The other day at school, I was working with a group of kids on adding doubles. After the lesson, I passed them all out a worksheet to do, and told them that when they were done, they needed to come show me so that I could correct it and go over it with each of them. This sweet little boy Aidan finished and we went over his paper. After going over a few missed facts, I told him to pick a sticker to go on his paper. He looked at the sticker sheet, and started to chant, "Eeny, meeny, miney, moe. Catch the tiger by his toe. If he hollers let him go. Eeny, meeny, miney, moe. To-be-the-best-mom-say-NO-MORE-VIDEO-GAMES! and you are it with a very dirty dish rag on your big, fat, stinky toe!"
Over the Christmas break, we acquired a new reptile friend. Her name is Lilly. We adopted her from my boss, Lori, who lives in a cabin up above Park City. In order for Bearded Dragons to grow, they have to have adequate heat, and Lori was concerned that living in a cabin where the power goes out constantly, was not a great environment for Lilly. Luckily, James has been wanting to have his own pet that he is responsible for, so I brought Lilly home one night and surprised him. He has been so cute with her. Lilly has a spunky personality...she presses her body up against the glass when you walk by her aquarium, as if to say, "who's coming to get me?!" She is also a great eater, and we don't have to hand feed her like we do with Lizzy. Our house just keeps getting fuller...doesn't it?!
This year, James' 2nd grade class made and donated a tree to the Festival of Trees. His teacher is a runner, and he has been focusing on exercise and good health with the kids, so they decided the theme of their tree should be "The Human Race". James was so excited to go see it all put together, although the look on his face in this picture doesn't scream excitement. Danny was the overseer of the project (I lovingly call him the room-mom) and he took a lot of time to get things taken care of.
Our annual Bill's Christmas party was a lot of fun. Everyone in my Grandma Cardwell's family comes, and it's really fun to see all of my great cousins. Santa comes and the kids get to sit on his lap and recieve a gift. Carly, Easton, and James are little buds and they wanted their picture taken together!
Here is our trusty Explorer (we like to call it the Exploder for fun) buried in all the new snow. A pain in the butt, but oh so beautiful! The boys had a blast!
We took some pictures on our patio...you can't tell in the pics, but it was snowing. We saw a family of deer out in the pine trees just beyond our little cottage. Later, we took the kids over to the dining room for dinner. They sat us by the fire place, and the boys enjoyed their first "fancy dinner". As we were walking to dinner James asked me if this was where the rich and famous go. I had to laugh about that...it's funny to hear how your kids perceive different experiences.
My Boys!
After dinner, we took the boys for a late night swim. The pools at the Homestead are heated naturally by a spring that is on the property. The kids thought it was great to swim in hot water. I wish I could have joined them, but the pictures would have scared everyone....I only have bikinis, and they look slightly inappropriate right now....I've grown in many places! My favorite part of the trip came at the end. We took our desserts back to our cottage and watched Kung Fu Panda and ate pumpkin cheesecake and chocolate bread pudding. We all had a great time, and James wants to go back next year! It was definitely a great surprise for the boys.
Was this boy once a tiny baby with a dusting of black hair and a little round nose? I can still picture him in my head, but when I look at him now, it seems so long ago! James is turning 8 tomorrow and to celebrate he had a sleep over "Mario Brothers" party with a few of his cousins.
Jesse was even more excited than the birthday boy! While James was at school, he helped me make all the cupcakes and James' cake. He had to make sure that he was the one to put Mario on top of the cake!
James has wanted an Ipod for a very long time. My parents got him a shiny green one for his birthday, and his reaction was priceless! He got so many fun things from everyone, and we really enjoyed and appreciated getting to spend time with our family!
Make a wish, James!
During the magic show, if you answered any of the questions the magician asked, he would give you a chocolate frog. James was the little boy in the back with his hand held high for every question. James ended up with two chocolate frogs, and he got to help in one of the magic demonstrations. He was beyond giddy. (I answered a question too, the only adult to raise my hand....I forget that I am not 12 when I go to these things!)
Next, we headed to Defense Against the Dark Arts Class, where Professor Lockhart (Aka Joseph Smith) was signing Autographs and posing for pictures. 
A trip to Divination Class was worth while. We found out that we were destined to meet many interesting people on our travels throughout the museum.
And Finally, to top off the night, we had to bring home an assortment of sugar. The kids shopped at Honeydukes Candy shop with their Galleons and Sickles and enjoyed blood pops, chocolate frogs, and exploding bon bons. My favorite were the chocolate covered cockroaches!
The next day, we got up and headed to the mountains for a family hiking trip up to Bells Canyon. James loved that the lake was dried up in places and left a swampy bog. Mud is too hard to stay away from when you are seven years old.
These are all the happy hikers. Everyone in my family was able to come except for Jeff and Jill. It was so fun hanging out and talking. I feel lucky to have such a great family.
This is a picture of me, my sister Kait, my nephew Easton, and my big sister Kim.
We stopped and ate lunch on a dried up waterfall bed full of bolders. Jesse's pose is standard for all pictures that are taken of him now. Danny made us a lunch of cheese, crackers, salami, apples, carrots and water. For some reason, the simplest things taste the best up in the mountains.
Henry, my stinkin' cute little nephew, fell asleep on his Dad's back (my brother Clint). He was so good on his first hiking adventure!
