Aussie 4-0

 When your birthday is on Australia Day, and when you are turning the big 4-0, you are destined for a big Aussie party.  Tonight we celebrated Australia Day and my birthday with friends.  It was heaps of fun!

 We had heaps of food!

 I'm sure some of these dishes were lost on our American friends.  They had no idea what to do with the chips with sweet chili sauce and sour cream.  They didn't gobble up the beet root on the burgers either. 

The pavlovas were a huge hit.  We made a chocolate one and our regular old pavlova.  I think the party was a huge success.  We might have to go this big every Australia Day! 

Hoops

 James has been playing basketball this season with Mercer-Lunsford Hoops.  We are cheering him on every Saturday.  His team is doing great and they have only lost once.

Happy Australia Day!

 I'm pretty lucky to have my Birthday on Australia Day.  This is what Australia Day looks like at our house.  Can you tell we are home sick for Australia?

Celebrating Early

 We were so excited that Mammy could come stay with us for a few days and celebrate my birthday.  This was it---the big 4-0.  That called for Cheesecake Factory.

Sunday Spencer woke up with blood all over his bed.  He had a red thing on his forehead that burst and had to go to the ER during stake conference--notice his mummy head wrap.  He had to go back the next day to the plastic surgeon's office and have it removed.  Here we are for Sunday dinner with Mammy. 

Another Snow Day

 We have had heaps of snow days in January where the kids get to stay home from school.  Sometimes there is actually snow on the snow days, but most of the time there isn't snow.  Today we actually had snow and the kids hit the hills for sledding.  I don't know that there was enough snow, but enough for them!

Gymnastics

 Faith has been asking and asking and asking me to get her into gymnastics. I finally said yes.  She loves it!

Meet the Mormons

 We wanted to see the movie Meet the Mormons in theaters, but it was too far away.  We took advantage of our day off for Martin Luther King Day, and went to the DC Temple Visitor's Center with families from our ward.   We watched the movie and got to see the new exhibit on the temple. 

 A replica of the temple so people can see what is inside. 

The gang of kids.

Kid Junction

 Faith is Ms. Social Butterfly and gets invited to all of the birthday parties at school.  Today I got to hang out with Faith at Kid Junction for a birthday party for a friend at school.  It's kind of like Chuck E. Cheese but on a much smaller scale.

At the end of the party they sang in front of a green screen, "Let it Go."  Faith loved it!

Science Experiments

 Spencer had to do this science experiment at home and document it with pictures.  Since he never lets me take his picture anymore, I took lots of photos and now you can all see what happens when you drop dish soap into food coloring and milk.

Pretty cool!