Long ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away...

....there lived the funniest four year old ever.  April 10, Sam turned four and when asked what she wanted she said that she wanted Ballet shoes (no she does not do ballet) and a new light saber.  What an odd combination!  She also said she wanted a Star Wars party.  I don't normally do full on birthday parties with the whole theme, games, and other peoples children but this year I figured, why not?!  I started looking online for ideas for star wars parties and do you realize that there are crazy mothers out there that spend outrageous amounts of money and time on kids parties?  It was nuts.  One mother was proud of the fact that her 6 year olds party ONLY cost her $250!  Well, its a good thing Sam cant read because I was not about ready to make jedi training cloaks for all our guests and outfit them each with a light saber.  We did have a great time though and Sam thought I was the best mom ever so really that's all that matters, right? 

Light saber "cake"

Kelsey was in charge of the pinata

What party wouldn't be complete with a couple of games?  We played "Pin the light saber on the Jedi", a memory game that required them to use their jedi powers to do, and "Dont eat Luke".  The funny thing about this whole party is that I think Sam was the only one there that even knew Star Wars.  I had to explain what a Jedi was and who Luke was?  Psshh, kids these days!

Sammie got lots of fun gifts for her birthday and while she did not get her new light saber (I thought two was enough) she did get what she thought was the greatest gift ever.....

Thank you Nana for the creepy Yoda costume.  She screamed when she got it and laughed at herself in the mirror for a good five minutes after putting it on.  Sam loved it!  What a girl!

American Thanksgiving 2010

When Grandma and Grandpa Wood got their mission call we knew that this year's Thanksgiving celebration would be a special one.  G and G have been assigned to the Alpine Germany mission and were to report to the MTC on November 29, 2010.  We all knew that this Thanksgiving would be the last opportunity for our Wood family to be all together for at least 18 months.  Bring on the chaos!!  Having five of the six Wood children and all their families were together in one house for the weekend was CRAZY!!  11 adults and 13 children  and we have a party! It was perfect!  The dinner was amazing (as always) and the games and fun to be had was great.   Every year we are together for thanksgiving you can see the kids off in one room playing games, the mom's in the next room browsing the Black Friday ads, the men sleeping or watching football, and Grandma in the kitchen making a pie or watching the kids.  This year, though, there was that resounding heaviness that was weighing on all our minds that our special parents would be leaving all this craziness to serve their mission.  I think we all are so proud or them and their willingness to serve.  The Sunday that the family was there we were all able to go and attend their setting apart with the Stake President.  What a great experience that was!  While we miss them, we are so happy that they are serving in Germany and even more happy that we will get to go see them in a year!

So here we go with the pictures:

Dan spending his time with Sam watching football

Me holding Olivia.  (One of the only times I didn't make her cry!)

Cousin time!

Sam helped set the big table.

They all thought it would be fun to do family yoga.  Why?  I dunno

The yearly traditions continued with our trip to Spaghetti Factory

Awww.  How cute are they?

Rachel was offended that the waitress gave her a kiddie menu and cup. 

Somewhere in this weekend I managed to sew a couple of skirts. 

I thought they turned out pretty nice :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Kelsey, Rachel, Riley, and Sam.....

Well, my girls, remember back a few entries ago when I was so excited to start a blog to record our lives together???  Well, once again your mother has fallen short.  It has been four months since my last attempt at posting a blog and ,well, there really are no excuses.  Have we been busy?  Yes.  Have there been big events occur in the past four months?  Yes.  Have I been writing them down?  No.  (*hanging my head in shame*) Even though the past four months have come and gone without a post all I can do now is just push the rewind button, pretend that I never skipped out in my commitment to record the cool and meaningful things that have happened in our lives together as a family, and re post some of the great pictures and events that have happened lately.  It may take a few entries to catch up but...lets just do it, k?  I figure it will take about three entries to update Thanksgiving, Christmas, and our Disneyland trip.  And just to keep you interested, here are a couple of pictures from the past few months.

Thanksgiving with the Wood Family.  This was right after G-ma and G-pa were set apart as missionaries.

Building "gingerbread" houses christmas eve

The girls standing in line waiting to see the Disney princesses.  Can you see the joy?? :)

 

 

 

 

Belle and the girls 

So girls, I am a slacker when it comes to this stuff.  I would like to say that I am going to be better but, really, I am only going to commit to doing the best I can.  Thats all any of us can do, right?  Just know that our time together is precious and I love every minute of it!
Love, MOM

Halloween! (and other stuff)

We love Halloween here.  I love making costumes and the girls love wearing them.  Every year we have a family party hosted by Kristin Wood.  She is one of my girls aunts and is simply amazing.  She has boxes and boxes of Halloween stuff to put out each year at this fabulous party that she puts on.  I wish I had gotten more pictures of the games but I got plenty of the costumes and food.  The whole night is pretty fun. 
Costumes:

Aunt Kristin

Connor: After all this work for the costume, he ended up HATING it!

The FOOD:

Center piece

Monster cupcakes made by myself.

A close up of these fabulous cupcakes!!

Meringue ghosts were my favorite!

On top of Kristin's party, Halloween would not be complete without pumpkin carving for FHE.  This year as well as carving we made these luminaries for the porch.  The girls simply modge podged on tissue paper and faces to glass jars and put a tea light into the bottom.  They had such a good time making these and I think all turned out pretty great.

I've had the above written for some time and only now am posting and since I have been so bad about updating this blog I thought that I would  add in a couple of odds and ends.  This month Rachel ran for student council. She did great. She used her whole super hero costume as a theme for her running.  Posters were made with her in costume "saving" the school and her skit she had to preform was all super hero stuff. Unfortunately, she was beat out  by the other candidates.  (only because some of them cheated though! I have to throw that in) I thought that it was cute that she made t shirts her best friends.

And yesterday I was putting a chicken in the rotisserie oven with Sam watching me.  Once I got the bird in and rotating Sam kind of freaked out.  I didn't think that she would react the way she did.  I had to explain to her more than once that there was no head or feet because they had been chopped off.  She thought that it was all gross.  I should not have been surprised when I put a drumstick on her plate at dinner that she burst into tears and refused to eat it.  Kind of spazzy but cute.

 

Before and After

In February 2009 Rachel went through some changes.  First she got glasses and then she had braces put on her teeth.  Now 20 months and a few thousands of dollars later she has been transformed.  This morning Rachel got her braces removed and I just wanted to share a couple before and after pictures of my beautiful daughter.


Before:

(Rachel really will kill me for putting this first picture on but I love it!)

getting braces put on

The change begins!

 After:
(She actually forbid me today  from taking any pictures at the ortho office like I did the first time)

She took this herself.

What straight teeth!  Such a pretty girl.

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Canadian Thanksgiving

Saturday, October 9th, we were invited to go to Aunt Tami's house for a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner.  I was so excited for this.  I was excited for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, because I knew Tami had invited so many friends and family.  She was kind of stressed about where to fit everyone but it turned out so great.  Tami and Terry have great kids and I was looking forward to meeting with them again.  Also invited were cousins from Idaho that I have not seen much in the past few years.  It was a treat to see everyone.  I was also excited for this gathering because of  the food.  Ive had a lot of Tami's dishes and I was quite eager to indulge myself.  I think I was successful since I really left feeling like I was going to puke.  So after the party I decided that this  is what I am thankful for today :

 Family,

Uncle Doyle, Russel, his wife Heather, and their girl Riley

Sister cousins, Erika and Melissa

Cute Keri Burton

Ariel, Brant (yes, he is a dork!) and Terry

Riley, Ezra, and Aiden

My Aunt Tami,
She was a wonderful host and I was thankful that she opened her home and slaved over this hot stove all day. 

Good Food,

I have to say that this may look gross in this picture but next to Tami's "sweet" sweet potatoes, this was THE BEST!  Erin Anderson made this lovely corn pudding and it was Dee-lish.  So, I am most thankful that she went to Whole Foods, tasted their sample for the day, and came with it to the dinner.  Mmmm.  Really, I want some more.  Right now.

and finally, after this shindig, I am thankful for
Street Hockey

 

Why might I be thankful for this?  I dont know why, really, but it was so fun to just yell "Car".  We had goals marked out with Tami's shoes (one of which got run over), two teams, and a lot of just running around.  Riley was surprisingly really good at it.  Brant was not. (kidding)  His boys, however, were little animals with those sticks but loved every bit of it.  I am sorry to say the even though I am Canadian I had never really played street hockey.  My brothers and Dad always played but honestly I was to scared to play with them. 

Thank you Aunt Tami and I am marking you down on my calendar for next year!! :)