Look Ma!

In in effort to update my mother I am posting a few things that she has missed this last month.

I haven't quilted in so long, but I've been wanting to try out a chevron pattern. I think it turned out super cute, but I learned a good lesson. When the lady at the quilting store tells me not to do it because of the difficulty level, (I'm a beginner level quilter) then perhaps I should listen. I did a lot of unpicking and still left hundreds of mistakes visible. (If I ever do the chevron pattern again I would do a different method using rectangles rather than the triangle method.)

Rosa and Wiley both earned trophies for their recent performances.

Lunch Love

I occasionally include a note in my kids' lunches. One morning I was running behind and was quick throwing stuff into Rosa's lunch box when I noticed this note.

She wanted a note and I hadn't done one so she wrote a note to herself from me. She used a torn piece of a paper plate.  he he

Translation

Rosa,
I love  you so much
love mom 

As she finished getting ready I quick threw my own note in to replace hers.
My heart could burst with my love for her.

Family
 

The view. Amazingly, this view is so much a part of my childhood. I hadn't seen this incredible view for over 15 years. The Tetons are beautiful, but it wasn't the view that brought me back. 


I am blessed to have an incredible family, immediate and extended. I have over 100 cousins, aunts and uncles on my mothers side. We have a huge reunion every other year and I missed the reunion last year. I.need. my. family. They strengthen me, they make me better, and we laugh hard and love being together.

My Aunt Julie threw a Chinese New Year party for adults and I decided that I couldn't miss it. A car full of cousins and my gorgeous sister made the roadie to Idaho with me to enjoy the party. 5.5 hours of driving there and then 5.5 hours back was a small price to pay to see even a small portion of my extended family. The view was just a bonus.

Big Announcement 

Happy kids and two new members of the family! 

Yes, we all do cheep tricks to gain readership right. Here is my first one of the year.  At the beginning of December my son came home with a permission slip asking is his name could be in the drawing for the class pets. I didn't want to burst his bubble and I went ahead and signed the slip, cause I was thinking what are the chances.  Well, funny enough, he won them. On the last day of school he decided to call Dad at work to share the news from school.

     "Dad,  I've got good news, we have two new members of our family!"

Dad was confused to say the least, I had not informed him that 4 weeks prior that I had signed a form. I didn't think there was a need to. Dazed and befuddled Ben started to wonder, who in the family could have had a baby? Was Shara even pregnant?

     "Dad, we now have hamsters!"

My hubby was trying to keep the dread out of his voice said, "Does Mom know?"

A short 20 minutes later the hamsters and four of the happiest kids ever were huddled around them.

We finished December perfectly. We had a lovely time spending Christmas at the cabin. Somehow, now that we have four kids, we finally feel old enough to have Christmas on our own. Like we have earned it. We tested out some new traditions. It was a little strange to plan all the special meals and other special moments but as a parent there is nothing that fills me with greater joy than to have my little family all together. We were all so content to spend time in the same room together for days on end. A truly needed break for our young and busy family. Happy and simple.  


Happy kids on Christmas morning. We took turns opening presents and it was fun to see them be excited for each others presents! 

Fondue for Christmas Eve. A favorite for our family.

 We spent many a morning with green smoothie shake mustaches.

American Doll love.

The day after Christmas the big extended family joined us at the cabin. And that's when the party got hopping. Lots of cousin, lots of food and board games played into the wee hours of the morning. Lots of sledding and playing in the snow. Lots of movies and reading of books. Lots of happy time.

 Christmas update:

Day 3-16
ward Christmas party
watched both versions of "the Grinch"
saw the lights at Thanksgiving Point
kids bought each other gifts at dollar store
made snow flakes
wrapped presents
wrote thank you letters to Primary teachers
made and delivered goodies
Kangaroo Zoo
Arthur Christmas matinee
dance recital
school Christmas program
live nativity
work party
made salt dough ornaments

 

This is the example of the salt dough ornaments. We used rubber stamps and ink to add messages to the ornaments.

Liberty Park in Salt Lake has a fantastic live nativity.  A little Shepard takes you from scene to scene. The actors sing songs in costumes plus there are real animals including sheep and a real camel. We dressed very warm and went prepared with hot bags. Also, we were privileged to have cousin Andrew and his two kiddos to join us in the cold. (Sorry about the stroller reflector light.)  I recommend going if you can. Check out echoesofchristmas.com for more information. There are only a few nights left.

Day 2-

Happy accidents are wonderful. We went to our local outdoor mall to enjoy the lights and gingerbread house display but found so much more. We had pictures with Santa. The REAL one.  Real beard and long curly hair. Hazel did not think he was a comforting figure. She felt a little better when he handed her a candy cane.

  We stopped into a fantastic toy shop and Scooby enjoyed his first massage. Once we heard they were offering them for free we all had to try it out. Frugal is my middle name, right?

This is one example of the gingerbread houses. Crazy huge.

 They also had live entertainment and free horse drawn buggy rides. Bonus!

Before leaving we all had to ride the merry-go-round. It turned out to be a hugely productive night. Accidentally.

The Birth of a New Tradition:

We are trying to create some new Christmas traditions. In years past I have been baffled by my S-I-Ls twenty five days of Christmas Advent calendar, wondering how did she ever have the time. For many years now she has planned a little activity for each day before Christmas. After two years of dreaming of such a fun tradition I decided to take the plunge. I planned all through November. Everything is ready. The shopping is done, the presents are wrapped. I have nothing left to do but enjoy December. The question is will it actually be as magical as I am hoping?

Well Day 1 started out great . . . 

 We lit the candles on our German Christmas Pyramid, sang carols, shared wishes, and then assembled one of our favorite Nativity scenes. The Playmobil Nativity Scene. Perfect because it is indestructible, there are tons of characters and fun additions to look at and play with. We spent a good hour just setting the scene over and over. Wonderful right?
 

Well it was. Until one kid was sent to their room for calling names.

After a written apology, the night continued.

Awesome right? (Ben and I were giggling about this note.)


We ended our night a little less magical. The kids started in on stupid human tricks. Rosa showed us how to fart with her knee pits and then there was some schooling regarding bicycle kicks in the air. . . "get your tooshie off the ground Mom, feet in the air Mom, now do circles with your feet!". (yes, I tried it too) I hadn't tried either in a very long time. The night ended in laughs. Magic in its own way.

Realistically, I know family moments can't always be pretty. Case in point. But that isn't going to stop me from trying. Wish me luck.

In an effort to be more thankful I thought I would give thanks for a few things:

chocolate

my hubby

my kiddos

my health

my savior

Professor Umbridge in the making:

I am a fan of making the consequence match the crime. This was me killing two birds with one stone. My son needed to practice his cursive and pay for his crime.

While he was serving his time, my oldest kept looking at the back of his hand. I finally had to ask what he was looking for. Finally he said, "Mom, you are just like Professor Umbridge."

I gave him my best shocked expression.

I was thinking I was wicked-awesome but my son was thinking I was wicked-evil.
Maawhhhhha hha ha ha ha.

The Race:

The Dirty Dash was delightful in every way. We enjoyed our muddy 10K adventure to the fullest.

Before:

This is just moments before the race started, we clicked a few pictures to document our banditas costumes. Yes, we were wearing hero eye masks (because our identities are our most valuable possessions). Yes, we also wore capes because we thought they were look cool as we went racing by with our capes waving in the wind. (Did I mention you are supposed to wear costumes? well, yeah, everyone did. My son asked me afterwards why there were so many freaks there. Funny thing is I was one of them.)

Middle:

We paused in the middle of our epic course to prove our zest for adventure through photographs.

We don't look very dirty here because we had just gotten done with the sludging portion of the race. We sludged through the banks of Deer Creek.


End:
I can't even begin to tell you how much fun this was. It was like Woodstock for Runners. There was a huge turn out. Fun music to keep you running, tons of obstacles, lots of mud and water and lots of running.

 The Rinse:
After we stood in lines like cars to be power washed.My hubby made a video of the power wash. I uploaded it cause I thought it was so funny, but then decided to spare you those soggy moments.

Doesn't it look fun? Anyone want to do it next year with us?