The Gecko...

At the beginning of the school year, Kaylee went to Mrs. Nelson and begged to be able to "geck0-sit" the classroom gecko: Buddy Nelson. I thought another child should have the opportunity, especially since Kiera, who was the one currently in Mrs. Nelson's room, didn't care one way or the other if we had Buddy Nelson...Anyhow...he's back at our home...and the stinker bit Kiera's little pinky finger too!! (Granted, he was being roughed up a bit by the girls...but still!!)

Ice Skating....

Again, another fun morning!! The girls have asked several times in the past weeks when we could go ice skating...and lo and behold our building's 3 wards did a combined ice skating session and we went!! They all did a great job of staying on their feet.

Yes, I even dared to ice skate...I loaded up on IB profen and went on the ice...then with 1/2 hour left...sadly...I fell...right on my tail bone and then smacked my head on the ice...I was skating with Mikenna...we were gliding...sort of...and I was trying to untangle her feet...lifted her up to point her feet in the right direction...lost my footing and...was on the ice...falling is not good for someone my age...I am slowly recovering...I managed not to drop Mikenna...but she says she can't ice skate with me now because I'll make her fall down.

They are asking when they can go ice skating again.

Christmas 2008

What a nice, relaxing day!! We all slept in...well, most of us...the girls were up by 8 or so...but they mostly meandered around upstairs, reading, playing together...hardly any fighting...I heard them run downstairs a few times with exclaims of, "There's more presents under the tree!" and "Santa ate our cookies!" I guess the didn't realize that Santa may choose to use gift bags and so, they didn't get into his gift that sat by the empty plate.

But, once I asked what Santa brought...and "Is that's Santa's gift on the bench?" They quickly ran down, pulled out the well anticipated webkins that they've been asking for, read Santa's letter, and just ran around playing with them. Mikenna's gray kitty was meowing all over!! The rest of our gifts to the girls were simple, clothes, books, polly pockets, the girls' Christmas crafts to us...and that's about it. We had talked about how our biggest Christmas gift would be our trip to Florida, DisneyWorld and the Disney Cruise, so I don't think the girls' were disappointed. In fact, I think this would have been the perfect Christmas if I would have been able to take the time and really focused on the meaning of Christmas by reading scriptures and telling Christmas stories, or even been able to do some meaningful service project for another family...All of the gifts and etc are fun, but...even if we hadn't used the upcoming vacation as an excuse for fewer gifts, Fewer gifts are going to become the norm for us. Stuff is stuff and we don't need more stuff. I'm going to try hard to remember this for next year! My parents & Aunt & Uncle came over later for breakfast. We had yummy sausage egg muffins, and lots of fruit....then the kiddos and Mike loaded up their MP3 players and Mikenna built towers with Auntie and my Dad. After a bit, we started talking about how Mike and I were going to clean the couch, and how I wished it were warm outside so I could give the couch a good scrub, and then my Dad came up with the idea to take the couch apart!! Um...HELLO!!So, here it is all taken apart. Fortunately, we were able to put it all back together and now it's all clean!! I know Aaron & Allison wouldn't have been all for this project...forgiveness is much easier than permission....

After naps and some final preparation on what we were to prepare for Christmas dinner, we headed up to Michael's parents' for dinner and a few more gifts. We received a "donation" towards our new shelf-reliance unit, rubbermaid tubs, a step stool, a cute apron for Michael from his sister, fun book marks for the girls from Jessie, magnets, hot/rice pack, yummy candy cane roca, new socks & a white shirt for Michael, a dress & Christmas dress for Kiera, a few shirts, a Christmas dress, and a few books for Mikenna, and a dress for Kassidy. (Hopefully I didnt' forget anything...)

The "worst" part of our Christmas was that I fell on some icey steps at Michael's parents...that was not a fun slip...I'm too old to be falling down....

Anyhow...I think that's it for this Christmas!

Christmas Eve conti....

After Ted & Stacy left...we made our cookies for Santa, Michael's favorites--Cowboy Cookies! Then we had dinner and then off to watch the Senske Christmas Light Show!

Kiera was being ultra sensitive...started with Michael asking her to put on her socks before we opened presents, but she couldn't find matching ones, so he made her put on a mismatched pair and she started crying...then...it just sort of snowballed from there...thus the puffy red eyes...I know these pictures don't do it justice, but I still wanted to try and catch some of the it...the girls loved watching it and while we were sitting there it started dumping snow!! It was great!!

If you want you can try out the video clip...the girls sang along...so it's cute...

More Christmas Eve activities...

Christmas eve we gathered at my parent's again so Grandma & Grandpa could give out their gifts. We sang a few songs, talked about the meaning of Christmas and then opened gifts! The kiddos got fleece blankets, an outfit and pez candies...Uncle "jupped" some Dora utensils for Mikenna...

Kyle and Mikenna entertained us for a while, trying to stand on one foot...and then there was the See's candy from Dad...Adam did some great Pirates of the Caribbean moves for us too...

Gingerbread...

I didn't get around to making the gingerbread for our houses this year. Way too much going on. I had meant to make them after Thanksgiving (like Tim's mom had us do when we were visiting one year...)and that way we can enjoy them longer.

Anyhow, I managed to get the Costco version...which was ok, but nothing like making them ourselves. I tried not to be so controlling...but the frosting wasn't easy to work with, the girls kept begging to eat the candy...then they kept asking where certain candy was (we usually buy all sorts from Winco bulk bins)...well, it got done...

Oatmeal....

You would think the world had ended with the way the girls reacted to my declaration that we were going to have oatmeal...the gagging and almost vomiting that ensued was RIDICULOUS!!

I threatened all sorts of stuff...like...after the allotted amount of time to eat the 1/2 c. of oatmeal (that had lots of cinnamon and brown sugar in it), each minute would mean 1 hour in their room...or that they would eat oatmeal for the rest of the day if they didn't finish quick...or that they couldn't play with their cousins in the snow....or....

Growiing up, cold cereal was a treat! A friend reminded me that a good breakfast does wonders for kids, especially at school...so, I thought, I would try to be more diligent in making a better breakfast for them...so, I chose oatmeal...

They're going to have oatmeal at least twice a week from now on...whether they like it or not. I'm ready for this battle!! They may hate oatmeal as an adult later, but they will eat it as kids!

....I know...my girls are spoiled...

Snow Day with Cousins!!

Well, the girls are certainly enjoying the snow! All the coughing and hacking going on should be enough proof of it.

Tuesday we gathered at my parent's home...so the kiddos could have free reign of all of the snow in the back yard! They had a blast and Ted even helped to build a make-shift cave of snow.

It's nice to have cousins so close to play in the snow with!

He is Born, the Child Divine....

The girls were asked to sing a special part with the Ward Choir this year for our Christmas Sacrament program. I was a bit worried because the word's weren't phrased in a typical speaking pattern.

"Faithful shepards watching ever o're their flocks by dark of night.
Wondering, fearing, tidings hearing mid a glorious shining light.
Music ringing, Angels singing, news of joy and comfort bringing,
He is Born the Child Divine."

At least the tune was familiar...Anyhow, the girls and I worked on it...every day for a month...and then it came to a few Sunday rehearsals with the choir...(I was really worried then, because they were so quiet, and then Kassidy had a "shutdown" moment where she freaked out and refused to sing. Luckily we were able to work through it and with a few bribes she sang.)...tried it at the mike in the chapel twice...and then the Sunday came.

All the girls, Mikenna included (because she insisted that she knew the words too) went up to the mike, (Bishop turned it up, louder than we had realized it could go) and....

it was beautiful

I could hear each of my girls, singing so lovely...I even heard my little Mikenna singing over the speakers! She really did know all of the words! They did a wonderful job...

tears...

Chan/DeCoria 2008 Christmas party!!

(I'm plagiarising this post from my friend's blog...Thanks for posting it Taunya!! Good thing you had those "What If" papers, I totally forgot some of these...what a hoot!!)

Chan/DeCoria Christmas Party Dec. 20, 2008

Question: What if Stacy quit running every day? Answer: Then everyone would point and stare. Well not really, but that’s an example of the “What If” game we played at our third annual Chan/DeCoria Christmas party. We enjoyed yummy food, fun games and lots of laughs.
Here are just a few more examples from our “What If” Game…

Q: What if Edward Cullen was your neighbor?
A: You’d all be disappointed.
Q: What if Old St. Nick was gay?
A: Then he would have a stop light on his butt.
Q: What if Dallas really was a peeping tom instead of a window cleaner?
A: What do you mean what if? That’s why he’s a window cleaner.

Q: What if Christmas came every day?
A: Then Taunya and Jason would be homeless.

Q: What if Stacy and Brooke were married?
A: They would find Edward and be a vampire threesome.

Q: What if we all went skinny dipping together.
A: Mass shrinkage.

Q: What if Santa was female?
A: Then all the guys would want to be on her naughty list.

Q: What if Christmas lights quit blinking?
A: Ted would call Aaron and Michael and they’d figure it out.

Q: What if Chris didn’t smell?
A: Then he would be a girly man.

“The Animal Game” was extremely challenging, as we not only had to keep up the beat and remember our animal signs, but we also had to attempt to de-throne Marshall and Tasha.

The white elephant gift exchange was certainly not disappointing as people received half eaten boxes of chocolates, kuma sutra games, reindeer poop, miniature condoms, an exercise “block,” and bubble wrap.

Thanks for coming and being good sports, everyone! ....until next year! :-)