natalie's preschool lemonade stand!

One of the things I love most about Packer Preschool is that Mrs. Packer doesn't just talk to the kids about things or have them do worksheets, she really helps them learn and understand concepts through many different mediums such as songs, activities, and field trips.

Last week was "money week" at preschool where the kids learned what money is used for, the value of each piece of money, and the Money Song. So this week the kids got to have their Lemonade Stand where they made & sold lemonade, cookies, and popcorn (and yes, we have our lemonade stands in January when the weather is nice!).

Each child had an assignment to bring an item and each child had a different assignment of something to sell so the kids felt very involved and excited about it. Natalie brought lemons from our tree and she (as well as Carter & Gus) was in charge of selling popcorn.
(They weren't quite ready yet when I took this picture below but I wanted to get a photo before all the parents swarmed).
They earned $59.00 (each item was 50 cents), which is the most ever made by any Packer Preschool class! The kids used to split the money, but I was pleased to hear that the money is now being donated to a local charity (which also teaches the children about charitable giving).
We love Packer Preschool and I am having a hard time believing this is my last semester with a preschooler!

brandon made honor roll!

It's been a fun week for my boys and their school achievements! In addition to Tyler's principal award last week and the science fair, Brandon made Honor Roll last quarter and was given his award at the school assembly this morning! He missed Honor Roll last quarter by only a few points and was determined to get there this semester, so he was very pleased with himself. We, of course, are proud parents as well! He was one of only 4 kids in his class (of 28 kids) that made Honor Roll. In addition to the assembly, he will get to have lunch with the Principal tomorrow along with all the other Honor Roll recipients.
Anyone who knows our school understands that making Honor Roll is no small feat. These kids work HARD! They are doing year-ahead curriculum (5th grade work in 4th grade) and it's not uncommon for Brandon to have 1-2 hours of homework each night. Some days (like last week when we were literally drowning in homework & projects) I wonder if it's worth it. But then when I see how smart and well-behaved these kids are and know that they are getting a great educational foundation, I reassure myself that it's all worth it!
We are so thrilled for you Brandon - keep up the great work! You can accomplish anything you set out to do!

science fair

This was our first year attending the school science fair. For kindergarten and first grade, they do grade-level projects (1 large project for 4 classes). It's basically just a display of their science curriculum for the quarter. This quarter Tyler is learning about penguins so their science experiment was about which type of feet/shoe could carry a ball the furthest - boots, slippers, or swim fins (the answer was swim fins).
For second and third grade, each class does a project. This is why we've never attended the science fair until now. 12 miles is a long way to drive just to look at a board that your teacher put together for your class!

For fourth through sixth grade, a small group of kids each does their own project and report board. For fourth grade, the experiments are already set and each group just picks one and they are done at school during class time. Brandon's experiment was to see if using double or triple the amount of magnets could pick up double or triple the amount of paper clips (the answer was that they don't).
There are awards given at each of the 4th-6th grades, which is the main reason we attended this year - Brandon really wanted to see if his group won an award. Unfortunately they didn't, but I thought their report was very well done.

We all learned a lot by reading some of the other experiment results (like that Pampers is the most absorbent diaper and that seeds can grow in sand). We are very proud of both boys for their hard work and happy that they love school and science!

tyler's principal award

Tyler received a principal's award at school yesterday! He earned it for "always setting a good example by doing his personal best in all areas of school." I cannot think of a better way to describe Tyler's feelings towards school! He loves going to school & doing homework and it shows in his amazing grades.

Here he is receiving his award from his teacher and the principal:I have my kids well-trained with the camera...as soon as he got up on the risers he looked right at me and smiled!
We are so proud of you Tyler - keep up the great work and positive attitude!

carlson family photos

Over Christmas while my family was all together here, we decided to get some updated family photos since it had been 4 years. My friend Liz who is an amateur photographer took the photos and did a great job!

The Carlson family:
Grandma & Grandpa Carlson with the 8 grandkids:
Our family (she also took photos of each of the other families):
And since they were being cooperative, I had her take some updated individual pictures of each of my kids.

Brandon (age 9):
Tyler (age 6 1/2):
Natalie (age 4 1/2):
Taking family photos is such a stressful event for me. I'm glad it's done and was successful!

grandpa & grandma park come to visit!

As if a whole week of being spoiled by Grandpa & Grandma Carlson (and the rest of my family) wasn't enough, Kevin's parents came down to visit for the second week of winter break! They got home from their 18-month mission to Kiev Ukraine in November, so it had been almost two years since we have seen them.

Since Kevin's brother & family who lives here had just been up to Washington for Christmas with them, we had them all to ourselves! Kevin had a few leftover paid vacation days that had to be used by December 31, so he traded them out for the first week of January and was able to have the entire time off work. It was a wonderful week of fun & relaxation (especially after we got some antibiotics for Grandma who arrived sick).

Grandpa Park has an obsession with trains & Legos, so that's what we spent most of the week doing. Needless to say, the boys were in heaven! (And don't feel bad for Natalie - she loved having Grandma all to herself!)

One of our favorite train places to go is the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale, so that's where we headed on Wednesday. There is a train museum inside this train:


We rode on a small train:
The kids rode on the carousel and played at two different playgrounds:
And we discovered a brand new building that just opened a few months ago that has four HUGE model trains set up.
We also stopped by Bass Pro Shop (one of Grandpa's favorite stores) on the way home! Thursday was Grandma's birthday, but Grandpa & Grandma insisted on taking the kids shopping for their belated Christmas presents. The boys of course chose the Lego store:
And not surprisingly Natalie chose the Disney store for more princess stuff:
They also treated us to ice cream!
Our family tradition is that the birthday person picks where we go out to dinner, so Grandma chose Garcia's for Mexican food and then I made her Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Toffee Brownies and we all sang her Happy Birthday! I don't think we've ever been with her on her actual birthday, so it was a fun & special day.
On Friday, Grandpa & Grandma were kind enough to babysit so Kevin & I could do a temple session and go out to lunch. Then we headed over to tour the new Gilbert temple site. They are making good progress and it should be open next year sometime! Not that 30 minutes is so far to drive, but 10 minutes will be wonderful (we can actually see the temple from the closest intersection to our home)! Ironically, the only other people visiting the temple site while we were there happened to be a couple that just got home from a Humanitarian Mission in Russia and had actually visited Walter & Dianne in the mission home in Ukraine once and remembered them! They were from Utah and were down here visiting their kids & grandkids also. It was very fun & coincidental!
Saturday took us to yet another train place (The Arizona Railway Museum), which is just a few miles from our house. We took the kids here a couple years ago, but it is much larger and they have made many improvements since then. The boys wanted their picture with almost every train, but here are just a few:




On the way home from the train museum, we stopped at a local park and played for a few hours. It was perfectly gorgeous weather all week (almost 80 degrees in January!).

Sunday was church and we managed to get a few quick photos before heading out the door:
The rest of Sunday was many hours of game playing and Lego building.
Grandpa & Grandpa left on Monday and sadly it was back to work for Kevin and back to school for all the kids. But it was a wonderful winter break full of family & fun, good food, no major sicknesses, and great weather. We feel so blessed!

2012 plans, predictions, and goals

Each year, I try to make plans, predictions, and goals. Here are my thoughts on 2012. Some are carried over from last year if they did not get done. I've also tried to push myself a bit harder since the second half of the year all my kids will be in school full-time so I really don't have any more excuses!

Family / General:

Job Promotion or New Job for Kevin. I wonder how many years this will be on here?!?

Finish Kevin's parents' mission book.

Either get our family scrapbooks caught up or get my blog books created & printed. Both are MASSIVE projects and I haven't decided which one to tackle first. I will do my blog books only if and when I can find better blog-to-book software.

More date nights for Kevin & I...at least monthly. I know it's supposed to be weekly, but who can afford the babysitters to do that?!?

Personal / Spiritual:

Attend the temple at least 12 times.

Read the Book of Mormon again.

Exercise at least 4 times a week. I've been pretty consistent about 3 times per week. I would like to increase that, but I'm trying to be reasonable. I would also like run a mile by the end of the year. This may sound like a ridiculously easy goal, but I HATE running and it is very painful for me (physically as well as mentally), so this will be actually be quite a challenge.

Take a photography class.

Travel:

Family vacation. Not sure where. It will depend if we still have flight benefits. I'm hoping we can get to Illinois this year since it's been on our list for many years.

Park Family Reunion. Already scheduled for July in Washington.

Get up to Washington to see Great Grandma Park. We haven't been up there 2 1/2 years and she is now 93 years old. Unfortunately, this probably won't be able to be combined with our family reunion trip since it's on the opposite side of the state.

Another no-kids "real" vacation for Kevin & I. It probably won't be as exotic as China or New Zealand the past few years since those two trips spent most of our vacation fund, but we'll see what happens. And I'm really hoping for somewhere warm & sunny this time!

Home Projects / Major Purchases:

New bed for Kevin & Danika.

We will probably need a new computer.

New piano.

New couches for family room.

Shelving for den closet.

Shelving for and organizing the laundry room.

2011 review

Sorry this post is a lot of text and no pictures, but this is mostly for me!

I did plans & predictions for 2011. I thought I should follow up and see how the year went before I do a similar post for 2012. This is copied from my post back in January - the results are in RED.

Family/General:

Job promotion/change for Kevin. Not yet, but he's had some promising interviews and he has several recruiters working for him. But life is a bit better at his job these days so a change is not quite as urgent.

Continue working on and complete my in-laws' mission journal/book (created from their weekly letters). The book is done, with the exception of them writing the conclusion and sending it to me. Then it just needs to be edited and printed.

Fun Family Outings - at least monthly. We haven't been as good about this recently.

Family Game Time - weekly on Sundays. DONE! We all love it and it will continue to be part of our Sundays. Between afternoon game time and having breakfast for dinner, the kids have declared Sunday to be their favorite day of the week!


Personal/Spiritual:

Attend the temple - at least 12 times. I did not keep an exact count, but I think I made it about 10 times. I cannot wait for the much closer Gilbert temple to be done in a few years!

Read the Book of Mormon again. No, but we area almost done reading the New Testament again. But the good news is that after many years of inconsistency, Kevin & I have FINALLY found a consistent time to read scriptures together.

Fast each month. DONE - and very proud of myself!

Exercise. After a rough start (I hated the first gym I signed up with so I quit after a few months), I have been extremely happy with the gym that I have been signed up with since August and have consistently gone 3x per week.

Travel:

Summertime trip with the whole family. DONE! We made it to Colorado and had a great time!

Sea World. DONE! We went in March!

A "real" (no kids) vacation for Kevin & I. DONE! We certainly didn't expect that we would be going to New Zealand in August, but it was a deal we couldn't refuse and we had an amazing time.

Home/Purchases:

New dining room table. DONE!

New piano. Not done, but it will definitely be on the list for next year!

Decor for the boys' bedroom. DONE! It's nothing fancy so I didn't do a post about it, but at least it's something.

Decor for the dining room. DONE! I don't think I ever posted a picture of it, but I LOVE it! My friend was selling some stuff before they moved and it looks great!

christmas 2011

Here's the play-by-play of our Christmas Day:

The kids woke up about 7:00 a.m. to find that Santa brought them some presents. (Kevin's note to Danika: next year remind Santa to get gifts that don't require a million hours of assembly time). Brandon got a basketball standard (the rest of it was outside), Tyler got a new bike, and Natalie got a doll mansion (seriously...she cannot even reach the top floor!).

We didn't let them open anything else (besides their stockings) and we hurried and had breakfast & got dressed & took photos and were LATE to 9:00 church. I was mortified...I've never been late to church in my life!
After I got over my embarrassment and frustration, I settled in and thoroughly enjoyed the program. Great music, fantastic talks, and I FINALLY felt the Christmas spirit for the first time all month! I had been so busy it was nice to just sit and relax and remember the REAL reason for the season. Some may not like Christmas on Sunday, but I personally think it's wonderful!

After we got home from church, we let the kids open the rest of their presents (the ones from us). I am always surprised at which items are the favorites! The boys LOVED their new pillow pets (Natalie already has one).
Brandon almost burst from excitement - he desperately wanted this Arizona Cardinals one ever since he saw it a few weeks before.
I wish I would have gotten video of Natalie opening this. I think she might have actually screamed with happiness! She had told Santa that she wanted "all the Princess Barbies" and "a HUGE Barbie house," so needless to say she was thrilled with her gifts.
After lunch we went up to my sister's house to open all the gifts my parents brought and to have dinner together. The boys thought their HUGE Lego sets were awesome!And Natalie got more princess stuff (notice a theme here?).I told my mom her punishment for buying so many gifts should be to be here at our house on Dec. 26th to open everything, assemble everything, teach our kids how to work everything, play with them, and then find spots for everything in our house!

In the chaos we forgot to get our traditional "all the grandkids in front of the tree" photo before we opened presents, but we did manage to get a shot of Grandma & Grandpa with all 8 grandkids.
December always feels like such a whirlwind of work and stress, but when it's all said & done it's pretty fun and definitely memorable! I crashed into bed exhausted and feeling overwhelmed with gratitude with how blessed we are.

christmas fun

We've had a busy & exciting week with the entire Carlson family here in town. Here are some of the fun (and not-so-fun) things we did:

Cookie decorating!
Playing with cousins (Tyler also lost another tooth in the middle of a family dinner last week)!
Making up skits!
My sister-in-law Amy made us a delicious brunch and my kids actually tried new foods without complaining!
And what would Christmas be without a sick kid? (thankfully he woke up better the next morning)
I sliced open my hand! (you know you're a dedicated blogger when instead of grabbing a tissue or a band-aid you grab the camera first!)
The usual trip to see the Mesa Temple lights (also known as "the one time a year we wear our coats").
But most of all we enjoyed meeting and cuddling with my adorable new nephew Matthew (3 months old) who came all the way from China to be with us. He is such a good baby and we loved having him (and of course his parents, my brother Eric and my sister-in-law Amy) here with us.
More photos of Christmas Day to come...