About the kids

Hannah has had a few friends over to play and a sleepover or two when I've seen a glimpse of a pre-teen, but thankfully those occasions are still few and far between. For the most part, she is still very young at heart; sweet and innocent. Her and Michael have been spending a little too much time on the Wii (Christmas present from Nana and Uncle Bill), but she still loves to read and to be read to more. She joined the book club at school so she gets to spend even more time reading.

Michael, as stated above, loves to play the Wii (especially Super Mario Bros). I often get impatient with the time spent on the Wii, but I can't complain about how it motivates him to get his chores done-usually without being asked. His love of this pass time has spread into his love of drawing and he makes very realistic drawings of different worlds and characters in Marioland. This last Sunday he went to a Baptism Fireside at church and has become very anxious not only for his baptism, but also to join cub scouts.

Rebekah is practically perfect in every way. We just did Parent-Teacher conferences and her teacher couldn't say enough about her good behavior and her educational progress. One precious story Mrs. Cribbs told me was about what Bekah said on the 100th day of school. Everyone was supposed to tell the class something they wished they had 100 of (100 jelly beans, 100 toy cars, etc). Bekah's answer was 100 Sarah's. She just loves Sarah and talks about her in class all the time.

Sarah has a great imagination! She is always playing with different objects as though they were people (2 forks become 2 friends playing in an obstacle course, mini bottles of lotion and hand sanitizer are a girl being chased by a tiger). She loves "Littlest Pet Shop" animals and has a little backpack full of them that she carries around all day. This weekend, Bekah slammed Sarah's finger in the bedroom door and she got hurt pretty bad. She screamed for at least a half an hour it hurt so bad, but once the Tylenol took effect and she had calmed down it was nice to have that story about what Bekah said at school to tell her and show her that Bekah does love her and didn't mean to hurt her. It was so sweet, she cried when I told her (not the screaming kind of cry).

Rachel has been using a few more words and can understand everything and follow directions. It's so exciting to see her becoming her own little girl. She still does her signs for more, please and thankyou. Some of the words she says alot are no, go! (usually to the dog), ink (drink), num nums, and nigh night.

About Brenda

 
I have started my second ever quilt. I meet every week with some great ladies in the ward and we do a block a week. Here's the 3 I've done so far.

About Mike

 
The most exciting thing going on with Mike lately was his 2nd year going to Trappers. We forgot to take a picture of his beard 2 months in the making, but here it is after about a month so you can imagine. We don't understand why he would volunteer to go camping in January, but we just smile and nod, because he seems to enjoy it.

Hannah's school music program

 

Hannah auditioned and got to sing a duet at her school's 3rd & 4th grade music program. She also learned and performed a little square dancing.

Sledding-kind of

 

I've been so bad about taking pictures the past few months-we've had a couple of good snowfalls, this is the first. We found out in Utah that the kids are total wimps when it comes to snow/cold, so we never go far from a warm house when we venture out. By the time I got my camera out this day, Hannah and Rachel had already gone in (Rachel was not happy) and Michael never even went out. Bekah and Sarah, however had a blast.

Another reason we love Wichita

 
We have the best friends/ babysitters in the entire universe. This is the oldest Anderson sister, Brett. She is a working, full time college student with a calling and an active family life and yet she still makes time to adore my kids. And they adore her-can't you tell?

speaking of art

 
Not a great picture, but these are Mike's trees. He loves to draw trees (go figure).

a little culture...

 

Proof that we do strive for a little culture in the Chavez home: a proper tea AND art!