And so this is Christmas...

We opened some presents and had a good time. Jack got a bike and a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. Maxine got a bike and some lip gloss, slippers and some other stuff.

Then we ate a big breakfast, complete with Christmas Carol Roll (a tradition from Merril's family.) It's the huge cinnamon roll in the corner.

On Saturday, we went tubing with some friends. There was so much snow and the plow hadn't been up yet. It took a little longer than we'd hoped to get there but the kids played in the snow drifts while we waited for the plow.

Maxine and Jack liked to slide down the hill on their rear ends. I slid down on my rear end with Juliet a couple of times. It helps keep from going too fast. But we took the kids down on tubes as well.

We also brought a tube, a knee board and a snow board. All provided great entertainment to the people who were watching. Here's Merril going off a jump on the tube.

Maxine liked going down the hill. However, she didn't like climbing back up the hill.

Here's my shot of the day. Juliet and I were sitting on the knee board, watching people biff it in the snow.

Christmas Eve...

We celebrated our Christmas Eve with going out to dinner. Hee hee. I'd been cooking, wrapping and buying for weeks and I didn't want to make dinner. So we went out, looked at some Christmas lights, and came home to perform our nativity.

Maxine was Mary, Jack was Joseph, and Juliet was an angel. I made costumes this year and was please at how they turned out. Maxine insisted that the Mary costume be blue.

Merril was the donkey. ;)

I got to be the narrator but at some point, Juliet stole the baby Jesus, the manger was knocked over and we were all laughing so hard that the wise men, also played by Merril, showed up and just started handing out pajamas to open.

But we had fun and really enjoyed our Christmas. I would post about Christmas, but I need to go finish my Mom's cake because it's her birthday today! Can you believe 2009 is right around the corner????

Hey, I found my camera...

I like to take a picture of the kids in front of the Christmas tree every year. I might have missed a year or two but this morning was the time for the tree picture. I was using the tree in my bedroom so I was trying to get enough light. So lighting was an issue but I actually got 3 or 4 good ones. Including this one of Juliet and Maxine. Juliet's a little soft. They were goofing off while I wrangled Jack into the frame. Ummm...what's the deal with the open mouths, girls? Maybe they were saying, "Santaaaaa!"

Merry Christmas!!

2 things...

I just finished a huge sewing project last night for Christmas! Whoosh! I can't post pictures yet in case the intendee might read but I'll post after Christmas. My sewing machine is on the fritz too but Merril and I finally worked something out and it sewed the last half of the project like a dream.

I was going to post some pictures but I can't remember where my camera is.

Anyway, a few days ago, I was awakened at 5:30 a.m. to what sounded like a child whining. After stirring out of my slumber a bit, I listened more and realized it wasn't one of my children at all, it was a cat meowing/whining. So I settled back into bed and tried to ignore the cat. The cat won't be quiet and I start wondering, "Where is that cat?? It's really loud." Then I start to realize that the sound is coming from the garage. I open the door and look in the garage and there's a cat meowing in my garage. I don't have a cat so I open the garage door and he runs out. Silly neighbor cat. I just hope he wasn't stuck in there for very long. We'd come home late from Salt Lake and I'm guessing he was only in there since 1:00 a.m. or so. Merry Christmas!!

Snow Day!!

We don't get much snow in our fair town but it's been snowing all day long! It's even sticking! So after Maxine finished school, we put Juliet down for a nap and bundled up.

Kids! Don't eat the snow!

Seriously, don't eat the snow!!! Like they're listening....

And we made a snowman!

The snow has really made it feel like Christmas and I'm glad we have it. Wahoo! However, I'm glad it only snows once in a while! Oh, I went to kickboxing this morning and I feel whooped.

I feel productive...

I've been really trying to get things done after the kids go to bed instead of just watching TV. One of my goals for this holiday season was to finish a ceramic tree that I inherited when my Great Aunt Jan died. One of her talents was painting Christmas village houses and other things of a ceramic nature. For my wedding, she gave me a Christmas village that she'd painted by hand. She gave one to almost every niece and great-niece before she died. (Which thinking about now, I should've written a longer 'thank you' letter because they take a ton of work!!) I've painted a couple of houses, in her style, to add to my village, and this year the ceramic tree was on my list!!

It stands about a 1 1/2 feet tall and is fitted with little plastic pegs. A light is inserted inside and causes the plastic pegs to illuminate. Anyway, I finished with the pegs and the light base this evening and here it is!

It doesn't normally lean so much to the left. I didn't quite sit the tree on the red base correctly before I took the pictures. The base has circles molded into it so I painted a candy cane, a snowflake, a wrapped present and a snowman in each of the 4 ovals. And here it is in the dark.
My Great Aunt made one for my Mom a LONG time ago so it's been kind of fun to make something that reminds me of Christmas as a kid. Thanks Aunt Jan!

Up, Up and...

Today at lunch, Jack was playing with a car and said, "Up, up to the way!!"

Listening in, I said, "Jack, the phrase is 'Up, up and away.'"

He paused for a second, smiled and said, "No. It's up, up to the way! To the milky way!!"

Pausing myself for a second, I thought, 'Well, at least he's thought about it and his rational does make sense.' Good job Jack!

And to show a little OCD, we got a book today called "How Big is a Million?" A penguin sees 10 fish, a group of 100 penguins, 1,000 snowflakes and 1 billion stars. Anyway, on the snowflake page, the seal says to the penguin, "but I'm sure there are a thousand. (And there really were!)" So wondering if the book was telling the truth, I copied the pages and marked off snowflakes as I counted. I actually counted 1,005 snowflakes but I'll account for a margin of error. (But I'm not counting the page with a billion stars...I'll just take their word for it.)

Yummy chocolate...

My sister-in-law, Megan, is on a mission for our church in Sweden. My mother-in-law gets the weekly letter and then forwards it onto the rest of us. Maxine likes to send pictures and I try to write letters. (I should write more, sorry Megs!!) So anyway, Syster(that's how you spell Sister in Swedish) Megan sent me a package today with a HUGE bar of CHOCOLATE! The kids and I already opened and ate some of it! It's soooo smooth and has crispy, crunchies in it!

But anyway, that's not the point of my post. The part that cracked me up the most is how she sent it!! It came in, what I can only guess because I don't know Swedish, a milk carton. I was able to discern 1.5 liters and that it's 1.5 %. I can't think of any other liquid that comes in percentages. And there's some little cows on it. So thanks Megan!! It's been one of the highlights of my week!! We love you!

Say what??

In the last couple of weeks, Juliet's started saying a bunch of new words. Last weekend she learned peanut butter, pillow and Santa. Santa is my favorite. Our yard decorations include an inflatable Santa and when I pulled it out, Maxine and Jack ran over to it and gave it a big hug yelling, "Santa, Santa!!" When we're outside, Juliet walks over to it and says "Santa!"

I'm just amazed at how many words are coming along!! At Wal-Mart, she had some Skittles in her hand and to make conversation and pass the time, I asked her, "How are your Skittles??" She said, "Good!" I just laughed. Kids are funny. FYI, this isn't a fall, she just likes to be like this.

Oh one more thing, I was teaching on Sunday to the Young Women about the The Family: Proclamation to the World. I said that the very first commandment given on the earth was to multiply and replenish the earth, which means to have kids. One of the girls said, "Are you serious?? It's a commandment??!!" She isn't into the whole kid thing yet. I'm still working on it too.

Trimming the tree...

Well, we decorated the Christmas trees without a single ornament being broken. However, some candy canes found their way into little mouths. Do candy canes go bad?? I've used the same ones on my tree for several years.

First, the living room tree!! The ornaments that are breakable have been moved a bit higher, due to the fact that Juliet is very curious. I took this from the side because I could lean on the table for a steady hand. It looks better from the front. Anyhoo, you get the idea.

Maxine and Jack's tree is pieced together branches leftover from the stump. I used about 10 zip ties and voila!! Maxine was skeptical that it could look good until I broke out the icicles. Half a box later, she kept gooing at how beautiful her tree was!!

Hee hee. I think it kind of looks like a star fish. We went to family dollar and got some cheap, plastic balls and star ornaments to hang (not pictured.) I think it works well. They seem to think it's fun too!!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Wahoo, the day after Thanksgiving means driving out to the forest to cut a Christmas tree. Our tree came pre-flocked this year! Unfortunately, all the flocking melted away by the time we drove home.

Here's Merril, ready to attack the tree. He made that saw in middle school shop. Used it ever since.

Maxine was eating snow, of course. No matter how many times I tell my kids not to eat the snow, they never listen.

Juliet got to ride around on my back. She looks like she's having fun. I needed some exercise from all the pie eating so we were both happy.

We brought a ton of snow gear and the kids had a blast playing and rolling in the snow.

Max was helping Jack out of the forest.

Here's Merril dragging our tree to the truck.

And of course, a little hot chocolate brings a lot of happiness at the end of the day.

And on a side note, we got another goldfish. There's only one but the reflection off the tank makes it look like there's two fish in there..)

There were some branches leftover so I 'made'a tree for the kids' room. It's kind of goofy looking but I'll post pictures later. Merry Christmas!

Twilight!!

Heh, heh. Just kidding. I didn't even read the books, let alone stand in line for a midnight showing of the movie. I do intend to see the movie at some point, but don't intend to read the books. It's hard to find a good movie adaptation from a book. Either they change the story so much that the book and movie barely resemble each other or they cut so much that I'm left unsatisfied. So either I read the book or see the movie.

I've heard mixed reviews about Twilight though. Some hated it, some loved it and that made me curious. If you've seen Twilight already, what did you think??

BTW, I saw the new James Bond and really liked it. But I'm a sucker for blue eyes and accents. And guns...and fast cars...nice.And I think Judy Dench does a really great M. So the other question I pose is this: Who is your favorite James Bond?? We have Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig. (There was one film with George Lazenby as James Bond but since I'd never heard of him before, I figured you hadn't either.) I've always been a Sean Connery sucker but Daniel Craig is really climbing the charts for me as the best Bond.

Plunge into the cornucopia...

This year it became apparent to me that I lack Thanksgiving decorations. So during the season, I thought about expanding my decor. At school, Maxine's been learning about Thanksgiving and cornucopias. (I had to run spellchecker on that one.) So we decided that a cornucopia would be a great addition. So I looked around and waited for things to go on sale. FYI, all Halloween and harvest decorations are 80% at Roberts Crafts. We got fake pumpkins and gourds for 50 cents each. The apples and oranges didn't fall into the harvest category so they were regular price. I got the cornucopia at Wal-Mart for half off.

Now I don't really consider myself a 'crafty' person but I dusted off my baby glue gun and set to work. I have to say I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

All told, it came in under $10. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Love hurts...

*I'm giving you fair warning, this story gets icky* As we were nearing bedtime, Jack came in, nervously, and said, "I didn't mean to squeeze the fishy, it was an accident." Curious what such a statement could mean, I hurriedly walked into Max and Jack's room and looked in the fish tank. The step stool was pulled next to the fish tank, the lid was off, and the goldfish was floating. "Uh oh", I thought to myself. Do you remember that part in "A Knight's Tale" when the one guy is threatening the herald and says, "I'll fong you until your insides are out! Your entrails will become your extrails." Yep, that's what happened to our fishy. He'd been loved a little too much. We later found out that Jack wanted to get the fish out so he could hold it and play with it. Seriously, I'm amazed he caught and held onto that thing with his bare hands. I guess I don't have to worry about him starving in the wilderness. He's catching fish with his bare hands at the early age of 3!!

So another one bites the dust. And I was just thinking that this fish had been alive for a long time! We weren't mad, just felt sorry for this poor, poor fish. I could tell Jack knew he'd done something wrong and felt bad. Maxine was a little upset that the fish was dead but seemed fine once I said we'd just get a new one. (This is why I only get 12 cent fish! Could you imagine if it was a puppy?? Too sad to even think about!)

So you've been forwarned! Keep this crook away from your small pets...

;)

Pears...

I finally bottled some pears! They're Merril's very favorite type of bottled fruit. Don't get me wrong, I like pears better than peaches as well but pears take more effort. The skin of a peach will slip off when dunked in boiling water but pears have to be pealed by hand. But, I didn't bottle any pears last year (Juliet was needy and I was tired) so I made myself do it this year. It's a little late to be bottling pears but I squeaked in a batch. Ooooooo, and they're YUMMY! We made out with 7 pints. Well...we're down to 6. We had some with dinner last night. Merril always finishes the meal by drinking all the pear syrup. It tends me make me cringe just a bit. But how can I argue when he pulls back and says, "It tastes like heaven." I'm sure he's settled from his sugar rush by now.

It got really quiet so I walked out and found Jack, asleep on the hardwood floor.

How can he be sleeping on the hardwood floor?? If I move him now, he'll wake up and be grumpy. Oh well, he looks comfy and peaceful to me. FYI, that's brown marker on his forehead and not some gnarly scab.

Birthday fun and flower child...

We've had a few birthdays lately; Jack turned 3 and Maxine turned 6. Maxine wanted a turkey cake for her 'friend' party. I thought the cupcakes were fun (nothing compared to Amy's beautiful cakes but fun!)

For the family parties, Jack wanted a chocolate cake and Maxine wanted a cheesecake. Jack's my chocolate monster. It was the one thing that would make him scream and cry as a baby. Since he (and I) were deprived for his first year, I think he's made it a personal goal to spend the rest of his life making up for it.

Maxine received some flower barrettes from one of her friends and Jack thought they were funny. Sometimes I feel bad he spends his days with all girls.

We made some carmel popcorn balls too. Juliet liked them the best and carried this one around for a long time. She was a sticky, gooey mess towards the end. She'd drooled on it so much that the popcorn had dissolved and left a mass of carmel. I can't blame her though, I love them too!

Lesson in humility...

Okay, so our dryer died for good this time. The motor totally won't work anymore and died on my last load of laundry for the week. Merril said that our OLD, OLD dryer from when we first moved to St. George was still at the shop and he could see if the motor from it would work. So he brought it home and I remembered how much I disliked it. It's gotta be from the 80s with a white body and a black panel up on top. It's smaller than my other dryer but takes 1 1/2 times as long to dry clothes. So I helped Merril unload it and we start walking into the house and I say, "Where are you going with this??"

He says, "Into the house, I thought."

I said, "I don't want that thing in my house. I thought you were going to flip the motor."

He says, "I don't think it'll work but I'll look at it." He proceeds to take it apart a bit and says, "It looks different, I don't think it'll work with our broken dryer."

So I grumble and say, "Fine, let's move it in."

So we move it in and hook it up. I glare at it, hating that this ugly dryer was back in my presence. I had done a load of laundry that morning and had hung up most of the jeans in my bathroom to dry. I went to the bathroom to retrieve the still mostly-wet jeans and throw them in the dryer. I cranked it up and walked away.

And then I started thinking, 'Those clothes were barely any dryer after hanging for 7 hours. I know this dryer is ugly and takes longer but at least it's drying clothes. I know they'll be dry in an hour and a half. I'm being ungrateful'

So I've made peace with the ugly dryer and felt unappreciative for my many blessings. I vowed to be less worldly. So then the next night, I was teaching in Young Womens and talked about my lesson in humility. After the lesson, the YW president game up and said, "You know, I have a dryer that I'm not using and it works great! It's gas though. You can have it if you want! I just got a new set from my Mom."

So I haven't gone and looked at it yet or anything but hey, free dryer. Isn't that nice??

(I've been listening to Christmas music for 2 weeks.) ;)

Halloween and some other stuff...

I've got a computer up and running again!! Yeehaw! So here's some pictures that've parked it on my camera for a bit. They're all straight out of the camera because all my editing software hasn't been installed yet.

Here's Merril doing his best to fix the dryer. The dryer died for good last night. At least I got a week's worth of laundry through it first! Thanks babe for buying me a week! Jack was helping.

Here's Juliet standing next to the drum.

Jack and Merril went to the sand dunes the other morning. Jack wanted to look like Merril.
Here's our pumpkins! From left to right: Cat, Mater (Movie Cars), and a Haunted House. I really love to carve pumpkins! I have a battery-operated pumpkin saw and it makes things go a lot quicker!

Merril was the devil for Halloween and I was an angel. We were dressed up to go to a party.

Maxine was a mummy, Jack was a firefighter, and Juliet was a giraffe.

Merril was handing our candy by our ghostly trunk!

Then we got bored and made the kids hand out candy.

Here's Juliet with her giraffe hood up and a Dum Dum sucker. She pretty much had a sucker the entire evening.

Woosh and that's it! I have to say, having a broken computer has been a pain but I've gotten a lot more done! I really like to waste time on the internet! So hopefully, I can be a little more productive from now on!