the house that graham built

Some traditions are better than others. Making graham cracker houses at Christmas time has to be one of the best. Merrit begged me to wait until she and Matt arrived on the 23rd. Lane and Josh picked them up from the airport and joined us too.

 

Matt could not be limited to one creation alone. In addition to helping Merrit on recreating their puppies, he made a basketball hoop for Grandpa to try out, and an X-wing fighter to do battle with Colin's death star.

The best part about doing graham cracker houses at the end of the season is not having to wait to destroy them. The kids happily demolished them all the next day.

the lights at temple square

Since my mother cannot stand to just relax on vacation, she mobilized us into action to head up to Salt Lake. We gathered up warm winter gear, some snacks and the stroller and went to go to see the lights at Temple Square. We arrived right about 3:00 in the afternoon.

The first item on the agenda was to go to the children's exhibit at the Church History Museum to pass the time until it got dark.  Our plans were thwarted however as we found the doors locked due to "forecast inclement weather". It was a bit perplexing since there was a not a flake in the sky. Instead we went over to the North Visitors' Center. Anne, of course, wanted nothing to do with the stroller and kept running off. The boys were off gallivanting about also rather oblivious to the reverent nature of the surroundings. After we went upstairs to view the Christus statue, we tried to keep Anne occupied by finding all the animals in the paintings of Christ's life. After being told a movie would be playing at 5:30, we went downstairs only to find an empty theater, no movie and two missing sister missionaries.

Trying to keep five children in one general area was proving impossible. In fact, we lost Anne for a few frantic minutes until we found her holding the hand of a stranger. The scene was eerily familiar as I had been lost as a toddler on Temple Square too. I was found holding the hand of a stranger also but she was trying to lead me out of Temple Square altogether. I shudder to think of how my life could have played out had my parents been a few moments slower. Fortunately, the stranger with Anne seemed only to be searching for me.

We finally did watch Joy to the World which was definitely not riveting enough to keep the kids' attention. At this point, I was feeling rather defeated since nothing seemed to be turning out as planned. We persevered anyhow and went out to see the lights.

 

 

I think the kids found the lights a little underwhelming and we didn't stay out for very long. We coerced Slade to take a picture or two though before we left. The whole adventure was probably worth it just for this one snapshot. In twenty years we probably won't remember all the details of the chaos, the whiny children, or the thwarted plans. We'll just look at the picture and remember how adorable they all were and that Sawyer would never wear a coat!

snowball fight

Mom and Dad arrived here late Monday night. We all awoke to several inches of snow on the ground. It does make everything look rather lovely. As long as I can stay inside a warm house, that is. Luckily, Grandma is much more fun than me and she was willing to leave the house for a snowball fight. How awesome is she!?

12 on 12 | december (another late edition)

I did it again! I completely forgot about the 12th even though Emma reminded me just the night before. Consequently, I had to do another 12 on 12 plus 1. The last one was in June. How is that for symmetry with the 6th and 12th month?

[click to enlarge]

1. The theme of today was messes, messes, messes. I spent all day sorting through them.

2. After Sawyer finishes his math, he always asks to play Starfall. Anne loves to watch. Note how Anne is still in pajamas at 11:30. Yeah, I was awesome today.

3. Slade and Nathan both refused to do schoolwork today. They wrestled on the bed instead. They were not happy when they reaped the consequences of their actions later.

4. Dave walking in the house for lunch.

5. I had a photo session today with a senior boy. I love it when they listen to me.

6. I worked all afternoon downstairs cleaning out the playroom, moving a TV, dejunking the guest room, and changing sheets in the boys' room. At about 5:30, I finally came upstairs only to find the kitchen in a state of disaster. Food and dishes everywhere. Cabinet hanging askew. I was not happy.

7. It took so long cleaning up the kitchen that I didn't even get dinner started until 6:17. We usually eat at 6:30. Mean mom that I am, I denied Emma the privilege of staying at her friend's house longer and made her come home to help me. We were only 15 minutes late and sat down to eat just as Dave walked in the door. He has had long hours lately. In fact, he is walking out the door to go back to work as I write this at 9:30.

8. Anne was making us all laugh so hard at dinner. Quite a personality.

9. Slade was complaining about how tired he was so he left the table and went to lie down. Tired from doing nothing all day, I guess.

10. Emma gave our Family Home Evening lesson.

11. Family self-portrait.

12. Ice cream for a treat. Dave and I are glad that there are only 10 days left of the challenge. Then we can enjoy FHE treats again. Dave still has a perfect score. Me? Not so much.

disaster area

I'm lucky that I have a front area of my house that can be shut off from the back with a sliding door. I use to pride myself on keeping my house clean and in order. Lately, I just cannot keep up. With the sliding door though, I can at least keep part of my house in decent shape. This allows for us to have choir practice and violin lessons happening in the living room with my pretty Christmas tree with participants none the wiser about the complete mess that is my kitchen and family room.

Dave (and our friend Dave) starting building a laundry platform for me on Saturday. I want one like this or this. To get ready for the platform, Dave pulled everything out of our laundry closet and put it on the kitchen table. I started painting in the closet while they were building. As most projects go, this took a lot longer than we thought. I left in the afternoon about 4 to go see my sister in A Christmas Carol and consequently didn't finish painting. They didn't finish building either. Something about the 11 kids they had between them to take care of. Then of course it was Sunday and nothing more got done. Today, I managed to get the bottom half of the closet completely painted. Tonight Dave pushed the washer and dryer back into their previous place so I could tackle the mountains of laundry piling up. Two days from starting and I still don't have a laundry platform or a completely painted laundry closet. And all but a couple of the piles are still sitting on my table. I haven't even mentioned yet the tortillas chips all over the floor or the chocolate pudding Anne spread all over the couch. There are still Christmas boxes waiting to go back downstairs and then all the usual messes that appear just from daily life.

Ah me. What a disaster. If you come to visit me, just know you won't be going anywhere but my front room!

quick and easy cooking

Tonight, I made beef stew in 20 minutes. I chopped up onion, carrots, celery and potatoes. I put two cans of stewed tomatoes in the blender for just a few seconds. I sauteed the veggies in olive oil for a few minutes and then poured in the tomatoes. I put all this in my pressure cooker and once it came to high pressure, I set the timer for ten minutes. When it was done I added in a can of roast beef that I had canned last year. Then I added 3 Tbsp. of sugar plus salt and pepper to taste. So quick. So good.

I don't use it as often as I should but I really love my pressure cooker. Roast in 45 minutes. Mashed potatoes in 10.

I do use canned meat often enough. It is so nice to just get a jar from the storage room and dump into dinner instead of waiting for it to cook. I've canned chicken, roast and ground beef and I use a jar or two each week. It works so well for things like casseroles, enchiladas and soup.

Just thought I'd share.

out of sorts

It is December 1st! How did that happen? Usually I put my Christmas decorations up the day after Thanksgiving. This year we were in Colorado. Since coming home, I still haven't put a single thing up. I just haven't wanted to do it. Strange.

I managed to lug all the boxes up from the storage room today at least. Perhaps tonight, I'll get one tree up. Its a start.