Child Labor

Here is Wyatt trying to drag our Christmas tree. Cutting one in Iowa at the tree farm was definitely easier--a lot less whining and crying and more full and even trees--but it is always memorable.
We put 'em to work young around here.

Thanksgiving and the Sorensen Party 2010

I didn't take many photos of Thanksgiving day this year. This is the only one I can find and it was a day or two before. Jonah liked his Native American headband so much it went in our dress up box until all the macaroni noodles started to fall off.

Being back in Utah meant going to the Sorensen Family Reunion again. I don't think I've ever posted about this party because I didn't start blogging until we were away from family, but the Sorensen party is a big party--mostly because the Sorensens are a lot of people. Max's mom is the oldest of 11 kids. Each of those kids had at least 4 children, but most had 6 or even 9. So Max has 58 cousins! (I on the other hand only have 8 and I can count on one hand how many times I've seen them in my whole life.) Many of these cousins are now married and have their own children so talk about exponential growth!

Max's family is also a very musical family. After breakfast the whole family sings "Happy Birthday" to everyone else and then "I Love to Laugh" from Marry Poppins, complete with loud and boisterous guffawing. Later in the day there are kid skits and family skits and then the "Parade of the Uncles." It is quite an experience. My first time, just after Max and I got married, I kind of felt like I was in a musical but didn't know the words. Now, I am very grateful to get to see my kids experience something I never did as a child--the love and friendship of a large extended family.

Ramona is the emcee of the skits. She has a vast collection of crazy hats. This year Jonah got to be her helper and they wore a different hat to announce each skit.

Max and his siblings actually did a skit this year, which they haven't for a long time. The skit was that they were auctioning off their skit real estate--prime spot being children of the eldest.

Every year Uncle Scott, of "Scott's Lodge" fame, sings the Bold Bad Pirate song. It is an annual favorite along with several others like "Swim, Sam, Swim" and "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park,"
and the many ways Uncle Brad sings the "Little Canoe" song--this year it included buck teeth and even a nose flute.

After dinner we have a Nativity scene. This year, Jonah got to play Joseph. He was excited and practiced his lines with us for the half an hour leading up to it. He missed a line during the play and wanted to go back and do it right, but it was already quite a bit further in the story when he realized it, so we talked him into just continuing. He reminds me of me as a child (doesn't like messing up or not doing something exactly right) and so I was impressed that he was able to let it go pretty easily.
It looks like Jonah is about to poke "baby Jesus" in the eyes in the next picture, but I think he was just trying to make his little cousin laugh.

At the end of the night Santa arrives. These three pictures are so telling to me of the different personalities of my kids at this time.

Jonah jumps up onto Santa's lap and is ready to talk to him and would stay there as long as you let him.

Wyatt wants to see Santa, but is very nervous once it happens. He won't look up, talks very quietly. He also doesn't like to be the center of attention so being in front of everyone with a microphone in his face doesn't help either.

Emmett likes to stick close to us. He has never run away from me at the zoo or library or even grocery store. A high five was about all Santa could get out of him.

Santa brings presents from Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen. They give everyone something--all of the grandkids and the great-grandkids. They are pretty amazing and they've created quite a legacy. I'm thankful to have married into it.

Zoo With Cousins

We had a fun little afternoon with the Stirling side of the family back in October. Thanks Tutu!

The kids waited a while to get blasted in the head with elephant snot.

Naughty Baby

I think I have a photo of each of my boys doing this exact same thing now. I guess I should have learned by now to hide the q-tips a little better.

Halloween 2010

I love Halloween. Always have.

This year, Wyatt got to have a parade with his preschool class. Love his preschool teacher! She makes Wyatt feel so special, even if we just run into her somewhere in town.

This year, Wyatt wanted to be Curious George. I found the monkey costume at the Old Navy outlet--score!--but then I had to add a little felt fur to the top so that it looked "more like George" according to Wyatt. Wyatt loves to pretend to be George and speaks "George" to us. We have to figure out what all the "hoo-hoo-ha's" mean. Luckily, he usually points or acts something out, and that helps.

These next two photos don't really have to do with Halloween except that they were taken around the same time. I opened up the face paint, and let them go to town.

Jonah didn't get to have a parade this year. I don't know if the school doesn't do it or if it is just because he is AM kindergarten, but he still had plenty of places to wear his super-scary, glow-in-the dark skeleton costume, like Tutu's house with the Stirling cousins...

and the annual Nelson Family Halloween Party.
My mom and dad throw a great Halloween party! All the cousins come dressed up, most of the grown-ups do too. We eat, dance, play games and have lots of fun.
This was part of the dance party. Max is the crazy uncle and usually gets tackled by the hordes of children. My mom can still do the splits on demand and where better to do it than the middle of a dance circle in ... whatever it is she is wearing.
Limbo---I was a tiger, but my mask is missing.
All the kidlets--minus angel Tessa whom we miss very much--now that everyone has moved back.

My dad is a great grandpa. I had one very old grandpa (he was 88 when he came to live with us when I was 5) and a distant grandpa in Texas. I love seeing my kids get to play with my dad.

The best game: Guess the Grownup. Each grownup would pop their nylon-smashed face up for just a second and the kids had to guess who it was. They (the kids and the grownups) loved it and so it will probably become part of the annual party tradition.

Jonah Turned Six

Way back in September, Jonah turned 6!! He was and still is (since he watched Star Wars a couple months ago) into all things space. Since we had just moved here and I didn't know who to invite to a birthday party--and if you give Jonah the reins he will invite at least 50 people--I decided it would be a family/cousins party. We headed down to g-ma's house for cake, ice-cream, and presents and then took the cousins, closest to his age, to the planetarium and fountains.

I've never taken a cake decorating class, so my cakes don't necessarily look professional, but they are a lot of fun and I must say, this is one of my best--a comet, the moon, the earth, and the space shuttle complete with fire.
Jonah got a "big Woody" to go with his big Buzz Lightyear. He was very excited! He kept saying, "A big Woody, a big Woody, bigger than my small Woody." (since he already had a small plastic Woody doll) Max was wishing we could have caught that on camera to embarrass him when he gets older, but we missed it.

Jonah gets more excited about presents than anyone I know. You feel like you did a really good job picking out a present because he lets you know how much he loves it. He loves to make other people feel good. I was volunteering at his school one day and a new girl was there for the first day. You could tell she was nervous and feeling very shy. Before the end of class, I watched as he made sure to go over and say, "I'm glad you're in our class." He seems to sense other people's emotions and wants to make them feel okay. He's done the same for me on my sad days. Love him so much!

On the moon...
at the fountains...

I adore this next picture of Wyatt. To me it shows the total inhibition and joy of childhood. I wish I could feel this way more often.

September

September was an interesting month of learning our new routine with Jonah in kindergarten every morning and Wyatt going to preschool two afternoons a week, and me trying to get Emmett to nap somewhere in between the coming and going. Max was also trying to get into the groove of his new, very busy job. Still we found time to play as we always do and it's way more fun to record playing than figuring out routines.

Max and I ran the "Dirty Dash" at Soldier Hollow with our good friends, the McQueens. We are so blessed to have awesome friends who like to play with us. Seriously, how many couple-friends do you have where you and your husband were friends with both the husband and the wife before you or they even became husband and wife. We've got several of those because we worked on the river. It's great. Plus, these friends love getting dirty as much as we do--whether it's camping, river running, or sloshing through a muddy race.

Our team was called "Ham Slamma Jamma" and you can't see it, but we had a drawing of a pig making a slam dunk on our shirts.
I couldn't go for the full dunk--good thing too because Ashly did and couldn't open her eyes at all for a few minutes and I had to lead her through that final mud hole.

We took a fall hike through Cascade Springs on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Since Jonah and Wyatt are arguing or bugging each other at least 50% of the time, it's good to catch the other 50% on film.

I'm one lucky mama.

Jonah and Wyatt also played soccer in September and October. Because of their ages, they got to be on the same team one last time. From here on it probably won't be that way because of grade level, but they had a lot of fun on the same team.
It was a good little team too. All boys and all pretty aggressive with the ball. They won all but one or two of their games. They also had a great coach who rotated them in and out well and made it fun. It was a good experience, so they want to do it again next year. I loved how, unlike Iowa where it was 5 on 5, here it was only 3 on 3--6 kids running after and crowding the ball is much more manageable than 10. And I'm too cheap to buy the soccer package photos, especially since I spent a pretty penny on my own camera. So these will do.