Remember these?
These birds are hypnotic. I used to have one when I was a kid. Meghan got one for Christmas and we hooked it up and just watched it.
Over and over again.
And then we stood there and watched it for hours.
And the next morning, it was still going.
And going.
A week later, it was still going.
So magical and mysterious and mesmerizing!
Everyone should have one of these at least once! Along with Sea Monkies!
Last New Years Day, one of our neighbors started an ‘Annual Polar Bear Swim’ for the kids in the neighborhood. This year, Jake and Hannah were again invited to come over and participate. It really is more a ‘jump in and hurry get out’ instead of an actual swim.
This year it was cold and slightly rainy, but the event was still on!
After the swim, everyone goes in and has hot chocolate and donuts!
Maybe the adults should do it next year? It looks kinda fun!
Our Six Flags passes only had a few more days left on them since the year was coming to a close. We had to go just one more time! We had some ‘bring a friend free’ passes too, so we had Adam & Leslie and their family come along (except Adam-he was responsible and had to work).
That’s a big Christmas Tree!
Jonah had some blue cotton candy!
Hannah had been waiting and waiting and waiting for the past, uh let’s see now, 5-6 years to be able to go on Medussa so it was time to see if she had grown. We walked up and got to the front and the worker with the measuring stick came by and told Hannah to stand up straight. Hannah had been practicing how to stand up straight, and just step a little on her tip toes and make it look like she was standing flat…and the worker looked at the stick, put her hand on Hannah’s head to see if Hannah came up to the line, and then the worker said, ‘You’re good!” and Hannah smiled so big! She was so happy! And she got to ride Medussa! And she got to ride it with her cousin Alena! Hannah went on it more than once that day and said, “I have a new favorite ride now!”
Jake and Hannah were at it playing today.
First they were ‘wrestling’ each other and then they were supposed to go outside and rake up the leaves on the front lawn. It didn’t quite work out that way.
Ah! To be a young kid again!
Yep, you read that right! How can that be? I have been trying to figure that out for a while now, and so far don’t have an answer. Somewhere along the line, I lost a few years!
The kids get to decide on what they want for dinner on their birthday. They can either have a special meal made at home whatever they want, or they can go to dinner with mom and dad at a ‘nicer’ place like Macaroni Grill, or Olive Garden or something like that, or they can choose a more affordable place for the whole family to go to like Chili’s, Red Robin (that was my choice and it was yummy!), Denny’s (yes, we actually like Denny’s) or something like that. Marissa decided to go to Chili’s so we all headed on over on a cold rainy night.
It was yummy and fun. We then came home and ‘Riss’ as she likes to be called, or ‘Goo-Goo’ – but only I can call her that, opened her presents.
She loved her BYU hoodie
and her chocolate bar
and her MP3 Player.
Later during the month, she had a party with a bunch of her friends, and she loved her birthday cheesecake. The color scheme for the party was black and pink and it was bright, colorful, bold and zippy – just like Marissa’s personality.
There were so many treats for the party, that a lot of them were left over. Seems that I ate most of them….weird how that happened!
Happy Bday Marissa! We love you!
Now, slow down the years please. No more birthdays so quickly!
Hannah joined Glee Club last semester in school, and practiced twice a week after school for the whole semester.
It was finally performance time! She performed for the whole school, went to a retirement home, went to a church, and then did a presentation for the parents & families. We got there early to get a good seat, but as you can see by the pics, there were A LOT of kids in Glee! It was the first time they had this club, and the principle didn’t really think too many would join up, but when over 115 students joined, that didn’t leave much room for all their families to come watch! We ended up in the back of the room!
Where’s Hannah? Can you find her?
How about now?
We were glad to have Gma & Gpa Gwilliam come with us too!
It was a great performance and Hannah actually sang the best, and no, that is not a biased statement – we have written proof. Hannah continues to sing around the house and brings a sweet song to everyone!
