Christmas Concert

Olivia had her first band concert this month.  It reminded me of my orchestra days in elementary school.  While some people might cringe at the sound of an elementary school music group, I find that I really appreciate it.  I love it when kids learn music.  It has been such a big part of my own life.  Olivia looked so cute up there.  She's not sure how she feels about learning to play the clarinet and I have been horrible at reminding her to practice.  She's actually taken to it pretty well, so we will see if it lasts into next year.

Sammie as Mary

Sammie was chosen to be Mary at our Ward Christmas party.  She was excited about it, but wouldn't let anyone know.  Not a smile to be seen.  She can get so shy.  It was very cute.  Joseph, was not shy one bit.  It was such a sweet program.  It was special and quiet while the nativity was read from the bible.  The primary children sang and there were a couple of other musical numbers all done by children and youth in our ward.  It was simple and lovely and quiet which is unusual for a ward party.  For some reason I got a little teared up.  Children are so precious and for a moment I was seeing the Christmas story through their eyes.  I was struck by the miracle of Christ's birth.  I am so grateful for Him; For his life and his mission.  I know that he lives and loves each of us.

 Trying so hard not to smile :)

 

Tinker

Sammie loves to build things.  Especially out of paper.  She made this little covered wagon and pioneers to sit inside.  She comes up with these little creations all the time.  Just a few days ago, she wanted to show me a game they played in math at school and she made her own 6 sided die out of paper.  I love Sammie's pictures of people.  Everyone always looks so happy.  I'm sure if she was a fairy, she would be a tinker fairy, like Tinkerbell.

Pajama Day!

Nothing gets you out of bed early like the excitement of wearing your pajamas to school.  We've been having a hard time dragging ourselves out of bed lately.  Not this morning.  It's pajama day, and things don't get much more exciting than that when you're a kid.

Piano Recital

Sammie and Olivia both had Christmas recitals this month.  Olivia is still taking lessons from me and I had a recital at home with the other family I teach and then we decorated graham cracker houses.  It's a tradition that we have been doing for a few years with our friends.  It's very low key, but the kids practice hard and perform well.  Olivia has learned so much over the years and played "Let it Snow" and "Hallelujah."
Sammie started taking lessons from someone just around the corner from us.  It has been a great thing for both of us.  Sometimes it is just better when mom is not the teacher.  She performed "Heigh-Ho" and "Silent Night."  We've been enjoying singing along as she plays "Silent Night."  It has been our Family Home Evening opening song a few times.  She was the only student that played without her music.  She insisted that she knew them by heart, and she did.

 It was hard to squeeze in between all the cameras to take a picture.

Thinking

Abby told me yesterday,

"Mom, you know what?  Sometimes I feel like I'm just actually six." 

 

Christmas time is here...

I don't know how, but somehow I got all of the Christmas things up.  On our way home from our crazy Thanksgiving, I told myself that I wasn't going to stress or worry about getting anything ready for Christmas.  I would feel better sometime in the next 3 weeks and I would just get a little out at a time or even just do the tree and stockings and not worry about anything else.  I needed to unpack first and do laundry and I would just take my time doing that.  That was late Saturday night and we got home about 11pm.
Then Sunday morning came and we got the tree up.  The girls were so excited to see the tree and Joey had gotten all the tree décor down so I started decorating it.  Then the girls were all cute in their holiday dresses and I took a picture of that.  Slowly the tree got decorated on Sunday and the girls even got to put their new ornaments on and we started our Christmas scripture advent.  Then yesterday I finished the rest of the decorations.  I don't have that much.  I don't even know how it happened.  After our Thanksgiving I was prepared to do nothing for Christmas.  I was just so worn out.  And here we are, all ready for Christmas without even trying.  Small miracles that I wouldn't even have noticed if I didn't stop to think about it.

Giving Thanks and being sick

My mom really outdid herself for Thanksgiving.  It was so delicious and the table was beautiful. I didn't know that turkey could taste so good. 

We have had so much sickness in our house the last few weeks.  It just seems like we go from one cold to a worse cold to colds with ear infections and then colds with ear infections that won't go away.  The day that we left for Tahoe for Thanksgiving, I had taken Sammie back to the urgent care for another shot of antibiotics.  She had been so sick the weekend before Thanksgiving and had missed a few days of school.  We packed up anyway, although I was getting sick that day.  We still enjoyed ourselves.  It was either sick at home with no Thanksgiving dinner, or be sick and enjoy being with family and having Thanksgiving all planned and prepared.  So, we still decided to go.  Then we realized Abby's ear infection hadn't cleared up either with her antibiotics and she and I made a trip to urgent care the day after Thanksgiving because I thought I might have strep throat, but don't. Just a really bad virus.
We are all much better this week, but still slowly getting better.  Sammie is at least back at school, although exhausted at the end of the day.
In spite of the not ideal circumstances of our Thanksgiving (I've had worse days) I reflected on all that we do have.  We have been blessed with so much and I try not to take those things for granted.  Sometimes it is so hard not having a body that can do all that I want it to do, or even what I need it to do at times, but I remember how much worse it can be.  We have been blessed through our trials and that is truly a miracle.

 

 

Speak Out!

 Olivia participated in "Speak Out" again this year.  Her group memorizes a story and then perform it with actions.  They are judged on a number of things and in spite of losing a team member late in the game and having to improvise a bit, this year her group qualified to go on to the district.  Olivia actually wasn't that excited to qualify.  I think she was ready to be done reciting this story over and over and I'm pretty sure the whole family now has "The Wacky Substitute" by Sally Derby completely memorized.  They put in lots of practice time and it is a lot of work for the parents too as we have to coach them and help them refine their pieces.  I am always impressed when my kids do things like this when it is just up to them.  Good job girls!

 

 

Mini Cini-Buns

Last week Olivia's teacher gave her a little cookbook that had recipes for miniature treats.  We opened it up and made mini cinnamon buns.  The girls rolled and sprinkled cinnamon and sugar and baked them in the oven.  For some reason I love miniature things and I was enjoying it too.  It was fun to see them doing something all together, although very messy.  There has been lots of fighting lately amongst the sisters and I think that I have had enough of it.  I hope that they realize that it is much easier and more fun to just get along.

 

Happy 35 Years!

Joey had his birthday last week.  The girls and I filled 35 balloons with the things that we love about him.  He then had to pop them and read 35 reasons we love him.  One of my favorites was Abby who wrote, "He ah-choos funny."  Others said because "He tickles me," "He reads with me," "He takes me out to donuts."  Last weekend I took the girls to the store and they each picked out a gift.  Abby was so sure that she wanted to get him a new tie.  She had been telling me for days.  Sammie wanted to get him a teddy bear for when he has to go on trips.  It had been an idea of hers for a while as well.  Olivia got him a Hogwarts t-shirt because they read the Harry Potter series together and they both love it.  Joey is a very good dad to these precious girls and an amazing husband.  We couldn't ask for a better guy in this house.  Instead of cake he wanted his favorite.  Pumpkin pie.  Happy Birthday Joey!!  Love you :)

Happy Halloween 2013

The girls were up bright and early to get ready for their school parade.  I didn't take these pictures until we got ready in the evening.  They can't wear makeup to school.  It was a bit of a hassle getting everyone ready and then making sure they had something easy to change into.  They have to take their costumes off for the rest of the day, but I'm sure their costumes were spared some wear and tear.  Abby also had a party at preschool. 
This year we have a witch, a clown, and a cat.  Sammie was decided on her costume after we went to the circus in September.  She really wanted to be a clown, but a cute, silly one.  Abby's love of wild cats inspired her choice this year, and Olivia was undecided until we started piecing things together at the Halloween store one night when my mom was visiting.  I think it was the wig that started her costume.
Halloween is a fun start to the holidays.  After everyone was showered and in bed I plopped onto the couch and realized that the next day would be November 1st and that means Thanksgiving is coming and then Christmas.  It always catches me by surprise.  I have always loved this time of year and the preparations and traditions.  Joey's birthday is next weekend and we'll have to do something for that as well.  I love having things to look forward to, it keeps my mind busy.

Abby Musings

Sammie was taking a bath and Abby came out of the bathroom with the front of her clothes all wet.
"Mom!  Look what Sammie did to me!"
I went into the bathroom and asked Sammie why she got Abby all wet.
"She wanted me to do it."
"Well, if Abby wanted you to push her off a cliff, would you do it?"
"No," with a hint of a smile.
Then Abby says, "Well, if it was a small cliff because some cliffs are small."

Then there was last week:
Abby: "There is only one thing that I want to eat and it's pizza."
Me: "You can't just eat your favorite food every night.  That's not how it works."
Abby: "Well, it's how I work."

My Mom is an Artist

I just wanted to share this beautiful painting that my mom did.  She started taking water color classes a little while ago and is getting really good.  This is one of her very own originals.  I love it!  It is never too late to develop a new talent.

Crazy Sock Day!

It's crazy sock day today at school.  October has been sort of a whirlwind with lots of tiny things going wrong.  It's just one of those months.  At one point I just started laughing.  I think it was when Joey went outside early in the morning to leave for work and his tire was completely flat.  He came back into the dark house to tell me and I just started laughing.  So many things like that this month.  Frustrating but funny at the same time, and thankfully everything that has broken/semi-broken was easily and quickly fixed and nothing cost us too much in the end.  There is still a week and half left of this month and I'm crossing my fingers.

 

Fall

What is fall without a little football?  We went to the high school homecoming football game last weekend.  It has been a long time since we've been to a sporting event at the high school.  Teachers really are like celebrities when they go to a school event, especially when their family comes along too.  We didn't have to pay to go in.  We were constantly stopped by students wanting to meet us.  Joey's name was yelled out from a distance away.  Former students and current students were making their way over to us, smiling and shaking our hands.  I found myself laughing about it on the way home.  I think that was the most popular I have ever been.

Apple Cheeks

Sammie was smiling really big when she came home with 2 apples stamped on her cheeks.  It was some sort of prize for being good.  She could choose stamps on her hands or on her cheeks.  She chose the cheeks of course :)