Mary Popppins Jr.

The school play this year was Mary Poppins Jr.  They put it all together on a shortened schedule with the performance in January.  Sydney was cast as Ms. Andrews.  In the stage production, Mary Poppins leaves the Banks family and Ms. Andrews (Mr. Banks' former nanny) comes and tries to whip the kids into shape. She makes them take brimstone and treacle instead of a spoonful of sugar.

 Sydney did a great job of being mean and strict.  You'd have never known she was actually so sweet in real life.  She rocked her solo (of course).  The scene where Mary comes back and the two nannies have a bit of a singing battle was one of our favorites. 

As always, Sydney was so fun to watch on stage.  She is so animated and dramatic about everything.  The bright ensemble costumes were also so fun to see on stage.

Taylor tried out for a part but didn't make the cut.  The directors offered to let her join the little kids for one more year.  They were bumblebees who came and danced and cleaned the house during "A Spoonful of Sugar."  It was adorable.

I know I say this every year, but I am so grateful my kids have this opportunity.  What a blessing it has been.  So much work and so much fun!

A Successful Break....

 Our December was full of fun and Christmas celebrations.  The kids had almost 3 weeks off school and we did a perfect amount of sitting around balanced with accomplishing things (almost done with baseboards!)

Sydney decided to step up her game with a graham cracker Hogwarts castle.  

I celebrated my friend's birthday and tried sushi for the first time...not a fan.

We had a great Christmas morning.  The kids were all given an experience to participate in.  They will be fun to do over the next few months. Sydney and Emma will be trying a glass blowing class, Aiden will be going to a Monster Truck rally.  And Taylor got some cash to use towards an outing of her choice.  Aiden and Taylor also got Golden Corral gift cards, so Brent and I got a double date with them.

Grandma and Grandpa Robertson gave us gift cards to go to Jake's Umlimited (a video game, amusement park, laser tag, bowling arena in Phoenix). We coordinated with the Carlsens and made a day of it.  

The kids found a game that gave tickets that you could play for free.  So, this is pretty much where they spent the whole day.  They each had several hundred tickets to spend.

Brent and Emma had a fierce battle on the Dance Dance.

We went to a New Year's Eve Party at the Egbert's.  Where I wowed everyone with my cheeseboard.  

 And the kids tried talking me into taking one of their puppies home.

We woke up New Year's Day to the most snow we've ever had here. 

AJ was visiting for a few days for Tyler Carlsen's baptism.

Aiden swept the snow of the porch so it could snow on Luke down below.

This is what was left after a few days...

We enjoyed some good old cousin time for Tyler's baptism.

School has started and things are in full swing for the school play.  We will also be cashing in on a ski trip gifted to us from Grandma and Gramps.  So, the fun will continue!

Turkey or Pie?

This year we had 38 people at our house for Thanksgiving.  It was a bit crazy, but it was such a blessing to be reminded that we have so many wonderful family and friends in our life!  The only photo I got was all the pies....22 to be exact.

The lemon blueberry was a big hit.  

These kiddos go to hang out while Amelia and Paul were house hunting. (cue: celebratory music)

Aiden is so great with these little kids.  It's sweet.

After a while, Londyn started to warm up to me too.

Give us your Grinchy smile!

Fall Fun...

The past few months have been busy.  

Its that time of the year when soccer seems to dominate our lives.

  These two have rocked it on the field.  

Aiden and Luke: the Stockton and Malone of AYSO

Taylor also played, but I didn't get any pictures of her. :(

Both of these kids had great development years.  Even my uneducated soccer eyes could see a big difference in their playing as the season went on.  They loved it and I enjoyed every game!

Sydney decided to certify and become a referee (much to Brent's delight).  I have photos somewhere....

Emma helped decorate and man her Freshman year float for the homecoming parade.

This is the back, it was Harry Potter themed.

Sydney joined the Brazilian Drum Club at school.

And Taylor spent hours reading the entire Harry Potter series

The girls talked me into taking them to a haunted house.  I was totally nervous, but it ended up being really fun!

And, of course, Halloween.

Hermione, Slappy the Dummy, Winnie the Pooh, and Anastasia

We were scheduled to go to Rocky Point with some friends over fall break.  A few days before, we got a call saying the neighborhood of our rental house was inaccessible due to flooding.  We had to cancel.  It was a total bummer, but in the end we decided to drive to Texas for some good old family time.

Feeding the ducks at the park.

Getting lots of baby time.  I love how Kensley is smiling at Aiden.

Off course, the infamous Adrenaline City.

We took the big girls on a girls night out.  We escaped the room with plenty of time.
 Emma and Sydney cracked almost all the clues.

These cousins are the best!

We even did a corn maze and pumpkin patch.

The best news, is that the guys are moving to Sahuarita in a few months.  Now we will have tons more cousin time.  So excited!

Sydney and New York City

Sydney turned 13 and chose to go to New York City for her trip.  As required, she helped plan the itinerary and wrote reports about all the places we visited.  We had a blast!  Check out all the things we packed into our 4 days there:

Statue of Liberty.  I apologize to her for cutting off her head.

9/11 Museum.  We went through a section we didn't before and it was very touching.

On the famous red stairs of Time Square.  Brent is in line for Broadway tickets and we were people watching.  This was right before I dumped all my waffle on my lap.

On top of the Empire State Building

On top of the Rockefeller Plaza

These are from Grand Central Terminal where Sydney had some macaroons and my banana pudding (Magnolia Bakery) was like heaven in your mouth.

Sydney was very mellow and unenthusiastic about things.  Halfway through the week, I had to ask her if she was having any fun.  She, of course, said she was having a blast.  It was just hard to get a squeal of excitement out of her.  She was playing it cool all week.

Of course, we made time for some awesome Broadway!

We saw School of Rock.

Andrew Lloyd Weber was there too!

Frozen was so fun and probably our favorite.  The singing and special effects were amazing.

Anastasia was very fun too.  I love the costumes and Sydney has been singing the songs every since.

Above: Hans from Frozen


Right: Dimitri from Anastasia


Below: Mr. Finn from School of Rock

We also biked across the Brooklyn Bridge.

 

We did a self-guided food tour through Little Italy and Chinatown. 

I participated in the pizza tasting.  But, opted out of most other food.

Sydney was brave enough to try an oyster from a street vendor.

Some Asian fruit?

Steamed buns anyone?

We also made a trip out to Coney Island where we ate hot dogs (this is where they were invented) and rode roller coasters (or as many as Brent and I could handle).

There was plenty of yummy eats

A fun candy store named Dylan's

Famous cupcakes

Frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity

Amazing milkshakes at Schnipples.

Rolled ice cream in Chinatown.

Lunch at the StarDust cafe where they serenade you Broadway style.

 We stopped at a few museums so we could get some advice from a smart man.

Madame Tussauds

 And Sydney could play the oldest piano on earth.

Museum of Art

At one point, Brent made some comment about something he was learning about Sydney.  "These trips are good for me to get to know our kids better," he mentioned.  Boom!  Mission accomplished.

We sure love this teenage girl and loved spending time with her!!