Kelsey and Bob Sitting in a Tree

    Kelsey has a crush on Bob the Builder.  I was going to blog about that awhile ago and I forgot.  I even forgot about her crush.  That's why I have to write things down!  She and Nate were watching Bob the Builder this morning and Haylee asked her, "Kelsey, do you think Bob the Builder is handsome?"  And she got a huge grin and nodded her head and said, "Yes!"  So this time I am blogging about it immediately, before I forget again about Kelsey's cartoon crush!

Yes, Haylee, There Really Is a Santa Claus

     This morning, I got on the internet and saw a Yahoo article about the NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) Santa Tracker.  A friend had just posted on Facebook about how much her daughter enjoys it even though she doesn't believe in Santa anymore.  So I thought my kids might enjoy it too, even though Natalee and Haylee haven't believed in Santa for awhile now.  So I read the article and found the link to the NORAD Santa Tracker website.  I went to the website and then went out and showed it to the kids.  They were fascinated by it and asked me how they keep track of Santa.  I explained how NORAD is the military in charge of tracking things in the air and so they use all their resources to track Santa.  I also read them the part of the article that I thought was the funniest; the explanation of how this all started:

"So, why would a North American command center that usually is looking out for threats to the air and water turn its attention to jolly Saint Nick? It all started back in 1955, when a local Sears Roebuck & Co. catalog that promised a Santa hotline misprinted the number. Instead of Santa, callers got Continental Air Defense Command, now known as NORAD.

Calls going into the command center were generally red alerts from the secretary of defense or even the president. Instead, a little girl on the other end of the line asked for Santa. Col. Harry Shoup, who was working on Christmas Eve, knew a call to service when he heard one. He instructed staff members to check the radar for signs of Santa. And the tradition has continued ever since."

     About a half an hour later, Haylee was with me in my bedroom watching me wrap a Christmas present for Mackenzie.  As I finished up and handed the present to her to label, she said something about the Santa Tracker again.  Then she said, "Mom, I always thought that Dad was Santa.  You know, since you're the Tooth Fairy.  I thought that Dad was Santa...."  She seemed very amazed to discover that Santa is real after all.  I mean, if he weren't real, why would there be a website by the military dedicated to tracking his movements on Christmas Eve?  So thanks to NORAD, my 9 year old is, once again, a believer!

Avery's Baby Pictures

     Finally blogging again!  A couple of weeks ago, we had another laptop incident.  I had the laptop on the family room floor because I was using it as my address book and I was getting ready to send a package to Kevin and Cynthia since we have them for Christmas.  I was wrapping their presents and Nathan was watching a TV show.  Avery was laying contently on a blanket on the floor.  I hadn't noticed that Nathan had decided to stand up on the recliner and start rocking it back and forth very wildly.  Suddenly, it crashed right on top of the laptop, and bam, second laptop screen cracked this year.  Sigh....I was feeling very overwhelmed at the time.  But today is my birthday and I got a new laptop.  And another plus is that the disc drive works on this one so I can post these beautiful pictures of Avery.
     On December 13, my friend Yari Mower came over to take some pictures of Avery.  She had posted on facebook that she wanted people to practice taking pictures because she has been trying to improve her photography skills.  I had tried to take some of my own pictures of Avery and didn't feel like they turned out very well (I'll have to post those later!) so I was very excited to have Yari come over and take these gorgeous pictures!

Family Pictures

     My mom came over a week ago to take some new pictures of our family.  We were trying to decide where to go when a good friend, Erin Loughmiller, dropped by.  She has some great photography skills and mentioned that our front fence would actually make a perfect backdrop.  She was right!  And she helped pose us and make the kids laugh while my mom took the pictures.  So thanks to my mom and Erin, we have some extremely beautiful new family pictures!  I was so happy to have an updated family picture with Avery.

 It was SO hard to decide which family picture I liked best. I finally went with the 2nd.

 The kids posed themselves and it turned out really cute!

I actually think this is a really good picture of Daren and I

 Natalee...

 Haylee...

 Mackenzie...

 Kelsey...

 Nathan...

I have two pictures of Natalee and Kelsey because I couldn't decide between them.  Poor Avery doesn't have a picture of just her because she was too little to just set down and take a picture outside.  But I imagine she'll get plenty of posts with pictures of just her in these next few months.

Student of the Month

December 7, 2012

     Haylee got student of the month!  It's a little more hectic in the mornings now with a new baby.  I barely managed to get the kids to school on time that morning and in all the rush, I forgot my camera!!  It probably wouldn't have had the SD card in it anyway. :)  So this isn't the greatest picture of Haylee with her award, but it's still quite adorable.  She got a coupon for a free taco at Taco Bell.
     It was also "fake an injury" day.  Since we were running so late, I just didn't have time to make my kids look injured.  Mackenzie was particularly disappointed because she didn't do anything.  But Haylee grabbed a red marker and drew a cut on her forehead.  Just thought I would explain the red on her forehead in this picture. :)
     Haylee also was one of the top three finalists in her class for the spelling bee.  She gets to be in the school spelling bee on Dec. 21.  Her teacher gave her a list of words to study and some of them are really hard!  But hopefully she will study hard and do very well.
     Great job Haylee!

Avery's First Bath

     I kept putting off giving Avery a bath because my babies always hate their first bath.  They end up like the water eventually, but the first time really scares them and they just scream.  Also, since it's winter and a little chillier, I figured she would really hate to get wet.  Finally, on Dec. 3, she was two weeks old and I couldn't put it off any longer.
     She did great!  She didn't seem to mind the water and didn't cry at all!

Pictures With Santa

Kelsey asked for Lalaloopsy's

Mackenzie asked for a flute

Haylee asked for an archery set

Natalee asked for a pink BB gun

Nathan didn't ask for anything.  He just wanted that candy cane!

     Kelsey has been telling me this past week that she wants Santa to bring her Lalaloopsy toys for Christmas.  I told her that we were going to see Santa on Friday when we went to the Santa train and she could sit on his lap and tell him what she wants.  She got a concerned look on her face.  Kelsey has always been too afraid to sit on Santa's lap and I think she was still feeling like she might not be ready.  She told me she needed me to help her be brave.  Then she said, "Tell me to face my fears."  I thought it was adorable.  I told her I would be happy to help her and if she still wasn't sure, she could write a letter to Santa and bring it to him.  She didn't want to do that though.  She just wanted to try to be brave.
     As you can see from the picture, she faced her fears and told Santa what she wants for Christmas.  She was quite proud of herself when she was done, as she should be.  The other girls told Santa what they wanted also.  Nate just wanted the candy cane and I couldn't even get him to look at me once he had it in his hand.  In fact, he didn't even seem to notice when Santa picked him up and set him on his knee for the picture.  Which is good because Nathan usually wants nothing to do with Santa.
     I don't have any great pictures of us on the train.  I remembered to bring my good camera but forgot to put the SD card back in it after downloading some pictures onto the computer.  My phone camera was good enough for pictures with Santa but there wasn't enough light by the train.  Oh well, maybe next year!
     Nathan was funny about the train.  I was most excited for him to get to ride it since he has become so in love with trains this past year.  Then as we're in line, he starts saying, "I don't want to ride the train!"  He was genuinely nervous about it.  But we told him we would hold him tight.  Originally, I wasn't going to go with the rest of the family because I figured I would have to stay home with Avery.  It's usually bitterly cold and windy.  But this year it was really not that cold.  I still bundled her up so she would be nice and warm.  Then Daren held Nathan and I held Avery.  Nate ended up really loving it, just like we thought he would.