Black and White Dinner

Every January we have our "Black and White" dinner.  This year was no exception, but it was a little different.  Right now in the duplex we are renting we can't even all fit around the table to eat together.  So I knew that would be a problem having a nice family dinner.  Instead of having our dinner at home, we decided to go out for a fancy dinner.  We went to the Melting Pot.  It was our first experience there and we had a blast.  I asked the kids to dress up nicely because we were heading out for a nice dinner.  Cole and Ethan both put on ties and dress shoes with their jeans, it was cute.  We loved the Wisconsin Trio and Cheddar cheese fondue and everyone had their own entrée.  We had chicken, pork, steak, shrimp, salmon, ravioli, and veggies.  We finished the meal off with their classic chocolate fondue with peanut butter, and a amore fondue.

We also talked about our upcoming year and some of the things were are looking forward to and set some goals.

 Here is our goal list so far....

Ethan

LEARN:  better at juggling a soccer ball

GO: Wisconsin Dells, California, Visit Uncle Mike, and attend a professional soccer game and soccer camp.

NEW THING TO TRY:  Different types of Sushi

Cole

LEARN: Algebra, more about human bodies, and better at throwing a football

GO: Camping and swimming on the beach, go to a museum, see the Grand Canyon, and go to California

NEW THING TO TRY: Skateboarding

Liv

LEARN:Tennis, ping pong, and learn more about Koala bears

GO: San Diego and Disney World, go camping and swimming in the ocean

NEW THING TO TRY:  Horseback Riding

The kids also set personal goals for home, school, and each of their activities (soccer, gymnastics, Tae Kwon Do, etc.)

Shawn's big goal for this year is to pass his board exams in April and my goal is to move into our new house and get the kids started in a new school and new neighborhood with minimal stress and chaos :)

Saturday

Liv attended her new gymnastic team class this morning.  She was so nervous, but ended up doing great.  She learned a few new tricks, like this one..

Cole and I spent the day loading up on Dayquil, Ibprofen, Afrin, tissues and basically feeling crappy.

Ethan had a busy day with Tae Kwon Do Demo Team, a Sunday School Party, and an Indoor Soccer game.

It's supposed to get really cold these next few days.  In fact, school is already cancelled on Monday and possibly Tuesday.  Here is the forecast with wind chills.

2014

We spent Christmas here in Milwaukee and then we packed our bags the next morning and headed to Utah for the week.  Cole spent Christmas day throwing up, which he kindly passed on to his family.  Followed by killer headaches, sore throats, runny nose, coughing and the works.

I didn't even bring my camera to Utah, so the few pictures I have are quick snapshots from my phone.  We had a lot of fun including...
  

-breakfast with Grandma Rudd and aunts and cousins

-Visit Uncle Matt at work

-cousin sleepover

-breakfast with whole Reese family at Aunt Annies

-Candy Trains with cousins

-Movie Theatre (twice) with Reese family

-Date Night with Pattersons

-Church with family

-meet and hold baby Hannah

-games with Grandma

-Dominos

-ice skating

-Family Dinner with Reese and Pehrson Grandparents

-Visit with Dad and Sheila

-Playdates with old friends

-Shopping and lunch at City Creek

-hula hoops

-Lunch with mom

-Early morning Temple Session with Shawn and Mom

-Played with Milo and Texas

-Hung out with Uncle Mike in the "shop"

-Played soccer at the church gym

-Rang in the new year

and then we caught a plane home!!

Ice Skating

We went ice skating for family home evening tonight.  The kids have been begging for a long time, but Shawn needed a little coaxing.  After getting everyone's skates tied just right we successfully cruised on the ice, without any major incidences for over an hour.  Cole did have one doozy of a fall right at the end and smacked his head and face.  He was done after that.  But overall it was a fun night!

Snow Day

Today church was cancelled.  We had a big snow storm this morning with about 9-10 inches of snow.  We stayed inside and watched Christmas movies most of the day.

Then we decided to drive up to the new house and see how things were progressing.  

The first floor is almost all framed.

Masterpiece Gallery

I spent the morning with Liv in her class attending the "Masterpiece Gallery".  All of the artwork over the past few months is displayed throughout the classroom and hallways and they kids get to take us around showing and explaining their work.  The class also decorated cookies to share with their family.

Christmas Concert 2013

I've attached a short video of the kids Christmas concert.  I just chose one song from each class so the video wouldn't be too long.  Ethan had his first experience playing an instrument (xylophone) during the concert, and Cole and Liv had fun with the choreography.

Here is a closer video of Ethan's xylophone playing