Sunday Family Christmas Pictures

As a mother, all I want for Christmas is to have a nice family picture.  Sounds like a simple enough request for a gift...but if you have children, or cats, you will know this is not as simple as it may seem.  Since we are cheap, we brought out the tripod and set up the self-timer.  Take a look for yourself to see how much effort is involved.

Someone always pouts... 

 Someone requires bribes...

 Someone tries to be funny...

 Someone else tries to be funny...

 Someone's mother is caught off guard...

 Someone thinks nobody will notice...

 Someone needs more lighting...

 Someone thinks, "That's the best we can do!"  

Merry Christmas

from The Kear Family!

Christmas TaVaci Concert

Chloe and Josie are both participating in a local singing and performing group called TaVaci.  This is Chloe's 2nd year and Josie's 1st.  They love it and are all dressed up and ready to go perform tonight.  :)

Josie's Christmas Giving

Josie was so excited to buy presents and wrap them up for her dad and siblings that she figured she needed a picture to remember this special time of year!  We do love Christmas!

(She bought the boys legos, Chloe a gymnastics suit, and Dad the movie Courageous.)

Josie is 5

Today Josie turned 5...or is it 15...well, by the size of her it must 5.  We celebrated by going to Gertie's for All You Can Eat Pizza and then home for cake and ice cream...and presents!  

 Gum and lip gloss...what more could 

a teenager little girl want?

 Mason was a little worried, but he is still taller.

 Yep, she is all ready to do some 

Country Line Dancing.

Carmel Apples

For Family Home Evening, we decided to try something new that we have never done as a family.  We made Carmel Apples. 

It was a really fun and yummy activity! 

They turned out beautiful!!!

We couldn't eat them the same night because we wanted them to set up.  Well, we didn't take a picture the next morning, because we wanted to remember them the way they look in the picture above.  By morning, all the carmel and treats had melted right off the apples and lay "stuck" in a pile on the wax paper.  We didn't get to devour them the way we had hoped.  We had a great time anyway, and what we could salvage from the wax paper, was simply delicious!

(Next time, we just might melt the carmel

 and dip the sliced apples in it...)

Cat in the Hat

Josie is in preschool this year and she LOVES her teacher Mrs. Heather.  This week they were working on the letter "C" so they all dressed up like the Cat in the Hat.  Josie was so proud of her tail, tummy, hat and ribbon in her hair.  Isn't she adorable? 

She is doing fantastic in learning her letters and she absolutely LOVES 

pulling out her homework when the other kids are doing theirs. 

Mrs. Heather really goes all out in teaching these little ones.  Josie brought home bread and homemade butter that they made in class during the week "B."  She just can't wait to go to school.

Summer Swimming Lessons & Pool Fun

This summer, all four kids took swimming lessons.  I can't believe I didn't take any pictures, but they sure were cute in their swimsuits.  All of them did fantastic for not having taken lessons in about 6 years or never having had lessons.  They all passed their classes and moved on to the next level.  Carter graduated from a Guppy to a Minnow, Chloe and Mason graduated from Polliwogs to Guppies, and Josie graduated from a Pike to an Eel.  Carter was able to swim 2 laps across the pool to pass the swim test so he could go to the deep end and jump off the diving board.  Chloe was soooo close to passing and with a little more hard work she will pass the swim test also.  She can't wait to jump off the diving board!  Mason is not far behind Chloe and really did well for his first swimming lessons ever.  He is a little fish...they ALL are as a matter of fact! Can't wait to see how they will do next go around. 

Last summer, Memaw snatched this pool up for a real steal of a deal, at a toy store parking lot sale.  It was less than $10.  This summer we put it up and bought the pump and filter for it.  The kids had a great time swimming in it for several months.  I think having the pool helped them do better in swimming lessons.