Derek 2011

Derek started out the year by being baptized on 1-1-11. He was really excited to be eight to be baptized and start cub scouts. He has really enjoyed learning new things and just being there with his friends.

Derek has continued to enjoy chess and do well. He made it to state two years in a row as an individual, and has also played in the team competitions at State. More than anything, Derek likes playing with Larry and talking stategy with him. (I don't understand half of what they're saying, but they really get going and barely pause to breathe!)

As I was looking through photos, I noticed a definate theme of goofy faces!

Derek really enjoyed his first Pinewood Derby last Spring. With some help from a friend, Larry and Derek put together a pretty awesome car that placed 1st and 2nd in most of the rounds of play. It also got awarded, "Highest Metachlorine Count" by the judges because of the Star Wars guys glued to the top.

Derek really enjoyed Legoland and Disneyland. He and Larry loved looking at the Star Wars Lego exhibits at Legoland. At Disneyland, he especially liked the Buzz Lightyear ride, Woody Ride, and Indiana Jones ride.

Derek enjoyed being out of school. He played with Legos, played games, did a fencing camp for a week, cub camp for a week, and read a lot! He and Spencer would also do a lot of little bike rides. Shortly after school started up again, Derek's teacher recommended that he skip a grade. After more testing and evaluation, Derek moved up to 4th grade in October. It has been a tricky transition for him, but he is settling in.

Before Christmas, Derek and Spencer (but mostly Derek), decided that they wanted to get a Lego Mindstorm (a programmable robot) that costs about $250 for Christmas. Although it was on the top of their lists, I encouraged them to start saving just in case they didn't get it. This picture shows Derek opening Grandma Dickinson's gift of cash! He was so thrilled!

We celebrated Christmas in Utah. Derek's favorite toy was probably his Woody's Roundup electronic game for the TV. Although he didn't get the Mindstorm, in January he was able to get it after selling some Lego sets, and pooling his money with Spencer's. Derek loves to program his robot. It walks, shoots balls at people, talks, plays the Harry Potter theme song, and dances.

Some of Derek's favorites are: Grandma's spaghetti, Ninjago, Clone wars books and cartoons, Pirateer, french fries, mint candy, wearing jeans, LegoTV, chess, soccer, the color scarlet, making faces, playing video games, playing with friends, pretzels, making up new words to songs, mummifying himself in a blanket on the heat vent, staying up late, striped shirts, playing chess with Larry, Harry Potter books, board games with mom or dad, and long showers.

Miranda 2011

Miranda, Miranda, where do I begin? Miranda had been planning her Dog themed birthday party for almost a year. She made personalized invitations inside these cute little dog bags and gave them to all her friends. We did some Dog themed games and did dog face painting and made dog pillows.

Miranda had a blast in Disneyland. She is a thrill-seeker! She loves going as fast and high as possible! One of her favorite things was the Disney animation studio, where a real Disney animator shows you how to draw a character on a large sketch pad. Miranda begged to do this twice. As soon as we got home from our vacation, she checked out EVERY library book on drawing cartoons. (Did you know they have a new book for drawing all the characters for all of the recent animated Disney movies?) Miranda's drawing skills improved a lot this year. I was amazed at how many hours she would sit in her room practicing.

Miranda has really seemed to blossom at school this year. She is doing really well and seems to have matured in how she looks at school. She really goes to the next level- often checking out books on things they have learned at school so that she can learn more. She LOVES to research! Her favorite subject in school is social studies. She loves learning about people from the past and people around the world.

With Heidi's wedding, we got to see more cousins this summer. Miranda is amazingly wonderful with smaller kids and genuinely enjoys spending time with them making them happy. She latched on to Maddie right away, and has also done the same with her smaller Swanson cousins in Utah. I can see her becoming a favorite babysitter in our ward.

Miranda has grown about a foot in the past year. She's now 4'9". No wonder she's so tired in the morning and is constantly hungry! (Miranda: "Mom! Can I have something to eat?" Me: "Are you serious? We literally stopped eating dinner one minute ago!)

Miranda is incredibly creative (like Larry), and is always able to make something fun instead of being bored. Here she is with a jet pack.

During the summer, Miranda would often rally Lindsey and Kara into dancing, a tea party in the bathroom, playing school, or other games. They are always waiting for Miranda to come home to see what they'll do next.

Miranda was so excited for school to start this year. She seems to enjoy almost everything about school and loves to learn. She also has several good friends that she makes little gifts for, talks on the phone with, or has come over to the house. She is a great friend.

Some of Miranda's favorite things: TWIX bars, drawing, animal books, salmon!, listening to books on tape, starting new projects, making gifts and giving them away, creating something new out of the recycling bin, planning for holidays and vacations, drinking hot chocolate, playing with friends, and her favorite stuffed animal Dachshund named Diamond!

Michelle 2011

I've kept busy this year with everything going on in our house. It seems like we have something going on almost every night- and if we don't Larry is quick to think of something fun for us to do.

This past Spring we went to Disneyland. Luckily, my parents joined us for two days at Disney! It really helps to have some extra adults around! It was so nice to spend time as a whole family doing out-of-the-ordinary fun stuff. It was a major trip with two days of driving down, 7 days of play, and 2 more days back. That's the time when I really feel like having 6 kids is overwhelming! (And in the summer when they are all home). I LOVE the school year, the structure it gives the older kids, and being able to really enjoy my 3 little girls and manage the homefront better.

Speaking of summer, I tried to keep the kids entertained, even if it was just spending a couple hours at the park or going on a quick hike. I even dared take all the kids to the beach with a friend, and that was really fun.

As school started, I really got involved more in the school, and am on the school's parent board. (like PTA). It's been nice to be more involved in what is happening at the school. I was in charge of back-to-school night and a Skating party. I have one more big event in June-field day. I've also been able to go into each of the kids' classrooms once a week for about 30-45 minutes. I really like helping the teachers. I end up doing anything from grading papers, to making copies, to putting up displays, to helping kids with classwork.

In October, we did our Wolf Lodge trip that the kids ask about all year long. It was so fun- the perfect mini-vacation for us. It is also nice that the older kids just run around and enjoy themselves and Lindsey and Kara and Cassie were way more into the waterpark than last year.

This year I switched callings, from being a Beehive advisor to being a Bear Den Leader for Cubscouts. It has been a fun transition, and it's nice to be able to be with Derek, now that he's turned 9. I still play the Organ in Sacrament meeting about twice a month. I've also returned to Indexing, and Miranda and I like to work on them together. It's fun to spend 20 minutes that I could have just been surfing Yahoo News, and use it to Index a document!

Cassie has been my buddy this past year. She really loves her mama. She has shown her funny personality in her mannerisms, way of talking and making sounds, and the cute little things she does. She is such a sweet little girl! It's been really fun this past year to teach her new things and just watch her develop before my eyes.

In December, we went to Utah for Christmas and were able to go sledding. It was so fun! All of us had a blast! Cassie LOVED sledding and would just giggle! It was super-cute. It is always nice to go to Utah to see family, relax a little with a book or cross-stitch, and do a little shopping.

Larry in 2011

Larry has had another busy and interesting year. In the Spring, we went to California for over a week. We were able to go to SeaWorld, Legoland, and Disneyland! It was very fun and exhausting.

In June, he ran in the Epic relay with his siblings and some friends. He really enjoyed all the sleep deprivation, hanging out with brothers, and chasing other runners down.

Larry coached high school waterpolo again this Fall and Derek's soccer team. Fall is always extra busy, but he still managed to put together a trip to OSU for the BYU game there. And, of course, we had football parties at our house for every game.

We all fell in love with Kid Histories, so Larry and I dressed up like them for Halloween. It was funny- to those who actually knew what we were supposed to be- most people were really confused...

Larry turned 37 in November and started coaching Chess again until the Spring. I think there are around 50 kids that come regularly on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. He is heading up a chess tournament at our school in February. He has also been very busy this year with Elder's Quorum stuff, basketball, running, mopping the floor, knocking on stranger's doors, playing with the kids...oh, and working very hard at Intel. He's got some big deadlines coming up, so he usually works a little at night after a long day at work.

So, basically, Larry is rad and an awesome father, husband, brother, leader, coach, and friend!

Halloween and October Happenings

One of Cassie's favorite toys is the heater vent cover. She takes it off all the time and throws stuff down there. Fortuately, the vent narrows and bents just under the floor so there's no chance of her disappearing down there. And I can rescue all the crayons, cars, and play jewelery.

We had fun decorating our kid pictures for Halloween. And no, these weren't their costumes.

In early October, my parents came out for the weekend, and we went to the local apple farm. It was a little rainy, so my kids had the bouncy apple house all to themselves. They went wild!!

Then, the next day, we went out to a fun pumpkin patch and corn maze. It was really fun to do it all, and I was surprised how much the kids liked the maze.

Here are my crazy boys...

Princess Kara...

And my cute girls! (Sometimes I still can't believe that I have 4 daughters)

We went to Wolf Lodge the next weekend. They loved all the waterslides, wave pools, magic wand quests, and being with friends.

We had a ward trunk or treat on Saturday, and then dinner and carnival-type games at Larry and Lori's Sunday night. The kids had a ball!

Larry and I dressed up as the crazy Chilian guy in Kid Histories 3, Kara was a Bunny Kitty, Lindsey was a cheerleader, Spencer was Darth Vadar, Cassie a frog, Miranda was stripes, Derek was Darth Cow.

BYU lights on Morrison Bridge

Yay for school!

So, a figured that an update was WAY overdue. Can I just tell you, I am SO, SO, SO glad that the kids are back in school? It has made such a huge difference in my sanity and enjoyment of life. The older kids just really need that extra structure and the exposure to classmates and teachers to be happy. It has been really nice to just have Kara and Cassie at home in the mornings until Lindsey gets home. I've started exercising again, and the house isn't a wreak all the time, so maybe that explains why I feel so much better.

The little girls and I have been enjoying harvesting the stuff from our garden. This year we experimented with corn, and I was amazed that I grew about 40 ears fertilizing only a couple times. Unfortunatly, I waited too long to pick them! So, they didn't taste very good- which is a ttragedy after all the work. Maybe next year we'll try again. Since the weather has suddenly changed to cool, wet Oregon, I don't think I'll be getting any more red tomatoes, but I've still got a winter squash plant, carrots, onions, potatoes, and beets in the ground. I need to harvest the rest of them soon, but I don't know where I'll store them all! I need a cool, Utah basement or root cellar or something!

Here are my messy girls! Kara just loves to eat, and Cassie is joining in! Cassie is really showing a lot of personality lately. She makes tons of sounds and a few words- mama, da, and kitty. Her favorite foods are pizza, noodles, peanut butter sandwiches, bananas, and peaches, and milk and jjunk food, of course. She just started walking between Larry and me (maybe 8 steps), but she gets really sad if she falls, so that must be why she never really tries on her own. Mostly, she crawls around on her knees so that she can hold stuff. She loves our cats and when the other kids play with her.

The kids are really liking school this year. Miranda has the same teacher she had a couple years ago, and she is excellent. She loves the whole social network and doing social studies. She is very curious about all sorts of different things. Lindsey started morning Kindergarten. She likes her class and her teachers and feels all smart because she can already read. She also gets to ride the bus home (for 30 seconds), and she likes that. Spencer is enjoying school and playing Wall Ball at recess. I think he gets a chance to be a leader at school, which is hard a home with 2 older siblings who also want to be leaders. Derek is doing good, and is probably going to skip this grade and move into 4th grade next week. We meet with the school councellor, TAG person, principal, etc tomorrow morning to make a final decision and access his IQ test. He has been going into 4th grade math the last couple weeks.

So, we had our 3 birthday run right before and during the first week of school. Kara's birthday brought something unexpected- and UNwilling birthday girl! She was at a father/daughter campout the morning of her birthday, so I sent brownies along. Larry said that she started crying when they sang Happy Birthday to her! Later that night, we had friends over for a football game and tried to sing to her. She did NOT want it. I finally convinced her to sit by the cake. She agreed as long as Lindsey blew out the candles. The next day at grandma's house, she wouldn't even come to dinner, but had a tantrum in the hallway for about 45 minutes. We decided to skip the whole cake thing, and so straight to presents. She only agreed if I opened the presents for her! Luckily, after playing with a few gifts, she finally got into it and opened the rest and had her cake and ice cream!

Spencer's birthday party was with family, so he had us all go over to the school and do races and play freeze tag. It was fun. We also played some board games and had dessert. He REALLY wanted a telescope for his birthday. When I brought out the pile of small gifts, I thought he was going to cry, but he tried to put on a brave face. Finally, when he was done, Larry brought out his big telescope. You should have seen how huge his eyes got and how big his grin was!! It was awesome.

Lindsey turned 5 and got lots of girly stuff. I think her favorite gifts were some new shoes and a frilly pink skirt from grandma.

I feel like I've got so much done these past few weeks. My resolve to not channel surf and not really watch TV have really opened up my time. Also, I seem to have more energy now that I am not pregnant or nursing. I feel like all my projects that I've put on hold for so long are finally getting some attention. I love getting projects done and making our homelife work better.

Meanwhile, Larry is in hyperdrive, scrambling around with his things- stressful work, waterpolo, Elder's Quorum, soccer, and home life. He enjoys it, but it is hard for him to stay on top of it all. Luckily, soccer ends next week, and waterpolo ends around Halloween.