Tis the Season . . .

Well, we did it. Amidst decluttering the house, packers, movers, and the final home inspection, we were actually able to capture a bit of the Christmas spirit. We are now safely nestled up in the mountains at Grammy and Papa's house singing "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow" and loving every minute of our "2 week winter". And we will blog about our Utah winter adventures later, but for now, here is a glimpse of some of the fun Christmas activities we found to get us in the spirit for our last couple of weeks in California. . . TEDDY BEAR TEA
This was a fun program put on by the military at Chris' school. The kids were able to bring a favorite stuffed animal where there was a puppet show, a Christmas Craft, pictures with Santa, sugar cookies, and all the hot cocoa you could hold (with or without marshmallows!)

We were also told about "Candy Cane Lane", a street in Pacific Grove that goes all out on decorating for Christmas and even has a little mini park in the middle with all these cut outs for the kids to pose in (and me too!)

Here is Chris singing with the High Priests at the ward Christmas party - yummy dinner, fun entertainment, and Santa - again!

Another major thing for Chris was his graduation (pics to follow). It was pretty standard, as far as graduations go, but it was neat to go and I am so proud of Chris for all of his accomplishments. I am so lucky to be joined with such an amazing man. It's neat to see him excel in so many areas.

Aly brought her friend Katherine to the party with us, the girls sang with the primary, and Aly sang her famous rendition of "Petit Papa Noel". They had tons of fun. Oh, and a funny sidenote about this picture. Lise has been dying to have me take a picture of her cross-eyed because she's so bummed she can't see herself making the face in the mirror.

Aly is still willing to sit on Santa's lap, which I'm grateful for - they just grow up so fast, ya know!? I do have to say, that this time of year I am also glad that we don't have regular tv, only netflix, so our girls are pretty naive when it comes to commercials. Which means that my girls will let me "help" them decide what to ask Santa for. Sweet. Although Aly also did ask for some snow, but that's been taken care of, so it's all good.

Aly enjoyed the past few weeks singing with her choir in school, making a nativity set and exchanging gifts at Activity days, having a pajama day and doing a book exchange with her school class, and GETTING HER BRACES OFF!! It was a last minute decision at our final ortho appointment, but I am SO glad to be going to Florida with just a retainer! Aly's glad too.

Analise has had her fair share of Christmas festivities as well: going ice skating with her friend, Lillian, doing a book exchange, making gingerbread people, and having a pajama day with her class, and memorizing her lines as the daughter in "The Shoemaker and the Elves" class play. She was so cute acting up there! And here's Lise's quote of the week: "Mom, I know why you always make peas with Mac 'n' Cheese - 'easy peasy, mac 'n' cheesy!"

Speaking of quotes of the week, here's a couple of Kate's:

"Yeah, that's why band-aids don't stick on tongues. They're too juicy."

"Mom, are your black shoes white?"

This is Kate pretending to be Wall-E at the ward Christmas party . . . and Chris joining in the fun.

This is how I distracted Kate at Target while I was doing a little last minute Christmas shopping - by letting her pretend to be a reindeer and play with other random toys so that she wouldn't see what I was doing. Aren't I sneaky? :)

Don't you just love this picture, how I propped the hairbow on her head to make it look like it was actually attached? Hee, hee. Kylie had her 4 month appointment and she's doing great - 12 lb, 23 1/2 inches. The only thing they told me is that she needs more tummy time because she isn't rolling over yet. Well, I've been trying to put her on her tummy a little bit each day since then and it's really paid off because she just rolled over while I was writing this blog! I think it was kind of a fluke, but that's okay, a lot of great things started out as a fluke - like sticky notes.

Kylie's also doing well on the grabbing objects scene. These few minutes of self entertaining came in super handy while I was frantically trying to declutter the house before the packer's showed up.

And that's about all for now . . . time to get back to enjoying time with family, yummy food, and the final countdown to Christmas. I hope you are doing the same. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Mini Corndogs Vs. Sausage Links

Hooray! A picture of me made it into the blog. :) So anyway, I've been thinking about the personality of my blog lately, and the word that comes to mind is "random". It seems that most people have a general theme for each post when they blog. However, since I usually only make it to blogging once or twice a month, my posts seem to be a hodgepodge of information, a conglomeration of random information on the family if you will. And that got me thinking . . . is my blog like mini corndogs or more like Sausage Links? What I mean is, am I just feeding out random chunks of information, or is there a main theme, holding all the chunks together? As you ponder this deeply, let me start spooning out the chunks . . .


Christmas Spirit?

Sad to say, but this picture shows the extent of our Christmas decorations this year. With no snow and a cross country move over the holidays, we are having a hard time getting into the spirit of Christmas this year. We're more into the spirit of moving, packing, putting away, cleaning out the fridge, etc. Which brings me to Stacy's quote of the week: "You know, I'm torn between wanting to lose weight [from the pregnancy] and wanting to eat up all the food in the house to get rid of it before we move. Augh!!" Anyway, as far as the Christmas Spirit goes, we're going to watch the Polar Express and drink hot chocolate for family movie night tonight. Maybe that will help us out.

Just Hanging Around?
Here's a picture of Chris at "The Mystery Spot" (see other pictures at the end of the post) where gravity pulls you "sideways". But seriously, Chris has been doing anything but hanging around! He and his group polished up and turned in their 288 page monster thesis this past week, and how did Chris celebrate? With a mad frenzy of activity which included cleaning out the garage, weighing the cars, packing for Alabama, changing our address with everybody, etc. AND he's got a massive cold/flu gunky thing going on at the same time. Man that guy really deserves a break.

Argh, Matey!

Here is Kate at the Santa Cruz boardwalk where we mini golfed. She is her same spunky self, having tons of fun. She's been making a lot of very creative art pictures for the family at school, especially "giraffe food" which she then had to cut into all the individual chunks. Chris and I were able to go have a "Thanksgiving Feast" with her at her school where the kids made us some no bake pumpkin cheesecake. It actually turned out pretty well! Below is a picture from when we went to the mall to hear Aly's chorus group. They had free face painting, and the girls all picked something appropos for their personality. Aly chose some flowers and a dolphin, Lise picked butterflies, and Kate picked . . . an orange shark. Never a dull moment with Kate around.

Look at What I Can Do!

Okay, so this picture demonstrates my exellent parenting abilities. I knew Chris was teaching Aly and Lise how to climb the traffic signs, but until Spencer sent me this picture, I had no idea that they were climbing all the way to the top of the light post! Ah, the things that happen when you're inside nursing a baby.

This past month Aly has been her usual busy, social self. She had her birthday party at the roller skating rink with her friends (Wow! 9 years old!), is working hard with her Christmas Chorus group, and she has been having her "last" special playdates with all of her 50 friends. Once again Aly doesn't want to move and leave her friends, but I know she will find a lot of great friends in Florida as well.

The Thanksgiving Boogie

Analise's class put on a special program for Thanksgiving as well. There were songs, a small play, and then a crowd interactive dance to a spunky song that went something like this, "Oh be grateful for what you've got, 'cuz you've really got a lot, maybe you've just forgot, that you've really got a lot!" Then we had a turkey feast with the kiddos. It was lots of fun. Lise has also been attending friend's parties and getting in LOTS of friend time before we move. She recently informed me that Friday is her favorite day of the week and was quoted as saying, "Today was the best! All I did was party! :)

The Next Step

Well, Kylie has graduated to the next phase of babyhood. She is now big enough to be in the Johnny Jump Up and the Exosaucer. (Well, kind of. She kinda bobbles around a little bit, but she holds up her head great and she'll get the hang of it sooner or later. :)>) She's very interested in the TV and will watch the movie with the fam for family movie night! She also successfully made it through "Harry Potter" and "Tangled" at the theater, watching 3/4 of it just sitting in Chris and my laps! And she's also become very interested in the camera. The down side to this is that it makes her smiles much harder to capture on film. The minute she sees the camera, she's so interested that she stops smiling! We're still working on getting her to sleep in her own bed . . . one step at a time, I guess. She does start out there for the first few hours each night. :) And finally, Kylie has found a way to get all the attention she wants. When she feels that we are not paying enough attention to her, she starts squawking like a bird! It is hilarious to listen to.

Grammy and Papa

This month we were privileged to have Chris' parents come visit us over Veteran's Day weekend. It was a very fun, relaxing visit. The girls really wanted to drive home with Grammy and Papa, but we told them they had to wait one more month. While they were here we went to the Pier to look at the seals and sea otters. There was also a guy letting us pose with exotic birds. They were also here to see Chris give a presentation on his military experiences to a group of high school students, see Aly perform at the mall with her Chorus group, visit the light house, and of course do a famous dinner on the beach. It was so nice to have them come visit!

Encore of Pictures

Here are some pictures of the mystery spot and the Santa Cruz Boardwalk as promised.

So mysterious!!

Fun on the beach!

Kate got taken by surprise by a wave walking on the beach. Poor girl!

So Grateful

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with some friends in the ward - lots of food, laughter, and fun. But there wasn't a lot of time for pondering with 19 people in my house, so I'd just like to take a moment to express some gratitude for the blessings in my life. I am very grateful for each and every member of my family. For Kylie, whose smiles teach me to express love to my family and let them know how much they mean to me. For Kate, who reminds me to get excited about all the little things that make life so enjoyable. For Lise, who teaches me about quiet service and the joy of being a peacemaker. For Aly, shows me how to bring out the best in others with true friendship. For Chris, who teaches me about giving 110%: to your employer, to your family, to yourself and to the Lord. I have so, so much more to be thankful for. But at this point I think I will stop here - I've written a novel as it is.

Come in for a Bite!

Good Evening! Ah, ah, ah! (Said with a Transylvanian accent.) I hope your Halloween was a smash! Ours was Fantastic! First of all, just to set the mood, we had a nice little furry bat come and use our porch entryway as his pit stop for a night.

We enjoyed all of the usual festivities including the Fall Festival, Trunk-or-Treat (love how festive Chris was with Kate's pumpkin hat on his head), Class parties, the school dance, and of course, the pumpkin carving (see Chris' awesome upside down faced Jack-o-lantern below). On the actual day of Halloween it was our primary program. The girls did a fabu job and one of Aly's friends came to watch her.

Also of note in the middle of all this craziness . . . it is official. We now own our home in Florida. Yippee!! So now we are in the semi-mode of trying to get ready to move (in 6 weeks!). It's going to be crazy with Aly's b-day and Thanksgiving and Christmas and all, but what else is new? On top of everything else, we've been a bunch of sick-o's over here for the past two weeks: Kate had the croup, Aly lost her voice, Lise had a cough and runny nose, Chris had a sore throat, Kylie was sneezing and coughing, and I had a combination of all of the above. We are all almost all better now though, which I am so grateful for, because I don't have any more time to take naps on the couch trying to get better. It's time to crank things up a notch, de-clutter, and get ready to move!

Headstands are the latest craze at our house, with many a headstand contest going on before dinner and bedtime. Can you believe that after 10 years of marriage Chris did not know that I knew how to do a headstand?!? Blasphemy! Anyhoo, Chris feels that he needs to stand on his head just to think straight and get to everything he's got going on. He's trying to finish his thesis with his group this week so that he can start focusing on the move and all that. He's been getting the cars oiled and lubed and ready to go, along with scheduling packers and movers and giving our 30 days notice, etc. There are just always so many things to get done! No wonder Chris can't tell which way is up!

When I was little, I loved playing with and designing things with my brother's legos. (Possibly one of the reasons why I got my degree in civil engineering?!?) I kept telling myself that I would wait to get Legos "when I have a boy", but since that is looking slimmer and slimmer, last Christmas I bought some for Kate. All the girls love them, which makes me so happy! Aly has recently gotten into building all sorts of creative towers and villages with the duplos and the legos. It is fun stuff. I sure hope Santa brings us some more this year!

Another thing I've gotten Aly into is reading "The Little House on the Prairie" series, which she loves as well, and I love reading it with her. Doesn't it just make you so happy to see your kids enjoy some of the same things that you did as a kid so that you can enjoy them together and not be the "un-hip" mom who doesn't know anything that's cool? Just the other day Aly said to me, "Hey Mom, don't you have any other movies we could rent that you liked when you were a kid? They are always really good!" That just gave me a warm fuzzy all over. :) (And in case you're wondering, some of the movies we've rented from my childhood are Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, The Neverending Story, A Little Princess, Labrynth, Hook, Jumanji, The Secret of Nimh, etc.)

Another fun pastime around here lately is Aly, the human chair. Both Lise and Kate love it. And I love their imaginations.

Well, it finally happened. Lise lost her first tooth! She was super-duper excited, the tooth fairy came, and all is well. And guess what? The other bottom tooth is already loose. Once they start you just can't stop 'em!!

Lise is also back on the scene with her jokes . . .

"Why did the Mayor put a popcicle in his lunchbox?" "Because he didn't like melted popcicles!"
She's got a definite career ahead of her as a Laffy Taffy joke writer.

Lise has been having fun playing with her friends here as well. They do some crazy stuff, like one time they were making mudpies and they kept coming inside to get mouthfuls of water and tried to walk outside and spit the water on their mudpies without swallowing. Ever heard of a hose?

Kate, as always, is dealing with some control issues. Even though Kate doesn't like being told what to do and wants to be in charge so badly, she often ends up shooting herself in the foot with it. Consider the following conversation Kate had with my brother Spencer when he was here:

Spencer: You need to take 3 more bites of your cereal.

Kate: No! Five.

Spencer: Okay, five. Here's your first bite. One . . .

Kate: No! That's Zero.

So, in the name of being in control, Kate ended up taking six bites, instead of the required 3. I often wonder if I am not just like this sometimes with Heavenly Father, making things so much harder on myself than they have to be just because I want to do things "my way." It's amazing the things you can learn and the perspective you can get as to the way Heavenly Father sees us and deals with us just by being a parent.

Kate has been asking me to put her hair in a ponytail and I tell her we can't because she cut it too short. So this was the best we could do. She's giving her Tinkerbell doll a piggyback ride in the picture, I believe.

Also, Kate has recently learned what the lights on a stoplight mean, bless her heart, and has taken it upon herself to yell at the driver "It's red, we need to stop!" or "The light's green, Go!" Unfortunately, Kate is often looking out her side window at the cross traffic's light, rather than the one straight ahead, which leads to arguments about what color the light really is for us. Gotta love driving with Kate.

And finally, Kate is always telling us about what happened, "Last Morrow". It took me awhile to figure out that "last morrow" means yesterday - or anytime before today. I love the stories that start out, "Remember last morrow when we . . . " I'm gonna miss that.

Kylie - holy cow! - is 3 months old! I can't believe it's time to pull out the 3-6 month clothes already! She is showing interest in toys now, tries to grab onto things, and likes to laugh and giggle for whoever will give her attention. She's especially happy when she first wakes up from a nap! The funniest is when one of Kate's temper tantrums wakes her up and so she's just in her swing smiling as big as can be while Kate's screaming. Ya gotta love that!

And finally, here's the girls pumpkins that they decorated for Halloween. They're trying to make the face they drew. Gotta love it. Holidays are so much more fun with kids.

Fun Family Visit

This past week we had my brother, Spencer, and sister-in-law, Tiffany, out to visit while the girls were on their Fall break. We had a ton of fun with them and were able to see some things we hadn't before.

On Monday we went up to Santa Cruz and saw "The Mystery Spot" and The Boardwalk. I am kicking myself for forgetting my camera that day, but Tiffany said she'd e-mail me the pictures she took that day (hint, hint :)>), so hopefully I'll post some of those later. The mystery spot was this crazy place where compasses don't work and there's a lot of optical illusions going on that make you able to lean sideways in doorways and off table ledges. Pretty cool. Anyway, the funny thing was that as we were listening to the tour guide, Kate was running around, as usual, saying, "my tummy hurts." So Chris picked her up and put her over his shoulder. As he did, Kate let a huge fart rip. Then we hear this lady standing next to us say to her friend, "oh my!" It was pretty funny.

Next we went to the boardwalk. I had never been to one, and it was fun to go. The rides weren't running because it was a weekday, but we had a fun time mini golfing, shopping for souvenirs, playing in the waves, and eating the totally greasy boardwalk food. They had these garlic french fries that Chris, Tiffany, and Spencer tried - Man! - were those things potent! Chris and Spencer said their mouths were stinging afterwards, and all of the vampires on the boardwalk definitely kept their distance! :)

We of course did the aquarium scene, which is always fun, and had a picnic outside where the waves were crashing. The funny story here is that while Tiffany and Spencer took the girls out to climb on the rocks while I was nursing Kylie, two older ladies (in their 50's) on their bicycles stopped by to take a drink and started totally criticizing Spencer and Tiffany and saying how they were not even paying attention and were going to "lose their kids." Then one of them looked over at me and asked me if they were my kids and I said, "Yes they are." I think they were a little embarrassed. I just don't see why people in California seem to be more tolerant of people's pets than they are of people's children. I mean, I see people bringing their dogs into clothing stores and getting their hair all over the clothing, which totally grosses me out, and yet I'm the one getting the strange looks for having more than two children. It is a very interesting situation.

Anyhoo, sorry to get sidetracked there. We had a lot of fun picnics with Spencer and Tiffany. It almost felt more like camping in the mountains of Utah than being on the beaches of California. Below you can see us at Point Lobos. Every time we go there it looks different, the ocean is at a different level, you'll see different animals and flowers, and it's just a good time.

We also went to the tide pools again. The ocean was the highest I'd ever seen it, even at low tide. But we found some neat stuff. Tiffany found a starfish and we also saw lots of hermit crabs and those sticky-musselly-things-that-I-don't-know-what-they-are-but-they're-still-cool. Spencer and Tiffany took Aly out to an island to look around and watch the waves while I stayed with the younger three girls. We found two awesome crab snappers, and teeny shells of all colors to make a shell rainbow. Even though it was kinda chilly, it was really nice to be out in the fresh air and sunshine! We topped it off with a fire at the beach - Can I just say how much I love nature? Heavenly Father & the Savior have done such a beautiful job in creating this world for us. I always feel the most peaceful when I'm able to just be out in it, soaking it up. I love it.

For their last day, Chris took us all hiking so we could see some Redwoods. It was beautiful up there as well, and it was crazy seeing the ocean open up before us on our way down. After our hike, Spencer and Tiffany ordered pizza for the girls and took them out for ice cream and let Chris and I go out on a date. That was super nice and we totally appreciated it. They were excellent guests to have, bringing cookies to decorate, helping the kids with their homework, and helping out with holding Kylie. We hope they had a great time, as we sure did enjoy having them here!

Now, doesn't this post just make you want to come and hang out with us?!?