Kieran is playing basketball in the local city league 7th grade boys division. He got asked to be on a team out in Ammon so the practices are way across town but the games are at the Parks and Rec bldg downtown along the river. He had a really good game last night, 13 points I think and many rebounds. His team is 2-1 so far. This morning he got asked to play on the ward youth boys team so he is gone right now doing that. I am glad he likes basketball!
My wonderful friend, Sheila, got a cricket for Christmas. Boy are they fun! She and Samantha made some cute little pirate paper dolls with me. You can sure make so many things with that cricket. Now that I am the 2nd counselor in the Young Women's in our ward, it might come in handy having a friend with a cricket. :) Love you Sheila, thanks for being such a fun and crafty friend!
The kids and I had a fun day skiing last Saturday. Kerry wasn't able to go but, Lauren and Kason has their last of 4 ski school lessons so the rest of us joined them. It snowed heavy all day long. We got soaked! Lauren and Kason have done wonderfully well in ski lessons and are now well into the intermediate ski level. Here are some pictures of our day.
For the past several years I have made a photo calendar for my siblings and parents. I would say it was for Christmas but since I never get I done til January I don't know if I can say that. Anyway, it is a bit of a project to get 13 siblings and their spouses and 41 kids all told into a calendar, even if I do use 13 months to do it. (I always put January of the next year on the calendar to give me extra time.) I know my mom loves it and that makes it all worth while. Here is the Jan. 2009 page as a sneak preview. And look at me, I'm in 3 of the pictures! That might be a record, I usually manage to stay on the back side of the camera.
You will love this book! It's one of those books you just can't put down! This will probably become one of my personal classics. It is a fictional book written journal style about an amazing frontier woman in Arizona Territory. Kerry liked it too!
Kason was watching a snowboard event on TV a few days ago so he decided to make "Troy" a snowboard with cardboard and duct tape. The bindings on the board are especially nice. They are made so the snowboard can come off easily. Kason can make virtually anything with a bit of duct tape.
A couple of months ago I refused to buy him an umbrella at Wal-mart. He got kinda mad a said he would just make one himself then. So he did. Anyway, back to the current story.
I think he likes his creation!
Then he made a half pipe for Troy to compete on. Go Troy!
Look at the 1080!
Wow, this is so fun even big brother has to join in.
I LOVE BASKETBALL!! Okay, sorry for shouting, I just had to get that out!
Catching a pass.
Dibble to the hoop.
Shoot! Nice job Lauren! Her team lost 10-15.
We are two weeks into a new tradition at our house! We are calling it Steele Sunday Soup and Scones, and it is exactly what it sounds like, homemade soup and scones on Sunday's at our house about 5pm. Today it was Hamburger Potato Soup and since I have picky kids there was also a pot of just potato soup. So if you are bored or just hungry some Sunday evening give us a call and we will make more grub and set out more bowls. Yum!
The day after Christmas Kieran turned 13 so we are now the parents of two teenagers! Amanda turned 16 on the 3rd of December. We have a tradition of putting a birthday banner on the Christmas tree and setting Kieran's gifts under the tree for the morning of Kieran's birthday. We love having a reason to celebrate right after Christmas!!
Here he is with some much needed gear for scouts.
We suprised him with a picture of his pheasant hunt for his bedroom wall.
I just can't let go of Christmas this year. We even listened to more Christmas music today! When I was a kid, each Christmas Eve found my brothers and sisters and I acting out the Christmas Nativity Story. Usually I was the director and except for one year that we did a real play with speaking parts, the script usually was straight out of the bible. There were so many of us that we could have a dozen or more shepherds and angels! Okay, an exaggeration, but there were plenty of kids to fill the many parts. We even had special lighting effects and painted backgrounds sometimes. Yes, those were the good old days when Brady Bunch re-runs were the only other entertainment option. 
Each year (one or twice a year is as much as I can handle) we make sugar cookies.
Here is my work crew. Amanda, Kieran , Kason and Lauren.
This is my mother-in-law's recipe. It's so good!
Isn't this dough just pretty, makes you want to snitch a piece doesn't it?
The cookies cutters are ready. I have a whole drawer of them, it is a shame they only get out twice a year!
Lauren's got the dough ready to roll.
Look at that pin spin.
Amanda took her turn as Kason anxiously waited for his.
Okay, what about the feet on the counter!! What kind of a mother an I anyway. At least the socks are clean, I think. :)
So hear they are ready to cook, run gingerboy run, oh, wait you are a sugar cookie boy, never mind.
Adding color to the frosting is another fun part. Our favorite frosting is butter cream, just a cube of butter, a dribble of vanilla and a bit of milk then powder sugar. Add more milk and powdered sugar as needed for quantity and consistency.
Here we are ready to roll, by now the children are all tired of making sugar cookies. Kieran quit at the beginning. His main goal is eating the cookies. 
Lauren and Manny did some frosting with Manny doing the most! Thanks sweetie!
Look at this cute tree with lots of sprinkle decorations. Now doesn't that just make you want to pour yourself a glass of milk and have a nice bite. 
We had a family party last night at Mom and Dad's house put on by Shelly and Valrie. Kerry and I brought a Hot Wheels Derby activity and everyone had a lot of fun racing in the double elimination races. Valrie won, Devynee got second and Matt third. Everyone at least got a new Hot Wheel to take home. Happy New Years to you all!
