WT Hanes Graduation

You may be thinking 5th grade is a little early for a

Graduation Ceremony.... but it's serious business here.

When kids finish Elementary School, they dress up

as formal as they want/like/can and we spend hours honoring

their accomplishments and the even make a procession through

the hallways one last time for all the underclassmen

(kindergarteners through 4th graders) to watch and cheer them on

to the next big adventure.... Middle School! Andersen sitting at the Award Ceremony....

next to his friend Ahmad and Ndidi smiling up front.

It was a LOOooonnnnng ceremony.....

Andersen was awarded excellence in Mathmatics.

5th grade mom's rejoice!

Celebrating that evening with Grandma and Grandpa Andersen

in downtown Dallas... listening to live Jazz under the stars.

Glad you're back in town Greta! I've missed you!

Sara's Ballet Recital

It's that time of year again...

no, not time for my annual blog entry... Stop thinking that!

Sara had her recital a couple of weeks ago. And as always,

she was beautiful and talented and made us all very proud of her.

Of course there is a lot of preparation: learning the variation,

ordering the costume, dress rehearsals and her favorite part...

putting on make up!

As always - very proud of my beautiful ballerina!

When in Rome.....

Last weekend, Andersen, Sara, Ben and I followed our cousins up to the Ladner farm just north of the Red River in Oklahoma... a pecan tree farm (not yet in bloom as you can see) that is groomed and fertilized by gentle cows. It was just my brother Troy and I and 7 of our kids. We put them to task immediately gathering wood for a fire.

They all were enthusiastic in making the flames grow bigger and bigger.... in fact, they used up all the firewood in one big flame and had to go fetch some more to sustain the fire for later... LOL.

Nate was especially thrilled about this.... look how he just lets Sara muscle that big long branch... hahaha!

Lots of hard work on the campfire... or was it a bonfire? Is there a difference?

Now comes the ritualistic dancing and chanting around the fire... fueled by sugary soda.

This is why we came. To shoot guns. Troy showed me the proper form for shooting his .44 pistol... and yes, she has a lot of kick.

I think it's as big as my head! very fun and empowering... but grateful for the ear protection.

Awww, cousin sisters: Emma and Sara

Pics from Christmas Morning.....

The 2nd annual Elf Dance... doin' a 'jig'

Featuring: Andersen, Sara, Benjamin, Caleb and introducing 'Sparky'

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/enlStfZ1vQRLWZcs

Other Christmas Season Traditions...

Saturday I took Sara down to see her cousin Emma sing in a choir

from her school. They were performing at the Arlington Stake Center.

Local choirs are invited to perform every 30 minutes in the

chapel for people to enjoy. Of course,

it's a missionary type experience... and an impressive tradition.

Every year during this time some group of ambitious people

transform the whole building into room to room vinettes of

Nativities for 2 wks. This is to say they set up backgrounds and

back drops and people from the ward/stake/community

bring their Nativity collections for display.

It's incredibly amazing... easily over a thousand sets...

the one from Kenya made from Banana tree leaves was

pretty amazing. This year they set up a stable in the gym area

and provided all kinds of costumes that people could wear

and make their own live family nativity and take pics.

Clever.

After that we grabbed the rest of the family and went downtown

for our small town like Christmas parade where

classic car zealots and hot rodders get to polish up their jalopies and

parade them down the street pelting the crowds with candy.

Firetruck, marching band, motorcycle cops, trailers of

boy scout troops and red hat ladies...

you know, typical parade fun...

There's only certain occassions

when toddlers riding in the back of a truck is acceptable.

I did mention the candy right?

Caleb has learned how to capitalize on that little benefit...