Katy's b-day party

The kids get B-day parties every other year, and unfortunately, this is the year of parties. Katy had her yesterday, since most families are pretty busy two days before Christmas. She decided to just have a small group of friends over to make Christmas crafts and decorate cookies. As mentioned in a previous blog, this is hard for me. I tend to shy away from messy activities and giving a bunch of giggly girls paint and frosting sounded like the stuff nightmares are made of. But, deciding I should be grateful that she was content with a less expensive home party as opposed to renting out the Y or other venue like most of her friends do, I set off for Michaels with her in tow. We found a few Christmas crafts and baked gingerbread cookies the night before. The girls seemed to have fun and Katy was pleased so I'll call it a success. I realized shortly before the party started that this was the first B-day party she ever had that her friend Brooke, and Mima weren't at. Brooke had celebrated Katy's b-days with her since she was 2 or 3 and before the every other year party rule. We missed you Brooke and Mima!
She wanted a Christmas tree cake. It was definately one of the more pathetic cakes I've made. I'll blame it on the stress of the season.

Horse drawn wagon and Carols

Our neighborhood rented a horse drawn wagon for our annual Christmas activity. Last year, the horses cancelled due to bad weather. This year was a beautiful evening. The horses took us through the neighborhood to see everyone's lights as we sang Christmas carols. My awesome neighbor Liz spearheads this. She put her patio firepit in the Cul-de-sac and so we could enjoy it while drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies before and after our rides. We let the kids go twice and they were up way past their bedtime, but they only had one day of school left so we figured it was fine. They all enjoyed the ride and especially petting the horses. I tried to take pictures, but the night setting on my camera wasn't working. I guess I'll have to put a new camera on my Christmas list for next year since its too late for a letter to make it to the North Pole for this year.

Santa x3

The little two kids got to sit on Santa's lap three times this year.


1) With grandma at the mall

2)At the ward party

3)At a playgroup party


The first time Jacob was a little wary, but Bella had sat on his lap and she was fine, so he decided to give it a try. When he got elf ears, a candy cane, and a coloring book out of it he decided it was well worth it. The next two times, it was all I could do to hold him back and keep him in line. He couldn't wait to sit on his lap. Each time Santa would ask what he wanted for Christmas and Jacob would reply "candy!". He's easy to please. Bella on the other hand asked for the same 3 things each time: a scooter, a kitten (at which point I would interject that I am allergic hoping Santa could discourage her from this request), she would then say if she couldn't have a kitten, she wants a guinea pig. Hopefully Santa comes through on the scooter request she is in NOT getting a kitten or a guinea pig for Christmas!!!!





These are the pictures with the last Santa we saw at our playgroup Christmas party. Santa was the Grandpa of the girl whose mom started playgroup.

Spirit week

The last week before Christmas, was Spirit week at Katy's school. Some of her favorite days were crazy hair day and 70's day. Friday was 70's day. I though Katy should just skip it and wear Christmas colors but she was insistent that she dress up all 5 days. I wasn't sure what in the world we were going to be able to pull together. We went with the Hippie theme and rummaged through ribbon bins and dressup bins and managed to pull together an outfit. We compromised and she wore her pink Christmas shirt under her vest.

Crazy hair day

70's day

Christmas assembly line

This year I enlisted the help of little elves with the Christmas cards. My elves each had a task such as address label, stamps, inserting pictures, or licking the envelopes shut. The job went so much quicker, I'll have to remember this every year. All three girls really enjoyed making christmas gifts for their primary, piano, and school teachers this year. They made little sachets. They were able to do most of it themselves. I need to let them develop their creative sides more often. I'm not "crafty" and don't like messes but I need to do better for their sake's.

A visit from Grandma

Two days after we got back from Ohio, I picked Jared's mom up from the airport. She came to watch the girls Christmas recital. During her stay, we went Christmas shopping, cut down and decorated our Christmas tree, ate at the kids' favorite restaurant, Red Robin, decorated gingerbread houses, went to a Christmas party, drove around to see Christmas lights. Grandma bought us a carpet steamer for Christmas, and cleaned all of our carpets which we IMMENSELY appreciated. The kids loved having her here. Jared was a little disappointed that he had to work 12+ hour days while she was here, but the rest of us had a lot of fun with her. Bella was a little difficult with her at times but sobbed the whole way home from the airport after dropping her off at the end. We saw Santa Claus at the mall and he told her to be nice to Grandma. Once again, admist all the fun times, I forgot to take pictures! We loved having you here Grandma and the kids can't wait for you to come with Grandpa next time.

Actually I just remembered that the pictures I did take are still on Grandma's memory card. If you get a chance, please send them to us Grandma!

Our 10 Year

This November, Jared and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. We dropped the kids off at my parent's house the Friday before Thanksgiving and headed to Central Ohio for a week's stay at a condo at Apple Valley Resort in Howard Ohio. It was soo much fun and very relaxing. The condo had a full kitchen, with allowed me to bake the Thanksgiving Pies later in the week, two bedrooms, two bathrooms,two decks, and LR with a gas switch fireplace. My favorite amenity was the hot tub room off of the Master Suite. We had a very fun and relaxing time. There was a golf course next to the resort. I tried golfing for Jared. I'm sure I provided lots of comic relief for the other golfers that day but I can't complain because it was a beautiful day for a Ohio November. He went on a 8 mile run for me. Well, he let me run 8 miles while he walked/jogged behind me. There was a beautiful trail that connected Howard with Mount Vernon and another town. It cut through farmlands, forests, and over a stream. We enjoyed eating out, going to the movies, etc without the hassle of finding a sitter. I let go of my obsessive need to plan every minute of every day and we just went with the flow ,making plans as we went along and never worrying about being late. We went into the nearest town on the Saturday and were amazed by the Ohio State apparel we saw. I think about 95% of the people in town were wearing their Buckeye apparel. We watched the game from the comfort of our hot tub. On Tuesday, we ended up driving to Cleveland and picking up the kids since my Mom was really sick. We took the kids back down until Thanksgiving. Even with the kids, we had a fun time hanging out as a family. I was having too much fun too take pictures. The few I do have were taken with our cell phones.

After our run

A Visit from the Tooth Fairy

The week before Thanksgiving Xandy came with what she claimed was a loose tooth. She had been anxiously waiting this rite of passage into the world of "big kids". I honestly didn't pay much attention to her since it was not the first time she had made this claim, but within 24 hours there was a gap in her mouth and a huge grin on her mouth. I came home from the gym and was informed that the tooth ahd fallen out. Also, there was something about her biting Jacob's bum that caused it to come out. I wasn't there and I don't think I want to know!! Bella is convinced that when it is her turn to start loosing teeth she just needs to bite a bum. Don't worry, I'm working to correct this misconception.

Xandy with her toothholder fairy that the Tooth Fairy brings on the first visit

Christmas Recital

In September we had some friends over for dinner one night. Their son who is Katy's age, sat down at the piano and started to play beautifully. It was the push I needed to up my arguments with Jared that the girls needed lessons. Mom teaching them was just not working. Too many distractions and other problems with that method. A few weeks later the older girls were both enrolled in piano lessons. The teacher lives right around the corner and I LOVE how convenient that is. Katy had progressed with my lessons enough that she was playing some basic songs but Xandy couldn't play at all. The second week of lessons they came home with music for the Christmas recital. I thought the teacher was crazy! There was no way that Xandy was going to be able to play the song chosen in under three months. They both proved me wrong.

The recital was Tuesday night. Katy played "Up on the Housetop" and Xandy played "Angels We Have Heard On High". The second clip is a quartet of "Good King Wenceslas" with Katy, Xandy, Dylan (another boy in the ward), and their teacher Sis. Hawk.

Photo Shoot

My kids are all a bunch of hams. Getting their pictures professionally taken is the greatest adventure for them. Too bad when mom pulls out the camera all cooperation ceases. Anyway, we went to Portrait Innovations again. I LOVE that place and recommend it to anyone interested. We went Friday evening after Jared got home. We have a disc with 105 pictures from our shoot on it, but here are some of my favorites.(These are the proofs before they adjust lighting, crop out edges, etc)

Saturday

Saturday was a gorgeous warm fall day. We took advantage of the nice weather. I went for a run. The kids did a little of this:

Jared and I did a bit of this:

Yes, I realize that it is only mid-November, but if we didn't do that Saturday, we wouldn't have had a chance again until mid-December. So, despite the weird stares from our neighbors and other passerbys, we decided to go ahead and put up our lights. It was worth the weird looks to hang them in the warm sun (I was even barefoot) before the crazy Christmas season. So, when our neighbors are pulling out their hair trying to hang their lights in the busy cold December days, we will be able to sit back and drink some cocoa. Well, its a nice thought but our week-ends are crazy busy filled already, thats what prompted us to begin with. So, Grandma, when you come to visit our lights will be ready!!! And don't worry, we haven't turned them on yet, we'll wait for December for that.

We ended the day with by roasting hotdogs and s'mores with the Morrisons over a fire. I LOVE having family nearby!!

Veteran's day

The kids had the day off school on Veteran's day. After our morning trip to the gym, we loaded up and went to the zoo. We had never been to the Children's zoo section before, so we decided to check it out. The kids had a blast! They enjoyed the hands-on activities, the slides that went through the otter exhibit, brushing the goats, and petting various animals such as turtles, snakes, guinea pigs, etc. After we left the children's zoo section, each child picked his/her favorite animal to go visit. We were supposed to meet our friends, but due to cell phone malfunctions didn't find each other until we were leaving, maybe next time we can actually meet up.

My little otters

After petting the Guinea pigs I was yelled at for not letting them have a pet. (Good thing I have allergies, it gets me out of this argument. Although Xandy was once willing to get a new mom if it meant she could have a kitten)

This little girl loves animals and loved playing "vet". We may have a career path here.

Jacob loved the jeep! He had fun pretending he was Diego.

A Breath of Fresh Air

I let the kids play on the playground at the Y after I was done working out today. I wanted to take advantage of the sunny skies and mid-60s temperatures. We were soon joined by another mom and her two boys. After an altercation between Jacob and her youngest, we sat in an akward silence. Wanting to ease the tension I jumped in with a the most impersonal of topics- the weather. "This weather sure is nice after last month." Conversations on weather, don't usually bring about stimulating conversation, but after the month of rain we had in October, we are all excited to stop contruction of the arks we were building in our backyards and relish in the warmth of the sun. After we each commented on the nice weather we were having, and how last month felt like Seattle, our topic merged into places we had lived and the weather there. My side of this part was relatively short. Let's see...um... Cleveland and um...Cleveland. Oh yeah, I did spend a few years in the cold deserts of Utah and Idaho. She commented they had lived in New Zealand and moved back at the end of the winter just in time for winter to start here. Can you imagine a WHOLE year without summer? I shudder at such a depressing thought. Before long we were talking about what brought us to this area. Turns out her husband is an engineer for Conoco Phillips. As the conversation continued to develop I learned a lot about her. They don't plan on living the "normal" ratrace life for long. They hope that after a few more years of work and major saving, they can sell their house and move to the mountains of NC. I found this out after I told her that even though I complain about the cold, I love the 4 seasons and couldn't imagine living somewhere without them. She told me that she likes NC because it has the 4 seasons with milder temperatures year round without the extreme heat or extreme cold. Later in the conversation I learned that when move, they want to build a modest home made out of natural materials. The conservationist hidden somewhere within me started to do cartwheels and cheering at this. They plan to do this without going into debt. They want to be able to "work" for fun, doing something they enjoy, without worrying about the size of the paycheck. She said the best part would be no more long work weeks at the office. They want to hike the mountains with her boys and explore nature. I assume this means they will homeschool their boys to allow them greater flexibility or else they might as well stay in the ratrace.
I found the entire conversation just as refreshing as our beautiful weather today. It was nice to hear someone talk about dreams that included a modest home, more time with her family, physical activity, and learning about and protecting nature. Sounds a lot like the things the scriptures teach us are most important in life. Her dreams did not include a big promotion for her husband so they could buy big screen TVs, I-phones, gameboys, laptops for each family member, more CDs and DVDs than they could ever possibly use. She never once mentioned throwing elaborate B-day parties for her sons who are young enough that they probably could care less either way. She wasn't dying to buy the latest coach bag and designer clothes. I imagine if you're living in the mountains, you will not be going out to eat several times a week. And judging by her healthy snacks she was feeding her boys, she probably doesn't like food like that anyway. Again, she looks like they are living the Word of Wisdom quite well. (Someone should send the missionaries to them)
She gave me a lot to think about while I drove home and cleaned up. What are my ultimate goals in this life? Am I putting emphasis on important things, or am I teaching my kids the wrong priorities in life? How did we as an entire society get so caught up in the ratrace. When did the husbands with the most hours worked each week become a badge of honor? Why do we look up to and admire people with all kids of "stuff" but who treat people especially family horribly? Why do we want want want without any care or second thought as to the effects our wants place on the environment? Why does this random stranger seem to be living the gospel better than I am? Although I do not having any plans to move to the mountains and have Jared quit his job, I hope that I have learned something from this chance encounter. I hope that I can concentrate on what really matters and stop getting so caught up in the ratrace. I hope I can remember for a long time the things a stranger at the park taught me today.

Pumpkin carving

I love Halloween here. Its like a week long celebration. we started with Trunk-or-Treat the week-end before. Then followed with class parties for the girls, and preschool party for the little two, play group cookie decorating, pumpkin carving, trick-or-treat on the 30th, eating the pumpkin dinner with friends, the 2 hour parade Halloween night.... I went to the grocery store and to walmart on Saturday and even the cashiers were in costume. Saturday many of the local businesses were giving deals if you came in costume. Jared had to do a lot of work so we skipped out but it was painful to miss out on free icecream from Bobby's. Its probably for the best though, did my kids really need more sugar?