{Christmas is...}

(Ayden wrote this and slipped it under my door the other night.  Thought it was great and wanted to share.)

picture from lds.org

Christmas is....
      family, service, love and Jesus Christ.
Christmas is family.  During this time of the year the family can read scripture stories that help them learn what the true meaning of Christmas is.  It's not the presents, or the tree, or the pretty decorations.  It's about the birth of Jesus Christ.
Christmas is service.  We can be of service when we see people that might need help.
Christmas is Love.  Love is when we can show appreciation towards our family, friends and neighbors.
Christmas is Jesus Christ.  He is the most important part of Christmas.  He was sent to earth to gain a body and to die for us so that we can live with Heavenly Father again someday.

By:  Ayden

It is good to remember the real reason for the Season.  Ayden helped me this year do just that.  I am very thankful for him and his testimony of the Savior.

{Slacker and Christmas trees}

As you can see, blogging hasn't been on the top of my list.  Sorry Dad!!  I have some catching up to do, so I might as well do that and tell you about our adventure Christmas tree hunting.

Not long after I posted pics on Meysa's birthday we celebrated a quiet Thanksgiving.  It was just our family this year.  It was low key.  I cooked a small turkey and only had a few sides and not the 25 sides that we normally do when we have company over.  I made only two pies and no appetizers.  We sat down for dinner and 15 minutes later all the kids were done and has escaped to the other parts of the house.  We did at least say what we were thankful for.  That counts doesn't it?  There were football games on and games to played.  I think I got a small nap once the tryptophan kicked in.

The next day, Black Friday, I ventured out in the afternoon (I am not crazy enough to head out in the morning)to do some shopping by myself.  I got several things done and it felt good to get a head start on Christmas gifts.

After Thanksgiving, we have been busy with the everyday stuff.  Ryan is finally moving forward with his research project.  It has only taken 10 weeks to get to this point.  Talk about frustrating for him.

Ayden is plugging along in school.  He and a few other kids from our ward decided to put together a "band" to play at our Ward Christmas party.  They have been practicing for several weeks now and tomorrow night we get to see how they all sound together.  It is an interesting collection of instruments.  A trumpet, clarinet, harp, cello, and piano.  I'll let ya know how it goes!!

Meysa must have hit a hormonal milestone as well as a birthday recently.  She has been "super fun"!!  Just two nights ago she had a meltdown because she couldn't draw stars as well as Ryan could.  She is submitting a drawing to be considered for the yearbook cover for her school.  It has stars on it and she only has until Tuesday to do it and apparently the world was crashing down around her.  Oh, yeah and it was 9:30 at night.  When the irrational starting spewing from her mouth I had to walk out.  Ryan saved the day and talked Meysa off the ledge.

This happened after a meltdown from Ayden (talk about a great night).  He has dishes this week and decided that he should shove all the dishes that he could into the dishwasher, so there was less to handwash.  Since he had leftover dishes from the night before only about half should have been put into the dishwasher.  That stunt earned him another week of dishes and a sink full of dishes to hand wash!!  Am I ready for teenagers? I honestly question it!!

Lauryn is her unique little self.  She is so boisterous (read loud) and creative.  For the first time since we have had kids in school, we had to do retakes for pictures.  Lauryn brought her pictures home and she looked possessed!!  Really with one eye bigger than the other and her head titled slightly.  She said the guy took her picture before she was ready!!  So hopefully take two went better than take one.  She is finished with her art class through the Parks and Rec.  She loved it and wants to take the next one as well.  That really is her niche in life.

Wyatt is keeping me in line.  Everyday at 9am sharp he calls me to start Preschool.  He loves it and is already starting to read small words.  He is constantly asking me how to spell words that he is wanting to write down.  He keeps us laughing as well.  A few Sundays ago I had asked Ayden to help Wyatt put his shoes on so we could leave for church.  Ayden was struggling a bit to get them on and Wyatt, apparently exasperated by the lack of progress, sighed and said "this is ridonkolus"!!  We busted up and I saved Ayden from any further humiliation from his baby brother!!  It is now a running joke in the family!!  We have several of those and most of them come from Wyatt!!

Alright, now that we are caught up on everyone, let's get to Christmas trees.  Last year we settled for a pre-cut tree from a nursery close to our house.  It was nice but frankly there isn't anything better than heading out into the wilderness (or tree farm) to cut down your own tree.  So this year I did some investigating and found a pretty close farm that had u-cut trees.  Our only free weekend was last Saturday so we took the opportunity to go and forage for our Christmas tree.

Once we found "the one" the men settled in for the hard work of sawing it down.  Meysa wanted in on the action as well though.  Meysa is a lot like I was at her age.  I always felt that if the boys could something, well then so could I.  For Meysa, that meant getting a couple of passes of the saw right along with the boys.  Lauryn and Wyatt were busy picking up weeds and being silly.  I think Silly should have been Lauryn's middle name.  She is a ninny!!

Once the tree had been cut, the men hauled it over to a bundling station where some nice guys trimmed the bottom, shook the tree and then bundled and strapped it to our car.  I guess you don't really find those guys in the real woods, but the experience was close enough!!  As we were in line waiting for our turn to get things trimmed up we took some pictures of the kids on this nice little setup they had.  I think Lauryn must be proud of the fact that she is missing some teeth, every picture lately has that same look.

So there you have it, a catch up.  I have all my Christmas cards sent, packages sent and almost all the shopping done.  My holiday baking will be next week and then hopefully I can relax the last week before Christmas and just enjoy things.  Our family finished reading The Book of Mormon this year and we are also enjoying reading the 24 days of Christmas each night.  It really is the simple things that make the season merry and bright.

 

{The Big 9}

Somebody in our house is turning the BIG 9 today!!  I know I say this every darn time but I am truly in denial on this one.  Like for real this time!!  When she was three I thought she wouldn't make it to her fourth birthday.  It was a rough year for her and I, and now this little chicka is in her last year of single digits.  Say what?!!  How can that be?

Her Dad and I could not be more proud of her and we feel so lucky to be her parents.  If you can give me a few moments to brag about my Meysa, I'd appreciate it.  It is her day after all.  She is smart, funny, compassionate and honest as all get out.  She is ripping up the piano, after only almost three months she is onto her second level of books.  She loves her piano teacher and I think that helps.  We just had parent teacher conferences last week and her teachers had nothing but good things to say about her.  She is helpful in class and a good example to the other students as well as excelling in her academics.  She wants to join Girls on the Run (a running club for girls) in the Spring!!

Meysa is such an important part of our family.  She has helped Ryan and I to grow as parents and she is so good to her siblings.  We don't know what we would do without her humor and her thoughtful insight.  She certainly keeps us on our toes!!

Happy Birthday Meysa girl, you are one of a kind and we LOVE YOU!!

{Lego Master}

Ayden has been a Lego junkie for a while now.  Like since he was 4 or 5.  He inherited a ton of Legos from that his Grandpa and Great Aunt had kept from when Ryan was little.  He has always enjoyed building and tinkering with his abundance of multi colored pieces.  Just over a week ago now, Ayden took on the task of replicating the Washington D.C. temple.  We love that place and my children especially love going to enjoy the Visitor's Center and grounds (youth starting at age 12 can go inside the temple to do temple work).

It was a Sunday afternoon and Ayden sequestered himself inside his bedroom to work on his project.  Away from prying younger siblings and sticky little fingers that continually move pieces.  Occasionally he would come out for food and drink, but honestly he was serious about getting this thing built, and we didn't see much of him at all.  Finally he came down and proudly declared that it was finished.  Ryan and I were so impressed with how true to scale it is.  The walls aren't quite as tall but that is alright.  I think my favorite part is the Angel Moroni.  Standing proudly atop the spire.  I hope Ayden remembers how important the temple truly is.  It is where families become forever families and where we make sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father.  Ayden only has 7 months until he too can go and experience the abounding peace that comes from being in the temple.

So our own version of the temple sits on our mantel.  I hope to keep it there for a while longer, just to remind us of what the important stuff in our lives should be!!

The kids on the Temple grounds, Summer 2011

{Halloween 2012}

We survived Hurricane Sandy.  That is two hurricanes in two years.  I am afraid for what comes next year.  All joking aside, we are so very thankful to have weathered the storm safe and sound.  I think I have a little guilt at how unaffected we were when there are so many around us that had their lives turn upside down.  Again, we are so grateful.

On Sunday when we were getting the latest reports on what to expect for our area during the hurricane and finding out that the kids had school cancelled for Monday and Tuesday, I wasn't sure if Halloween was going to happen for us this year.  We could have been like New Jersey and had to move it to another day.  Thankfully our neighborhood had power and the kids turned out in full force last night.  My kids were already supped up on sugar from their Halloween parties at school so we figured why not add insult to injury and got trick or treating too.  Ayden was a Mad Scientist, but at school everyone thought he was Einstein.  Meysa was going to be a Rodeo Queen, but wanted freckles too so she looks more like a regular cowgirl.  Lauryn was a Pop Star, perfect for her personality.  Wyatt was going to be a frog, but once we got to the store he chose Buzz Lightyear instead.

We met up with our neighbors and headed off to canvas a few streets around our home.  We live in such a great neighborhood.  So family friendly with lots of kids.  I took the kids out and Ryan stayed home to answer the door and pass out candy.  About 45 minutes after the kids and I left Ryan texted me saying I needed to hurry home, he was out of candy.   I only buy two bags of candy a year, they are the big ones mind you but in this neighborhood they go fast!  We have, in the past, gotten home from trick or treating ourselves and quickly gone through our candy loot and culled out the candy we like and put the less desirable candy back in the bowl to be passed out.  When that is gone we are officially done with passing out candy.  That is what we did again this year.  Now I want to make it clear that the candy we don't like isn't bad stuff, just not to our liking.  I think in light of how the week started our Halloween was a good one.

We woke up to the month of November and I for one can't believe that we are almost done with 2012!!  There is still so much to do in the last two months though and so we will continue to be busy, busy!

Happy Halloween!!