California Christmas

With Lester being gone, we spent Christmas in California with my family. We had an amazing time and enjoyed every single minute [well, maybe not EVERY minute.....I'll explain.] Here's a brief rundown of the week before Christmas in CA:

18th - Arrived in CA (late)
19th - Slept in, Sister-in-law Caroline came up with cousins Landon, Weston and Calder
Weston and Calder sleep over [Landon gets sick]
20th - Picked out new hens (chickens) for Meme's coop [Calder gets sick]
Corben's baptism rescheduled for Jan. 3rd
21st - Church at home ward, Maddie gives herself a haircut, Andy and boys sleep over [Madison gets sick]
22nd - Some shopping gets done, get Christmas tree, 1st trip to Pinkberry (YUM)
[Andy, Caroline, Weston and I get sick....sensing a pattern yet?]
23rd - Home for the day recovering [Corben and Poppy sick]
24th - I brave the crowds to get all shopping done even though still a little queasy
[Corben and Weston sick again]
25th - Merry Christmas!! Weren't sure if we would be having family Christmas, but everyone felt good and we had a wonderful day.

That's pretty much how it went - thankfully after Christmas everyone was feeling healthy again and then it was off to the desert, but that's a whole other post :)

Birthday Fun

So I have lots of posts coming soon and rather than doing one large post, I'm going to break them up into events and hopefully, in order. The first is for Corben and Madison and their birthdays... we just had a few close friends over for Corben (his "real" party is the 17th at a swimming pool, yes we're swimming in January!) and for Madison it was just the three of us. (Maddie's only request was for a very pink cake - inside and outside :)

Bound to Happen

Sooner or later it was going to happen...sad but true. At home, the scissors are all put out of reach most of the time. [At Meme and Poppy's house it's hard to know where they are.] Thankfully it was only a tiny lock that she chopped-not the curls, and it will grow into the rest of her hair. It's even hard to see, on the front left side almost where bangs would be. Maybe she's trying to tell me she wants bangs?? Not a chance... :)

The [not so] Great Mousecapade

So here it is....we have mice in our garage. YIKES! The break down:

Cold weather + wheat food storage in mylar bags (no more) + warm garage = mouse party.

Cleaned up the wheat, let the cat go on patrol, then a week later...

Old birdseed + forgotten bag of Easter candy = mouse smorgasbord x standoff with mouse for 10 minutes = call to exterminators.

Glue board traps < poison (bad for kids and pets) or mouse traps (who wants to hear that snap??) = 2 less mice the next day.

2 hours + shop vac + glue boards = 4 less mice. (shop vacs are very efficient and make a nice ffwoop sound when sucking up mice :)

Score so far: Dani & shop vac = 1, glue boards = 5, mice = ? but I'm hoping they will get the hint and find a new winter condo.

Happy Birthday Madison

Three years ago....

Ten tiny fingers, ten teeny toes
Sweet rosy cheeks and a little button nose!

[and lashes that will sweep you off your feet]

At one....

...at two...

..and at three you're still as sweet and darling as can be!
We love you Maddie moo-moo, Happy 3rd Birthday!
xoxoxox

ssshhh...don't tell the photographer I scanned the proofs ;]

Christmas Tree/Nativity Tag

I saw this post on a friend's blog and decided to do it myself. I do have to preface this post however: the first tree I attempted to set up was an absolute joke, I picked it up pretty cheap at Big Lots. [just for the record, we are a REAL tree family but just this year I decided to go fake since we will be MIA for a spell] As you can see - any tree that is SEE THROUGH just doesn't cut it...and this is after being "fluffed."









(I didn't even finish putting it together! I ran to Lowes and bought a really nice tree for only twenty dollars more that was already 1/2 off. It is beautiful!)

Anyway, on to our tree this year -- I have a thing for white lights, although I always enjoy seeing other people's tree with multi lights, I just love the white. As far as ornaments go, one or two years after we were married, we started acquiring momentos from everywhere we went on vacation. I'd buy keychains or actually find ornaments and those are now the majority of decorations on the tree. It is so fun to take them out every year and remember all the neat places we have been, along with the other homemade ornaments from family and exhanges/gifts. If I had to pick a favorite ornament, it would either be a little tiny box with a bow that unfolds into a very small nativity scene my sister-in-law made one year or an Eiffel tower with Santa climbing the top with the year "1995" on it. My sister-in-law found that one for me to remember my trip to Europe that summer :) Thanks Caroline!
For Nativities, again I have two -- the first I bought in Poland at a little mission where ladies make all the pieces by hand, and the second is one from my Parent's ward and is a puzzle cut out of one piece of wood.









I tag anyone who would like to share the story of their trees or Nativities.

A Magic Birthday?

Is there some special magic at 8 years old? Here is an example of Corben's writing before his birthday and the letter below was written yesterday as a homework assignment using some of his spelling words:

Does neatness come with being 8 years old? Maybe it will rub off and help him keep his room tidy. At least I can hope....

He also drew this transformer:

Not Such a Little Boy Anymore

Has it truly been 8 years already?? It just seems like yesterday....

you were born,

...then turned one,

...and then two with lots of mischief...

...three brought a vivacious personality,

...four and making lots of friends,

...five and your love for others grew,

...six and the adventures never ceased,

...seven there was independence,

...and now at eight you have a thirst for knowledge and are a brilliant, charming boy.
We love you SO much our little man
and are so blessed to have you in our family.

HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY CORBEN!!!