Christmas Performance

Tonight was the girls' Christmas Performance.
Our wonderful neighbor N'Lice came to watch (and hold John, of course!)


At the end they had a Dad's drill down.
It was a lot of fun to see the dads attempt to do what the girls do so well.
Kempe got second, after falling to our good friend, James Derrick.
We are all so proud of him.

riley's note

Riley had her cute new friend, Lila, over today.
I'm not sure what this means, but I know they had a great time.

festival of trees

Tonight the girls performed at the Festival of Trees.
It's so fun to watch them up on stage.
{Too bad we didn't take very many pictures}

{Emma far right}
{Riley on top}

the gymnast

I wish I was this brave. (and coordinated)
Check it:

fall break '11

We started our first day of fall break at the dentist's office.
Fun for all! :)
I was thrilled that no one had any cavities.

We came home and I took pictures of my boys.
...because I'm their mom, they're only little once, and I was lovin' John's new outfit, and KJ's greenish-blue eyes.



This afternoon Riley and her friend Sarah wanted to have a lemonade stand.
I have to admit I was quite pessimistic about the whole idea. I thought, I'll just let them see that it's not worth the few dollars they will make.

I skeptically perched myself in the front window, on the lookout for anyone suspicious that might make my daughter the next missing child on the evening news.

Boy, was I wrong.
I was blown away by the passer-byers generosity!
Nearly every car stopped. Many simply to donate.
Even my cynical opinion of the high school kids was obliterated when a boy drove by, stopped, turned around, paid two dollars {two dollars!} for a cup, turned his car around again, and was back on his way.
Crazy, I tell ya...

I'm not exaggerating either!
In two hours, they made $22+


I think I just might have to make my own lemonade stand.

one killer weekend

This past weekend we tried to pack as much as we could possibly handle in 72 hours.
I'm relieved to say it's over and yes, we survived, but only because my mom was here to get me through.

A couple of weeks ago my brother and his family, who live in Indiana, received a job transfer to Oregon, requiring them to move in 2 weeks. My mom immediately flew out to help my 7-month pregnant sister-in-law and 1- and 2- year old boys pack up, while my brother finished getting the house ready to sell. A week later, my dad flew out and the next day they all headed out west. They were quite the sight. (I should've taken a picture!) My brother and his family in their truck, pulling their Ford Focus behind. Followed by my parents driving the largest Budget rental truck, pulling a trailer, loaded with a Volkswagon van. Two and a half days from Indiana to Utah.
So glad it wasn't me.

Tuesday night the weary travelers stayed the night. First time in two years that all of my parents' grandkids were together in one place.


The sword-wielding 2 year old didn't want to cooperate,


so we took the sword and he wasn't happy with us.


The moving party was gone bright and early the next morning, but leaving my mom here with us.
Having Grandma here means fun, cases of Diet Coke, and fancy shoes.


So skip ahead a couple of days.

FRIDAY:
My sweet Emma turned six. SIX!
She was only 4.5 months old when we moved here.

We started the morning with presents.


Once we got the kids off to school, we watched the Today Show to find my aunt and cousins. {awesome picture, by the way}


Then we went to the school to celebrate with Emma's class.


Home again to decorate the cake and finish party preparations.
{Use your imagination - it's a Rapunzel's tower}


Emma's sweet cousin Cami called to wish Emma a Happy Birthday.
They share the same birthday day - just 17 years apart.


Tangled party time.


Emma's dinner choice: Chuck-a-rama {of course!}


SATURDAY:
Football in West Jordan


My newly-married brother and his wife arrived from Idaho Friday night. My new sister-in-law is awesome! My kids all adore her ~ especially KJ. It was nice to have someone to entertain the kids during the game.


As soon as the game was over we made our way through the horrendous construction and traffic, to my grandparents' house. Ten minutes in and out we had the girls changed, make-up on, hair done, and back in the van heading to their dance performance at Thanksgiving Point.
Amazingly, we made it {barely}.
So worth it!


John was such a good sport through it all.


As soon as the performance was over, we hurried our way back to my Grandpa's 90th birthday party.


SUNDAY:
Today John was blessed in Sacrament meeting.
Everyone came over for food afterwards.
Our sweet John:


John with his namesake, Grandpa John Cleveland Nicoll.
Three generations of Nicolls.


Then I went crazy with the photo shoot of John in his blessing outfit:


Now I can relax.

Or maybe not.
But at least things can get back to normal.

The brain's in the baby (& other stuff)

Yeah, I'm still here.
Somedays more than others.
Like the other day when I returned home from rushing the kids up to school, I looked down to find this:


Adding a baby to my schedule always sends everything into a whirlwind for me. I just have to take baby steps, one day at a time.
So as I'm waiting for our next feeding, I attempt to catch up - for now.
The days and weeks are running together, consisting mostly of the same routine activities.
First of all this little guy requires me 24/7.


The 5-6 broken up hours of sleep I get each night puts my brain in a near comatose state and resulting in my turtle-like daily accomplishments (which ranges from slim to none). I've found that if I do one load of laundry and a load of dishes a day, I don't feel like I'm completely drowning in motherly responsibilities.

Morning kindergarten for Emma has allowed me to have wonderful mornings with my little boys. I think they love it too.


We enjoy walking up to get Emma from kindergarten each day. Pushing the boys in the stroller (all uphill, mind you) is a nice little workout for me, and an easy downhill walk for Emma on the way home. Somedays my happy walkers aren't so happy and need a ride.


I feel so lucky to have Miss Emma home in the afternoons. She loves to sit and hold John. I suppose that makes her my babysitter? John doesn't mind one bit. In fact, he usually goes right to sleep.
No matter how she's holding him.


The rest of our days are filled with homework, dance practice, football practice, football games, and BYU games.


{advice from Grandpa}


{everyone enjoying Grandma Nicoll's sun hat}


{the girls thoroughly enjoying the football games}


{John and I cheering on our Cougars during the Holy War against Utah}


{the anguish in being creamed by Utah}


In between all of the football we've:
had a few cold days...


watched the high school's homecoming fireworks in our front yard...


tried on every costume we own at least 50 times...


enjoyed a visit with Kempe's nephew before taking him to the MTC...


{Smith Fieldhouse at BYU where Kempe's dad, John, played basketball back in the day}


{J-Dawgs one more time}


{one happy missionary}


I keep telling myself things will slow down soon...
I'm still waiting.