It's Beginning To Smell a Lot Like Christmas...

I just finished mopping the kitchen floor. It's heavenly. I've only been avoiding it for like two months or something, but it is my least favorite chore- EVER. Where is Tara when I need her (my sister who mops REALLY well)? Anywho, I just couldn't bear the thought of such a dirty floor for Christmas so tonight after the kids were in bed I did it, moved the chairs and the table and everything. I just hope it lasts through tomorrow. With the kids not in school I'm not holding my breath but I can dream, can't I? At least it won't be as dirty as it was... seriously!

On Sunday Gracie was bored (she asks me daily "what are we going to do today" or "are we going to do anything fun today?") so I told her to make a list of all the fun things she wanted to do this week. She was DELIGHTED with this task and the list is now hanging on the wall above the stairs so as to be sure and be seen by me every morning when I come downstairs so we don't forget to do something fun! On Monday they made ornaments, on Tuesday we went to the Flood Museum and today we made gingerbread cookies. The cookies were originally supposed to be an actual gingerbread house and it was supposed to be done on Monday but due to my lack of being able to get it all together (and my unwillingness to pay 16.99 for the kit) we had to make some minor adjustments and a schedule change. But, alas, we made the cookies today and the kids had a great time decorating them. And the house smelled delicious!

The Crazy Crew! (Aunt Miche came over for the fun)

Rex cracked me up with the cookie balls he was making, I didn't realize he was doing it until I looked over and saw all of these, it was pretty cute!

Frosting fun!

Stop the madness!

The finished product! (Aren't those gingerbread house cookies cute? Gracie and Owen are each holding one.)

Mugging Santa

Nothing is going as planned this Christmas. No Christmas cards sent, no presents wrapped, no presents sent (yet) :( I've been staying up way later than I should be since the kids are out of school, but really I just wish I could stay in bed and watch TV all day (if only the kids wouldn't wreck the house if I really did do that). I do believe I'm suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (it's a real thing, people!) or in layman's terms the winter blues. Alas, life is calling me and I must push through! Right? Right!?!?! So, I had intended to post a lot more this month, to capture all the wonder and glory of the season, ya know... but well, you read the above explanation, right? Needless to say I just don't have it together this year. Oh well, there's always next year. Anyway, at least we got the decorations put up, that IS something! And I thought I would share my favorite Christmas decorations for your viewing pleasure. It is my collection of Santa mugs. My love of Santa mugs stems from my childhood wherein my Grandma Wright had a set of blue Santa mugs and I just adored them, truly loved them. And so, years later when I saw one in a store that closely resembled my Grandma's mugs (it was not blue) I just had to buy it and so began my collection. I still have yet to find a blue one (I'm sure I could find one online but I haven't looked there yet). I usually just buy them when I see them in a store or Kris gives them to me for Christmas. I hope you enjoy- although they are much better in person!

Blogging is good therapy! I already feel better :)

Ransom

We have found many treasures in our house since we moved in, and one of them was an old typewriter which the kids thought was really cool. It's like an ancient piece of technology to them. And to think I actually used to use one, ooooohhh. So we decided to let them have their fun since we really have no use for it and they were fascinated with it. Well, after a little while we started to find these little notes. We were actually quite impressed with their abilities. I guess a typewriter's not so hard to figure out when you've grown up on computers.

Brotherly Love

I caught these two cuddled up watching Santa Buddies (of Air Bud fame for any of you who don't have kids this age, his progeny just keep on going and going...) and it warmed my heart. 'Tis the season. So why don't you all go cuddle up with someone you love and watch Santa Buddies (haha, just kidding but I'm sure you could find some Christmas movie that you love to watch this time of year. My pick- While You Were Sleeping, now if I could just get Kris to cuddle up with me and watch it...)

Flushed

This is what Colby has been into lately.

And apparently, he thinks it's pretty funny.

Me, on the other hand, not so much. It is a chore to keep this kid out of the bathroom what with a house full of people needing to use the restroom and such all day long. And if one door is shut he just heads to a different one. He also likes to throw things in the tub. Such as: the x-box controller (with water in the tub), the cordless phone (no water), a library book (water, oops!), my cell phone (no water, phew!), and other miscellaneous items. Yes, my life is very pleasant chasing after this kid, isn't he a little young for this crap?!

Roast Turkey

Courtesy of Miss Katie Grace:

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

(I have absolutely no idea where she comes up with this stuff!)

Dear Veterans

To all those who have served and who are serving- thank you for preserving our freedom, for putting the lives of others above your own, for the sacrifices that you and your families make every day! I am humbled to contemplate all that has been given and continues to be given. We are all indebted. To my brother who is serving in the Army- we love you and think you are doing such an honorable thing in serving your country! You are awesome!

Gimme an "O"!

Happy 6th Birthday Owen!
(Yesterday)

Owen

Will always be

Ever so

Near and dear to my heart, he

Knows how to love and

Reach out to others

Is such a questioning soul

Searching to know answers

To all his deep pondering

One of a kind

Full of life

Fanatic of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings

Enjoys eating pizza (for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!)

Really excited to read

Growing up too fast

Reads his scriptures every night (even though he can't "read")

Open and honest

Very loyal and fun friend

Enjoys playing games

Really looking forward to all his life has in store!

Enjoying the birthday donuts (did you notice the air guitar?)
Ogling the AWESOME Star Wars lego set he got from his
Grandma and Grandpa Grover! (it came with 6 figures, so cool!)

Late Update

Our Halloween Celebration

A tattoo artist, two vampires, a bat, and a spider
with Grandma Arch

(whose birthday happens to be on Halloween!)
Going batty at the cupcake walk at the ward party

The cutest cheerleader I have ever seen (seriously)!

The end of the night. Tired, boogery, OD'ing on candy fun!

P.S. I love trunk or treats! Way more candy-lots less time!

Happy Halloween!

I know, I know, you are shocked by my posting again in two days! I just thought I would scare you for Halloween, ha ha. Anyway, since I have been such a slacker where Halloween is concerned (we did not put up any decorations aside from the pumpkins on the front steps and the leaf bag jack-o-lantern, which by the way was given to us already filled up by my mother-in-law) I thought we should go all out yesterday. We started off by going to the Halloween parade at the elmentary school.

We enjoyed especially spooky weather yesterday, it was cloudy, foggy, misty, damp- perfect for Halloween.

Rex made the first snowball of the season.

Katie Grace and Owen were spooky vampires.

Then we carved our pumpkins that we grew in our garden.

The kids all came up with their own designs, did most of the scraping of the guts and

Katie Grace even carved her whole pumpkin all by herself.

Notice her pumpkin is eating it's young, how morbid!

I had to take the picture quick 'cause Owen could barely hold his.

Then we enjoyed Ghost Casserole for dinner.

We got the pumpkin seeds ready for roasting.

Then we had Halloween brownies for dessert!

Hers is a ghost covered with powdered sugar so you can't see the shape very well.

Bat brownie for the little Bat himself.

Owen and Matthew enjoyed black cat brownies

(because those cookie cutters made the biggest brownies).

Kris was awesome and made some orange jack-o-lantern pancakes for breakfast this morning.

And Katie Grace made a pumpkin seed necklace for her puppy.

I think we have redeemed ourselves as far as Halloween goes

and to think we have a night full of festivites to attend to this evening

we are just havin' one rockin' Halloween! Hope you all are too!

(P.S. the idea for the casserole came from People magazine and the pumpkin eating it's young came from Family Fun magazine, the pancakes were our idea but generally I am not that creative all on my own (although Gracie is!)

Moving On

Our new (old) house

It's definitely fall here (well really almost winter since we are freezing our butts off!)

Happy Fall Y'all!

This summer Kris' grandparents asked us if we wanted to buy their house. I don't think they really thought we'd take them up on their offer but we felt like the timing was right. We needed more space (read: bathrooms) and they could no longer handle the stairs so we decided to go for it. I have always loved this house and been drawn to it's history. An old home has a way of telling a story and this one is no exception. It was blessed by an apostle who stayed here once. It survived the flood (Kris actually remembers it), and as such contains much groovy 70s remodeling. The move was especially difficult for our grandparents since this is the home where they raised their family. They lived here for over fifty years and the home has been in the family since being built in 1901. I was apprehensive about the whole situation since everyone knows this as their grandparents/parents home and I knew it would be difficult to move on and let it go. I worried that we would never feel like it was "our" home, but as they moved more and more of their things out it became easier for us to envision ourselves living here. I love it here. There are tons of changes I would like to make (and hope to someday) but for now the things I thought would drive me crazy aren't really bothering me. For instance: the kitchen/dining room is smaller than our other one; the curtains are all straight from the 70s; there are eight (yes, eight) different kinds of carpet throughout the house, including in two bathrooms and yes, I have four little boys whose aim is not always spot on, so- ick! (Although, I have decided that vacuuming a bathroom floor is easier than sweeping and mopping.) AND- the first floor carpet is a light pink which is just perfect for grandparents but for a bunch of kids, not so much. Honestly, I am just learning to deal with these things and not complain and it hasn't been bad at all. We are loving our ward, Matthew finally has boys his own age, we love the school, and we are enjoying the extra space and living in the country. And we have a pretty awesome view out our back window! (Don't you think?)

And for a little Halloween fun I thought I would treat you to a poem by our little miss Katie Grace. In her own words (and spelling):

Once there were some vampires who didn't like blood.

They said it tasted like mud.

They drink strawberry smoothies instead.

It's blood they dread.

They opened a strawberry smoothie shop.

It's on top.

I go there sometimes.

I hope this rymes.

Goodbye.

Don't die.

(I saw this poem hanging on the wall outside her classroom while I was waiting for her parent/teacher conference today and just couldn't resist sharing. Luckily, she remembered the whole thing. I wonder what her teacher thought when she read it!?! P.S. She's going to be a vampire for Halloween.)

And, who can resist Halloween underwear? Not me, that's for sure!

Lingering

We are enjoying the last vestiges of summer, ok so it's technically NOT still summer but you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at the thermometer. So we had one last (maybe) trip to the water park for some fun in the sun. This is just making up for losing the entire month of June to the rain gods.

Slow it down there, kiddo. Can't you READ?!?

You'd think we live in Arizona or something. Of course, it's probably still too hot to go to the park there yet. Kris admonished me for complaining about the heat a few days ago (it can be hard sometimes in a house without AC!) He said, "Are you kidding me, you've got nine months of winter around the corner!" And I hung my head in shame, I knew he was right so I'm repenting and embracing the unseasonably warm days and savoring the warm sunshine while it lasts!