Well, howdy partner!

Tim tried out for mascot at his new school and made it.  He takes turns being mascot with another boy, they alternate games.  So we now have a Maverick in the house.

Tim was the eagle last year at Dysart, which had a pretty big head, but it was nothing compared to this Maverick head.  The box we tote it around in barely fits in the seat of our van!  It is big enough it could knock Tim off balance if he isn't careful.  He really wears it very well and does a great job getting his groove on for half time.  He is truly a natural entertainer.

 He already has some adoring fans.

GO, GO, GO TIM!!!!  YEA!!!!!

Dec / Jan Famiy Birthday Party

We had a  soccer birthday party for Nellie, Richard, Sam, Ella, Madi, Todd, Gwen and Josh.  It was tons of fun and had three different yummy cakes!

Lots of birthday wishes were made.

Mmmm pink cake!

Much spinning occurred.

The Earls and Victor joined the Ely crew for some serious athletics.

Man, I love my family!  Good times.

New Years

New Year's was lots of fun thanks to Jessi and Todd and their crazy partying!  I also kept thinking how great it was compared to last year when we were called back home shortly after our arrival because Susanna had one too many holes in her head and she need a bit of repair work. 

Poor baby!

This year's photos are all fun and no stitches!  Hooray!

Lilli and Sara babysat for one of the couples at the party, so they were up late and go to celebrate a little when they were finished with their watch.

Cousins and Fairies

Over Christmas break, Jessi's girls were dying to make fairy houses and were kind enough to invite Sara, Laney and Zanna to join them.

The girls had lots of fun and still have their fairy houses safely displayed in their bedroom.  They all turned out super cute!

Thank you for the fun day, Jessi!

Sara also got to sleep over one night.  I know she enjoys having time in a house full of girly girls every once in a while instead of all the testosterone we have over here.

The  twins and Daniel are always begging to have Tyson, Lucas and Wilson spend the night and so over the break I gave in.  How can I refuse such sweet boys who love each other so much?

When I came up stairs to check on the boys, I found almost all of them cuddled up together, laying sideways on one twin mattress.   Lucas was in the chair and Drew was behind the chair.  They were so adorable!  I am grateful that we live close to so many cousins and can build such wonderful memories.

Sickness strikes hard at the Algers'... ew GROSS!

Poor Susanna had the worst of it.  She was kind of sick with this horrible rash for about a week and then REALLY sick, the I want mom to hold me constantly day or night kind of sick, with a grotesque looking throat, huge swollen glands and high fever for 8 more days.

I took pictures of her face every morning for several days just so compare if it was getting better or worse.  It was so sad to look at her.

Richard, Nate, Drew Daniel, Laney, Tim and Sara were all pretty sick to for several days each, of course stretching out over about a 3 week period of time. Luckily, I was only sick for a day. I have some awesomely disgusting pictures of Sara's strep throat tonsils, but she does not want them posted.  I love medical photos.  She missed most of the last week of school before break. She was so sad to miss all the fun activities.  Tim and Susanna had to miss out on all the fun extended family Christmas things on Christmas Eve and Day, they were just way to sick.  I am so grateful (knock on wood) that we are over all that yucky stuff now.

Christmas Morning

The kids are so kind to us and have learned to sleep in on Christmas morning. They didn't get up until about 7:30 and patiently waited until around 8 for me to get myself awake and together enough to venture down stairs.

I am not sure why, but Susanna was NOT happy about Christmas.  She was so sad about pictures.

I love these pictures that we take every Christmas morning before we open presents.  It is fun to compare them from year to year.  We always line the kids up youngest to oldest.

Santa covers the coffee table with our stockings and a big pile of movies, games, candy etc in the middle of the table.  He likes to give us all the random gifts that are for the family.

It is funny to me how excited the kids are every year for their new pajamas.  It seems like the joy of new pj's is lasting longer with them than it did with Sam and Josh.  I love it!

My favorite part of Christmas morning is watching the kids open the gifts that they bought for each other.  They each have a secret sibling to buy a gift for.  I am touched every year at their generosity and the pure joy they feel in giving their gifts.  They are all so grateful for what they receive as well.  Truly the spirit of Christmas.

Josh gave Sara a fancy Sansa mp3 player.  She was SUPER happy!

Drew had Josh

Nate had Sam.

Daniel had Tim.

Laney had Nate.

Susanna had Laney.

Sam had Daniel.  He was so sweet planning it out.  He requested blue wrapping paper and blue tissue paper to wrap his gift in.

He wanted it to feel like Daniel like he was fishing through the ocean for his present.

Which was two GIANT sharks.

He loved it! and Sam loved it too.

Tim got a 3DS for his Christmas/Birthday present.  He was elated!

I know this is out of order, but I love how everything looks on Christmas Eve right after Santa puts out all the presents and everything is quiet and tidy.  It feels so magical.

It was another fabulous Christmas. 

 (Only 3 more before Sam's mission.  I can't believe it!)