Jimmy!

In following the J and C Meibos tradition we thought we would invite our own elf to join us this Christmas. He arrived yesterday. His name is Jimmy. He came late to our house but we hope to have lots of fun with him. This is how he arrived.



He had this note:

Ethan, Brock, Hayley and Paige - My name is Jimmy the elf and I have come bringing some holiday cheer. Each morning look for me and see what I get in to. I am usually good because I don’t want to be on Santa’s naughty list but sometimes I just can’t control myself. There are so many fun things to do and places to explore in this new place. I stay up all night so in the morning please put me to sleep under the Christmas tree– my favorite place to sleep! I found these with your name on them and thought I would bring them to you. Don’t open them yet, wait for Christmas eve, maybe they can be a pillow for me.

Today we found him like this.





With this message.

Hey guys!
Since there wasn’t much snow outside I thought I would make my Christmas snow angel in here. I hope your mom doesn’t mind if I borrow some sugar. She can probably still use it to make cookies, I took a shower tonight. Don’t forget to put me to bed. I’m wiped out!

The kids are having a blast with this. Paige read the first note about 5 times and asked lots of questions. When she was in bed she kept asking if Jimmy was still under the tree :)

Just Smile!!!

We tried to get a quick family picture the other day. I don't know why everyone had to make so many funny faces. They will love these when they get older. We were able to finally get a couple decent pics though.

Blizzard

Recently we were supposed to be having a blizzard. It ended up being much tamer than expected. The kids loved it. They couldn't wait to get outside.

This is about as spooky as we get

We are not into being too scary around here. My black cat and witch looked pretty cute to me.


Brock wasn't going to go trick or treating but last minute he and his friends decided to go. Brock was a last minute cougar fan - I know, big stretch.



We actually did get one creepy picture. Here's Jeff goofing off for a picture at our Halloween party.



We hope everyone had a great Halloween!!

Fall Soccer

Few, we survived!! Soccer this year was quite busy. Having 3 kids playing and a husband who had to work most Saturdays made for some very crazy days. All of Paige and Hayley's games were at the same time except for two. Brock's games were at different times but overlapped some. I am glad the season is over now but we sure had fun watching those three run their hearts out. They all did great and improved this year.

Paige Brynn

I can't believe my baby just turned 7. It makes me feel old. It seems like just yesterday I brought her home from the hospital and then was quickly surrounded by the rest of my gaggle (I know gaggle refers to geese but I just like to use that word). I felt so overwhelmed then. Four felt like a lot of children. I am so glad that Paige joined our family. She is a special girl.

Paige loves poly pockets, anything girly, tomatoes, hanging all over her family, and playing with Hayley and other friends.









We love Paige!

Croutons

Our family likes to enjoy a good crouton every now and then. The kids like to just eat them out of the bag. This time Paige wanted some and I told her she could only have some if she had a salad. Here is her idea of what a salad is. One piece of lettuce on a pile of tomatoes.

We all got a big kick out of this. Silly Paige.

First Day of School

I know it took me a while, especially since today I went to our first parent-teacher conference, but here are a few pics of their first day. You may notice that I am missing a child. The ever allusive Ethan had to be at school at 7 am and mom was not up and ready for pictures yet (not that Ethan would have let me take a picture anyway).





They appear pretty happy to go.



They are all ready to hop in the car with the neighbor boys.






Even though I didn't get a couple pictures of Ethan's first day of school I did get one at his summer band concert. He even had a solo in the concert that we didn't know about.

Brock's 11

Brock is a little older these days and I think he really enjoys adding numbers to his age. He sure is a fun kid. He can be really enthusiastic at times. We recently received an email from his teacher that said "Brock is a grrreat citizen. He always obeys the rules of the classroom and of the school. Brock sets a good example for the other students in the class. Although I don’t know you, I know that you are super parents. I know this because I am getting to know Brock, and Brock is a super kid."

Brock loves BYU, soccer, cuddling, and playing outside with friends. Here are a few pics of him when he was younger.






I am so thankful Brock is in our family!

Superfriends!!

Our neighbors brought us these fun capes to say thanks to the kids for a little baby sitting they did. The kids thought that was so fun. They had a blast posing for pictures and running around terrorizing, I mean saving, the neighborhood.

Tahoe

This year we took one vacation to Lake Tahoe and we had a blast. With all the added stress right now, it was sure a blessing to be able hang out in a beautiful place without responsibilities (well, we did still needed to care for our children). My parents we there, as well as Kristy and Tom and their girls. Poor AJ and his family were stuck in Texas. Ethan did not come with us. Our ward had scout camp scheduled for the same week and Ethan chose that over Tahoe. We missed him, but he had a blast getting dirty and hanging out with guys from our ward - sorry no pictures of his adventures.

We had a great time hiking, swimming, fishing for crawdads and just hanging out. Because of the new camera I made everyone pose for pics quite often. I took hundreds of pictures on this trip. Here are some of my favorites.

The Pool!




A Little Hike.



We went out to a water fall at Fallen Leaf Lake. Jeff and Tom took the kids out on a rock in the middle of the water fall. I was not a fan of this. I was scared someone would fall in. Kristy and I stayed behind while the others flirted with danger. Jeff actually said it wasn't bad at all. They just needed to be cautious. They all came down fine but I was sweatin' it until they did.




A couple other hikes.




Crawdad!



Strike a Pose! (I think everyone was sick of me and my camera after a while)





The Beach!




This was a fabulous vacation. I hope we will be able to go on another one sooner rather than later.