Christmas Celebration

We have enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Season. We all had fun at the Christmas sing at the elementary school. They all did such a nice job, and I think they have such great facial expressions. Julene liked hearing all the fun Christmas songs, but didn't understand why another grade was singing Nathan's Jingle Bell Rock piano piece. She had been hearing him practice it for months and couldn't understand why others got to sing it.

We had a fun extended family party on the Sunday before Christmas where we acted out the Nativity. There aren't as many boys, so Nathan got to be Joseph. He took his part very seriously.

Julene got to be one of the Angels and liked dressing up so sparkly. Randy also played some songs on the organ during the presentation.

We also dressed up again on Monday with Randy's brother's family that stayed with us for a few days. They really liked it. We had lots of Marys and Angels. They even dressed up the next day just for fun.

Santa found his way to our house and we are sure glad. Marianne finally got her Belle with a Christmas dress that she had been asking for 3 years. Sometimes Santa can't always get the requests right the first time.

Janae got a real American Girl doll. Not just a look a like. Santa splurged a little here, but she is 10 and there probably won't be another Christmas where she gets a doll. She was so excited, and it was the only thing she asked for. This doll has light red hair (not as red as Janae's) and freckles.

Jared got an umbrella stroller. Mom was the most excited about this gift. It was really time for us to get a new one. Now he can go anywhere in style. Nathan got K-nex and has been busy building up a storm, so I still need to go get a picture of him. Julene got a shopping cart and a new baby. Now maybe all her babies can have a ride together.

I got a new computer and it has taken a while for it to get set up. I don't know who is more excited me or the children. Now they can play their online games that our old one was to slow to play on. I can now fit all my pictures, and there isn't this little window that kept popping up telling me I was out of memory. We have been enjoying the break spending it with family and friends. We sure love playing games and watching movies together too.

December Fun

We built our gingerbread house out of a kit from Costco. I highly recommend it. Everything is there, and it goes together so fast. I think it tastes pretty good too. We've had it for a couple weeks and Julene and Nathan have been requesting to put it together.

Everyone loves putting the candies on and being able to lick their fingers or where ever the icing drips. I used to be so particular with the gingerbread house, but the last few years I've finally learned to let them put whatever candy anywhere they want. The house never lasts long enough to be concerned anyway.

Janae and Nathan are getting old enough that they want to plan out the design a little more, and Janae doesn't want the house to be demolished that same night. So maybe next year I'll undertake making little ones from graham crackers, but it just isn't the same as that gingerbread taste. I don't think I'll have time to cook the gingerbread from scratch. There is always a balance of time and quality.

This year I finally finished Julene's stocking. I know this is her fourth Christmas, but we just used a substitute. She was very pleased to have one with her name on it. We've had our partial stockings up their for a few weeks, but now it looks like we're ready for Santa. I was also able to finish Jared's, and now we look symmetrical. It was a little shocking at first to see that many stockings hanging from our mantel.

We've had another wonderful snow day. It looks like it will still be around for Christmas! I took the children sledding at the park by our house.

It was cold, but so much fun to have our first sledding of the year.

Nathan was able to build his snow fort at our house too, but he has since demolished it.

I was surprised at how big my children our getting. They all went down the hill by themselves and could carry their own sled back up too. They even got each other to give them a push at the top. Wow, they didn't really need me there. Nathan didn't even stay with us. He wanted to be with the older children, and he found some friends from school. Janae at least came back and forth a few times. They are becoming so independent.

Duet

Randy and I preformed a clarinet violin duet in church today. We haven't performed just the two of us since before we had children, and that was when Randy wrote his arrangement of Away in A Manger that Hinshaw published.

Today we performed a Fresh Aire arrangement of Silent Night. Yes, Fresh Aire in sacrament meeting. I think it went well. I was a little nervous because I didn't think I could get my lips back, but Randy gave me three weeks. The first time was really bad because I played too long and hard and ended up cutting the inside of my lip with my teeth. From then on I decided I would only practice 10 min a day after my lip healed.

My children had never seen my clarinet before and thought it was quite the novelty. I even let them try to get a sound out and eventually they all did. Randy did great as usual. It was a bit more tricky with his stiff elbow, but he can pull off anything.

Christmas Recitals

Last week Nathan and Janae had their Christmas Piano recital. They both did very well. They had to play their piece memorized. Nathan did Jingle Bell Rock and Janae played an arrangement of The First Noel. I didn't even try to take my camera to the recital. It was over an hour and very hot. The three younger children lasted about 45 min. Then they went out and danced to the other numbers we could hear through the door. Janae also played her piece for prelude in Sacrament meeting.

These our pictures of our children playing their songs for their grandmas, but this is also the daily practice scene at our house. Don't mind the fingerprints on the piano. It means it is being used. They are becoming such accomplished musicians. Even if there are some tears over a new piece.

This week they had their Christmas clogging recital. I forgot to take any camera to that event. They both looked great up on stage, and in one number Janae's team was wearing Santa hats. They looked life Santa's elves. We had a hard time finding Janae because we are used to just looking for her red hair. Nathan is on an all boys team and for one of his numbers they each brought up a female partner that didn't do clogging. So I got to be the lucky one. Nathan had been telling me for weeks that he need me to go up with him. We went on stage and stood next to our boy while they did a short dance. Then they stopped and showcased their arms toward their partner. We just stood there for a little bit, but then I are started doing a silly solo dance and then stopped for him. This went back and forth a few times and a few other mom's caught on too. I got some compliments on my sportsmanship. Later on they had a group of Mom's perform. Randy commented that some of the Mom's actually practiced. Well I must be so good that I don't even need to practice.

Decorations

We started putting up our Christmas decorations on Sunday, and we're still not done. There are boxes stacked in my room just to get them out of the living areas. Maybe tomorrow I will be able to get it all cleaned up. I still have more lights to do outside. We'll see how much actually gets put up. I don't think I would have started so soon if it wasn't for my Nathan. He gets so excited about holidays. He was also a big help and vacuumed the dusty boxes from our remodel earlier this year. When all the decorating is done, I sure enjoy the atmosphere that it adds to our home. I love all the twinkling lights and the smell of one of those Christmas candles that can substitute for my lack of baking.

I get a little frustrated when my children think all the decorations are new toys and want to play with them instead of just looking at how pretty they are. How unrealistic I am. Here Julene and Marianne are pretending they are the characters from the Barbie Diamond Castle movie. They have turned the violins that go on the Christmas tree into guitars. There was some real singing and strumming action going on.

Julene has really enjoyed all the decorations and keeps asking me where did all this pretty stuff come from. I told her the basement. "Where in the basement?" I guess her memory isn't as good as the rest. We also didn't put up as much last year during the remodel. So it is fun to get everything out, and I mean everything.

Today Marianne got to go to school in her pajamas for her Polar Express party. She was excited and loved showing me her bell and reindeer food. It is so fun to be 5 at Christmas time. Her sparkling eyes and contagious smile are a delight in our home.

Thanksgiving Swing

We spent Thanksgiving at Randy's parents. We had a very nice time together. The weather was nice enough to play out on their property and make our own improvements. Randy and his brothers would build forts growing up and now the grandchildren do too. Randy and Nathan decided that they were going to build a swing across the ditch. They maneuvered the rope up over the tree and made a seat to ride on. They got some expert advice and help from Randy's Dad.

Once Randy tested it out it was time for Nathan. He was very good at getting it to twist and spin around, and if you don't watch out he'll get you with his boots.

Then Randy suggested that I get a turn. Nathan didn't think my hips would fit on the swing. Well, I showed him. He liked patting me on the head each time a swung his way.

Grandpa lent Marianne the clippers so she could make improvements on her own fort. It's important to get all the little twigs out of the way, or maybe it is just fun.

Latter on they made a bridge over the ditch.

Julene was very excited to play out at the fort. She liked climbing the trees and riding the "new"swing. She kept commenting about the poop she saw everywhere that were left by the cows and sheep. She wanted to make sure that she or anyone else didn't step in any. This is why we bring two pair of shoes to Grandpa's house. One for outside and one for everywhere else.

Jared got to stay inside and be loved by grandma. He really enjoyed sitting with the great big bear. You can't tell by the picture, but his hands were just being turned round and round while he smiled at everyone. Those were some busy hands.

What a fun way to spend our Thanksgiving holiday with family, the great out doors, and our imaginations.

Thankful People

My two little Indians had a nice Thanksgiving celebration at preschool and Kindergarten. Julene was thrilled to be going to her very own Thanksgiving party. She liked showing everyone her soft feathers on her hat.

Marianne really liked being a pilgrim. The Friday before Thanksgiving, she got to have a feast in the lunch room. She was sure excited and reminded me all week that it was coming up. She told me that she ate her pumpkin pie first, to make sure she had enough time and room. Then she nibbled at the rest on her plate. Smart girl. We don't even need to teach them that.

For Thanksgiving we made Oreo turkeys. I saw it in a magazine and thought it would be fun and keep them busy. It was really easy and they really enjoyed making them as well as eating them.

1/2 a year

Our baby is now 6 months old. He is so much fun. His brother and sisters keep him entertained. They love to play with him, and he sure enjoys their smiling faces. I hope he doesn't become too accustomed to all their attention. He squeals and makes funny faces that delight everyone.

With these pictures he looks a lot like Nathan did at this age. If I didn't know better and didn't look for Nathan's red hair, I would probably mix up their pictures. We got his checkup, and he is in the 90% for length and 20% for weight. I was a little surprised because I don't think he looks skinny. He just isn't as solid as other babies. We are so pleased he is growing well and is healthy.

B-Ball

Nathan finished his first basketball season on Saturday. It was a whirlwind event because it was just four weeks with two games a week. We didn't make it to all the games, but it was still fun to see his progress. We hadn't done a very good job of explaining the game before hand, but Nathan is a quick study. He's become good at defense and made his first basket at the last game. We were thrilled. It's fun to watch these kids try to figure out the sport. There aren't very many things called, so we saw a lot of traveling, double dribbling, out of bounds, air balls etc. Nathan did get called on a foul early on because the other kid was just holding the ball, and he decided to try and take it away. There was a little too much contact on Nathan's part, but we set him right and now he just goes for the ball. Maybe we'll get some use out of our basketball hoop out front yet.

We're Recording

Randy's studio is now finally finished. Even though all the major work was done back in April, he had to finish all those little details to make everything sound just right. Now he also has his microphone and all the recording equipment working properly too.

He needed a Guinea Pig to practice on. So here I am. Whatever singing ability I had is definitely gone. I sure don't want to hear myself sing. I can't stay on pitch at all. I'm worse than any Karaoke singer. But don't I look official. At least I can look the part.

Artistic

The children got the results from their reflections entries this week. Janae won a medal with her original clogging dance and gets to move on to region. (She was the only dance entry in the school, but we are still pleased.) Nathan and Marianne received honorable mention on their water color paintings. Marianne did a picture of the three sisters in her family with each a different color of hair. It looked so sweet coming from a kindergartner. Nathan did a Space picture with all the planets correctly colored, in order, and the asteroid belt. We asked Nathan what planets people could live on. He started with the outer most Pluto and said it was too cold and Uranus was too, but we couldn't live on Neptune because we would all be sideways. What?! Once he realized what he had said he a laughed and tried to explain that Neptune's rings are tilted. Scientist think that maybe an asteroid or something crashed into it to cause it's rings to tilt. Anyway he realized that was silly to say because aren't we sideways on earth unless we're at the north pole?

Pinewood Derby Time

Nathan's first Pinewood Derby,The Moon Racer. Nathan and Randy did the whole thing themselves with a little help with the cutting from a neighbor. I was very impressed. I thought I would need to help more, but they even did the painting.

It is so fun to see these boys race their cars. The are all super excited and have worked very hard to get there.

Here is Nathan and some of the boys in his pack. Randy wasn't too technical and just wanted to finish somewhere in the middle. Nathan's car ended up coming in second in the Wolf Den and 5th over all. We don't know what they did, but they'll need to do it again next year.

What a fun day to spend racing with your friends. What a great day to be a Cub Scout.

Pit

Our new favorite game. We just taught our children how to play Pit. It seemed appropriate with the current ups and downs of the stock market. They caught on so fast, even Marianne can play by herself. We've had the game for a while and just haven't got it out with them. Julene knows the Bear is bad and giggles every time it is passed to her. She really wants to get the "Cow" translation Bull, and asks everyone to pass it to her.

This was our activity for FHE on Monday. We also had a lesson about budgeting. Randy asked our children what they should do first when they get money. (We were looking for pay your tithing.) Nathan said, "Count it, to make sure it's all there." There is someone who knows the value of money. Randy and I have laughed about that all week.

Snow Baby!!!

It's the first Snow of the Season. Everyone at our house was pretty excited. They were up early because they're used to daylight savings. We found all our snow gear and outside we went before school.

I'm glad I just bought Janae her new snow pants. It was time to pass them down last year, but I couldn't find any at the end of the season.

They are even wearing their backpacks while they help shovel the snow. They were such good helpers. I didn't have to do any shoveling. I think it would have melted anyway. But they helped a lot.

They all had big plans to make snowman, snow fort etc. But the snow melted by the time they came home. We'll just wait for the next big one.

Lost Shoe

For the second week in a row, I have found a lost shoe in the dirty clothes hamper from two different children. So it will now become one of the first places to look for that missing shoe. I was trying to figure out why this has become a favorite hiding place for a single shoe. The weather has turned colder so we're not wearing flip flops and leaving them at the door. I also haven't been so good at having our family leave our shoes at the door. As can be seen by the extra dirt, leaves, and playground tire remnants throughout the house. I probably need to have a discussion with the children about what goes in the dirty clothes. We all know how it goes. Mom says clean your room, and the easiest place for everything is the dirty clothes, closet and under the bed. :) Follow up here is the key.

Halloween Is Finally Here

Ever since we put up our October calender, Julene would ask "Is it getting dark yet for Halloween?" Now it's finally Halloween.

The school children had fun at their class parties, and they each know that I saw them at the School Halloween parade. I had to chase down Marianne to make sure she saw me. I didn't want her to be sad and think that her mother wasn't there. It would have helped if I wasn't waiting for an hour after the parade was supposed to have started, and if she wasn't the first class to come through, and if I wasn't in the middle of nursing Jared. But I go her attention and she smiled and waved. Mission accomplished.

Nathan was the most ambitious Trick-or-Treater. He would have kept going but everyone else was done, and he didn't want to go with just Dad.

Janae our High School Musical Cheerleader had a smile on her face all day until Randy told her next year was her last year to go Trick-or-Treating. We decided that the children could go until they went to Jr. High School. We did explain that Halloween is still fun, and she could walk around dressed up with the grown ups, and there is always plenty of candy. (Just a pet peeve a mine, seeing those teenagers come to your door. It's even a Friday night. Don't they have a party to be to?)

We had fun with our annual pumpkin carving. Well, I had fun. We downloaded a few templates from the Internet. I did Julene's Scooby Doo first and then told everyone to pick something simpler. Marianne chose the cat to match her witch costume. Janae picked a scary pumpkin and Nathan a spider. I need to buy some better knives so they can do more of the cutting. They were actually pretty good at cleaning them out.

The Fairest in the Land

Julene had her preschool Halloween party today. She had so much fun. They went to a pumpkin patch and picked pumpkins too. Jared and I got to go along on the outing. Julene thought it was special that we went too. Julene has been wearing her Snow White dress for weeks. Snow White has also become her favorite movie to watch. At first she was concerned that her hair wasn't black like Snow White's, but I told her, her hair was short like Snow White's and that seemed to make it all right.

A few days ago she wore her dress outside and rode her bike. The dress got ripped apart in the back. She was really concerned but I got it repaired last night so all is well.

Cousins' Halloween Party

On Friday my mother had a Halloween party for our family. It is a nice way to see everyone's costumes because getting together on Halloween would be hard. Jared participated by wearing his pumpkin bib.

My cousin Laura who is attending BYU was able to come as well as my Grandparents from St. George. They were up for my Great Uncles 60th wedding anniversary party that was on Saturday, and that was also nice to go to.

Laura is always fun to have around. Nathan was excited to be a cowboy because we found these cool handcuffs, but the sheriff wasn't doing the arresting that day.

But Laura was a good sport, and Nathan got his man (or woman.)

I think the most fun for everyone was the game of musical chairs. It is fun to see the little ones start to catch on like my brother Matt's and Brad's children. We played a few rounds without taking any chairs away, and it was still just as crazy for the little ones to find a seat! The older ones finally got their way, and we played the real way. We cheered when someone got out and told them they now got the privilege to sit on the green coach. It worked so well that my niece Casey went to the green coach without being out.

Afterwards we did a 19-38 version once with Randy, Brad, Steven, Laura, and me. It was tricky trying to get down that low and squeeze our bottoms onto the stools. (We knew wouldn't fit in the chairs.) Grandma got some great pictures of us that I don't have. I think Laura won. She's really good at pushing others out of the way :)