Yellow!

Grace and Sam have taken beginner swimming classes twice.  The still weren't able to swim.  Over the course of the summer, they got a little better, but still were not able to pass the swim test.

On New Year's Eve, we took the kids swimming at the Y.  At the Y there are three swimming levels, red (non-swimmers, which my youngest kids are very familiar with), yellow, and green.  My older kids quickly got their green necklaces and disappeared into the water. 

After practicing for half an hour Grace and Sam decided that they were ready to try for something besides the red necklace.  They hesitantly approached the life guard and asked to take a swim test.

They passed with flying colors and earned their yellow necklaces!

Then they went down the slide without an adult for the first time ever, because of the magic of their yellow necklaces.

Now they've got their sights set on a green!

Happy New Year; The Year of the Cupcake

We didn't do anything special for New Year's this year (or any year, really).  We stayed in, watched a movie, and Libby made cupcakes.  She received a cake decorating set for Christmas and was excited to put it into action.

She made cupcakes from scratch, frosting from scratch, and commenced putting them together in creative ways.

Hard at work.

Finished product. 

The cupcakes were deemed good, and all enjoyed them.

After cupcakes Grace and Sam celebrated New Year's with New York!  We got them to bed by 10:15pm.  The rest of us made it to midnight, but only just.

Christmas Day

The stockings were hung with care, the jammies were clean, the fake fire crackled.  Santa was left a treat of cheesecake (he can cope with birthday leftovers) and a carrot for the reindeer.  The house was ready for Christmas.

The kids went to sleep and Santa visited.  He didn't even make fun of the derpy tree.

At exactly seven a.m. the kids piled into our room to demand the festivities begin.

They even quickly lined up in the hall so we could take a picture before the craziness began.

Santa brought Grace the fort building kit she has been dreaming of.  I seem to still be asleep.

Sam was more excited than he looks.

After we opened gifts we got ready for church.

After church we went to my in-laws to celebrate with more gifts and breakfast.

After the party at my in-laws we came home for 45 minutes and then headed back to the church building we had reserved for my family's celebration.  The kids put on a talent show.  Ethan did card tricks, Grace did gymnastics, Libby played her violin, and Sam sang "Rudolph".  My nieces played cello, emceed, and ran the music while my nephew told interesting jokes.

Then there were more gifts.

The next day this is what my house looked like.  Remember the neat and tidy picture up above, before Christmas?  Christmas makes my house explode.

It was an exhausting day, but it's hard to complain because we are blessed with much family and many gifts and I am thankful for it all.

Wearing the Kids Out

Ethan's birthday is on Christmas Eve, which was on a Saturday this year.  We celebrated with cheesecake and gifts and then went sledding.  The kids thought it was just a fun family outing, but I had a hidden purpose.  My kids (and all kids in the world) have problems going to sleep on Christmas Eve.  I've discovered I should just exhaust them during the day and they fall right to sleep.

We spent a couple hours playing on the hills in the new Esther Simplot park.

Ethan was too cool to sled the normal way.

Sam did not run over that black dog (on this run, anyway).  Thankfully the kids and the dog were both resilient when the inevitable crashes happened.

We came home, ate dinner, and then went on a neighborhood walk.  We saw the lights, got cold,  came home, hung stockings, and everyone fell asleep quickly! I love when evil plans work.

Birthday

This tall beast just keeps adding years.  He is now thirteen years old and 5' 9 1/2" (we finally measured because people kept asking).

Grandma got him an inflatable chair.

We bought him a reading light (and the newest Rick Riordan book). He was pretty excited and quickly put them all to good use.

We also found this shirt for him.  He was incredibly excited.  I may be raising a geek, but he is happy in his geekiness.