Arizona Christmas 2007!

Arizona Temple Lights

We had a wonderful time seeing the lights with the kids and reflecting on our Savior, the Temple, and the real reason for the season. Matt took this gorgeous picture of the Temple and I just had to post it.

SUNSHINE and BLUE SKIES!!!

We're having a fabulous fun time here in Arizona so far. The weather is PERFECT! Sunny, beautiful and between 65-75 during the day. I mean really who could ask for anything better. I keep tuning in to the weather channel just to see the 18 inches of snow and winter blizzard we left behind in Ohio. It makes our trip even better than it already is. We've yet to take any pictures however; but we'll be snapping away the next couple of days between the Temple lights tonight and Zoo Lights tomorrow night. So, we'll be sure to post some pics soon.

Brady did however write a cute letter addressed to Santa at the SOUTH Pole - he started it by asking Santa - how have you been? He then told his Grandma it was going to take him a while to think of everything he wanted so just so sign it from Brady. My kids sure keep my young.

Goodbye For Now Ohio!

We will be in sunny AZ for 3 weeks, so needless to say we are VERY excited to join our family for the holidays. We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. We will have our laptop in AZ so we will hopefully stay in the loop with everyone. We hope everyone is healthy and well.

Our Superheros!

Emma and Brady are always tying blankets around themselves and playing superheros, so I decided to make them their own super hero capes! They love them!

BUSY Weekend

Fresh out of the bath and loving their new pj's they just opened.

Reading her own bedtime story

Sporting her new Christmas dress up from Emma, sucking on her dolly binky, attempting to walk in Emma's new Jasmine dress up shoes, and tripping on her doll bed.

Kissing her new dolly...again.

Yeah - Grandpa & Grandma Eccles gave me a doll!

Wow - more Thomas stuff. A dream come true!

Alexia, Emma, & Anna - all in Kindergarten together and at the mother/daughter party.

making candy canes.

Thanks for inviting me to the party at your house Anna!

Emma with her piano teacher and primary president - Sister Turner.

Our weekend festivities started on Friday afternoon when our family was invited to spend a couple of hours in the home of an Amish family. It was a sweet little widow with 3 small sons. We had a wonderful time taking Christmas to this wonderful family. What an educational experience this was. It was very special to watch all the kids play and interact - the clothing and backgrounds didn't matter to them. However, Emma and Brady were quite impressed that they had a toilet inside of their house; and they're insistent that we should buy the family a TV. We were granted permission to take a picture of the kids playing together, but we feel it disrespectul to their culture to post it where there's worldwide access.

On Saturday, our family enjoyed making Christmas suckers and cookies. The kids had fun painting Santa Claus and Christmas light molds. We packaged enough suckers for each of their classmates. We also made our "famous" Christmas cookies and delivered them to friends.

In the afternoon, Emma had her first Piano Recital. She started taking lessons in October and is quickly excelling. It was a Christmas recital and was fun and festive. She played a duet of "Good King Wenceslas" with her teacher. She did a great job and we are proud of her.

Saturday night Emma and I attended a performance of the Nutcracker put on by the Northeast Ohio School of Dance where she takes Ballet. We were the recipients of a random act of kindness. A family at Emma's dance school found out that Emma wanted to see the Nutcracker. They also found out that we don't have an income right now and so they purchased the tickets for us and had the school send them to us. We feel so blessed to receive such a wonderful gift....and for such charitable people. The performance was beautiful and very moving. Emma was sorely disappointed when there wasn't a second International mission (a.k.a. - intermission) because she was having so much fun that she wished for 3 parts instead of only 2. Her ballet teacher performed and Emma was thrilled watching her. She was all smiles and loudly announced proudly so that everyone in 10 rows in every direction could hear that her teacher was the prettiest one and the bestest ballerina. All in all it was a big day for Emma.

On Sunday, Emma and I attended a mother/daughter Christmas social with some friends we've made through her soccer team and Kindergarten class. There were about 40 little girls ages 3-9 and their moms. The girls made a simple craft, enjoyed cookies and punch, a short musical program, the Christmas story reading from Luke II, and a testimony from Emma's Kindergarten teacher. We were the only members of the church and it was very refreshing to be surrounded by so many people who remembered and recognized the real reason for the season. We enjoyed being able to add our testimony of the Savior to theirs and share our beliefs.

Sunday night we decided to have our family Christmas in an effort to reduce the amount of luggage back and forth to Arizona. Anyway, we've never done our own thing before, and it was very special. We started the evening with our tradition of making a Birthday cake for Jesus (a delicious chocolate cherry cake I might add) and as we read Luke II, Emma and Brady added each nativity piece on the cake. We sang some carols and then the kids opened some gifts. My personal favorite was watching Ellie when she opened her baby doll from my parents. Her eyes lit up and she oohed and aahed so much. She drug the doll everywhere in spite of the fact I'm sure it weighs more than she does. It melted my heart! I LOVED baby dolls when I was a little girl....and still do!

All in an hours work

Above picture - after hearing Emma left for her piano lesson, these 2 decided it was time for them to play the LOUDEST duet ever!

Then, Ellie decides to follow Brady into the bathroom while he takes care of business. She closes the door and can't get out...so since it takes Brady awhile, she decides to entertain herself.

Funny Boy

Brady loves messes! He thinks the only way he can enjoy playing with his toys is to first dump out every drawer, bin, & box etc... Anyway, we've been trying to break him from the habit and teach him to play with one bin at a time. So, this morning Matt goes in Brady's room to help him make his bed and the room is a huge mess. Matt said, "Brady how did your room get to be such a mess. Brady looked at Matt, smiled and said, "I know I shouldn't have made a mess Dad, but I said yes to myself." Gotta love 4 yr. olds.

Oh The Music!!!

So we recently "acquired" the new Josh Groban cd and I was listening to it while I was doing the dishes. Emma got done in the bath and came down in her pajamas and asked if she could help me with the dishes. Of course I welcomed the help. She then asked it we could dance to the pretty music and I reluctantly said ok because there was not an audience. After some dancing we got back to washing the dishes and I said "Emma, isn't this beautiful music", and she said "yeah dad, it makes me want to dance with a handsome boy!" That was the loudest wake up bell I have ever heard in my life!! This whole kid growing up thing is starting to worry me.

Matt

Brady Logic

So, Brady has been going through an extremely picky eating stage for the last couple of months. Tonight as Brady boldly declared "he didn't like that" before even taking a bite of dinner...mind you he likes all the ingredients - anyway he says he wants a "honey pooh bear" sandwich. (a.k.a. - soy butter & honey) Matt tries to explain for the umpteenth time that he has to try something to know if he likes it or not. Then, Brady and Matt have the following conversation:

Matt: Brady how do you know you like honey pooh bears?

Brady: Well, I like honey Dad.

Matt: Brady, how do you know you like honey?

Brady: Because I like bees

Matt: Brady, how do you know you like bees?

Brady: Because they make honey Dad! :D

Kids are so entertaining.

Toddler Toddler Beware!

Case in point that my baby is now a toddler. During the 10 minutes it took me to wash the dishes this morning, Ellie tipped over a Christmas present under the tree so she could use it as a step stool to reach the infamous kleenex box. She then wiped her nose with every single tissue and threw them on the floor. After that she bolted into the kitchen where somebody had left a chair pulled out and she proceeded to climb up on the table and crawl to the fruit bowl to get herself an apple. Since she is my third child you'd think this behavior wouldn't surprise me, but it caught me completely off guard. I'd love to hear some of your "toddler moments" - they always seem to make me chuckle and lighten my mood.

This week in Ohio

The picture turned out dark, but since it's December Brady has a green tie and the girls have on their Christmas skirts. Aren't they cute? Thank goodness for that talented Grandma. P.S. I just realized you can't even see them - darn! I'll try again next Sunday.Just hanging out and playing with paper airplanes before church.

Emma dreaming of Santa bringing her a "Felicity doll" from American Girl Place and showing pictures to everyone out of the magazine. Thanks heavens for her that she'll have her wish granted on Christmas morning.

Brady is showing off his new Cleveland Indians robe that Grandma made him and sent with the Christmas skirts.

Brady with his friend Zack from preschool. Zack invited Brady to his Birthday party to be held on Sunday....and since Brady couldn't go, we gave Zack his own little party on Saturday. I took the boys for Happy Meals, Ice Cream, and a ride on the Santa train at the mall. I had a fun afternoon, but talk about ENERGY!

Brady is happily back into his cowboy hat phase making Matt proud.

Gotta Love The Eastern Time Zone Sports Fans

So a major knock on living in the Eastern Time Zone for me is that all of the good sports games don't start until late and they don't end until even later. I DVR as much as I can, but most of the time I have been waiting the whole day for a good game to come on and I just want to watch it. Saturday was no exception, the ASU-U of A game was on and I had to watch it. So of course it didn't get over until 11:30 so I stumbled up to bed at about 11:45. Then Brady woke up and I put him in my bed, so I slept in his awesome race car bed. Brady has a way of convincing you to wake up because you don't want the girls to wake up, so you figure only having 1 out of 3 kids awake is pretty good. So Brady came in and woke me up and I asked him what time it was and he said, "the first number is a 5." This was a good thing believe it or not, most of the time he says 3 or 4. Anyway, I would not trade my kids for the world, I just blame any of their flaws on the Eastern Time Zone.