Fun Meet

Emily had a fun meet for gymnastics last weekend. She competed at Level 3. They call it a fun meet because it is not official - it is just for fun so the gymnasts can see where they are at. She really enjoyed herself, and she has improved a lot since I last watched her. We were really proud of her!
Her balance beam routine

Her floor routine

Her bar routine. (If she hadn't fallen during her circle, she would have aced this routine! As it was, she still got the top score)

YG at Spash!

We had our annual school sponsored swim night at Splash last week. We really enjoy going each year. We missed Leilani this year, because she chose to go to a birthday party instead, but we hope she will be with us again next year.
The kids like to play under the waterfall.

The waterslide is a favorite too. (although the line can get pretty long!)

The little kids really enjoy the kiddie pool. It is always fun to jump and splash with your cousins.

They also enjoyed the wave pool. I noticed they have changed the innertubes to clear, which makes it look less crowded out on the water.
We had a good time. My favorite thing is soaking in the hot tub - No Kids Allowed! :) I have more pictures, but I will let the rest of the family put their pictures on their own blogs. I wish Splash wasn't so expensive, because the kids would love to go more often, but I guess it makes it a really special treat doing it this way.

Best Kept Secret ?

When my Aunt sent me this info in an email, I had to go into the kitchen and check it out for myself. I had never heard it before, and who looks at the end of their aluminum foil box? Well, sure enough, it was true, LOL. So I am sharing the following with you:

You know when you try to pull some foil out and the roll comes out of the box? Then you have to put the roll back in the box and start over. The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time.

Well, I would like to share this with you. Yesterday I went to throw out an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason I turned it and looked at the end of the box. Written on the end was, “Press here to lock end.”

Right there, on the end of the box, is a tab to lock the roll in place. How long has this little locking tab been there? I then looked at a generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one, too. I then looked at a box of Saran Wrap and it had one! I can't count the number of times the Saran Wrap roll has jumped out when I was trying to cover something up.

I'm sharing this with my friends. I hope I'm not the only person that didn't know about this.

I know you're going to go and check your boxes, so go ahead!

Japanese Little Mermaid

Leilani's school class put on a performance of the "Little Mermaid" right before Christmas. They did it in English and Japanese, so it was easy to follow, although it would have been easy to follow anyway if you knew the story.
Leilani is on the right in the light blue kimono. She was one of Ariel's sisters. Ariel is the girl on the left in the orange kimono. King Triton is in the middle with Flounder and Sebastion on each side.

The "mermaids" did a beautiful dance with fans.

After the show, Leilani showed us the parts of the set that she painted. They did a great job, and we really enjoyed the show!

In Need Of A Change?

My sister has been giving me some not so subtle hints that my blog is a bit plain and boring. She keeps sending me sites where I can get backgrounds and do cute scrapbooking type things to my page. I maintain that it is what is IN the blog that is the most important, but I am giving change a try. So, there may be some changes going on with this site as I search for something different to frame our news and going ons. And if I go back to my boring old hues of blue, and least I can say I gave it a try. Meanwhile, if you would like to suggest a site that you think I might like to look at, please give me the address!

My Baby is Three

Benjamin celebrated his 3rd birthday this weekend.
Because we had so many things to do, we spread it out over two days. We let him have one present on Saturday morning (his actual birthday), and he was VERY excited! This is the robot of his dreams - it walks, it talks, it shoots, it spins - but apparently he thought it was a transformer and it is not...
He watched me make his birthday cake and enjoyed licking the beaters (yes, I know the dangers, but we live dangerously at our house)

That night we went and watched Emily perform at the Japan Night at the Uof O. Benjamin wasn't happy to eat Japanese food for his birthday dinner, but we had the dinner of his dreams on Sunday.
He did get to ride in his favorite car cart while we grocery shopped for his birthday meal.

He requested car hotdogs, so with a little help from his sisters and cousin, we put some together.

Toothpicks and olives made great wheels!
They also made cars out of celery, peanut butter and raisins.
Benjamin really enjoyed his meal - car hotdogs, doritos, green salad with ranch and kool-aid - just what the boy requested!

Aunt Kim is a cake artist. I made her two 9 X 13 cakes and she sculpted a Lightning McQueen cake from them. It was very cute. I don't know what I would do without her!

Benjamin was very happy to open his presents finally, and had to fight his cousins to play with them.

He blew out the candles and everyone ate cake and ice cream. I can't believe my baby boy is three years old. He informed me that he is not a little boy anymore - he is a big boy. He doesn't need to sleep on a towel anymore, because he does not wet the bed (okay, I'm paranoid), he does not need a pillow at the edge of the bed, because he will not fall off of my bed and he does not need me to put my arm around him when I lay next to him. I guess he put me in my place, didn't he?! He is quite the little man.

Free Admission At The Zoo

If you are willing to bundle up and brave the cold weather, the Portland zoo is having free admission on Monday.



FREE ADMISSION ON MLK DAY!
Jan. 19
Enjoy a free day at the zoo Monday, Jan. 19. Although not required, visitors are asked to bring donations of food or donate the price of zoo admission to benefit the Oregon Food Bank.

**Warning! Potty topics ahead!***

I have been working on potty training my son for the past month or so, and let me tell you it is an adventure! I actually think I missed my window this past summer. He was so ready and he would tell us when he needed to go potty, but we were traveling and there never seemed to be a bathroom around. I know he is a boy, and he doesn't need an "official" bathroom, but he doesn't seem to know that. My well meaning brother (I'll just let you guys try and figure out which one) tried to teach my son to pee on truck tires, in bushes, behind trees, ect. but he wasn't interested. What can I say? His dad was gone and he lives in a household of girls.

Anyway, this is the fourth child I have potty trained, so you would think I'd be a pro. But he is a boy...and that seems to be very different. I have five brothers, so I am not a stranger to the way of boys, but it doesn't seem to help. For instance, why does my son like to pee on his hand? (sorry, I warned you there would be potty topics) He goes out of his way to do it, and tells me he wants to, but why? He won't spray a tree, but likes to hit his hand? Where is the logic? I'm sure I will never understand.

He is too short to stand up and pee in the toilet, so he sits down, but then he seems to spray straight out and get his pants all wet. I thought I had this solved by telling him to lean forward and watch where he was aiming, but he was doing that in the church bathroom and ended up peeing on his forehead (no, I am not making this up). None of my girls ever had that problem.

I could go on and on, but I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say I have decided that potty training a boy is definitely something the dad should do instead of the mom. Right now, I am the one potty trained - as long as I put him on the toilet every couple of hours, we are good. If I forget, I usually have a mess to clean up. He doesn't tell me he needs to go potty very often, and he has only gone in and done it on his own once. But, he has NEVER had an accident at night or during nap time, so I guess that is something. Hopefully the rest will come. He doesn't wear anything but underwear now, so at least I am saving money on diapers. Any words of advice? Surely my son can't be so different from all the others out there...

Our Family Christmas

This year Christmas was a very different experience for our family. It was the first time that we have been able to spend Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Walker (Alan's parents), and it was the first time in my entire life that I haven't spent Christmas (or Christmas Eve) with my family at my parents' home. While we missed the Bevans side of the family, we really enjoyed spending the holiday with Mel and Illene.
We did get together with my family the Sunday before Christmas, and we enjoyed a visit from Santa Claus. The kids were excited to get an early Christmas gift.

We watched Kim's kids one night, and Emily decided to be Santa for the little kids. She tied her hair under her chin to make a beard and then had the kids sit on her lap. Hailey didn't want anything to do with her, but Travis didn't seem to mind.
On Christmas Eve we went caroling with some of my family. When we got home we opened our traditional pair of pajamas.
Alan and Benjamin wore their matching pajamas from last year, since they still fit.

The girls asked for matching pajamas with their dolls, and luckily I was able to find a very good deal. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything in my size that came even close to matching them, so I was the odd person out of the matching pajama tradition this year.
Everyone had a good time on Christmas morning. Benjamin had a car theme going.
Elisabeth came up with her own presents for Mom and Dad. She made her dad and origami sock.
Leilani was excited to get things that had to do with her Julie doll.

Santa brought doll chairs, doll table, doll dishes, doll food, doll clothes and many other things to make little girls and their dolls happy.
Benjamin received his dream motercycle scooter on the promise to Santa that he was a big boy and was potty trained now. (He has only had it taken away a couple of times when he has had accidents. For the most part he is doing really well. Hurray!)
We were able to hear the traditional poem that Mel writes Illene every year. He is very creative. I didn't know he had this hidden talent!

This is the first Christmas dinner I have ever had at my house. We actually used my Christmas dishes - once I remembered where they were being stored. LOL Notice all the people still in pajamas? We actually ate at dinner time, but it is our family tradition to stay in pajamas all day on Christmas.


We usually have our nativity on Christmas Eve, but we were caroling a little later than expected on Christmas Eve, so we did the nativity on Christmas night instead. Benjamin and I were the wisemen.
Emily was excited because she got to be Mary for the first time.
Grandma Walker was the shepherd, Elisabeth was the sheep and Leilani was the angel.
Alan was Joseph and Mel said he was a cow, but he also narrated the story from the scriptures for us. It was a very nice Christmas.

Even though Christmas was mid week, my kids still got matching Christmas outfits. So, here they are in their finery.

Dreaming of a White Christmas

Our last week of school before Christmas break, we missed three days due to snow. Needless to say, the kids were elated.

They had snowball fights thru the fence with the next door neighbors,

ate snow,


and made snow angels.

Actually, I was excited too! When it started to snow, I had to rush outside and take a picture because we had never had snow before when we had our Christmas lights on the house :)

My sister complained about what wimps everybody was because everything shut down and no one would drive anywhere. LOL I told her that maybe it wasn't wimpiness (is that a word?) that kept everyone home, it was just that the snow was a great excuse to stay home and take a break. I was glad not to have to run kids anywhere!
Kelly and Hailey came over to play in the snow with us. I caught Benjamin right as he was pelting Hailey with a snowball. At first Hailey and Benjamin just threw snowballs at the bushes and trees, but soon they caught on to throwing them at people.
My kids were hoping for a white Christmas, but as the week wore on the snow covered less and less.
We did manage to build a snowman with our neighbors across the street before the snow was all gone.

Then the rain started four days before Christmas and melted all the snow. So, we didn't have a white Christmas...but we sure had a lot of fun!