Reminiscing

We spent some time looking through old videos today.   We found this one, it is one of my most favorite videos ever.  It was taken almost exactly 6 years ago.  We laughed for a good 30 minutes watching this clip.  Ethan memorized the first part of the transformer movie and would walk around the house saying it often.  Cole is his cute little side kick.

And just for fun, here is one of Liv from about 3 years ago.  Enjoy!

Wow, I can't believe how fast my kids have grown up.  This seems like yesterday.

something different

Christmas Eve day the kids let Shawn and I sleep in until 8am.  It was lovely.  Liv decided that it would be a special day so she wanted to dress up "fancy".  She put on a nice skirt and then wanted to choose me an outfit.  I convinced her that the nice pencil skirt she chose for me wouldn't be that easy to wear around the house.  So she chose another "fancy" outfit for me to wear and we set off on our day.  We ran errands and hung around the house all morning.  We baked and wrapped and got ready for Christmas Day.  In the afternoon we dropped off our sub for santa gifts and then headed to a friends house for appetizers, dinner and a movie.  We left early because  we wanted to do our own little Christmas Eve celebration.

Christmas morning is usually very exciting at our house.  They kids are happy and buzzing with excitement!  The first thing we open are all the gifts from Santa.  Then we move on to the family gifts.  Each year the kids draw names for gifts.  They spend hours deciding on what to get their sibling.  Shawn and I also spend hours trying to decide the perfect gift for our kids.  These gifts come with lots of thought and love and I wanted them to to get all the attention they deserve.  Don't get me wrong, the kids love the presents from family and are grateful, but part of the excitement has worn off after opening all the other Santa gifts on Christmas morning.

So, this year I did something different.  Christmas Eve the kids always beg to open presents.  This year I let them.  All the presents under our tree are from loved ones.  Sibling gifts, gifts to the kids from Shawn and I, and gifts form our wonderful grandparents and relatives.  These gifts are special and so to give them the perfect attention they deserve, we let the kids open most of the gifts under the tree the night before Christmas.

The kids loves every second and the excitement of these gifts got all the attention I hoped for....and these cute faces!

The boys were so excited that this embrace of thanks turned into a choke.

Next, up Christmas morning!!

Sub for Santa

This year we had a special opportunity to do a sub for Santa for a family that I know personally.  A co-worker to be exact.  She has three kids, all the same ages as my kids, and has been living in an abusive home environment.  This past month she finally got the courage to take her three children and leave.  She went first to a women's shelter, then to a friends for a while, and now she is back at home.  She has filed for divorce, is going to school full time and working full time, so the she can someday provide a better home for her kids.  She doesn't have much, and mostly lives off government welfare.  I knew she would be a perfect candidate for our sub for Santa this year.

It was an honor to help give some Christmas gifts to her and her children.  Thanks to the help of my in-laws and my mom, we were able to provide some great gifts.  We delivered the gifts Christmas Eve.  As we approached the apartment it looked okay from the outside, but as soon as we stepped inside there was an instant change.  The stench of smoke mixed with smelly stale air hit first.  The kids instantly stopped and had to be encouraged through the door.  Next I noticed all the holes in the walls and the graffiti.  The kids and I made it up to the top floor where the apartment was.  We stacked the gifts by the door and then knocked and ran.  I stayed back to make sure the door was answered and heard, "Oh, wow!  Mom, come and look."  Then I walked back to the car.  The ride home was quiet for the first few minutes.  Ethan finally spoke, "Mom, I never realized how blessed we are."  He went on to say how he didn't realize people lived in those kind of houses and that he never understood how much we had.  Ethan finished by saying that he felt good about making those kids happy, and providing them with a good Christmas.

Ethan's response was exactly what I was hoping for.  I knew that this family was in desperate need and hoped that my kids would be touched as they sacrificed to gift them gifts.  My boys chose several of their older PS, DSI, and Wii games and traded them in for money so they could buy the family some new games earlier in the month.  They each carefully thought about what would be great gifts and came with Shawn and I as we purchased everything.  It was a neat experience!

Christmas Activities

We finished off the week before Christmas with class parties

Christmas shopping and lunch dates

And, last minute christmas crafts and treats.

Merry Christmas

Random Pics

The kids can't believe Christmas is in just a few days.  Cole made a calendar and taped it to his bedroom wall to keep track of how many days he is "good".  He says this way Santa will know if he should leave presents.  We made gingerbread cookies after church on Sunday in preparation for Christmas.

We have also been having a Harry Potter movie marathon.  The kids love these movies around the holidays and the other day we made these fun HP wands.  Shawn has the Voldermort spell casting down perfect.

We also spent time these past few days talking with the kids about the school shooting in Conneticut.  We wanted to be the ones to talk with them about what happened and answer their questions, rather than find out from kids at school who were talking about it.  We wanted them to know that they were ok, that they are safe at school, and that people make bad choices, but that we need to continue to be kind, loving, and find ways to reach out to those struggling.  We wanted them to know that they have a loving Heavenly Father who is mindful and taking care of those children.

Lately, Ethan is obsessed with shovels.  He talks about them non-stop, dreams about them, and reads about them.  Ethan has spent hours researching shovels online and has chosen, the German Entrenching Shovel/Axe.

Except, he can't find it anywhere to buy.  So, we went to the camping store the other day and he purchase (with his own savings) this cool camping shovel.  He literally takes it everywhere.  He took it with us last night to Liv's gymnastics.

Last, it is finally snowing.  The kids are loving it, but my floors are now covered with wet snow.

Night in Bethlehem

Our ward Christmas Party was this weekend.  It was different then usual and the gym was decorated like the olden days of Bethlehem.  We had to wear Bethlehem clothing and we ate on blankets on the floor.  Each family received a bag of coins when they entered and had to pay taxes and for food.   The primary was in charge of doing the Nativity story.  Ethan was a shepherd, Cole a townsman coming to see baby Jesus, and Liv a sheep in the stable.  It was a fun night.

lately...

Life has been busy lately.  Getting ready for the holidays, school, work, and running kids around everywhere.  The boys are currently taking Taekwando a couple times a week.  They are having a great time.  Last week the earned their first belt.

I am still running Liv around to dance and gymnastics.

This week the kids participated in their school's annual Christmas Choir Concert.

Cole and Liv's concert was held during the day.  Cole was very nervous and fidgeted and laughed most of the time.  Liv also was nervous, but seemed to enjoy singing with her class.

Ethan's concert was the follow evening.  Because he is in 4th grade he gets a separate concert with the band and orchestra.  Ethan was NOT excited about this, and threw a fit about having to get dressed up and go back to school to sing.  Not his favorite thing to do.  Don't let the smile in the picture fool you, he was not having fun.  Although I think he liked playing the recorder, until he started messing around with it and dropped on the ground.

Tesla Lives

We went to a fun show this weekend called Tesla Lives, held at the Discovery World.  Tesla was the inventor of alternating current and lots of other important things involving magnetics and electricity.  The show had an age limit of 6, and even though Liv isn't yet six, they agreed to let her in.  It was a fun interactive show taught by a professor.  Ethan even got chosen to come up and be an assistant for one of his experiments.  We saw lots of loud, real life lightening bolts and electricity.  You couldn't take pictures inside the theatre, but it looked similar to this experiment.

It was a fun afternoon and the kids had lots of fun things to say about the show.

 

Thanksgiving 2012

Tuesday morning started out with a Turkey Trot at the kids school first thing in the morning.  They do this every year and the past year I went and watched, but this year I had a dentist appointment that morning.

Following a clean bill of health from my dentist Shawn and decided to start our celebrations early by a nice lunch date.  Then I headed to Liv's class to help with her "thankful" class party.  We made thankful trees, Indian headbands, and ate cupcakes.

As soon as the school bell rang we hopped in the car and headed to Wisconsin Dells.  We spent the next few days running around the indoor watersides, waves pools, lazy rivers, tube slides, and family raft rides.  It was PERFECT!  A few quick pictures from my phone.  

After getting back from the Dell we wanted to do a traditional Thanksgiving dinner also so Friday we had our own little Thanksgiving meal.  The kids decorated the table cloth with their lists of grattitude.

After our dinner we went to the Hallmark store to pick out our traditional yearly ornaments.

Shawn:  Glass of Milk and Gingerbread Cookie (it sings Let's get it on)

Jenn:  Grumpy and Dopey with tree ornaments

Ethan: Vintage truck

Cole: Elf with microphone (it records your voice and changes it to "elf" talk)

Liv: Christmas Barbie

 Then we put up the tree!

We had a nice rest of the weekend with lots of relaxing (a little working), yummy food, crafts, and lots of good family time :)

morning routine

I've wanted to document the kids in their morning routine for a while now, but just never remembered until they were out the door.  That hour getting them ready is very chaotic, but this morning I just took my phone around with me and took pictures as I remembered.  There are lots that I missed, but this is a good idea of how our mornings usually look on school days.

The alarm goes off at 7:00am

Cole is the easiest to get up.  He usually hops right up and gets dressed.

Liv and Ethan are horrible to wake.  Ethan usually yells at me to get out of his room and Liv pulls the covers up and ignores me.  I usually just leave them alone and they come downstairs in about 10-15 minutes.  

Cole always wants to eat first thing. He must wake up starving.  He always wants cereal, never anything else.   He always makes a huge mess with cereal and milk everywhere.  His favorite right now is Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  After breakfast Cole does his math facts.

Ethan doesn't like eating with Cole (because he is messy).  Once Ethan is dressed with his bed made and room cleaned he always does his reading first.  Except for this morning he ate breakfast with Cole and Liv. 

While eating Ethan likes to do his math times tables.  Lately Ethan always has a strawberry carnation breakfast and peanut butter toast for breakfast.  

Liv is not much of a breakfast eater.  She will eat a piece of toast if I beg her and a glass of orange juice.  She is very slow at getting her stuff done in the morning and needs lots of prompts.  She gets side track playing dolls in her room when she is cleaning up.

While the kids eat I make sure all the lunches are ready and put an ice pack in.  Ethan likes to have a bagel with strawberry cream cheese or turkey sandwich with carrots, broccoli and ranch, an orange, and wheat thins with hummus.  Cole likes to have a bagel with blueberry cream cheese or peanut butter and jelly sandwich with an orange, grapes, apple slices, and wheat thins and cheese.  Liv wants a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with an orange, apple slices, grapes, and wheat thins and cheese.  They all get chocolate milk at school.  Everyone once in a while they kids will have school lunch when it sounds good (I love those mornings).

Following this the kids do their reading and get their bags packed.  Ethan reads for 30 minutes, Cole for 15 and Liv reads one beginning reading book.

We have to rotate brushing teeth in the morning.  I tried to have them work together and regulate who brushes first, but that ended up in a big war with lots of tears and yelling.  The bathroom is small and hard to share.

After this Liv is usually ready to let me do her hair.  She sits in her pink bean bag and reads flash cards while I do her hair.  She is very particular how she wants her hair.  Sometimes we have random braids in different directions and sometimes she insists on doing in herself.  

We also did spelling words one last time this morning.  Friday is spelling test day for the boys.

Once everyone is dressed and ready for the day I check their rooms and beds.  If they are clean they all earn their morning allowance for the day.

It's usually about 8:00 at this time.  We are working on memorizing the articles of faith so now is when we say the article of faith a few times as a family and then have family prayer.  

We walk out the door at 8:10.

The walk is short, just across the street.  Ethan and Cole usually play for a few minutes and then walk to their class lines by themselves.   I walk with Liv and make sure she gets in the door okay before leaving.   

And then I take a big breath and walk home in peace and quiet.  That is our morning routine.  

We accomplish a lot between 7-8 and it's very crazy, but it makes it much easier when they get home.  Less homework and chores and more playtime :)