8 Is Great!

Dylan had a fun birthday, so special to turn 8 and be baptized and start Scouts. He requested a vanilla cake with strawberries in the middle. I thought it was a great idea, but so surprised that one of my kids doesn't pick chocolate first!

(I love how seriously he takes this candle blowing!)

We had to BEG Dylan to open his presents. He was so not into it this year.
He got a fun Zhu Zhu pet, bubble rocket, helicopters to fly and plenty of new markers. But he only wanted to get back to his coloring, his latest favorite thing to do!At school, Dylan got to bring these Spongebob cupcakes and the rings on top were a bit hit!

Sick Days

With all the rainy, cold weather we've had, there have been several sick days in February. Our dog seems to LOVE the kids hibernating. In fact, she is the perfect cuddle dog. She even lets Ella wrap her in blankets like a doll and doesn't move. She's the best dog to have when sick. May makes my life easier by cuddling the kids for me!
P.S. Ella also loves Dylan being home for sick days, she loves to cuddle and not have him gone so much!

Valentine's Day

I thought it was going to be strange to have Valentine's Day on Sunday this year. But, it has turned out to be one of my favorite Valentine's. Dylan stayed home on Monday and we decorated his school Valentine box. I thought it turned out so cute. (Too bad the party was postponed due to record snow here!)
Ella had a fun Valentine party with her dance class.
The Grandmas sent fun surprises this year. Grandma Liz gave each kid a $5 bill which will be fun to spend on our day off school for President's Day tomorrow. Gran Gran (my mom) made yummy sugar cookies and Dylan got a wind-up car and Ella got a heart necklace. Eric sent me, my sisters, my mom and Ella a rose on Saturday, hand delivered by a lady in my ward.

Best of all, Eric and I got to go out on a date Saturday night. We went to our favorite SPLURGE... Five Guys. It is a burger chain that started in Washington D.C., where we fell in love. Now they are in Dallas. (If you remember, this is where Obama and Biden made a splash going out for burgers together).

Back to why I thought Valentine's Day was special on Sunday (spiritual thought coming)... I taught my Primary class on being pure in heart. It struck me how perfect Heavenly Father's love is for us all and how far we have to go in loving one another. Yes, it's easy to love for fun on Valentine's, but the rest of the year...

Bragging Time

(Ella on Pirate day at preschool last week)

I'm so impressed with Ella this year. She didn't like her preschool at the beginning of the year and begged us to let her stop. We took a risk and let her out, I mean a girl is going to be in school for the next 20 years. Her dad made her promise though that she'd learn how to read. Ella missed the Kindergarten deadline by only 3 weeks, so we felt she was ready to read. And with lots of hard work on her part, she is reading and loving it!

She goes to a preschool twice a week where she and a few other kids help the autism students. She has grown in so much compassion and also understanding of her own brother. The little things, like what hair bow to wear, don't seem as dramatic when she sees how hard these kids struggle to talk and play.

Not to mention, I have thoroughly enjoyed the extra time with Ella by my side this year. I'm grateful she opted out of school every day too!

Record Snow in Texas

We woke up to about 11 inches of snow in our Dallas neighborhood! Kids were out as early as possible playing in it.




They pretty much never stopped making snowmen, throwing snowballs or making snow angels unless they needed to eat or pee. It's been a blast!

Christmas Morning 2009

Luckily Santa found us at Grandma Liz's house!

I love the look of suspense as kids run to the Christmas tree!


Ella's favorite was probably her makeup from Grandma Liz.



Dylan was sick with the stomach flu, but was a good sport(sorry Lewis family we gave it to you all)!!!



Things I LOVED about this Christmas:

• Nativity with Lewis cousins
• Ella saying she got everything she wanted when she had no idea what she wanted
• Dylan enjoying his cousins more than ever
• Excellent chats with Liz, love and admire her mucho!
• Seeing our kids enjoy family so much
• Meeting Zach's aweseome fiance who I'm sure I'll hang out with so often as Eric and Zach are long-lost twins!
• Long overdue down time as a family, especially with Eric getting a week off
• Snow for Christmas
• My dad was in the hospital for Christmas, but the miracle of his recovery (more on that in another blog post)
• Elf on the Shelf found our house and the anticipation of Christmas was so fun this year for the kids!
  

Christmas Nativity

It was such a treat for us to do the Christmas nativity with all the Lewis cousins. There were plenty of kids to fit all the roles.

(Memphis, Connor and Bernice)

(Dylan as a wise man!)

Eric read a simple version of the Christmas story while the kids acted it out.

(Ella, Memphis, Connor, Madison, Bernice, Dylan)

Ella was the angel and Bernice was Mary.

This crown provided lots of not-so-angelic behavior from Ella! Jack was the adorable baby Jesus.



We opened PJs and exchanged family gifts. It was a special Christmas memory!

Lewis Cousin Time

For Christmas, we headed to Utah for time with the Lewis family. The kids had fun watching 3D movies, swimming (Dylan went off his first diving board), eating goodies, playing with the dogs and just hanging out together.



Memphis was a perfect buddy for Dylan. Memphis loves asking questions and Dylan loves giving one-word answers. We finally told Memphis he could be the boss of Dylan and that was a big hit. We wish Memphis lived next door!

Ella and Bernice had a blast dressing up, doing all things girly and getting to know each other. These cute cousins are only a month apart!

For some reason, I didn't have my camera when the Hardy cousins were around! Boo hoo!
We miss these cousins so much!