Max was up at 3:00am. I had him "sleeping" on my floor - it was killing him! It was almost equally hard on me, if we didn't always go to bed so darn late on Christmas Eve, I would be tempted to wake the kids up myself.. its so exciting!
You'd be hard pressed to find a better way to say farewell to 2010 than this.
The Library invited Mrs. Clause to read Christmas stories to the kids - a big projector shows all the pictures while she reads in a lighted corner of the stage, and then they get to tell her what they want for Christmas.
This picture is just how I feel - the two little ones, and my great big Max! So that's what they mean when they say time goes by so fast. I smiled like I knew what they meant.. but I had no idea. I almost have an eight-year-old. That seems very old, like I'm no longer a young mother - and that only leaves one other adjective, one I'm not sure I'm ready to embrace! 
Miss Connell's second grade presents "Glow" - featuring Max as the "non-talking bee". Not his first choice, he likes to talk. But true to form, Max can make anything cool.
His good buddy Brandon was the green caterpillar pictured in front of him here. The caterpillar is supposed to sound sleepy, and Max said that Brandon is shy so he murmurs a lot, that's why he got such a good part.
Sam loved watching his big brother, he was cracking us up doing all the actions along with them while they were singing - and then Max let him try on his costume. I guess a true star doesn't mind sharing the spot light.
Time for girls to have girly-rooms and boys to have just boyish-rooms.
Lucy was worried about being alone, Max was worried that everyone got a new room except him.. Sam didn't know to be worried, but he did roll out of bed twice (The second time he just rolled over and slept the night on the floor. The next morning Max had to step over him to tell me about it.)
It was an off-year for both the Hreinson's and the Atkin's this year: in 2011 we'll have two Thanks- giving dinners, but this year we have none! The Mederios' weren't going to WA for their in-laws, so we teamed up with Craig and Sharlene and drove down to St. George for 3 nights and 3 days. Sharlene found us a 3 room condo with an indoor pool (the kids slept in the closet). We hiked, we ate and laughed. Didn't feel like Thanksgiving when we pulled out the frozen corn dogs and orange Shasta for dinner.. but it was a great vacation!
Lucy was so brave and scaled right up the
mountain!
A bruthr I nevr had
It looks cruel and unusual.
But he keeps coming back for more, so I guess for Sam it means love. Casey likes to pinch their cheeks, and they administer the same punishment to anything smaller and squishier than they are. Lucy says things like, "Thanks for making such fat cheeks to pinch Sammy." In this second photo he and Max were watching TV with Sam's little head pinned staring at the wall - Sam didn't make a peep, just happy to be hugged 
Max and Lucy both got to dress up for certain days at school - but that fateful Halloween night was pouring rain and Sam was throwing up.. so my Cruela DeVil costume will have to wait for another year.Lucy was thrilled to be Snow White, Max made a super cool Grim Reaper.. and later he was Darth Vater as well. Sam's tail just makes me giggle on his dragon costume (he doesn't like to be called a dinosaur!).. and Casey could give John Wayn a run for his money I think. Nothing like candy and painted pumpkins for a bit of fun!
23 miles from the North rim to the South rim of the Grand Canyon in 13 hours. The pregnant and otherwise afflicted drove 5 hours to pick them up. Amazing scenery! Some of our favorite company resulting great conversation (good thing too.. we spent over 24 hours on the road) - How can you describe such weekend: Epic.
The Southams - Paul, Josey, Luke and Abby - invited us to Strawberry over the conference weekend. Casey and Paul spent the summer running a satellite company - sells and installation. We took up one of the dishes and set it up on a log, dragged the cord to the generator and Wa-la! The sounds of conference in the setting of the great out-doors. Amazing. We rode the rangers in between sessions, cooked all our meals on the camp chef, slept in the enclosed trailer and ate marshmallows around the fire. Beautiful!
Things you'll need in your Darth Vader backpack for the first day of second grade: dinosaur folder, Elmer's glue and antibiotics! Max's first day wasn't until the third day of school this year- our whole family was sick. But it just made his first day all the more anticipated. He loves Miss Connell and can't wait to get there every morning. Max's top two favorite parts of second grade: Math and sitting by his buddy Spencer. It's good to be seven.
It's about an hour and 20 minutes north - we pack up lots of food, lots of sunscreen and as many sand toys as we can find and drive out to meet the Hreinsons. This year we were missing Mistee, she stayed home with Boston who is still only 3 weeks now. Max swam back and forth from the bouy with Jessie this year, and helped with the sand creations. Lucy was so brave and discovered her life jacket lets her float! (she might get her face wet next year, we'll see). And Sam was very suspicious of how the water moved, the waves took some getting used to. We're not the kind of family you worry about drowning.. but it's great to be with cousins.
