Top 8 of 2008

Top 8 of 2008

Kaden was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in May after turning 8 this year.

Ethan started 1st Grade this year,

A family trip to Washington DC to surprise Grandma Apo for her birthday; we also got to see all the Apo family there and go into DC a few times to sightsee.

Books…we are always telling Kaden to stop reading & go to sleep, and Ethan has figured ot reading & loves to sound out all street signs.

Soccer both the boys played spring season and Ethan played again in the fall..and will again this spring.

Bowling...we have been bowling more this year than ever before..it's probably b/c the boys are old enough to enjoy it the entire game.

Serving…our children love to serve others & have figured out how to quietly serve without drawing attention to themselves. These are very sweet loving moments to witness.

We can't wait to make more memories in the new year!!

Happy New Years everyone!!

Something New

So the past two nights....I think it was only two...the boys have had what we call "family sleepovers" We don't do sleepovers at friends houses so they have never had that real sleepover experience but this week we have pulled Ethan's mattress out to the front room and let the boys stay up too late and watch movies. the first night we all slept out there the second night I gave up and went to my bed and Chad slept out there. Tonight everyone will be tucked into their beds in their bedrooms and we will wait for another fun occasion to roll around to do it again....

One last Christmas Picture

Here is a final Christmas picture tradition. The boys in their church clothes in front of the tree.

Hope you had a great holiday!!

Christmas Night

Blaine and Vannessa and girls came over for the afternoon and evening to have Christmas dinner with us. It was a great time. Amaya still screams when Chad looks at her, and when he isn't even in the same room as her. One of these days she'll remember how good he was to her before the screaming started.

Blaine, the boys and girls also played Wii. And we got out the Wii fit for awhile too. Here is Amaya and Blaine....

Lulu also spent a lot of the time playing with the boys...another cute picture of her with Kaden.

We are so lucky to have them close by! We love to spend time with them!!

Christmas Morning

Surprisingly we didn't have the boys in our room until 7:13. We did tell them not to get out of bed until 7 am and we think Kaden woke up Ethan but at least we got a few more minutes. Then we even made them climb in our bed and wait another 20 minutes....mean maybe but we were still wanting to stay in our warm beds.

Chad went and turned on the Christmas tree lights while I got blankets to wrap up in.

The boys were so thrilled with everything Santa brought and were so thankful. Santa leaves the boys everything to share. They got a few things just for themselves, but most of it is left for them to share...that Santa is one smart guy!

Their stash this year included a lot of video game stuff, Pokemon, books, Legos, and bakugan.

Under the tree where the gifts to one another and they mostly got clothes from their parents...every boy needs new school pants (we are averaging one ripped pair per month for each boy so far!).

I couldn't believe the mess just the four of us made. But it sure was fun!

Chritsmas Eve

This year is our first year staying home with just the 4 of us. Years past we have gone to Canada or Washington DC to be with our families, and we have been really lucky to have our Apo family travel out here for the previous 2 years. This year with a January wedding in our midst everyone is traveling this direction than, so we were brave and thought we could attempt out own Christmas.

So Christmas Eve arrived without much of a plan, but we easily fixed that. We made one last trip to Target in the morning so the boys could do their shopping for one another and we carried on the Apo tradition of L&L for dinner. (L&L make Hawaiian plate lunch and we have done that with our extended family the last two years.) We also made the traditional apple pie. In the Apo family we make apple pie with my dad every Christmas eve....so the boys carry on and make the pie with their dad. Chad wasn't too in to it at first but in the end was having a ton of fun.

We than did pictures in front of the tree in jammies and Chad read us the story of Christ's birth, in Walker tradition...without the costumes and singing though that I remember from past Walker Christmas I have spent with them.

Then we let the boys each open a gift and watch Polar Express. By 930 we were ready for bed and anxiously waiting for Santa. Somehow the boys feel asleep very quickly.

2 Rings left

Ethan is our official countdown to Christmas boy. After Thanksgiving break he brought home countdown rings from school and has been ripping on off each day. So Today (Tuesday) it looked like this....

Only here...

So this is what Ethan brought into the house today after jumping on the trampoline...

Sorry it's so blurry

You see we plant our garden in February every year and usually by July everything is dead. this year the tomatoes have made a come back and seem to have survived our two days of snow last week. Only Ethan eats tomatoes in this household so he was very happy to get a few more.

FHE

Last night for FHE we delivered our Christmas goodies to friends. Kaden and I with a little help from Ethan wrapped the caramels...which were a bit soft but they taste good so I used them anyways..then we packed them all up in the trays and tins I got on clearance last year. (I love after Christmas shopping more than before Christmas shopping and its even better when i pack it all away and get to take it out next year!)

The boys love to do the delivering and even talk to the friends...so much better than last year when they would just stand there and hand it over!

Thier First Game

Well Saturday afternoon some friends from the ward called and asked if we would like to go to the Las Vegas Bowl to watch BYU play Arizona State. They had extra tickets and the boys have never been to a game before so Chad decided to take them. I stayed behind since I had a baptism at church to attend for a Primary child...I wasn't so sad about it.

When Ethan was home I asked how it was and he said "well I won't do that again" He is such a homebody!

Ethans First Reciation

For part of the class party Ethan had to memorize a poem to present in front of the class. He was so ready and so proud of himself when he was done. He was the only one to not need help and to just get up and do it without being poked and prodded. It was a great moment!!

Oh....the poem he did was called "If you talk to a Monkey" by Rowena Bennett.

If you talk to a monkey

he seems very wise.

he scratches his head

and blinks both eyes.

but he won't say a word

he just swings on a rail

and makes a big question mark out of his tail.

Brave or Dumb?!?

This is what I did last night after I cleaned the kitchen....I was thinking the boys are older and can control themselves....so far it is right except the husband is eating me out of m&ms and that isn't so great for his sugar levels!!! But it looks really pretty on the counter top.

After the holiday all the candy disappears again so Chad isn't so tempted by it.

The Christmas Program

This year we again went to school for the annual Christmas program. Ethan is always so excited to actually be in the programs now. This time both boys were in the choir at the beginning so that was great. And they sang around 6 songs I think.

The pictures are horrible but you get the idea. And you can't really see Kaden at all. Maybe Chad will have some better ones on his phone. (the children aren't evil...i just can't fix all the eyes to not have red eye or that white glossy thing--sorry)

Kaden top row between the two girls...

Ethan in the center two rows below the girl with the white headband.

SNOW DAY

School has been called off for tomorrow! We can't believe it...it is the first snow day in Vegas EVER! it snowed from 1 pm to about 830 tonight and they are saying we will have 6 inches by morning! the boys are really happy and can't wait to have another day off!

This is what it looks like in our backyard tonight....and you can see the remains of the first snowman from Monday's snow too!

SNOW IS FALLING

IN LAS VEGAS!!

so the weather man did say he thought we'd get snow...but really we live in Vegas so we thought just in the mountains, but apparently he was right. we woke up to it snowing and it is 130 and still snowing. The boys have been outside to play in it and are now freezing cold. It snowed twice besides this time in the 8 years we have lived here and it is great be/c you enjoy it for the day and it is usually gone by that night. This time I think it might be a little different b/c they are calling for snow on Thursday again!

Right in time for Christmas!!

Christmas Painting

So this week for our family Sunday night Christmas activity I decided we could each paint a snowman canvas. This was the quietest activity we have had. It was an hour of silence until someone would need another color. I gave everyone a canvas and told them all that mattered was that they needed to have a snowman on it somewhere. And they did a great job.

I think it will be one of those things we do year after year and use as Christmas decor each year. I love them and can't wait to hang them all for this wonderful holiday season.

Decorating our Way

Since having Christmas as an adult one of my favorite things was going to my parents house and my in laws houses and seeing all their decorations and deciding what I would like to do for our house. My Mom had two tress...one family and one fancy. So I have now done this. one with all our fancy blue and silver matching ornaments with silver snowflakes, and glitter and straight white lights.

Than the family tree with anything and everything you can fit on it. With a train around the bottom, thanks to Grandpa Walker, and full of candy canes (one a day per person) as Chad remembers from his childhood.

Our twist was to put Christmas books galore under each tree. Under the "fancy tree" goes the books we own (which I pack away every year with the Christmas decor so when they come out it is a big treat) and under the family tree are books form the library. I always try to get some on sale after the holiday and add to our collection. And now I am trying to find ones that are more chapter books for Kaden.

I also love to do Nativities. Each year I look hard for one I love and rarely find one. We have two breakable up high sets, as we call them. The kids can't play with those. Then we have two that are for playing with and one made of fridge magnets given to us years ago by our Grandma Walker.

This year around September I found a lady online who would cut out wood in the proper shapes and you had to paint and do them all up but it is a complete nativity set. So I ordered 11 (the number that would fit into a flat rate box) And when they got here we painted them and than I sanded them and Ethan helped me to wrap some and get them ready for gifts. It was a great family project and we have one we can keep for ourselves too.

Christmas Cooking

So I love to do something every Sunday between Thanksgiving and Christmas that is "Christmas-y" We started this last year and created so many good memories so I was excited to do it again this year.

But then Sunday rolled around, we went to Stake Conference, and had lunch and I had no clue what to do so I took a nap. The boys dumped every Lego they own out in the front room and turned on a movie.

Dinner came and went and guilt started. So I got out some ideas I had for Christmas cookies to give out this year and we started cooking.

Now I hate to give things I haven't tried myself so this was our taste testing batches of 2 Christmas treats.

Fudge and Buckeyes.

We made Buckeyes last February but I lost the recipe somewhere so I made up a new one out of recipes I found on line and we went for it.

The Buckeyes are great...we are still waiting for the Fudge to firm up.

But it provided a fun family Christmas activity and got another thing done for the holiday!

The end of the season...the soccer season....

Saturday late morning was the day appointed for Ethan's end of season Soccer party and since it is freezing cold here {it is under 60...go ahead and laugh...but we are freezing} we went with the team to Peter Piper Pizza.

And Ethan got to be with his teammates, eat pizza, play arcade games and get a trophy.

Here is a picture of him and his coach this year. He was Kaden's coach last year and we love his style of coaching and his great philosophy that you don't' make the kids hate the sport and force them into anything, or yell at them for mistakes or for not winning. He is all about the fun of the game. being a good sport, and the love of the game. We are so lucky to have found a great coach for these past two seasons.

And next year we will have a great coach next season...Chad plans on coaching.

Wishes...

So this week for FHE we did our Christmas Wish Lists. Yes...Wish List. We started calling them wish lists b/c that is what they are. You wish for something and Santa gets to decide which wishes are fulfilled. This allows for some very big and very small wishes...I mean just look at the variety in out little family...Ethan has many things on his list (which grows longer each day...the cutoff day is Sunday and then they get sent to Santa) on of which is a bouncy ball, a small bouncy ball to be specific. Than Chad has a new job listed on his list. We don't stop what is written on the lists because a lot of time it is is a little insight into what the boys are really thinking.

So Wednesday rolls around and Ethan heeds his list off the fridge to add something else. He quietly sat and wrote it out all on his own, this is what it said....

To interpret for you it says "but get the hospital presents."

You see both boys came home from school with bags to put a present in for the candle lighters. They were explained that because it was for children sick in the hospital the presents needed to be new in the packaging....so Ethan had talked a lot about what to get on the way home form school. But after being home awhile I thought he'd forgotten.

But then he added this. We are so happy to have a little boy who loves to serve others in his own way.

Decorating

So I have been just waiting for thanksgiving to come and go so I could get the Christmas decor up in the house. I do the inside Chad does the outside.

So the boys and I worked hard and got a lot of it finished. two trees up and decorated, the tops of the kitchen cabinets decorated and a few of the nativities are out of the boxes and set up.

It still looks a bit messy around here so I know I am not done all the way yet but we are getting close.

The boys also made gingerbread villages. This is a great tradition in our little family that they really love.