Merry Christmas 2008

OH BROTHER!

Jordan and Carson got their hair cuts one night just before Christmas. As I saw them sitting on the couch I realized how much they really do look alike. Jordan is a little miniature Carson.

Later on in the evening I saw them watching TV and noticed they were

even laying on the floor the same way.

Look at those profiles! The are almost exactly the same.

Oh Brother!!!!!

Born to Dance!

I got to go and sit in Sadie's last dance class before Christmas break! It was really fun to watch her. She is dancing with a class of 7 to 9 year olds and is the youngest at only 6-years-old. She keeps up with them just fine and in fact, (mother's bragging moment) her teacher told me that she is one of the best dancers in their class. I didn't believe it until I saw it. She really does have the natural talent to dance.

Grace is something I was not really born with and I will never forget my first and last ballet class! I hated it! But I have to say that I really enjoy watching Sadie. Maybe it is because she is so graceful!

OK I know she has a big hole in her tights and she does own two other pair but this is her favorite pair and unless she is performing she insists on wearing the pair with the hole in them. They might just have to disappear in the New Year!

LET IT SNOW! Last Friday we had a heavy snowfall warning and then it was going to get really really cold so I thought I better take the dog for a long run in the woods close to our house and the boys wanted to go sledding. It was snowing a lot but wasn't too cold yet so off we went.

Carson and his friend found a big cardboard box laying around and so they tied their sleds together and had Jordan climb onto the middle. Then they backed up and took a running leap for the sled to make it fly down the hill. There was another man walking his dog and when he saw these kids doing this he laughed so hard. Then the next time they went down the hill Black Jack jumped ontop for the ride down the hill too. It was hilarious. Good fun in the snow! Boy did it feel like Christmas time.

That night the temperature dropped and it has been about -37 Celcius with the windchill since that night! That was Black Jack's last walk for a few days any ways. Last night we took him to my moms to run him on the tredmill so he could get some exercise.

It is so cold that school was cancelled so the kids were at home all day. They had a great time decorating their gingerbread houses.

We had a little contest between the boys and girls to see who could decorate the best house.

I think they turned out pretty good!




The other thing we did today was dip chocolates. This is one of Jordan's favorite Christmas traditions. His favorite part is licking the pan when I am done!

Does anybody remember the electronic top? It is often pulled out this time of year and the kids are getting blisters on their hands trying to beat their dad. This top counts the number of rotations it makes and so it becomes a really addicting contest. I had to get a picture of Darcy's form when he spins this top because it is hilarious for me to watch! He takes this game very seriously.

We are having fun getting ready for Christmas and we may even have a white Christmas this year.

Halloween 2008

Happy Halloween! First of all we had the most beautiful Halloween ever in my lifetime. I couldn't get over the kids out trick-or-treating without a coat or even a hoodie underneath or overtop of their costumes. There were princesses that actually looked like princesses instead of snow princesses. WOW - I kept asking myself if we were still really living in Calgary.



We had a really busy Halloween month. My brother Justin married Leah 2 weeks before Halloween. The Friday before Halloween we had a party/dance at the church which I was in charge of. It was a lot of work but was very successful. This Warewolf is the new addition to our Halloween decorations this year and yes he got to go to the ward Halloween party along with the Wicked Witch and the 8 foot tall Frankenstein. (All three of them have twins that live at Rachelle Kearl's house. It has become a tradition for the two of us to create something big every year.)



After that party was over we had our primary presentation that Sunday which I was also in charge of. At that point I had lost my voice completely with a cold that I had been fighting for a week.

Kailey and I had a mother daughter night at Achievement days and it was a pumpkin painting party. This is the pumpkin that she created that night.

Because we kicked off the Halloween season by going to Disneyland the kids decided they wanted to have Mickey Mouse pumpkins so Carson attempted to make his look like the Mickey Mouse Pumpkin at Disneyland.

JJ wanted his to have ears like Mickey but the face had to be a "real jack-o-lantern" (whatever that is?). He had very specific specifications on how I was to carve the pumpkin. Thank goodness when I was finished he said "It looks perfect mom!" He picked the biggest pumpkin to carve this year and in this picture he looks like he is wearing it!

Sadie wanted Minnie Mouse so that is what we did. She was pretty proud of her pumpkin!

OK - this is the only picture I have of my kids dressed up in their costumes. JJ and Sadie are trick-or-treating at the neighbor's house. Brandon, you would have loved Carson's costume this year. He dug out the old white trash costume in your bedroom and added Dad's scary man mask to it. It was hilarious. What was even more funny is when people asked him what he was and he wasn't sure what to say. lol Kailey was a cute sassy pirate girl. I might have to get them to dress up in their costumes one more time so I can take some picture of them. Jordan was the same cute pirate he was last year but when it came time for trick-or-treating he decided to be Tigger instead. He figured the Tigger costume would make him faster when it came to bouncing from house to house.

Carson and Kailey did a great job of decorating our yard for Halloween night. The kids didn't have school on Halloween day so I took them to the Southland leisure center to swim. By the time we got home it was getting late so I told them to start decorating and I ran out to get some pizza. It took forever for the pizza to be ready so by the time I got home they had the yard all decorated. I must say they did a fabulous job!

This picture doesn't really do it justice because you can't see the witch and her cats on the porch and the warewolf doesn't stand out too well. Once we turned on the dining room light it lit the witch up and they all looked really good.


We were going to have a Halloween party for Carson and Kailey and their friends the night before Halloween but we had to cancel it because we found out that they had both been slacking off in school and their grades were not good at all! They were really disappointed when Darcy and I layed the hammer down and canceled the party but we had our annual family Halloween dinner that night instead. It is a big event and the kids love decorating the house and setting the table for our spooky dinner.

Universal Studios and Sea World

OUR DISNEY TRIP

The House of Mouse!

DISNEY LAND! We finally managed to get the kids to the house of mouse. We surprised them with a trip to Disneyland on the airplane and they were sooooo excited. They didn't know about it until a couple of days before we left. Mickey is doing just great and was really happy to see the kids (especially little Jordan!).


The park was decorated really cute for Halloween and the crowds were not too bad. It was a good time of year to go. We left really early last Sunday morning and got home Friday night. Darcy is glad the trip is over! The kids and I wish it never had to end.

I'll post more pics when I get time to go through all of our pictures and find some real good ones. For now it is back to reality!

SHOW OFF

This is Jordan - Our Little Show Off! We are riding to the park the other night enjoying the beautiful fall weather we are having and as I see Jordan coasting down the hill I realize that his feet are on his handle bars. (I've been on his case to keep his hands on his handle bars and so now he rides with no feet instead). I just happened to have my camera in my pocket so I grabbed it and took a picture of him while I was riding my bike beside him. What a kid!!

Our second show off is Sadie. She is a real monkey when it comes to the monkey bars. She loves them so much that even with blisters on her hands she will keep doing them.

Kailey just waiting to go on the family bike ride to the park.

Carson is big into kicking the football and has decided that would be the easiest way to make his millions in the NFL! All the power to ya Carson - just remember you might have to share your millions with your mama!
We have been enjoying this fall (more like summer weather) and are sad to see the leaves falling off of the trees this week. Fall is now in the air and we are sad to see summer go. On the other hand the kids have lots to look forward to in the next few weeks! (check back in a week or so for more details) :)

Back to School

It has been an eventful week in the Weston household! It started last weekend with a quick trip to Kalispell to get Darcy's motorcycle tuned up and of course a little back to school shopping. We had a wedding reception to go to Friday night in Calgary and we left Calgary after 9:30 pm that night. We had the kids change into their PJ's and we put all of their clothes and shoes in one bag. As I made a bed in the back of the van for the kids to sleep in while we traveled I told Darcy to start driving. Needless to say when I went to unload the bag from the car in Cardston at 11:45 that night there was no bag. It had been left in the parking lot at the church. All the kids had for clothes were the PJ's they were wearing and I had my dress that I had worn to the reception that night. We managed to get ahold of my girlfriend who had the bag but that didn't do us any good for the next day in Kalispell. We got up bright and early and headed across the boarder. First stop was to target to buy the kids some clothes to wear that day. As you can see Carson and Kailey did have their dress shoes to wear but they were not impressed as they walked the isles of Target in their PJ's and dress shoes. Darcy and I were laughing our heads off. Sadie and Jordan didn't even have any shoes to wear! We told the kids that if people looked at them funny to tell them that they were Proud to be Crazy Canadians!
Thanks to target we were able to outfit the whole family for less than $100.00 and then we were set for the rest of the day in Kalispell!
Jordan was so excited to start his preschool! We have 7 little boys from the ward that we have formed a homebased preschool with. We meet Tuesday and Thursdays and their first day was at out house. We read the hungry caterpillar and learned about the days of the week. The boys favorite part was snack time when they each ate a foot long caterpillar (huge grapes strung on a skewer).

Tuesday was the first day of school and you can tell which kid is the most excited about going back to school by the smiles on their faces (or lack of). Kailey is 4th grade (last year at the Elementary school) Sadie started first grade and is so excited about it and Carson is in 6th grade. I can't believe that three of them are gone all day. Needless to say Jordan is not happy about them all leaving him at home by himself.
The night before school started Sadie lost her first tooth! She has been wiggling this tooth for at least 3 months and we decided it was time to for it to come out!
Daddy used the old dental floss trick and out it popped. Now Sadie is really ready for Grade One!
And so are the happenings of the Weston Home the first week of September!