Merry Christmas

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas.  May the spirit of Christ bring joy and peace to you and your family.

It's been such a wonderful month for our family.  We're just finishing up a few Christmas tasks on our "to do" list.  We've done some very fun activities this season including:

• attending the BYU  Folk dance Christmas around the World program
•  creating our own "Polar Express" and going to see the Christmas lights
• making homemade ornaments for our Christmas tree
• putting up our creche 
• getting together with family and friends
• going to Natalie's Kindergarten Christmas Program
• taking the kids shopping (harder than it may sound!)

I have not been able to share some funny stories about the kids on the blog, but will get you all caught up after the holidays.

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.   I love being around family and the delicious food, and I also love that this is one of the only holidays where we focus on what we have rather than what we don't have. 

Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving celebration this year.  The last Thanksgiving we had with my siblings was 6 years ago, and with my parents, 8 years ago (they were on their mission 6 years ago). So this was a neat gathering.  We had a delicious feast followed by an afternoon of Minute to Win It games (mostly found here and here).  The games were fantastic because all age groups could compete together for most games. 

 

 

 

Today when I was getting frustrated that the computer wasn't working, Jared pointed out that this is a "First World Problem". If you haven't heard the term (and I hadn't) this is the definition: First World Problems "are frustrations and complaints that are only experienced by privileged individuals in wealthy countries".  Here is a little clip that may help you (as it did me) put my frustrations in perspective.

As we move enjoy the holidays, let us remember how blessed we are, and what really matters in life.  You may have seen the quote below before, but I thought I'd post it to remind us all to be more grateful for the little things in life.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep---   you are richer than 75 percent of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish---you are among the top 8 percent of the worlds wealthy.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness---you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation---you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful---you are blessed because the majority can but most do not.

A Spooktacular Halloween

This year we have celebrated Halloween more than most years.  Throughout the month of October, we decorated our house, made lots of crafts and treats, watched Halloween movies and had a little party for the kids' friends. Halloween night we went trick-or-treating door-to-door (no trunk-or-treating for our family, the kids have to work for their candy!).

What Natalie really wanted to be this year was a forest ranger, however we didn't have a costume for her so she decided to wear her princess dress-up. Jared made Natalie's day by bringing home some fairy wings on Halloween, she was ecstatic!

Thomas had been talking all month about being a Ninja for Halloween, so when Target had 50% off costumes I got him his Ninja costume that he wore to school.  However, on Halloween night he changed his mind and wanted to be Harry Potter.  He wore his ninja costume (minus the red tunic) and then had us paint a lightening bolt on his head.  Thomas has recently started to be a fan of Harry Potter after reading the first book all by himself (he loves reading!).

Amelia was so excited to wear her clown costume to school she kept saying how all the kids would think she was so funny and laugh.

Little Abigail is somewhat of a Tomboy.  She really loves robots, Star Wars, and the color blue.  Buzz Lightyear is a good representation of who she is.

We had a lot of fun making monsters this year.  Our craft ideas were mostly found on Pinterest (I love Pinterest!).

Trip up North

Last weekend we spent a few days up north visiting family.  We always feel at home in Logan.  We love seeing Grandma and of course Buzz (the dog)! One of our favorite traditions (since we were students) is going to Logan's Pumpkin Walk.  There are so many creative ways to decorate pumpkins, it's so much fun to see! This year we were so lucky that many of our family members were able to go with us followed by a pizza party at Grandma Toone's house.

This is the 2nd year in a row that we went with Grandma Toone to "The American West Heritage Center" which was full of fun activities for us all.  What a great trip.

Moab for Fall Break

This year for Fall break we went to Moab and Arches National Park. The kids did so awesome during the drive (just 3 ½ hours) although Natalie did get carsick, but we were prepared with our car-cleanup kit that we have learned must always go with us.  Our first hike was to Corona Arch (3 miles roundtrip).  The kids loved this hike so much, they didn’t complain at all. It was a super fun hike that included scrambling over rocks, climbing up steps carved into a sandstone wall while holding on to a steel cable, and climbing up a ladder, what an adventure for us all.  Jared carried Amelia in a backpack, we are glad she’s small so that she can go on these hikes with us.

After the hike we headed to the hotel (Moab Valley Inn) and took a break.  We got a fantastic room with 3 queen beds and a little extra space that made it so nice.  Then we went swimming.  The pool wasn’t heated and dark clouds had just rolled in so we were a bit cold but had fun and then we were able to warm up in the hot tub.  

The next day we woke up to rain and thunder and a dark hotel room since the power had gone out for half of the hotel. Luckily the power outage lasted only about an hour or so and we were able to pack up, and get breakfast.  The hotel had a great continental breakfast, complete with food that even our kids with food allergies could have.

We spent the day in beautiful Arches national park, going on small hikes in between heavy rain showers.  The kids didn’t mind the rain at all and instead had dance parties in the van while we waited the storms out.  Thomas and Natalie completed the Junior Ranger Program and earned their badges, that they are very proud of.  They had to complete tasks such as identifying rocks and plants, picking up trash, and asking the ranger a couple of questions.  We were also able to borrow a backpack from the forest service that included books about animals and nature, binoculars and magnifying lenses, colored pencils… which was fun to do in the car while we waited for the storms to pass. 

We headed home around 3pm, grabbed some Café Rio salads, and watched a Halloween movie at night.  We were all worn out after such a great trip.   

Thomas Sings Solo

Today was the primary program at church and Thomas sang solo the first verse of "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus" and then the primary children joined in at the chorus followed by another little girl who sang the 2nd verse.  Thomas did a great job, mixing up just a few words at the end but otherwise he sang clearly and loudly.  He wasn't so happy to sing for me this afternoon (especially since I made him put his shirt and tie back on), however he was willing to do it for a few pieces of candy. Natalie also had a nice part in the program that she had memorized "I can learn to be more like Jesus by participating in good activities on Sunday".

This week we jump into October.  We have a birthday celebration planned for Jared on Thursday!  We also look forward to watching General Conference next weekend. Conference is a weekend full of uplifting messages from living prophets that really inspire me to become a better me.  Even though we don't have cable, we can stream conference to our TV from the internet.

Back to School

So the kids have been in school for about a month now, I know I'm a bit behind in writing.  I would say Amelia is the most excited to be in school.  She talks about her preschool every day.  Amelia attends the Special Needs preschool through the school district and the bus comes to pick her up at our door.  She almost didn't get admitted to the school since testing shows she's normal in all other areas except motor; however with a bit of pushing I got her in.  She looks so small driving away in the bus that I felt guilty sending her.  But honestly, Amelia is a handful and takes a lot of attention.  With her in preschool I can really focus on Abigail who is often pushed aside since her siblings require my attention more than she does.

Thomas really likes school as well although he reports that he gets his name on the board often.  The teacher tells me that it's because he needs to use his inside voice.  He naturally has a loud booming voice, so I can see her point.  On the other hand, with his loud voice he's a great singer, in fact he's going to sing a solo in next week's primary program in church.

Above is a picture of Thomas with his new glasses.  After completely failing his eye exam (the only letter he got right was the big "E" at the top of the chart), we ordered Thomas some glasses.  We bought these online for only $37 shipped (and they were the expensive frames!) .  Thomas is totally happy with these and I highly recommend ordering from this company http://www.zennioptical.com/ (my mom and sister both ordered from this site as well and are happy with their purchases as well).                         

Natalie seems to be really liking school as well.  Her only complaint is that she has two girls that follow her around all the time and she has to tell them that she can't play with them all the time.  Oh, if life only stayed as complicated as it were in kindergarten.

                   

New Hair

Today I decided to cut the twins hair.  They have sensitive heads and have always screamed when I tried to comb their long hair. After watching a couple of youtube tutorials, this is how it turned out.  What do you think? They were very good for me while I cut away. All I had to do was put in a movie and give them a sucker.

Birthday Week

 

This has been a super busy week for us (in a good way).  We had 2 birthdays, Thomas started 1st grade, visits from Grandma Toone and our nephew Clint, sports club (more on that later), cub scouts, and a few miscellaneous meetings scattered throughout the week.

The picture above is with our lovely Grandma Dallas.  She will be 75 years old tomorrow!!!! Happy birthday, we love you! Thank you for visiting us last weekend, we love to be with you.

Thomas is really liking school this year other than he has had to sit all by himself at lunch everyday this last week because of his severe peanut allergy.  I've talked to the staff at the school each day trying to resolve this problem, but still Thomas's friends are told that they cannot sit with him, even when they have school lunch (which is peanut free!). So I've emailed the principal and hopefully this week will be a better one. Thomas is getting pretty upset over this.

We celebrated Thomas and Natalie's birthday on each of their birthdays, plus we had Thomas and Natalie's first friend party (10 kids + our 4) yesterday.  At the end of the party the kids were on cloud 9, but Jared and I were exhausted.  We had the kids play "hot potato dress up", run through an obstacle course, and go fishing for prizes.  For cake we served a special rice crispy treat cake (actually quite good) since one of our guests is severely allergic to wheat, milk, eggs, and nuts.

 

As mentioned earlier, we had our Sports Club this week.  I started the sports club 2 weeks ago.  It's a free club for kids pre-k through 3rd grade.  We meet once per week at the park to play sports with different parents coaching the sport of their choice.  We have had about 12 to15 kids show up each week.  Jared and I coached kickball the first 2 weeks and the following weeks we have flag football, soccer, and tee-ball scheduled. It's been a great way to get to know others in the community.