Christmas 2013

It all started a few days before Christmas. Amelia and Cooper hadn't received their emails from Santa yet, which included their naughty or nice decision, so we waited anxiously for those.

Cooper waiting to hear the final decision. They both ended up with nice.

Then we had the Christmas Eve bash at our place. Lynnli and Amelia played with their babies while talking on their phones, Courtney tried to fix my slow computer, Joey and Jojo chilled and visited, and by the time the rest of the family joined us, we were well on our way to a rockin' Christmas Eve party!

After the family left, we had our traditional Christmas Eve cocoa, put out cookies and milk, opened new pajamas, read stories, and tried so hard to go to sleep. Cooper crashed early, but Amelia didn't settle down until after 9pm. Santa was having a hard time holding out until everyone was asleep!

Visions of sugar plums dancing in his head.

I'm pretty sure she was still faking when I took this picture.

Christmas morning happened about 6:15am, and we all rushed out to see what was under the Christmas tree. Amelia and Cooper were thrilled with all their gifts, especially the ones they got each other.

They are showing sibling love for the gifts.

 After we opened presents and had breakfast, we headed down to Blackfoot to spend a couple days. It was so nice to get away and visit with family and friends. I don't think I got to bed much earlier than midnight the entire time!

Courtney and Lynnli.

We also played out at Nana's school, put away our Christmas decorations, and celebrated New Year's Eve day with lunch at Leo's and then rolling skating. It was Cooper and Amelia's first time, and they did really well. It was my first time in around fifteen years, and I must say I was quite proud of myself. I only fell once, and I call it more of "taking a knee" then a fall. Of course, depending on how I feel tomorrow, I may call it a fall!

Amelia at Leo's. I couldn't get Cooper to stand still long enough to get a pic.

Amelia and Cooper at Nana's school. Cooper was so proud he climbed to the top and wasn't scared of the height!

New Year's Eve plans are to watch a "Duck Dynasty" marathon, each Mrs. Powell's cinnamon rolls, and see who falls asleep first---it could very well be me!  Happy New Year!!

"Nutcracker" and News

Amelia had her yearly performance of the "Nutcracker" last weekend. She was a cherub, and in my opinion the cutest little cherub that ever played a harp. She did a fabulous job, and is still angling for the role of Clara in a few years. Again I explained to her the Sugar Plum fairy dances more, but she held firm in her decision, telling me, "Clara has a prettier dress AND she gets to give permission for the all dances to begin." Well, we can see where my fashion-minded, power-tripping little darling's heart is, can't we?

Here she is before and after the performance:

Isn't she so pretty?

In other non-related news, Cooper lost another tooth, bringing his total to three. As you can see in this picture, it was one of his bottom ones. And when I say he lost it, I mean COMPLETELY lost it. We never found it. After breakfast one day I noticed he had a gap in his teeth and asked him if he felt it come out. He said no. So, the mysterious tooth was either swallowed, spit down the drain, or in the same place all the socks with no mates end up.

School has been particularly crazy these last few weeks as the semester finishes up. I needed to get a massive project done, so I put Cooper next to me doing a puzzle, thinking I'd have an hour on the inside to finish it. Well, twenty minutes later Cooper told me he was done with his 100 piece puzzle.

I was awed and impressed, but still had to get my homework done. So I told him to go look for his tooth.
 

In weather-related news, we hit a heat wave Thursday through Saturday (25 degress!!!!) so I took the kids sledding.

That's it for this week. I am really working on those Christmas cards, I promise. I'll finish my engaging and witty poem this week and try to have them all in the mail or email by Friday. I  know email is not as fun, but you get it a whole lot faster. Merry Christmas!!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!!

Yep, we decorated the Christmas tree. The kids were so excited the whole tree was laden with ornaments by the time the song "Believe" from the Polar Express was over.

Best ornament on the tree.......sigh. He's so handsome.

I had to coax Cooper to put his ornaments all around the tree, not all grouped in one spot. The next day they were all in one spot. I asked him why he moved them and he said, "So I don't have to walk around and around to see them all." Good point.

Amelia putting up her ornaments. She liked to put them on the window side so everyone outside could see her pretty ornaments.

Not a great picture, but at least they're standing still!

I can't believe how fast Christmas is coming. I still have a Christmas poem to write, cards to send, goodies to bake, and last-minute shopping. Life is so crazy I don't think the Christmas spirit will hit me December 24 at 10pm. :-) Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving 2013

Thankgiving?! When did it happen? November is over? Wait....what?! Yes, November has flown by, and I'm sorry I didn't post more. Truthfully, we didn't do anything blog-worthy, just day-to-day stuff. Oh, and I'm getting schooled by my classes. That too.

Thanksgiving was fun this year. We drove down to my parent's house after watching Macy's parade at home while I made some rolls. After eating a delicious dinner, we mostly hung out, played with cousins, and had a good time. Here are some pictures from our happy Thanksgiving Day and a few days after:

Amelia helping Nana hang ornaments. The bear she's holding she got from Santa a few minutes earlier, when we caught him on a fire engine at Walgreens.

Cooper on the ladder with his puppy from Santa. The importance of this picture is that Cooper was ON the ladder. He's scared of heights.

"Hey Cooper, I'm going to take a picture of your cool airplane. Smile."

Amelia balancing a Froot Loop on her nose because it made Lynnli laugh.

Amelia helped set the Thanksgiving table. We didn't have Katie this year, so we're glad we had an adequate stand-in!

Bompa, Nana and all the grandkids.

I will promise to post more between now and Christmas because we have ALOT planned. Although I'm sure you missed my updates terribly and went into withdrawals I have to admit it was kinda nice to have a few slower weeks. Also, look for your yearly Christmas poem, coming soon. Happy holidays!

Leftovers From Halloween

I know what you're thinking....no new picture of November happenings?! Well, yeah. It's hard to post pictures of nothing, which is exactly what we've done since November 1. It's alright with me, October was insane, so I think we need a little boring normalcy for a few weeks. Besides, the holidays are right around the corner, so you'll be inundated with photos soon enough!

Here are some Halloween leftovers I haven't posted yet:

Amelia and Cooper at Boo at the Zoo. Yes, it was raining. Yes, it was cold.

The weather didn't stop them from collecting lots of candy, though! (Most of which is sitting on the counter still.)

Some of the decorations.

I know this is hard to see, but it's a lion. They were both antsy and pacing around their cage. Probably because of the thunder and lightning.  Oh, did I mention we had that with the rain?

They also had their Halloween parties at school:

Cooper as Captain America....with no mask or shield. It was considered a "weapon". He's still happy, though!

Yes, Amelia, you are royalty.

In their full costumes Halloween night!

In unrelated news, I fired my first pot for my Elementary Art Methods class. I almost was reported to the honor code office when someone overheard me say, "I'm going to fire up my pot on Friday"...............

Hocus Pocus and Carving Pumpkins

This weekend we carved our perfect pumpkins and went to the Hocus Pocus held a few blocks away. Amelia and Cooper carefully planned their jack-o-lanterns and then went to work. Wait, I mean I cleaned out Cooper's pumpkin. He hated the feel of pumpkin guts when he was younger and it hasn't changed yet!

Amelia, on the other hand, dug right in and wouldn't let me help! She did a nice Wicked Witch of the West jack-o'-lantern.

Later on, the kids put on their costumes and we walked to Hemming Village, where Hocus Pocus was being held. As we arrived, we were greeted by the Headless Horseman:

He creeped me out big time. Amelia and Cooper hadn't heard the story, so I vowed to tell them so I wasn't the only scaredy-cat in the home. Honestly, isn't ANYONE else getting the heebie jeebies looking at him and imagining him galloping after you in the dead of night with a flaming pumpkin poised to lop your head off?!

The fearless Captain America in the spooky graveyard.

Amelia LOVED the way her dress would blow in the wind. I have at least sixteen pictures of it!

Amelia and Cooper in the storyteller's chair.

We also went trick-or-treating to the shops, bobbed for apples, went on a hayride, visited with friends, and looked at cool jack-o-lanterns:

                                                             LOVE this time of year!

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we journeyed to Idaho Falls to get our pumpkins to carve. As always, the selection process was a long, careful, drawn-out study of the "perfect" pumpkin.

Amelia and Cooper in front of the pile of pumpkins.

Cooper found his quickly. The only rule I have is that you have to be able to lift it into the wagon. I was surprised Cooper had done this, so I asked quickly lifted it and was surprised by how heavy it was. I asked him how he got it in the wagon. He pointed to a man standing a few feet away and said, "I asked him to do it." I told Cooper the rule was they had to put it in the wagon by themselves. Cooper looked at me a second and said, "Well, you didn't say that."  Thinking back, I realized I forgot to tack on "by yourself" when going over the one and only pumpkin patch rule. Sigh. Bested by a 6 year old.

Cooper and his 20 lb. pumpkin.

Amelia, who proved she COULD life it by herself.

Wandering through the straw maze.

It was a fun day and beautiful weather for perusing thousands of pumpkins. Afterward we hit the malls for October outfits. Instead of buying a bunch of school clothes in September, I've decided to buy a new outfit per kid each month and see how that goes. So far, it's been great. Cooper went up a pants size and Amelia did, too, so they were able to get clothes they won't grow out of for awhile.

 In other news, I'd been perplexed by smudges of dirt on my walls about shoulder level. I couldn't figure out where they were coming from......until Cooper called me to "come see!" the other night:

He was so proud I didn't have the heard to tell him to stop. Just handed him a wall wipe. Never a dull moment around here.

Harvest Festivities

I love this time of year.....not only for the cooler temps and the beautiful leaves, but for all the activities autumn brings. We had two this weekend--Amelia and Cooper school's Fall Carnival and the straw maze:

Wound up and ready to go in!

Cooper getting his hair "crazy scary". He opted for Superman colors to match his shirt.

Amelia thought it was amazing when the girls starting backcombing her hair so it stood straight up.

My scary crazy-haired kids!!

Cooper's Superman hair. It turned the bath water orange.

Battling siblings.

Saturday afternoon we headed out to the straw maze. I LOVE the straw maze. We can't see through the walls, so its harder to get out and/or lose my children. We ended up spending over an hour wandering around. They had extra tunnels the year, and there's only one entrance/exit, so I was able to sit at the entrance/exit and just let Amelia and Cooper run around without losing them.

Getting ready to get lost.

Amelia outside the tunnels. Not only were they low, but they had twine hanging from the bales, which makes it scarier when it's haunted at night. Amelia wants to go next year when it's haunted. I told her she has to be brave enough to get her ears pierced first!

My favorite part of the straw maze? That's right.....when everyone's lost and I'm alone with the peaceful quiet bales of straw.

Amelia and our friend Triston swing on the twine.

Cooper joining in on the fun.

You can't hear his karate yell, but it was there.

No longer lost!!

After we mastered the maze (with the help of an incredibly wise, gifted, beautiful mother who was smart enough to ask the workers for directions) we made it out. The kids played on the bales of straw for a bit and got nice and tired and itchy!

Amelia jumping into a pile of straw.

Cooper's turn.

It was a fun weekend and I was glad to have a short break from all my homework. Who knew going full-time was such a sleep and energy sucker? Anyway, next week we'll head to the pumpkin patch and shopping in IF, along with a ward harvest party. I. LOVE. AUTUMN!!