Makenna

My little Missy is growing up right before my eyes! She is so much fun, I don't know what we'd ever do without her. She is at a neat age, learning so many new things and discovering talents. She had an opportunity to try out the performing arts last week in our school's production of Disney on Parade. Makenna was one of Pinnochio's dancing puppets, and she was fabulous! See her here, dancing behind Jiminy Cricket?


Makenna has discovered that she's a great little athlete, and a quick runner. Here she is in soccer last year and softball...





I call Makenna the Pied Piper in our house because the three younger children happily follow her around wherever she leads them and they play anything she suggests. She has a magic ability to keep them all happy and getting along. I truly appreciate this! Makenna is an outdoor girl. She finishes her homework and then runs outside until dinner, rain or shine. I asked her what she thinks her best talents are and she said, "Maybe the hoola-hoop? I'm good at that, or else cartwheels." Makenna is also very creative. She has written beautiful poetry and stories. She won an award in her school at Halloween for the most creative pumpkin. She made Raggedy Ann!



Makenna also worked hard on a Great Brain Project about Cockatoos (inspired by our Jubilation). I don't have a shot of the finished product handy, but following is a picture she included in her project.

Makenna's favorite food is mondu (Chinese potstickers). She wants to be a vet like her daddy when she grows up, and she takes every opportunity on a day off from school to go to work with him. Right now Makenna is into reading Goosebumps books. Her favorite critter is her devoted kitty. I like this picture of Kenna snuggled up with Ginny while she reads.



Makenna, you are such a special girl and we love you to pieces!

Brennan

Brennan has definitely had the biggest changes of all in the last year. He learned the most important life skill - potty training. That is old news, since he was potty trained ages ago, but I guess I just mention it because it is so exciting for Mom not to have any kids in diapers! Whahoo! But that also means I don't have a baby anymore, just big kids. In fact Brennan is obsessed with growing up "Big like Hulk." If he ever objects to eating healthy food on his plate I just have to remind him it will help him grow up big like Hulk, and he gobbles it right up. His favorite phrase is, "Mom, look how fast I can run!"

Brennan brings a lot of life and fun into our family. His most famous contribution to our family hillarity is this.... I had to video it for you. He discovered that playing the name game with Daddy's name creates "Carter, Carter, bo-barter, fee, fi, fo-farter - Carter!" Somehow this joke never gets old, even to Daddy, who thinks it is adorable.

Brennan's favorite hobby is pretending. He spends most of his waking hours with his red cape tied around him, pretending to be a super hero or a Power Ranger. Or Harry Potter. Or whatever.



Brennan's favorite things in this world are pockets. Each morning as soon as he opens his eyes he tells me he wants to put on some pants with pockets. His most frequent question to me is, "Guess what's in my pocket!" Sometimes that's a scary thought with little boys, but usually his pockets are full of neat treasures like cool rocks, a rubberband, a toy airplane, a car, etc. He did worry me just yesterday, though, when he told me all about the worm he had dug up and kept in his pocket until he came to the part when he let it go again.

This is the picture that made Brennan famous. Grandpa Mawson had been telling me for months that they are always putting pictures in the newspaper of kids that aren't half as cute as our little guy. So when Brennan fell asleep during lunch the day after Thanksgiving and I snapped this picture, Grandpa insisted I send it in. They printed it in the IdaChatter section. Don't worry, he hasn't let all the fame go to his head.



Brennan absolutely loves all his grandparents. He loves his "Cabin Grandma and Grandpa," his "Grandma and Grandpa with Sasha," and he has a special relationship with his beloved "Gwappa Mawson." (his great-grandpa). Here they are watching a hockey game together.



Brennan, you are a sweet, fun little guy and we love you!!

Jayden

What to say about my Jayden.....

Jayden has also had a big year, full of lots of exciting firsts. The most important being that he turned twelve and was ordained to the Priesthood. He seems to have a sense of the responsibility of it and a reverence for the duties he carries out. Young Men's activities are another fun new adventure. What a big step!

Jayden started sixth grade this year, which in our area means he was off to middle school. That was another big change for him, to a whole new world of lockers, schedules, lots of teachers, lots of homework, lots of kids. He has handled it just fine and he is having some fun times as he experiments with a few new things. He joined the basketball and tennis teams at school, and he plays the sax in the band.



During practice time I hear a lot more "Crazy Train" and "Ironman" than assigned music pieces, but that's okay as long as he is having fun with it. Jayden even figured out how to play "the Pink Panther" as a special request from me. I love it!

Jayden got glasses this year. Another first. I'm not sure it is one to celebrate, but what do ya do? Bad eyesight is a genetic gift from me. Sorry, Jayden. He took it in stride even though he didn't love them, and now he is bugging me about contacts. I think we'll wait a little while, though. Luckily, he looks dashing in his specs, don't you think?



Here he is showing off some of his dance moves with his cousins. We love Jayden's fun, comical personality.



Jayden enjoyed playing catcher on his baseball team last year.

His favorite hobbies at the moment are fishing in the canal behind our house, drawing (he's really getting good!Every piece of homework is fully doodled and illustrated.) and messing on the computer when I let him. Also hunting with Dad every chance he gets and target shooting his bow. He is into everything fantasy and midevil. He's a great reader and lately he has enjoyed the Percy Jackson books and Ranger's Apprentice books. He figures he wants to be an engineer when he grows up. He's especially interested in the aerospace thing, and designing things that fly. Of course he is also considering the FBI, or maybe Men in Black....Jayden's biggest challenges at the moment are his adorable, pesky little brothers and sisters, and his darn alarm clock that goes off WAY too early every morning.

Jayden, I love the great person you are growing into and we are all so thankful to have you around. We love you!!

Kyler

I decided that since I'm so far behind in blogging the Andrews' world, rather than giving a way-after-the-fact travel log, I'd do something different. I'm going to give a little spotlight on each child and some of their accomplishments/ events in recent months. I'll probably be coming back and adding things to these posts as I think of other things. In no particular order...

Middle kids don't get to do stuff first very often, so Kyler, here's your turn first!

Kyler has had a busy year full of lots of important things. He is six years old. Here he is on his first day of Kindergarten.



Kyler is doing great in school. He has tons of friends and he's learning to read like a champ. He thinks he's the fastest runner in his class, although I haven't seen the proof. Kyler got his first pet, a hermit crab named Hermie. And he learned to tie his shoes the very first day I ever tried to teach him. Even double knots!





He loves his sports. He plays with enthusiasm, no matter what he's doing. He had a blast trying t-ball, and loves soccer. He received the award for "most energy" from both coaches. Kyler, I know if you approach everything in life with that great attitude, you will always do well!



Kyler lost his first tooth recently! He wanted to hold up this magnifying glass to make sure you could see the hole - proof that he is a big kid!

Kyler wants to be a cowboy when he grows up. His favorite food is hamburgers. His favorite thing to do is "go exploring." I asked him where he likes to explore. He said, "The forest, or just anywhere."

He has a permanent smile on his little face. He's just a happy, easy-going guy and fun to have around. The family comedian (along with his dad.) He's the one we put in the middle of the back seat to buffer the conflicts on long trips. And his best talent is that sweet little grin that melts his mom's heart.






He is a Mini-Me version of Carter at that age, and inherited Carter's fun personality, too. Adorable through and through! Kyler, we love you!

My Handy Hubby

I am so excited! I have been looking forward to the day my storage room is organized with shelves. Carter decided he'd tackle that project in late winter, before the season changes. (You know...to steelhead season, turkey season, bear season, etc. ) He did a great job and I love the shelves! But now I can see how truly pathetic my food storage supply is. I'd better get working on it.

Thank you, Carter!!! You're awesome!



Nice work, don't you think?

Viva Las Vegas!

Carter needed to attend the Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas this year, and when we found screaming deals on the trip, I got to tag along! I want to give another HUGE thank you to my wonderful mom and step-dad for caring for our children so I could go. We had such a terrific time! We had not ever taken a "just the two of us" vacation before, but now I'm thinking we need to do that more often. Loved it!

Some of our favorite sites:




New York, New York is mind-blowing! It seriously recreates the NYC skyline, with a rollercoaster looping all around it. Inside it feels like you are walking through a downtown city neighborhood, or Sesame Street (sort of).



Classic Las Vegas.



I really liked this picture, showing the gorgeous Paris Casino and Eiffel Tower, until I realized I'd framed it so Carter is sprouting a hot air balloon out of the top of his head. Ooops!


I must have taken twenty pictures inside Cesar's Palace. The marble pillars and statues are breathtaking. Walking around in there is a great lesson in Greek Mythology. I tried to take pictures of lots of it, knowing Jayden is really into that, but I did have a hard time finding decently clad statues to show my 12 year old son. There was a cool animated statue show depicting the fall of Atlantis, with water and fire shooting all around.


Next I have to mention the conservatory in Belagio. It was an incredible botanical paradise in the midst of all the lights and smoke. We were there over Chinese New Year, so several casinos had really neat oriental-feeling themes. I walked several miles out of my way so I could come back here with my camera to get these pictures!



Everything in there was alive and growing, even the panda. I loved the water show in front of the Belagio, too, but didn't get any pictures.

This is just me being silly. I've always had a thing for Elvis. Carter is okay with it since he's dead. I saw a cool Elvis look-alike one day on the strip and was dying to take a picture with him until we realized they charge you money to pose for a picture. I didn't want it that bad. But then I found an Elvis M&M who posed with me for free. HeeHee.

Favorite memories of the trip:

* Carter took me to eat Korean food! We were the only non-native kimchi eaters there in this little restaurant down a semi-scary alley from the strip. That's always a good sign. The food was sooooo good!
*Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville... pirates on stilts, exploding volcanoes, a giant blender big enough to swim in (no, Carter, I didn't take any pictures of the girl who swam in it) and their "Save the Ta-Ta's campaign." Hmmm.
*Wandering around the casino in the Tropicana like two oafs from Idaho looking for a penny slot machine that took pennies. There weren't any, so we bagged the gambling idea.
*A very confused bartender holding two Shirley Temples...
*Stepping completely out of "Mommy mode" and coming back so refreshed.
*Being "wined and dined" by Hills Science Diet in the penthouse of Mandalay Bay... They have a very exclusive, extremely fancy appreciation party for a bunch of their biggest clients. That might not include us normally, but we KNOW people! A friend from vet school works for them now and got us invited. So we tried to act sophisticated as we perused tables of completely unrecognizable gourmet delicacies and marveled at how the other half live.
Here we are with Scott Carter and Zach and Lisa Bruneel, also great friends from vet school.


This is the view from at least 50 stories up, on the balcony at that party.



The conference presented Foreigner in concert! It was a good old fashioned classic rock, let your hair down and relive the eighties concert. We were a little more in our element here, and we had a great time!


The best memory of all was a having a four-day-long date with my husband and finding that we still have a really good time together. Love you, Carter!

2009 Family Pics

I LOVE having photographers in the family! Carter's sister Lynette took family pictures for us this Fall, which I just loved. I have a link to her photography blog if you want to learn more about her work. So I made a slideshow to share some of my favorites...

No family blog would be complete without the yearly shots from the pumpkin patch and our adorable trick-or-treaters.
Kyler and Shaylie had a ball in the haybail maze, along with their friends from preschool.


Brennan didn't love the maze as much. He couldn't keep up with the bigger kids and soon I heard him calling, "Mom! I lost!"

All of us on the hayride. We had a terrific time. It was really windy, as you can see, so no cracks about the crazy hair!

Bubba's perfect pumpkin.

As I was paying for the pumpkins at the end of the day, I looked down and noticed Brennan sampling one of the Indian corn cobs from the pretty decorations. I don't think it was as yummy as he'd hoped.

Brennan as "SpiderCan." (That's what he called himself. He talks really well, but for some reason he got mixed up when I sang him the song...you know - Spiderman, Spiderman, Does whatever a spider can!")



Shaylie, working the Hula,Hula..



My adorable werewolf, Kyler. He was quite offended when someone said he was a cool lion. "Didn't he notice my teeth?" he asked.



Makenna, too sweet to be a mean witch.



Jayden as Legolas. I finally gave in and let Carter show him the Lord of the Rings movies this year, and Jayden is hooked, just like his dad. From this angle you can't see his cool quiver and arrows. Notice the pointy ears, too. Thanks, Oscar, for letting Jayden borrow your stuff.



And finally, Carter and I went to a Halloween party as Miss America and Runner Up. I didn't get a great picture, but it was pretty funny. See the mascarra dripping down Carter's face?