I just read about a fab Olive Garden giveaway on The Girl Who Ate Everything! I have to post about it for an entry. It's $100 to Olive garden! Do you know how many breadsticks I could get with $100??? If you love Olive Garden go to her blog and find out how to enter too!http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/

Leo's Birthday

Feb. 18, 2012- Today was Leo's birthday! He turned three years old today. He has been obsessed with Cars 2 since we got it for Christmas, so it had to be a Cars 2 birthday. He got a GoeTrax Cars 2 track from us, three new Cars from Grandma Romes (Jeff Gorvette, Sir. Axelrod, & Holly Shiftwell), a Professor Z Shake & Go car from Aunt Julie &Uncle Brandon, a HexBug from the Both's, and a Chuck Truck Racetrack from Grandma Vonnie. Wow! What a lucky boy! He wanted to go swimming so we went over to Dimple Dell with Carina and her family for an afternoon of water fun. We played in the pool for three hours (yeah, I know) then came home and got cleaned up. Then Leo wanted chicken stars for dinner so we went to Carl's Jr. He fell asleep in the car and ended up sleeping through dinner and ate his chicken & fries at the counter when we got home. Then Grandma & Grandpa Cooper came over for cake and ice cream. Of course it had Lightning McQueen and Mater on the top!

Valentine's Day Parties

Feb. 14, 2012- I got to go to the class parties for Carly and Max today. For Carly's class I was in charge of a game for all the kids to play. I brought a bag of conversation hearts, paper bowls, cups, and chopsticks. They had two minutes to get as many hearts into the cup as they could using the chopsticks. They has a good time trying to beat their own score and to beat each other! They also made Valentine hearts and had treats.

Then I went to help with Max's class party. His teacher, Miss Deardorff, and another 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Wright, planned a dance. They learned the Electric Slide, YMCA, Bunny Hop, Macarena, Funky Chicken, and they did a party circle where everyone sat on the outside and 3-4 people danced in the middle. It was hilarious! Max did an awesome job! He has really enjoyed learning the dances and really hammed it up. They danced for us, got their pictures taken, then had a snack. It was a lot of fun. Thanks guys, for letting me come to your party and be a part of your special day. I love you both tons!

Max's 9th Birthday

This is the first year that Max didn't want a big fancy cake. All he wanted was chocolate cupcakes with swirly frosting and balls on top

Since we got an XBox for Christmas Max has been obsessed. All he wanted to do for his birthday was play head to head games with his friends. Can you say lame? Fine, that's all you want to do, great. He had Cooper, Luc, Avery, and Owen over for a double elimination tournament. We warmed up with a little Kinect Adventures of river running and bubble popping then moved to the main event. The tournament was downhill skiing and of course, Max won. Then we had chicken & fries for dinner, cake and ice cream, and opened presents. Good birthday! Happy Birthday Max!

Leo decided today would be a good day to try out the old undies. Sorry fella, about the toddler running around with no pants on.

L to R: Luc, Owen, Max, Avery, & Cooper

Merry Christmas to All

My favorite present was my new Cricut cake machine

Joey got a new laptop. Somehow I only got a picture of him with the new hat. We had a great day. The best part was that Christmas fell on a Sunday this year. So we got up, opened gifts, had breakfast, and went to Sacrament meeting together. The kids sang so my mom and dad came to hear the program. Joey didn't have any meetings so he got to hang with us all morning. I liked having it on Sunday. It really helped us focus on what Christmas is really about. It's nice to give and get, but we were really able to spend time thinking about Christ and feeling the Spirit which is what Christmas is really about.

Merry Christmas Leo

One of Leo's favorite gifts was the Cars 2 collection. Joey went a bit crazy and bought 17 cars for him. He doesn't have the full collection but most of the main characters.

He also got an Imaginext airplane

Then there was the castle with lights and sounds. And this picture just goes to show that their is Peace on Earth on Christmas. We can play all together without fighting!

Merry Christmas Gus

Carly's special gift for Gus- silly bands and a stick of gum

A new triceratops

bow and arrow set

Merry Christmas Carly

Dec.25,2011- Carly with her loot-nail polish, new boots, and a useful pony! The top pic is actually at grandmas house on Christmas Eve, but it's still cute so I felt it in.

Merry Christmas Max

Max really wanted some die cast cars. He got one in Catalina while on the cruise and really had fun with it. Joey got him a few more to add to the collection.

He also got an electric snap circuit board which has been fun to fiddle with

Then of course there's the XBox which was a family gift but Max is opening it

Below is his own pack of Garbage Pail Kids

Dec. 25, 2011- I always end up with a ton of pictures opening presents on Christmas morning and I always pick one of each child and call it good. This year I didn't want to miss out on those lost photos so i am posting each kids pics separately. This way the joy of Christmas can be fully captured and appreciated by all.