Tristan's Spotlight

Tristan's birthday is during the Christmas break.  Every child at Challenger gets "spotlighted" for their birthday and so for those that are during break they get an alternate day.  Today was Tristan's day.  I really had no idea what they were going to do.  Policy is parents can not bring treats or gifts or anything for the class, so I was at a loss.  But, I have to say that what Challenger does is the best idea ever.  It was amazing.  They sent home a form 2 days ago asking questions about Tristan.  Standard stuff like favorite color and favorite food, hobbies etc.  They asked for a couple pictures.  I figured that was it.  They invited the family to come at a specific time.  So Lore and I headed down there.  When we got there they had all the class sit down and pulled up 3 chairs and had me, Lore and Tristan sit in front of everyone.  Then they had Tristan read his form and show his pictures.  I thought this would be all, but then they surprised and amazed me.  They had the kids each tell reasons why they thought Tristan was special.  They could ask him questions too.  Alot of the answers were that Tristan was always happy, that he was helpful, that he was fun and kind.  His teachers each took a turn, and I cried.  Mrs. Hone talked about how Tristan was always talking about how proud he was of his daddy and how helpful and nice he was.  Mrs. Hiner talked about how he was a really good reader and a really fast learner and very kind.  Then they had Tristan stand up and they formed a circle around him, gave him a crown and then sang happy birthday to him and gave him 6 "Hip Hip Hooray."   What an awesome idea, and such a confidence booster for the kids.  I cried, it was so sweet.  

 He didn't see us come in at first. Like his high waters?  He put on the wrong pants this morning! lol

 Before we got invited to sit with him up front.  I didn't get to take photos during the rug time.

 Singing happy birthday.

Getting his crown. I have no idea what the kids are doing in front of him. lol

Tristan's Christmas Program

Tristan's Christmas Sing was on Tuesday.  It was so cute.  They all did so great.  Tristan was a bear and had the line of "Yes! Come, come little man, whats the matter with you?"  I have no idea what he was talking about or why he had to say that.  The first part of the program I couldn't really hear the kids so I think it was something about picking toys from a toy store? I don't know.  My camera was also acting up really bad. I am mad, and spent the rest of the day arguing with Canon and Best Buy, but that is another story.  After we got to go to their class and they gave us their presents.  They sang great songs, and I think what I loved the most is that it was a CHRISTmas sing.  The school was not shy about singing Christmas songs, calling it a Christmas sing, etc.  I have video, but blogger will not let me upload any video lately.  

 Tristan seems to have forgotten how to smile on cue lately.  I dont know why.  

 He made us a tile and an ornament. 

 Mrs. Hone and Tristan.

Mrs. Hone, Tristan, Mrs. Hiner

Skating With Santa

We skipped skating lessons this morning in favor of staying at our ward Christmas breakfast, but we knew that there was Skating with Santa later that day at the rink.  Practice is practice right?  So I took the kids down.  Normally public skating is pretty empty here, but i guess word got out that it was free and Santa would be there, cause it was so packed.  Normally I have no problem letting the kids get on the ice by themselves since I shouldn't be out there.  They started out with me just watching, but there were so many people and not all of them knew how to skate and I got worried, so I put on some skates and went with Lore.  Tristan is a pro, and he has lots of friends at the rink, so he was ok, but Lore is such a timid skater still, that I felt it would be safer if I was there to hold her hand.  She doesn't skate long any way, and we were only on the ice for about 15 minutes. Tristan stayed out the whole 2 hours with his friends.  

 Who ever played Santa was frustrating me.  Lore just wanted to say hi, and he was just skating so fast and doing the whip with the kids holding his hand. All I saw was injuries and Lawsuits.  Poor Lore couldn't catch him.  This is when I decided to step in.  

 During resurfacing Santa acted a little bit better and sat down and let the kids talk to him.  So Lore and Tristan got to sit on his lap.  At this point my camera was really acting weird, so things got really blurry. =(

 Tristan loves to skate. He was so mad he had to get off the ice for resurfacing. 

 Showing me and Lore how its done!

 Lore can skate, she gets scared though, you kinda gotta trick her into it.  

 She was done after about 15 minutes and was content to just sit in the stand and watch Tristan.  She likes to switch seats.  

 I can not for the life of me figure out why blogger has these pictures rotated.  They are not this way in my computer.  Oh well. Before I got on the ice I tried to tell Tristan to hold on and watch for Lore. But he saw his friends and left her.  She wanted Santa so bad!  

One of the many times Santa did "Whip" with the kids.  Tristan actually was hanging on. He was in the worst spot too, 2nd from the end.  Good thing he friend Andy (who is like 10 and a really good skater) was on the end. Sure enough Tristan fell, and Andy saved him.  Not that he would have been hurt, he has a helmet and padding and stuff, I am paranoid after all, but its good to know that Tristan has made good friends that help out. 

 Lore wanted to take a picture, and then wouldn't smile.  She is so weird sometimes. 

Ward Christmas Breakfast

Our Ward here in Utah does not do many activities.  But the one thing it does every year is a fantastic Christmas Breakfast.  Our old Bishop comes back and does made to order omelets (I dream about these Omelets) and there are muffins and fruit and juice and milk and then Santa comes. The kids play, the adults talk and everyone stays for hours.  We were only going to be there for about an hour cause we had ice skating lessons, but we decided to skip lessons and ended up staying 3 hours!  It was great fun! 

 This year one of the ward members was painting faces.  It looked awesome.  Might have to have her do it for the kids birthday or something!  Lore got a pink unicorn.

 Tristan says this is a dragon, and wanted to keep it forever.  I made him take a bath last night. 

 Talking to Santa.  She has wanted a Woody and Jesse doll (from Toy Story) for over a year. Its the only consistent thing she talks about wanting for Christmas. And that is what she told Santa.  Mom is trying to find them.  

 Getting a candy cane. 

 This is where my camera started malfunctioning yesterday.  Tristan told Santa he wanted a Xoom, which he too has been consistent about wanting, to bad he is never gonna get one.  If only we could find that Leap Pad Explorer. 

December Miscellaneous

This post is miscellaneous things that happened this month that don't have enough to make their own posts, but I still want to get in here. 

First up.  The week Mike left was also my first week not working and without a distraction from realizing I wasn't working any more.  I loved my job, but it was hard to telecommute every day.  So, I started this quilt almost 2 years ago and then stopped after cutting the squares.  I figured if my back would hold up, I would work on it.  So I did.  I had more cutting to do and lots of piecing and applique to do (all the circles are applique) to get the top finished.  I got everything done but the border.  I still need to cut the border and attach it, but it will wait till after Christmas.  And I think I am gonna pay someone to quilt it for me.  That's the part I hate the most.  And this is my first foray into triangles and it turned out great, I don't want to screw up the quilt with my ugly quilting.  

 On Friday December 2, right before bed, Tristan lost his 2nd tooth!  He was very excited, until his friends came over that night to baby sit so I could go to the Ward Christmas Dinner.  He forgot about it, and its still sitting in a cup on my fridge. The tooth fairy never came cause we all just forgot. Lol.  I did take the kids to the dentist this week.  No one has cavities (woo hoo) but Tristan has inherited all my dental problems, small pallet, to many teeth, crowding, etc.  He will have to go to an oral surgeon like me when he is older and an orthodontist.  But he did great, thinks the dentist is the coolest place in the world.  Lore on the other hand fell and hit her head on the toilet and moved some teeth and bit through her lip which is why we went to the dentist in the first place.  She was miserable there, I had to hold her in my lap for the exam. But she is fine, and they will see her in Jan to make sure the teeth didn't move or anything, but they think she will be ok.

Josh and Naomi Fox came up to visit on December 8th for a couple hours.  Josh and I hung out the Saturday night left and took the kids to see the Lion King, but I haven't seen Naomi since August.  So it was nice to see some "family".  Sam is now one years old and he is growing so big.  Lore loved playing with him while the grown ups talked.

Tristan's teachers had them write a letter to Santa.  I couldn't get a great picture because of the lighting.  But I typed it out, complete with spelling mistakes for Mike to see, so here you are:

 Dear Santa Clause,

  How are you?  How is Miss Claus?  How are your renddeer (reindeer) and The elevs(elves)?  I have Ben (been) so nisce (nice) This year and I have sare (shared) all my toys.  are The elvs (elves) bening (being) goo (good)?  So waht (what) do you use to wach (watch) me and I will give you a preent (present) and you miss Claus and I want to have a xoom.  Love Tristan

He can spell just about anything, but when he writes he gets so excited and hurries to fast and misses letters.  In the car he has me pick words and he spells them. He is great at it, so its always funny to see when he brings home stuff like this all the spelling mistakes.  I can't spell to save my life, but that's what a computer is for right?  

Lorelai's Christmas Program

On December 6th this year was Lorelai's class Christmas Sing.  She was kinda grumpy that day.  She normally LOVES to sing and dance and perform, but she didn't seem to want to that day.  But I got some good shots of her.  I am a little mad that these pictures are all blurry. We bought a new camera on Black Friday and it worked great for a week.  And now all the pictures are blurry and I am getting an error message for no reason I can find.  Hopefully I can get this fixed before Hawaii.  But here is what I got.  Blogger won't let me upload the video for some reason.  

Lorelai's Class

 Singing "Stand Up For America"

 Santa Came! Look at Lore, its so cute!  She was so excited!

 The parents were kinda pushy and this was the best picture I could get of the entire class with teachers and santa. 

 After she got her candy cane she was not interested any more. 

 When she does not want to take a picture she lets you know it. lol

 This is Spencer.  He was her boyfriend.  Now her boyfriend is Conor. 

This is Benjamin.  

Tristan's Letter to Santa

I guess they wrote letters to santa at school today.  Here is Tristan's (complete with spelling mistakes and punctuation):

Dear Santa Clause,

  How are you?  How is Miss Claus (Clause)?  How are your renddeer (reindeer) and The elevs(elves)?  I have Ben (been) so nisce (nice) This year and I have sare (shared) all my toys.  are The elvs (elves) bening (being) goo (good)?  So waht (what) do you use to wach (watch) me and I will give you a preent (present) and you miss Claus and I want to have a xoom.  Love Tristan

I have a lot more to post.  Lore had her Christmas program this week and her last dance class before we go to Hawaii so we have her Christmas dance (even though she wont be at the recital).  Maybe this weekend.  Just wanted to share this quick since I typed it up to send to Mike.  

Black Friday

In every sense of the word.  That morning the kids and I had to take Mike back to the airport.  Because he is deploying we got to get special security passes and go to the gate with him which was nice, gave us an extra hour or so.  We could have stayed longer, but Mike thought it would be better to leave him instead of him leaving us. I think he was right, cause I am not sure the kids realized that daddy was going.  The first time, because we watched him walk away, they cried and screamed.  

On the way home I stopped at Best Buy because the camera I have been wanting was on sale for half price.  That, and I needed a distraction.  It wasn't so bad, but it was 11 in the morning and I think everyone was asleep.  When I got home Aubree liked my new camera so much, we packed up the kids and went back to best buy to get her one! lol.  She talked me in to going to Temple Square because they were turning on the Christmas Lights for the first time this year that night.  

We hopped on the Train at the Sandy station and took the train uptown and met up with our family friends the Topik's.  We were kinda early so we decided to go to dinner at Olive Garden.  NEVER AGAIN!  Almost instantly Tristan started complaining about his stomach hurting.  Mine hurt a little too, and being 40 minutes uptown by train was weighing on my mind.  We walked the 3 blocks back to Temple Square and met up with our cousins Heather and Stuart.  We walked around for a little bit, but between Tristan complaining and the cold I decided to take my kids home early and Aubree decided to stay.  Heather and Stuart hopped on the train with me. We were no more than 3 stops away from Temple Square when Tristan threw up EVERYTHING, and in my purse.  Yikes. I got lucky that my scarf was on top and it kinda bounced off and on to the ground.  But the train was so packed that it wasn't a great situation.  We did get lucky that 1.  It didn't smell, 2. It was in the stairwell that was not on the exit side of the train and 3. No one really got covered in it, most of it ended up on the ground.  It also cleared the area and a nice passenger had some napkins that I could cover it up with and clean Tristan's face.  But Heather had to get off the train at the next stop and I was left alone.  To make it worse, Mike was on his last lay over in the states, so basically it was the last time I could talk to him on the phone till he got to Afghanistan 48 hours later, and my phone was dead.  Aubree also didn't know how to get home and couldn't get a hold of me and I forgot to tell her about the trains. I was a little stressed.  But, it could have been a lot worse, and all in all not so bad.  Aubree got a hold of her mom and figured out the trains, I got to say I love you to Mike just as the phone died, and Tristan was able to hold off throwing up until we got to our station 30 minutes later and threw up outside.  I raced the kids home, and Chris got them in the bath and I went back to Trax to pick up Aubree and Liam who happened to be on the train behind us.  Mike is the vomit person in our house. I do not do vomit from anyone, it makes me just throw up, so I know heavenly father was helping me out because I didn't even gag or anything.  It was pretty amazing, cause that has never happened before!!  By the time Tristan threw up the second time he was fine, no more stomach ache, nothing.  So food poisoning is my diagnosis and we will never go back to Olive Garden.  Every time we go one of us gets sick.  

 Lorelai is over her aversion to trains!

 We got there a little to early for the lights, so we went to the South Visitors Center (my favorite) to get warm.

 I love this exhibit and Lore did too!

 On our way from dinner back to Temple Square.  Mark was so awesome, he basically held Lore and kept an eye on her and played with the kids.  Thanks so much, it helped to know I didn't have to keep an eye on Lore with Tristan feeling sick.

 Me and the kids, I do exisist!  My ugly jacket that got covered in Oil at the dump last week. I need to get a new one, but haven't had the time.  And since Hawaii is in 2 weeks, it might have to wait until I get back. 

 I love this picture!

 Tristan, Lore, Liam and Stuart

Mark, Shaylee (in purple), Janelle, Lore and Aubree being silly.