Back on Track

The kids went back to school today!!! I am so glad. They have been off-track since December 23rd. I can't say we accomplished a lot while they were off, but we are definitely rested and ready to reenter a more structured schedule. I enjoy my kids so much more when we spend some time away from each other. The picture above is of Leo and Eddie at Discovery Gateway. They think they are so tough. What you can't see is that they are only about a foot and a half off of the ground.

This is Ginger playing with balls at Discovery Gateway. She loves that place. It's fun to watch her collect a bucket of balls and then try to keep other kids from taking them away.

This is Hannah and Eddie playing an awesome xylophone at Discovery Gateway. Eddie is wearing a hat that I made for him. He wore this hat all day, for many days.

We went to the Draper Temple open house one day. The kids seemed to really like it. I was amazed at how much work was obviously put into the whole thing. There were a lot of volunteers, a short film, pamphlets, buses to shuttle everyone to the temple site, . . . . cookies afterward. Probably the most surprising thing was that the church next door to the temple had transformed their gym with furniture, decorations, live harp and piano music, artwork, etc. This is where they served cookies and answered questions for anyone who had them. It was a nice way to spend one of our off-track days.

It's Never too Late?

Last week we got an interesting surprise. It was after dinner and we were busy doing chores with the kids when we had a surprise visit from Carol (Marcus's mom). She came on the premise of seeing Leo's perfect spelling test that has been hanging on our refrigerator for a month and a half. As soon as she looked over this infamous spelling test, Carol says, "Marky, you need to come outside with me. I have a surprise for you that you will love, BUT Dani's going to hate it." Well at that point, neither Marcus or I have any idea what could be out there. A basket full of kittens, 10 gallons of mayonnaise, a pony. Really, if you know Carol, you know it could be ANYTHING. Well, she surprised Marcus with a . . . . . . drum set. It seems that Carol felt really bad when Marcus didn't make the Mustang Band in junior high (his junior high band) and she bought him a drum set so he could practice. I guess it is never too late?

This made me think. When Marcus was 12 he broke his arm right before his first 50 mile hike. He was so disappointed. The ward never went again and he completely missed the opportunity. Carol, do you think you could work something out for him?

We love Carol. She was right-----I'm not going to like having a drum set in our already LOUD home, but I do think she is sweet to buy it for Marky. He went out and bought drumsticks the next day and has banged on them many times since. You're a good mom, Carol, and you definitely make life interesting.

Christmas Present

I love giving gifts, but I really love giving gifts that I am excited to give. Marcus is one of those people who never really wants anything. This is an awesome quality----until his wife is trying to figure out what to get him for Christmas. I decided that this year I would give Marcus a couple nights away with me in Midway. I arranged the babysitters (this is a small miracle), booked the timeshare, and made sure our calendar was clear. It was not all that surprising that Hannah and Leo ended up getting sick at 3 a.m. the day we were supposed to leave. This is a picture of Marcus and the kids on our romantic getaway. Isn't the view lovely?

The Holidays

This is the Wariner family at our second annual Christmas Eve program/talent show. I would love to post a picture of my family on this night, but I never got around to taking one. The Wariners are practically family--and don't they look cute??? I led our family in a Grinch skit, Hannah sang Feliz Navidad, Marcus sang a karaoke version of White Christmas (he intended it to be funny---but it was even too bad to be funny), Eddie told holiday jokes, Leo read/sang The Drummer Boy, by Ezra Jack Keats (I love the illustrations), and Ginger was going to sing princess songs---but she chickened out. Our other guests also performed. It was pretty cool. Everyone is invited next year. Come prepared---and yes, we do have a full sound system available for your use.

This is a picture of the kids on New Year's Eve. I took them downtown to Salt Lake's First Night Celebration (Marcus had a gig---of course). They all really liked this huge decoration made of empty plastic bottles--which is why I took a picture of them posing by it. Leo loved riding on Trax and kept asking to go home so he could ride it again. I enjoyed the fire dancers and a laser show we watched. No one got lost, everyone behaved at the restaurant, and we had a great time together. Everything went pretty smoothly and no one even threw up---until we were almost home in our own car. I call that a pretty successful night out with four kids.

This is Sister in the Christmas tree. She spent most of the month in there. At the moment that this picture was taken, I was trying to take down the tree. She was attacking me with each ornament I removed. I think she is still pretty mad at me.

We found Ginger crashed like this on Christmas night. She didn't even have the energy to pull herself all the way up onto the couch. Notice that her new Cinderella barbie is crashed right beside her. They sure did have a busy day. Our family had a nice holiday. I hope you did too.

Eyebrows

At first glance, doesn't it look like I am missing eyebrows? I guess Marky's are hard to compete with.

You may, or may not, be surprised to hear that almost all of the pictures taken of Marky and I look something like this. I think that we have learned from experience that we are not very photogenic people. I guess we can't have everything. At least we are cool, fun, funny, talented, intelligent (hee hee), and fabulous. Obviously, if I am showing these pictures, I am showing the end of our photo shoot with Becky. Thanks, Becky. It is so nice to have some high-quality photos---like this one here.

Ginger Fantastic

Ginger is 2 1/2. I love this age. It is so fun to see her personality grow stronger and hear the new things she says each day. The other day, I told her to stop eating m & m's after I had already asked her not to a couple of times. She replied by pointing her finger at me and saying, "Mom, go to yours room".

This picture speaks for itself.

Ginger's Top Ten Favorites (as of today)

1. Princesses.
2. Singing (she is always singing).
3. Hannah, Eddie, and Leo.
4. Shopping at the DI (When people say she has a pretty dress on, she shows it off and says, "Mom, DI.").
5. Elmo.
6. Chocolate Milk and Juice (she tries to live off of them).
7. Yelling at Our Cats (Sister and Puppy).
8. Telling Jokes (Her personal favorite---"knock, knock-----who's there?----make a silly face." That is the end of the joke. Leo made it up and taught it to her).
9. Laughing at Jokes (She always knows when to laugh even though she has no idea what is funny).
10. Kissing the Family Goodnight. Don't you love those little teeth? I love kissing her little mouth. I love my little Ginger Fantastic.

Leo Broderick

It is amazing that we got three pictures of Leo, without him doing a Kung Fu Panda stance. Just take a look in his eyes for a minute and know that behind these cute expressions he is trying to figure out how he can make Aunt Becky click the camera when he goes back into his Kung Fu moves. This kid is a handful. Leo is a great kid, but he is a handful!!!

Leo is 6 1/2 and in the first grade. He is a very young first grader and has struggled a bit, but he has made a lot of progress in the past year. We receive several notes from Leo's teacher that let us know specific things that he needs to improve on. I volunteer in Leo's class once a week and I can see that he can be frustrating for his teacher, but I can also tell that she loves him and thinks he is an incredibly cute kid. I think that anyone who has spent any time with Leo probably feels the same. Leo plays soccer and wants his mom to "finally" put him in swimming lessons.

Leo's Top Ten Favorites (as of today)

1. Race cars (He wants to be a race car driver when he grows up).
2. McDonald's (not the food, just the Happy Meal Toy).
3. Soccer (I'm his coach this year).
4. Sammy, Anna, and Audrey.
5. Grandma.
6. Hamburgers and French Fries.
7. Speed Racer.
8. Christmas.
9. Getting a good score on a spelling test.
10. Pajama Day (These occur frequently in our house. My kids used to make fun of the fact that I often wear pajamas all day long, now they have joined me).