Uncle Don

There is not too much of a story behind this pic. The Jackman kids came over to play and Aiden crawled up on Don's lap while he was playing video games. It took about two minutes for him to fall asleep. I think this place has special magical sleeping properties - I know I sure can't stay awake for very long!

Rancho Christmas Party

How do you get caught up on the last two busiest months of your life? Start with the parties! On eof the great things about where we live is that every couple of months, they throw a very kid friendly outdoor party. This past December the kids had a tons of fun on the "low gravity machine", "ice" skating, and Santa sitting. Mia asked for a babydoll, Wyatt asked for some more Legos, and Ryan asked for a video game. Whew, good thing we can fulfill those requests! We love our neighborhood and that we can have outdoor parties in the middle of December!

Wyatt

Here's a little treat for Grandma - picutres she didn't have to beg for! I have twisted my ankle and am somewhat chairbound (just what a pregnant woman needs, right?) and so I was looking through old pictures and found some of when I went with Wyatt's preschool to a local pumpkin farm last month. It was so fun to go with just him. He is so social and talkative with his peers. He is very physical, loving to hold hands and skip or tackle depending on the friends.
I think he considers Ryan "best bud numero uno" and can't go to sleep without him in the room, wonders when he is coming home from school and prefers to do just about anything with him over Mia's style of play. He is the most likely out of all my children to say, "No" when asked to do anything and doesn't really feel a huge desire to please his parents, but siblings are another matter (most of the time). He is probably our most stubborn child - least likely to cave in the face of impending punishment. He is also one of the silliest and we often hear his giggle around the house.
He struggles with remembering basic sight words and names of letters, but has (by far) the best handwriting of any of our children even though he sometimes doesn't know what in the heck he is writing. He is a little bit of a perfectionist in that regard, erasing anything he doesn't consider stellar work, even if I say it is fine. He is our token "southpaw" and loves cutting paper and basically being destructive. He spends hours designing and building lego ships with firepower. He has the funniest potty dance EVER. He is by far our most adventerous eater and has had potty problems more than once by eating too many tomatoes in one sitting. He loves to be dared to do something (scary, I know) and loves praise, but not a lot of cuddling, hugs, or lap sitting. He loves to go go go, always wondering what we are going to do next, where we are going to go, who are we going to invite over, etc. Most of all, he's super fun and I am glad he is ours! I love you Wyatt!

Halloween 2010

This year's Halloween fell on Sunday so we did not take the kids out trick or treating. They had fun getting their camping chairs out and passing out candy. We borrowed a couple of Star Wars costumes from a neighbor (the boys are very much into Star Wars these days). Mia borrowed several costumes from several different people and then decided she didn't really want to dress up to pass out candy. She did dress up as a Halloween Fairy for the ward trunk or treat but I was working so we didn't get any pictures. Halloween is always such a source of stress for me as I don't like any store bought costumes (that I can afford) and am not creative/talented enough to come up with fun ones. Mia is reading over my shoulder and she says, "Write that we had A LOT of fun!" So I guess that no matter how much stress holidays are to parents, it is good to know that no matter what , they usually have A LOT of fun!

The actual passing out of candy by kids was pretty great for us parents. No getting up and down every time the door bell rang and we have a ton of kids every year (I don't know anyone who doesn't run out of candy by 7pm). They had quite the system. Wyatt ended up at the bottom of the driveway, yelling at kids who would be across the street to come and get candy, then direct them to Ryan a little further up who would give them another piece of candy, who would then direct them all the way to the door where Mia was. Never make anything simple - that's the Carlsen way.

Carving Pumpkins

We did our annual pumpkin carving FHE extravaganza. It was made much easier this year with the discovery last yuear of cookie cutter like shapes with sharp edges that you pounded into the pumpkin with a mallet, producing fun shapes. Easier for a five year old to pound with a mallet then wield a knife. We only had a bat shape and a star shape, but the kids has fun anyways.

Readers

I love that the kids love to read. I do it more than I should (to the exclusion of other things that need to get done) and my kids, especially Mia, share in that. This last pic is this Sunday morning when everyone had grabbed something and gravitated towards the couches. (I had the Sunday paper before I looked around and picked up the camera). Ryan has Spiderman comics, Wyatt has the Toys R Us Christmas Toy Catalog, and Mia is reading Don a Ballerina book. I do love Sunday mornings!

Hair today...gone tomorrow

In sunnier news, Mia got a much needed haicut. Her hair is so fine and straight that it is always snarly and tangled. We are growing out her bangs and she is in self style mode. She has more fashion sense at 5 then I will ever hope to have...ever. The "earrings" picture was taken a couple of weeks ago (she would LOVE to have her ears pierced, but I am holding out for a few more years). The second two were taken yesterday. I love the new pixie cut and she seems to too. Or maybe it's just all the attention she is garnering. At any rate, the mornings go much easier and she can spend more time picking out her clothes (she picks out each outfit with care).