Christmas Picts

I finally got around to downloading the pictures off of my new camera. Here are some of the pictures of the big day.

In the top picture Adrienne is modeling the pillowcase that Grandma W gave her. She really enjoys being naked. What a cheeser!

Annika actually got some roller skates and hasn't taken them off since... I can't believe we don't have a picture of it!

Kade really wanted a Mr. Fuzzy. If you have seen them at the kiosks at the mall, you know they look like they are lots of fun, but cannot be as great as they look. We tried to tell Kade that, but he wasn't believing it... Santa caved and got him one. Just another life's lesson... be careful what you wish for...

Santa also brought this really great book for all Star Wars fans/nerds. It is called Star Wars Guide to the Galaxy. It is a pop up book that we all really enjoyed looking at. The last page even has light sabers that actually light up. This is Nathan showing it to Grandma Christmas afternoon.

Under the Weather

We have been passing the germs around.
First Adrienne, then Nathan, then Kade.
This past week has been my turn. I finally went to the doctor today and got something that should help me feel much better.
Boy, am I grateful for modern day medicine.

The Gift Not Gotten

This Christmas we got lots of snow. It was nice for a White Christmas, but we were ready to take it back today after we looked at what lay ahead of us if we wanted to leave our house today.
We decided that we wanted to get one of these:

We looked and looked, but had no luck finding anything that we wouldn't have to trade one of the kids in for. We really like all of our kids and wanted to keep them, so we settled for:

Thankfully, by the time we came home utterly defeated, some kind soul had cleared our driveway for us. It was such a nice belated Christmas present.

Joy To The World

I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas!

We got presents opened, games played, and are now watching TMNT as a family while I type away on my new laptop. It has been lots of fun, and Santa got everything just right. Not too much, not too little...
Mostly, we are grateful for the reason for the season. We are so grateful for the birth of that special little baby centuries ago. We are grateful for his earthly mission and for the wonderful gift he gave to us.

Love to all!

Party Animals

Our ward had a party last Saturday morning for Christmas. Nathan and Burke both participated in the little program with a musical number. I took some video and thought it might make your day.
This is Nathan singing "Hot Cup of Cocoa". He is the cute one in the red shirt on the front row:

This is video of Burke (the handsome fancy dancer in the back left with the red shirt), and should explain a lot about my children...

Silly Little Girl

I asked Adrienne if she wanted a tuna fish sandwich or a peanut butter sandwich for lunch the other day.
She is not a big fan of either, but I was sticking to my guns and was ready to ignore any and all grumpiness related to the lunch menu.
After the grumpiness, this is what she said:

"I would like a peanut butter sandwich.

But I don't want any jam.

And I do want some cheese on it.

And I don't want any peanut butter on it."

Okay.....

So you want a cheese sandwich?

Yes, please.

I Fought the Law...

And I won! Dismissed!

It has been a long four months, but I finally got it resolved. Yes, the officer was wrong. No, I was not at fault. No, there is not enough evidence to show that I did anything wrong.

Whew! Glad that is over!

Funnies

Kade woke up feverish this morning and didn't feel like eating breakfast. Of course, he tells me this after I had already poured the milk on his healthy, good-mom-recommended, bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
I gave him some meds and told him to take a rest for a little while. After about 40 minutes, he rose from the dead and decided he might be able to eat a little something. I reminded him that "there is a perfectly good bowl of cereal over there waiting to be eaten". So he walked over, took a look and told me that the cereal was too "blurry" to be eaten now.

Christmas Dance Review

Adrienne is the smallest elf on the farthest left side. She did pretty well, considering she was not feeling very good at all.

As luck would have it, Annika is in the exact same location in her dance.

On the end, back row, left side. Her song is Christmas in California by the Cheetah Girls.

Again, Burke is the cameraman. 'Nuff said.

Friday and Saturday Night Fever

The big dance recital was today. The girls were adorable and so sweet. They were both so excited to wear their costumes and perform. The even got to wear makeup! It was quite thrilling for both of them.
Poor little Adrienne was not feeling so well, despite finally being able to dress up and wear makeup. She had been trying to get over a cold, but started with the symptoms of a GI bug on Friday morning. She threw up and/or had diarrhea all day Friday and was still sick this morning.
The poor thing had to wear some "back up protection" for her costume today just in case we couldn't make it to the bathroom in time. She was extremely unhappy about it, since she is a big girl and doesn't need to wear diapers anymore. I felt really bad, but you have to do what you have to do...
Anyway, it all turned out okay, and Grandma and Grandpa T even came to see them.
Now that Adrienne is on the mend, Burke has decided it is his turn to feel terrible. Hopefully he only caught Adrienne's cold. He is supposed to conduct Sacrament Meeting tomorrow and stay to do tithing settlement.
I have pics and some movies of the dance recital I will try to get posted soon.

Much Better?

Well, I looked up the website of the radio station that was sponsoring Glenn Beck's visit last week. They had someone who took pictures there while people were meeting Glenn. I happened upon some photos they took of me and the kids.

They are a little better than the picture Burke took.

Love the Glenn!

Beauty and the Beast

Adrienne woke up with some especially scary hair the other day. I grabbed a camera and snapped a photo so you can see what she looks like without some "hair therapy" from mom.She is every bit as crazy as this hairdo. She will get up and get dressed first thing, but by noon, she is back in her pajamas. (I finally hid the orange sundress she got from grandma for her birthday, so I guess she has decided pajamas are the next best thing.) We average about 7-8 wardrobe changes per day, not including the final decision on which pajamas to stay in for actual sleep. Burke can see what she wore all day when he gets home from work, because the castoffs are all over her bedroom floor.
I got her to sit still this morning and did a really cute 'do on her, but forgot to take a picture before we left for the grocery store.

By the time I thought to grab a picture of her after shopping, she had already changed and was in her new afternoon attire.

Here is the cute hair after having tinkerbell pj's, flower pj's, and finally a princess pink nightgown pulled over it:

















I was trying to get her to smile since she is always so grumpy in the hairdo pictures, so this is what she gave me:
Nice, isn't it? That doesn't even look like her.
Unappreciated in my time. *Sigh*

Santa, Birthdays, and Getting the Tree

We celebrated Kade's birthday on Saturday. He is the big 0-7! He got to really party since there was no school to interrupt the festivities. We started the day with a visit to see Santa at the kids' elementary school. They dined on doughnuts and chocolate milk, and were rewarded with a ring pop after they sat on Santa's lap.

(Adrienne's only there for the ring pop. She talked a big game, but when it came down to it, she was a little afraid of Old Santa)
(Only there for the ring pop, thinks he is getting too old for this stuff)

We continued the fun by heading to the mall to wait in the monstrous line to see Glenn Beck and get him to sign his new book for us. (Well, maybe that trip was for me, but Kade got to meet him too). It was really great to see him, even if it was only for about 9.1 milliseconds.

(Burke took this photo, forgive the blurriness; he is camera-challenged)

After the mall madness, we went to lunch with Grandma and Grandpa W and went to see Bolt. Not just the regular old run of the mill Bolt, but Bolt in 3-D! We all had the fancy glasses and everything. It was really cute, but I was so tired...I had a little nap...I woke up refreshed for the second half of the movie.

After the movie was over and we said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa, we steeled ourselves for the annual argument and went to get our Christmas tree. We have argued over the tree every year since our marriage began. It never changes: I want an artificial tree, he wants real, I want a smaller one, he wants a tree that could show up in Rockefeller Center. Anyway, I took the high road this year and caved in. We got the bigger tree and even had enough good feeling left to decorate it on Saturday as well. (He still has to water it every morning and night until it dies, which should be in about two days).

After decorating the tree, we ate Kade's birthday dinner of Hot Dogs, gourmet style. (That is grilled). We ate cake and ice cream, opened presents, and then played for the rest of the evening. It was a great day overall, and more importantly, Kade pronounced it the best birthday ever!

Happy Birthday Kader!

Fancy Dancer

I may be just a little biased, but my girls are so cute. Adrienne's dance teacher had them do a dress rehearsal for their dance recital on the 13th. Adrienne has been looking forward to it all week. She finally got to put on her costume today. They are dancing to a song from the old movie Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It is the one that the elves sing..."We are Santa's elves..." You know, the tune that gets stuck in your head and you have to hum it the rest of the day because you don't know the words...

I digress. Here is a picture of my little princess:

Annika wasn't thrilled about not getting any pictures of her, so we had to get a shot of both of them.

I also have another cool hairdo I copied from The Story of a Princess and Her Hair, a hair blog I frequent, alot. In fact, it is one of my top three 'do blogs. Love it.

This hairdo is super easy, but has a very fancy look (until Annika changes her clothes 30 times and pulls five turtlenecks over her head).

By the way, in looking at my photos, I must beg your forgiveness for my poor photography skills, or maybe the bad photos may be due to the fact that my camera didn't fare too well on the deer hunt.
Maybe Santa will bring me a new one... Maybe he got lucky on Black Friday... With some help and urging from Mrs. Claus.

Savin'

I found this fun website for mobile saving... You just put in your zip code, what you are looking for, and they will send a coupon to your phone to show the checker and you get your discount right then. If you don't have texting on your phone, you can just print out the coupons before you go. Pretty fun.
There are deals for dining out, shopping, and even for the movies. Check it out.