Sweet Sixteen

Just yesterday she looked like this........

Then, I woke up this morning and she looks like this.......

My baby turned  sixteen today!

We had a mini-party during the little window of time she was home after school & track and before she took off for volleyball for the rest of the night.

Her cousin Melia made this adorable cake.

Her friends wore these awesome T-shirts to school.  How cute is that?

What I don't think is very cute are these nerd glasses that Mars loves to wear.  She says they make her feel smarter. 

What a goofball.

This is 3 days later, when she finally had some time to blow out some candles while we sang 'Happy Birthday'.  Busy.  So busy.

Man, I'm so proud of this girl.

Her talent and strength and beauty just blows me away. Every day.

Happy Sweet Sixteen MarsBars!!!

We love you!

Gimpy

No, I'm not talking about me. My toe is healing quite well actually.

Gimpy is what we call our cat. Also known as 'the backwards legs cat'.

The poor thing.

We're all used to seeing her waddle around our backyard.

But when someone is over who hasn't seen her before, they kind of freak out, and it reminds us of how 'special' she is.

She was born like this.

As a kitten she would scooch herself along using her front paws. Her hind legs dragging behind her.  It was the saddest thing!  So she quickly became everyone's favorite.  Especially Gus.  Because Gimpy was the only one he could catch and molest 'play' with.  And Gimpy quietly accepted her fate and became the tamest and sweetest of all those blasted kittens we had a while back.

See this post.

Therefore, she was the only one we kept.

I can't believe I'm doing a whole post on a cat.

But the kids made me do it.

Ringing in the New Year!

With these knuckleheads.....

The little pyros-in-training.

Fireworks were just legalized here(not that that has stopped us before), so we got a big variety pack & went to town.

boys + fireworks = super fun

Man, it was a cold New Years Eve!!!

I could not believe that no one got hurt/burned/eyebrows singed.  Nothing!  I'm thinking that's a good sign for 2011.

Goodbye  2010!

And here's hoping 2011 is alot better!!!

Cousin-Time

Christmas came and went so fast.  Like it always does.

Then we had two days for a breather & to get ready for my entire family to come into town.  Holly(my sister) and Jared and their family(4 boys) stayed with us.  It was loud.  It was crazy.  And it was so fun.  And it was nice when it was all over!  Poor Holly had the flu the whole time, so that was a bummer for her.  But the kids all partied hard with all their cousins that they don't get to see very often.

Bridger the cool kid, who lost two teeth while he was here.

My favorite Jolie-bear.

My family really likes to eat...........

We had Christmas & birthday parties and went shopping and played at the park and went to a Suns game and played 007 and went out to dinner and made lemonade and  tried to take pictures of crying babies.

It was really fun watching all these boys, who were so excited to see each other, have so much fun together.  Even though they're so flippin' loud.

We love our cousins.  Cousins totally rock!

.....for which we become the meanest parents ever.

After two weeks of gaming gluttony over the holidays, and a new year upon us, Brian & I decided it was time for some changes.

I was so sick of the video game issue.  The constant allure.  The fighting.  The countless hours spent sitting in front of a screen instead of playing outside.  The constant monitoring of it.  The fact that my 4-year-old talks of sub-machine guns & grenades.
And it's not just Halo, but all of it.

We've tried all kinds of limitations.  Playing only after homework & chores are done.  No playing or watching anything after 6:00.  But I'm sick of policing it all the time & the fights over someone playing a game that someone else bought with their own money, or someone hogging the Xbox....yada, yada, yada........

I'm done!   Fed up.   I want them out of my house.  So they're not even an option.

So we sat the kids down & told them our plan.  To pack them all up & put them away.  For a long time.  So don't even think of asking us when we can get them out again.

It's not like I think video games are evil.  It had just become too much of a distraction & point of contention in our home.

Surprisingly, they all took it pretty well.  Even Zane.  Jake asked if we were going to take away the TV's next.  Like Amish people.  I said we could be Mormish instead.  I'm kind of liking that idea.....

It's been a couple of weeks now & all is well at the Mason Videogame Detox Center.  There's more piano practicing & drawing & Lego-building & shooting hoops. 

There is still fighting, but at least it's not about games.

Dad-nabbit!

I broke my pinkie toe last night.

I was reading in bed when the Dove chocolate hearts that I had just bought started calling to me.  And since I have absolutely no self-control, I got up to get a few.  I walked around the bench at the foot of my bed like I have twenty billion times before, when I nailed it on a bench leg.  Oh, the 'crunch' sound it made!

Such a bummer.

Next time I'm going to put the chocolate hearts in my bedside table.

Chunkins

Chunkins is our favorite name for her right now.

Or Peanut or Princess or Punkinhead.

She just turned  8 months!

And is right on the verge of crawling and sitting by herself.

She was so funny when I was taking these pictures.  She didn't know what to think about the flashing lights & would give me this deer-in-the-headlights look.

Like this.....

Then Daddy came in......

(notice the two new little teeth)

She almost makes me want another one.

Almost.

Christmas 2010

Man, I love Christmas morning!

I loved Max's face as he opened this present from us, the NXT robotics Legos that he didn't even dream he would get for Christmas.

Jake's favorite.  Crunch Crisps.

This should last him awhile.  That box is deep.

Marlee's not really a normal teenager.  She asked for piano music & a metronome for Christmas.   I know! Right?

She wanted these big headphones too.  They're so 80's.

She had her cellphone & ipod privileges taken away a couple weeks ago, so for Christmas we wrapped them up & put them under the tree for her.  Haha.

Caroline in her new walker.  Except she can't go anywhere in it yet because only her toes barely reach the ground.

It was a Halo Legos year.

Zane's favorite present, his big, huge Nerf gun.

Gus's favorite present, his remote control cars, pronounced "mote troll".

And Jake in his new jeans & wherewolf mask with his new ipod Touch.

He's not normal either.

He & his friends have big plans to scare neighborhood kids at night.  Be warned.

Gus on his new "big boy" bike.

What a great day it was.

We stayed home all day.  It was wonderful!  And merry.

Can't wait til next year.