Let Those Neon Lights Shine!

In order for you to really get into the spirit of this post I'll need you to click here first.

 

Did you click on it?  Seriously, you'll enjoy my post so much more if  you click-  you don't have to watch the whole thing  just the first 20 seconds or so will get you in the mood!

Okay!!  Now that I've taken you back to what has got to be the  BEST roller skating movie of all time, I hopefully have you thinking about the days of skating and roller rinks!

A few weeks ago our primary had their activity at . .  . a place, where nobody dared to go!  They called it. Xana. . . (Well, we actually called it Classic Skating)!

I was completely dreading going to this and I knew I'd be solo since Jared was working.  Trying to balance myself on skates, while helping my little girl stay up, and pushing a baby in a stroller wasn't my idea of a good time!!  But my luck started changing when Jared's parents said they'd come and help me keep an eye on Chloe.  HOW GREAT ARE THEY!      

But when we got there,  lady luck was on my side AGAIN and Janie didn't want my help at all! Can I just say--THANK YOU!  Embarrassing myself on skates in front of our new ward members wasn't necessarily at the top of my list!  

So as much as I was dreading taking my kids, I ended up having a great time just watching my kids have fun.

So here's the recap:
Janie braved the rink all by herself, you roll girl!!

And our kids had an added bonus to this primary activity--it was also a family outing. Their cousins are in our ward too!

Here's Janie and Jenna!

Madeline and Kate whizzing on by!

Cute Anna and Megan posing for the camera.

Logan had fun just hanging out with some friends and cruising around on the scooter.

Of course Chloe needed her turn!  I was actually BEGGED several times to let them push her in her stroller around the rink!

And to top it all off--Jared's mom braved the slippery rink and went out there and did the hokey pokey with her granddaughters!!  Go Grandma, go Grandma, go Grandma!!

And for those of you who would enjoy this:

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(Sorry!  I hit the camera button off, but here's the grand finale!  I have to say-I LOVE it that the worker kid is going to give Sharon (Jared's mom) a piece of candy!)

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Janie's Big Day

I've been absent for awhile, but I've had a few projects going on and last week I was down for the count with a horrible cough and cold.  Hopefully that's on its way out and I can get back to being a mom who feeds her kids dinner again and not just a piece of bread or a bowl of cereal.

First of all our 3 year old turned 4!  

On Monday school was out so we decided to throw Janie's birthday party that day because all the cousins could come, but her actual birthday wasn't until Tuesday.   She decided break down the days the following way:  Monday was her "fake birthday" and Tuesday was her "real birthday". She did tell us before the big days that "on my real birthday and even on my fake birthday I don't have to do any jobs or pick up anything.  And I can be rude to whoever I want, BUT everybody has to be nice to me!"  It's nice to know your kids are sweet and caring.

But here's the birthday girl who was actual very nice on her big days.  (Although I did get a look when I asked her to take a toy up to her room and a comment like "Hello!  Didn't you remember that on my fake birthday I don't have to do anything!) 
This is the only time Janie wanted to go near her cake.  We discovered she has a fear of fire.  As soon as Jared lit the candle she bolted off the chair as fast as she could.  A few days before her birthday I was broiling something in the oven and the smoke detectors went off.   She was very concerned about smoke and fire the entire day, so I'm pretty sure that's where her new found fear began.  Oh well if my 4 year old is going to be scared of something, fire seems like a good thing.  So we sang her happy birthday with a flameless candle.  

On her REAL birthday I took her over to Build a Bear.   Despite my best efforts of trying to persuade her for a different choice she chose the WHITE, Hannah Montana bear.  I just kept telling myself "It'll be okay.  It may be a black bear by the end of summer, but hey what a birthday girl wants, a birthday girl gets" (at least according to Janie)! 

Ice Fishing with the Guys

A few weekends ago my brother Shane asked Jared and Logan if they wanted to go ice fishing with him and my dad. Of course Logan was thrilled! Jared debated for a while and decided to go and spend some quality time with his son (Jared went ice fishing with a friend from work when we were dating and didn't enjoy his experience very much!) But when they returned home from their chilly morning fishing Jared said it was nothing like last time and that he had a good time!

They didn't catch any fish, but they had a lot of fun. I'm so glad that my brothers invite Logan and Jared on their many manly adventures. It's just one of the great things we've enjoyed since moving home.

She's Our Wild and Crazy Girl!

Busy is probably one of the best words to describe our baby girl. She gets into everything and rarely sits still. She is constantly getting herself into precarious situations and I'm amazed she hasn't been hurt more.
Take this morning for instance. I was in my room for a couple of minutes and was just heading out into the hall when hear Megan say, "Oh my goodness! What is Chloe doing outside!" Keep in mind we live in Utah, it's winter, there's still snow on the ground, and it's COLD! So I look at the door and sure enough there's Chloe outside the glass door. Looking through the glass into the house. She had shut the door and was just looking like, "Someone PLEASE let me in!" I owe a HUGE thank you to her guardian angels when I get to heaven!
So after this mornings incident I thought I'd take a minute to dedicate a post to our girl. Here just a little snippet for you of what I mean by precarious situations!
This happened just a few weeks ago. I had just gotten Chloe out of the bath and dressed her in her PJs. Now after I got Chloe out of the bath I had put Janie in, but I TOOK CHLOE down the stairs with me so I could wipe down her highchair. A few minutes later I hear Janie laughing and in that instant I knew where Chloe had gone. Panicking, I raced up the stairs as fast as I could thinking she's drowning and this is what I found!









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We've since learned our lesson and she is no longer alone when someone is bathing!

Now despite all of her craziness, she still is just too adorable for words and I am actually loving this age. She's starting to talk and figure out more things. Just the other day she discovered "Daaaaaaaaad" (aka Daddy) in a picture. All day she carried her little album around pointing at Jared and saying "Daaaaaaad!" It was so fun to see her recognize him and I was so excited to show Jared when he got home. When he did get home I asked her, "Chloe- who's in the picture?" She got all excited, points and started to say "Daa. . . " But then she looked really confused and kept looking back and forth at the REAL Daddy and the PICTURE Daddy and wasn't quite sure how he was in both places at the same time!

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And this last picture is just to show you that WE DO NOT spoil our baby at all. Come on, everybody needs at least 3 suckers on the ride home from grandma's, right! Okay she might be a tad bit spoiled, but what can we say-She's our girl!

Change

I have to say that although I'm not the biggest Obama fan, today was definitely a historic and somewhat exciting day. Change always seems to have a little element of excitement in it though-don't you think!

As I was driving the kids to school today I asked them if they knew what today was all about. I was surprised at how much they knew and was a little taken back by some of their responses. But I just told them that although mommy doesn't agree with a lot that Obama does (of course I hope that he will do great things) that the President of the United States should always be given proper respect (something some people should have kept in mind the past 4 years!)

As I was watching the inauguration I found myself enjoying most of President Obama's speech and hope that those things can really be accomplished. Today I feel very proud to live in a country that is all about freedom! Although I secretly still wish that Mitt Romney were up there- I am optimistically looking forward into the future of America. And I do have to say I thought the new first lady looked really quite smashing!

I've always loved quotes and here are just a few that I found today that I liked!
"If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies." ~Author Unknown
"If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it."~Mary Engelbreit
"Change always comes bearing gifts." ~Price Pritchett

A few more things before I go:
Katherine: make sure you show this post to your dad!
Emma: make sure your dad knows that I still am a talk radio junkie!
and Jen: I was thinking about you today and wanted to give you a great big high 5!

My Super Stars!

I know that every mom thinks that her kids are the cutest and the smartest, but I know mine are and here's the proof! The other day after school Megan got into the car holding a green ribbon and told me she was one of the winner's in the Reflections contest. What you entered a contest? She said the teachers made all the second graders enter the writing portion of the contest. She wrote the cutest story about our family reunion at Bear Lake. The school had to keep it so I don't have it here to post, but take my word for it-it was a fabulous story!

Maddie was Student of the Month for December. She was so excited to come home and show me her certificate. She got to eat lunch with the principal and they ordered Subway-apparently that is just too awesome for a third grader! It never surprises me when Maddie is picked-every teacher she has ever had just adores her. I have to agree that she every teacher's dream student!

And I had to add these last two pictures because Maddie and Megan have starting matching themselves. All those days of me putting them in matching clothes have rubbed off on them! They have been coordinating their outfits lately all on their own.

Can you believe it's 2009!

Wow! I cannot believe 2008 is over! What a year we've had! It seemed like an uphill battle for most of the year, but all those trials helped me realize how blessed I really am! So I am looking forward to 2009 with a positive attitude and a grateful heart. We had a fun New Year's Eve. Once again we were at my moms. My brother Adam and his family decided to come for a surprise/quick visit and his good friend from Vegas who used to live with our family stopped by for a few hours, so we had a house full. I think every adult would agree with me that it was just REALLY LOUD!

Chloe was ready to ring in the new year! She finally crashed in the car on the way home, at 12:30. All my kids were wide awake and ready to celebrate when the clock struck midnight!The guys had a good game of "Hand and Foot" going. It's a Sullivan tradition on my dad's side.
The women (and some of the guys-although they're not in the picture) played Scattagories. I was so tired, but I wanted to play. I had to think of an exotic place to visit that started with an M. I couldn't think of anything, but something kept popping into my head so I wrote it down. I couldn't remember where the place was, but it sounded good in the moment. I wrote down Mancato and when I said it my sister-in-law Angie busted up laughing. She was laughing so hard, but I did make out the words, "Little House" Then it dawned on me where I heard that name, it's a town on Little House on the Prairie. But hey I was pretty darn tired! And Mancato probably was an exotic place to visit for the prairie folk!
All my kids were scattered about playing with cousins.

Happy NEW YEAR!