Christmas Morning

We had such a nice Christmas! We stayed home the entire day. We really needed one whole day at home together. Last year at Christmas we were in between houses so Christmas was nice, but a little hectic. This year was just what we needed. We even got Christmas lights up on the house this year.

Here's a few pictures from Christmas morning. I forgot to get names on the stockings so Santa put their pictures next to their toys so they would know which pile belonged to them.

Mission Accomplished

We had our family pictures taken a week ago. The next few posts are some of my favorites.

 

A very rare picture of Robert and I.

 

 

The Girls

 

 

The Boys

Family Pictures

The Children Dec. 2013

 10 years old

 9 years old

 7 years old

5 years old

Christmas Is In The Air

Well, the stockings are up and the tree is lit. We're ready for Christmas. We've been enjoying Christmas music and we're almost ready for the big day. Last night the kids had Santa night at school. They each sang Christmas music with their grade. It was fun for the kids, especially Claire. She loves being in the spotlight. No pictures because there was just never a good view with all of the parents there.

Last weekend our ward had a Christmas party. The primary did a live nativity. Bruce was Joseph, Jane was the angel, Claire was a lamb, and Linda was a shepard. I only got Bruce and Jane in the picture.

Santa came. I enjoyed getting these pictures because I know they won't want to sit on Santa's lap forever.

FC Sol

Jane had a great season on her first competitive soccer team. She was the youngest and least experienced on the team, but did very well.

Her team was the season champions.

Grandpa & Linda 2004-2013

Birthday Destination

So, we finally made it to the American Girl Doll store in LA for Linda's birthday. It was a week late, but worth the wait because Linda was healthy again. We headed up to The Grove in Los Angeles. It was all decked out for Christmas. First stop, Linda bought her doll!

She brought her doll from last year with her and they even wore matching outfits.

She picked out Saige, the doll from New Mexico. That's my girl! :)

We headed to see the La Brea tar pits afterwards then headed home.

Linda's Birthday

 Linda woke up really sick on her birthday. She had a fever, sore throat and was really tired. She had to miss school. She spent the majority of the day sleeping. But, the Tylenol kicked in before we had cake, ice cream and presents.

She chose to go to the American Girl Doll store in LA for her birthday destination. Unfortunately, she wasn't feeling any better on Saturday. She slept most of the day again and we kept up on meds. When she had a moment of feeling good we went to the mall to let the girls look at all of the puppies. It's not LA, but at least she got out of the house. :)

Linda is 9!

My winter baby's birthday finally came! Linda is such a wonderful girl.  She is 9yrs. old now.

 

Let me tell you about my oldest girl...

 

Linda is very compassionate. Her friend got in trouble at school the other day. On the way home Linda was sad. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I just don't want my friend to get in trouble."

 

Linda is creative. She is always choreographing dances, forming clubs, coming up with games, and writing songs. It just comes really naturally for her.

 

Linda likes to be in charge. Just ask her younger sisters. :) They usually don't mind though because she comes up of a lot of fun things to do.

 

Linda is girly and beautiful but she's also surprisingly strong. She can hold her own in wrestling matches with her brother Bruce.

 

Linda has developed a love for tennis. She has been doing an after school tennis class and a class with the city.

 

Linda's favorite place to go out to eat is Olive Garden. She loves the spaghetti and breadsticks.

 

She is truly special and we all love her very, very much. She has such a bright future ahead and I'm so blessed to be her mom.



Vice President Thompson

Linda decided to run for vice president at her school. She ran a great campaign.

She put up posters around the school and handed out stickers. She ran against 6 other kids.

 

It took a lot of courage for her to run and we are so proud of her! She did a great job on her speech in front of all of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders yesterday. Jane was able to be there because she is in a combo class with 3rd grade. I think I was more nervous than Linda was. It was so fun to watch her shine and to see all of the kids cheer for her. Bruce and Jane have been getting the word out to vote for their sister. Bruce rallied the 5th graders he knew and Jane got some votes for Linda in her combo class even thought she couldn't vote.
Here's Linda waiting to give her speech.

 Yesterday was election day.

I sat out in the car waiting for school to be over so that I could hear the election results from the kids. I could hear cheers coming from the school as the winners were announced but I wasn't close enough to hear the names. I was almost in tears because I was worried about Linda being sad if she didn't win, and because we've only been at this school a few months I was pretty sure her chance of winning wasn't that great. The kids got to the car and gave me the news, "Linda won!!" We were so excited! She did it! I am so proud of her. I can't think of anyone who deserves it more. Bruce was at lunch with all of the 5th graders during the announcement and he said they all put their hands up and cheered when they heard Linda's name. When Jane's class heard the announcement she was so excited and told everyone, "That's my sister!"

It made me so happy to know the kids were supporting and happy for each other.

 

Vice President Thompson

Fall

We've been enjoying Fall and the cooler weather. We went up to Bates Nut Farm before Halloween. It's always fun to go up and see the animals, do the hay maze and pick out pumpkins. We also had fun at our ward Halloween party and the school carnival. Claire had fun at her Kinder carnival day too.