Cat Playing Futsal

Cat's futsal season was November - January and she had a great time.  Her soccer team was divided up into two futsal teams and the only game that either team didn't win was when they played each other, and they tied.  Cat scored tons of goals and was probably the highest scorer on her team, but mostly she had a lot of fun and appreciated the opportunity to keep up her soccer skills during the off-season.

(I failed to take any actual pictures of Cat's games so the below pics are

screen shots from videos, and therefore the quality is terrible.  Sorry.)

Christmas Break Forced Family Fun

The last Saturday in December we began working on what I hope will become a weekly habit: spending time working as a family (which will usually be cleaning the house, but as it gets warmer we'll probably do more yardwork too) and playing as a family.  We did a little work that morning, then left for a fun outing to the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake, then came home and finished our work.

The planetarium was really cool.  The main purpose of the trip was to use passes we had to see an IMAX show and a Dome show.  The 3D IMAX show was about life on the international space station, and the dome show was about asteroids.  We left between the shows and walked to a lunch place in the Gateway, which was cold but fun.  The kids had a lot of fun with all of the interactive exhibits at the planetarium and were mad when we had to leave before they had their fill.  We'll have to go back when we can just play some more.

  

We took advantage of our last day of the holiday season (New Year's Day) by going to the Provo Rec Center to swim at the cool indoor pool there.  I tend to freeze in indoor pools and managed to operate as a supervisor and photographer during the adventure, though I was in a suit just in case I needed to go in.  The kids had a great time, and enjoyed it even more when some friends of ours arrived and they had more kids to play with.

 

 

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Beyond

We had our customary Bethlehem Dinner on Christmas Eve, this time adding a delicious Mediterranean chicken dish that really helped make it a more substantial meal.  Then we read the Christmas story and the kids opened presents from each other.  The best was Luke's gift to Cat: a set of fake eyelashes.  For weeks leading up to Christmas, he'd told me that "Cat would love those" whenever we walked by a display in the store.  It was a fun surprise!

Jack had been talking for a while about staying up to see Santa, and even setting a trap as you would for a leprechaun.  Luckily, I convinced him not to do any of those things and the kids slept really well.  Until about 5am.  We were cruel and made them wait until 7:00 to go downstairs to begin the festivities.

There were lots of wonderful presents Christmas morning, making for a fun morning of opening, and lots of play time afterward.

Our gift to the kids was a trip to San Diego over a long weekend in January.  We gave them packages with different clues, and Cat was really excited when she finally knew where we were going... until she found out that she'd have to miss two days of school.  (Luckily, she got over it.)

Christmas Fun:

  

 

After being in the house literally all day, I forced the kids to get outside for a little while.  They weren't happy with me, but Suz helped liven things up with a moving target game, then we played Sardines.

And finally, it was time for a simple yet delicious Christmas dinner, followed up by one of Suz's signature fancy desserts.  Mmmm.

Enjoying Christmas Presents the following day:

Notice Eliza's footwear.

Eliza and Jack both got new Pokemon cards for Christmas.
Jack also had a lot of fun with the Polar Express train Santa brought him.

I love my new record player, and listening to the records
I wouldn't let my parents throw away 20(+?) years ago.

Jack might have been slightly hypnotized by it.

Storm Trooper & Darth Vader Grilled Cheese