Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Christmas 2007

Random pictures of the kids from Christmas dayTravis sleeping on the couch after getting up at some super early hour to see if Santa had come and getting his stocking.

The girls opening their stocking while waiting for everyone else to get up.


Each of the kids, happy while opening presents.
Giving Fletcher new toys in the hopes of him leaving us alone while we were opening presents. It didn't work as well as we hoped. He kept wanting us to play with him and his new toys.

Playing and checking out the presents the rest of the day.



One of the biggest highlites of Christms. The arrival of Krystal the next day.




















Gingerbread tales

Once upon a time there was a mommy who was not feeling very much like it was Christmas time. She was pretty much done with the shopping, but hadn’t managed to do much decorating. And really hadn’t managed to do much in the way of Christmas baking. She just didn’t feel like making tons of cookies and candies, that ultimately she would be the main one eating. Seeing as how Santa was always so generous to the kids in their stockings. Guilt started to set in, she felt like maybe she just wasn’t doing enough to make it a merry Christmas season for the kids.

One day she was reading a friends blog and saw a post about a family’s gingerbread house. Hmmm, her brain went, maybe it would be fun to make a gingerbread house with the kids. We’ve never done that before. But no graham crackers glued to milk cartons here, it would have to be real gingerbread. Then she remembered that many many years ago, she had bought some gingerbread house molds, and never used them. Now might be a good time. So she dug through the cupboards and came up with molds for three different houses and a train. (You tell me, what do you buy at a Longeberger party when you have no use for $90 baskets?)

So she compiled a list of ingredients to make the gingerbread and set off to the store that afternoon to buy the needed items and a variety of candies to the kids could have fun decorating them. Then she spent the evening measuring out ingredients to make several batches of dough. The next morning she spent making all the pieces for four houses and a train. Working out a mistake she made in doubling the recipe, but still managing to get it all done. Even while going to a Relief Society luncheon. Being the smart mom she is, she knew it would be best if each kid was able to do their own, so as to alleviate potential fights. She was hoping that one kid would be happy decorating a train. That afternoon she worked very hard to assemble the pieces. Making sure that no roofs slid off and no walls caved in. She had a nice assortment of houses and was feeling quite pleased with the effort. She just knew that this would be a great family project.

As the evening came, off she went on some errand. When she returned she was met at the door with tales of the dog who had managed to sneak his big snout up on the counter and eat the gingerbread. Very worried she rushed into the kitchen to discover that it wasn’t as bad as she had feared. He had only managed to eat some extra accessory pieces that went to the houses and one train piece. Her hopes for a fun experience were not ruined. She smartly covered the houses and left them on the counter.

The plan was to decorate the houses the next day after school. That morning she had to go to her youngest daughters preschool program. What a sweet thing this little girl was. She smiled so brightly as she sang the songs she had been learning and looked so darling in her little reindeer shirt made with a footprint and two handprints. When the two arrived home, she climbed up the stairs and upon looking around began to be worried. It looked like the dog had once again managed to get into the garbage while she was gone. She really did not want to spend time cleaning up garbage again, but oh well, it must be done. As she walked toward the kitchen to fully assess the damage she noticed some suspicious looking crumbs on the floor. “Oh no,” she thought,” Please don’t let it be.” She walked into the kitchen and discovered that truly her fear was real. Naughty dog had eaten a whole house! What to do, hope that the kids could cooperate and share a house, or make more. Well, she decided that the best plan would be to make more, so she immediately set to work making up a new batch of dough, and spending the afternoon getting two more houses made. This way there would be a house for everyone and she wouldn’t have to worry about someone not wanting to do the train. Despite the frosting glue not wanting to hold as well this second day, and walls that didn’t want to stay up, she managed to make these last two houses work.

The husband came home to a third day of smelling the delicious smells of gingerbread in the house. The mean mommy wouldn’t let him eat any of it. “Leave it alone,” she kept telling him, “No eating it until we get it all decorated. (He was starting to believe this was all a joke, and would never happen.)

Finally the time to decorate the houses came. The mom had worked hard on cleaning up the kitchen and getting everything all ready. She went to get out all the decorations she had bought and discovered that two of the kids (the boys) had managed to eat three bags of candy. Still positive that she had enough she tried to gather all the kids to come participate in this great opportunity. By this point, after days of hearing about it and waiting, only the girls had any desire to participate. They had fun, and with any luck, this will not be something that they want to repeat year after year after year.

Monday, December 17, 2007

One of Paige's hugest fears happened in my house a few weeks ago. Cammie was using some scissors to cut the string off a balloon. I walked by and saw a pile of hair on the floor by her.

She had been wanting a haircut for along time. I think this was her way of pushing the issue. Mindy used to do this a lot. Unfortunately for her, she did this right as we were getting ready to go on our trip, so there just wasn't time to fit a haircut in. Fortunately those really long strands of hair were cut from the under layers behind her ear, so it didn't really show. If it had been worse I of course would have taken care of it immediately.

Yesterday I finally managed to give her her long anticipated and eagerly awaited hair cut.

While I was at it, I decided to take care of everyone elses haircut needs. Mindy and Sandra just got trims (Sandra was horrified by this, but I think she is ok now.)


Travis and Kyle got their normal shearing




Other highlights of the week:


Kyle had a band concert. I was unable to find a substitute for my yoga class, so Andrew took him, Cammie, and Mindy. (more mommy guilt for me.) He said it was bad, mainly because Cammie didn't want to sit and listen thru the whole thing. Cammie thought it was great, because she saw one of her pre-school teachers and some friends there.


Brentwood Community Chest had its annual food sorting and boxing night. We forced Travis and Kyle to go, to get a required 8 hours of community service for one of their merit badges. Being the great mom that I am, as we were leaving I called a couple of their friends moms to see if we could rope a couple more people into going with them to make it more fun. (Thanks Carol and Celia for being such willing moms). Later that evening I took the girls to let them help and so we could feel like we had done a little bit of service to help others.
Cammie had a lot of fun putting cans into the boxes and pushing them along the line. She was very disappointed Saturday morning when she couldn't go with the boys to help hand items out.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Sandra and Leppie

Sandra had the great honor of being Student of the Week this week. I am feeling a little sorry for her, as it is her last day, and she just finally got to take in her assigned items.

She came home from school last Friday with a poster to make and a list of things to do to make the next week special. The poster was supposed to be taken back on Monday. I was gone all weekend, so the poster didn't get finished until last night. The biggest hang-up was getting a picture of her taken and printed to put on the poster. She was supposed to bring home the class stuffed leopard, Leppie, last Friday also, to spend the weekend with him, and take pictures of all the fun stuff they did together, then write about it in his special journal. She forgot to bring him home until Monday.

With it being the next to last full week the kids are in school before Christmas, I have spent any free time, working on Christmas shopping. So once the kids are home, I am trying to catch up on housework and getting the kids to do homework, along with several trips to various places with the kids. Mindy had a big project in school this week also (thanks Carol, for doing so much for her) that involved me making tons of cookies for her. So basically, Sandy's need were not very well met, and she didn't get to really take advantage of her special status at school. She didn't even manage to get to do any of her other homework this week. I decided the poster was enough for her. I think her teachers think I am a bad, uncaring mom, because I am not that involved in her school life. She also has had many missing homework assignments. She tends to come home and just dump her backpack out, so things get scattered and lost, before I have a chance to see them. I find them days later under the couch or in the shoe closet, and decide that they are no longer important.
Last night, being the last chance to get her student of the week project done, we finally manged to make it important, and staged a few pictures of her and Leppie. She took great pride in filling out his journal, and making sure that she had written more than any previous kid.



(Be sure to take note of the chocolate on her mouth and the mustard stains on her shirt, I didn't even notice until I was printing the pictures.)


Here is Kyle, doing his best to try to make the picture taking harder, and annoy his little sister.


The bad thing, is that right now, I am staring at a paper I found this week, outlining a heritage project she has due on Monday. I HATE school projects, especially ones that mean parents have to do lots of work, or go out their way to gather stuff for them. I would love to just blow this off, but then I will have lots of mommy guilt and worry that she will be feeling bad at school when she doesn't have anything to show. Why do we keep having to do these stupid projects about our family from over 200 years ago. I don't know about you, but I consider my family to be American. We have no traditions or favorite foods, that have been carried over from where our ancestors came from hundreds of years ago. Anything we do will just be faking it and teaching our kids to lie. Not only do we have to make a poster for this, but she has to take in some kind of food from this country. Does anyone know any kind of food England is known for. England has a reputation for having the worst cuisine. I know, I have had to do various forms of this project several times for the three kids that came before Sandra.

Now my guilt just increased as I remembered that today was her one chance for the whole year to take something in for sharing, and we forgot. I guess I've just been a bad mommy this week.

(I've decided to blame the teachers for not giving us notice ahead of time, so I could properly plan for this honor for her.)

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

I got to spend this last weekend in Sacramento at a two day yoga training. Highlights of the weekend were:


Learning how to teach new exciting poses like:


Cow's Face (one of my favorites for many years.)

Frog

Lord of the Fishes

Gate

Marichi 1 & 2

Don't you just want to come to my classes and learn these fun poses with me?


Spending the night in a nice hotel. It even had a sleep number bed. Like this is some really big deal. Unfortunately, since I don't already own a sleep number bed, I don't know what my "number" is. After being in classes for 9 hours, by the time I made it to the bed, I was just too tired to try to find out. Maybe I should request a free night so I can take advantage of this.

My room was even upgraded to a "waterview" room, vs. a "plaza" view room. This was supposed to be a big deal according to the clerk. I didn't understand why, since it was already dark when I got there, and I was leaving first thing in the morning. He explained that there was a lake with a fountain and lights shining on it. All very neat to look at.
So I go to my room. Wander over to the windows, and sure enough they look out over some very dark water, and a tree. I know there was a fountain, because I had seen it on my way to the room. Unfortunately, it was blocked by a tree. I could see a string of christmas lights across the water. That was so exciting. Here is what my daytime view would have been like if there hadn't been a tree. Actually it was a very nice room. Unfortunately after a day of classes, I was just too tired, sore, and utterly exhausted to truly take advantage of being there alone.

Yummy chicken coconut soup and curry for lunch from Thai Basil.

For some reason I always feel a little guilty when I go to these, and that inhibits my really enjoying the alone time. Maybe I am worried about my great husband and the kids. I know I always pray extra hard for him while I am gone.

Friday, December 07, 2007

Gettting our Christmas Tree

Tonight we all ventured out to the ABC Christmas Tree Lot, to try to get the perfect Christmas tree.

When we arrived I asked all the kids to go find what they thought would be the perfect tree.



The girls all wanted ones their size, the boys, for the biggest on the lot.

Mindy thought we should just get each of them their own tree. That way, Santa could just put each persons presents under their tree and make it easier Christmas morning. I vetoed this, on the grounds that our living room just isn't quite big enough for that many trees. She then thought that they should each get one to put in their rooms. Still not happening Sweetie. Only one tree for this family.

We then went in search of just the right tree. Quite a few years ago, we decided to try getting a tree that was still wrapped up. We figured it would be easier to get on the car and in the house. And it would be fun to unwrap it, and see what it looked like after we got it. You know, add a little suspense and excitement to all. We lucked out that first time, and so we have continued to do it this way ever since. We look for a nicely wrapped tree, that is an even thickness all the way around (so hopefully there are no holes). It also helps to narrow the selection down, and with seven people giving in put, this is a big deal. Although, the workers there, all act like we are crazy when we buy it. Those weird looks just add to the fun.


Our hopefully perfect selection.


The nice tree farm worker, carrying, cutting and loading the tree on the car for us. Aren't we all glad there are people to do this. I told Travis he could have a job doing this when he grows up if he wants. Somehow I don't think he will. Although I bet by the time they go home, their clothes smell very christmasy.







Getting it set up and watching the mystery unfold.





Here the kids are finally using the vacuums they each got for Christmas last year. Hmm, I think eleven months is a little long to start using a present. At least they weren't a total waist of money.







Cammie deciding that she needs to test the tree (just to make sure we will be able to decorate it) with one of the ornaments she painted at the Cook craft day.








Here are the trees I secretly would like to have someday. I think the white is so pretty. In order to get one of these, I will have to wait until all my kids are grown up, then sneak out and buy it by myself.














I am also secretly hoping that Andrew and the kids decorate this tree while I am gone for the weekend.