Sadie Hawkin's Dance

Darin has long been anticipating going to his first Sadie Hawkin's Dance.  Last year I had not one but two mother's of YW in our ward approach me about if it would be alright if Darin could go to Sadie Hawkin's with their daughters.  He was only two days shy of being 16 when the dance was held, but he decided he wanted to wait to go on his first date until he was 16.  He debated what he should do but ultimately decided that the Prophet says not to date until you are 16 and he had already waited so 15 years and 11 months he might as well wait two more days.  We were obviously proud of him but never let him know who wanted to ask him out.  It's been driving him crazy.

 

So this year came around and he was very aware of when the dance was and was really, really hoping a girl would ask him.  I think he started looking forward to it about 6 weeks beforehand.  He was just about to give up hope with only 2 weeks left until the dance but then someone left a surprise for him on our doorstep.

 

With all the dance talk in our house leading up to this everyone wanted in on the action and to see who may have asked Darin.

 It turns out his friend Jenny asked him to be her date!  He was so happy!!

 Poor little Rose was pretty emotional.  Look at that face!  What is she going to do when he gets married. 

 The theme of the dance is Black and White. Jenny gave him a little dog and a bunch of yummy treats that are all black and white.  So cute!

 Hazel had to check out the puppy too.

 Ken is currently serving as YM's president and our ward was in charge of the dance decorations.  A few Priests and Laurels showed up to help decorate which was so nice!  They didn't have hardly any notice that they were in charge of decorating and only like $30 to spend.  For once I was helping Ken hang lights, thankfully he has lots of experience with doing this for a bunch of my events.

 Coco was like what is this madness.  Poor babies get dragged all over the place.

 I think the lights turned out pretty fantastic!  Honestly so did all the décor!

 Girlies wanted their picture taken with Darin before  he left for the dance.

 Of course I insisted on a bunch of pictures too.

 With his beautiful date Jenny!

 Since Ken was going to have to take down decorations he signed us up to chaperon for our ward too.  It worked out nicely because I was able to put down Coco for the night and Nathan watched Hazel and the girlies.  It was a fun Valentine's Date!

 We picked out a prime spot to stake out all night.  We pulled a table into the foyer and sat so we could see down the whole hallway and sat their and played cards all night.  We would periodically check on a few rooms and what was going on in the dance.  I couldn't help but spy on Darin a little bit, he's just so darn cute!  It was so much fun though to play and talk with Ken.  So many youth came up to us and asked us if we were having a good time and I was just thinking in my head (so much more fun then you).  I am so glad we aren't teenagers or dating anymore.  It's so awkward, lol!

 I promised Darin that I wouldn't take any pictures at the dance but I couldn't help myself right at then end when they were snapping a picture of their group.  He had so much fun!

Rollerblading the Halls

Ginger has been tagging along with Ken when he takes Rose to basketball practice.  He practices have been at the middle school so they have been bringing their roller blades and having a fun Daddy-Daughter Date.   Ken is such a good Dad and Ginger really loves this one on one time. Plus it is way easier to go up and down the halls and they tell me it is pretty exciting too since there are a few ramps.  I love seeing them have so much fun together!

Coco's 1st Mess

Cute little Coconut is really starting to crawl around and be mobile.  She especially likes her Daddy's office because he has a lot of open space on the floor.  Plus, she is totally in love with her Daddy so being anywhere around him makes he happy.  She crawled over to the trash and couldn't help but knock it down and see what fun stuff was in there.

 She is also getting independent with eating.  I loved seeing her and Nathan play together.  She lights up around her siblings, even Hazel, who is always trying to love on her.  It's sweet to see my big bos continuing with being awesome big brothers.  The babies really love them!

Cookies and Cocktails

Rose and Ginger had a random early release day from school.  I wasn't too thrilled about it because I would rather they go to school now so that they wouldn't have to after Memorial Day.  Anyway we decided to make the most of it and throw a Valentine's Day Party.  So with 18 hours notice we sent out a text invite and lots of fun friends showed up.

 

The theme was cookies and cocktails.  I made a bunch of flavored syrups and the girls mixed them up with Sprite, Apple Juice, and Water.  The best part was hearing them refer to themselves as scientists.  How in the world there isn't a Watermelon Soda on the market is a shock to me.  It's delicious!

 We had tons to heart shaped sugar cookies to decorate too...So fun!

Love Notes

It wouldn't be February without us pulling out our mailboxes and writing love notes to each other.  Love this tradition!

 It was especially sweet to see Hazel join in for the first time.  She was really into writing notes to her family.  So cute!

 

Love them!  I wish I had taken more pictures but it was a little crazy as we were also packaging up the pillowcases for the missionaries serving from our ward. 

 All of our mailboxes lined up.  One of our favorite traditions each year!

Girlies First Piano Recital

Rose and Ginger had their first piano recital tonight.  They have been playing for about 6 months now.   Their teacher, Sister Christensen totally prepared them and they weren't even that nervous. They did so good and I love hearing them play! 

Trimming the Tree

This year we ordered our tree from the boys' high school band.  Their band is going to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade next year so they were selling Christmas trees as a fundraiser.  We were really happy to get a 15' tree.  Ken was even happier with the band students help loading that sucker up on his truck.  It took a lot of tugging to get that sucker in our house and quite a bit of muscle to get it upright. 

 Cute Coco didn't help one bit!

There was a bird's nest in the tree.  It smells so good.

 A few days later Nathan and Darin put the lights on.  It is so nice that they are so big because Ken was at meetings for church while he did it. Nathan could only do the bottom half with his broken foot but he had to do a double layer.  Darin even put the star on, after fixing the burnt lightbulbs.  He also got the music machine set-up to the lights will dance to the beat.  I love it!

Little Coco didn't help out again, but she certainly sat their and looked cute!

 Finally the decorating could commence.  Every year it takes like 4 days to set up the tree.  It only takes two ladders and a stepstool.

 Hazel has wanted nothing to do with the tree.  That is until she found a free opening to climb the ladder.

 The one and only ornament she has put on the tree.  Now that it  is a few days later she has taken a few off.

 Yep, just looking cute again!  I think Coco has really liked all the lights and commotion.

 Nathan resting his foot and putting the hangers on the ornaments.

 Hazel is trying to go up another ladder.

I love all my babies.  I didn't put many ornaments on.  Handed off a bunch but mainly took care of Coco and Hazel.

 While the boys put the lights on the tree the girls and I decorated the banister.  It is my favorite Christmas decoration other then the tree.  Every time I see our stocking and the banister it makes me so happy. 

 We wire the stocking holders on the wooden steps so they don't fall down. 

 The latest snowman and stocking addition for our family.  So excited to see what Coco thinks of her first Christmas.

 Hazel really loved the special ornaments with the kids pictures on them.  She saw one from when Ginger was born and she kept saying Sister, Sister.  Which Ginger is her sister but really that is what she calls Coco. 

The finished tree!  I adore the RV Alaska license plate.  Such a fun memory from this summer's vacation.

 Every year the kids slide under the tree and ask me to take their picture.  The tree is so huge that they can hide underneath it and not be seen.  Hazel was happy to go under but half of them were acting like zombies instead of smiling.

 They can bring on the cuteness when they want to.  I wish I had taken a better picture though.

 Back to Zombies and Hazel escaped that madness.

 Eventually they all calmed down and Hazel went back to them with some reservations.

And one last one of cute Coco playing with ornaments.  She has really liked them.

 We love the lights and dancing in front of the tree.

Now on to other Christmas details.  I love shopping for Christmas presents with Ken.  This year instead of getting the kids pajamas we got them Snuggies and Slankets (the longer more upscale version os a Snuggie)  As seen on TV products come with a certain smell so I needed to wash them before wrapping so Ken entertained me with trying them on.  So funny!  We have Moses, Sweet Ducky, Crazy Kitty, and the Airbender. 

 And one last decoration...I really thought there was no way that we would be able to put lights up with all the sickness we have had the last 6 weeks.  We finally had half of a Saturday free so we had a family meeting to decide what we should do.  We asked the kids if they wanted to decorate outside or have Dad work on about a million projects that are backed up around the house.  Darin came up with the idea for Ken to fix things like the fireplace and alarm system and he would put lights on the roof.  The other kids and I would decorate down on the ground.  Seriously, it is so nice having a nice, helpful teenager!  Of course Nathan was still grounded with his foot and he helped me and the girls.