Do you wanna kill a snowman?

Like good people, we went to stake conference.  The most impressive thing about the experience was that we started getting ready at 9:40 because of a late night the day before and were at church by 10:00.  We must be getting better at this 4 kids thing.  After we got home, the kids apparently needed to unload some pent up energy/frustrations and said as soon as they stepped out of the van "Let's go kill the snowman!!"  And so they did.

 Sitting for two hours did wonders for their violent tendencies.

Sage was just excited that it was nice enough to run in the grass for a bit.  We've had so much snow this winter!

The Last Derby

Time is flying.  Rowan had his last Pinewood Derby this month and it was also Steve's last one as a Cubmaster in our ward (he got switched to 11 year scouts).  Part of me is sad that Rowan is growing up, but I'm not too torn up about this being our last Derby.  It's a little stressful helping get everything together and hard to see disappointment if things don't go well.

Thankfully, Rowan did very well this year and we didn't have to deal with the aftermath of a sad boy.  His Captain Literally (a character from Studio C) car won second place.  He was bested by a watermelon slice car.  He was really happy, but also a little wistful as he was so close to coming out on top.  Especially with it being his last race.  But it was a good experience and all the boys had fun.  Steve is good at entertaining both the boys and the adults at the same time.

 Rowan, if you ever complain about how I never took any good pictures of you, please know that these facial expressions of yours are intentional and out of my control.  Trying to get you to just stay in the frame is next to impossible.  I swear half of the pictures I take include a blur of Rowan leaping to get out of the shot.

Oh vey.

 Captain Literally is literally second best!

I Can't Feel My Face When I'm With You

 In typical fashion for our family, we waited till the last day to go see the SLC Temple lights for Christmas.  It was bitterly cold.  We had to go up to Salt Lake anyways to get our car back from my mom who had been using it, so we dropped off Sage with my sister and took Viktoria with us.  She's better at calming down Elsa than we are.  Elsa truly idolizes her.

Our modern day covered wagon kept some our herd warm. 

 Many threats were made prior to these photographs.  Rowan is such a stinker.

We're glad we went and we're glad we left.  It was FREEZING, but we all had a good time anyways.

Nadia's Cousin Sleepover

There have been many times where I had regretted inducing Nadia on the 30th.  Part of me wishes I would have waited until New Year's Eve.  It would have been easier to celebrate.  For now, we just push back the celebration for a day and it seems to work.

This year we had another cousin sleepover per Nadia's request.  It went smoother than previous years as we are learning what works and what doesn't.  All the kids seemed to have had a good time.

Our spread.  A sandwich bar, 7 layer dip and other "healthy food" before we pulled out the fondue and cake.

It doesn't take much to infer which was more popular.

Nadia's yearly request for birthday celebrations always seems to include a DQ ice cream cake.  I'm happy to hand off the responsibility to someone else as I am not talented at cake decorating.  This year was, surprise, a fox theme for my little animal lover.

Nadia is a creative soul of Jackson Pollock proportions.  So we let the kids loose with face paint, temporary hair dye, fondue, firecrackers and all sorts of messy activities.  It was fun to see her in her element.

 Forever the ham.

 It was interesting to have two sides of my family at one party and see the differences between the  children.  Isabelle was very conservative with her choices, one small pink heart and some glitter in her hair, whereas the "Beck" kids looked like walking graffiti. 

Nadia had gotten a wii Just Dance game the day before as a birthday present and we used that for the party.  It was a big hit.  We brought in our new laser lights indoors and created a disco downstairs.

I cannot believe she is 7!

They did make it to midnight with the exception of Isabelle, Caroline, Sage and Elsa.  I think Isabelle missed it by 30 minutes.

Minecraft marathons

 

Firecracker and poppers outside! 

I loved this party.  I think because it reminded me of the parties I had as a kid.  There was a bit of nostalgia there I suppose.  No fighting, no problems, just good fun.  Hopefully we have a few more years where we can do this with all the kids.

Lucky 13

Steve and I celebrated 13 years of marriage this December.  It seems like more.  I can't really remember what life was life before Steve and I don't really want to.  As hard as things can be at times, they are still better because I have him with me.  We don't like spending time apart.  I'll stop with the mushiness there, but suffice it to say that we still really like each other after all these years.

We went to the Black Sheep cafe, which is a bit of an inside joke these days.  We were the black sheep in the Black Sheep.  So meta.  My mom was lovely enough to watch the kids for us.  Bless her.

 The bison burgers were delicious.  As well as the prickled pear lemonade and the sweet potato fries.  I look forward to returning someday.

A Cut Above the Rest

Elsa is 3.5 years old, so I figured she was probably overdue for a haircut.  I've lightly trimmed the edges maybe twice in her life, trying to get it be more even.  But it was starting to get really straggly as of late.

Before!  Forgive the fruit roll up teeth.  We were looking for entertainment in the form of sugar.

 And After!  Her hair couldn't support the length anymore, being as fine as it is.  I think it looks absolutely darling and she gets compliments all the time.  Even passing strangers make comments.  Elsa, on the other, likes to tell me constantly that she doesn't like her haircut and wants it longer.

The A line bob totally suits her spunky personality.  I'm hoping she'll get sold on it in time.  Not to mention that there's no styling required.  Her hair knows what to do and it has been such a breeze to get ready now.

I really love Cookie Cutters.  They did a great job and are set up to entertain the kiddos with movies or video games of their choice.  They even get to choose what "vehicle" to sit in as they get their cut and are rewarded with a balloon and a lollipop when it's all over.  I'm sold!

Nadia also got a cut.  Not as dramatic, but she's cute too so we'll add her in.

Before:

 After!

Love these sweet girls!

Learn to Jump Before you can Walk

Sage is still perfecting her walk here.  And trying to jump.  And somersault.  But she has the climbing thing down.