We went to visit Jim, Cheryl and their family in Rochester, NY after Christmas. While there, we discovered that all it takes to occupy two five year old girls for 1 entire week is
We always open family games on Christmas Eve to help the time go by faster. The kids really look forward to having mom and dad sit down and play for a while.
Christmas Eve dinner where everyone gets to drink out of a fancy glass (filled with sparkling cider of course!)
We make the same reindeer cookies for Santa every year. Dallin's ability (or interest) has faded over the years. Note his creations in the top middle and middle right. He's lucky he is a good kid or Santa might not leave a nice gift for a cookie like that!
Why is it that the SHORTEST day of the year feels like the LONGEST?
I think it has something to do with children and parents in close proximity while unopened presents wait under the tree.
You can only explain how long until we get to open presents so many times to a five year old before you want to rip them open yourself!
We have had a fun day today...but it has seemed like a 34hr day instead of 24!
(I'm sure no one else feels this way the day or two before Christmas.)
Ed is hoping that he does not have to have some sort of medical problem to be included on the blog. However, that does seem to be the theme for him lately.
We have had quite a difficult week after Ed's ACL replacement. He injured his knee 5 years ago and required surgery at the time for a bone problem. At the time they discovered that his ACL was almost gone and told us he would need surgery at some point. So he has been wearing a brace and putting up with it deteriorating waiting for a convenient time to have surgery. Funny how it is never a good time to be out for a month!
So, a week ago Friday he had the surgery and has been recovering from home. We're trying to forget the first two or three days and he is feeling much better. He is making good progress with the bending machine and starts therapy next week. The real kicker is that he can't drive for a month. He is working from home and luckily most of pharma shuts down for two weeks around Christmas. So I have all the running around duties, including Seminary (yawn...oh did I doze off again?).
Anyway, just to let you all know he is doing better and looks forward to running around with the kids this summer without a brace! (Also, I apologize if I neglect anything this month regarding Christmas, things may be a little late.)
Cami had her Christmas performance/party at dance class this Thursday. We were able to watch them and take a few pictures. She really loves her time at dance and seems to pick it up quickly. (This makes me happy considering the 6 weeks it took for me to teach her how to skip before kindergarten:) I know it will also make Grammy happy to know that one of my daughters shares her love of tap shoes and tutus. Great job Cami!
On Friday Dallin was elected as one of four student council officers for his school! We were so proud of him for going through the process. Candidates had to submit essays which the teachers reviewed and narrowed down to the final 15. They then had to give a 2 min. speech which was videotaped and played for the next few days over the school TVs. His motto was "Let's keep our standards high".
Taylor played an important role as his "campaign manager". She was so excited for her brother that she created an incredibly complex network to spread his message throughout the school. She is definitely someone you want on your team under any circumstances.
It's great to see my kids working together and cheering for each other. Ed and I are proud of both of them and excited to see what Dallin will get to be involved in throughout the next year.
Congratulations Dallin!
Taylor has been playing the piano for about 3 years and she really loves it. She practices every day without argument and often without a reminder. She has a wonderful teacher named Clipper Erickson who is unbelievably talented and teaches her in a style that really works for her.
This week she passed off her first Sonatina by Clementi. She has had the notes down for a while, but to Mr. Erickson that is only part of the piece. He insists that she play with all the emotion and feeling intended by the composer. So, after much work she played a piece that brought tears to her mother's eyes and has now officially finished Sonatina.
Call us and she will be happy to play some of it for you! Way to go Taylor, we are so proud of you!
Cami has been learning about respecting our bodies and treating them like the wonderful gift that they are. This includes her parents teaching her that she should not get tattoos. So, apparently, she has been on the lookout.
Tonight while driving to Church Cami yelled out, "Oh my gosh, that house has a Christmas tattoo!"
We had no idea what she was talking about. She went on to explain that the house had a Christmas picture on the side and it wasn't even held up by anything at all so it must be a tattoo.
On the way home she pointed it out and it was a projected image on the siding. It actually did look a little like a tattoo. We let her know that it wasn't permanent and it was just a bit of Christmas fun for the family. She was relieved.
We always cut a fresh Christmas Tree and I love it! The kids like to run around and pick just the right one and they cheer for Ed as he cuts the tree down. We had a great day this year as we got our beautiful tree.
When we lived in Avon, there was a little old lady who lived close to our neighborhood who had a Christmas tree farm. Well... actually she had a farm where she had been growing some Christmas trees for several decades. She was in her 80's and had a mentally challenged daughter who she cared for in her 60's. As you may have guessed, an 80 year old woman does not plant or care for trees. She hired a few teenagers to come a couple of times a year and tend the trees, but they didn't really know what they were doing. Needless to say, the trees were not very attractive. Rather, they were short and fat and the wrong type to make a well decorated tree altogether.
Why did we buy our tree here you ask? Because she was so full of Christmas spirit that we couldn't resist and then it just became a tradition. Each year she had buttons made to pin on the kids and would make wreaths to sell. She then donated much of the proceeds to an organization for mentally challenged adults. Anyway, we smiled every time we looked at our awkward tree and were reminded of the true spirit of Christmas.
So, while I LOVE having a beautiful Christmas tree, there is a part of me that misses the short, fat trees of the past.
Merry Christmas!
Last week I was able to surprise my mom for her birthday. My sister, Janeen, planned the day. I flew in on Monday and we were supposed to surprise her by showing up at her house to take her out to dinner. As usual, my flight was delayed and Janeen ran out of excuses as to why she was late to pick up my mom. So she finally spilled the beans and when they finally got me from the airport we had a great dinner and talked for a couple hours.
We spent the whole day on Tuesday with just the girls (Mom, Janeen, me and Shawna). We went out to eat, got our nails done, and did some shopping. It was great to be with my mom, sister and sister-in-law for the day.
Thanks to my husband and all my friends who helped with the kids to make it possible for me to go!
We love you Mom!
What do you get when you add these three things together?
That's right! A trip to the emergency room to stitch Ed's thumb back together.
The funny thing about the story is that when it happened myself and all of the other women in the neighborhood were at Secret Chef putting together meals. Ed (who faints at the sight of blood) had to send Dallin (who freaks out at the sight of blood) to get our neighbor (who also faints at the sight of blood) to help him. None of the women could hear their phones as they were in our purses stacked in the corner and we were focused on pans, gabbing with one another, and the music they had playing. The men decided that they had better take him to the ER. When they arrived a little old lady took pity on them and helped Ed into a wheelchair because he didn't look like he would make it into the waiting area.
Oh Boy...it's amazing what can happen if men are left unsupervised for only a few short hours.
Laying in bed later that night Ed calmly says to me, "I think we should re-think the 'finish-the-basement-ourselves' plan." My reply, "You think?"
This Tuesday Taylor and I were able to attend a Medieval Festival with some kids from her school at the Henry Mercer Museum (aka - concrete castle built to house the THOUSANDS of collections of a brilliant, but slightly crazy man).
EVERYONE who went had to be in costume. Luckily, Kathy was able to find a dress for me that Julie had made when she was in high school (since you had no idea I was borrowing it until now - thanks Julie!).
We really did have a great time and learned a lot about the time period.
Taylor had to hold hands with boys while doing the Maypole dance and she even survived!
I wish that all of thee that lookest upon our photographs will find merriment and joy! Good day and God Save the Queen!(This is what we had to reply all day whenever a teacher shouted it -weird for a public school activity huh?!)
Many of you know that Dallin started fencing after we moved here. He was always interested because his cousin (Reid) was also a fencer. It really is a great sport full of tradition, respect, honor and politeness. It really is a great work out too - it works almost every muscle group!
The academy where he takes lessons is one of the biggest around and he learns a lot from the instructors and other students. I thought you might like to see him in action - even scoring a point against the other student. Touche!
Of all the things the cousins could have played with at Thanksgiving, guess what was their favorite?
Yes... the cardboard boxes. All you need is a little sunshine, a hill, and some moving boxes and you are set for the day.
All the cousins (and some of the adults) had a great time "sledding" down the steep hills at Grandma and Grandpa's house.
When I was a kid, I was outside all day. In fact I remember very few of the toys I played with. I do, however, have lots of memories of the games I played with my siblings and neighbors. I also remember when my parents would bring home refrigerator boxes for us to make into clubhouses.
It's amazing how much fun can be had with so little. Just wait until we get some snow on those hills!
Everyone who knows us will attest to the fact that we LOVE babies. Luckily we were able to get our baby fix through Isabella over Thanksgiving. We spent the holiday with the Seguines and Dan and Tricia came up from North Carolina. We are in a different phase of parenting now that all of our kids are old enough to go off and do their own thing, so we dedicated our attention to Ella. We never get tired of making a baby smile and coo. Thanks Ella!
No matter how hard you try to be on top of things, you have those moments where you feel like a terrible mom. I received the phone call from the school nurse telling me that Tayor had failed the eye exam and needed to see the eye doctor. (This is also how we found out Dallin needed glasses in kindergarten - even more traumatic the first time around!)
When we took her to the eye appointment we found that she could only see clearly about 2 feet in front of her. Her vision is 20/100 in both eyes. After some questioning we found that she had a system of closing her eyes tight, opening them wide and focusing on the board for a few seconds at a time. I let her know that if anything like this were to happen in the future to let me know a little earlier.
Anyway, she has her new glasses and we all think she looks great! (Lesson learned: I think I will take Cami to have regular eye exams along with the other kids and maybe I won't have to hear from the school nurse a third time.)
I have always believed that there is something very special about the relationship between a boy and his dog. Zoey is our family dog, but seems to have a special place in her heart for Dallin and he for her. She loves to climb up in his lap, roll over and go to sleep. The other night she was completely zonked out on his lap and I had to have a picture. Even those of you who don't love dogs will have to admit that a boy and a dog are a nice combination.
We have been talking to our kids about learning to laugh at ourselves when we make a mistake or find ourselves in a somewhat embarrassing situation. This past weekend, Taylor took a spill in the mud at her Soccer party and we thought we would take a picture and enjoy a laugh...we're still working on the laugh part.
I got to celebrate Thanksgiving a little early with Cami at the annual Kindergarten Feast. She made her pilgrim costume and wrote our names on the place mat before I arrived. We made pasta necklaces, colored turkeys, and visited with the other parents.
The highlight was actually when a classmate lost a tooth and all the kindergartners (green with envy) celebrated with him. Cami was so excited she insisted that I let her take a picture so we could remember the moment. She took the picture and seems to have some of her Grandma Katy's picture taking talent (the finger across the lens for those of you who were not familiar with Grandma Katy's photography).
I have much to be thankful for, especially (and for the last time -sniff, sniff) fun kindergarten celebrations.
