Christmas Card and Newsletter 2012

Journal

The days are coming quickly and Christmas is almost here.  It has been a fun month.  The kids are home today, enjoying their first day of winter break!

Our life is pretty chaotic most of the time, so instead of trying to control the chaos and then progress, I am trying to progress amidst the chaos. It's easier to function and get things done that way.  For example, getting a sewing project done even if I haven't cleaned the room I am working in.  I once would have thought that impossible, but found it very freeing to just get my project done.

 We are doing most of our fun activities that were planned, but not everything. Some things on my to do list are crossed out instead of checked off.  The kids are enjoying this season though and get excited about every activity. I am enjoying the ride quite a bit too. I just wish I could get back in the habit of taking pictures of everything.

We didn't make any Christmas cookies this year, so instead, we tied pretty red ribbon around pineapples to take caroling.  It was a fun gift and we had a great time visiting all of our neighbors. We sang "Jingle Bells" and the kids shook bells while we sang. After many doors Peter noticed that Lily was singing, "Tinker Bells" instead! Oh that girl makes me feel so happy inside.

The kids are getting a big kick out of the Elf this year.  He has had a few lazy days mixed with a few creative ones.  I haven't been getting many pictures though. The BEST thing about him this year is how easy it was to get the kids up for school this month.  We would say, "Time to wake up and find the elf!" and they would bound downstairs to find him.  On the more funny days, their laughter is just priceless. They still like to reminisce about his tricks from last year too.  It has been a fun tradition even for the kids that just want to believe.

I am already thinking of New Years resolutions and plans that will be great for next year.  I think next year is going to be a good one as I think of the possibilities.

Speaking of goals, I have many updates for my 101 goals as I blow off the dust and look at it again.  One recent one was that I have been singing again!  I was able to sing a solo at a Christmas Creche in our ward choir and then sing for a 10 minute solo slot as well.  It was so fun, except that I decided to sing "I Heard the Bells" for one of the songs and last weeks shooting was way too fresh in my mind.  If you read the words you will know what I mean. Not good if you are trying to sing without choking up.

We have lots of family in town now and days and days of parties to attend to and I look forward to each one.  Oh the sweet feeling of being with loved ones. Peter added up all of the party type events we have this month and it was shocking.  But you know us, we love to party!

Well, I am off to do those few things that I have been procrastinating, that are going to catch up to me any moment. Yes, I blog to avoid sometimes I admit it.

Being a Mom

Peter took some pictures of me doing the mom thing. I am actually in pictures! Doing mom stuff! This was Sunday afternoon, reading the Friend magazine.
Notice the haircuts?  Carter cut Lily's for her.  He pretty much took it all off the top so I had no choice but to match the back.  I am getting used to her pixie look now.  Mine was intentional.  I chopped it all off into an a-line.  I love how short the back is.  It took about a year to get up the nerve to do it, so I was more than ready to go for it.  I feel so liberated! It is so easy and much cuter than wearing a bun all the time. Some days I wear it straight and others curly.  I love it either way.

Cowboy

Peter's Grandpa turned 95 this week! That was a big deal. Peter's parents planned a big cowboy themed birthday party for him. People came from everywhere to celebrate with him. The party was at The Old Spagetti Factory downtown in the same room that our wedding lunch was at. It was neat to be in that room again, but it was really neat that it was totally full of people. Probably as full as our wedding lunch.   Our kids were great! I must admit, I was surprised by how well behaved they were.  Is that bad?
Grandpa was so happy.  He told Peter that he was so excited that he hadn't slept at all the night before.





Tanner wore his Woody costume and sang his rendition of  "You've Got a Friend In Me." to Grandpa.

Lori got a carrot cake from Beaverton Bakery that was the most amazing thing I have ever tasted. 

Happy Birthday Grandpa! We are so proud to be in your family.

Getting in the Spirit

We haven't done a whole lot of decorating yet, but the kids sure had fun exploring all of our new Christmas light decorations the other night.


They turned off the lights to make it more fun.  Our living room was full of glowing things.

We did some assembling, but the kids helped a lot and plugged everything in.



Luke (who always has a dirty face in my pictures it seems) was so excited.  He was making all kind of happy sounds and touching everything.

Carter and Lily liked the train the most.



Eden decided to let her stuffed animals ride the train.
We can't wait to see how it all comes together. We are hoping to have a very productive weekend!

Thanksgiving

We spent thanksgiving with my family this year. Well my sisters and their families. We missed my parents and brother. We gathered in the early afternoon in Salem and worked on all the final touches. Then of course we got way too full, which resulted in plenty of lethargy. The kids had a blast playing with cousins all day. We stayed until 9 at night before deciding to peel ourselves away from the fun. I didn't take many photos, just a few quick snapshots of the day.  I wish I would have captured the great spread and beautiful pies.   












After dinner the guys went to return some chairs at the church and played basketball for a while.  The rest of the day we played Dance Dance Revolution, and us girls made super cute Christmas planners.    I sure love my family. They are so fun to be around and I was feeling very thankful that we are so close. 

Kid Humor

I had my 3 younger ones with me at Costco the other day and we decided to stop at the food court.  I asked Lily if she wanted lemon aid and she said really loud, "No, I want water! Lemon aid will make me sad! SUUUPER SAD!"  Those around us got a good chuckle.

Dallin loves chips and salsa, but of course his tongue burns when he eats it.  Yesterday, he decided to cool it off by grabbing an ice cube tray from the freezer and sticking his tongue right on it.  You can guess how that turned out.  The more he tried to get it off, the more it stuck until his tongue was sticking to the whole ice cube width.  Being a bad mommy, I hesitated in his misery for a moment to decide if I had time to take a picture.  The urgency of the situation won out though and in just a few seconds and some warm water, Dallin was free. No picture.  It was just like that Christmas movie.

We were driving in the van and we passed a large construction site.  Carter got all excited about the "Destruction" and yelled, "Mom, they are building a new Toys R Us!"

For the first time the other day, when Peter's phone rang, Lily decided to answer it.  She said "Hello? This is Lily the baby!"  Followed by a very grown up sounding conversation with my brother in law. It was adorable.

Journal

It seems like I always start with "Life is so busy lately", and its always true! We haven't even had a chance to get a tree yet!  I love the holidays even though it is so busy.  I love the projects, the parties, the decorating, the crafting, the shopping, large doses of family time.  I love it all! The monotony of every day life is put on hold for a few weeks and there are so many fun things to do every day.  Even though I am not good at being calm and turn into a huge stress ball over it, it so worth it.

This year's advent calendar activities are the best yet.  I tried to come up with a variety of service activities, crafty activities, food, and outings.  Here is our list in case I don't blog about every single thing:

1. Zoo Lights
2. Pick out stuffed animals at GW to donate to the foster care system (eagle project in our ward).
3. Paint Christmas pictures.
4. Buy missionary gifts to send.
5. Make orange ornaments. see here
6. Decorate outside/go cut down Christmas tree(also a service project via proceeds).
7. Make fudge and deliver to the nearby fire station.
8. Draw siblings names and shop for a gift with allowance money.
9. Watch a Christmas movie
10. Make a snowman pizza. see here
11. Make Borax snowflakes. see here
12. Christmas tree sleepover.
13. Go get snowman donuts at Krispie Kream.
14. Go see the nativities at the Christmas Creche.
15. Drive around and see Christmas lights in our jammies and get hot chocolate(Dutch Brothers).
16. Make a family fingerprint ornament. see here
17. Make fruit candy canes and eat them. see here
18. Make caramel popcorn and have a movie night. easy recipe
19. Perform a random act of kindness.
20. Caroling and treat plates to neighbors.
21. Dinner for Jesus and gifts for Jesus.
22. Christmas Eve party.
23. Go to Grandmas.

Somewhere in there we are going to do a sleepover at Grandma's too.

Last year a lady that Peter did a job for gave us a large amount of outdoor decorations.  Well, she called again and offered us more.  I went over there and my whole van was filled up with stuff (some for halloween too)! Oh my and some of the stuff is so cute. We plan to have fun once we get a chance to put some of it up.  Mr. Dallin is all about that.

On a different topic, I was able to go to Time Out for Women recently. It was a great experience and I got to spend 2 days with my sister Laurel there as well. Bonus!  It was so uplifting.  I think I needed the spiritual boost since most of my Church meetings are spent in the hallways these days. I got to listen to Sheri Dew, Mary Ellen Edmonds, Jenny Oaks Baker, Hilary Weeks, Laurel Christensen and Wendy Ulrich.  I was so inspired by these women spiritually and their humor about life.  Many of the topics have really given me a lot to think about and evaluate in my life.

Posing with Sheri Dew's chair:

One particular topic was about thinking positive thoughts.  I have realized that negative thoughts really waste my energy.  Even things like getting up in the morning are easier when I think positively.  I don't let myself think "I'm tired" and replace it with a positive thought and I don't feel tired anymore.  It applies to everything in life and has really helped me.  I realized that my negative thoughts are often really me feeling sorry for myself.  That's not the kind of person that I want to be! The power of the mind is almost scary when I realize how much I really have control over who I am and how I feel.

Eden and I went to a party with a white elephant style ornament exchange a couple of days ago.  We look forward to this each year.  This year when picking out our ornaments to bring, I couldn't help but buy a big round ornament with Twilight pictures on it.  I just couldn't believe that people really would want Bella and Edward on their tree. Really??? It did get a good laugh, so a shout out to Target for carrying these sorts of things.

I finally got a camera!  I am so happy with it.  It is a Canon, which I am used to, but I can't wait to learn how to use all of its capabilities.  My last camera did not have video so that will be fun to learn. One thing that was a huge must was good low light capabilities.  Our house does not have as much natural light as more modern homes so that was really important.  It is amazing for that!  I am in love.

I love crafting this time of year.  There are so many great ideas out there.  I have made a couple of gifts, a cute Christmas planner, and a Christmas card holder so far.  I don't know if I will get to all of them, but my list of things to make still includes a wreath, tree skirt, framed christmas subway art, teacher gifts, and gifts for my sisters that I cannot reveal, but am totally pumped about.   I am a project person, so when I am into a good project the house goes by the wayside. You can't do everything at once right?

Speaking of projects, christmas cards are done! That was a big one to check off the list.  I just need to send out a few more stragglers, but the bulk is done. I am feeling pretty good about that.

Benihana

For Lily's birthday week, we decided to go to a restaurant as a family. We do this now and then to work on appropriate behavior. Benihana isn't cheap, but it is pretty much dinner and a show. It sucked up our month's entertainment budget in one shot(even with the kids just eating sides of noodles and rice), but Peter really wanted the kids to have the unique experience so we went for it. It turned out that Peter is smart. I was afraid some of the kids would be hard the whole time, but they all sat quietly and were perfect. It was awesome! We all enjoyed it.




They watched it like a magic show as our chef threw eggs, spatulas, shrimp and built a vocano.











Lily got a happy birthday song and a treat!

I must admit it was worth it. We were smiling and laughing the whole time and made some great memories. I highly recommend it for a family night(or lunch for much cheaper).

Lily's Turns 3!

We decided to have a rainbow birthday for Lily this year. We had a big Sunday dinner with lots of family and fun. Lily was so cute. When people said "Happy Birthday!" She would say, happy birthday back to them.
The rainbow banner was easier than I expected and a nice break from streamers.  Made with 3 packages of dollar store balloons and a needle and thread!

The kids really got into making the cake.  Eden helped with a lot of it.  It was going great until we ran out of M&Ms and had to make a run for more.





Opening gifts with lots of moral support. She got a new baby doll that came with its own potty for potty training.  She had fun teaching it to go potty and the next day, she got to potty train too.

Minnie Mouse puzzle.

She got her own package of Dum Dums.  She loves her "Lilypops."

A little rainbow craft.

That's my messy girl!

Great Wolf

This year we made our 3rd annual Great Wolf Lodge trip. The kids were as excited about this as they were for Disneyland. We got a big family suite this time with 2 bedrooms and 2 baths and a fireplace. That was very nice and we got such amazing deal. Our big kids pretty much ran off with their Dickinson cousins most of the time and Peter and I stayed completely busy with the little ones. We made it so that one of us watched Lily and the other watched Carter. Whoever had Luke would just hold him and keep up with their aforementioned child. Peter's dad was also there so he filled in a lot too.  It was pretty tricky, but it worked fine.  There was one time when Carter was missing for 20 minutes or so, and we finally found him with a lifeguard. 










Luke LOVED the water.  He didn't mind getting it in the face or being knocked over by it one bit.  It reminded me of when Lily was this age.

I just love baby "guts".

Plowing right through it! Seriously, are my kids missing the caution chip?







Trick or treating:

Cookie decorating:

This has become a family tradition that just gets better every time.