Today the kids had a Christmas concert at daycare. They were suppose to do something totally different but they had problems with the music so it was all done with just the kids singing. I think they did an amazing job all by them self. Sorry for the bad quality, my hands were shaking and I was trying to stand on a chair so I could see them. The school isn't doing one so I wont be able to show those at all. Then tonight my sister, her boyfriend, my brother and all the kids came over for a early Christmas. My sisters oldest daughter goes to her dads every other year so we do a early one where they exchange gifts to each other. It was so much fun and all the kids got along so well. Its hard to believe how fast they are growing up. Cody got some Bakugan stuff, Emily got a teapot and a puzzle, Bayleigh got the High School Musical movie, Eli got Lego's and Lexi got a cute little outfit. The kids were all very polite and waited for the other kids to finish before they went, all though Emily had a hard time understanding the difference between youngest to oldest and shortest to tallest. When we said youngest first she got excited until she had to wait till almost the end. I surprised Sandy and Jacob with little photo books I made with different pictures from over the years. After that we had some pizza and just hung out while the kids were busy playing in the bed rooms. It was great to hang out with them all and just let the kids play, cant wait till next time when all of the kids will be older and Lexi can join in the fun. Now to just wait till the real Christmas.
I got myself a Christmas present this year, a new car. I'm so excited it has power locks, windows and a button to pop the trunk. It also has tons of safety features, four doors and in very good condition. I got an amazing deal on it and now I wish summer would hurry up so we could go for a really long drive. It is a 2002 Alero, white with very soft grey seats. Here is what it looks like. Check out all this room for my kids and for me
Today I told the kids after karate we would go see Santa so Emily wanted to wright him a letter. She did it all by herself and I thought it was so cute. Her letter says "Dear Santa I have been very goog this year ask my mom p.s. Santa would you get me the lulu cat pleas!" I just wanted to share before we took it to Santa, she even did all the spelling and sentence her self. After we did some running and took Cody to karate it was off to see Santa and his elf.
On Saturday Cody tested for his orange belt in karate. He was nervous but he did a really good job. The class warmed up first then broke up into groups, his group was the orange and white belts. They did some basic kicks and blocks then went into the combos. He got a little mixed up on hands but ended up doing a wonderful job and did his best. I'm so proud of him, not just for getting his belt but for getting up in front of all the people and doing his best. After he tested the other belts went and it was very neat to see how the higher belts did things. The orange plus belts all fight each other and he says he cant wait to learn to fight, we might have just opened a can of warms with that one. Here is a collection of all the photos I took during the test and as you can see there is a wide collection of people, from the old to the young. Almost makes me want to join the class to, but I think I will just stick to kickboxing. Sorry for a repeat of a song, but it seems like a perfect song for karate stuff. After the test we had a birthday party to go to. It was out at the zoo and when its about 10 degrees outside it doesn't leave much to look at. So we went into the indoor part and looked at all the bugs and snakes, Cody loved it all while Emily really only wanted to look at the monkey looking things, the cute little mice and the store. After the zookeeper told about the snakes and mice they went and got a giant bunny. I forgot her name but she weighs in at 15 pounds, I have never seen a bunny that big. The kids then finished up the party then we went home so they could get ready to have a fun time with the babysitter. It was a very eventful day, but very fun. Now if we could only get one more day in the weekend it would be perfect.
Tonight we went on a hay ride the kids school puts on. Now it has been nice and warm, lows in the 30's day time highs in the 50's however on December 1st winter hit so tonight it is 16 and when your riding on the back of a flatbed you got windchill. I was going to forget about it, but the school sent home the reminder with Emily, and lucky for us she can read and tell time so we where able to make it. The kids got all bundled up before we left with heavy jackets, snow boots, heavy gloves and hats, the one thing about winter is it takes awhile to get ready. We got all nice and warm and headed over for our ride, they are only 15 minute rides so not to long and we sang all kinds of songs on it. There are some really cool houses along the way that you can see so that is alot of fun. After we finished we went inside were we got hot chocolate and cookies to warm up with. On the way out the kids wanted to go one more time so we headed back for one more lap around the block before heading home. It is a very neat thing the school does and adds a little something to the Christmas season but I think next time I will bring a cup of hot chocolate to hold on to.
Cody has been in kirate now for three months and is really enjoying it. He has been doing so well and really growing from it. During his parent teacher confence they told me last year he was a imature first grader, this year he is a mature frist greader and I really put alot of that creidt toward the kirate class. He will be testing for his orange belt on Saturday so he has been practiceing very hard for it. Here is a little video I took from class last night.
This year I have alot to be thankfull for. I have two amazeing kids who everyday seem to grow a bigger heart along with bodys. I have an amazeing family who would do anything for me in a blink of a eye without questions. I have a great job that now adays just haveing a job is something to be thankfull no matter if you like it or not. I have the best friends I could ask for, the only thing I would do to change anything about my life is to bring a few of them closer to me. This turkey day we started it out by watching the New York Macy's Day Parade for the first time and the kids told me we have to go see that those bolloons are so big. After that we chilled around the house then went off to my Moms house for the day. My sister and brother and there kids joined us and it was the frist time all five kids got toghter. They all played and had a great time with very little agureing or fighting. When it was time to eat we had so much food, everything you could think of was on our table. It truely was the perfect Thanksgiveing. Here is just a collection of different photos I took from the day. On black friday we went to a few stores, but I learned if you dont get there early its not worth it. So next year if anyone wants to spend the night and babysit... I mean enjoy a night away from your own house... just let me know. We put our tree up on friday and got all the Christmas stuff out to start the Christmas season. I think the kids did a really good job putting them up.
We had breakfest with an aunt and uncle of mine that were passing though town on the way home Satuerday morning and it was so great to see them. We acutally were able to get some talking in even with the five kids at the table. After breakfest Sandy and I spent the day just goofing off and haveing fun. It was so much fun and we ended the day with a vist to Chuck E Cheese, so the kids were all super excited about that. On Sunday we went and finshed some shopeing and ran into my mom. She was nice enough to take my kids for a bit so I could go get there shoping down and then we put up all her lights on her house. Its not very often you can do that in Montana and not have a ton of ice and snow on the ground, but this time it was so nice out. Cody and Emily rode there bikes and cleaned the leaves for Mom while we got the lights up. It was a really amazeing weekend and one I wish could have gone on a few more days.
Emily got a teapot and a puzzle,
Bayleigh got the High School Musical movie,
Eli got Lego's
and Lexi got a cute little outfit.
The kids were all very polite and waited for the other kids to finish before they went, all though Emily had a hard time understanding the difference between youngest to oldest and shortest to tallest. When we said youngest first she got excited until she had to wait till almost the end. I surprised Sandy 
and Jacob 
with little photo books I made with different pictures from over the years. After that we had some pizza and just hung out while the kids were busy playing in the bed rooms. It was great to hang out with them all and just let the kids play, cant wait till next time when all of the kids will be older and Lexi can join in the fun. Now to just wait till the real Christmas.
