Goodbye Candy Houses

The goal of the day was to get the house back in order and to find homes for the new toys but that was not accomplished. Both Neil and I are sick of all the candy and sweets and the little frosting pieces from the candy houses strewn all over the house so we told the kids to eat their candy houses because tonight we were throwing them away. I need my counter space back. Sammy finished his off and Mikey did a pretty good job on his and Conner ate most of his candy. The kids got to bed late again tonight and lights were finally turned off at 9:30. Neil and I were talking in our bedroom and at 10 o'clock. Sam comes and stands in the doorway rather sheepishly and is sniffling. We ask him what he is crying about and he tells us that Conner is so sad because he didn't get to eat all the Skittles off his candy house and they are his favorite candy. Sammy is crying because he is sad for Conner. I go into their bedroom and there Mikey is crying too because Conner is sad. It was too funny. I told him in the morning he could take all the Skittles off before the garbage man comes. Neil calls Conner the silent sufferer. Conner would not get out of bed because he knows it's against the rules and doesn't want to be disobedient. He would cry himself to sleep. Sam on the other hand is brave and willing to be punished for disobeying to try to help his brother not be so sad. I swear these kids are so stinking sweet and cute.

Cake Pop Maker

Okay so I'm not ususally one for gimmicky products and appliances but when Kohl's had the Babycakes Cake Pop Maker on sale and I realized that after the rebate, taxes and shipping it would only cost me $2.17, I bought one and wrapped it up and put it under the tree for myself. The thought of making anything sweet, like cake pops, makes me sick to my stomach so I decided for breakfast this morning I would make some pancake bites with sausage in the middle like those pancake/sausage dogs you can buy in the store.

I used precooked sausage links and cut them into 5 pieces and surrounded them with pancake batter. They took 4-5 minutes a batch (12) to make so not too bad. I made 36 for our family. The kids love them! My kids love to dunk everything so these are perfect. I wasn't too sure about this little appliance but now I'm excited. Next up, corn dog bites. Eventually I'll make the cake bites but I'll have to wait for a party because I don't want to eat them.

Christmas 2011

Christmas being on a Sunday presented a little challenge with how the day would go. Our church was at 9 and with the kids usually getting up at 7 we decided and told the kids they had to be dressed with hair combed and teeth brushed before we went downstairs to look at their Santa gifts, if he came that is. We told them they could only look in their stockings and play with their Santa gift before church. We hoped that this plan would get us to church on time and it worked. I woke up at 7:20 and nobody was up. I had to wash and blow dry my hair so I quickly took a shower and got ready thinking the whole time I've got to be fast because I don't want to miss out on any of the action. At 7:45, still everyone was asleep so I woke up Neil and told him to hop in the shower. While Neil was getting ready in popped the boys all dressed and ready to go. Too bad I had not laid out their clothes the night before so they didn't have their Christmas sweaters on but they quickly obeyed and changed their clothes with no complaints. I wish every day could be Christmas morning. I sure would have some obedient kids. We waited for Neil to get ready and then the kids were ready to go downstairs. Neil puts up baby gates so they can't go down the stairs before we're ready for them. From the top of the landing they could see that there weren't any presents in the living room like in years past so they were sweating it a little bit wondering if Santa had even come.

Eagerly awaiting to go downstairs.

Lucy loved everything she got in her stocking and her shopping cart. She threw a fit when we wouldn't let her take her stocking with her to church.

Conner was so excited about his speed stacking set. I think he would have been happy with just that. He played with it all day long. He'd open a gift but then go back to speed stacking. Sam got the Ninjago Lego set Garmedon's Castle and Mikey got 3 Hero Factory guys from Santa.

It was pretty much a lego Christmas. They all got 2-3 sets so the day was spent putting them together and talking on the phone to family. I made breakfast burritos for breakfast and then a bunch of snacks/appetizers to munch on the rest of the day. I was going to make a ham but no one was hungry so that will be saved for another day. Kim and Linda came up for awhile.

We do opening presents a little different at our house. We open one gift and play with it until we're tired of it and then open the next. They opened their second gift at 3pm and their last at 10pm and went to bed at 11pm. It makes the excitement last all day, which I love. I also love being able to stay home and just enjoy the day. I have to say I was as just as excited to see the kids open their presents as they were to open them. I love being a parent! We had a great day and are spending the day after in our pj's watching all their new movies on the projector and playing with the new toys. We plan to go bowling tonight but we may just stay home depending on how everyone feels.

If you have no clue what speed stacking is, here is a little video of Conner. There are different cycles you can do and this is the longest one. The world record is 5.93 seconds. Conner's best time currently is 28.25 seconds. He told me he hopes to get good enough to compete. For those of you who know Conner, can't tell this is something that would be right up his alley. This isn't the best video of him doing it. Whenever I'd try to take a video of him he'd mess up. Usually he does it flawlessly and it's so cool. It looks like he's going in fast forward. At least you get the idea. It's actually pretty fun and addictive.

Christmas Eve

We went to Allison's for Christmas Eve. She made a yummy turkey dinner with potatoes romanov. The table was set so pretty and the kids were more than excited to see each other.

After dinner, Neil gathered all the kids together to read a couple Christmas stories.

After stories we sang some Christmas carols.

Jaxson was so ready for presents but I tortured them by making them play a dice game of roll the snowman to see who went first.

The kids obliged and Mikey was first, then Conner, Jaxson, Sam and Presley. The kids would have played all night long but we headed home at 8:30.

We set up 2 trees this year. Our big beautiful Christmas trees had issues and wouldn't light up correctly. I'm pretty upset since it's only 4 years old. We lost the instructions so I'm sure it's a connection problem. We did that tree in silver and blue but I missed the bold red and gold so we put this tree in the family room. I bought it at a garage sale 3 years ago and never saw what it looked like. It was a pretty sad looking tree but it served it's purposes. I stayed up until 12:30 and I have no idea what time Neil went to bed.

Eve of Christmas Eve

My friend had told me about the windows at the Grand America and I had never heard of it and since we hadn't been to temple square we decided to spend the day downtown. We started at the Grand America hotel where there was a story of a penguin of Maurice told in pictures in different windows. In each picture there was a hidden star that needed to be found. Each kid filled out a card and at the end of the 18 windows they got a yummy star sugar cookie. It was fun but busy. The boys got into it but Lucy was a complete pill and yelled and screamed most of the time. Neil would just walk with her. Matt and Beka caught up with us and riled up the kids. The kids were so crazy. I'm sure Beka and Matt wondered they had gotten themselves into.
We were at the hotel for an hour and a half, longer than anticipated so we thought we'd go to subway for dinner but the downtown location was closed so we decided to head to temple square without eating even though it was already 6:30. It was crazy busy at temple square. Neil told me to remind him to not do this again next year. The boys were cold, hungry and tired of walking (not a good combination) so it wasn't the greatest experience.

It was nice to see the Christus especially right before Christmas.

The one picture we got with the lights. I swear I remember when there were lights on every tree. Am I mistaken or is it all just a dream. It's somewhat disappointing now every time I go.

We finally ate dinner at about 8:30 and everyone was happy again and crazy. With all the static Lucy's little ponytails stuck up. She reminds me of Fraggle Rock but a lady commented on how she looked like Cindy Lou Who. Cast your vote.

A Glimpse into Conner's World

In Conner's class they have a race track where they keep track of their Accelerated Reader points and each student has a car for a marker. Conner has always been in the lead by at least 20 points. Every Friday they move their cars. On a particular Friday, his friend Douglas ended up taking the lead. He came from behind and earned 40 points in one week. Conner is so competitive and was flabbergasted. How did that happen? So he asked him and Douglas's mother brought him to the school computer lab after school to take tests. Conner began to strategize. Conner usually reads chapter books which take 1-2 days to read after school and only get him 1 point each. He realized that if he read all the books we have at home that are short they would give him 1/2 point each and he could ready 20 a day so that is what he did. He came home from school with a plan. He would read 20 b00ks everyday and take the tests after school so that by the end of the week he would have a gain of 50+ points and should be able to retake the lead. That first day he read for 4 hours only taking a break for piano practice and dinner. It was insane and I was a little worried. I don't want him to feel like he always has to be number one at everything and sometimes other kids need a chance to shine so I emailed his teacher with my concerns and knowing he would be bugging her to take tests all day long and here is how she responded:

Oh how he makes me smile! He was formulating his plan when he left yesterday! He clearly knows the joy of reading and now he is doing some strategic thinking, goal setting, and time management. He is respectful when I tell him it is not a good time to take tests, and I am not at all concerned--Conner is a bright, passionate and yes, competitive boy--who is kind, polite and not to mention cute as a button! Enjoy every minute of sunshine he brings to your life, I know I do!

Isn't she the best and that's how she talks about all her students. I just love her and it helped me put Conner's actions into perspective. He knows he can be in the lead so why not do it. He read all week like that and after a week getting back in the lead he's toned down. When I go to the class I talk to Douglas and some other boys and I can see that it's just a friendly rivalry and all the kids love seeing who's in the lead each week. At the beginning of Christmas break both Conner and Douglas were tied.

Conner came home from school one day and I was in the kitchen so I went to greet him when I heard him come in and I noticed he would not look at me so I got closer to him and could tell that he had been crying. The first thought was who was mean to you? He said he didn't want to talk about but I was not about to let this one go. My little boy was sad and I wanted to know why. As he looked at me his eyes got red and he was trying hard not to cry until the tears just spilled over and would not stop. His forhead got so splotchy and he was intensely upset. I pulled him into my lap and pleaded with him to explain. It took awhile but this is what I finally understood. A Mr. Courier volunteers each week in Conner's class and they were given an assignment to write a letter to Santa on behalf of Mr. Courier asking Santa for 3 gifts. This letter was their ticket to leave the classroom for the day. Conner firmly believes that whatever you ask Santa for you will receive and he had no clue what Mr. Courier would want and was scared he would ask for the wrong thing and Mr. Courier would get a gift he didn't want. He tried so hard not to cry but he said his emotions got the best of him. He heard some other kids talking that maybe Mr. Courier would like some new skis since he likes to ski. Conner knew he shouldn't copy other's answers and was trying to be original so he put down ski stuff since it wasn't the same as skis. The bell to go had rung so he wrote down speed stacks because he thought he would like that. On the verge of tears again he took his paper to Mrs. S. and told her he couldn't think of a third thing so she asked him to read her his letter but when he talked he began to cry so she read it to him and told him it was one of the best letters she had read and that he had thought of more than 3 things because ski stuff could be skis, gloves, poles, etc. My sweet little Conner has such a big heart. I hated seeing him so upset but when I found out why he was upset I couldn't help but laugh.

Holiday Legos

Both Neil and I have saved our birthday money for years. I am saving up for a Bosch mixer and am pretty close to having enough. Neil finally used some of his money and bought these holiday legos. He got a bakery, post office and toy shop with all kind of little extras. He was so giddy. Being the awesome and selfless father he is he let the boys put them together over several nights. Each night each boy got to pick a part of the sets to put together and they would wait until it was their turn to build as Neil watched making sure they did it right. It didn't go as smoothly as Neil had planned. There was a lot of bickering and fighting and frustration. I just sat in the other room and laughed because he was experiencing what I usually do when I plan something fun to do with the kids but ends up anything but. Each night after the kids were in bed Neil would second guess his choice of letting them help but each night he gave in and let them build. They were down to the last set and Neil had not built any of "his" legos yet so he stayed up until 2 putting it together so he could experience some satisfaction. Then he took everything apart and let the boys build it. Once completed we put the sets on a cookie sheet on top of the fridge and they were only allowed to play with it under strict supervision. Neil wants to display them next year and is trying to take over my coveted spot in the living room where I have my Christmas village. May the best spouse win.

Holiday Baking

I needed something to take my mind of my cramping and didn't want to lay in bed all day so I decided to make my friend/neighbor gifts of cinnamon swirl yeast bread. All in all I ended up making 35 loaves. It takes two days but the bread is well received. Next year I think I'll make mini loaves so it doesn't take so long.
The kids love being Santa's elves and delivering the bread. After a couple houses Conner was too cold and not feeling well so it was left up to Mikey and Sam to deliver. They would fight over who got to take the bread to the door or who got to knock. It was funny to see them punching each other in the arm and fighting over the tasks until the door was opened and then they would exclaim Merry Christmas!

Miscarriage #2

Just to document, at nine weeks I miscarried again on Monday, Dec. 19th. This time was a lot worse than the last with pretty bad cramps and heavy bleeding the first two days. I just had a feeling from the very beginning that things weren't going to work out. I had not had any pregnancy symptoms except for fatigue which is normal for me. I had absolutely no nausea, which as time progressed I was grateful for and kept telling myself this is the best pregnancy ever. I am really just fine with everything but can't help but wonder if there is something wrong with me. Two miscarriages in a row is not fun. I just really would like Lucy to have a sister but maybe that's not meant to be. I'm pretty sure we're going to be taking a break for awhile. I just don't have the best timing. First time was while we were on vacation ready to go swimming and to a waterpark and this time right around Christmas. Not fun I tell ya, not fun at all.

Candy Houses

We made candy houses on Monday night and then decorated them with candy on Tuesday night (Dec 19-20) after their structures had hardened. This is always a high light of the Christmas season for the kids. We had planned on doing it with the Wrides, so I bought a ton of candy, but Conner was still throwing up so we had to do it on our own. A little side note: Conner got sick Saturday night and threw up along with diarhea for 5 days. He missed the last week of school and all the fun. I was so sad. On the last day of school the whole school got to go to the movies and when I dropped Sam off in his class and saw how excited all the kids were I started crying because Conner was missing all this and he was sad too but told me he didn't want to get his classmates sick right before Christmas.

Lucy was so cute decorating her first candy house. We gave each of the kids a baggie filled with icing and let them go to town. They could have put as much candy as they wanted but they left a lot of white space which was surprising.

We had so much leftover candy that I told Neil to take it to work so I wouldn't eat it. A couple days later Conner said he didn't put enough candy on his house but it was too late because all the candy was gone.

A little video to show Lucy making her house. She would put a piece of candy in her mouth and then one on her house and then clap. It was so cute.

Daniel Summit Lodge

Kim and Linda had a gift certificate to Daniel Summit's Lodge in Heber that they weren't going to use so they gave it to Neil and I to use. We were supposed to use it as a nice little romantic getaway but as we researched the lodge we knew the boys would just love it so we left Lucy with Linda and off we went. Our first stop was Don Pedros in Heber. This was one of our favorite restaurants to eat at when we lived there. I love Mexican and they serve a really good bean dip. It was fun to reminisce. When we got to the lodge the first thing we did was explore. The boys swore the place was haunted and were actually kind of scared because of all the dead animals on the walls.
Here Mikey is scared to death to go down the haunted stairs because you could see through the slats so he had to go down on him bum.

There were several checkers and chess boards throughout the lodge that we used. There was also a heated pool and hot tub but it was disconnected from the lodge. We got all dressed in our swimming gear to find we had to walk outside in the freezing cold to get to the pool. It was really only about 10 steps but when you're barefoot and in your bathing suit it's along way. It was cool because the pool was in a completely windowed room so it was warm and steamy inside but outside you could see the snow and cold. Boy do our boys love swimming. It's always hard to pull them away.

A cute hat we found in the gift shop.

The boys loved playing pool and Conner is pretty good at it. Mikey and Sam would just roll the balls into the pockets. The sticks were too cumbersome for them.

Three little bears snug in their comfy bed.

On the lodge's website it said the snow mobile trails were open so we thought there was going to be a lot of snow and brought all our sleds and snow gear to have fun in the snow but there ended up being very little snow. The boys were so disappointed so we were bound and determined to find snow so we started driving down toward Strawberry Reservoir. We did end up finding a pretty good hill and pulled over on the side of the road and we all had a lot of fun.

I think because a late night, Mikey was tired and had quite the break down sledding. He ended up sitting in the van for awhile but eventually came out and joined us.

Conner is quite the thrill seeker. He kept going higher and higher and never wanted to leave.

Sam liked to go down the hill backwards and would often end up doing a backwards somersault at the end.

There was enough money with the gift certificate for us to eat both breakfast and lunch at the lodge which is always a treat. It was a great little escape and I am so glad we didn't have Lucy because that would have been a disaster.

Bottle Rockets

Neil volunteers in Conner's class doing science experiments each month. Conner really wanted to make bottle rockets but it didn't look like there was going to be time to fit it in the month of December but lo and behold on a Thursday afternoon Mrs. S. called to see if there was anyway Neil could do it the next day because her guest speaker, an astronaut, had to cancel and it was Fantastic Friday and the kids were really looking forward to it. Since we love Mrs. S. so much and would do anything to help her out we said yes and I began researching and went to the store to buy lots of different size soda bottles. We stayed up until 1:30 getting everything just right but it was so worth it. Conner's class has 18 boys and 6 girls so they were totally into this. The kids got in groups and built their own rockets and then they experimented with amounts of water and sizes. The rockets actually went pretty far. Just call him Neil, the Science guy. It was so fun and our boys had a blast at home with them. A great and inexpensive activity to do with the kids if you have a bike pump, water/soda bottles and some cork.

Lucy, just because she looked so cute watching the rockets.

Layton City Hayride

Every year Layton City puts on a free hayride through the lights in the park with a visit from Santa at the end with hot chocolate and cookies. We always take advantage. It wasn't too cold thank goodness. On the way to the park we were singing Christmas carols along with some Primary songs in the van so I asked the kids which ones they wanted to sing on the hayride, thinking Frosty and Jingle Bells are fun but Conner said I think we should sing Away in a Manger and Picture Christmas so everyone can remember the reason for Christmas is Christ. So when we got on the hayride, the mayor of all people, asked what we wanted to sing and Conner's hand shot up and he requested Away in a Manger. A little reluctantly he obliged, I'm sure he was thinking about being politically correct. After that song he asked for another song and Sam's hand shot up requesting Picture Christmas. Being as no one else knew that song we went on to sing Jingle Bells. Sam was a little sad but promised him we'd sing it as a family later. I am thankful for the great example my little boys are.

Our last visit with Santa before Christmas. Once again Lucy wanted nothing to do with him.

The Storm of the Year

Davis and Weber Counties got hit with a terrible wind storm on Thursday, December 1st. There were wind gusts up to 90mph. The freeway was shut down for awhile because semis were turned over. It was scary but thankfully we sustained no damage. Power was out all over the counties for several hours and days for others. Several friends of ours have to reroof their houses and put up new fences. On Sunday church was cancelled after our block and all the men were asked to go help with the cleanup since another storm was on the way and all of the fallen debris would cause even more damage so Neil went and took some pictures. There were asked to clean up the mess below. This was the scene all over the place; fallen trees everywhere.

The line to the dump to drop off the debris. It was over a mile long. This incident has prodded me to make sure to have our 72 hour kits up to date.

Piano Recital

Conner had his first piano recital on Saturday, December 3rd. He played Up on the Housetop and Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. He did such an excellent job! He did say he was pretty nervous when he got up there. It's been so fun having him play Christmas music all month long.

Sister Lesa Crook in our ward is his piano teacher. I was so surprised to see that more than half of her students are boys. I think that is awesome.

The Problem of Not Talking

Lucy only says MaMa and No so communicating with her is difficult. The scenario below plays out several times a day as I try to understand what she wants while she refuses to use words. Definitely not her best face but I still love her and continue to work with her.

Movember

For the month of November the guys in Neil's department decided to all grow mustaches in honor of men's health they said. If you ask me it's just an excuse for men to be silly and a way for them to be a little rebellious. You can't have a beard working for the church but you can have a well trimmed moustache. Neil was the poster child. He had the fullest and best moustache after only a couple of days. I hated it. Let's just say there wasn't much smooching going on in November. All the other wives felt the same way I did and so off they came after Thanksgiving never to be seen again.
When Neil volunteered in Sam's class one of the little boys asked if he was a cop. I guess moustache and cop go hand and hand.

Could this guy be the reason. Do you see a little resemblance. I kept calling him Charlie.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

We got our tree up two days after Thanksgiving. This year we did the tree in blues and silver but I'm really missing the red and gold so I think we'll switch back next year or put up a second tree.

I tried to get a cute picture of the kids after church in their Christmas clothes but this is the best I could get. I'm a little nervous. Tomorrow we're getting our family pictures taken and I'm a little nervous.

Mikey Is Four!

Mikey's birthday on Black Friday. I don't think a kid could be anymore excited about being 4 then Mikey. He had been counting down for over a month. Everyday he'd ask, now how many more naps until my birthday? Yes my little man still takes naps. I love how he counted down by naps instead of days. Here he is all puffy eyed and happy as he ran into our room exclaiming it's by birthday and I'm four now like Presley and Elijah. Being as his birthday is near the end of the year he's the last of his friends to turn four. Even today, 3 weeks later, as we were leaving church he was holding the door open and he told the people as they were leaving, hey I'm four. I love how excited he is. I guess being the third boy, all he wants is to be big. I'm hoping the fours will be better than the threes. We're off to a pretty good start.

At first he was only going to open one present but then with pressure from his brothers he gave in. All he really wanted for his birthday was lego minifigures and lego hero factory. He ended up getting 11 minifigures and as he opened his 5th one he couldn't hold in his excitement and threw his arms in the air and yelled THIS IS AWESOME.

He wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese so we obliged and had lunch there.

Daddy got me dressed while mommy was shopping so I'm not looking my best.

After making a load of desserts for Thanksgiving, the thought of making a birthday cake was beyond me so we talked Mikey into going to the Sweet Tooth Fairy and getting cupcakes. They have so many yummy cupcakes, cookies, brownies, and cake bites but the boys wanted their little containers of candy. I told Mikey that we couldn't put a candle in it and he didn't care. Ugh I am so sick of candy. I'm ready to throw it all out. How can you choose candy over cupcakes? I was getting mad but Neil reminded me it was Mikey's birthday and he could get what he wanted so they all got candy and a cupcake.

My little happy four year old. We sure do love our Mikey!