Best Christmas Tradition EVER!

We received this as a gift last week (thank you Allison). I have to say it is the coolest Christmas tradition ever, here is how it works-

The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition™ is an activity the entire family will enjoy. Based on the tradition Carol Aebersold began with her family in the 1970s, this cleverly rhymed children's book explains that Santa knows who is naughty and/or nice because he sends a scout elf to every home. During the holiday season, the elf watches children by day and reports to Santa each night. When children awake, the elf has returned from the North Pole and can be found hiding in a different location. This activity allows The Elf on the Shelf to become a delightful hide-and-seek game.

We named our scout elf "Oliver" and every morning the kids bolt out of bed to find Oliver and his new location in the house. It has also been fun reminding them that Oliver is watching and going to report to Santa. I would recommend this to anyone with young children.

Bell Choir & Violin Concert!

Becca (10) had the opportunity this year to be in the East Vally Youth Symphony Bells Choir.
She LOVED it!

Here she is at the Christmas concert.

Grandma & Grandpa Fenn W/ Becca

5th Grade Orchestra Concert. Becca you played "The First Noel" so BEAUTIFULLY! She has a musical ear.

Dj & Kelesy

My youngest brother Dj is getting married and boy do I feel OLD! Here is their wedding announcement (they scanned in the computer poorly). Kelsey is from here in Mesa (in my parents ward). In fact my Grandpa Echols has been her (or her families) hometeacher for over 10 years. We LOVE Kelsey and are excited to have her apart of our family.




My kids told me this picture reminds them of the move "The Princess Bride".

Let's Play Music......Baby Steps!

Becca, Emily & Aaron have all had the opportunity to be in "Let's Play Music" It is a three year program that introduces children to music and music theory (www.letsplaymusicsite.com). Becca has graduated from LPM, Emily and Aaron are still in the class. Not only do we LOVE this program, but we have two Aunts that teach LPM (Sanya Fenn in Arizona and Melissa Lunt in Utah).

Aunt Sanya wrote a song to be added to the curriculum. The song is to help kids understand the steps you take while looking at musical notes (step up or a step down) the song is called "Baby Steps". Sanya asked Becca, Emily and her son Kyle to record the song for publication. We went to a recording studio in Chandler and our kids did a great job.


Becca

Emily


Cousin Kyle (Sanya's son)

The girls had spirit week at their school....hence the matching shirts with our wildcat mascot.

I am working on posting the entire song to this page so you all can listen to it.

Halloween 2009

For Halloween this year we met up with-
Calvin & Sanya
Phil & Nina
Amber & Gary
Mom & Dad Fenn
We had a good time. Here are some pictures......enjoy!

Cousin Kyle and Becca


Aaron, Cousin Cameron and Cousin Daniel



Emily as Little Red Riding hood and Cousin Bailee as a Bride.


Brady & I look a little scary in this picture as Mario & Luigi. Someone needs to fix our mustaches (we were trying not to laugh). I made the hats/buttons with felt, they were easy and if I can make them so can you- if anyone wants a couple costume for next year. Here is the site

http://www.groovykidstuff.com/?p=167



I saved the best for last Aunt Amber and Uncle Gary kept ing us up as old people.

October 2009 in review

UPDATE TIME: The Month of October in a paragraph (and a little bit of Sept. too)- The last Sunday in September Brady was put into the Bishopric in our ward. I am still the Primary chorister and I hope it stays that way; I am counting down till Nov. 8^th for the Primary program to be over. We had the annual Mother Daughter Social at the girl’s school. Next I attended the 5^th grade field trip to the Arizona Science Center, we had a lot of fun but I don’t want to ride on another school bus for at least another year! For October break we drove to Utah for Cousin Kavin’s Baptism. We stayed a whole week and had a blast! We love our Utah cousins and miss them dearly. Once we got home the fun didn’t stop there- I had the opportunity to go see Kristin Chenoweth Live in Scottsdale (thanks for the invite Aunt Joni). Kristin was AMAZING! She sang all of my favorites...... “If you hadn’t but you did”, “The Girl in 14-G”, “Taylor, the Latte boy” and of course the song “POPULAR” from Wicked. She was phenomenal! If you are reading this and don’t know who she is, then shame on you! The girls are in our Stake Broadway Variety Show as the “Orphans” from the musical Annie. They make really cute Orphans. Last but not least Halloween Becca was a Clown, Emily was Little Red Riding hood, Aaron was a Pirate, and Brady & I were Mario & Luigi (I am working on those pics coming soon). Well there you have it (Phew) our month in review! Now you know why I haven't posted for a month. Enjoy the pics-

Mother Daughter craft night

Becca at the Arizona Science Center

Here we are with our goofy cousins-
Aaron, Krissy, Emily, Becca, Kaitlyn, Kavin and Bailee

Cousin Kavin and his dad Uncle Rick at the Baptism

Sherri & Joni at Kristin Chenoweth

My Cute Orphans

It's a hard knock life

Becca turned 10

Life has been hectic to say the least
(update coming soon)but I wanted to get this in because it is almost 2 months late.

My Becca is now 10 years old. We took her out to dinner and she got a new Beach Cruiser Bike! We love you Becca

Happy 10th Birthday (Sept. 15)