in preschool!!!

She had to have it on top of her head - you know - like the star on top of Jesus!

Only one more star to go!  Each star represents a set of letters.  In order to earn their star they need to recognize the lowercase letter and say it's sound.  We are so proud of her!

Embracing Womanhood

The other day Sofia randomly asked me, "How do we eat from our bodies?"
I had to inquire a bit more to figure out she meant, "How do babies eat from their Mommies?"
I told her that Mommies make special milk just for their babies.

"THAT...IS...SO...AWESOME!", was her reply as she pumped her fists into the air. :)

Photo from a year ago...

Maxx's Fall Piano Recital

Every Spring and every Fall, Maxx has a piano recital.  He played Beethoven's 5th Symphony.

Try as I may, I cannot download it directly to the blog.  But for your viewing pleasure, it can be seen at MobileMe Gallery - Maxx Fall Recital 2010 Check it out!

Hi-Brown Belt

For months...literally...he has been a mid-brown belt since March...Maxx has been working to earn his Hi-Brown Belt.  For this test he has to show that he knows and can perform well all three forms they have been working on since white belt and his basics (kicks, punches, etc.).  He tested in June and although his basics looked good, he just didn't have the forms down as he should.  Another three months went by...he tested yet again...this time his forms looked better, but his basics weren't up to speed.  We decided together with Maxx to sign him up for the black belt prep class.  Master Preston offers it twice a year before the big black belt tests.  Basically it's a boot camp of sorts.  Since none of the other brown belts had passed (they are all 7-9 yr. old boys - a lot like Maxx), Maxx was the only one to sign up.  Master Preston was very kind to take the time to work just with Maxx.  In just 6 prep classes and with practice at home and in his regular karate classes, Maxx was ready to test again.  Last night he finally earned his Hi-Brown belt!  He even performed the 4th form he just started learning.  Master Preston told Juan that he has never seen so much improvement in a student in such a short time.  We always knew Maxx had it in him - he just had to want it!

Presenting him with the belt...

Actually getting that belt...

The excitement in a job well done!

We are so very proud of you, Maxx!

Next up...Conditional Black Belt testing in December!

We know you can do it!

Halloween 2010

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

The Beautiful Butterfly!

The Awesome and Amazing Tonks!

The Crafty Swindler of a Jawa!

For his eyes we used glow bracelets...

Looks much better in the dark.

Meet Mike Wazowski

He was Maxx's entry for the pumpkin contest at school.

Together they earned 1st place in the Movie Character category!

Our Halloween Pumpkins

I think this is the first year we actually got around to putting candles in them.

Three days later - thanks to the AZ heat and a porch that gets direct sunlight almost all day, they were a shriveled, moldy, smelly mess.

Beautiful Arizona Sunset

One thing I always remember about our trips to Arizona was their beautiful sunsets.  Maybe it's because I have a Mom who was constantly pointing them out to us growing up. :)  This was the sunset as we got home from the last karate tournament.  Just beautiful!