Saturday, January 31, 2015

Breakfast with the Characters

Kyle and I are taking his Swing Thing and Select Choirs to California this year, which means we get to fundraise, fundraise, fundraise! The first big fundraiser of the year was Swing Things Breakfast with the Characters. The kids came up with some super cute costumes and did a great job! They charged $5 for an unlimited pancake Breakfast and just came and hung out with us.
We had Hades from Hercules...
 Thing One and Thing Two
 lots of guests...
 Captain America's Mini-Me
 An AMAZING Spider-Man

 Jasmine and Aladdin

 And many more! 

Macy's 6th Birthday!

Macy just had her 6th birthday party. SIX?! Really??! I still can't believe this beautiful, spunky girl is 6 years old. There is really only one option when it comes to themes these days for a 6 year olds birthday party. Frozen it was. 
 I can do all the planning, baking, and decorating when it comes to the kids birthday parties, but when it comes right down to entertainment- Kyle is the go-to guy. As the kids were coming in he pulled up Just Dance and let the kids do their thing. The girls were all for dancing to the one and only "Let It Go", but the boys parked it right on the couch.
 ... all the boys except Joey that is.
 When all the kids got there Kyle pulled out his best party game... Duck, Duck, Goose.



After about 40 minutes of games the kids were nippin' at the bit for some cake and ice cream so into the kitchen we went.



AFter the sugar rush the kids settled themselves right in front of Macy has she opened lots of exciting and fun new gifts, her favorite being a huge Elsa doll and a diary with horses on it. A girls dream. If I remember anything about this party it would be how loud ten 6 year olds can be. I've learned my lesson and now completely understand why my Mom limited my parties to 5 of my closest friends.
Happy Birthday Macy-Girl! We sure love you.

Around the House

Christmas Break flew by way to fast at our house. The best thing about school breaks is not only is Macy home, but Kyle gets to be home the whole time too. Just like any career there are certain drawbacks, but this is one thing that we love about Kyle being a teacher. With a new year rolling in, it was time to check out how much everyone has grown! It is so fun to see how much the kids have grown and to see where they are in comparison to the older kids when they were their age. London is right at where Macy was when she was 4 and Bentley is about an inch shorter then London :)

Everyone was excited to play with Kyle's new lens- Macy even got in on the action. She loves playing with the camera when we'll let her.




Kyle ventured out one cold Saturday morning to go help clean the church. Not really sure why we didn't join him but the kids were all sleeping in and I wasn't going to mess with that. I love when the trees have a gentle frosting of snow, it's so pretty! We haven't seen much weather this winter- well, we didn't see much in the summer either, but it's been pretty mild. I think it's only snowed about 3 times which is okay with me!

I love this one of Bentley. Just being a boy.

 This is why you're supposed to blog right after things happen- these three got in trouble for SOMETHING but I can't remember what :/. Obviously Macy and Bentley felt much worse then London did.
 My kids have always loved to be creative with paints, playdoh, makers, and whatever else crayola I would give them. London is right at the painting sweet spot and Bentley is right at that "i don't get why I can't paint EVERYTHING" spot. We compromise and London can paint when Bentley takes a nap. That leaves a whole lot of "Can Bentley take a nap now?!" in our house.

 School started back up and we missed this girl at home. She still doesn't mind her homework, which I'm grateful for. This morning she woke up and I reminded her that we didn't do homework last night. She hoped off the couch and said "Well I guess we better do it now!".

 London and Bentley are little BFF's right now and pretty much do everything together. It is so cute watching them teach each other and learn from one another. Bentley doesn't really get how to use the mouse on the computer yet so when he asks to play I ask London to be his hands. He tells her where he wants to go and she does all the clicking away. They picked Starfall on this particular day and learned all about sign language. If Bentley didn't understand how to do his hands then London would move his hands for him. They were having a blast.




Aside from Macy's birthday, which will have a whole blog of it's own. We took January pretty easy. It was nice and peaceful.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Let 2015 begin!

Winter break this year was a fun time for the Gardners. We didn't do much, just hung out together as a family. It was filled with lots of down time, playing, and pure craziness. What else do you get when 3 kids are stuck indoors for a week?! Normally I wouldn't let the kids ride Macy's new scooter in the house, but they pretty much rode that scooter all week long. I'm thinking London might be getting one from the Easter Bunny this year- it's a huge hit... which meant it became a huge fight half the time. "It's my turn!" "No! it's my turn!" "I had it first!"... with Bentley running after both of them claiming through cries that he wants it too. I really enjoyed having everyone home, but boy was I excited to have a minute alone when they all went back to school. We were pretty lame for New Years Eve this year. Well, I was pretty lame. Kyle was asked to DJ the local Stake Dance so he got to party there while I put the kids to bed at 7, watched a few chick flicks, and put myself to bed around 11. I'm gettin' old. 2015 met us with a beautiful surprise- we woke up the next morning with a good 3-4 inches of freshly fallen snow! 





















We have been having fun with Kyle's new lens and figuring out more tricks in Lightroom though.