::Port's class party::

I volunteered to help with Porter's class Christmas party. I had to do some kind of activity with the kids. We made Rudolph candy canes. They turned out pretty cute, and I think the kids liked 'em.


After all the activities, the kids got together in the keva (a little dugout storytime area) for a treat and a story.  Two dads told the awesomest story ever!  They dressed up, had props, ran around, and everything.  It was so fun!  I'm so glad I got to go!

Chloe's class party was at the same time, and she kinda wished I could've come to hers too.  I reminded her that I already helped in hers a week ago.  We decorated cookies.  Portie came with me, but not Bubb.  Frosting?  Cookies?  Candy?  No!  He would eat all of it!  The boy loooves his sugar!  He had to stay with Grandma, and I'm so glad she could watch him (and the teeny girl) while Port and I went.  

::in the mornings...::

...we play toys in our jammies.

This is mostly for my own documentation, but our mornings usually go something like this...

I start waking Chloe up at about 6:55 (sometimes it's as late as 7:05 depending how many times I snooze the alarm and how dark it is outside).  Usually Bubb is with me (because he comes in my room sometime around 6:30 and I turn on Diego for him until my alarm goes off.  I should just get up, 'cause it's just 20 minutes, but I want my 20 minutes!!).  She gets out of bed somewhere around 7:15-after we go the rounds about why even though school's boring we still have to go.  Usually while she's brushing her teeth, she wakes up Port (she's not the quietest person), which is ok, because he's gotta start getting ready too.  Then, it's kind of a rush to get teeth brushed, dressed, hair fixed, eat, make lunch, and get to the bus by 7:30, but we never miss it, which is really kind of amazing in itself.  After we get home from taking her to the bus stop (which is just up the street), I get Portie ready.  I help him get dressed, brush his teeth, and fix his hair.  Then we take him to the same bus stop at 8 to catch his bus to his school.

And then me and Bubby and Avie play toys in our jammies for a while.  Bubb usually says "Mom, deyuh's chrucks in my room" and that's kind of the cue to go play in his room.  We drive "chrucks" and "trailuhs" and Avie crawls all over me.  It's fun.  I love it.

In other news...
We picked up Portie's little buddy, Jaken today after school to come play (he's a cute little stinker, and a lot like Portie).  They played for a couple of hours.  So they were playing Mario on the Wii and oh my gosh! every other word was "dude!"  It was SO funny!  "Dude, go this way." "Dude, you be first player."  "Dude, I died!"  "Dude! Dude!"  Ahh, it was hilarious!  And so cute!

::jeppsen Christmas party::

We went to the Jeppsen Christmas party on the 17th.  We meet at the church in Mantua.  All of Matt's aunts and uncles and cousins on his dad's side meet for a big meal (this year it was brunch), we usually do a sort or an activity-this year we did a bingo game where when your name was called you had to stand and tell a bit about yourself and what you've been up to over the last year.  It was such a cute idea.

 

 

As is usual at the Jeppsen party, Santa stopped by!  He "brought" a gift for all the kids.  They were all SO excited.  Some of the kids sang some songs while we waited for Santa to come in with his bag of toys.  It was pretty funny.

 

So he brought a little toy for each of  our kids, a cell phone for Ava, a little truck and trailer for Bubb, Nerf guns for Port, and some nail polish stickers for Chloe (those Sally salon effects ones).  Chloe's little gift was the tiniest in the whole bag, and poor Port was last.  He was a little nervous that Santa forgot him (and his mom and dad were a little nervous that his gift might've fallen out of the bag somehow), but somebody's gotta be last, right?

 

At the end of the party Matt's grandma & grandpa had some gifts for all of the great grandkids (and there are LOTS of them!).  They had a little gift bag for each one with some little treats and toys for them in it.  It was so sweet and fun. 

::a Christmas carol::

When I was growing up, we went to see "A Christmas Carol" every year ever since I can remember.  I have vivid memories of Jacob Marley being suspended above the audience and flying overhead to make his entrance, the ghost of Christmas present's large body, colorful robes, loud voice and laughter, and bright red lipstick.  I know specific lines by heart.  I also remember wearing a fancy Christmas dress every year.  The tradition was kept alive up until we had kids.  Most theaters don't allow such little kids.  Now we have a couple of them that are above the age limit (at the Heritage-ours here in town-the age minimum is only 4).  We realized last year that our kids (well, so far, the older ones) like to go to plays after we went to see the Lion King (Broadway) in Salt Lake.  So when I saw that our little theater up here in Perry was doing this play, I decided it was tme to revive the tradition!

It really was fantastic.  It was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the Dallas Theater Center or the Hale Center Theatre, who put on major productions.  It was small, low budget, and completely charming.  The stage was small, so on one corner, the scene was taking place, and on the other the set was being changed.  There were no English accents, Scrooge's bed was made of pvc pipes painted brown, the bed curtains fell off at times, Scrooge forgot some of his lines, they had several actors that played multiple roles, and Jacob Marley sang-which was a first for me.  I sat watching this play loving every second of it partly because it made me think of the tradition that is so dear to me and partly because the beauty part of seeing this play SO many times, in so many different ways, in so many different places, is that it is never the same, and I love that.

It was Jared, Sarah, Chloe, Porter, Matt and I.  We all grabbed a quick bite before the play.  The kids enjoyed the entire thing--except for the Jacob Marley part, which is probably the one part we were a little worried about because it's a little scary.  Port just burrowed into his dad's side and covered his ears and eyes.  Then he'd ask once in a while if Jacob Marley was coming back. 

We're so glad we got to go!  I just can't say that enough.  We're so glad J and Sare came with us!  We hope they'll come with us again next year.  We think it might be fun to go to the Hale and see a big production just to see the difference.  I can't say that Matt's terribly excited at the idea of going again next year (and the next and the next, etc), but, as his mom said, it's just one of those things he's just going to have to dress up and go do.  Don't you just love her? 

In other news

I know this is cliche', but I can't believe that Christmas is in 13 days!!  I've still got a lot to do!  Christmas parties are coming up, the kids get done with school next week, and I feel like I'm not even done decorating my house!  I bought some garland to be hung along the top of my front porch, and the Grinch Matt still hasn't hung it!  I always have a hard time being done shopping.  Even if I've satisfied my list, I feel like we should get one more thing.  Is that weird?  I get nervous too that we'll get ready to wrap on Christmas eve and find that our piles (for each child) will be completely uneven, and all the stores are closed.  I try really hard to be organized, but I still worry.    But we love Christmas!!  Even though it's a little crazy and goes by way too fast, we LOVE it!

::reindeer games::

"Rudolph the red nosed..."

So last Saturday I went shopping with Matt's mom and sister, and on our way to Layton, we saw a truck with a rudolph get-up on.  I wanted one!  Where can I get one?  Matt would die!!  Then we saw one at Hobby Lobby, and it just jumped in my cart.  So I put it on when nobody was paying attention.  It didn't last too long.  "You've GOT to be kidding me" is what I distinctly remember hearing from the garage when Matt walked out there along with something along the lines of "that's something you'd put on a minivan"  HA!  Portie thought it was embarrassing, and Chloe and Bubb LOVED it!  Anyway, it came off almost as fast as it went on, but it was dang funny.

Also...Auntie Sarah texted us a picture of Santa diapers when she was at Sams a few weeks ago and said Ava needed some.  I couldn't agree more.  Aren't they so cute?? 


Speaking of Ava...we had to lower her mattress because she stands up all.the.time.

PS

Aw, Carrie, I wish I would've been smart enough to get a group picture even without Santa!!  'Cause at least that would've been something!!  We tried to get one with him after the line was gone and Santa was about to leave, but Matt stopped off to get another doughnut (ha!), so the kids and I were ahead of him (already waiting by Santa), and the little Mantua city police truck's (that Santa rides in) battery died (cause they let the lights flash the whole time Santa is there), so when Matt was crossing the street to join us, Matt's dad asked him to help jump the battery with his truck (he didn't know about the picture plan), so we waited a minute for him to do that, but by then two of the kids were freezing and crying, so we started to walk to our car.   Chloe slipped on the ice and fell right on her butt, and I mowed Cooper right over because I was carrying Ava in her seat, and I couldn't see him standing right in front of me.  It was rough.  I'll have to get one next year.

::Santa::

We made our annual visit to see Santa up in Mantua last night.  It was so cold!  It think the temperature was somewhere around 16 degrees.  We had Matt stand in line while we all waited in the car (poor Matt!!).  So, just as in years past, it was a bit of a rush to sit on his lap and tell him what we want so we can make sure we're not holding up the line, and during the rush, we didn't get our group picture!  I'm so sad about it!  I can't even talk about it, I'm so sad!

Anyway, the kids were pretty good with Santa.  Chloe told him she wants an iPod, Portie told him he wants and Angry Birds game and a Mario, Bubb told him the same as Port and also a computer and a big Denali and a lego set (he cried a bit-he wouldn't sit on his lap), and Avie just sort of stared-but she didn't cry.  Then it was on to get some hot chocolate and a doughnut and chat with some family in Grandpa Halling's (which is now Aunt Lynette's) house.


 
And that was our Monday night.

::school pictures & a hurricane::

The kids actually got their school pictures back probably a month ago, but I kept forgetting to post them. So here they are. I thought they turned out way cute!



In other news...
We had a hurricane in Utah last night. Well, we had the winds at least. Our highest wind gust was reported at 102 mph (equiv. to a Cat 2 hurricane) in Centerville (about 40-ish minutes South of us). It's been big news around here. Usually though, in Utah if your barn burns down, it's breaking news and they interrupt regular programming and all, but this is actually a big story. Schools are closed, some 50,000 homes and businesses are without power, bad traffic, accidents, etc. All the news stations are all over it- and so eager for a big story which can get a little morbid because it seems they want to report more than is there to report on. The one channel I had on this morning (I'm kind of a news nerd-just ask Sarah) the studio reporter asked the field reporter if any injuries or deaths had been reported to which the field reporter said (kind of excitedly) "not as of now, but that doesn't mean that there won't be..." I don't know. It sounded to me like "there's still hope, there might be some injuries and deaths, cross your fingers!!" That aside, I took some pictures from ksl.com Pretty amazing! I can't believe the huge trees that were completely uprooted! There were other photos of some fences blown over, trampolines blown over, etc. I just couldn't believe the trees! Look at the sizes of those things! Ripped right out of the ground!

We weren't really affected. It was windy, but no damage done-our trashcan blew over and a wreath blew off our one of our lights on our garage, but that's it. It was mostly from Salt Lake Northward to about Ogden-ish (which is about 20 mintues South of us). Our trampoline didn't move and we didn't lose any power. Thank goodness!

::fhe::

We had a quick little family home evening tonight. I meant to do it earlier in the week, but, man! the weeks just get away from me sometimes! So we just heard a quick little story about Squanto and the first Thanksgiving and how we can live in the spirit of Thanksgiving. Then we talked about things we're thankful for. The usual family, our house, cookies, clothes, parents, friends, etc were all mentioned, then Bubb threw toilets into the mix.

We laughed.

I'm thankful for toilets too.

We made turkey hand cookies and decorated them.   It was pretty fun.  Most of our fingers broke off though.

 

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow 

:)

::class party::

Yesterday was Port's Thanksgiving class party.  I volunteered to help (Grandma Snowman watched Bubb and Avie-thanks soo much!!).  I had to come up with a craft.  Usually crafts aren't my bag-I guess I maybe should have called Auntie Sarah for some help:), but I found a little turkey hat idea that looked fun.  They turned out pretty cute, and the kids LOVED it!!

I did most of the prep work (cutting gluing and all that) ahead of time so all they really had to do was put him together.  One of Port's little friends had his hat on and said he was the turkey and another boy said "let's shoot him."   It was kinda funny.  That's totally something my boys would say!

The kids had a game, a couple of crafts, a story and a snack, and that was it.  It was a cute little party.  Glad I got to go.  I think I signed up to help with the Christmas one too.  Any ideas??

In other news...

We're going to do a second attempt at our family pictures today.  We tried last Thursday, but it was SO overcast and dark that we only got a few shots.  No individuals or anything fun.  Pretty much just a Christmas card photo-which is good, but nothing for my wall.  So we're trying again today (the weather is  supposed to be fantastic-60 for the high!!), and nobody is excited about it; so that oughtta be fun.

Also...

Avie is the hungriest Moo!  She eats a huge bowl of baby cereal (enough to mix with 4 oz of formula) plus a whole jar of baby food and a couple of crackers for breakfast.

::he's three::

Cooper turned 3 last Thursday!!!

It snuck up on us (well me) this year. Maybe because of Chloe's baptism and family party being in November-it kind of threw me off, and suddenly it was mid November and Cooper's birthday-which is a week before Thanksgiving, which means Thanksgiving is a week away(2 days away by now). Wow.

Anyway, here's my 3 year old, being sung to on his birthday.

We took him to dinner. McDonald's. His fave. Then some cupcakes. The Lion King ones-he picked. We sang happy birthday (with a few add ins), blew out candles, and opened a couple of presents.

We gave him a Chuck the Truck tumble tower (he LOVES Chuck) and also a Luigi shirt that matches Port's Mario shirt.  It's kind of WAY too big for him, but he loves it 'cause it goes with Port's, and it's kinda cute :)

(Avie helped unwrap)

They played for a bit, and then we called it a night.



So on Sunday, we had the big family party (Matt's side & my side).  Even Papa Guitar was here for the party.  We're so glad everyone could come.  We're so glad for family who love us and our kids so much.

Usually the kids' parties have a theme that coincides with whatever they're into at the time (i.e. Barbie, Buzz, Mario, etc).  Cooper was a little bit of a different story.  I had been asking him what kind of party he was going to have for a good month or so, and he kept giving me different answers (Diego, trucks, cars, Buzz, Luigi, sharks,-and usually whatever he was doing at the moment was what kind of party he wanted).  So he said Luigi, and that's what we went with.  The invitations ended up being Luigi, but nothing else really did.  There were Luigi plates, Cookie Monster napkins, Diego cups, a deer cake, and a few tractor decorations.  

Very Cooper.

He was SUPER excited to open his presents.  He was SO cute about it!  I wish I would've videoed!  Oh well, next time.

His deer cake.  We went to the store to order a Luigi cake (give them a picture to print on the cake) and he saw a deer one sitting on the shelf.  "I want a dee-uh one"  So we got a deer one.  Then we were in the store with our deer cake in the cart, and we stopped because a Barbie tote thing to store your Barbies in caught Chloe's eye.  Bubb tried to stand up in the cart (he was sitting in the front where little kids are supposed to sit) and I told him not to stand up.  So we were looking at the Barbie stuff, and next thing I knew, I was helping Bubba up off of his deer cake.  He had stood up in the cart and fallen over the back of the little seat and right onto his cake.  I guess I should admit that I was really mad about it.  Matt was too.  We might have made him stand in the corner for it (for the not listening when I told him not to stand up part of the whole deal).  But now, I just can't help but laugh.  Only Bubba would sit on his cake.  It was a little smushed, but not too bad and it still tasted good. 

Happy Birthday, Bubb!!  

I can't believe you're 3!!  You're cute, loud, rough, crazy, silly, funny, weird, sweet, smart, and we love you so so much!!