Bad Genes

I am sorry to say that I have passed on my clumsiness genes to my girls.

Very unlucky.

These shiners happened within hours of each other. Cambree was running away from a missionary we had over for dinner and ran-fell right into the corner of some wood in the back of our couch. Haylee was trying to swing (I think) from my craft table to the folding chair at the computer. Both swelled up within seconds and were ridiculously HUGE.

You can't see that in the pics though.

It's SNOW Fun

Oh, I am sooo the Queen of cheesy post titles.

We had some frigid temps a couple weeks ago and luckily, we were rewarded with about 3 inches of snow. Snow, glorious snow! Can I tell you how excited I was to peek through the blinds that morning and see that the weather man didn't lie this time? (Just a side note, back in school, I used to do just that: peek through the mini blinds as soon as I woke up hoping for a snow day. I still do it, every single morning from Halloween to Easter. I did in NC, I do it here. When my hopes are dashed, I always say, though often internally, "no snow" in a very dejected sort of way. BJ thinks I'm a little strange but sometimes I catch him doing it too.) Oh, and the girls were excited too. We bundled up and headed out to play/shovel the driveway. Oh, how cold it was! The girls hid in the garage where the wind couldn't get them after just a few minutes of snowy bliss. But they still had fun.

As my children have extremely mature palates, you can imagine how excited they were to add 2-day old snow to their favorite foods list, right up there with risotto and fruit snacks.

Funny thing about the above picture. As I stood there trying to find the best angle to take it, I couldn't figure out what that dark spot was. The tree wasn't casting a shadow, nor was Cambree or the house. Took me a couple minutes but I finally realized (after I snapped) that it was my shadow. Duh. Oh, but it gets better. Just now as I was browsing through the pics on the computer to post, I came to this one and leaned over so there wouldn't be a shadow!!! Guess what? It didn't move!

That sneaky bite her lip grin, love it.

Oh, but let's save the best for last, shall we?

Recall your childhood days and tell me if this is not what everyone does when they come inside from playing in the snow:

1. Push and shove to be the first one inside

2. Tug off all soggy, snow covered clothing items and leave them in the middle of the doorway so when the snow melts, Mom steps in the puddle and has to change her socks

3. Beg for hot chocolate

4. Burn your tongue on the hot chocolate because you're so cold you can't wait 30 seconds for your ice cube to melt

Am I right? I mean, seriously folks. I remember each of those steps (well, not the step in the snow puddle part but maybe my own mother can recall) and my kids performed all 3 very well. Only, they went the extra mile and added a couple steps in-between # 3 and 4.

3a. Get your cups, full of Swiss Miss ( the mini marshmallow variety of course) but no water yet and fight over who gets pink and who gets purple, during which, the contents of both get dumped onto the mopped 4 days ago and very nasty floor below

3b. Finger paint in the hot chocolate powder. "But Mom, we did it before with pudding!"

So creative, these ones. Always looking for ways to increase their tactile sensitivity.





I made them cups of the real thing after I did the first wipe up.

3 days later, after mopping twice, our feet still stick to the floor where they powder painted.

A Little Doris Day

This is for the most devoted follower of this blog.

It cuts off right in the middle of my favorite line.
You'll hear: "You bet yer"

but you won't hear: "pretty neck I do!"

Christmas Kitchen

No, it's not the name of next year's Hallmark Hall of Fame Christmas special. It is/was our project this year for our girls. I decided that it deserved a post of it's own, that's how special it is.

Just some background in case you happen to be interested. If not, just scroll down and look at the pictures. We won't be offended. If you fail to ooh and ahh, however, I may be a touch upset so don't tell me if you do, I mean don't.

I love food, preparing, eating, experimenting. One of the things I love to do most with the girls (and BJ if he's willing and available :) is cooking and baking in the kitchen! They love it too. Both girls also love pretending with food and all. We did have a play kitchen in NC that was given to us that they played with a ton. But on moving day when the truck wasn't quite big enough for all of our stuff, the play kitchen was one of the first things to get left behind. So I made a very rough play kitchen out of cardboard boxes probably within the first month after we moved. That little cardboard kitchen saw a lot of play time too.

Then I got this little idea in my head...it started out pretty small and then it started to grow and grow until it became more or less a dream. I wanted to make the girls a kitchen, you know, with real wood and nails and stuff. BJ scoffed. And whined. And brought up over and over how much work it would be. But I ignored him, so strong was my little plan inside my head. I called my Dad and asked him to help us out while he was here for Thanksgiving. He agreed (still can't say no to his little girl) and really became the mastermind of the project. He drew up some realistic plans and left us with a wooden kitchen in our basement. It just needed some personalization. BJ and I finished it together. It was so much fun to work on this together, both with my parents and BJ. He was right. It was a lot more work than I had anticipated. But after finishing it, there was a sense of satisfaction that took over. After we saw the girls with it on Christmas morning, that satisfaction became sheer joy. This was one of those things we do for our kids just to make them happy. Work? What work? I have happy kids (today at least)!









Thanks Dad. Thanks Mom. Thanks BJ. I know this is silly but it was a dream that you helped come true.

These are a few of my favorite things....

...other than the opportunity to be together as a family for 2 whole days (BJ didn't end up having to work Christmas Eve!!!) and the wonder and beauty and excitement that have filled up every corner of our home for the past month or so....

Oh, I just LOVE Christmas!

But then again, who doesn't? Right?

Ok, so here are a couple more of my favorite things this Christmas:

*drinking hot chocolate right before bed on Christmas Eve...

...in Christmas jammies!

*Our beautiful tree!
Bad picture but it was beautiful, full of homemade ornaments (some broken or injured or rearranged aka "hidden" to Cambree's delight) and not so perfectly spaced strands of multicolored lights. Oh, and I can't forget the BJ Angel on top. Sorry there's not a good picture of him. It's pretty cute.
*Reading Christmas stories at bed time,
*Again no picture, but also telling the Christmas story through the scriptures and with the Little People Nativity set (minus the Baby Jesus, we had to borrow one from another set) and primary songs mixed with the regular Christmas carols....

*Christmas morning!

*The biggest reactions for the seemingly small things like a pack of gum! or a clementine! or an Ariel toothbrush! or a shower spongy thingy (just like Mom's)!

*Ah, but here (below) are my all time favorite memories from Christmas this year.

These faces.

So happy.

It was indeed hard being away from all of our families. BJ and I kept thinking we should hop in the car and drive to Grandma's house. But, different as it was for us, we loved being home this year.