Christmas!

Santa came!


Rachie's stuff from Santa


Jake's (can you tell what he is into?)


Becka's


Random shots...



Goofy Daddy!

Backyard

Jason and Cat

Rachie fell asleep snuggling Auntie Catalina

More snowy days!

Here are a few more of snow pictures...this is when the fun really started. We had about 10 inches, a layer of ice about 1/2 inch thick, then about another 5 inches of snow on top of it by the time everything was done!

Our house


Girlies


Icicles anyone? They actually got bigger than this...


The cars

Snow much fun!!

Here a few pics from our snowy days! We had lots of fun!!!

Day one...this is the day that EVERYWHERE around us got a lot of snow and we barely got anything. The kids were out dancing in it when we were getting into the van for church.


You know you are in a place that rarely sees snow when the kids are in full snow gear with the sleds and you can still see more grass than snow. LOL!


Absolutely adorable!!


Princess Rachel being pulled by her big sister and brother


I love her round head!


Rachie and Daddy

Christmastime

Well, another Christmas has come and gone. Seems like this time of year, I end up having sort of a let down feeling. I don't know if it is because I feel like the "magic" of Christmas that was there when I was younger is gone now or what.

I have had a hard time with the holidays since my dad died. Even though his favorite phrase around Christmas was "Bah Humbug!", I know he loved it. He just thought the whole gift buying and other extravagant traditions were a bit over the top. I always loved hearing him read scriptures, but especially looked forward to hearing him read the story of Christ's birth to us every year. Steve and I have tried to keep up that tradition, but we aren't always as diligent about it. I think I agree with my dad. Christmas has become way too over the top. I mean, if you really think about it, the Savior's birth was a quiet, simple thing. Humble and modest...being born in a stable is about as un-extravagant (is that a word?) as you can get. Seems like spending tons of money to lavish gifts on the kids is kind of overkill. Plus, it always ends up that they play with one or two new things and ignore all the other stuff that I just HAD to buy for them.

This year I tried very hard to give people gifts that I thought they would enjoy, instead of buying "empty" or "desperation" gifts just so that they would have a present to open. I don't know that I succeeded completely, but I do know that what I gave, I really thought about and I didn't just grab something off the shelf in order to cross off a name on my shopping list.

That said, here is our past week (or so), in a nutshell. Last Saturday, the 20th, we got hit with tons of snow. It continued on through Thursday, and most people were staying at home if they could. This area isn't equipped or accustomed to that amount of snow, so things sort of shut down when it happens. Steve and I took the kids sledding on Saturday, stayed at home on Sunday (church was cancelled). On Monday, we played in the snow a bit, and then braved the weather to go visit Dana and Derek for lunch and games. After that, we went and visited Nana (my mom) and did a few last minute errands. Tuesday, Jason, Catalina and the girls (my brother's family) got into town, so we visited with them. Wednesday we drove out to Steve's parents house for Christmas fun. The trip normally takes about 45 minutes...we were on the road for two hours. The roads were fairly slick and treacherous in places. Becka got carsick from all the crazy driving, or so we thought. After we had been at Grandma's house for a little while, she threw up and just went upstairs to lie down. She was so sick, poor thing didn't even come downstairs to open her present. That's how we knew she was really not feeling good! We left early and got her to bed asap. Christmas morning, she was fine. A little wary of eating much, but she was the first one awake! We had our own little family time with gifts and things from Santa. My side of the family came over that afternoon and we had dinner, opened presents and had fun visiting with one another. Jason, Cat and the girls stayed until after midnight! It was a fun day...the snow kept coming down and made such a nice backdrop to our festivities. I don't ever remember having a white Christmas before. Friday, the snow had stopped and the rain began. The roads were still bad in our neighborhood (we actually got the van stuck on my mom's street that day). We were lazy all morning and left late that afternoon to go and shovel my Grammie's sidewalk and driveway for her. It was fun. After that, we went to the mall so I could get a pair of jeans for myself. I have two pair of jeans that were completely worn out...holes and everything, so getting a new pair was nice! Then we went and visited Grandpa and Grandma Hall for a bit. When we pulled into their driveway, Jake got all excited. He jumped out of the van and shouted, "I LOVE this guy's house!" Made me laugh! Saturday, we ran errands and I took Jake and Rachie to Jaron's birthday party. Steve had a baptism to conduct that evening, so I took the kids back over to my mom's for some time with their cousins. Today things are back to normal. Church, stuff like that. Everyone came over for dinner. We had Cafe Rio Salad because Cat has been talking about it ever since she got here. :) YUM!!! My mom took all three of our kids to her house for a sleepover, so it is quiet here. Steve is asleep. He has to go back to work tomorrow. It was nice having him home. He didn't go to work because of the bad weather last week, so it has felt like a vacation almost!

Anyway, that is the quick version of our crazy week. I have rambled on and on again. I apologize for that. I tend to think of my blog as a journal for my crazy thoughts and random ideas. I guess you will just have to skip over the boring parts!

I will post some pics of our adventures when I get them off of my camera. I am being lazy about that.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and I wish you all a very Happy New Year!!!!

The truth is out!

I have been having a hard time coming up with a great idea for a Christmas gift for Jake this year. I usually try and get one thing that they will be especially excited about. It is always hard thinking of things for him because his birthday is so close to Christmas. I finally decided to ask him what he wanted. Here is our conversation:

Me: "Hey Jakey, what do you want for Christmas this year?"
Jake: "I don't know, I already have too many toys."

I totally cracked up! He knows the truth as much as I do! These kiddos are S-P-O-I-L-E-D!!!!

More pics

Here are the kids decorating the tree!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Well, time for the 2008 version of "Ard's adventure in Christmastree Land."


We went out last Saturday afternoon and got our tree. As usual, Dad and the older kids played Marco Polo in the trees for a while. I stayed close to the van because Rachie had fallen asleep on the way.

Seems like the same thing happened last year. It was a fun adventure, even with grumpy little elves (Rachel and Becka) and Jake's emergency trip to the port-a-potty, and his "accidental" slip in the mud.


We went to the same place we have gone for the past two years, "The Tree Wiseman." Their prices are fairly reasonable, and we like tromping through muddy forests of thousands of trees. Steve did ask me if he could bring the chainsaw this year...too bad that is against the rules! He tried talking us into getting a tiny little "Charlie Brown" tree, just because it was easier to cut down, but that didn't work!


We put the tree up on Sunday evening. The kids had fun decorating it. Steve and I had fun taking pictures of them decorating it, lol! Jake and Rachel were both a little bit on the hyper side, so I have several pictures of them being insanely crazy together. Nothing like being super silly with your siblings! Our tree is beautifully decorated, mostly on the front, where they each thought that all of their ornaments should go. I only put up a few of mine this year. The tree is smaller than we usually get, and I am having a hard time being in the mood for things like that this year anyway. The kids liked being able to do it on their own, so I decided to let them. It kind of feels good not worrying about the tree looking absolutely perfect. Who cares anyway? As long as they are happy, that's all that matters to me!

Jake's new bike!

Well, since Becka got a new bike with her birthday money, Jake decided he needed one too. He was so excited to go and look for one. We spent about an hour at the store watching he and Steve debating, and in the end, he decided on a cool Tony Hawk "trick" bike. It has pegs on both the front and back wheels, and the handlebars can spin all the way around. That's his favorite part, as you can tell from the picture.

As for me, I don't think I want my little boy to have a bike that encourages fancy stunts and tricks. I can just imagine the trips to the ER once he gets a little bit of confidence. I do have to admit though, it is a pretty cool bike!

You know your child is addicted to Star Wars when...

I LOVE this!!!!
Jake definitely has a great imagination! I about died laughing when I looked over his homework before we sent it into school.

Phew!

The bazaar is over! It was a lot of fun, and surprisingly less stressful than in years past. I think only having two projects to make and sell instead of the 10-15 I have always done helped with that. Almost all of my I Spy bags sold, but no one bought any of my tutus. I am not too worried because I have lots of nieces and friends' kids who will like them. Steve made me a great bar to use to hang the tutus on for my display. I also put one on my time out doll and had her stand in front of the table. Here are some pictures:


Melissa and Angie and Angie's cousin Lisa also had tables there. It was fun being together. The day went quickly, which I was grateful for. Usually by about 2pm, we are watching the clock and wishing the day was over! I got to see lots of old friends from Gladstone ward. Pam and Rob even stopped by!
I was very good this year, and didn't buy anything from other vendors, well, except for the marshmallow blow guns I got for Jake and Becka, but those are Christmas gifts, so they don't count against me, right?

Winners!!!

A couple of months ago, Steve's work did a photo contest. The winning pictures would be blown up and used as artwork in the different buildings on campus. We have some winners!!!!







Woohoo! Go Candent Photography Go!!!

Look Alikes

Thought this was fun on Afton's blog, so I copied her!

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Pedigree charts - Family photo sharing

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

My Brave Boy!

Jakey has always been a mellow kid. He is the easiest of my bunch so far. I am so grateful for his sweet nature!

He is so brave!!! He had 4 teeth pulled out on Tuesday afternoon! The orthodontist wants to make room in his mouth for the big teeth to come up, so they went ahead and pulled them out. He did such a great job! Poor guy. He was such a trooper!
He got to pick out a movie to watch while in the dentist chair (they have TV screens on the ceiling), he chose Nim's Island, and he got to wear sunglasses and choose a prize out of the treasure chest. He chose a Whoopie Cushion, lol! He was a bit hyper from the nitrous oxide gas they gave him. We got home and he didn't complain, just laid on the couch and watched TV. He even got up an dplayed Rock Band with Steve and Becka for a while. Right about dinnertime, the anesthesia had worn off, so he asked me for some medicine because his mouth hurt. That was it! Yesterday morning, I told him he could stay home from school f he wanted to, but he was excited to go. He had fun showing his friends and teacher the holes in his mouth!

Here he is right when we got home from the dentist office:


Here are the teeth!

Becka-ism

When Becka was little, she always said the funniest things. My mom and dad even started keeping track of them and we call them "Becka-isms." Here is another one for that list!

On election day, we were talking about the candidates. Becka was telling us that at school, they had talked about why people would vote for different candidates. She said that a lot of people would vote for Obama because they thought he was African-American. Here is our following conversation...
Me: "Well, isn't he?"
Becka: "No, he isn't"
Me: "Okay, then what is he?"
Becka (in her most 'know it all' voice): "He's AEROBIC!"

I swear, I laughed so hard I was crying and seriously thought I was gonna throw up. I wish you could have heard her. Little Miss Smarty-Pants. Oh, it was hilarious! The rest of the evening, Steve and I tortured her by saying things like, "Oh Becka, don't be so aerobic!" "You'd better watch out or people will think you are aerobic!"

It was awesome!!!

The story of my life!

I was going through some old files earlier, trying to clean out my computer a bit. I came across this and had to share. It is my life exactly!!!

Recently, I was diagnosed with C. A. A. D. D. Child Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.
This is how it manifests: I decide to do the laundry. As I start toward the basement, I notice that there are cheerios all over the floor and my car keys are in the cereal bowl. I decide to pick up the cheerios before I do the laundry. I lay my car keys down on the counter, put the cheerios in the trash can under the counter and notice that the trash can is full. So, I decide to take out the trash. But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash I may as well pay the bills first. I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check left, my extra checks are in my desk in the office/playroom, so I go to my desk where I find a sippy cup full of juice. I'm going to look for my checks, but first I decide I should put the sippy cup in the refrigerator to keep it cold. As I head toward the kitchen with the sippy cup a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye -- they need to be watered. I set the sippy cup on the counter, and I discover baby wipes that I've been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back in the bathroom, but first I'm going to water the flowers. I set the wipes back down, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote, one of the kids left it on the kitchen table. I realize that after school when they go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote as they fight over who lost it, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers. I splash some water on the flowers, but most of it spills on the floor. So,I set the remote back down, get some paper towels and wipe up the spill. Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do. At the end of the day: the laundry isn't washed, the bills aren't paid, there is a warm cup of juice sitting on the counter, the flowers aren't watered, there is still only one check in my checkbook, I can't find the remote, I can't find the wipes, and I don't remember what I did with the car keys. Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired. I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.

Bazaar-o

Bazaar season is upon us!!! Hooray! This year I decided to make something different than I have in year's past. Last year I didn't sell a lot, mostly because people would stop by my table and say, "Oh, that's so cute! I bought one from you last year!" So, yeah...time for new stuff!

I decided early on to make I Spy bags. They are quick, fun, and most people like them. Plus I can do an assembly line and just crank them out. I will save money by buying this supplies all year long and get them made early. HA! That's what I was telling myself! I have 15 I Spy bags downstairs all cut out and the stuff to go inside them is ready, but I tried sewing them and had a nervous breakdown when my sewing machine was having issues. So, those are on hold until I can get up the incentive to try again.

Meanwhile, a friend of mine gave me the idea to make a tutu for Rachel. So I think, I can totally make tutus!!! They are easy (although time-consuming) to make and all little girls love tutus! So now I am the proud owner of 24 yards of pink tulle, 18 yards of light blue and 24 yards of purple tulle. Have you ever tried to work with that much tulle at one time?? It is not a fun thing. I feel like all I do is cut tulle. All day long, and in increments that large, it seems to be never ending! It also doesn't help that Rachel likes to take it and "dance like a ballerina" all over the house. I swear Steve is gonna divorce me if he keeps finding strips of tulle everywhere!

My next dilemma...how do I display I Spy bags and tutus on the same table at the bazaar? They don't have anything in common at all. I never think these things though.

Jake's birthday

Jake had a great birthday! After Becka's Harry Potter party last June, I was excited to have a break...until Jake asked for a Star Wars party.
After hours and searching the internet, I came up with a pretty fun party plan (if I do say so myself, lol!). The invitations were made to look like the words scrolling at the beginning of each Star Wars movie.


When the boys got here, we started with an obstacle course to test their skill and agility. Steve set it up. First, they had to go through the "webs of despair" (strings strung across the doorway in a web type pattern), then jump over the Lake of Woes (a blue towel). Next they had to go through the dark caves (under Rachie's doll crib), and once out, they had to put on a Jedi robe and choose a light saber to bring with them for the remainder of the course. Then they ran across the swamp (an old crib mattress), and into the kitchen where they had to eat one "Jedi Energy Pellet" (Mike & Ike candy) before continuing on to the 'Swamps of Catan" and reaching the finish. We timed each boy and then their Jedi Master (Steve) did it. He totally rocked it and beat them all!

After that, they had a class on balance and flexibility (yoga) and learned different stances and techniques that would be helpful to them when using their Jedi weapons (Light Sabers).


Next, we took them into the "Jedi Training Facility Storage Unit" (the garage) and had them practice using "The Force" to open and shut the door. We had a couple of them tricked for a little while on that one.

Next it was target practice using ball blasters. After that, we had presents, cake and ice cream. I made cupcakes with Darth Vader on them.


For the last test so that they could "graduate" from Jedi Training, we attacked the Death Star (the kids and I made a pinata to look like it).


After that part, we had a "graduation ceremony" where each of them received their graduation certificate and a light saber (I made light sabers out of skinny bats I found at the dollar store).


They took the light sabers outside and played until all the parents came. It was fun and crazy and tiring! I never want to have ten litle boys in my house all together like that again! I had invited 14, so even though it was a bummer that some of them couldn't make it, I was sort of glad it turned out that way!

All in all, it was lots of fun. I am happy to have it over with though. Isn't that bad? I just have had so much on my plate lately and with me being sick last week, life was just too crazy. I have finally had some time each day so far this week where I could relax a little bit, and I have been trying to get to bed earlier than usual, so that seems to be helping me also.

I can't believe my little boy is 7 years old! He is a big kid now. He is learning and growing up so quickly. I just want my babies to stay babies!!!!

Twilight peek!

For those Twilight fans who haven't seen this yet...here is an 8 minute clip of the movie! It is the scene when Bella goes and meets Edward's family for the first time.

Please remember tht is NOT the book. The book is WAY better!!! The quality is very bad and people in theater are laughing and screaming at odd times. But still, it is fun!!!

You will need to copy and paste this, the link isn't working...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrxFbhDfmOQ&feature=iv&annotation_id=event_857904

Crazy week

I am SO glad that last week is history! I had so much to do and no time at all. I was sick all week also, so that didn't help matters. I have a few pics to share from halloween and Jake's birthday.

Halloween was fun. Becka dressed up as a "cereal killer." She had a box of cereal hanging from around her neck that we stuck a knife into and it has "milk" dripping out of it instead of blood. Everyone thought it was cute. Jake was, of course, Luke Skywalker. He is OBSESSED with anything and everything Star Wars. Rachel was Abby Cadabby. She insisted on wearing her rain boots instead of the pink shoes I had planned for her, but it all turned out fine. We went trick or treating with the neighbors, Melissa and Dana and Derek. The older kids and Steve went ahead, so I stayed back with Rachie, Dana, Derek, Kylie and Lexi. The girls looked so darn cute, and had lots of fun together. They were holding hands most of the time. They got lots of extra candy just for being so darn adorable! After trick or treating, we were planning on going to a family dance at the church, but when we got there it was dead, so we all headed to Baja Fresh for dinner. We are so lucky to have Dana and Derek close by. It is fun doing stuff together!

Luke Skywalker


Abby Cadabby



Cereal Killer (and her friend)


Kylie (Aurora) and Rachie


Ladybug Lexi



I will be back tomorrow to post about Jake's birthday and share those pictures. Have a wonderful day!!!