The Rain Came Down!

We have had a small leak in our family room. Now with two days of snow and rain it has become a BIG problem. Last night the ceiling felt extremely wet, so Tracy got a knife, stab the sheet rock, and out came the water. We stayed by hole, dumping out the water from the buckets. As you can see in the first picture water was also coming through our high quality window. We also removed stuff from the closet where water is now coming in through that light as well. More rain is expected starting on Monday all the way to Christmas. We will let you know how this saga ends!

Winter Wonderland

Yes, It's snowing in Las Vegas! The kids were very excited when the flurries started to fall. Soon the snow flakes became bigger and we got ready to play. Rylee mastered the art of snowball throwing and Raygen built a snowman with her Great Grandpa Jack. This is Jack's second year of experiencing snow and still wants nothing to do with it. He stays under the patio cover and watches with grandma. We had fun while it lasted.

Our Painting Night

Every year as a family we paint some kind of Christmas decoration. The girls painted several ornament and finished a few from last year. Jack enjoyed painting this year and used a variety of colors. Tracy finished a decoration that he has been working on for the past three years. He is very detailed in all that he does. Plus, he usually will fix anything of mine that I beg him to. (The kids get their artistic abilities for their dad.) It is fun to see the kids art improve over the years. Raygen says this is one of her favorite traditions.

Raygen & "Locks of Love"

THERE GOES THE HAIR

Raygen had a school friend a while back that came to school one day with a dramatic difference to her hair length. She explained she had cut it for "Locks of Love". "Locks of Love" is a non-profit organization that helps children suffering from medical hair loss. The hair is used to make wigs for these needful children.
Raygen had immediately decided that she was going to grow her hair out long enough to cut it and have it donated. The organization requires a minimum of 10 inches with no chemicals or dyes.
So two years later and just over 10 inches to cut, she did not want to wait a day longer. She's having a lot of fun with it. Her goofy Uncle Jeff taught her Sunday school class today and acted as if she was a visitor to the class. She says its funny to put clothing on and not have to pull her hair from out the back of the collar.
We are proud of her decision to make such a selfless choice for those less fortunate.

Plimoth Plantation Play

Our school has started a new tradition this year. This was our first annual Plimoth Plantation Program. The girls had parts to memorize and then got up on the stage and did very well in front of all the parents. Jack enjoyed watching his sisters and running around the gym after the performance. The whole week before I was making costumes for everybody. My mom is proud of me and said I am ready to move to the next level of sewing.

My Little Man

I just had to share this.... I walked in and found Jack sleeping with his hand stuck in the back of his pants. I found it funny that he felt comfort in doing it. Perhaps its a man thing. Or perhaps his fingers get cold and he simply found a warm place.... look at his other hand, warmly tucked under the pillow.

All I Want for Christmas is My Four Front Teeth

Rylee loves showing how she can stick her tongue out of her mouth without having to open jaw.
We told her this will be the last time she'll ever be able to do this..... (hopefully)

Baby Bunny

We got one of the videos to upload. You can see how much Jack loves the baby bunny and wants to stay as close as possible.

We caught a bunny!

About two months ago, three small bunny rabbits appeared in our backyard. We have no idea where they came from, but only know that there have been a couple grown rabbits running through our neighborhood for a while. We have felt privileged that the baby rabbits would choose our backyard and grass to live in for the duration of their growth. Well as rabbits do they have continued to multiply and our neighborhood is now infested with them. Alena, with her bunny catching skills caught one of the new baby rabbits. The kids enjoyed holding the rabbit and Jack was very protective of the rabbit when Merik (our dog) came anywhere near. We probably should have kept him in hopes of slowing down the rabbit population, but we decided to let him go.

Balloon Babies

The kids were pretending to look like me and have a baby in their belly. Rylee was able to pull it off better than Jack. Raygen just ran when she saw the camera and wouldn't let us get a picture of her. A few weeks later Jack lifted up my shirt saying, "balloon?" He was a little disappointed to see it was just my big belly.

Toy Story 2

This was the families 7th annual pumpkin carving contest party. Our family did the Toy Story two theme this year. We chose this because that is Jack's new favorite movie. Rylee was Little Bo Peep, Raygen was Jessie and Jack was Woody, of course. I worked on the costumes for about a week and lost a lot of skin due to glue gun injuries not to mention the numerous pokes from the needles. However, I was happy with the results. We won the costume contest. Jenny Jensen says she is going to learn to sew and give me a run for my money. I would love the challenge.

This year Tracy struggled with an idea and had no plans for a pumpkin. He won best overall much to his brother Mark's disappointment. Mark usually only feels he is truly in competition with Tracy. Mark still won most creative but this did not satisfy him. The next day our girls had a message on the answering machine saying how their dad is going down next year. I am glad the children have such wonderful examples of good sportsmanship! Tracy thought this was hilarious because he put little effort into this pumpkin. I must say it was the most clean cut of all the pumpkins.

Raygen's Triatholon

This was Raygen's third City of Las Vegas Triathlon. She loves participating in the event. I don't think its because she feels she needs to win, but she feels proud that she'd able to try her best and loves the support her mom & dad gives her.

At the completion of each years event, she discusses what she would like to work on to improve her performance in anticipation for the following year.

After her first triathlon, we worked on riding the bike in a standing position to increase speed. This past year, we worked on swimming and the technique of a proper freestyle swim. This coming year she wants to work on running agility. This seemed to have been her most challenging leg of the event this year.

Regardless of technique and agility though, we teach her that winning against the other competitors is not he point of doing this. Its the challenge of starting what you finish that is most important. Every year thus far, I lay in bed with her the night before the big race and read the same story to her. Many people are familiar with it... it is called "The Race". Its about a boy and his struggle to compete in a race. He keeps stumbling and falling to the ground. After falling four times he is ready to quit. All the other competitors have already crossed the finish when the boy crosses in last place. To listen to the crowd cheer for him you would have thought he'd won the race.

I read this to her ensure she understands its most important finish than it is to win. I love her so much and I know that she is fully capable to do anything.