I Love You Arizona!

Happy 100th Birthday Arizona!  I love you!

I always get misty-eyed when I think of my beloved home state.  How can I not when I watch this? 


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Jack's First Pinewood Derby

Jack got to participate in his first Pinewood Derby for Cub Scouts (even though he wasn't "official" yet because he hadn't quite turned 8 yet).  He and Jay spent many WEEKS working on it.... designing, sawing, glueing, chiseling, sanding, painting... and sanding and painting and sanding and painting.  Jay patiently taught Jack how to do each part of the process and then was really good about actually having Jack DO IT himself.

(wearing Collin's old uniform because we hadn't gotten him one yet)

 His car was just average in speed (he placed exactly in the middle of the pack), but it looked awesome!  (The photos don't do it justice.)  He won the award for best design.  He learned a lot and had a blast!  He focused on making it look cool this year, but he says next year he is going to focus on making it fast.  :)

Christmas 2011

 Mary won the poetry recitation contest at school and was awarded a medal at the Christmas concert where she also recited her winning poem again.

As a Christmas gag-gift Jay's staff at work gave him these funny dolls that are supposed to look like him.  They are pretty goofy.

My sister made us this amazing quilt from our old T-shirts.  It's super cozy and big so we can share... it's everyone's new favorite blanket to snuggle on the couch with.  It's also fun to look at the quilt pieces and remember the T-shirts that have meaning for us.

 Celebrating Christmas with Jay's family

 To honor our heritage we celebrated Danish Christmas traditions with my family this year on Christmas Eve, including....

 lighting candles on the tree and passing plates of cookies...

 ... while Mary and her cousin represented St. Lucia....

 ... along with many traditional foods like red cabbage, rice pudding, and danish cookies.  And we all gathered around the tree and sang.

Mary was delighted to received the "thing she wanted most in the whole world" on Christmas morning.... Hermione's "Time Turner" necklace replica from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  She loves it! 

The boys also enjoyed their gifts, though we were so distracted we forgot to take any photos.  The highlight though was the family gift... we finally broke down and got them a Wii game system.  They were pretty shocked... it was kind of funny to watch their faces.  Why didn't I take a photo?  Oh well. 

Then we went to the cabin and spent some fun time in the snow.  The weather was gorgeous so the kids spent most of the daylights hours outside... it was sunny and warm but there was tons of snow.

Mary wanted to make a "Snow Girl" (notice she is wearing a "dress") so Jay gave her a hand and sculpted quite the face for it.

While they were doing that Jack went off and made his own "snow boy" and included "hair" to make his unique. 

 I thought it was pretty clever.

It's been a great year and we are looking forward to another one in 2012!

Halloween 2011

Jay carved pumpkins with the kids as usual.  He is the artist, so I don't really get involved.  I can't compete.  :)

Mary decided to dress as Hermoine Granger this year.  I thought she looked really good.

 

And Jack as a Clone Trooper.

 

At 12 years old Collin was feeling "too old" to dress up or go trick-or-treating, but at the last minute he ended up throwing on an old army jacket from a thrift store and went out to collect candy with friends.  I remember feeling very torn at that age.... it takes a few years to completely commit to quitting it all together, especially when all that candy is dangled in front of you!  :)

"Get candy, get candy, get candy, get candy."
"The fools are just giving it away!"
- Jerry Seinfeld