Day at the Park

After the flurry of Christmas time, I was able to take a few days off work to stay home and play with the kids. It was great being able to spend some extra time with them - and I'm sure my mom (who normally watches the kids during the week) appreciated the break! One thing I learned quickly is that kids need to be kept busy. Sitting around watching movies and napping sounds like heaven to me, but it's Death from Boredom for the kids. And what better way to use up some energy than to run around at the park?

Kristin wasted no time running over to the swings, and was excited to show me her latest trick. Taking a photo of this was entirely her idea:Then the kids found a mini basketball that someone had left on the playground. Simon in particular was excited to play with it. They played catch for a while, and then they ran out to the field and kicked it around like a soccer ball. But mostly it seemed like they just liked running back and forth and laughing. Which, of course, I loved to see.I also loved to see Simon making silly faces at me from the top of the slide. Isn't he a charmer?Simon is generally afraid to go down the slide by himself, unless it's a very short slide and he can easily do down backwards. (Otherwise he's afraid he'll fall on his face.) But he's comfortable when Joey or Kristin go down the slide with him. Joey was so sweet, helping his little brother:After a couple hours, it was time for lunch and a nap. Know how I knew it was nap time?

Christmas Day

On Christmas Day we had the family over to our house for dinner. It's so nice that we have space for everyone! I know it's been over a year since we moved into our house, but my excitement about leaving the apartment behind hasn't faded! Here is a photo of my pretty Christmas dinner table. The flowers for the centerpiece were a gift from my mom's next door neighbors, the Kingstons, who own a flower shop. They also did all the flowers for my and my sisters' weddings.That's right, I had little candy cane hearts at every place setting. I know it's sickeningly sweet. Sue me.
Here we see Matt, Joey and Kristin working on putting together some Legos. Both of the older kids got Lego sets from Santa. Joey got a big pirate ship which took a few hours to complete.
And here's the ship, all finished. I know you can't really see it in this photo, but there's a mermaid for the masthead. There are so many fun little details. Lego has come a long way since I was a kid! (Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth).
Grandma, Kristin and Joey. Kristin wasn't in the mood for picture taking, but I was trying out my new camera.
Here's Simon and his Uncle Sean. I forget what they were laughing about, but it was cute to see them playing together.
Here is a photo of our Christmas tree. It looks a little messy at the bottom, since we had lots of miscellaneous gifts piled underneath. But at least you get the idea.
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! See you in 2010!

Merry Christmas!

Another Christmas is upon us! Happy Holidays to all of you from the LeVine Family!This post is really about Christmas Eve, when we all gathered at my mom's house to open gifts. In our family, we open everything on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day is exclusively about Santa and overeating. And remembering our Savior, of course. (Way to take the Christ out of Christmas, Nikol. Sheesh.) Moving along....here's a photo of Matt and his niece! Aren't they a cute pair?
And here's a photo of Tandy and Alicia. Awww, my two "little" sisters.
Here's Kory showing off the gift he got from Tandy. She actually got him a couple of video games, and just wrapped them in the Snuggie box. She's sneaky like that. (My mom was the actual recipient of the Pepto Bismol Snuggie).
Here's Wendy showing off the scarf I made for her. The family all went in on a big gift for her (a Roomba!), but I wanted her to still have something to open. So I made her this red knit scarf. It's kind of hard to see against her red shirt. It's made of knit material - soft, like a t-shirt. And I sewed the fringe myself. I may or may not have sewn the scarf to my pants once while putting on the fringe.
The family also all put in to buy a Wii for Matt's Christmas gift. When he opened the box, he held it over his head and said, "Wiiiiii!" (It was funnier in person than in print, trust me).
It was a wonderful night! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Why I Don't Have Photos of the Three of Them Together

It seems like I have a bunch of pictures of Joey and Kristin together, and of Simon by himself, but very few of the three of them together. So, one day when they were dressed up and looking so nice for church, I thought I'd try to snap a photo or two. Joey and Kristin were in great moods. I love this one of them laughing:So then I tried to take a few pictures of the three of them together. Simon wasn't crazy about the idea, as you can plainly see. But I tried. Of course, since Simon was fussing, Joey and Kristin didn't feel like cooperating, either.
Then the older two thought it was funny that Simon wouldn't sit still, so then they were laughing as Simon tried to squirm off the couch.
So I gave up.

Making Gingerbread Houses

For Family Night one evening, we decided to make gingerbread houses! Well, I guess a better name for them would be Graham Cracker Houses, since no gingerbread was actually involved! Here are the houses waiting to be decorated.
We had all different kinds of candies and other foods to use as decorations: M&M's, gumdrops, nuts, marshmallows, coconut, candy canes. We also had tubes of colored frosting, and extra white icing to use as glue to get everything to stick together.
Matt was very focused on the details while making his house.
Simon was a little upset when we told him he could not take the houses apart, nor could he eat any of the candy. I know, I know. We are so cruel. And at Christmas, too! Maybe we deserve coal in our stockings. (That's my finished house, by the way!)
Joey and Kristin were very proud of their finished houses.
It was such a fun activity for everyone, that we definitely plan to make it an annual Christmas tradition!

Wendy's Birthday

December 18th was the anniversary of Wendy turning 21! Happy Birthday, Wendy! For our traditional family birthday gathering, we went to Souplantation for dinner and then went back to Wendy and Sean's house for presents and cake. Here's a photo of the birthday girl! Note the super cool snowman sticker on her sleeve. That was a little birthday gift from Kristin.
While we were at Wendy and Sean's, Simon fell in love with his "cousin" Sam's bed. He was sitting and/or rolling around in it for quite some time. Glad he's not allergic to dogs!
And then the evening devolved into this:
Sadly, we had to take the kids home earlier than I would have liked because Simon was really tired and GROUCHY. Joey and Kristin were both really hyper, too. It was a crazy night! But we had fun getting together. Happy birthday, Wendy!!

Korinne's Blessing

Other churches might call it a christening, but for us it's just a simple blessing that's given to babies after their born. Here is Miss Korinne Dawn, all dressed up in white frills. I believe that lace bonnet was handmade. Fancy!Korinne looks mighty serious in that photo, but let me assure you that she's normally all smiles! Speaking of smiles, we took the opportunity to snap a few family photos since we were all together. Here's my mom with her three girls:
And here is the Sparks Family. Kory, Tandy and wee Korinne. Sorry that it's kind of a dark photo. It was a bit cloudy out that day. Doesn't Tandy look like a proud mom?
And here are the LeVines! Nice that all our outfits sort of coordinated that day! Simon wasn't in a great mood, since he was fighting an ear infection. He always looks so serious in photos!

Joey's School Project

Sorry I haven't updated in a while! Time to catch up!

Joey's class was studying different careers and professions, so the students were all assigned to do a special project on what they wanted to be when they grew up. Each student was given a giant blank paper doll, which they then had to decorate. Of course, Joey wants to be an astronaut. Here is the finished product:
Note those killer silver boots! While I helped a bit, Joey really did most of the work on this project himself. (As it should be!) I helped him design and cut out the main helmet for the spacesuit, but then Joey decorated it with stickers (the flag and the USA) and drew in the face:
He also designed a couple patches for the spacesuit, including this name tag:
Joey was very proud of his astronaut project! In fact, it was his idea to take photos of it for the family blog.
Great job, Joey!

Halloweenie!

Here are the kids in their Halloween costumes. First, Joey as a chef. Specifically, he is Alfredo Linguine, the chef from the movie Ratatouille. (That's why he also has the stuffed rat.) Originally Joey wanted to be the rat from Ratatouille, but I thought it would be much easier to come up with a costume for being a chef than for being a rat. He got lots of compliments when we were out Trick-or-Treating.Kristin was a mermaid this year. We were all set, and then my mom asked Kristin if she was going to have a red wig so she could be Ariel, the Little Mermaid. (At which point I gave Mom the Look of Death™.) So then she insisted that she needed a wig for her costume. It was a very busy week for us, and I just never made it out to a costume store to find her the red wig she wanted. Fortunately for us all, she was satisfied with this shiny tiara. So, she wasn't just a mermaid, she was a princess mermaid. Princess mermaids, as you know, can have whatever color hair they want.And here is Simon, our little stinker. Originally he was going to be Dash from The Incredibles. We had the costume all ready but when we tried it on him, Simon was swimming in it. The outfit was just way, way too big. Of course, I'd waited until the last minute to try it on him so there weren't many options. I just dug through the costume box and found the skunk costume Joey wore when he was two. I personally think that it fit with Simon's personality much better than Joey's. Simon really IS a stinker!

Hulking Out on Halloween

During Saturday's game, in honor of it being Halloween, Joey's soccer team (The Hulks) decided to show its holiday team spirit by giving everyone green hair! The bright green perfectly matched their uniforms.What do you think, Joe? Is it easy being green?Joey was the team captain this week. They all take turns being the team captain. It's the captain's job to lead stretches during warm up. And here, Joey goes up for the coin toss at the beginning of the game. And there's Matt, the referee extraordinaire!Happy Halloween, everyone!

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

One of the rides at Disneyland is called Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. You go through the ride and shoot at targets with a laser gun. It's a lot of fun. And they take your picture while you're on the ride, too! Here's Wendy and Kristin. I love how you can barely see her face. She's such a wee thing!And here is my photo with Sean. It's like the least flattering photo of me ever taken, but I just HAD to show off my killer score! 232,200!! I am amazing! (Just not that photogenic.)

Kristin's Disneyland Birthday

Disneyland had a special deal this year where you could get into the park for free if you went on your birthday. Since Disneyland admission costs so much these days, we definitely wanted to take advantage of the savings. Kristin's birthday was on a Monday this year, so we had to pull the kids out of school. (Sometimes it's worth it!) My mom offered to watch Simon for us, since Disneyland and toddlers aren't the greatest combo.

Here are Matt and the kids walking in from the parking lot. Kristin skipped most of the way.When you go to Disneyland on your birthday, they give you a big button with your name on it. Here's Kristin showing hers off. Also note that she's wearing the new Cinderella shirt she got for her birthday.Aww, look at Joey and Kristin getting along! This really IS the Magic Kingdom!Here is a photo of Kristin, Matt and Joey at lunch. We ate at The Blue Bayou, which is the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It's our favorite place!Wendy and Sean were also able to join is for our day at Disneyland. The more the merrier! This photo cracks me up because Sean purposely pulled the basket of bread over to be in the photo with them. Hooray for carbs!On thing Kristin really wanted to do during her visit was to meet Minnie Mouse. When we got over to Toon Town, Minnie was at her house but the Disney worker said that the line to meet her was closed because a parade was going to start soon and Minnie had to leave. I begged them to let Kristin in. I even pulled the "but it's her birthday!" card. They said no. Kristin was so sad. But then they asked Kristin to wait over on the side. Minnie came out of her house and went right over to Kristin to give her a hug. Kristin was so excited! Minnie insisted that Joey and I take a photo along with her.Here's Wendy and I in Toon Town. I just love how all the buildings look so cartoony. In this photo, we're waiting outside of the boat where Donald Duck lives. Joey and Kristin were running around inside.And there's Kristin on the bow of the ship, waving. I love the look of excitement on her face. And this was at the end of the day! That girl never ran out of steam.Of course, once we left, she was fast asleep in the car before we'd even left the parking lot.