Tate, the Soccer Player

Tate has started playing soccer for the first time.  He has an awesome coach that is so patient with the kids yet teaches and expects a lot from them.  Tate has had a problem with throwing fits in the middle of the games, folding his arms and standing still in the middle of the field.  It is so frustrating.  This last Saturday it was a like there was a new kid out there.  He actually ran and tried, not throwing one fit and almost scoring several goals.  It was great!

I was using one of those wisp things to brush my teeth and Tate wanted one too.  Little did I know he would insist on doing it any time he was not playing.  Kind of embarrassing, but oh well we gotta pick our battles.

Wicked

Pretty much the same picture I got last time...

I took a girls trip with some friends down to Tucson to see Wicked.  I love that show!  This time we had better seats, a lot closer, but I think no matter where you are sitting Wicked is awesome.  We had a great time.  Thanks for the fun ladies!

Tate's Field Trip

Tate's preschool took a field trip to the Museum of Natural History.  We panned for gold, dug up dinosaur bones and saw lots of dinosaurs and neat things.  Tate's favorite are pterodactyls.

Macey had a goal and she achieved it! 

She received the Scholar of Distinction last quarter!  It requires grades of 98% or higher in every subject!  WOW!  I am sure the reward of being able to pick her own container of ice cream had nothing to do with it :)!

 Emmy was on the Dean's list and was really upset that she did not get the Scholar of Distinction.  She cried all night after she brought the paper home.  That is still all A's so we are still proud of that!  Way to go Emmy-especially with all of the time and work she puts into gymnastics as well.

Eagles

My sister Shannon's step sons, Mason and Hayden, both earned their Eagle Scout awards and we attended their court of honor.  It was at Rockin R Ranch and they had a live Bald Eagle there.  It was really neat, but I could not keep from wondering why he did not worry about the bird ripping his face off.  He was literally inches from his face and totally could at any moment.  My camera has malfunctioned lately so it died after this last picture.  They had just opened a gift from one of their leaders of flags flown in their honor.  It was really neat.  We went outside to have some hot chocolate and smores.  We dipped out pretty quickly after that since I had pink eye and starting to get sick and it was freezing.  It's a great accomplishment and we are so proud of them!

New Year's Eve {2010}

Per tradition, we hosted the New Year's Eve party for the Williamson family.  We always do a potluck of lots of goodies and snacks.  We set up a kids hang out in the garage and the adults play games inside.  We usually all just being some games and play them, but I have wanted to do a Minute to Win It party for a while so we did that insted.  Since I knew all of the games and was keeping score this was the only picture I snapped of Scott doing one of the embarrassing games.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. 

We finished just in time to watch a little bit of the party in New York before the ball dropped.

We had a great time ringing in the New Year!

Here's to a great {2011}!

{Claire} being cute.

Greer, AZ

Grandpa Grandma Phillips Christmas present to the family was a trip to a cabin in Greer.  Activities included....

scavenger hunt, building snowmen, sledding/tubing, horseback riding, puzzles, games, food, fun, bingo for the kids, movies, learning to crochet, and lots of bundling up. 

It was a quick trip but there was lots of fun jammed in.  As we packed up and headed out it started to snow.  As soon as we got home we realized how lucky we were that we headed out when we did becuase the road home was closed for quite sometime from all of the snow so we would have been stuck for days.  Those were the days it actually snowed in Mesa-it was COLD!

Christmas {2010}

Christmas Morning and the aftermath.  Scott was the "passer outer" as usual.

 Grandma Phillips present to everyone was a crocheted scarf and a puzzle piece and once we all put them together it told us we were all headed to a cabin in greer and we needed to be prepared to play in the snow!  We had to pack up and head out the next morning.

We did the usual...Christmas morning at home, then breakfast at Grandma and Grandpa Phillips and later on in the day (after naps) we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Williamsons house.

Christmas Eve {2010}

The Christmas Eve traditions...

pajamas

pizza

and the kids are excited.

They were sent to bed and I headed back to my moms to tend to their Christmas present...

They are going to be so excited and I can't wait!

Williamson Family Party

The little kids acted out the story of the birth of Jesus as we sang songs thru-out.  My mother in law made all of the costumes and it was super cute! 

Claire as Mary

Macey, Emmy and Ally as Angels

Donkey-Grandpa

Sheep/lamb-Ellery

After that there was a talent show where Macey, Emmy, and their cousin Ryan played Jingle Bells on their flutes, violin and piano.  Other performances were Ellery walking, a puppet show and an original composition by Jeff on the piano.

Then there were the gift exchanges.  The kids exchange went first.  They draw names of a cousin and get them something.  They have so much fun doing it and everyone loved their gifts.  Then it was on to the adult exchange which we do white elephant style but with new gifts.  This year there was a special twist to the game.  Instead of wrapping and "stealing" the actual gift we were unwrapping and stealing something that was a hint to the gift.  I of course was totally opposed to this idea since I am totally against surprises, going out on a limb, having fun etc.  So, I went early on and I just went with my gift since I knew I wanted it anyways.  Of course I didn't end up with it, but it was worth a try.

It was a school night so the party came to hault pretty quickly after that, but it was lots of funn!  Thanks for hosting Steve & Kim!