New Year

So here we are in 2013! Already we've got lots happening in our family. Let's see...

Lupi and Boompa came to visit us for Christmas! We had so much fun. They brought their dogs, Sally (the Golden) and Sooki (the little black dog) with them. As you can see from the picture we had so much fun it wore us out. But the really exciting news is that we decided to keep Sally! She had been such a good girl, we just love her.

She and Aaron are especially close. She thinks she is HIS dog and he thinks she is HIS puppy. But Sally is taking good care of all the kids. 

She is a super great babysitter. Whenever Clara goes outside Sally follows her and stays right next to her to make sure she stays safe. 

Clara likes having Sally around because now there are so many new and interesting things to chew on. 

We also got lots of presents for Christmas. They stacked up almost as high as the tree! 

Hannah has discovered a new love. She LOVES having her picture taken! While Lupi and Boompa were here she would frequently tell Boopa..."Take my picture! I'll be really cute!"

Her Mom agrees! She is really cute. The above pose and outfit are all of her own creation, and darn it she's adorable. 

Aaron is working on his science fair project. He's researching what things around the house have phosphors in them and will glow under a black light. Here he is with laundry soap smeared on his head. As you can see it sure glows!

Clara seems to be taking after her big sister Emma, she loves to sing. Here she is showing off her amazing moves. 

Speaking of Emma... she's got lots of fun going on. She just joined a Brownie Troop! Here they are at the annual cookie rally.  Not only that but Emma will also be joining a singing group soon. They will be performing at the Pima County Fair in April. 

I think that's all the news for now, love you all! See you soon.

Christmas Clothes

We took the pictures of the kids in their Christmas clothes this morning, we'll have family here next week so we thought it would be easier to get the pictures done early. Here are our little cuties all dressed up in red...

It's now official, these are the cutest kids in the world, even if it seems to be impossible for us to get a picture where they all look cute at the same time.

*Yesterday I called Hannah my "cute little girl." She glared at me and said, "I'm not a cute little girl! I'm a cute little woman!" 

Aaron refused to make cute faces when he's getting his picture taken! You have to catch him when he's not paying attention (see below where he's holding the baby).

Ahhh! The little booger!

Emma still rocks her signature pose!

We tried getting a picture of Clara sitting by herself, but she wouldn't look at the camera, she wanted to watch the big kids... 

...and she was captivated by the bow on her dress.

So we let the big kids take turns holding her, which worked a little better.

Attempt number one...

...two...

...and three.

In the end we gave up and tried to get a picture with all four of them. At least three of them are smiling!

Jared and I, and all our little stinkers wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you in January!

Winter

Although we live in Arizona and the winters here and the best anywhere, it still gets cold. This morning it was 40 degrees outside which, especially for here, is cold! When it was time to go jump in the van and head for school Aaron came out of his room wearing shorts and a tee shirt. I had to force him to go and get his sweater and then when we got to school and I told him I would be emailing his teacher to make sure he wore the sweater outside if it stayed cold he refused to get out of the car.
I sent Emma and Tyler on ahead and had Aaron come sit in the front next to me so we could figure out what to do about this. He sat there in his summer clothes with his shoulders shaking, teeth chattering and nose running insisting that he didn't need a jacket because he wasn't cold. After debating for 45 min (no exaggeration) we finally came to an agreement. Apparently Aaron hates jackets and sweaters because they cover up his tee shirts, so we decided we would drive to Target and get long johns (that he would pick out) to wear under his tee's so he could still see the picture but he would be kept warm. That way even though neither of us were perfectly happy, we would both be happier then we were at the moment. He would still get to have a tee shirt on top, and I wouldn't be so afraid he was going to freeze to death.
We drove to the store and he picked out long johns and put them on under his tee.
I dropped him off at school this morning 2 hours late, but he was wearing long sleeves and he wasn't shaking anymore, so I guess it was worth it.

Ideas

Last Wed in scouts our pack leader told the boys a funny story about some kids that tied their Moms feet to the bed on Mothers Day until she gave them presents. All they boys of course thought this was hilarious while all of us mothers shook our heads and said, "Now don't get any ideas!"
Well after school today Aaron found the hot chocolate I'd just bought at Costco and asked me to make him some. I told him, "No, that's for after dinner." Aaron got a very sneaky look on his face and replied, "Mom.... I'm starting to get ideas from scouts last time."

Zombies

Hannah said our goodnight prayer tonight. She was sitting on my lap and I was helping her a little bit. She did a great job, but then right after we said amen she looked at me and said, "Oh! We forgot to say for no zombies in my room!"
Heeheehee, I told her to ask for that in her personal prayer and that I was sure she'd be ok.

Awww...

This morning Emma was getting ready for school. She handed me her shoes so I could untie them for her, they'd gotten all tangled up. After I handed them back to her she put them next to me and put her foot up on my lap. Without thinking about it I started trying to fit her foot into one of the shoes. When I realized what I was doing I stopped and said, "Emma, you do this, you're not two, I don't need to put your shoes on for you." Em took her shoes back and said, "Awww... I thought you would fall for that."

Reading

Here is our Clara, reading herself a story...