Kissing and sayings

Kaitlyn:
I got a text the other week from Kaitlyn's Sunday school teacher saying that he heard Kaitlyn had kissed another boy in the class, Erick.  When I asked her about it, she first denied it and then fessed up to it when I mentioned that her teacher told me.  She just kissed him on the collar and that was it.  Apparently she likes this boy a little bit and chases him at school too.  We have also heard that she kissed her cousin last time he was here.  Looks like Todd and I need to look out for this daughter!  With that all being said, when it comes to kissing mom and dad good night, she won't do it because she doesn't like kissing.  When she denied me a kiss the other night and said she didn't like kissing, I told her that can't be right because she was trying to kiss Erick!

Abby:
Todd returned home from a week long trip and came over and gave me a kiss while I was sitting on the couch.  Abby was there and saw and said, "that's gross! Ewww!"  A little while later our babysitter showed up and Abby said she was sick because "I saw my parents kissing!"So she had to go lay down.

Olivia:
We were all driving home after a school performance,  Olivia was with Todd in his car and they got home first.  Mom had left the stroller in the way of Todd's parking spot.
Dad: "Mom, left the flippin stroller in my way."
Olivia: "Dad, let's move the flippin stoller in front of mom's car."  Then laughed like a hyena.

Kaitlyn while walking with Mom a couple Saturdays ago.
Kaitlyn:  "Mom when you were in the hospital we learned the word frikin' from Dad."
Mom:  "Yes, and that's something we don't say anymore."

Last of my Dec. 2012 blog catch up

A HUGE accomplishment for us was finishing the Book of Mormon as a family.  We finished before Christmas and I wish I wrote down when we started.  But we read the whole thing cover to cover out of the big  Book of Mormon for LDS families.  I think it took us 2 years to read the whole thing.  We went from one red heading to the next each night.  It was hard but we got into the habit of reading every night before bedtime.   The girls were very good about remembering to read.  As a celebration we went out to dinner to the Rain Forest Cafe.  We had great seats next to the tigers that kept Alec entertained.  We were going to buy the big volcano dessert at the end but the kids were getting restless so we went home and made our own volcano (a tower of brownies, lots of ice-cream, covered in chocolate sauce and whip cream - and I had all the ingredients to make it work!).  For Christmas, everyone received their own copy of the Book of Mormon to use as we start over again.  I am so proud of the kids for sticking with it, Kaitlyn always wanting to read the longest verses, and for getting us in this good habit.

President Marion G. Romney said if we prayerfully and regularly read the Book of Mormon in our homes and with our children, "the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein.  The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow.  The spirit of contention will depart... FAith, hope, and charity - the pure love of Christ- will abound in our homes and lives." (Ensign, May 1980)

The girls did many art projects in the month of Dec and decided our kitchen wall was the best place to hang everything and then we ran out of room.  They loved decorating the house with their homemade decorations and I wasn't about to stop them.  Stuff was everywhere!

A Christmas gift for Kaitlyn and Abby were tickets to see the Blue Man Group.  Abby even designed her own shirt.  It was loud and fun but the girls were a little embarrassed to get up and dance when prompted by the performers.  Abby loved it, Kaitlyn said it was too loud.  I think the favorite skit though was the Cap'n Crunch one.  It was still hilarious and reminded me of when Todd and I first saw them in Chicago with Cindy and Jay almost 9 years ago!

A New Year's Eve tradition that we started many years ago was having a Barbarian dinner (Katie you gave me that idea years ago when you lived here- thanks!).  We have spaghetti for dinner but we have to eat with a different type of utensil.  Kaitlyn hates doing this so she opts out - she likes to be clean.  But the rest of us used an ice cream scooper, Tablespoon, a pie scoop, etc.  Alec used his hands.  Messy and fun! We also ring the New Year in with chocolate fondue!  Hooray for yummy traditions!

Christmas Lights

Abby needed to do a holiday traditions worksheet for school.  For one of our holiday traditions, she wrote down, NOT putting up Christmas lights on the house.  However, this year the girls begged Todd to put lights on so we tried.  One Saturday,  Todd and the girls put a few strands (that worked) in the front around our pillars and they were very happy about it.  Later that night as I was driving somewhere, I noticed that the lights weren't on.  I called home and asked Todd to plug them in.  If we were going to put them up, might as well turn them on.  He told me he did have them plugged in.  He went out and checked and apparently something shorted out with the lights. Alas, lights were not to be - on with our tradition!  So here's to another year with no lights.  We did leave the non-working lights up until after Christmas.  I think we get an A for effort.

Another day while I was checking what lights were working, Alec thought they were so fun so he decided to play in them for awhile.

Christmas Snow

This year we were lucky enough to get snow for Christmas again.  This happened a few years ago but didn't expect it this year even though it was in the forecast.  A Christmas miracle.  The kids were so happy for the little that we got they couldn't wait to get outside to play in it.  Of course they tried to capture as much as they could in their mouths.  The snow kept falling all day long - it was awesome to have just even a little bit.

 Later in the evening, the kids begged to go outside again.  We quickly let them eat and head out.  You can see the snow actually stuck to the ground.  We let Alec have his first experience with the snow too and he loved it!

 snowball!

 Mom even got hit with snowballs as she was trying to take pictures.

Christmas Tree and Gift Giving

Olivia decided the tree needed some more decorations so she added her favorite stuffed animals.  There are 3 in this pictures along with her dress up necklaces.  It was lovely and stayed on the tree until Christmas.  She was so proud of her work I didn't dare touch it.

Christmas dresses - could not for the life of me get all 4 to sit together.  One daughter-  not pictured - threw a fit about who knows what, it's been too long since it happened.  However, these two let me take a quick shot of them before church.

 After church someone was much happier.  The lightening in the room was much better too!

 A little Alec overload because I can't choose one of him because he's so cute.

 Still loving to "play" the piano.

 Alec got a train set for Christmas and carried the trains around with him wherever he went for days.  Christmas day he just hung out on the stairs.

 One thing I loved doing this year was a sibling gift exchange.  Each child had their own shopping day with mom where I took them to the dollar store where they could pick out a gift for each of their siblings.  All 3 girls were very thoughtful when it came to choosing something for their siblings.  It was fun to watch them pick.  They helped me wrap the gifts and were so excited Christmas day to have their gifts opened.  I hope to continue doing this with them.

Abby received a small bobble head cat from Olivia and an art kit from Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn received a small bobble head dog from Olivia and a dog puzzle from Abby

Olivia received a stuffed dinosaur from Kaitlyn (she was really hoping for that and cried the night Kaitlyn went shopping because she was afraid Kaitlyn didn't get her the dinosaur that she saw earlier at the store) and a dancing wand from Abby

Alec received a stuffed dog (pictured) from Olivia, lizard from Abby and a toy phone from Kaitlyn

 Who needs toys when there's a box to play in?

 Peek-a-boo!  Olivia "trying" on her new vest.

The favorite gifts this year were roller skates for Abby and Kaitlyn - our house is now a skating rink.  And Olivia's favorite was her new scooter with light up wheels.  Dad likes his new briefcase and Mom loves her new clothes. A happy day for everyone!

Dec. Misc

I'm finally sitting down to try and catch up so 10 years down the road when I look back at this stage I can remember some of the things that we did.

I love December with the spirit of the season that is everywhere.  My girls are so excited about the holidays and are always wanting to do something Christmasy.  I try not to over schedule us/me during this month and this year I think I did a better job at that than I did last year.  Most of my Christmas shopping was done within the first week and anything else that needed to be bought was ordered on-line.   We do an advent calendar every year with an activity for every night.  This is just a glimpse at some of the fun things we did.

Visit with Santa.  Alec was fine until it came time to sit on the lap.  This picture was framed along with all the other crying, Santa baby pictures.  It one of my favorite things each year to do - pics with Santa to frame.  One year I might have a picture with all the kids smiling!

 Olivia got a little shy talking to the Big Man.

 Our 2nd annual Christmas cookies with Grandma 

(I think Alec stayed home with Dad or was either playing with Grandpa the whole time.)

 

 Abby was very creative and detailed with her decorating.

 Breakfast for dinner at IHOP in PJs.

 Jingle Bell Jog

 Olivia finished her gymnastics class

Other fun things:
- a night parade.  I have never been to one but since Todd left McKinsey we didn't do the annual Christmas parade downtown so I had to find something.  It was fun to go but it was on a school night and it was so long we left before Santa came at the end.

-Piano recital.  Abby and Kaitlyn have a new teacher but we did a little recital with some friends that was very informal but a great way for the kids to show their new skills.

-School parties

-Swimming at the gym- always a favorite and we had the whole big pool to ourselves!

Other random stuff for my memories:
At the end of November our ward was spilt.  Actually 2 wards were spilt to make a 3rd, which is pretty cool but sad to see the families we normally see every Sunday move to another building.  I recently was called as a Laurel advisor at church shortly after the road show in October.  With this new change with the wards, we lost most of our YW presidency and I was then called into the YW presidency as 1st counselor.  And to top that off, the YW and YM were in charge of the ward Christmas party at the beginning of December.  For the couple weeks after Thanksgiving, I was pretty busy with meetings, training, and figuring out the party.  After all that was done, there was a huge calm as most activities went on hold during the break.