Arvy

Sunday, October 12, 2008

I looked out the window...

and what did I see?

Two inches of snow (oh) on October 13th!

Oh wait...it's the 12th, but that doesn't rhyme in my song.....

Saturday, October 11, 2008

It's Nutcracker picture day. This means I woke up at 5am...not that I needed to, it's just that I don't have to get up that early anymore and I don't have faith that my alarm clock will wake me up! I had to be at the ballet studio at 6:45am to do my 'shift'....mandatory volunteering. It was actually fun and exciting to see all the girls in their costumes and make-up!

I helped mostly with the jr high/high school girls and it made me excited that my girls may someday be doing the same thing!

Amanda and I talked just recently about what activities she can give up as we try to simplify, and she always says that she'll probably quit ballet at the end of the year. Then, when it comes time to sign up....she wants to go another year!
After this morning, I felt for the first time that I really don't either daughter to give up
ballet or dance.

Anyway......here is a picture of Amanda's Blue Soldier make-up. Her pictures were at 2pm...now it's almost 7pm and she still is wearing the make-up. She's having fun!
Maddy L is in this picture and she is a buffoon this year.....the girls that go with Mother Buffoon. Amanda and Maddy did some make-up for Sydney...Syd just eats this stuff up!

Then, cute Brandon who loves getting his picture taken. But, usually by the time I get my camera ready...he's past the cute smile and has a more pensive look on his (messy) face!
It's gotten cold here today and we spent the day in the freezing air watching soccer games, going to McD's with Reed and Makaela for hot chocolate and watching the Utes play and beat the Cowboys! Go UTES!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Par-tay!

Amanda's friends party was this afternoon. Cute group of girls with a TON of energy! We played games, did a pinata, made parfaits, 'heavy, heavy hang over' for the presents, and they had to run to a boy's house down the street to see if he was home! The party was for 2 hours and they still wanted to play when it was over. So, Amanda & Sydney went to Maddy's house and Brando and I enjoyed some peace & quiet finally!

Left to right front row, Susie E., Maddy L., Brinley M., Shalee K., Cami M., Mary J.* 2nd row: Elizabeth W, Suzie S., Hanalee H., Amanda* Back row: Kiley ? and Ashley H

Brinley, Mary & Cami

Kiley, Ashley, Susie and Hanalee with the air guitars...

Giving wishes to her present givers

Bump on the head!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Manda Panda is 10 years old!

It's hard to believe our sweet girl is 10 years old! From the moment she woke up, she had a huge smile on her face! We could just see how happy she was that it was her birthday!

She asked for breakfast in bed.....so I got up a little early and made her some pancakes. I found some snack pack M&M's and decided to put the candies in the pancakes. Amanda liked that!

Next we let her open her present: Heeleys! We surprised her because we had told her that she should ask for those for Christmas! When she tried them on they were a little snug, so I ran back to the store during the day and exchanged them. Daddy took us out to Olive Garden for dinner to celebrate her birthday and she 'Heeley'd' al over the place!

After a yummy dinner, we came back home for our traditional Backer's cake! The card in the picture is from her school class. It's also her VIP week and she gets to be 'line leader' all week! It took Amanda 3 tries to blow out her candles....I guess that's what happens when you get as old as 10 years!

Here are 10 things we love about Amanda!

1. She is a sweetheart! She's always putting others needs and wishes ahead of her own. She is so kind to her siblings and very helpful to her parents! Just last night, she was helping Sydney (who was whinning about not being able to do Heeley's-she got Amanda's old ones) learn how to do Heeley's. She is always helping Brandon.

2. She is a tease. She knows how to have fun and likes to get people laughing!

3. She is very creative: She is writing a play and designing the sets in our basement. She has all the parts organized and labeled.

4. She is a smarty pants! Amanda has always done great in school! Now that's she is in 4th grade, she is getting some harder material, but she doesn't give up and shows real determination.

5. She is talented. If her Mom would teach her weekly, she would be a pro on the piano! With the little instruction she gets, she is able to play beautifully! She can also dance, play soccer and sing!

6. She is a good friend! Amanda has numerous girls that call everyday to play with her. The party is always at our house! People know that Amanda will always be nice to them.

7. She likes to hang with Mom & Dad! We love that Amanda will hang out with us and likes to talk! We keep telling her that someday soon, she won't think we are cool....and we'll be sad when that happens. She promises it won't happen!

8. She is adventurous! Amanda is always up for anything, anytime! She loves to take bike rides with her Dad. She will try any ride anywhere.

9. She is responsible: We can trust her to do whatever we need. I also love and appreciate the fact (since I'm a Gibson and we don't like phones), that she will make phones calls to anyone.

10. She is beautiful and she's our daughter! We just love Amanda because she is Amanda!

Happy Birthday, Amanda! We love you!

Playgroup Pumpkin Patch

Brandon and I went with the playgroup to Pack's Pumpkin Patch Monday. It's a cute, Free, patch and the boys had a great time hanging out!

Here is Brandon running through the hay maze with Nick. We couldn't get them out of here! They loved it! They had cute places set up to take pictures...like this scarecrow family. But, I forgot to charge my camera before we left and it ran out of juice!

As we were leaving, Mike called as he was on his way to lunch. So, Brandon and I met up with him at Firehouse Pizza and had a great time with Daddy! I love my boys!

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Sydney's last soiree, that's a fancy word for party!

I need to finish up Sydney's birthday before Amanda's comes up next week!

The day of her birthday, we let her open her gifts from us before school.
We chose these cute clothes together the night we went shopping
(while Dad & B were at Fathers n Sons).
For a year, she has been asking for a doll...Chou Chou, My First Tooth.
I was having flashbacks to when we visited our friends in NC, during Lindsey's 7th birthday. Brad & Daneise had said that is the last doll we are ever going to buy....thinking that Lindsey was past dolls and they couldn't quite grasp the reason behind her wanting another doll.
Ditto for Sydney!
But, like our friends, who we believe are great parents(!), we got Sydney a doll for her birthday. It seems Chou Chou is past her first tooth and has moved on to 'Mommy make me feel better' and since this is the only Chou Chou doll I could find...Sydney gets to play Mommy when her baby is sick. It came with thermometer, band-aids, etc.

At least this doll is much cuter than 'Baby Alive' that she got for Christmas last year.

And I should feel happy that our little girl is still little enough to play dolls. Sydney does have an amazing soft spot for babies and little children.

She is very compassionate with them and loves to see them happy.

So, it's a cute thing she still wants dolls.

Then....the Soiree!

All of Sydney and Abby's fancy friends gathered to celebrate their birthdays. (if you haven't read a Fancy Nancy book....run to your library...or borrow one of ours. Darling)

Abby turns 7 two weeks after Sydney's birthday.

Abby's mom, Rachel, is the Party Mom! She did all the cute invitations, fancy cupcakes, fun activities, gift bags and did all the girl's make-up. I just provided the house and the fixin's for parfaits (that's fancy for ice cream sundaes).

Here are the fancy girls doing a fancy dance!

Everyone twirl! (That's a fancy word for spin around in a circle).

Fancy Halle D, Lucy K, Maddy M, Gracie R, Elise B, Emily B, Abby, Paige N, Lucy O, and Syd

Sydney's fancy parfait.....lots of sprinkles

I did the parfaits while Rachel (background on the right) helped the girls tie fancy ribbons to some flip-flops. We also had Julene R. (background on the left) stop by to see the party and help tie ribbons....Amanda had also made it home from Activity Days by this point and helped, too! Halle and Elise show us their parfaits.