Shelbys Birthday Dinner

We love that Grandma and Grandpa Joy coordinate a family dinner for our girls for their birthdays.  They always get to choose exactly what we eat for dinner and for dessert.  It can get quite interesting.  This year we celebrated the Sunday before Shelby's birthday.  She chose to have corn dogs (and mini corn dogs), tater tots, peaches and apples for dinner.  She then wanted brownies and ice cream cones for dessert.  She chose play dough ice cream and multicolored cones. I tried to set up a mini Ninja Turtle set up so that it was a little more fun.  

 I went to get the usual picture in front of the party table and she said "What should I do, put my thumbs up?" I said "Sure, just be sure to smile."

 I have a love/hate relationship with this picture.  I love that they hug each other without me asking them to.  It seriously melts my heart to see how close they are.  What I hate is that they are getting bigger.  Kadence looks so old in this picture to me.

 You may notice some Ninja Turtle socks in the picture.  They didn't wear them to church, but when they got home they removed their jackets and sweaters and added some socks.

 Make a wish!

 Present time!

We were all so happy that Curtis, Sarah, Jeffy, Grandma and Grandpa were able to join us in our home to celebrate.  It made Shelby feel so special and she had the best day!

Kwanzaa/New Years!

December 31st we celebrated New Years Eve as well as Kwanzaa.  We decided to celebrate the first principle of Kwanzaa this year which is Umoja (Unity).  It means to strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.  We decided to come up with a family motto.  I thought it would be fun to make it something the kids are familiar with so I searched a lot of quotes from movies they know.  It came down to a quote from Secret Life of Walter Mitty and a quote from Up.  Up won!  We will be focused on being kind and respectful to others and to our environment.  "A wilderness explorer is a friend to all, be a plant or fish or tiny mole" -Russell

 We also decided to celebrate the fourth principle which is Ujamaa.  (Cooperative Economics) We strive to build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.  This is our favorite principle!  We always go to a small business and talk to our girls about the importance of buying from local businesses.  This year we went out to eat at El Toro Viejo.  They were a little confused as to why it is "small" if they have another restaurant in Brigham City, but we assured them they are small in comparison to McDonalds.

Later we came home to have our party!  It was a lot of fun and full of being silly, snacks.....and more snacks.  The girls got to choose a treat and they chose cupcakes.  I picked them up at Sams Club because who doesn't need 24 cupcakes for a family of 4?  Ha!

 I took a quiz on Facebook to tell me what my resolution should be.  Everyone else who took it got something funny.  For example, take more sick days at work because you're sick of work.  Mine was sad and something I'm unfortunately very skilled at already.

 On New Years Day we celebrated with the traditional cabbage burgers.  I also added a cabbage salad to it.  I eat cabbage burgers but I don't love them.  I can eat one or two before I just can't do it anymore.  I added the cabbage salad so that I get the appropriate amount of cabbage.  Story has it that you will have enough money to last through the year if you eat cabbage on New Years.

Christmas Parade/Polar Express (Nov)

This year for the annual Christmas Parade, we were invited to go watch from a hotel window with Jeff, Taycina and Nicholas. (And the Brady family)  It was so nice of them to invite us and to think of us.  It was probably the warmest it's ever been for the parade, but it was still nice to not be crammed and then have people shove in front of the kids.  We're hoping we can get a room next year so that we can stay the night in Ogden and watch the parade as well. (The Bradys are thinking of getting the same room so it will make for another fun year!)

 After the parade we went to Mrs Gambles to have our annual Polar Express party.  It's so kind of her to welcome us into her home and to give us such a fun tradition to look forward to.  She always gets a display of snacks and hot cocoa ready for us too.  My girls wore their PJ's this year and were just so excited! 

It's a much anticipated tradition and Kathy holds a very special place in our hearts.

Week 3 Pictures

Here are the pictures from January 15th through the 21st:

Here are the outtakes and girl/mom pictures for this week.  We found a new app and the girls like taking black and white pictures because it "looks like back in the old days."