Santa Clause Arrives at City Creek Center

We met the Billings family in front of the ZCMI windows at Macy's, sang Christmas carols, and counted down to the big unveiling of the candy ornaments. 

Then we waved flasing lights while Santa appeared with fireworks on the rooftops around City Creek. It was quite a production!

We shopped around the mall for a while, I showed the kids where I met Todd (Martine's on 1st South) and we ate dinner at Greek Souvlaki. All this time, TB was working on the electrical system at our new house. I think we had more fun than he did. 

Ikey was totally worn out by this day. I carried him into the house, but he didn't make it very far toward his room. 

Art Night

The kids sang with the Owl Chorale at the school's Art Night. 

The kids have been busy at school and at home with their art projects. Here are some favorites:

A colorful owl by Ikey

Another owl drawing by Isaac.

Jovie drew this adorable rolly-polly bear.

Isaac painted this sunflower.

The theme for the PTA's Reflections Art Show is "The World Would be a Better Place If..."

Ikey: "The World Would Be a Better place if Dragons Were Real"

Jovie: "...if bugs tasted like sugarplums"

October and November were pretty much all about Ghostbusters around here. The kids sang the song all the time, talked about ectoplasm non-stop, "busted mom" about a million times, and drew a lot of pictures. Here's one by Ikey:

In the spooky spirit of the season, here's a haunted house by Ikey.

Ikey drew this picture of him pining dad during their daily wrestling match. 

Jovie is very interested in stained glass windows. She picks out several designs every evening and colors them for me. 

This is Ikey's drawing of a trip around the world: New York, China, and France.

 Since we're missing a trip to New York this year, the kids recreated the scenes in drawings for the Layden girls.

Ikey has the Empire State Building, Lady Liberty with her internal stairway on display, a snow globe with the Empire State Building, and the Brooklyn Bridge. 

Jovie's drawing includes a snowglobe with the Empire State Building (she's the originator of this idea), Lady Liberty, two New York dragons, and a superdog with a cape.

Jovie painted this "Seasonal Tree" picture in preschool.

Around the house

The kids team up during their 7 minute video game time every morning. 

I often find them "labbing" in the kitchen sink, which is a version of washing the dishes. The dishes don't get totally clean and the kids don't stay totally dry, but they like the work. 

High School Play and Boston Accents

We went to The Sound of Music at Murray High School and enjoyed the first half until Ikey fell asleep and I carried him out during intermission. He is a big heavy boy and I parked a long way from the theater. 

A favorite food around here is clam chowder. The kids like to get TB to do a Boston accent when we eat it. 

Chess Club

Ikey concentrates during at game with Oakwood's Chess Club. 

Our big boy

This morning, we found out the Ikey is too big for his blanket sleeper PJs. We had to cut out the toes for his big feet. 

Clancy's baptism

Clancy is such a nice boy. We enjoyed his baptism. The kids are convinced that church is totally fun because every time we go they play with cousins, grandma brings them a new notebook and pen, and we always leave with a treat. They asked if we can go to church every day. 

Since we aren't going to go to church every day, I make a point to dress the kids in matching clothes and take adorable photos of them.