Little days of this and that

Spencer did a super job coloring the pattern on his reindeer at school.Rachel came and stayed with us for a few days in between Christmas and New Years.  On one of the days she broke out this Cars puzzle from my parents.  She and Jessie worked on it for 4 hours and got it done.  Mark and I joined in here and there and helped out too.  I am just not good at puzzles!  Jessie coated it in glue just before we left for dinner at our friends.  One of Mark’s Christmas gifts was Rollercoaster Tycoon.  He has let all the kids make their own park and rides and it has been fun for everyone.Here’s more food photography.  Can you guess what one of Jessie’s FAVORTIE snacks is?  We need to get her some tablecloths or placemats so she doesn’t always have an orange table for her background.A cozy place in the sunshine is a perfect winter reading spot.  Jessie was reading Goose Girl, but decided that she didn’t like it, so she didn’t finish it, much to Rachel’s disappointment.Neil still LOVES other people’s shoes and Rachel new cowboy boots were a big hit with him, although they were a little too heavy for him to walk very well.  He just kept tipping over.After we wave good bye to the kids leaving for school Neil’s first choice of things to do is usually read some books together.  He runs to pick out what he wants, then when he gets to me he turns around so I can pick him up right onto my lap.  I just love it.  We snuggle and read and read and read and…..here’s our pile of books from one morning.He also likes to kick balls, play with the marble run on the back of the front door, draw crayon pictures, run up and down the hall while I pretend to get him from the different bedroom doorways, and help me start laundry by turning on the washer and then waving to it when we leave to come back upstairs.  Then on about 10:00 we have a quick snack and both go take a nap.

Mark was moved on into 11-year old scouts this last pack meeting.  At this next one he’ll get his Arrow of Light.  He is so excited to be able to go on campouts and has reminded me that he’s not in Cub Scouts any more, “It’s just Scouts now, mom.”  He has had super leaders this last year and moving on he has great leaders too.  It will be an exciting year.

We really haven’t had any snow this year.  So weird.  On January 7th we finally got a bit, it barely covered all the grass, but the kids didn’t even care and Abbie and Spencer raced out to build us some snowmen.  They ended up being rather small snowmen, but so cute!Neil really wanted to go out too, but he wasn’t much of a help.  He saw the kids stacking up mounds of snow and assumed it was a tower for him to knock over.  Abbie was extremely patient, but finally called out for some parent reinforcement.  So I went out to rescue her snowman from losing his head again.We used some water bottle lids for the faces and pipe cleaners for the mouths and arms.  Neil decided that picking up snow was almost as interesting as knocking it over.

I wasn’t feeling great one Saturday so Ken took all the kids, including Neil, to a BYU basketball game.  The kids loved the chance to get some paint on their faces.  Here they are all ready to go cheer.

We got the new BYU Today magazine a week or so after this experience and on the front cover was a picture of Cosmo.  Neil must have remember him from the game because he was SO VERY EXCITED to point to him and grunt that he he knew who that was.  It was so funny.  He wouldn’t even give the magazine to Mark so he could look through it.  So here’s Neil and Cosmo at the game.

The kids had a great time, even if Ken did spend quite a bit of the game walking from one drinking fountain to the next with Neil out in the halls.

Christmas Break

The day after Christmas proved to be a fun one.  Abbie and Spencer drove their remote control cars all over the house.  They even had Ken make little road signs for them (the little orange square papers on the floor).  Some were just arrows showing which way you could drive, some were caution signs and some were go slow signs.  They even put out obstacles around the living room to drive around.  The arrows signs went down the hall, through the bathroom and into my room, around the kitchen table and through the living room. It was a grand morning.Even though it was pretty cold Mark was dying to use his new arrows and spent some part of almost every day of Christmas break out shooting at the target in the backyard.

Neil colored on some new doodling cards while Jessie photographed some food, inspired by her new book.

That evening we had FHE at David and Lisa’s apartment; Rachel also joined us. We had a lesson about everyday objects that can help us remember Jesus from a talk by President Uchtdorf.  We played Ring-around-the-Rosie -- one of Neil’s new favorite games from nursery -- enjoyed hot chocolate and chocolates for dessert, and the kids totally loved playing on the raised bed.

When we got home those who hadn’t worn pj’s to David got out their new jammies from Grandma Woodward and we all played Abbie’s new game: Pass the Pigs.  It has become one of our favorites.  Even Neil loves to roll the pigs.  You just have to remind him to actually drop them after he shakes and shakes them.

It was so fun to have Ken off work for a few days after Christmas.  One afternoon we all sat down and made thank you cards together.  We worked and worked on them.  When we were ready to do something else we set the pile of them on the piano to finish later and now we can’t find any of them!!  I’m sure they’ll show up sometime, but I’m not sure how long we should wait before we just write them again.  (In the meantime, if you sent us a present – THANKS!)Neil is such a fun guy to play with.  He loves to laugh and be chased.  He really loves to read books and loves it when the kids are home.  Jessie and he were best buds one morning.He also LOVES hot (warm) chocolate, and is glad the kids can easily talk dad into making some most mornings before school.Sporting Rachel’s glasses.  They even fit better upside down – who knew?

Merry Noel

Rachel joined us for a very lovely Christmas Eve party with Ken’s family.  One of his uncles had smoked a turkey for us (and it was fabulous!) and the rest of us joined in a brought sides.  We brought four dozen crescent rolls and should have made one more batch.  Ken’s aunt collects salt and pepper shakers and she had a new set out on one of the tables – a pea pod with salt and pepper peas in it.  It was just too cute.After dinner we unscrambled some Christmas related words, passed finger-fulls of candy canes and read the Christmas story.  Poor Rachel had to be at work at 7:00 the next morning so we dropped her off at her apartment on our way home.  She skyped with my family back at home at 6:00 am and they opened presents together.Our Christmas morning didn’t start until 8:00 am.  Oh, what a blessed thing!  The kids all checked out their mittens (stockings) when they got up.  We had French Toast together for breakfast and then got ready for church.  The girls got to wear new red dresses from Grandma W. with their new necklaces they found in their mittens - Jessie’s a heart locket and Abbie’s a butterfly.  Mark sported a new tie and tie clip with his Book of Mormon hero, Captain Moroni.  Part of my stocking surprise was this fun poster the kids and Ken put together.  They had each written me a little note and put it in the envelopes at the bottom.Church was nice.  The bishopric spoke and we got to sing a lot of Christmas songs.  As part of Ken’s talk he read his favorite story from The Friend way back in 2002: “Rescued on Sunday.”  Not your normal “Christmas story,” but one that demonstrates the Christmas spirit that we should have all year.  Lisa and David surprised us and joining us for sacrament meeting.  After church Ken had to do tithing still so we went home and fixed lunch and put Neil down for his nap.  David and Lisa left to visit her family after lunch and then “Christmas morning” began for us.

For our Christmas store for the kids this year, we did nice things for for each other and left “you are loved” cards on their pillows with a note of what we had done for them on the back during the whole month of December.  The kids did a great job of thinking of nice things to do for each other, and especially enjoyed counting how many had been left for them.  I opened the store a few days before Christmas instead of just on Christmas Eve and that was an idea that we will be repeating.  Part of the fun of Christmas is having the thing your giving and thinking about how much the other person will enjoy it and I want the kids to enjoy that part too.

Here are a few highlights and pictures.  Mark made Jessie a new case for her glasses at Weblos.  She also got a book on Food Photography.  Jessie made Abbie and Ken new scarves, and they are so soft!  I really liked how the Christmas tags I made turned out; this one has little punch-outs on the tree and then a piece of yellow paper behind.  Abbie was so excited when she opened a remote control car and Spencer loved his new dragon sunglasses and Frog and Toad book. 

Mark saved his long tube present from Jessie for very last and was still trying to figure out what on earth it was while he was unwrapping it – it was new arrows for his bow.   Neil woke up kind of grumpy near the end of the gifting and just wanted to sit on dad’s lap.  After Spencer helped him unwrap a present or two he picked up on the idea and didn’t want ANY more help.  Ken got some real maple syrup, one of his favorites, and told Spencer the bottle said, “only for people 30 or older.”  Spencer was really bummed until he figured out Ken was joking.Neil’s new velcro food was a hit with ALL the kids.  That was fun. They each had to have their turn cutting it apart and serving it to each other.  One other really fun thing was a book on all the elements from the periodic table I found for the kids.  This Christmas was just nice.  We weren’t rushed in any way, the kids were so good having to wait until 3:30 to open gifts and it was so good to be with each other.

We ended the evening at Ken’s parents house for some dinner and gift exchange.  A few of my favorites from this event were:  Neil totally knew what was going on now as far as unwrapping went – that was cute.  One of the many slightly humorous things on Spencer’s wish list was “a box of matches.”  Grandma gave him one too!  Only it was filled with loose change instead of matches.  Jessie was really excited about her new flute stand and Abbie loved the second and third books of My Father’s Dragon that she got.  Mark loved the soccer shirt from Brazil that Steph and McKay brought him.  My favorite thing to give was a new ring to Ken’s mom.  She received a similar ring for her 10th wedding anniversary when Ken’s parents went to Israel a long time ago.  Well, a few years back while she was helping us bottle pears it got lost.  We went through the all the pear gook a couple of times and still couldn’t find it.  So Ken has a friend that is a goldsmith and he made a new one for her.  We had the inside inscribed with, “Keep away from pears.”We felt so lucky and so blessed at this special time of year. I hope that special memories of love and sweet and quiet desires to more truly serve our King help us all become what we really want to become.

Taco Soup

I have never been a fan of taco soup.  I’m not sure if it was the tin taste that always accompanied it or what, but recently I found a recipe that I really like.  Give it a try and tell me what you think.

Taco Soup

1 lb. ground beef

½ onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup water

2 cans beans, rinsed and drained (pinto and black)

1 can chopped green chilies

1 qt. tomatoes (not drained)

8 oz. frozen corn

1 ½ Tbsp. chili powder

½ tsp. cumin

2 tsp. salt

¼ tsp. oregano

1 pkg. dry Ranch dressing mix, I think this must be the secret ingredient!

Garnish: cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips

In a large pot brown ground beef with onion and garlic; drain fat. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer 15-20 minutes; stirring occasionally. Serve with cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips.

Before Christmas

My sister, Heather, brought out a little card with some face painting ideas on it for Jessie.  She tried the panda out on Spencer and it looked awesome!  Mark got an eye treatment….the kids are waiting for April Fool’s Day and want to have painted eyes at school.  I think it will be so fun!We had our annual pretzel dipping afternoon.  I can’t remember why the panda was crying, but it happens.  This year we did lemon, mint and cinnamon chocolate.The kids love our “sleep” under the tree night.  Although, it takes FOREVER for them to actually get to the sleep part.  Some of them pretended to be asleep for the pictures.Mark made everyone pancakes and eggs for breakfast.  He’s such a good boy.  Here is a picture of his perfect fried egg.This year Spencer, Neil and I were reading The Friend and they had a little story about a family who put a paper Christmas tree on their door and each night to remember Jesus they wrote something they knew about Jesus on an ornament and put it on the tree.  Spencer and I decided that was a good idea, but we made a wreath instead and hung it in the kitchen above the table.  The idea was to write on our holly berries each night at dinner, but sometimes we forgot.  So we did it at other meals too.  It was a fun thing to do with all my family here.  Towards the end we had to think a little harder so we didn’t repeat what we already had up there.  It was really nice to go around the table and share the things we knew about Jesus.  I’m really excited to do this again next year! The really amazing part was that one night we wrote on our berries in the living room before we read scriptures.  Then I put the little jar of berries on the arm of the couch and Neil saw them and grabbed the jar and sat down on the floor at the end of the couch with a pen and started doodling on the berries while we read.  He totally knew that you write on a berry and then you hang it on the wall.  So we hung up his little berry too.  He also loved to help the rest of us write too.Jessie stitched on pillowcases for two of her friends.  They turned out so cute.  She has such even stitches!