Pinewood Derby

This was the first year our Ward decided to host a "Pinewood Derby".  Seeing as I didn't have BOY siblings even close in age growing up, this was a whole new experience for me.  Chance was so excited when he heard the news.  He promptly came home from church that day, and dug out his old cars from when HE was a scout.  He gave one to the kids to decorate (but Morgan was in charge of the sanding, and the main painting), and then he had a banana and an "old time" car.  Morgan and the kids really had fun painting their own.  It turned out pretty................um, interesting.

Chance then had some plans of his very own.  He was going to build 2 different cars.  One was going to be only for him, and one was going to be for our family.  HIS car was going to be an antler (big surprise there, right?), but as he got building it, he realized that it was a bit too complicated for a pinewood derby car.  So he scrapped that idea and focused on his masterpiece.

After a few tantrums, some yelling, and some sweat, it was finished.  He was pretty proud.

Here's Morgan sanding her car one afternoon....

Painting....

And here is Chance's masterpiece.  Pretty, eh'?

Here we are on the actual night of the races.  Sadly, our cars didn't do that well.  Our Banana didn't even GO on the track.....for some reason the tires froze up that night and it just sat there on the top.  The rest of the cars did "okay."  I think our first pinewood derby experience was a success though.  Our kids had a LOT of fun.

Snowday!

A couple of weeks ago Chance brought home a snowblower from work.  He decided to make a gigantic snowhill in our backyard for the kids to play on.  After he was done he decided that it JUST wasn't big enough.

So.

This last weekend we had the snowstorm of snowstorms.  Chance, after snowplowing that morning, decided to bring home the snowblower once again to make that hill bigger.  He spent the entire morning/afternoon getting it perfect.  As you can see, the kids had a BLAST on that thing....and Chance even got a chance to play on it too.

Happy Snowday!!

Here's the before and after:

I have such a good husband!  He ran in the house to grab the camcorder so he could film all the kids playing.

Love Morgans face...

Grace with some pretty impressive hat-hair...

 

Morgan invited one of her good friends over for the afternoon and they spent the entire time outside sledding, digging an ice tunnel....

 

Leave it to my husband to try something like this.  

 

Indoor Soccer

 I'm not quite sure what to think about indoor soccer.  Before Morgan started playing this winter, everyone we talked to said how much we've LOVE indoor.  So far.......nyah.  Sure, it's more fast-paced, but the games are at weird hours and it's SO different than outdoor that most of our team took an entire session to just figure out how to play again.  It's still fun to watch Morgan play, and it's nice that you don't have to worry about the outside elements...I guess it's just getting used to it.

I finally took my camera to one of the games....

Notice how most of the other team is about a foot taller than Morgan.....and she's STILL tough. :)

Merry Christmas!

 Yep....three photo's.  It's like Chance's birthday all over again.  I had my camera out, the flash on, and STILL only took 3 photo's.  I guess I was too busy getting breakfast ready (homemade orange rolls)...who knows.  Point is, at least I took SOME.  Right?

Here's the tree after Santa came...and before the rug-rats woke up...

I'm pretty sure Morgan only wanted a Kindle for Christmas.  Too bad it wasn't a Kindle Fire, right?  She was a little ticked off about that fact, but as now found a way to "make due" with the one she has. :)

 

And here are all the kids going through their loot.  They had a really fun day.

 

After opening our presents, we ate some yummy breakfast, and then we relaxed all.  day.  long.  We played Rockband, and our kids are now going around the house singing "Faith no More" and some "ACDC".  Nice.

For dinner, we decided to go to Denny's.  Yep.  Denny's.  And the plus was the fact that it was Tuesday, and kids eat free on Tuesdays!!  Cha Ching!  This is the best news ever when you have 5 kids.  We ate, we went home, and we decided that it was a good day.  I loved hanging out with my family.

Bailey Christmas Party

 It's that time of year again.....the Bailey Family Christmas Party!!  We go to a hotel in Ogden, eat some YUMMY dinner, and then we swim.  Oh, yeah ~ we also have a very special visitor...

Here's Grace...proud to test out my camera's exposure for me.  We're JUST sitting down to gorge ourselves on ham and potatoes.

Chance's aunt Debbie is always coming up with fun ideas for all the little kids.  She bought ALL of them these awesome headbands.  After putting them on, she taught them how to do the "bunny-hop".

 

Um.....Crede?

 

You're having a hard time reaching little man.  (we were laughing pretty hard...mainly because Crede was just happy to be part of the whole thing.  He had that smile on the entire time.)

 

Waiting for Santa...

 

Santa was so kind this year!  He smiled, and joked, and didn't want to scare Lilah.

Oh well.

 

Potty Training

 What do you get when you combine the first snow of the season with potty training?

No pants and moon boots!!

Here's my pasty white 3 year old sporting his cars undies (worn backwards of course) playing out in the newly fallen snow.  Dad just came home from work and wanted to introduce Lilah and Gage to the white stuff, so of course we had to take a small jaunt outside for a few minutes.

I really do make my kids wear pants normally....fyi.

And that sweater?  We really don't wear the hood around town like this either.  I promise I have SOME fashion sense....

Happy Birthday Chance!

This year, Chance's birthday was an epic fail.  Pretty much every year it's an epic fail.  See, here's the thing.  I stress about his birthday every.  year.  I think about it weeks in advance.  The problem I have is that I can never figure out what to do for him!  I never know what to buy.....so sometimes I just buy him food (like this year).  It's really pathetic because Chance is ALWAYS thinking of fun and special things for ME.  

Another reason why it was an epic fail is because these are the only THREE photo's I took that day.  L.A.M.E.

Sorry Chance.  I really do love you.  I think about you all.  the.  time.  If it wasn't for my OCD I think life might be a bit more pleasant for you.

I hope you had a happy birthday.  I love you, and I love everything you do for me, and for our family.  You are such a hard worker, and I know that no matter what ~ you would take care of us.  You are the fun one.  You are the funny one.  You are the creative one.  You wrestle with our kids.  You make silly faces.  You dance for us.  You play "buck" with the kids.  You teach our kids what a Dad should be. 

I love you.