Christmas Singing

Ethan had his Christmas program at school. They sang a really fun song that faintly reminded me of a Christmas tune that I know, but it was very different. So for all the grandmas and grandpas- here it goes!!

And if that wasn't enough for ya- Here he is singing his rendition of Jingle Bells.

Erin also had a Kindergarten Christmas singing program. It was too dark to get any video, but I did get a few pictures of her before the performance. Her favorite song that she sang was "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." The kids all wore santa hats, reindeer antlers, and elf hats.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!

More Snow Fun

It has been snowing almost every day over the past week and a half. There is now more than 12 inches on the ground, with another BIG storm coming in tomorrow. That one is projected to dump another 6-12 inches! There is a 100% chance of a white Christmas tomorrow!! Here are a few more pictures of our adventures in the snow. It seems like that is about all there is to do around here lately.

Winter Wonderland

It's FINALLY beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here! Yay for a good snowfall! We haven't had any measurable snow here yet this year, and it just hasn't felt quite like the holidays. But now that has changed. We are in a world of wintery white! And the high for week won't get above 30 degrees, so it should stick around for a while. Ethan prepared himself to walk to school in snowpants, boots, hat, coat and gloves. He was absolutely in heaven! (I didn't get a picture~ maybe next time, but he was so cute!) I don't have to drive anywhere today so the girls and I took the chance to go have a snowball fight, enjoy the powder, and go down some slippery slides coated in snow. Then we came in (after Jeff came home from work to unlock the door, because I had left my keys inside and forgotten to unlock the door) and enjoyed some hot chocolate to warm ourselves up a bit. When it was time to walk Erin to school we bundled up again; and this time I grabbed my keys. At recess we counted no less than two dozen snowmen being built at the elementary school. It is really a winter wonderland!

Christmas Cards

I debated for weeks. Cards, no cards? Simplify, right? In starting a blog earlier this year, I hoped to connect my family back to my life, in little ways. I think that is why I was having such a hard time doing cards. You already know what we did this year, saw the pictures, and maybe even left me a comment. But when my mailbox started filling with cards, I started to feel a little guilty. Scrooge-like. It is the one time of year that I can let all my friends and family know that I really do think about them all through the year. Even if I am not so good at letting them know that more than once at Christmas.

So this year there was a compromise. A way to simplify, yet let all my beloveds know that I really do care. I did make a newsletter. And I did send out some cards. But I also emailed my newsletter to most of my christmas card listees. So if you got one, I hope you feel loved. Know that I think of you and care how you are doing. If I inadvertently left you out, I am so sorry. I am posting my newsletter here as well to catch those whom I don't have email addresses for. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a most wonderful and relaxing holiday with those you love!

Holiday Festivities

We've been having so much fun with all of our activities, that I haven't had much time for blogging lately. The last two weeks have been filled with all things Christmas. The work parties, ward parties, Relief Society dinners, decorating, shopping, and concerts.

One that I'd like to share was the opportunity that Jeff and I had to go to the Forgotten Carols. I have been wanting to go for the last ten years or more, but had never gotten around to getting tickets. This year hubs got us some tickets and we were able to go and kick off the holiday season. It was a very nice production. And although I had heard most of the songs before, I never knew the story that tied them all together. It was a nice way to bring in the holiday spirit, and to remember the real reason for the season~ a celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I love that Christmastime brings with it a magic. Everyone is a little kinder, more thoughtful, and more giving. I hope that in this busy season I can still take the moments to serve, love, and enjoy the spirit that Christmas brings.

Jingling

A conversation~

Ethan: Mom can we go jingling this year?
Mom: What?
Ethan: Jingling, this year?
Mom: I'm not sure I know what you mean.
Ethan: You know, when you go sing to people's doors. Sing Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls?
Mom: Oh... Caroling. Yes, Ethan. We are actually going to go caroling for an activity with the cub scouts this month.
Ethan: Cool. Can we sing Jingle Bells?
Mom: Sure.

If it's flashing...

Then you should pull over. If you are on your way to a yummy Thanksgiving dinner, and it turns on, just keep driving. So yeah, it came on and five days later I finally get to the mechanic to get things checked out. Turns out it could be a few things, none of which I really want to pay for right now. So he cleared the codes, which reset the light. So for the next little while until it comes on again, and it surely will, I will drive around pretending that everything is just fine. Because I want to. Because it is almost Christmas and it is my gift to myself. Because I would rather spend money on gifts than a total beast of a car. At least that is what I am telling myself. Because if I don't it just might make me sad and sap away all my holiday cheer. And I don't need that. It's way too early in December for that. Plus, the mechanic told me that if it was flashing it's real bad. Like pull over to the side of the road immediately, bad. Like engine damage, bad. So for now, it is off and I am going to enjoy my drive to the library tomorrow. Ignorance is bliss, right?


This is the thing- check engine light. Not my friend right now.

Pictures (And a few words)

Just to catch up on my pictures for November before the month is over...

On RARE occasions, she finds herself too tired to go on. This was one such day. After I moved her to her crib she took a 3 1/2 hour nap. I actually had almost two hours of "me" time before the other kiddos got home from school. A rare treat!

On a rainy morning there is nothing more fun than making a tent. This is the new preferred design- with a base from the kitchen table. It is roomy enough for two or three, can be well stocked, and provides hours of entertainment. And can be rebuilt easily after dinner and the next day--

Inside the fancy tent. Notice the lantern, pillows, snacks, and movie watching capabilities.
Cousin Jack came over to play- and we all loved it!!

Ethan was an Indian in the third grade Thanksgiving program. He did an awesome job and had fun learning all the songs and making his costume.

"Why does he ask you HOW?" (From Peter Pan)

Ethan earned his Wolf rank and three arrow points at Pack Meeting this month- way to go Ethan!

And exhale...

Thankful Thursday

So today is Thanksgiving, and I have an awful lot to be THANKFUL for. I have a wonderful family. Family includes the one I was born into, the one I married into, and the one that hubs and I have created. I am thankful for them all. I am thankful for food, clothing, shelter, and fuel- the four basic necessities of life. All of which I have been blessed with. And not only that I filled my car up for $1.66 a gallon today- but also spiritual fuel too. I am so grateful to know of Heavenly Father's plan for me, my Savior's Atonement, and my eternal family. I am extremely grateful for a righteous husband, who leads our family with his priesthood power. I am grateful for loving friends. Friends who look after my well-being, babysit my children, have an egg to borrow during those days when I seem to be more than an egg short, remember my birthday, are never more than a phone call away, and who make me laugh and smile. There are so many more things- but I feel that these things get at the core of what I am most thankful for. So today, I hope you are surrounded by those you love and can take the time to remember all the blessings in your life.

Pre-School Musical

So for those of you that haven't been following Sesame Street lately, there has been a trend towards making it more trendy. Lots of plays on things that are happening in society. The latest copy- HSM. It has been brought down to a more junior level for the toddler crowd. So join with me in this clip starring Trey and Mariellla in Pre-School Musical:



So I found this totally funny- Katelyn, Erin, and even Ethan thought so too. Blocks or dress ups? What? Alice Birds (Kelsi) says we can do both. And the pet guinea pig is great too. And even if Suzy and B are the only ones that find this funny I have done my job for today. Sharing smiles one Sesame Street episode at a time.

Adventures with Apples

Or this post could be titled- How I spent my Saturday, Why I love Ethan (and Jeff), Two "Firsts", or How many apples does it take to make one pint of applesauce?


It all started with Ethan. For Johnny Appleseed day his class all brought in apples and did various activities with them. One such activity was making applesauce. Ethan doesn't Ethan like applesauce, but this apparently was so delicious that he ate his portion all gone. He even went so far as to get the recipe from his teacher. And I his fabulous mother was going to make it for him. In comes my in-laws who were going to go pick apples at an orchard. Would I like some? Well, I suppose I really should make Ethan some applesauce, and maybe a pie for Jeff; plus my kids devour whole and sliced apples for snacks- so sure- bring me a box.


Do you know how many apples are in a box? LOTS. So we ate some and the rest waited for two weeks until I had a few hours to get crackin' on some serious applesauce making. Which brings me to yesterday. About noon I had this brilliant idea that it would be fun to make it. Afterall, I had already cut the boys' hair, showered, and supervised the meticulous cleaning of two kid rooms. And the laundry, vacuuming, and dishes were already done! I know; it must be some kind of record. So we headed out to get the canning supplies needed from the in-laws to get this party started.


The real fun begins at 2:30. Lots of peeling, chopping and preparing apples. Lots of apples. In the midst of this I think it might be a good idea to make pie filling too. And freeze enough for a few pies. Afterall, if I am going to all this work I might as well have some to enjoy later too. So more peeling, chopping and preparing. Cooking- lots of sticky. Pie filling ready. Grab the premade pie crust out of the freezer, but no- it is way too old and is not thawing and unrolling. So after all this I shall become super domesticate and make my own double pie crust too. I know- all these skills! Pie is cooked- makes a nice mess in the bottom of the oven (note- next time put a cookie sheet under the pie to catch runaway goo), but looks good. Tastes even better! This is a picture of my very first apple pie- and the goo isn't even running out everywhere.


Are you tired yet?? Because I still have to make and process two batches of applesauce! It goes smoothly. And through the aching feet, sore back and arms I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is now 8:00pm and the last batch is out of the processor! We have 12 lovely pints of applesauce from about 50 apples. So that works out to about 4.166 apples per pint for all of you dying to know. The results- Ethan says the best applesauce ever, a messy kitchen, one tired mom, and two proud firsts. Canning something all by myself and making an apple pie. I had watched and assisted my mom as a youth in canning all sorts of things- tomatoes, peaches, chili sauce, but have never ventured out there on my own. And I have made lots of pies and pie crust (another skill I learned as a child by helping my mom make pies for every Thanksgiving), just never an apple. So there you have it. I am tired, and don't know if I'll be doing it again soon, but I do have a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that I didn't have before. And no more apples in a box waiting for me! Yeah!

Treating

So we had so much fun on Halloween, and got WAY to much candy. Earlier in the day I helped with Ethan and Erin's class parties at school. Then there was the Halloween parade when all the kids in the school show off their costumes to all the parents by weaving their way through the gym.
For dinner I made the kids Mummy-Dogs. (Really hot dogs wrapped with crescent roll strips- but very Halloweenie don't you think?) They even had little faces made out of mustard.


Later, the kiddos did the trunk-or-treat for the ward and got to hit up a street in the neighborhood. They insisted that it wasn't really trick-or-treating at the church. We actually had to go knock on doors and get candy too. Needless to say the haul was immense, and we still had candy left that we bought to pass out.
Jeff dressed up as Santa this year. Ethan was a Clone Trooper from Star Wars. Erin was a bad witch with blue hair and had a mean witch cackle. Katelyn was "Tink Bell" because that is the costume that I had in her size from Erin. And I was the anti-Halloween mom who didn't dress up beacuse I don't really like Halloween all that much. But I do pretend for my kids and make sure that they have lots of fun.

This is our Santa-pretty convincing. A few kids were scared of him, but most thought it was cool. One kid even told his mom that the real Santa was passing out candy. Cool! And Katelyn now thinks that her dad is "SaN-Ta" or "Ho-Ho." Hopefully their will not be confusion at Christmas when Santa is supposed to bring gifts. (I am not ready for that yet- we are all still blissfully unaware- :)
Erin and Ethan door-knocking. Or trick-or-treating the "real" way.

I bet you never knew what Tinkerbell's teeth really look like- maybe fairies should brush their teeth too. Katelyn loved "treating" and was sad the next day when she couldn't go again.

Carving Fun

Last night we carved our pumpkins into Jack-o-lanterns. We like to wait until close to Halloween so they don't get all shriveled up for their big night. Erin designed her own and K's was a template thingy. Ethan had the idea to do a Lego Batman and Robin- Jeff helped with the carving. And Jeff's will hopefully win his company pumpkin carving contest- it's a guy who is a little distressed about his phlebotomy. Glowing brain, kinda cool. Anyway, you can all be impressed with the skillz it took to make. I do not have my own pumpkin as I was busy helping to gut and carve the little girls pumpkins.

Update: Jeff did win the pumpkin carving contest at his work. Prize: $20 to Walmart. Fun times! We were all a little disappointed that he didn't win for the costume though. More on that in a later post.

HSM3- Finally!!

Erin and I had a date yesterday afternoon to go see High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Erin has been on the countdown since April for it to be released. In fact when we went to the zoo earlier in the summer we saw filming going on for the movie. It has been a long wait, but definitely worth it! Erin and I had a fun time and we were glad that the Gillman girls could come along too. Later in the afternoon Erin came grocery shopping with me and decided to spend her money she had on the soundtrack for the movie. This will have to do until it gets released on DVD as she is already asking to go see it again . . .

The girls are all ready for the show to start. We got there almost an hour early to get a good seat- but we were at the first showing of the day so we got right in and picked our seats. We had lots of time to wait, but it was worth it!


Jenny Gillman and her girls, Sarah, niece Kimberlin, and Melissa.

The girls and I.



It was awesome! Thumbs up all the way! Go Wildcats! Yea for Troy and Gabriella!

Weekend Getaway

Since the older kids had no school for a few days, we decided to brave the trip to Idaho Falls to visit B & Nat's family for the weekend. It has been three years since the last time we all made it up together. We had a great time chatting, chasing cousins Jake, Brock, Troy and Ivy, eating yummy food, going to the zoo and park, staying up way too late, and enjoying the unusually warm weather. Thanks so much to B and Nat for being so hospitable and accommodating. I know it isn't always easy to take on 5 extra people! We had a blast!

And for your reading pleasure- the infamous knock knock jokes told by Ethan and Erin for hours and hours on the way home:

"Knock, Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Kentucky."
"Kentucky who?"
"Kentucky Fried Chicken, that's who."

"Knock, Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Freep."
"Freep who?"
"Free poo, no thanks!"

"Knock, Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Boo."
"Boo who?"
"Don't cry, it's just a joke."

They found these so hilarious they just kept repeating them over and over (even though we didn't even eat at KFC, or get free poo).

Grandma's Halloween Party

The kids had a great time at grandma's annual Halloween party. They got to paint pumpkins, decorate popcorn balls, make crafty witches and Frankensteins, and hear lots of scary stories. They also had fun running around with their cousins. Sorry to all those who I didn't catch on camera. I was a little slow with the camera that night!

Davis as Indy and Ethan is a Clone Trooper.

Melanie the ladybug and Jonathan the fireman.

Katelyn with Aunts Jennifer and Suzy.
Zach the racecar driver paints his pumpkin too.

School Pictures

Back To School

Today I hurry off to school,

To work and learn and play.

I'm in a brand new grade this year.

What a happy day!

The kids got their new school pictures taken. I thought Ethan looked the same as last year, but when I got the pictures and compared them side by side- he has grown up a lot! He is loving third grade- learning cursive, memorizing times tables, and making even more friends. He is so responsible. I love seeing him grow and learn new things. He really is an amazing kid!

Erin is loving kindergarten. She has learned all of her letters and sounds and has moved on to reading books. She is so excited to bring them home every day and read each book three times. She is very good at remembering to do all her homework and showing me all her papers that she brings home. I am really glad that she has such an excitement for learning. She is still my helper mouse and both Katelyn and I miss her while she is gone. I am grateful for two great kids in school- and one more at home to keep me company!

Taggle

So, Julie tagged me. Now you get to find out 7 amazing things about me that you never wanted to know. Don't be too scared!

1. I love thunderstorms. Like real east coast thunderstorms. Bucketing rain, thunder, lightning. It makes me feel calm and in awe. I also like the smell of rain. It is so clean and crisp. I can enjoy a cool fall rain smell even if there is no lightning and thunder.

2. I never order milk at a restauraunt. It is always too warm. I like my milk icy cold.

3. I am total remote hog. I like to watch at least two or three shows at once and I always flip channels on commercials. At night when the kids are in bed Jeff always hands me the remote and does something else on his laptop. I don't even know why I do it because then I end up missing part of something I wanted to see.

4. Forks scraping a plate are like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. It brings me right back to my days in braces. It makes my teeth hurt just thinking about it!

5. I make up words all the time. Like taggle... I think that my hubby is finally getting used to this, but I still get teased for it. Needless to say I am not very good at scrabble. (What? Toink isn't a real word??)

6. My belly button is extremely sensitive. I hate having ultrasounds when I am pregnant because they put the gel everywhere and shove the wand thing right into my belly button. Yeek!

7. I am not really a shoe person. I would rather be barefoot, or in the winter in some cozy socks. But the shoes come off when I hit the door usually.

Okay, that was way easier than I thought. I guess I must more quirky/wierd than I even knew.

Thanks Grandma!

THANKS Grandma Hutzley!

We love our new dresses and we are so excited that it is finally cool enough to wear them! We miss you and love you and grandpa so much-

Hugs and Kisses from Erin and Miss K