We've got spirit, yes we do...

This week was Spirit Week at Jackson's school. For those of you who have yet to experience such festivities, let me fill you in. The kids get to wear some crazy thing for a different theme every day. You may be asking yourselves what this has to do with spirit--yeah, I don't know either, but IT IS FUN!!!

This was Crazy Hair day. Jackson googled "Mohawks," and we discovered the secret ingredient to gravity defying hair--school glue. It really did the trick, and it's supposed to just wash right out. If the next post of Jackson shows a buzz cut, you'll know that it didn't work out so well.

For Movie Star Day, Joel helped tranform Jackson into an 80's star, complete with the white T, blue sports jacket, jeans, white socks and loafers. Jackson added the sunglasses and slicked back hair. Be still my pre-teen heart!

Movin' On Up

Claire has quickly discovered the joys of climbing. She is on the move and into EVERYTHING! She uses the dishwasher, kitchen chairs, pantry shelves, bookcases...anything she can get her chubby little hands on to help her stand up. While it may not be a "De-luxe Apartment in the sky," standing up is a pretty big deal for this little monkey.

Cribs

So lately I've been busy sprucing up the house, thinking that we were getting ready to put it on the market. But, thanks to the not-so-great housing market in our area, the plans are on hold. On the bright side, now my house is kinda decorated, mostly decluttered, and all my closets are cleaned out! Here are some pictures of my efforts.

This is Claire's nursery/Chelsey's scrapbook room

The Living Room

The Study

Our Master Bathroom

And our bedroom.

Even though we are VERY anxious to move closer to Joel's office, we love our home. We have made great friends, and wonderful family memories here. I never thought I would say this, but when the time comes, it will be very sad to leave West Virginia!

I Love Rock N Roll...you know the rest

We recently purchased Guitar Hero. (As responsible Americans, we are doing our part to help stimulate the economy. It is our duty--plus, Circuit City is going out of business!) One by one, we have all developed our Rock Star alter egos. We are SO cool! Jackson is "Awesome!" (that's it...just Awesome), Joel is Big Daddy, and I am Sweet, Sweet Mama. After many suggestions for stage names, Lauren prefers to be called Lauren.

Ok, so we're retarded, but hey, we have fun.

These are some of our sweet moves. Dude.

What are brothers for?

The other day the kids were busy making pictures with stamps, and markers, and ended up decorating themselves in the process. Even Claire ended up with a butterfly rubberstamped in blue ink on her forehead! I took some pictures of their finished projects, and I was trying to get a few pictures of their inky fingers, elbows, lips, cheeks...

I was so focused on the blue body parts that I didn't realize until later that Jackson had found his way into EVERY picture.

He is SOOO 6! :)

Snow Day!

At our house, there is nothing we love more than snow days. You sleep in, have German pancakes for breakfast, and play all day, sledding and building snowmen. Our kids have been wearing their pajamas inside out for weeks, hoping to wake up to a winter wonderland. Jackson, of course, was also hoping for a day home from school. But wouldn't you know it--our first real snow of the season came on Saturday! Oh well, that just means Dad gets to join in the fun!

Lauren spent most of the day mowing the lawn!

Joel could hardly contain his excitement when the kids BEGGED to shovel the driveway. WOOHOO! He's been waiting for this day since Jackson was born!

Another favorite snow day tradition is what comes after the hours of playing, shoveling, sledding, and snowman building...

HOT CHOCOLATE!!!

NEED MORE CHOCOLATE!

Can you have too many messy face pictures? Not with a kid as cute as Dallin--not to mention one who LOVES to eat as much as he does. At our house, a full mouth is a happy mouth.

I'm lovin' the hobo look.

All in the family

So apparently this sleeping position runs in the family! (see Dallin's post from a few weeks ago...) I think they get it from their Dad.

I just can't help myself!

Last week I took Claire to get her 6 month pictures done at Portrait Innovations in Leesburg. It's a bit of a drive, but they do such a great job. Initially, I had planned on buying only the 10$ package. The salesgirl knew she had a sucker on her hands, and kept oohing and aahing over how cute my child is. How could I argue? She reeled me in, and before I knew it, I had bought enough pictures to create a shrine to Claire. (If my kids are in therapy later on in life, you'll know why...) Every picture showed a different expression. Here are a few of our favorites...

Claire Goes Commando

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

But I'm not tired!

Dallin has reached that lovely age where he is really fighting his afternoon nap. He still needs one--without it we have the 3:30 meltdown. I am trying to hang on to it as long as possible, so he still goes to his room every afternoon. But lately, in an effort to avoid the nap, he is sneaking out of his room, and hiding out. Most of the time this leads to him falling asleep in some interesting places/positions. We have found him underneath Claire's crib, in his closet, and here, at the top of the stairs.

Coke Crisis

We like Coke. Cherry Coke Zero, to be exact. In fact, "Like" may not be quite strong enough to describe the relationship that we have with this happy little beverage. So when the local market has a sale, I stock up. I'm Mormon, I can't help myself. When I see a sale, I must participate. Anywho, when returning home from said sale, it started raining. In the hustle and bustle of getting the kids into the house, I forgot all about the 10 (yes 10!!!) 12 packs of Coke waiting in the van. I forgot all about them until the next morning (a very cold morning) when Joel, leaving for work, noticed something odd about the van. The windows were covered in something brown and slushy. Overnight, the cans had exploded, covering the inside of my van in sticky, syrupy, soda. IT WAS EVERYWHERE! I did my best to clean it up, but finally we called in the professionals. Happily, he was able to get the Coke out of everything except the ceiling. (Words I never thought I would hear myself say.)

The Mattingley's Rockin' New Years Eve!

New Year's Eve 2008 found us celebrating with some good friends, the Castagnettos, and the Weavers. We had great food, and fun games all night. The Wii was put to good use, with all 10 kids putting the grown ups to shame playing Dance Dance Revolution, and Guitar Hero. Joel thinks he's found his true calling, as he took on some rock classics from his past. I had no idea this man of mine was such a fan of heavy metal! Jackson is satisfied with a little air guitar, while waiting for his turn to rock.

At midnight, we watched the ball drop on TV, and then rang in the New Year with confetti poppers upstairs...

...and silly string in the basement. Proving that we are all kids on the inside.

Lauren and Dallin crashed early, but Joel and Jackson had a blast with the silly string.

As always we are thankful for our family, & our great friends. Happy 2009!