Emma is a "real ballerina"!

Emma auditioned for our local ballet company's upcoming production, The Firebird, and made it!  This is her first ever "professional" ballet.  She is SO excited.  She will be a doll that has been enchanted by an ogre (I believe).  I don't really know all the details, but her performance will be on March 26 and 27.  Congratulations, Emma!

Emma's reading list

I thought I'd post books that Emma read last year.  This is not an all-inclusive list, but some of the major books.
Mary-Kate and Ashley books (she recently discovered them and loves to read them)
High School Musical books
The Bunnicula Series by James Howe
Star Wars books
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
The Mysterious Benedict Society Series by Trenton Lee Stewart
The 39 Clues Series
The Magic Tree House Series
The American Girl books
Disney Fairies books
The City of Ember series by Jeanne DuPrau
The above books have been read multiple times by Emma.  The following books are books she read once.
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield
The Borrowers and The Borrowers Afloat by Mary Norton
Peppermints in the Parlor by Barbara Brooks Wallace
The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Florence and Richard Atwater
The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Stormy, Misty's Foal by Marguerite Henry
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The 13th Floor by Sid Fleischman
The Bobbsey Twins at the Circus by Laura Lee Hope
The Music of the Dolphins by Karen Hesse
The following are books we read or listened to as a family:
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess, and The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett
Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara, Dinotopia: The World Beneath, and Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time by James Gurney (beautifully illustrated books about a hidden land where people and dinosaurs co-exist)
Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry
The Boy Who Ran for President and The Boy Who Became President by Dan Gutman
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Christmas through Valentines...

James took Emma and Charles sledding on Christmas Eve. They had a lot of fun.

We had Christmas by ourselves. We didn't do a ton of gifts, but loved what we did get.

Charles got these gifts from his Grandma Lisa, who came to visit a week later.

As you can see, the Jedi are still alive and well, and Emma is currently in the process of training some younglings.

James has been in Texas for 3 weeks now, and I am hangin' here with the kiddos. It hasn't been too tough yet, but I think a lot of that is because Emma is a huge help and James is always available for me to call if I need him. He's so great. The kids and I will be here until things get resolved with Jaqueline and Maya...hope that's sooner rather than later, cause we would love to be in Texas! April would be the absolute earliest that could even possibly happen, but I'm planning on it being later than that.

We had a family pre-birthday celebration for Emma's 9th birthday before James left. She got a book about the costumes of Star Wars (called Dressing a Galaxy). She loves Star Wars (you'd never guess from these posts, would you?) and loves costumes, sewing, design...she had checked this particular book out from the library at least 5 times. She was very excited to get the book.


Well, James took the digital camera with him (he needs it for his job), so I probably won't be posting too much until we get to Texas (or until I get my own camera), since I won't have any pictures.

Charles reading Brown Bear video

I finally figured out how to get the video of Charles "reading" posted. Here it is...

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Emma's ballet recital

Emma's ballet class did the Nutcracker "party girl" dance for their winter recital. Emma's the cute one (the one in the reddish dress). She loves taking ballet.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Kid pictures

Tayla's mom (Jana) wanted to get Tayla and Charles together to take pictures. They have a ton of fun together! Charles was being so goofy.






Jana was kind enough to take pictures of my other kids too. Unfortunately we couldn't get one of all four kids together because Maya was crying and Charles was making silly faces.

Thanksgiving weekend

For Thanksgiving we went down to Spanish Fork to Chris and Jamie's house. This was our first Thanksgiving without Dad and Mom...weird! But we had lots of fun; also got to see Janice and Sean and Tori.
As is tradition, we put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. We let the kids put on all the ornaments by themselves...

James took Emma on a daddy-daughter date to see The Nutcracker. They had a lot of fun!