Getting to know the Christmas ME!

I've been tagged: 1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Always wrapping paper - no bows, just names. 2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial - and prelit this year. 3. When do you put up the tree? Thanksgiving weekend. 4. When do you take the tree down? I usually take it down on New Year's - sick of the clutter and ready for some more space. 5. Do you like Egg Nog? I'll drink it, but prefer the pumpkin eggnog and usually can't wait for the eggnog creamies - YUM!! 6. Favorite gift received as a child? Probably my cabbage patch kids - still have them both. 7. Hardest person to buy for? Anyone that I have to consult David on - we can never agree what gift would be best. 8. Easiest person to buy for? Me - not sure if I would have a gift if I didn't take care of it myself. 9. Do you have a Nativity? The more the better. 10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Usually mail - but probably not Christmas cards this year - maybe just winter cards. 11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? 12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I like them all - just depends on my mood. 13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Lately - about a week before Christmas 14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?No, I don't give it as another present, maybe just give it away. 15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Homemade Chocolates! 16. Lights on the tree? Is it a Christmas tree without them? Always white. 17. Favorite Christmas Song? Merry Christmas, Darling - Carpenters. 18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home - we just take it easy and let the kids play with their new stuff. 19. Angel on the tree top or a star? A big bow. 20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? PJ's on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas morning. 21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Christmas starting before Halloween - can we just do one holiday at a time? 22.Favorite ornament theme or color? Red and white on a green Christmas tree. 23. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Anything easy. 24. What do you want for Christmas this year? I would like a white Christmas - all our snow melted yesterday and I'm hoping we don't get missed with the Christmas Eve/Christmas day storm. I'm tagging Grady and Janie - you're it now!

YUCK!

It has been really interesting around our house in the last 24 hours. Poor Luke and Caleb are both sick - maybe the stomach flu. We had to put Luke back into a diaper to sleep last night - he refers to it as "the leaks" and Caleb is also throwing up. Just what I want to be dealing with when my stomach is already queasy. I can't seem to get it under control this time - with the girls I could control it by making sure I ate regularly - with the boys it was all the time but tolerable - this time it's all the time but gets worse when I eat - don't know how to solve that problem! I hope that we can at least get over whatever this is before Christmas and the girls don't come down with it - there's nothing worse than being sick for Christmas (or your birthday).

Christmas Party

Grammy planned our Christmas party this year at the Woodland church. We had a terrible time getting up there - left our house about 9:15 and didn't make it to Kamas until about noon - normally an hour and fifteen minute drive. There were several times we contemplated turning around, but David pressed forward and we made it safely. It wasn't snowing too bad at our house, but when we got out of Granstville, the roads got worse. We saw a car that had slid off in Lakepoint, just as we were getting on I-80 and had another one fish tail all over the road behind us. We passed several other slideoffs before we made it to SL. It was great in SL, only wet roads, but as we got closer to Parley's Canyon it was posted 4x4/chains required - we didn't know if we would get stopped or turned around, but decided to see. The roads were pretty snow packed and slick, but we finally made it. We had a good time and were able to catch up with our cousins. We played fun games, had a great dinner, watched the kids in the Nativity and had a visit from Santa. On the way home, just as we were leaving Kamas, we got pulled over by a county sherrif - what else?!? Luckily he was just letting us know that we had a brake light out. (I just got the van inspected in October.) I hope that next year we get to travel on a day that isn't quite so stormy and exciting!

Gingerbread Houses

I finally undertook making gingerbread houses on my own last week - I like it a lot better when we all get together and all I have to worry about is helping the kids decorate. It was a lot of fun (a lot of work, stress and mess), but it is really nice to share this tradition with my kids in a more individual setting. They had lots of fun and each house is so different and cute. Caleb even took the time to select the candies he specifically wanted - I can't believe his processing at age 2. I lost Luke and Caleb when it came time to do the roof, but Luke did his sidewalk and decided where Santa would go. The girls had so much fun and knew what they wanted to do - Haylee was able to do most of the piping by herself this year - Maddie just said where she wanted it. I had two of my sisters-in-law come and help (thanks Denise and Christine) I couldn't have done it without them. We kept Caleb's house, gave Luke's to David's parents, Maddie gave her's to her teacher and Haylee gave her's to her activity days leader. It's so much fun to share them with others.

Caleb's house

Caleb's back window - he made sure he chose the matching candies.

Caleb's front

Luke's house

close-up of Luke's sidewalk and front

Luke's stained glass window - he dumped a whole jar of colored sugar.

Luke's Santa on the chimney

Maddie's house

front of Maddie's sleigh

Maddie's

Maddie's star roof

Haylee's house

Haylee's marshmallow roof and tree in back

Haylee's front door

Haylee's

Happy Birthday Haylee!!

It's hard to believe that Haylee is already 11. It seems like just yesterday that I was bringing her home from the hospital and we were celebrating her first Christmas. She's always had such a great personality, so outgoing, friendly and silly. I miss her "cheese"s with just her four front teeth. She is a good helper around the house and people are always commenting on how sweet she is. We love her very much and are grateful to have her in our family. Happy Birthday Haylee!!

Thanksgiving

We had such a great time at our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. All of David's family gets together every other year - we had about 45 people there yesterday. We always get the stake center - nobody's house is quite big enough. We also have a tradition to do a talent show on the stage. The grandkids all love it - I know my kids plan all year what they want to do and practice - although Maddie has been practicing for months and didn't do what she had planned. It's really great to see the different talents that everyone has developed over the previous two years. We have anything from dancing, comedy acts, sign language, singing, musical instruments and dramatic readings - it's always lots of fun and entertaining. This year Maddie decided to dance - she hasn't taken any lessons and just made it up as she went along. She and I also sang "I'll Walk With You" from the Primary song book (Haylee, Maddie and I sang it at our primary program). Luke surprised everyone by singing "Apologize" - it was way too cute! I've posted a video from it - hope you enjoy!!

Happy Birthday David

I am so thankful for my wonderful husband on his birthday. He is such a good sport - putting up with my teasing, being the guinea pig for the girls hair salon and when called for, being the indoor playground equipment. He knows how important family and the gospel are and I love that he puts us as a priority. He is one great, big teddy bear with such a big heart and is so compassionate. He finds joy in the little things - he loves to cuddle, play action figures and he will even paint nails. Happy birthday David - I love you!!

Happy Birthday Caleb!!

I can't believe my baby is 2 years old. What would we do without this little person in our family. Caleb is such a sweet boy and seems to have grown overnight saying all sorts of cute things and learning new words everyday. He is Lucas' shadow in action and words and is becoming a real daddy's boy (sniff). He brings such joy into our home, he is a good sharer and always thinks of others - if you give him something, he wants to make sure you give him enough so he can pass one out to everyone. He loves to play outside, jump on the tramp, play with balls and cars and even knows what clothes he want to wear (his favorite is usually something with a football on it). We love him very much and are so grateful for all the wonderful things he adds to our family. Happy birthday Caleb!!

Are we really there?

I'm really unsure about saying this (maybe if I cross my fingers, knock on wood and throw a little salt over my shoulder I won't jinx it). I think that we FINALLY have Luke potty trained. I have heard that boys are harder than girls, but I never dreamed it would be this difficult. I don't know how much I buy that, since my sister had her two boys trained by 18 months - I keep telling her I'm sending my kids to her until they get it, but she hasn't offered yet. I hope with Luke done, Caleb will jump right on board and he'll have it done in a snap. Here's to a few less diapers and accidents!!

Again?!?

It's been one of those days again - I spend hours messing with the blog, trying out new backgrounds, changing the fonts, etc., etc. I keep hearing "Are you going to vote?", "When are you going to vote?" and "Are you waiting for the girls to get home before you get dressed?" Don't we all need days when we don't do much of anything? Besides, David is in the bedroom with both the boys - napping. He may have gotten dressed and voted before me, but he hasn't really accomplished anything more. It's cold and rainy outside and I can't think of anything better than to do something I want to do - be lazy and create something - it may not really show, but I have a feeling of accomplishing something when I pull up my blog. Plus, this is my way of keeping a journal (for now) and keeping up on what's new. I should be better about writing in a journal - I think I have a couple of empty journal around here, but every time I write in one and then go back to see what I've written, I realize that I'm not a very good writer and write about silly and unimportant things. I'm not talking about everyday things that are important, but the really unimportant things. (I think most of them contained entries about my latest crush.) I guess I always felt like I was deeper than that when I was younger and reading about it and being reminded of it makes me kind of sad. I feel the same way when I get teased about how I acted as a child - I don't like being reminded that I was the "annoying, teasing, loud, had to be in the center" child - I want to be known for the good things that I did - hopefully someone out there remembers something good that I did. I know I had my moments, but didn't we all? I guess what's really important is that I learned from all my experiences and have grown into a person to be proud of - and continue to learn and grow into a better person. After all, isn't that what this life is all about?

Happy Halloween

It's Halloween and we are getting ready to go out trick-or-treating and trunk-or-treating. Here are some pics that we had taken over the weekend at our family parties. We had such a good time at both of them and love getting together with family. It's always fun to see who everyone will dress up as. Sometimes the costumes allow a little less inhibitions, but with some it doesn't matter if they're wearing a costume or not, they are always fun and a little kooky - I love it!!

I had to take Luke and Caleb to the dr today - unfortunately they are both sick for Halloween. They both have double ear infections, and Caleb also has an eye infection and is on a steroid to clear up his lungs. At least we have beautiful weather and it is about 65 outside now. Hopefully we can be done and back home before it gets too cold. It's nice this year to have daylight savings after Halloween so we can get some trick-or-treating done before it gets too dark. Happy haunting to all!!

October

October has been pretty busy for us. David and I have been working on our home improvement list. I got the front of the house shutters and window sills painted and David has been working on digging out our front strip to get it ready for rocks. I was able to go with Maddie to the zoo for her 1st grade field trip - we had such a good time and it was fun to see her with her friends. I took the kids to Kamas on conference sunday so we could celebrate all the Pace family birthdays for the month - we only sang "Happy Birthday" 6 times - it was chaotic as usual but always fun. I am also spending UEA weekend in Kamas and have enjoyed being able to catch up with friends that I don't see very often. I feel like I run from one place to another, but isn't that what going home is like? The kids always love spending time with their cousins and grandma, grandpa and grammy. We had a really good time on Friday night playing 5 crowns and ebonic scrabble - I think Grammy still won, but what else is new. We have Halloween parties planned for later in the month so I don't plan on things getting any slower - I know it's only the beginning of family get togethers and the holiday season.

To Blog or Not To Blog?!?

I'm not sure if a blog was the right thing - I have spent most of the day today trying to figure out how to get new backgrounds and change the layout of my blog to make it a little more me - ARGH!!!! I don't know if there is trick to it or not, but the ones I want just don't seem to work, but I guess this one will do for now until I get it figured out. Anyone have any advice? I am also adding a slide show of some pics over the years - check it out and let me know what you think.

A New Venture

I thought I would try this out and see if I can keep up on what is going on in our lives.

Haylee on the first day of school - she is now in the 5th grade. She got glasses last spring. She has been trying to grow her hair out, but after I cut her cousin's hair, she liked it so much she wanted the same cut, so we cut it short again. I like it short - its much easier to take care of and looks so much thicker and healthier. Unfortunately she got my hair and it doesn't grow very well.

Maddie on the first day - now in 1st grade. She was up before 7 and decided the night before that she doesn't like summer and school is as fun as Christmas. She also decided she liked the shorter cut of her cousin and I was really nervous to go so short. Her hair has been growing since she was little (she can grow her hair and it looks good), but I love the cut on her - again, so easy to take care of and looks good even on the days she doesn't want to do anything with it.

Luke will be 4 in January and is all boy. He is really into superheros right now - Spiderman, Batman, Ironman, and Superman are his favorites. He loves to play the PS2 with David and can carry his own. He turns anything he can get a hold of into a sword and loves to play fight with David and Caleb. He is a sweet boy and loves to cuddle. He is learning lots of new tricks on the tramp and also how to shoot a basketball.

Caleb will be 2 in November and riding the vacuum is one of his favorite things. He loves to do whatever Luke is doing and is into repeating anything he hears. He is learning how to say yes (used to answer uh-uh to everything) and has started saying the blessing on the food. He thinks he needs to use the toilet all the time because he sees Luke doing it, so we let him try (maybe he'll be a little easier to potty train than Luke when the time comes). He is pretty stingy with his kisses most of the time, but every once in a while he will kiss and kiss and kiss. He loves to climb and can now climb up our cupboard drawers onto the counter. I have to be really careful about what I leave out on them - we have had lots of diet coke spills!

David and I had the chance to go with his parents up to Mack's Inn just outside of Yellowstone last month. We went to see his niece at the dinner show and spent a day in Yellowstone - I was the only one who had been there before. This picture was taken in front of Old Faithful. We had a really good time and it was so beautiful and relaxing. We didn't see many animals, but the scenery was breathtaking.