My Little Drummer Boy

Carter Officially started Drum lessons on January 5th.

I had a meeting at work and couldn't take him so Doug did.

Doug reports that Carter didn't waste anytime and walked right into 'The Groove Garage'

and sat down at the drums.  His teacher asked him if he had been working on anything

and Carter proudly replied yes and proceeded to show him. 

He pounded out a few notes and really hit the drums hard.

Like anything else, Carter goes all out with his drums.

He is just that kind of boy.  If he is going to do something he does it with all he has.

I requested a picture and Doug snapped one with his phone.

*Notice what his shirt says........ Rock Hero

The following week I took Carter to his second lesson and took a brief video of what he was working on.

And the nice thing about being behind on my blog is that I can report that Carter is still doing great and is LOVING his drums! His exercises have already become much more challenging, but completely doable.  Carter is pretty good about practicing too. I thought I would hate all the noise, but I actually don't mind it.  Drums, unlike other instruments are easy to listen to when being played by a beginner.  You can't really play an  off tune note as you are just hitting the drums, so I haven't minded his exercises yet. We do ask him to keep his door shut when practicing and that helps with the noise a lot.

Alex made the switch to practicing with his electric guitar and I haven't minded that either.  It's nice that the Amp has a volume and he doesn't have to have the volume all the way up.  

I  must say we have been very happy with both Alex's guitar teacher and Carter's drum teacher.  These guys have an awesome music program so if any of you are in the Salt Lake area and are looking for a guitar or drum teacher just let me know.  These guys are fantastic and I'd be happy to refer you.

New Year's Eve Poker Party

We had a few couples over for a poker party on New Year's Eve.

Hallie was babysitting and Nadya stayed the night at Misty's, 

so the boys had a movie night downstairs.  

Poker was fun!  

(Blurry IPhone Picture)

Serina and Sam were out first, but in their defense they had to leave early.

Their oldest was sick.  No fun!

Stephanie and Vinnie and Heather were out after that and it was down to Me, Doug and Matt.

We paused to ring in the New Year.

Our neighbors let off fireworks and candle lanterns.

 We had a New Year's Eve toast and the boys rocked the new year in!

(Warning- This video is loud. Alex's new guitar had not been tuned and Carter had no clue what he was doing as he had just got his drums.  But, the boys had a blast and that is all that matters!)

After we paused to ring in the New Year, we got back to our game.

Eventually Doug was out and it went back and forth between Matt and I.

At that point Carter joined us at the table and learned all the rules of poker courtesy of his Uncle Matt.

(I still can't believe the boys stayed up so late.  It was the first time they even made it to midnight, 

and they stayed up past 1:00 AM!)  

Matt was probably up a little when he offered to call it a night and split the pot.

That sounded like too good of a deal to pass up considering it was after 2:00 AM!

We all slept in the next morning and when the boys finally crawled out of bed I found them doing this......

Matt you'd be proud.  Carter was using the correct words and taught Alex how to play.  

Not sure if that's a good thing or not though???

Level 6

Nadya's gym has a fall exhibition every year.

It gives the gymnasts a chance to show off their favorite event

prior to competition season.
Nadya opted to perform on floor.

She did awesome!!!!

Take a look for yourself.

Competition season doesn't start until March, but I think she is in great shape

First Meet Level 5

Nadya had her first level five meet last weekend.

She was nervous.

(Watch her hands at the beginning of the video!)

75 Girls.............

19 in her age group and even though she missed her squat on- on bars,

she placed 3rd all round!

She was all smiles!!!!!!

Floor 8.8

Bars 8.25

Beam 8.725

Vault 8.65

All Round 34.425

Great first meet Nadya!!!!!

I guess we'll keep them.......

We had just about given up on our Hens when Doug discovered  two eggs about three weeks ago.


I guess we will keep them after all......
Hallie was so excited that she made a video of Duckie (Carter named her),
nesting in our backyard and laying an egg.  Well, she actually missed the laying part, but just picture a hen in labor making lots of noise for about 2-3 minutes and you'll get the picture.  It's so funny when the kids hear a hen laying an egg because then it's a race to get their shoes on and they run outside and to see who gets to retrieve it.  I know the novelty will wear off, but for now we are enjoying it.  It really is rather easy entertainment.

With the cold weather lately  the hens have pretty much been cooped up in their coop.
However, when the kids are playing in the backyard, they'll let them out for a while  (or a day or two when they/we forget).

We are getting three eggs a day and we never seem to run out of eggs anymore.

Yay for Hens that actually lay eggs. 

Nadya's Level 5 Gymnastics Exhibition

Nadya's gym has an exhibition every fall.

It's an opportunity for parents to see their new routines prior to

competition season. Nadya performed her new floor routine and

her new vault. (She has a new beam and bar routine as well, 
but didn't perform those.)  Her first competition will be at the 
end of October.I videoed her participation in the exhibition. 
It's about six minutes long.

The first half of the video is a group performance that Nadya was in.

The second half is her floor routine and Vault.

Enjoy!

Singing about Jonah

The Boys sang this past Sunday at their School's Sunday Service.

They've been learning all about Jonah.

Carter told me they were singing lots of songs so I thought I'd

video one and take pics on the others.

Turns out, they only sang one song.

Whoops! Apparently, Carter was confusing this performance with the play

they will be performing at the end of the month.

(Carter is in the right hand corner ,bottom row of course!
and Alex is towards the left center.)

So, since I had my camera and the boys looked adorable

I took these pics in the car on the way to lunch.

Carter's teacher gave him a push pop for singing so well.

Don't you love how the blue matches his shirt and eyes so well?

Cute, cute boys!!!!!!

Nadya's First Gymnastics Meet

Nadya had her first Level Four Team Gymnastics Meet and she did Awesome!!!!!!

She came in Second. 

Missed First by 5 hundredths of a point!!!!!

She scored a 35.30 and first place scored 35.35

Funny thing is she had the first place winner in all three events until the beam!!!!!!!

She did awesome and we are so proud of her.  

Here she is with her medal and score card.

The lighting is not so great in there, 

so we came home and took a few more pics.......

The kind with the sun shining right in your eyes!!!!!!! 

So we turned around and tried again!

I did video all of her events, but during her bar routine the coach was standing right in front of the vault and blocked her almost the entire time and the beam was a ways away.  But, her floor routine turned out well. 

I really need to get a new video camera. I am just using my point and shoot camera because our video camera is so old and I have no clue how to get my video from the camera onto the computer. 
It is on  my birthday list....
Any suggestions???????

Can You Hear Me Now??????????

I am sure I've posted before that Carter is loud.
But, I doubt you realize just how loud he is.
He is L.O.U.D.
I use to sometimes wonder if he was hearing well because he is so loud.
But, he has always had very good vocabulary and talked very early,
so hearing is not an issue.
I made a goal to organize all my photos/videos into folders this year.
One main folder for each year and then separate folders
for months or events within those folders.
My pictures are all organized, (can I get a woo hoo!)
BUT, the videos are taking longer. (Can't help it, I have to watch them all!)
So, I decided I would organize my videos as I am blurbing.
One year at a time.
I came across this video while working on my 2005 book.
Carter was 4 days shy of being 6 months and just learned how to say ba ba.
He was jumping in his jumper and was yelling it.
Later that same day, I discovered if I said it, he would too.
Here he is saying it after bath time.
Watch it and notice how loud he is.
He was that loud then????
It's hopeless.
He is just going to be my L.O.U.D. Child, I guess.

Sledding Lessons

You climb, climb, climb, like you've never climbed before!

Of Course, sometimes it requires you to get on your knees......
So much Hard Work!

So much work that when you reach the top,
you take a moment to take it all in....

Then You Slowly. Inch. Your. Way. Over. The. Hill........

And Make Your Way Down!!!!!!!

And you really should listen to your mom when

she tells you to pick up your feet!!

And you try not to crash!!!! Or when you do you run to Mom and have her wipe the snow off your face.....

And then you tell each other how much fun that was!

And decide it was worth the work,

so you pick up your sled and go again!

And after a few hours.........

You end up at home with Hot Cocoa, the fireplace, a blanket

and a good movie because you are soooo tired!


And then your mom decides she could have saved herself a lot of time just uploading videos....
But what fun is that?????

Nadya learns a back walk over!!!!

e has been working so hard! Take a look!!!!!!!





So, her hair looks funny because we have it in braids for her Halloween costume. She is going as a black cat and wanted wavy hair for it............. But, the back walk over is awesome!!!!!!

Aunt Georgia's and Uncle Henry's Christmas Gifts!