Booster Seat

Aliza weighs herself often to see if she is 30 lbs. It seems like it has been a very long time that she stayed in that 28-29lb range, but she finally made it all the way to 30 lbs. She was beyond excited because she knew that she could finally get out of her car seat and move to a booster chair. We made a special trip to Target to pick out her seat, and she was just beaming.

It was kind of sad to see that car seat go out in the trash, but also a huge milestone for our family. She is still getting the hang of buckling herself, but once she masters that we will have all our kids buckling and unbuckling by themselves. Wow! Considering she will be in Kindergarten in the Fall, I suppose it was time to make the switch. These kids grow up way too fast.

Writing Contest

Abbie entered the Southern Nevada Writing Contest for the Clark County School District a few months back. She wrote an essay about racing in the famous race in Alaska, the Jr. Iditerod. We got a phone call late one night announcing that she had won 2nd place for the whole fifth grade in the district. She received a fun package full of books and certificates as her prize, and they wrote about her in the school newsletter that goes out every Monday to the whole school. We are very proud of her.

Writing is something that comes very naturally to Abbie. When I was asking her about what she wanted to do for her electives in 6th grade next year, she mentioned that all she wants to do is write for the school paper. She is always writing us stories, and working on plays for her and her friends to perform. In fact they are having their 5th grade writing exams next week, and it's nice to not even be worried about it. I know she will pass with flying colors.

Abbie took this picture to make sure everyone could read it. :)

Last week, we were babysitting our friend's kids while they went out on a date, and this is a cute picture I took of Abbie and Kate's creation that night. They made this stage out of a chip box, and then did a performance for the younger kids. I love their creativity!

Thriller

My mom was in town yesterday for a conference she had to attend, and we were able to see her for dinner and a little shopping. It was great to see her, and it reminded me that I never posted anything about our date over Christmas break to see the Michael Jackson Cirque show. She has a birthday right at the beginning of January, so shopping for her can be hard with it being right after Christmas. I had this great idea that we should go see this show while she was in town visiting for Christmas as a early birthday gift.
I have a vivid memory of her when I was younger doing her Saturday morning cleaning, and singing to Michael Jackson. The CD would be blaring, and we would know that mom was cleaning. It was a fun date to see the show together, and we had a good laugh all the way home about some of the dances that were just cheesy and stupid. But the music was fun to hear again, and there were a lot of amazing things in the show too.

After the show I have been turning on Michael Jackson sometimes while getting ready in the mornings. Aliza has now fallen in love with the song Thriller. She calls it "the Halloween song" or "the scary song", and asks for it over and over again. I catch her ever once in awhile blurting out the words "thriller, thriller now." She may be our next generation of Michael Jackson fans.

Swimming Lessons

Aliza's New Years Resolution this year is to learn how to swim without a lifejacket/floaties etc. I figured while her sisters are in school, she may as well work towards her goal. She started her first session of swimming lessons a few weeks ago, and is doing really well. Our hope is that by Summer time she is swimming a lot more comfortably by herself, and we won't have to worry as much about her being by the pool.

She was really excited to get her certificate saying she passed off everything for her class. We get a few weeks off while they do pool maintenance, and then we will be back for more lessons.

The Milkey Twist

Ever since Aliza has had hair long enough, whenever she drinks milk (which is her favorite) she twists her hair around her finger. It's always the same holding the cup with the right hand and twisting with the left.

And occasionally this happens. Ouch!

Her poor finger gets the circulation cut right off, and she can't pull it out without help. When she realizes that her finger is stuck it's usually accompanied by a few panicked screams, then we all laugh.

Silly girl!

New Years 2011

Our good friends, the Sondrups, invited us over for a really fun New Years Party. We had delicious food, great company, and the best part we counted down for the New Year at 9:00 p.m. instead of midnight so we could get the kids to bed at a good time. We could only find the countdown on TV in Spanish at that time, but that just added to the fun. Micah wrote the numbers in Spanish on a white board, and we all tried to count down in Spanish.

They planned a bunch of Minute to Win it games which were a lot of fun. Each family played against the other with a family rep for each game. I can't report that we won, but it was really close.

Aliza was so cute scrunching her face up trying to get the oreo in her mouth. I wish I could have captured a picture of it.

We feel very blessed to have such wonderful friends to bring in the New Year with. The following Monday we had a family home evening on resolutions. This is what the Phillips Family are working on this year:

Abbie: Eating healthier and exercising on my bike/running one time each week.

Avery: Helping my mom with her back, and being nice to my sisters.

Aliza: Learning to swim without a life jacket.

Mom: Making sure our family reads the scriptures together EVERY night. (We seem to skip sometimes), and eating better.

Dad: Taking his wife on a cruise, and simplifying.

The Bellagio Conservatory

Micah's parents were able to come visit us right after Christmas, and we had a wonderful time. I think we laughed and laughed the entire time they were here. We stayed up late one night watching silly videos on You Tube. If you ever need a good laugh, look up funny exercise videos on You Tube. I'm still giggling just thinking about it.

While they were here we decided to see the Conservatory at the Bellagio. It was decorated for the Holiday's with cute penguins, polar bears, and trains. It really is amazing what they do using all those flowers.

I didn't end up with one decent picture because there was just way to many people to not get someone in the picture that didn't belong. The lady in the picture above was trying to help us out, and this man below just didn't have a clue that we were trying to take a picture.

Aliza was just not in a picture mood whatsoever.

Gramps and the kids watching the train.

While they were here we had a lot of good food, laughs, and made fun memories (are you cold Karen, hehe). So glad they were able to visit.