Calista is 6!

Our Calista is 6 years old!! Aaron tried to talk her into only turning 5 again, telling her that if she turned 6 this year, then next year she'd be 7. So she might as well just turn 5 again. But she didn't like that idea. For some reason it is fun to get older every year. Here are a few pictures of her morning:
Calista wanted a toy kitten for her birthday. I really like this one. It is a FurReal pet. It has soft fur, but it is mechanical so as you rub the top of its back it can meow, purr, stretch and wiggle. It really is cute.

The other thing she wanted was another coloring book. She got a big book of coloring and puzzles last year and just finished all the pages. We found one with princesses and stickers!

And of course she also got the necessities!

She wanted a snowman cake:

More on Sarah

Aaron left today for his second trip to Vermont. He will be gone until Thursday night if all goes well weather wise. To start our week off right, we got pizza and rootbeer for dinner. This is not a very common event, especially the pop part. The kids were thrilled. I dished everyone up, gave them their pop, said the prayer and started eating. At one point Sarah got thirsty and reached for her cup. I don't know if she's ever had pop before, and watched her to see her reaction. He grabbed the cup, brought it up to her mouth, tilted it just a little, and then as the carbonation tickled her nose (before she could get a taste of it), her eyes got big, and she kind of shuddered as she put the cup back down! She didn't say a thing this whole time, and never reached for the cup again! I don't think she was very impressed with her rootbeer.

OCD

It seems to me that everyone is probably a little OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). So the question is "Is it bad to be to have a little bit of OCD?" I have it for somethings. I remember growing up that I always wanted to count the lines on the road that were accompanied by the solid striaght, do not pass line. On the highway between Haines and North Powder, most of them had between 21 and 23 dashes! I also like things to be semetrical. Now I'm not going to the extreme. I don't have to county dashes every time, and everything does not have to be symmetrical, but these a couple examples. of mine. Aaron has a little bit of it too, which makes me a little worried for our kids.

Aaron went to a high school basketball game last weekend with Samuel. Samuel was bothered by the score whenever it was an odd number. He mentioned to Aaron, "Oh they need to hurry and make one more point, so they can be back in the evens."

I've noticed that when Calista loads the dishwasher, she likes to organize the cups blue, green, blue, green. I will admit that I like to do that too!

These are just minor cases, and I think everyone probably has something they can relate to it, but I just hope they don't take it to the extreme some day. Do they have a chance at being "normal?"

Samuel's art

Samuel is enjoying drawing these days. Here are a couple of his art projects from school that he'd like to share with everyone!

Sarah's food

I'm sorry I don't have a video or at least a picture for this one, but I didn't even have a chance.

We have been trying to work with Sarah on folding her arms during our prayers at mealtime. Usually she just sits there and eats. If you don't dish up her plate then she screams during the prayer, so its better to have it there. Recently she'll take a bite and then fold her arms.

Well Saturday morning we had pancakes. She couldn't wait for everyone else, so she got up to the table and started taking a few bites of a pancake. When we all got up to the table, we asked Sarah to fold her arms. She went to take another bite, and Aaron reached for the pancake to put it down so she could fold her arms. Sarah must've thought her breakfast was endangered. Before Aaron could reach her, she opened her mouth wide and shoved half the pancake in it. He reached her just as she was about to force the rest of it in her mouth. This all happened in just a few seconds. I didn't think she could fit so much in her little mouth. Aaron did pull most of it out of her mouth so she wouldn't choke though. I kind of which he wouldn't have stopped her, just to see if she could've gotten it all in.

Talent Show

For New Years Eve, our ward had a talent show. Everybody brought their favorite snack/dessert and then we got to sit back and watch everyone perform. It was such a fun night. We had a whole variety of talents. They had a table to put drawings/art/sewing/crafts on. Jacque drew a picture of a boat on water with fish, sun, clouds and birds. Samuel added a tracing of a saber tooth tiger.

The performing talents started off with two of the Walker's triplets. They are Calista's age (almost 6). Before starting their talent, one of them went to the MC and asked if she could borrow his pen (the other girl already had one). He gladly let her have it, although by the end he was wishing he hadn't :). The girls kneel in front of everyone and then lay all the way back so their back and head are on the ground (you know one of those positions that is totally comfortable for little kids, but that would kill an adult). Then they put the pens in their mouths. That was their trick!

We had skits, magic tricks which were funny because most of them flopped and they had to keep trying, a girl sang a Taylor Swift song, the Walker family put together a bunch of JibJab movies and showed them, piano and violin performances, and gymnastics.

Ellen read "The Lady with the Alligator Purse" for everyone, and never got shy/embarrassed. As a family we sang the "Open Up Your Heart and Let the Sunshine In."

Our bishopric came in with their hands behind their back. Then as the music played, they slowly brought a handkerchief out from behind their back and raised it up high. Then they slowly tucked it into their colors. As the music still goes on, they slowly bring out an ice cream bar from behind their backs and raise it up high. Then they hurried and ate them. They were demonstrating that when working together they can accomplish great things!!

For the Primary Leader's talent, they turned out the lights. Then the leaders came in, in a single file line. They were all wearing black but had those long glow sticks taped to their arms, middles, legs and around their heads, kind of making them look like stick figures. Then they did the actions to "Popcorn Popping," "Hinges," and "Once There was a Snowman." It was a fun one to watch.

I think one of the best talents was Eli Waite. He's Calista's age too. He comes up and without an intro or explanation, he says in a nice strong voice "One...two...three..." and continues to count all the way to 100! It was great. We all sat there and chuckled and waited and chuckled some more until he got all the way to 100 without skipping any numbers. He was so serious and so pleased with himself.

Score keeper Calista

Grandma and Grandpa Baxter came for a visit yesterday and while they were there, we played several rounds of air hockey. The table used to have an electronic score keeper, but it got broken this last week. And that doesn't mean the fun has to end. While Samuel and Grandpa were playing, Calista decided that she could be the score keeper. Every was going smoothly until Samuel scored his 6th point. How are you supposed to show six points with only 5 fingers. We told her that she can just put one finger up on Samuel's side now, but that didn't sit well. She was telling Samuel that he had to remember that he already had five points so he could add on the extra one point, when Aaron or someone else mentioned that she could use her toes. She was all for that idea, except for one thing. She had her socks on. So she took off the sock on one foot and held up that foot so Samuel would know how many points he had! We needed to see her five toes so we knew he had 5 more points, not just one :) After a little bit Grandpa got 6 points too! Off went the other sock.

Samuel 8, Grandpa just got his 6th point.

Taking off the second sock!

Back in business!!

Christmas PJs

This year we got the kids new pjs and bathrobes for Christmas. I love flannel pjs. They feel so warm and cuddly. I love the bathrobes because hopefully that means that they don't have to drag their blankets all over the house in the morning before the house gets warmed up!

Then of course the kids wanted a silly picture too:

Sarah's new glasses

Sarah loves glasses. Last year for Ellen's bday she got a Mrs. Potato Head, which came with glasses. Sarah has decided that they are hers and squishes them on her face! What do you think...a perfect fit?!

The Kerns family dancers

This video is kind of long, but we had a lot of fun dancing. We're trying to teach our kids how to dance, so when they are old enough for stake dances, they can do something besides the "Deacon shuffle." Not that the shuffle is bad...it's just more fun to be able to switch it up every now and then. Aaron's been teaching them Cotton-Eyed Joe, Erica and Trace taught them the Chicken Dance and YMCA two summers ago, and Aaron's teaching them the basic step of the swing in these movies. The kids love it!!