O Christmas Tree!

I think I must be getting old. See, when I was a kid, it took Christmas FOREVER to come! I remember hearing those "old folks" exclaiming at how quickly the last year had passed, and their surprise, and it seemed, almost a distress, that Christmas was here again. Now I find myself saying those very things! Don't get me wrong, I am no scrooge! I love Christmas, but I do feel like I just put all of those boxes of Christmas things away! And yet, here it is again!
Well, last weekend we pulled out the Christmas tree and decorated it up! The kids love it, of course. On Saturday, Steve took the boys (minus Carter) to a BYU basketball game right here in Chicago, the boys were super excited to go. While they were gone, Sydney, Carter and I set up the tree. Sydney requested that we watch the movie with the people singing Alleluia. It took me a minute to figure that one out, but then I recalled that last year we had watched a Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert while we set up the tree. And thus a tradition is born.
On Sunday night, we watched the new David Archuleta Concert as a family and put the decorations on the tree. I LOVE those concerts, and I think the kids do to.
Here are a few shots of the fun...


Carter was especially interested in all of the "balls". Thankfully, we have shatter-proof balls for our tree. We will leave the rest up to your imagination...


Ahhh, David Archuleta...



And then came the grand ceremony of placing the star upon the top of the tree. After much debate, Sydney was granted that "high" honor. Up the ladder Daddy and Sydney went and all seemed to be going well...


Reach Sydney, reach! So close...

Suddenly that honor didn't seem so fantastic any more! You should have heard Sydney shriek! All the while Daddy saying, "I've got you Sydney, I've got you". But, to no avail...


And so, down she came. The star did finally make it up, but Daddy had to do that by himself.
Thus, Christmas season begins!

Pics for Dad

A New Fashion Statement

Carter really enjoys taking clothes out of Sydney's drawers and then attempting to put them on. The boys find this especially entertaining when the article of clothing is Sydney's underwear. The other day I was working on the computer when Carter came downstairs to find me...

Apparently, shorts are not just for the bottom anymore!

Trick or Treat!

Another Halloween here and gone, and we have the mountains of candy to show for it! We enjoyed having some nice weather last night for Trick or Treating, not too cold at all! This year we escorted one Roman Soldier, a Knight in Shining Armor, Rapunzel, A Skittle and a fearsome Dinosaur out and about the neighborhood.

It is always fun to introduce a little one to the joys of Halloween and Trick or Treating. Carter seemed to actually enjoy wearing his costume, and he especially enjoyed receiving candy for his cuteness. By the end of the evening his bucket was getting heavy, but he was not about to let me hold it.


As a side note, I thought I would share a picture of Spencer's pumpkin. This took him several hours, but he muscled through and really enjoyed it. He came away with first prize at the Pumpkin contest at church.

It was such a beautiful night, which made Trick or Treating lots of fun. We especially enjoyed having some special friends (Sydney's favorite friend Ella and her family) to go out with.





And of course the sorting of the loot...


Carter really enjoyed this part! He loved the suckers especially because he could open those himself. He would open one, taste it, open another, taste that. Over and over...

So much fun! Halloween may come with lots of sugar highs, but I absolutely love seeing kids running around in their costumes with huge smiles on their faces! Happy Halloween!

More Birthday Fun!

For some reason, of all my kids it seems hardest to have my little girl grow up, but alas, she has had another birthday and is now another year older. With three older brothers I really expected Sydney to be a little tomboy, but that is definitely not the case, she loves all things pink and purple and girly, as you will see. It was fun to have a pink banner this year...

Sydney got to fill out a poster all about her favorite things for preschool. The little shoulder shrug is her latest pose for picture taking (she adopted this same pose for her class picture at school too).

For Sydney's birthday, we (Sydney, Carter and I) went to a local Children's Museum. The kids LOVED it! Carter was busy, busy chasing after all of the various balls all over the place. It was like heaven for him. And Sydney had a great time exploring so many new ways to play. We had a great day playing and getting away from the usual.
For her family celebration that night, Sydney wanted a pink cake with jelly beans. She decorated it all by herself...

Just this last weekend we had a Princess Birthday party with Sydney's friends. It was very pink and purple and frilly and girly, so therefore it was a success. We started out by decorating crowns...

Here are some of the girls in their Princess finery...

We did a little "Pin the Crown on the Princess"...

And a little Princess Karaoke...

The boys were super helpful! And, as you can tell, loving all of the girlyness surrounding them...

Most of the boys retreated out to the back yard with their friends for a little rough and tough football to shake off all of that estrogen. Carter enjoyed having his little buddy Logan here to chase around with. At one point we found the two boys throwing green tomatoes off of our vine over the fence and into the neighbor's yard. Hmmm... Wonder who came up with a game like that...

The girls also enjoyed making some bracelets...


And then came time for cake and ice cream...



All in all a great time!
And so, there is one more child in the Gordon family who is a year older, and only three more birthdays left in our Birthday Season.
We love you Sydney! So grateful to have your sweet and very fun presence in our family! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Tyler!

It is birthday season at our house, and Tyler had his eleventh birthday a couple of weeks ago (a little behind, I know!) Tyler was a lucky boy and got to celebrate twice this year, once with family and once with friends. Here is the birthday boy, on his birthday...

Tyler decided he wanted to try something new for his birthday cake this year, so he went for an ice cream cake. He chose two kinds of ice cream (chocolate and vanilla) and two favorite candy bars (Milky Way and Hundred Grand). It was very yummy, but just for a note, Milky Ways, and Hundred Grands get really hard when frozen, so if you try this at home, chew carefully!


Carter, who got all dirty from ice cream and had to remove his shirt, enjoyed showing off his massive biceps...

Or was it his big belly he was showing off, he is pretty fond of that too...

On the Saturday after his birthday, Tyler got to take some friends to play Laser Tag. They enjoyed some pizza and cake first.


Tyler also got to go in the Money blowing thing (I am sure there is an official name for this, but it escapes me right now). Unfortunately, it wasn't real money, just points towards a great prize, like a sucker, or a squishy frog. You know what I am talking about.

While the kids were playing laser tag, Sydney and Carter did some fun stuff of their own.


The kids also got to ride some go karts. I was pretty amazed that Sydney ran right out there with the boys, and she had no problem driving!


Made for a fun week, Happy Birthday Tyler!