"Sweet" Sixteen

Gavin turned 16 today, it's very scary that I am old enough to have a 16 year old. We had a party at the house last night, with all three sides of his family, it was great. Tonight he had his first date planned and we were going to drop them off, because he doesn't have his license yet, and go on our own date,(we had gotten rid of all of our kids. Thanks Grandmas and Aunt Andrea). He decided he wanted to go on a double date with us, which really surprised me. I think he was really nervous about how to pay and tip at the restaraunt. We had fun and it was cute to see him opening the doors for her and being a gentleman. We had them sing to him at the restaraunt, I don't think he loved that. We finished the evening off with the new Sherlock Holmes movie. (Sorry there is a duplicate picture, I didn't want to take the time to figure out how to remove it)

Christmas in the dark

Christmas turned out great, even though we lost power until about 3:30 in the morning on Christmas Eve. We cut back on Christmas this year because we are taking the kids on vacation in January, but they still made out like fat cats, between us and their Grandma's and Grandpa's. Is there a way un un-spoil children??

Piano Recital

Gracie and Gage had their Holiday Piano Recital this month. They both did great, it is so fun to see them improving and "enjoying it."

Gingerbread Trees

We tried gingerbread trees this year instead of houses, and I think the mess was bigger. Grandma Shelley, Kay and Makaila were here and we had a lot of fun. Steve still had a hard time letting the kids help, though, we are going to have to work on him.

Finally Posting-Halloween

I feel like I have to post the Halloween pictures before I can move on to Christmas, so here you are.

Cleaning and cleaning and cleaning

Since the kids have gone back to school, I have been trying to get my major projects done, that I didn't get done all summer. I keep getting interrupted, though, and it is taking me forever. I got the basement cleaned, ick. I got my salsa made, 69 pints. I am not sure whose bright idea it was to get 2 bushels of tomatoes, and I can't get the smell of peppers and onions out of my house. I have had to try to fit 12hours of CE for real estate in, so that I can re-activate my license and go into the office a couple of days a week. And this week I have been working on the play room. It was sooo bad. We couldn't even get the closets shut any more. So, I have before and after pictures. All I have to do now is organize my scrapbook stuff, and the bonus room is done. Yay! What next? Oh, ya, zucchini bread, I like to make a bunch and freeze it for winter.

You are the best teacher, Gage!

Berek has insisted on keeping his training wheels on his bike. And we thought that Gracie was cautious. But yesterday one of them got bent and threw his whole ride out of wack and the only fix for that was to take off his training wheels and force him to learn to ride. The kids were all down riding on the road, and Gage was holding Berek up while he ran with him, and then he would let go. It was so cute to see him helping him. Gage was red faced from working so hard, so I went to help. After I helped him for a few minutes, Berek wanted Gage to help instead, Ahh. While we were eating dinner he was talking about Gage helping him and turned to him with such admiration and said, "You are the best teacher, Gage!" It was so sweet. Gage just beamed, he was so proud.