Christmas Day

Here are some pictures of our Christmas Day activities. The boys are wearing matching WALLE jammies, and I am on the sled with Ammon and my brother-in-law, Justin is driving. After he rode with me he decided to try being by himself. I have not heard him hoot and holler for joy like this ever. It was really really cute.

During the break

I have been having a lot of fun during the break between classes. The first week I did a lot of cleaning and laundry which had been put on hold the last few weeks of school. I also caught up on my sewing projects, mending holes in Zz's pj's and Brady's work clothes. I also finally made Zz a stocking to match the others we have. Brady's sister, Bethany made the blue and white ones when we were first married, and so I have since copied the pattern for my kids. Ammon's is red and Zz's is blue. It was pretty fun to do, and I only messed up once! Now that I have all of that done, I am enjoying a book and many movies. I absolutely love not having to worry about homework, and I am so grateful that my college education is coming to a close soon.

Snow is falling...

Last week we had about 12-15 inches of snow fall, most of it on Saturday and Sunday. Tuesday the plow finally came to do our cult-de-sac, but not before my sister, my neighbor, and a few others got their cars stuck. Now we have a huge pile of snow in the middle of the road waiting for the loaders and dump trucks to take it away. This won't happen until next week at the earliest. The best part for the kids was watching the tractors right by the house. I wasn't home at the time (and a good thing too, because the tractor drove in our driveway a lot to scrap up the snow), but Brady said it was really cool to watch.

Haircut Assembly Line

Two weeks ago I finally cut all the boys' hair. It really needed to be done over a month ago, but cutting 3 heads at the same time (two of which don't cooperate very well) is such a pain. This time around was actually the best so far for the kids. I let them play with the squirt bottle while I was buzzing away, and that really helped to calm them down. I was able to do it in half the time and with a lot less crying and whining. However, the water mess all over the hair on the floor made for a difficult cleanup, but I think it was worth it.

Weekend Events

We survived!!!! Brady and I just fininshed another quarter (10 week period) of graduate school. Now I only have two more classes and a research proposal to do and then I will be done with formal education for the rest of my life. I decided that I am infected with an extreme case of senioritis because I have no ambition to get things done (as far as homework is concerned) anymore. Last week was quite overwhelming for me because I had two 3-4 page assignments due, two 250 word essays, and a 15 page paper all due by Friday at 5 p.m. I turned in my last thing Saturday afternoon, so now I can finish all the projects I have been meaning to get to before Christmas.

Saturday the kids had a primary activity since our ward doesn't do a family Christmas party. They decorated cookies and had pizza for lunch. Both the kids made such a mess, but they really enjoyed eating what they made. As for the Christmas party, well it's only for adults and it is pretty much like a Sacrament Meeting program with Sunday dress and a catered dinner. We haven't ever gone to this, and there are many, many families who have kids and choose not to go. It's really frustrating because Christmas is for the kids, not adults. I am just itching to be the next activities director so I can have the opportunity to do a family party and forget the dumb adults only tradition. We'll just have to wait and see on that.

The last huge event was letting the boys help Brady shovel the driveway yesterday. In the last two days we have had about 3 inches of snow, and man is it cold today!! They had so much fun playing and eating the snow. At least until Ammon accidentally dumped snow on Zenocks face. So I took ZZ inside to warm up, and it took him a long time to calm down. Apparently he only likes snow on his face if he puts it there himself.

First Real Snow

Today we had the first snow that really stuck for more than a few hours. Right when the boys woke up they wanted to go out to play in it. I did my best to hold them off until after lunch, and I have included a few pictures of them playing. Actually, Ammon is playing and Zenock is just eating the snow. Go figure!

This weekend we worked some more on our bathroom, installing a new toilet and putting up some wainscoating to coverup impatchable holes made from the doorknob and toilet paper holder. And today, sometime, I need to sand down the grout left over on the tiles. I started doing it on Saturday, but it was really hard, and I needed better sanding blocks. I am just thankful that we can use our toilet and shower now instead of having to go across the street to use the bathroom.

Also this weekend I have been working on making a gingerbread house from scratch for the Museum of Idaho's Christmas display. They are doing free admission all month so people can come see all the gingerbread houses and unique nativity scenes from around the community. The last several years they have been in the Temple visitor's center and at the stake center across from the temple. Since the visitor's center remodel, and the high demand for the nativity scene display, it was decided to move everything into one location at the museum. It will be really fun to see all the different stuff there, and my boys are already excited to see mommy's house with the other neat ones. I'll post some pictures after the display opens of mine and some other different ones. It should be a fun, free family activity to celebrate the holidays. If you are in town, go see it!

Christmas Fun

Here is a fun activity to do if you are looking for an excuse to not do homework...ENJOY!

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy (not forward) this entire email and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you......Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper for boxes or really large things and bags for odd shaped stuff

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real smells really good, but artificial comes in slim size, so that’s what we have

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually day after Thanksgiving, but I put ours up 1½ weeks before.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually between Christmas and new years

5. Do you like eggnog? LOVE it, but only drink Cream o’ Weber brand mixed with some milk too

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A rocking horse, pound puppies, and popples

7. Hardest person to buy for? Husband’s family or my brother

8. Easiest person to buy for? Ammon and Zenock

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, a small one

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can’t think of one at the moment

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I don’t have one specific, but Brady loves Christmas Story

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? All year. I get everything on sale.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I really enjoy a good ham with potatoes and gravy

16. Lights on the tree? Yes, is there any other way?

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Come all Ye Faithful by Celine Dion and Little Drummer Boy by Vocal Majority

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Usually stay home

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes, thanks to the Rudolph song

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Just one Christmas eve--new PJ's and the rest Christmas morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Having to get up way before the rest of the family to get those good deals on Black Friday. They should start the sales at 7 or 8, not 4-6 am

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? No, but I really like the blue and silver combo

24. Favorite Christmas dinner? Ham

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I already have it!

26. Favorite Christmas tradition? Pizza and a family party Christmas eve and getting new pj’s that night too.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Bathroom Remodel

The latest happenings at our house include getting out the christmas decorations and remodeling our one and only bathroom. Brady put down new tile (thanks to my parents for buying too much and giving us the leftovers, of which we were only two tiles short) on Monday, so we have been without a toilet since then. Thank goodness we are good friends with the people across the street because the nearest store is about a mile away. Everyone has done really well with this project, especially the boys. They have yet to get into the bathroom without permission, and the door is off, so that is quite impressive I think. I'll figure out how to post pictures when I have the before and after pics to compare, but I forgot to take a picture before the old floor was torn up, so you'll just have to use your imagination with the old vinyl tiles which were taken up and the two other layers of the origional yucky 50's style green and 80's style faded gross whatever it was. This has been an interesting experience, and I will never redo another bathroom unless we have a second toilet somewhere in the house.

Here we go...

Okay, I have been thinking about starting a blog for a long time, so I finally signed up. Have fun with this, and be patient as I try to figure out how to make it fun with pictures and widgets.