Let the Festivities Begin

We're going to step back a bit into November and start the festivities with Thanksgiving. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner this year with all the Barton side of the family in attendance. There were 23 people total and we had a wonderful time eating, visiting, playing at the park, playing Ticket to Ride...and eating some more!

I'm usually one that waits until December 1st to break out the Christmas decorations but this year, with the 1st falling on a Monday (and I work Monday evenings), I decided I would break tradition and we decorated on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The kids always get so excited to find "their" ornaments and put them on the tree. Each year I buy them a new ornament to add to their collection and I put the year on it so they know what year they got each one.

On Thursday Landon had his preschool Christmas program. The kids sang songs about numbers, shapes and colors, recited Christmas poems about the different symbols of the season, and showed off their "Jack Be Nimble" skills.

(the #9 song)

(To my Kovacs siblings...any of you remember this song?: "This is a song about colors (colors). You see them all around. There is red on the stop sign, green on the trees, blue in the sky and sea. Red stand up, blue stand up...ah, the memories :)

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick...oops couldn't get the video to upload!

Landon loves preschool again* and his teacher had this to say about him in an email after the program...

"Landon did so well. He knows every word to everything! I've been so pleased with his "recovery" from whatever was going on. He is smart and fun and I love him!"

*Note to readers: The next section is mainly for journaling purposes for me but feel free to read on or skip to the next part...

When Mrs. Lee became concerned about something being "not right" with Landon, she mentioned to me when I picked Landon up one day that she needed to talk to me. She had previously told me about some issues that happened (another child taking a toy from Landon which upset him and another child hitting him when they were outside playing). The next day I told Landon he needed to eat lunch so he could get ready for school. That was the first time Landon told me he didn't want to go to school. I decided I needed to call Mrs. Lee to see what was going on. She could tell Landon would get anxious when it was time for "free play" time and then it got to the point where he would wouldn't play during free time and just wanted to sit on the couch and some days he would cry. I had talked to Landon before to see what was bothering him but really couldn't get anything out of him. Kathie and I discussed different solutions and she said she has really been praying to know what to do for him. How grateful I am to have such a wonderful teacher who is so willing to help each child individually and is close enough to the spirit to pray and know what to do. After my conversation with her, I talked more with Landon about playing with the other kids and how fun preschool is. We focused on the positive things and he decided he was going to be happy at school that day. When I went to pick him up, Mrs. Lee had a good report for the day. She told me she got an idea to start "free time" by partnering the kids up for play buddies. For the first 10-15 minutes of free time, they had to play only with their partner and then they could do whatever they wanted. That integrated Landon into the group again and he has done well ever since. As I have said before, we LOVE Mrs. Lee!

Later on Thursday was Parent Observation Night at Ashlee's ballet class. Rob was able to go since I had to go into work that night. I've been the last two years since her class had been earlier in the day so it was nice for Rob to be able to go this year and see what she is learning and how much she has progressed.

This past Saturday was a busy one and of course, a huge snow storm decided to hit Cache Valley, making driving around town not so pleasant. We started the morning with a ward breakfast and a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Later in the day was the Sugar Plum Tea Party performance. Ashlee's class danced to "The Waltz of the Snowflakes" from the Nutcracker. I was very impressed with how much Ashlee has improved...such a graceful dancer (definitely did not get those genes from me!) Here is the video clip from the performance. Ashlee is the second one from the left in the front row....

Girls Night Out to the Nutcracker

This is the third year I've taken Ashlee to see the Nutcracker. She gets a free ticket since she takes ballet from the Cache Valley School of Ballet. This year she was so excited because her teacher was the Sugar Plum Fairy. It was cute to watch her clap when she came on stage. She loved it! Her Primary teacher played the violin in the orchestra so that was neat as well. This year Brynlee also wanted to go. I was talking to my friend, Katie, and she was going to take her daughter, Alivia, who is one of Brynlee's friends so we all went together. It was fun to have a little girls night out and the girls loved it!

The Grand Opening of "Ashlee's Wonders"

Ashlee is an official business owner! In her class at school, the students earn money for various things...turning in homework on time, being in the group that gets the most points that day, etc. Alot of classes do this type of thing and then have a class store where they can buy different things. Ashlee's teacher has taken it a step further and they can purchase a business license for $200. They become business owners and decide what goods or services to sell. They can make the items or buy them (one girl even sold her Halloween candy that she didn't want) or sell a service such as cleaning desks. Only a few students have bought business licenses so far. Today was the first day that the students could buy from those who had their own store.

Ashlee chose to sell hairbows. She helped me make "Hillcrest Husky" hairbows and then set a price for them. At first she had them set at $5 for a bow and $3 for a clip but then I realized how much money the kids all have (they get $5 a day just for turning in homework) and also realized that the teacher sells things in her store for $30-$90! I convinced her to raise her prices to $25 and $15 (I think we'll even up it next time!) I went in to her class to observe how things went and get pictures of her "Grand Opening." Everyone was saying how cute they were! One boy even bought one for his sister! We only got 9 bows made so I also let her sell some cards that I had leftover from a card swap group I used to be in. Her items sold like hotcakes! She made $305! She only had one card leftover. She had a constant group surrounding her desk. Girls were even asking her afterwards if she was going to have more to sell at the next class store. What an awesome learning experience! She is already planning what to sell at the next class store!

A SuperHero Halloween

Halloween is over...whew, now I can relax! After my kids all changed their minds about what they wanted to be for Halloween, I started "mad-sewing" the week before Halloween to get their Super Hero costumes done. I love to sew and don't do it as often as I used to or would like to but really, who has time to sit and do something you enjoy...right? :)

We started the Halloween celebration on Friday with a costume parade at the elementary school...

(an action shot of Supergirl...she walking by too fast!)

The girls were suprised when they walked by and saw their Grandpa Kovacs there! He had been in Tooele during the week for work and was supposed to go back home to Arizona on Friday but he ended up needing to stay until this next Wednesday. He called Friday afternoon and said he was on his way north for a visit and ended up making it just in time to go to see the girls at school.

Friday night we carved pumpkins...

And challenged Grandpa to a game of Rush Hour...

(The kids were just itchin' to help Grandpa out and tell him which car to move next!)

Ashlee carved her pumpkin this year all by herself! Usually I end up carving all of them so it was fun for her to do her own and she was very proud of the end result!

Landon aka Batman had to have a bat on his, courtesy of mom...

Brynlee chose a howling wolf (and helped dad in the carving process by pushing out the carved pieces as they were done)...

Ready for the trick or treaters to see our works of art...

On Saturday we had our friends, the Longhursts, over for a fun, pre-trick or treating dinner of mummies, fingers, eyeballs, and green slime with worms!

(The Barton and Longhurst kids)

Then it was time for the trick or treating madness to begin. We met at one of Brynlee's friend's houses and then they were off....literally running from house to house. I ended up staying behind with the boys and some of their friends and their moms who were at a slightly slower pace!

( All the cute girls!)

(and the cool boys)

After the boys had enough (translation: Landon wanted to go back home so he could get started on his candy), I dropped them off at home and continued the candy collecting with Ashlee and a few others (Brynlee and her group of friends with a few other moms were long gone at this point!) When I got back, Rob was outside hiding from the trick or treaters to scare them as they came to the door. Hmmmm, so the boys were where, you ask? I wondered the same thing and opened the door to find the boys helping themselves to as much candy as possible!

Quick Trip to AZ

A couple of weeks ago Trevor and I took a quick trip to Arizona. My sister, Amy, had planned a Welcome Home/30th Birthday party for her husband since he had recently returned from serving in Iraq and turned 30 about a month before he came home. I hadn't planned on going but when I got an email on Tuesday from Delta with their weekend deals, there was a good deal on flights to Phoenix. I knew my sister, Mary Anne, wasn't planning on going since she also lives in Utah but if you know Mary Anne, her heart is in Arizona! So I decided to tempt her with a trip home. She did some rearranging with some photo shoots, made deals with her hubby :), and the tickets were bought! We left Saturday morning, got a rental car in Phoenix (a huge THANK YOU to my dad!), and drove the 3 hours to Sierra Vista. We walked in the door and my mom was in the kitchen. She turned around and saw us and the look on her face was priceless! Tricky us, we didn't tell her we were coming! Everyone else ended up finding out one way or another, but we really wanted to keep it a secret from my mom. It was great to see everyone from home. We flew back to Utah on Tuesday so it was a fun, but short trip! Sadly, this was the only picture I got from the trip. I'm really bad at taking pictures lately (which is why the blogging has been sparse!) but just wait....Halloween is coming! I can't wait!

Family Pictures Fall 2009

My sister, Mary Anne, took family pictures for Rob's side of the family a couple of weeks ago. If you'd like to know what Trevor thought of the whole thing, just look at this first picture that Mary Anne got of the boys...

Apparently, he liked being inside the truck better than on the hood...

My handsome, blue-eyed boys...

Trevor still not diggin' the whole picture thing...

And my blue-eyed beauties...

We went down to Cheryl's house the night before the photo shoot so that we wouldn't have to drive an hour and a half the morning of our 8:30 am photo shoot. We stopped at every Target along the Wasatch Front trying to find a couple of sweaters that I had seen online for the girls. No luck at ANY of them, so we ended up with these shirts that I'm not totally in love with, but when you're trying to find certain colors to go with everyone else, you get what you get (I actually ended up leaving the tags on Ashlee's and returned it later...shhhh, don't tell!) Plus, I forgot hair things to put in their hair, and thus not the cutest hairstyles...oh well!

I really like these ones of Rob, his parents and siblings...

Thanks again, Mary Anne. You are the best!

Lil' Grizz Cheer Camp

Ashlee and Brynlee went to a Lil' Grizz Cheer Camp at Logan High School. They learned a dance and a cheer one night and then performed at halftime at the football game the next night. The pictures are awful because of the lighting and movement but oh well! My friend took the ones in the gym since Rob had the camera out on the field while we were inside waiting. My camera battery went dead after one shot of Ashlee on the field. They had lots of fun!

Go Grizzlies!

At home before the game...
Practicing and waiting in the gym before halftime...

On the field...

Under where?

Lando's underwear is important to him. When he wears his basball pajamas, he has to wear baseball underwear so they match. He mostly wears his transformers or superheroes ones during the day. The only thing clean this morning, since he changes them a couple times a day, was plain white or trains.

He claimed that he doesn't like trains. It took some convincing to just put on white ones. Big boys and dads wear white underwear, etc.

Rob: Here, let's just put them on and see what you look like.

Lando: Okay. [lets me put them on him]

Kirsten: You look like a big boy.

Lando: Yeah. If someone hurts me, I'm just going to hurt them back instead of crying!

Hopefully this doesn't backfire and either make him start hurting people or make him not want to go back at all to his old favorites since he's big now.

UPDATE: Half an hour later, he finds some clean transformers underwear and proudly shows them off to everyone. Who knows where he left the white ones?

He's Off To Preschool!

Landon started preschool today at Rainbow Corner. His teacher is Mrs. Lee and we just LOVE Mrs. Lee! She is our Bishop's wife and lives just around the corner so it is nice and convenient! When we were coming home from the girls' school after doing some PTA business (at about 9:20 a.m.), Landon wanted to know if it was time for him to go to school yet. I told him preschool started at 1:00, which was after lunch. At about 9:45 a.m. he came to me and he said he was ready to eat lunch so he could go to school. Silly kid! He was so excited to go...can't you just tell from his smile! Love that kid!

"I know why it's called Rainbow Corner... it's because she lives on a corner and has a rainbow flag" ~Brynlee

This was my favorite quote from Brynlee when she went to preschool there and made the connection between the name of the preschool and the location of the house and the rainbow flag.

She also has a wooden rainbow hanging on the porch (in the picture above) and when the rainbow is smiling, it means she is ready for school to start and the kids can walk in the door.

1st Day of School

Ashlee and Brynlee were SO excited for school to start!

Ashlee is in 3rd grade this year...

Ashlee is excited that so many of her friends are in her class...

Abel, Ashlee, Devin and Emily

Brynlee is in 1st grade...

It will be weird to have her gone all day! She has the same teacher that Ashlee had for 1st grade so it's nice to know that routine already...