Laughing and Learning

How many???

2010-01-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

How many wet wipes does it take to clean a 21 months old cheeto laced hands?
25-30.

Resolutions.......

2010-01-03T14:42:00.000-07:00

I know that some of my close friends and family are trying to get around the word resolution by saying that they would rather do nothing than to not fulfill there yearly goals.
But saying that I am trying something new this year. It is not a physical goal of losing weight or getting organized( all though some of my household could benefit from it). Rather it's attitude.
I have been getting cranky, awnry, crotchety lately. I don't know why but it has to stop because I don't want to be known as "slave driver" any more.
My whole family calls me that. I know that it is more of a nickname than a derogatory word. But when a second grader at school said that I was treating them like a slave? (This is in response to me asking them to put their reading books on the shelf like they know they should be and not a big mess.)
Well that why I have decided this year to try to be more pleasant and not a slave driver. Now get up and do something besides read blogs all day long.

Anybody got anymore cars? I don't think I have enough.

2009-12-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

Guess who likes cars like his dad? I just had to post this picture. We had been at my mom's house for family home evening. We all got home and were very tired. But Josh had other plans and stayed up and lined up all of the cars. He really had a good time doing this to. He has done it many times since.

2009-10-15T09:42:00.000-06:00

Well this past Sunday marked the first day that Josh was able to go to the nursey at church. He had absolutely no problem going. And I didn't mind that at all. All though I didn't get to attend Relief Society like I would have liked to, but playing the piano for primary was fun too.
The teacher in the nursery said that he did very well. Although when they had snacks he went around taking other kids' goldfish. I guess he needs to learn a few more polite manners. Oh, the joys of being 18 months old.

End of summer crunch time.

2009-08-13T17:37:00.001-06:00

So because I have been lame most of the summer I guess I am trying to make it up the last couple of weeks before school starts. Today we went to the Children's Museum and then let the kids romp in the fountain.

Josh having fun with the water works.

Marin and Josh checking out the life flight helicopter.

William climbing the rock wall.

Sariah deciding that she was done at the fountain.

And the rest of the kiddos having a blast.

Of course since Josh was sleeping the entire time the older kids were out in the water he had to make up for it in the food he ate. That included two powdered donuts and the ding dong.
Tomorrow the swimming pool.

Happy Birthday Sariah

2009-08-10T21:32:00.000-06:00

Today is Sariah's 9th birhtday. She had a great day of playing and helping me mak her cake. she actually had two party's. One for both sides of the familly. This is the picture of her last night. She was really excited to have this cake.

Traffic Jams in Heaven

2009-07-26T22:23:00.000-06:00

Tonight while traveling home, we started to talk about how much our lives have changed for the better since having kids.
We figured out that it took us 17 months to add William to our family. Just as we said this Joshua spoke up and yelled at us. The conversation went like this.

Me: Well I don't know why you took so long Josh? ( I like to think that he understands more than he lets on.)
Will: I know, There was a traffic jam in heaven. That's why he took so long to get hear.
Me: Oh, that's why he doesn't like to be in the car very long. It reminds him of waiting for six years to get here.

Were does he come up with some of this stuff?

How long is your church???

2009-07-20T22:54:00.000-06:00

Apparently too long.....

Hey, we ARE still alive.

2009-07-13T06:47:00.000-06:00

Well obviously I am not consistent. Shocked!! I know. So I must make my confession to right my wrong. I have just been too busy too write. Not to read but just to write.
-In my last blog you saw the mess that came with the wet weather. It is still not repaired but at least it's not wet anymore and the kids are playing in the empty bedroom.

-Then we took a trip to see the new Church Historical Library in Salt Lake City. It was neat. We saw how they recover and repair old, old, old books. And then they should us how they take they old photos that are cracked and "reprint" them. That was really interesting. Found out that my mom's great grandpa used the P.E.F (Perpetual Emigration Fund) to come from England.

-Went to the Raptors baseball game for the reading award the school got. That was way fun. To bad the team lost.
-Next I really got back into running. I ran 5 miles straight in one day. Only got two blisters from that run.
-Sariah did our Little Miss competition for our Cities Heritage days.
-More Baseball for both kids. With a threat of playoffs for William. But their team lost their last game.
-Talked my family into running a 5k with me. Beat my time by 23 seconds. (two siblings couldn't do it and dad just isn't a runner)
-My brothers 23 birthday.
-Joshua starting to walk more and more everyday.
-Playing the organ every week in church and the piano for the choir. (we need more people willing to use their talents!!!!!)
-Celebrated the fourth of July like everyone else. Pigging out on good food.
-Kids started swimming lessons.
-Painted the outside of our house. That was a big project that took two days. And I still have the accents to paint. I will post pictures when I get it all done.
-Just got a phone call. William's team did make the playoffs. Yippee more baseball!!!!!!!!!!

June 11, 2009

2009-06-11T22:16:00.000-06:00

Today has just been one of those days. It started off good. I got in two miles today running (a little sore from yesterdays three miles). Had the neighbor girls over for the day and all the kids were getting along pretty good. Then lunch comes. Joshua is whiny and wants me to hold him. William and Sariah get into it. Sariah won't leave Will's room. So I count 5,4,3,2,......1, head down stairs and she has run into the T.V. room. I go to talk to her on the couch and my foot lands in a puddle of water.
Yep, the north side of our down stairs is squishy wet. That took care of the argument between Sariah and William because they now had alot of work to help me with. Come to find out our sump pump hasn't been working the whole time we have had this wet weather. (Six days) I called Aaron and told him what was going on. He can't come home from work, so I called my family to come to my rescue. They come and take the love seat and the entertainment center out for me. I love having my brothers come and rescue me, and my sisters boy friend. Then we pull the carpet up and I proceed to suck up alot of water. All while Joshua is crying and whining for me.
Then I needed to go and pick up Joshua's new birth certificate for a passport app.
Josh still wanting mommy.
Sariah had a Little Miss meeting to attend to. They got to make their own tye-dye t-shirts.
Come home and find Aaron doing the sink full of dishes. Joshua sees me and decides that he still wants me to pick him up and hold him.
Went back to the park to see if any of Sariah's softball team has come for pictures. Two did. No pictures were taken. At least her game was cancelled.
Came back and tried to air out the carpet more while Aaron went for pizza.
Joshua still crying and wanting me to hold him. So while we eat I hold him and realize he is running a fever.
Give him Tylenol.
Go back down stairs to help Aaron and realize Williams carpet needs to come up to. (10 year old boys don't keep their room too clean)
Still holding Josh.
Change the laundry.
Take Josh's temp. 102!
Family pray, time for bed. Lets pray for a better day tomorrow.
P.S. I did think about taking pictures of my brothers taking everything out. But the wet stuff over ruled my thinking. I have to post picture later of the mess.

Thunder and Lightning..... maybe something frightening

2009-06-02T19:46:00.001-06:00

Well this week has already been a long one. And it is only Tuesday. The kids are home from school and I have got the two neighbor girls four days of the week. Then you have the four days of baseball games and to top it off. Josh came down with his first bout of 24 hour bug. Long night last night. And also today. I got to stay in my P.J. most of the day, until I had to get out of them for Sariah's baseball game.
William had practice tonight. Thankfully Josh finally decided to start to feel better this evening. Although it wasn't early enough to let me make dinner. I am really glad Aaron doesn't mind P.B. and J. once in a while.
Then my running partner called just as I walked in the front door and asked if I wanted to go out and run. Heck yeah. So we went and ran until the evening thunder storm pulled. I went about 2.3 miles and felt so good. Then it poured rain. That's O.k my back yard needs the water. We haven't been able to turn on the sprinklers yet. Two of the heads are broken. They should be fixed this weekend just in time for normal spring weather to return. And then yesterday week took out seven of our Aspen trees that had died since we have lived here. It was one of those things we kept saying to ourselves that we would get to and never did. Well it finally needed to be done. We took out three of them with our hands. They were rotted at the base. Aaron and I just pushed a little and down they went. I am so thankful that the kids hadn't thought of trying to play on them.

Now for the frightening part Josh goes in for his twelve month check up tomorrow. He gets feeling better just so he can get shots and feel horrible.

End of school drama.....

2009-05-29T14:48:00.000-06:00

Today was the last day of school for Will and Sariah. Will was a little sad about it ending, and Sariah only cared about making sure she got to take her "Birthday treat" (we kept forgetting to take it the other three times in the year to celebrate). But she remembered and then forgot her teachers present. We took the kids to breakfast this morning to celebrate.
Then Josh and I sat and waited for the happy smiling kids to get off the bus. Sariah was happy but Will came off like a storm cloud about to explode. At the end of the school year each child gets a note telling them who their new teacher will be next year. Sariah is thrilled with her teacher , as am I. William was expecting to see the Advanced Learning Group teachers name. It wasn't their!!!! It was a regular teachers name.
Needless to say I was a storm cloud after that little announcment. So I called the Districts main number and the nice lady transferred my to a answering machine. I left a message. Then I had Will go and look for the paper that said he made it into the program, called that number. Got and answering machine. All I have ever gotten was a freakin answering machine everytime I call for a specific number. So I guess we will just have to wait until someone decided to listen to their messages and gets back to us. So this is going to be a long weekend. Enjoy the picture of the sunset.

How would you like this for a librarian?

2009-05-20T15:25:00.000-06:00

This is a picture of our Librarian at the kids' school. She would put this costume on for our reading assemblies last year. The theme last year was something about finding treasure through reading or something like that. Well this year our school has been working on reading 1,855,000 minutes and Monday they announced that the school not only made the goal but surpassed it by 55,000 minutes. Now mind you that it the entire elementary. But the kids were really excited about that. Well this was also the last assemble for the principal since he is leaving at the end of the year. So "Capt. Jack" made an appearance again just for him. Capt. Jack also presented the school with their prize for completing their goal. Each kid get two tickets to the local baseball team game for this summer. By the way "he" arrived in that kayak on the floor carried by the four football players who helped give out four bikes that the kids also had to read for. She actually does a pretty good impersonation of him.

What I am supposed to be doing.....

2009-04-24T16:36:00.000-06:00

I should be done writing a talk for the adult session of stake conference. I have had three weeks to do it. That's not to say that I haven't thought about it. Or heck even looked up things on the Internet, but actually writing things down is only about 15% done.

But instead of that I am mowing my lawn and fixing my lawnmower, food shopping, going out to lunch with my sisters. And a little more shopping trying to prepare for the upcoming canning season. And tonight we have a ward activity.

Since being in the Stake Primary Presidency, I have really tried to give talks that the spirit prompts me to talk about. And not to have per-say a written talk. It has been quite alright, only because I either just bore my testimony or talked about the scouting program. Or held up a picture that went along with that months primary theme.

Do you think that it would be o.k. to hold up pictures in Stake Conference?
Yeah your right, I would need a really big picture. Of course I don't remember seeing a picture on "Teaching our children to be self-reliant."
Yep, that is the theme of my talk. Good luck me.
I

Easter... I know I am behind.

2009-04-15T17:59:00.000-06:00

Our Easter was pretty good. We were supposed to get a big storm but it didn't come in until later in the night. William and Sariah had fun looking for the eggs at the park. Although Sariah kept running a low grade fever since Thursday, she really went for the whole thing this year. I remember the first year we went she just picked up 6 or 7 eggs and no candy. Then the next year she did the same. Well finally this year she got the right idea to get all that was possible. (I know what kind of kids are we raising?) Then we went back to my mothers house to do an egg hunt their. While we were trying to finish stuffing eggs the kids were out back playing this is the out come of their playtime.

I think the kids did something !!!!

Yep, they broke my mothers back window. My father started the break but the grand kids helped it along.

That night we had an adult egg hunt. The kids hid the eggs and the adults had to use flashlights to find them in the dark. Unfortunately Will and Anna thought that we needed to really be challenged and buried some of them in my mothers hill. Maybe next year we need to let the littler kids hide them for us?

Dang... frosting hands

2009-04-10T15:45:00.000-06:00

Sorry that should be the other way around 31 inches and 24 pounds.

One year older and wiser too....

2009-04-10T14:56:00.000-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!
That's right today is Josh's first birthday.
Here's the stats:
08' weight 9'1'' length 21 1/2 pounds
09' weight 31 inches 24 pounds

Then: You liked to sleep a lot and try to suck your thumb.
Now: You climb up and down the stairs and anything that is your right size. You take how ever many naps you need. Love to pull out anything you get into. You are our mess maker. Discovered that he could climb the dishwasher two weeks ago.

Then: Liked to take baths.
Now: Just like your older brother. Screams when it is bath time. I just don't know why my boys don't like the water?

Food
Then: Anything that you could eat by sucking.
Now: Any thing that is in your reach. Including the dog food. Leftover cereal in the bottom of the cupboard. And especially the leftover candy in the microwave cabinet. But I'd better have a bottle ready when it is bed time. This is a Cheerio that he had on his nose for about ten min.

Happy birthday Lizard. I will have to post pictures of his party and cake later.

Way to go Will...

2009-03-20T18:55:00.000-06:00

William just got accepted to the advanced learning class in our school district. He is so psyched. He has been bored in his fourth grade class room. And he wants a challenge. He definitely got Aaron's genes in the smarts. I was not very good at school. We are so proud of him.

Spring, Beautiful Spring

2009-03-20T18:43:00.000-06:00

What a perfect day for Spring to arrive. I was able to clean out one of my flower beds, and put holes in my garbage can so all the winter water can drain. The kids finished their third quarter of school and that means one quarter left till the end of the year. Any one who knew William when he was little will a test to the fact that he hated to be on the grass. Josh on the the other hand loves to be outside. If he is having one of those days all I need to do is plop him in the stroller and take a walk or even just be outside. Must of gotten my gene rather than Aaron's.

11 months and counting...

2009-03-10T21:19:00.000-06:00

Today Josh is 11 months old. Here are just a few of the things that are happening in his life.He got two more teeth. It is his top two. This picture is of a cupcake we let him have last night. He was pretty proud of himself for eating most of it plus the marshmallow flower that was on top.

Learned to lick his plate clean so that mom won't yell at him for not finishing his food. (just kidding, I had left his plate on the table and he just picked it up and started to lick it clean). His favorite foods are anything that I put in the baby food grinder. He loves to eat. We are still working on him using his cup more than the bottle.

Found interesting places to get himself stuck.His crawling has improved but if he wants to take anything with him it is army crawl all the way. It keeps his hands free to do other things, like his blanket. That thing has to be with him in the car or you will most certainly hear from him.

And decided that mommy and daddy like to spend their time sitting at the bottom of the stairs to play ball with him. Or anyone who will throw the ball back to him. His favorite toys right now are this blue hand ball and some yard sale toys I picked up last summer. Guess I don't have to buy anything expensive to entertain him for his birthday. :) He climbs up the stairs but will not even try to go down them. Yet! He has definitely got ideas about what I should be doing and when. He loves it when daddy or his brother or sister come home. He gives them the biggest grin.

Happy Birthdays

2009-03-02T17:03:00.000-07:00

Well as you all might know today is Dr.Seuss's birthday so we took a picture of Joshua in a "Cat in the Hat". Our next door neighbor came over with it. Thanks Tyler. Obviously it was a little to big.

Next is my niece Anna. She turns the big double digits to day. A great big Happy Birthday from me.

What the....

2009-02-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

Teething + Amoxicillian resistant bacteria+ no fever(or crankiness)= Ruptured eardrum.

He was fine on Saturday. Honest. We went to Will's game and then to my mom's house and he crawled all around and hung out with his cousins. Who would have thought that he was getting an ear infection? We just finished a round of antibiotics on Thursday.
So I ended up skipping our sacrament meeting (not like I had two other that I needed to go to), and took Josh to the insta-care. Where I learned that the infection was resistant to the antibiotic and that it did nothing but give him diarrhea. So they gave me a new prescription of Augmentin and cultured his goop coming out of his ear. Just to make sure that this infection was an Augmentin resistant strain!
Then on to the fun part. Having to go and fill the prescription. I hate having to go to the store on Sunday.Well I ended up at the Walmart pharmacy just as they were opening. Josh was asleep in my arms and the lady at the counter said that it would be 40 minutes. O.k. I will just sit here and try not to fall asleep. 30 minutes later she calls my name and tells me that they don't have his strength of med. So now I need to go someplace else. So I ended up at Walgreen and have his med. in 5 min. Guess where I am going to go for out next prescription needs?

From Friend to Frindle

2009-02-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

I have to write this in a week form. Just so many things were going on this week. Sunday night Tracy, my friend from Washington, came into town. We had a good but very brief visit interrupted by the start up of the elementary choir again. So here to the early mornings on Mondays and Wednesday. I also went shopping for the gate for the top of the stairs. We need to rig a dummy board to our railing because the wall and the end of the railing are off set. I will leave that up to my wonderful husband.
This picture is of how an early mornings affects William and Marin (next door neighbor that gets a ride to choir with us)

-Tuesday brought on the doctors visit for Josh.

-Wednesday was still a sick day. By that night I had resigned to the fact that Josh needed to go back to the doctor.He just doesn't look very good in this picture. This was Thursday morning.

-Thursday Josh woke up with 103.2 fever. After two whole days of antibiotics I was kind of worried about him. But I gave him Tylenol and sent him to my sisters so I could go and substitute at the school. I got to sub Sariahs' class. They are a really good bunch of kids. They are earning "money" for their business day at the end of April. So I got to give it out and take it back for bad behavior. It is amazing what kids will do for the right to keep their money. We also read a book called "Frindle". School ended at 3:15 and I had to take Josh to a doctors apt. at 3:45. William had scouts at 4:00 (thank heavens for car pooling). Well the doctor seems to think that Josh also had a viral on top of the bacterial. Of course he has felt better ever since I took him. But now he has a rash on his torso. That night was a stake meeting for the music choristers. Our Stake Music leader went through the LDS web site. It has fun things you can do with music.

-Friday was the Valentine Day parties at the school. Only I didn't have to help because I was the teacher for the day. I subbed Sariahs' class again. I had a really good day. The kids were excited for the party but they also knew that they had to get their reading and spelling tests out of the way. Then they finished a video called Stonefox, it had a rather sad ending and half the class need a tissue ( it's about a boy trying to save his grandfathers ranch by racing against the rest of the town. In the end his dog dies winning the race). Then the party. The kids had a great time. I even had time to go and sit in on Williams' party. And watch the sixth grades "dance". It was a good day. Here is the picture of Sariahs' class with their "Frindles". You will have to read the book to understand about the picture.

10 months and growing...

2009-02-10T20:42:00.000-07:00

Today Joshua is 10 months old. I can hardly believe were the time has gone. But today seems like an eternity. I know for a fact that he weighs 21 pounds because we got to visit the doctor today. A temperature of 103 this morning gave me the go ahead to take him in. He has had a stuffy nose for about a week, but was doing fine until last night. Well it turns out that it is an ear infection. Bring on the antibiotics. And throw in a priesthood blessing for good measure. I really can't complain, this is after all only the second time I have had to take him in for being sick. Which really is a blessing knowing how much he is around kids while I am playing for the elementary choir. He is really a good kid.

Things he learned this month:
-How to give his daddy a heart attack. Sunday Aaron is taking a rest on the couch, Joshua and William are playing by the stairs and knocked a box filled with toys down the stairs. Boy, can Aaron move fast. He unfortunately thought that it was Josh going down and not the box. We all had a good laugh at his expense and will be purchasing a gate very soon.
-Really get to the places he wants to go. He may army crawl but he can get their quick.
-He has fallen asleep without the aid of mommy a couple of times.
-Just this weekend he got up the courage to move from one piece of furniture to another.
-He wears 18 month clothes thanks to a very long body.
-Still only has two teeth, but I think he is working on the uppers.
-Hates to be in his car seat unless someone is in the seat next to him.
-Loves to feel snow falling on his face. Rain not so much.

They finally won one!!!!!

2009-01-31T10:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, that is right. Williams basketball team finally won a game. After two years all the practice payed off. Not to mention that the coaches wife promised them a king sized candy bar at the next practice if they won. They played very well. The score was 12 to 9. Will didn't make any of the points but did play very good defense. Congratulations ......(still need to find out the name of his team.)

Just asked William and apparently they don't have a name. We might need to come up with one if the keep winning.

Basketball Time

2009-01-22T16:53:00.000-07:00

Well here goes another season of basketball. And we can already see a big improvement over last year. William didn't even know how to dribble the ball last season. Not that he didn't think he could.
Well after a whole year of basketball camp he came out of the starting gate and made the first basket of the season. That only seems right since he made the last basket of last season (his first and only basket of last season). Now we need to wait and see if he can continue his progress this year. His team isn't the best but they do have alot of spirit. What other team would keep trying if they were down 2 to 14. But that is what they did this week. That was the score at the end of the first quarter. Now you would think that the game would just keep going like that. But they held there own and the final score was only 6 to 16. Or something like that. I asked William after the game if he had fun and it is always a resounding Yes.
This week William has a test he is taking and will not be at the game . So we get one week off of sitting and cheering for the..... I still don't know what their team name is? I really need to remember to ask Will what it is.

Welcome home Elder Kippen

2009-01-16T15:25:00.000-07:00

Well I know that I am way behind on this post by about a week. But, time flies when your catching up. Ryan came home on Wednesday the 7. His flight was to be in at 4:05. At 4:30 we were beginning to wonder if he made his connecting flight in Atlanta. But we had a couple of people from his flight keep telling us that he was right behind them. Why is it that missionaries like to keep their families in suspense? You would think that they want to see us just as much as we want to see them. On the way home William started to come down with the flu. And I came down with it later that night. Needless to say Wills plans to spend Thursday with his uncle came to a crashing end.

Then we had the Kippen family Christmas on Saturday. That was 25 + people in my parents house for waffle breakfast and opening presents. That was a lot of fun. Thanks Mom and Dad for the Family Hymn book and the presents for the kids.

Sunday was his talk in church and then the dinner afterwards. He talked about serving in the New York, New York South Mission. And how when he got the call he thought "Manhattan and Bermuda, I'm going to have a cool mission. Cool tourist things to see and then the sandy beaches of Bermuda." But in reality he only went to Manhattan to go to the Temple. And if you were transferred to Bermuda you were there for at least 7 months. So he stayed in the Brooklyn and Bay Shore area. He fell in love with the Brooklyn bridge and the neat people that he got the opportunity to teach. Then if you thought 25 people in my parents house was a lot, try the twice that much. Good thing mom took down her Christmas tree right after our party on Saturday. It was great food and great company. Everyone really liked the pulled pork sandwiches.

Happy Birthday Dear Husband

2009-01-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

Well Aaron is the big 32 this year and I am happy that this year had many more good things than bad. A new job, new baby, released from being Elders Quorum president to being assistant ward clerk to now THE ward clerk. What a year of changes.
On Friday we went out to the Prairie Schooner for his birthday dinner. It is the restaurant were he proposed to me. We took the kids so they could see the place. It is set up like a wagon train circled for the night. You get to sit in covered wagon to eat. They have very good steaks. It is a restaurant that we go to only maybe once every 2 or 3 years. Sariah thought that it was way cool, and Will just put his nose in a book. Josh had his highs and lows. Loved the idea of the new place, but quickly tired of it, and wanted the whole place to know that he was their. Guess who found their voice? That's what happens when he only takes two 20 minute naps for the day.
Then on Sunday we held a triple birthday dinner for Aaron, his Grandma Lee, and brother in law Cole. Talk about hitting three birds with one stone. Aarons' presents from his mom and Grandma hadn't arrived yet so he had to make do with pictures of his presents. My present was part of the car parts that came for Christmas.
Then Tuesday was his actual b-day. He got his chicken cordon bleu, even though he meant to ask for Malibu chicken. But it was a good meal.Then I took a not so happy Josh to my Stake Primary meeting so that the birthday boy wouldn't have to worry about him.
I Hope you had a good birthday and I love you very much.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-30T07:45:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas everyone. We had a very relaxing Christmas morning. We didn't get up until seven. We ate our traditional cinnamon rolls and then proceeded to open all the presents in under 30 minutes. Joshua just loved the wrapping paper. William said that we didn't need the shredder anymore because we now have a human version.
Everyone enjoyed their gifts. Aaron just hasn't opened his yet. That is because it is car parts that are sitting in the garage. And it has been cold. But hopefully he will get out their soon and get use out of those parts. I really want to ride in his MGB later this summer.
We all just relaxed and then at 3 we got talk to my brother who is finishing his mission in the New York New York south mission. We can't wait to see him on the 7 of Jan.
A list of things each of the kids received:
William: P.j. (that didn't fit. stop growing will ya!) Banana chair, millennium falcon, A-wing, books, coat, settlers of catan, and a battle ground game.
Sariah: P.j. they did fit her. Little pet shop toy, three pairs of pants, a new dress, a book, bike and other things that mommy can't remember.
Joshua: His first tooth. Three pairs of p.j.'s , clothes and a couple of toys.
Aaron received lots of car parts!!!! Now get out their and get going on the car.
I received things that I asked for: 2 cutting boards a strainer(mine was leaving metal pieces in the food) and two puzzles. Aaron then gave me some money to go and by me a new dress. He hates shopping for clothes.
Christmas night turned onto a blizzard and so we did end up with a white Christmas after all.

The Second Week of the Season

2008-12-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

This week was alot less crazy than last week. We had choir practices every morning, with one performance at an assisted living center. Oh, what fun it was to ride on the school bus with 55 4,5,and 6 graders. There was another bus but that only had 29 students on it. When we arrived our three lines from the riser at the school turned into five squished lines with some sitting of the floor and some kneeling. But they acted well behaved and sang great for the people who did come down. Now if I can get this crazy Miami Beach song out of my head I might get a good night sleep.

I did get to go to our enrichment night on Tuesday. It was alot of fun. Joshua had fun waving to anyone else that would wave to him. I did end up playing the piano for the carols that we sang. The food was soup in a bread bowl and the rest of the food was salads and desserts brought by the rest of the sisters. Thanks again for the cheesecake and the cherry chip cookies. Yum.

Thursday was "Santa at the cabin." The Santa was awesome. Real beard, long white hair, and didn't promise toys that maybe mom and dad couldn't afford (Nintendo D.S.). But Sariah still felt like he listened to her request and then we got to take these cute pictures. Joshua had just woken up and didn't really now what to do. My sister joined us for the short fun that is was. The kids received a little activity kit and a little cup. I love the city that we live in.

Today we awoke to blowing snow and the forecast for it to continue all weekend long. Can we sing "It's beginning to look alot like Christmas". I will have to take pictures and post them later.

The First Week of the Christmas Season

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Monday: We were able to go see "The Forgotten Carols" by Michael McLean. We were supposed to go as a family but Sariah came home from school with the flu. She and Joshua ended up staying at my sister house. It was a great night as you can see from the pictures. William brought a friend to replace his sister for the night.

Tuesday: We had our annual make gingerbread houses night. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera.

Wednesday: The pioneer Elementary school choir performed at the Christmas Village. William did great and Aaron says that I played well. One performance down, four left!

Thursday: Was a night just for me. It was our yearly Stake primary party. It is the night we get together and put our gifts for the ward leaders together, enjoy food, and just relax after the long year of ward conferences and primary programs(which we still have two wards to go too).

Friday: Date night. This year my sister is in the Chamber choir of the high school.Every year they put on a Dickens Festival. Mariah got the part of The ghost of Christmas past. It was a very entertaining night. I will publish more on it when I can get the pictures posted.

Saturday: My mothers birthday. We celebrated by going out to eat. Thanks again cousin Lynsey for unexpectedly dropping by and taking all the grandkids for us.

Stake Conference time...

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Today was our stake conference. It was a very uplifting day with the visiting area seventy with us. He talked about his experiences in the United Kingdom. And they way that the growth of the church has come since he was a missionary there. This made it all the more harder not to return to our prior plans to go to Scotland next year. But I digress. We had a lot of Stake callings to fill due to the split in our stake last month. We needed three high councilman, two positions in the stake Young Women, one in the stake Relief Society and on in the Stake Young mens. Our Stake Primary Presidency was the only auxillary that did not loose anyone. So the callings and sustaings took a little longer than normal. Last night, at the adult session, Brother Cecil O' Samuelson talked about the need for the missionaries to help with our work not the other way around. Especially with the part member families. Then this morning he talked about making the temple our childrens inheritance. Rather than the worldly things that we tend to pass down generation to generation.

On the way home I asked everyone how they like conference and their replys were this:

William & Sariah boring.
Aaron: I'm glad you got to hear it.

I of course did get to hear it because I am on the stand with the Stake Primary. Aaron was with Joshua having a lovely time trying to decifer his needs and wants. Yes it was a lovely session and I know that the messages given where for our good and someday my children will be able to say that they enjoy going to Stake Conference. Even if it is 15 years from now.

Meet the newest member of our family.

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Joshua joined our family in the spring of 08'. He was along time coming and couldn't be more loved.

This is all new to me!!

2008-11-13T13:03:00.000-07:00

Just to give it a try. I have been following many of my former neighbors in the west on their blogs and thought that it might be a good idea to start my own.