We wish you a Happy Birthday

When the halls are decked with boughs of holly,

and the cakes are decorated with vintage

Humpty Dumpty candle holders it can only mean one thing -

it's that special time of the year.... Jed's Birthday!

Being that Henry and Jed's birthday are only one month apart

we've traditionally celebrated them together,

whether it be a friend party or a family celebration.

This year we picked a Monday in early December and

invited Grandma and Grandpa and the Coes

over for dinner and a birthday.

Each birthday boy got their own single

layer of grandma's special homemade birthday cake
each with its own set of age appropriate candles

Happy birthday to my sweet brothers!

Best of friends too, thankfully.

Most Favorite Gift award goes to the Nerf gun set

from grandma and the Coes - we now have an

arsenal equipped for a full-scale war which, conveniently,

broke out just after dinner.

I'm still finding darts all over the house.

(thanks everyone for helping us celebrate!!)

This past week was Jed's actual 7th birthday -

I took him his choice of lunch to

eat with him at school as I've

done with the kids this year.

One of the supervisors at the school is quite fond

of Jed and when she found out it

was his birthday she gave him this

oversized Hershey bar.

He was also a lunch captain this week which means

he gets to clean up after everyone else has

finished lunch and headed off to recess.

sponging off the the lunch benches

is one way to avoid a swelled head on your birthday

The afternoon of his birthday was also

his class Christmas party which I

volunteered for, we helped

the kids make and decorate their own

Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses.

First grade Christmas party 2009

(and Jed's 7th birthday...)

Jed's teacher is the one in the snowflake vest,

the rest of us are moms who work in her class

Henry's 2nd grade class right next door had their

Christmas party today as well,

I was able to hopscotch between the two

Christmas cookies and decorated Santa masks

mom with Santa's Little Helper at the class party

Photo op with Buddy the Elf

(I'm a big fan)

From Henry's classroom wall - a recent project in their class

was learning about genealogy and ancestors.

One project was to create a paper doll in the traditional dress

from one of our family ancestor countries.

We went with Scotland, sporting a traditional kilt,

although Henry was a bit concerned his doll

was wearing a dress. His can be found

on the top row, second left. (click to enlarge)

In Jed's class there is another little girl who

is his good friend, and she was born

on the exact same day as Jed, making them twins!

Luckily she had a party this afternoon on their exact birthday

at Pump it Up, and invited all of their friends

from their first grade class!

Revisionist history may somehow be

distorted to claim that this was actually

Jed's party - as he was happily celebrated

as much as she was....(much to my relief)

Party participants and guests of honor

It is inevitable that Jed's birthday photos

will always include some sort of

Christmas decorations or references.

"Why fight it?" I thought.

Rainbow cake and party favors

The birthday girl had no problem sharing the spotlight

with Jed, even the candle on her

birthday cake was relit and everyone sang again to Jed,

allowing him to blow it out all on his own.

He also took advantage of photos

in the birthday throne

balloons....

birthday cake and best friends....

presents and party favors...

seems like a birthday party to me!

Happy Birthday Jed!!

That evening back at home he talked to

Grandma Carol & Grandpa Bob

on the phone while opening

the birthday envelope they sent him

with seven one dollar bills!!!

Finally time to open the presents!

If you spoke with Jed after he sat on

Santa's lap at breakfast at church a few

weeks ago he would have told you

the one thing he asked for was

a (nerf) Tommy gun...

mom and dad are way cooler than Santa....

Say hello to Jed's little friend....

(also wearing the robe he got for his birthday)

Baptism

Yesterday Henry was baptized.

It was a rainy, rainy Saturday in California which made it all the more cozy in the Stake Center for the afternoon. The rain also caused the soccer tournament that Harriet's team was supposed to play in today to be cancelled, which made the day and its focus on Henry much simpler. We were so happy and grateful for the friends and family that made the trip in the rain.

(rain is a big, big deal here in OC, especially the downpours we had yesterday)

Family photo before the big dunk

Family photo with Grandma and Grandpa

who flew down from Salt Lake for Henry's baptism

Pete and Henry

post-program refreshments

pound cake with mixed berry topping and ice/whipped cream

(served on golden plates, ha ha!)

family & friends

Scott & Jack brave the rain on the patio

Jed relaxing with his refreshment

Congratulations Henry! We're so proud of you!

Fall Clearance

Now that December has officially arrived, I thought it best to clean out the fall photos in time to clear the shelves for all of the holiday and Christmas material soon to be arriving! The big items like Halloween, Thanksgiving and birthdays have been covered, now all that is left are some of the smaller more day to day activites that we've been participating in the past month or two.

One word that could be used to define fall around here is Soccer. All four of the kids were on teams this season, which meant at least three games of soccer every saturday, as well as two practices per kid a week. It's been busy, to say the least. No one was more happy than me to see the end of daylight savings time and the shortening of available daylight hours for practices to be held.

Henry and Jed were on the same U8 team, which was coached by Peter, our bishop and another guy in our ward, and on the team 6 out of the 12 boys were from our ward. They had a fun season, at this age there are no goalies and only 5 boys per team, and they are still learning the basics.

Jack hadn't played in a few years and lucked onto a good team with a solid coach and a friend from his class on it. They started out strong but sort of fell apart at the end of the season and didn't even make play offs. Jack however wasn't too caught up in the competition and had a fun time regardless.

Harriet was and is still part of an AYSO plus team for Lake Forest - she had a fun season with this team and with traveling around to other cities in South Orange County to play against their plus teams. Her team performed quite well, and came in second place overall. Couldn't quite catch Ladera Ranch.

Harriet is #3, which means this year there is actually

someone smaller than her to be #2~

(not much smaller, but just enough)

on the bench

At the beginning of the game,

and then again at the end of half time,

Harriet's team performs their special "Wildthings" cheer to

kick start their fighting spirit and to intimidate the other team.

Take a look, it's worked quite well this season.

Go Wildthings!

(and a big shout out to our most

loyal fans Grandpa and Grandma

who managed to make it to at

least two games every Saturday!)

Harriet also got the chance to ride the sweetest horse ever,

a gelding named Ranger who lives in the stables near

our house and belongs to the Activity Day's leader in

our ward who took the girls riding one afternoon.

Harriet and Ranger are very fond of each other

starting to get chilly in the afternoon

"What's this?" you may be asking yourself,

Telly Tubbies? Power Rangers? A stoplight impression?

No, just my kids dressed up to participate in

school Spirit Day wearing their grade level's assigned colors

Field Trip with Henry's class to see Peter Pan

performed by the Trabuco Hills High School Drama Club

Wendy, John, Peter, Michael

The cast members came into the audience after

the show to greet the kids - Henry was fascinated

by Captain Hook but didn't want to actually speak to him

He did pose with the girls and Tinkerbell however

Pack Meeting November:

Troup 768 Pinewood Derby 2009!

(Henry earns his Scouting for Food patch)

Henry is really enjoying being a Cub Scout -

one of the activities this month was

Scouting for Food. He passed out bags

for people to fill with food, then gathered them

up and dropped them off for

Second Harvest Food Bank.

He also designed and helped build his

first Pinewood Derby car for

competition as a Cub Scout

Henry's car is the sleek gold one far right

Henry came in First Place!!!

congratulations Henry!

Showing our support for "Team Edward"

at our group New Moon movie viewing activity

Getting a visit from our friends

and brand new parents

Eddie & Angela

with the adorable baby Naia!

everyone wants an extended chance to hold her

have you ever seen a better lookin' kid

holding a cuter baby?

Henry was the one that got to feed her.

Come back and visit soon Naia!!