Pinewood Derby V.2

Many hours were spent looking at car designs on the computer before Parker finally decided what he wanted to do with his block of wood. He decided on a sleek, bright yellow sports car design. Do you see it above? Sterling helped him shape and form it, paint and shine it and get it set for race day.

The races were exciting and nail biting.

 

Parker came in 2nd place. Another successful Derby!!!

Pinewood Derby V.1 - 2012

Achievement Awards 2013

The Brown Family Achievement Awards Celebration.

That is what I have decided to call this event/tradition. It used to be the annual Achievement Awards. Then it was The Semi-annual Achievement Awards and then we skipped about a year and a half. So now I'm just deciding to call it -

The Brown Family Achievement Awards Celebration.

That way we are not tied down to a specific time schedule. I won't feel bad one way or the other regarding how frequently it happens. There are too many other things to worry about. :)

With that out of the way - here is my report on our Achievement Awards. I really love this tradition, even though I'm not very consistent. I love recognizing the children for the good things they are doing, their goals and achievements.

SYDNEY - growing long fingernails

Award - Crackle fingernail polish because she stopped biting her fingernails and now has beautiful nails to polish

 

PARKER - mastering multiplication

Award - breakfast cereal because he woke up every morning at 6:30 to do flashcards with Dad

 

CAMILLE - excelling in her first year of ballet

Award - ballet tights because her old ones had runs and holes.

 

RACHEL - learning to read

Award - a new book to read. She's one smart cookie.

 

BRYCE -  potty training

Award - new underwear. You know, for accidents. :)

 

Karin - writing her first novel.

Ster - staying out of the nuthouse for one more year.

This year was special because in addition to the awards, Sydney put together some special entertainment. She wouldn't let me put any video on the blog but I did capture some still images from the video footage.

 

Here is the Master of Ceremonies.

 

First they performed a dance to the song, "The Great Divide" by the McClain Sisters and it was awesome!

 

 

 

Then they performed a funny skit using multiple songs, using their Dad as the protagonist/comic relief.

When all the performing and awarding were finished, we talked about our goals for the new year while we slurped Creamies for dessert. Sydney is going to learn to do cartwheels. Camille will dance in the "Sleeping Beauty" ballet. I want to learn to ride Parker's ripstick. To name a few. It was a fantastic evening. It will be hard to beat next year, or whenever we happen to do it again.

Previous achievement award celebrations:
2009
2010
2011

Snow Day

While family was around during the holiday, we decided to have a SNOW day, though we decided to divide and conquer.

 

Ster took Syd and Park, which left me with Mill, Rach and Hash. With us we had Katie, Paul and their 2 girls and my mom. We headed to the local school to sled. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. After a few near misses with a concrete wall and other dangerous obstacles at the bottom of the hill, we took a few minutes to teach how to roll off the sled early to avoid danger. After that, it was all fun and all play. 

 

 

While I was sledding, Ster took Syd and Park, along with his brother Court and his 2 girls and cousin Stuart, snow shoeing. I think they were on the White Pine trail up Cottonwood Canyon. Judging from the pictures, it looks like they had fun too.

Camille's Christmas ballet

Before Christmas break, in fact, the day the children got out of school for Christmas break, Camille's ballet class put on a mini recital for family.



time to get new tights

They conducted an abbreviated barre portion of class so we could see what they did during a normal class, then they performed a dance. All of the family was there to encourage and support her. Camille is a beautiful dancer and I was so proud of her.

 

 

 

Now the studio starts work on the full-length stage ballet to be performed in May.

 

Sleeping Beauty

 

I'm so excited!

Allen cousin party

The Christmas holiday report would not be complete without mentioning the Allen cousin party. Sterling grew up gathering with his Allen cousins for a Christmas party. Now that everyone is older and has families of their own, the tradition has not died. The cousins that are within driving distance still gather for a party. This year it was at Aunt Nadine's house. Boy, was she BRAVE! She counted 61 people in attendance. She fed us all sloppy joes and was a wonderful hostess!

 

After dinner, the program consisted of family updates and any talent offerings. Following that, Uncle Terry offered the traditional family story. It is really only funny to the direct line descendants. And it must be funny because they are all laughing. The only ones laughing. I'll have to take their word for it. :)

 

 Here is Saint Nadine

Brothers

Cousins

Our talent offering was the girls singing, "Stars Were Gleaming." They sang beautifully.

I sure love the Allen family and wish we could get together more often. The love is thick when the cousins are together and I'm lucky to be a part of it.

Christmas 2012

Christmas Eve found me furiously mopping my floor. I just needed to floor to be clean before I started into the festivities. But before that, we had family over to get the floor good and dirty. The party started in full swing at noon when several of Sterling's siblings came for lunch. We had a fun white elephant game for the kids and then the older couples opened the sibling gifts. In the midst of all of that, an enormous dice war broke out. A few days earlier, Sterling brought home a garbage full of foam, stress balls in the shape of dice. It wasn't long before the adults were under seige. Dice were flying all over that room.

BROTHERS

Later in the evening, after dinner was eaten and cleaned up, our children opened their sibling gifts to each other. Sydney bought a gift for ALL of her siblings, which was very generous. We also each opened pajamas, which is a new tradition for us.

We also wrote the traditional letter full of questions to Santa.

Then we watched one of my favorite movies to watch on Christmas Eve, "Mr. Krueger's Christmas" followed by "The Nativity" found on the same church DVD. Having started dinner late, the kids were getting tired by the time we finished with all the gifts and movie hoopla. We layed out our stockings and snacks for Santa and the reindeer, along with the letter. The younger kids went to bed quickly, even Parker, who was tuckered out from the dice war. But Sydney, she took her time and it was a while before we were all soundly asleep.

 

Christmas morning, we found Santa's responses waiting for us.

 

Dear Santa,

How are you? Still fat and sassy. Is it cold?  Very cold.  How was your trip here?  Arizona has much better weather. Here are some questions we would like you to answer…

1. How many pounds have you gained? (P)

I’ve actually lost pounds this year. Mrs. Claus is really proud of me. I now fit in my XXXXL suit.

2. How old is Rudolph? (P)
My faithful Rudolph turned 109 years old last spring. He’s been at this a long time.

3. Do you have a baby reindeer? (C)

I generally donate my baby reindeer to Zoos. Donner had twins this year. Very proud of him and Mrs. Donner.

4. How is Mrs. Claus doing? (P)
She came with me this year until the weather turned bad. Then I had to take her back home.

5. What do you do in the summer? (Dad)

Nap. Eat! Nap. Nap. Eat! Eat! Hunt for squirrels!

6. How many toys have you made? (P)
9,000,000,826,427,129,657
p.s. I have also eaten 7,428,621,842,321 cookies.

7. Have any elves retired? (P)

Many years ago, I had a reindeer named Djider. He’s now old and retired.

8. Do any elves hide in trees? (C)

In the old days, the elves would live in trees. Today, they each have their own home.

9. What kind of cookies do you like? (R)

Fat boy cookies with several wafer cookies on the side. Chocolate milk never hurts –

10. Do you get any presents? (C)

Love.

11. Have you ever grown out of your suit?

Every year!
Great questions and thank you.

As far as presents around the tree, we were blessed. The first gift opened was a light up microphone for Bryce. He promptly held it close to his mouth and said, "Hey, Dude!" Those were his first words of the morning.

 
Here are some of the favorite presents...

And Santa brought Sterling his favorite muffin mix from Lehi Roller Mills. Later in the afternoon, we went to Mom and Dad's house where my sister, Katie, and her family had arrived in the wee hours of the morning. That was the best Christmas present of all.