Last Thoughts about Christmas

The other night I was watching the Christmas Special of one of my favorite shows, Call the Midwife,  and it described Christmas as a "moment of stillness." That made me pause and think because if I were to describe our last month, "still" is the last word I would use! Knowing that it was a short Christmas season this year, we rushed from the Christmas tree festival right after Thanksgiving, to putting up decorations, to getting our tree, making treats, and shopping, shopping, shopping. It now feels like all a blur!

But if I think back on the moments that really were special, "stillness" is a perfect way to describe them. Seeing all three kids fast asleep during their sleepover next to the Christmas tree, cuddled on the couch watching Polar Express, reading our favorite Christmas books. Moments like those take a second thought to pause and soak up. To pause from thinking what's next on the list and just appreciate the moment. Now I have a word for it, "stillness." That's something I want to be more aware of next year.

Another thing I want to be more aware of next year, so I'm writing it down to remind myself, is to focus on experiences, not things. I had so much fun this year buying the toys and presents the kids were asking for. And I know I'll always enjoy that. But I also realize that in the long run, the kids are going to remember the things we did for Christmas more than the things they get. Now I think we already do a great job at doing fun things and starting traditions, (we deserve credit for braving that Festival of the Trees!) but I love the idea of that being the focus. If we get a few less presents, but spend more to see the Nutcracker at Ballet West? That would be a memorable tradition. If I spend less time wrapping or shopping so we can do our graham cracker houses (that just didn't happen this year), it would be so worth it. So two things to remember next year! 1) Stillness. 2) Experiences.

The best part of being a mom is that we get to be the architect of our traditions and holidays!

Midway and a Date Night

 I love date nights with Kiel! Especially at Christmas when everything looks so pretty and festive. Since Mom and Dad were in town, they offered to have a party with the kids while we went on our date! We actually got to wander - yes, wander! - around Station Park before we went to see the Hobbit. It was so fun! At home mom and dad and the kids had a "chocolate party" and had chocolate ice cream and brownies, so needless to say, they didn't miss us at all!

 I need to get the pictures from Kiel from inside the ice castle, but check it out! We were so surprised when we saw this appear around the corner! It was a giant ice castle maze. The kids went inside to explore with Kiel and Dad while Mom and I checked out the boutique across the street.

The kids' favorite restaurant is in Midway - it's called the Dairy Keen but we all call it "the Train Restaurant." The kids are totally entertained by the train around the ceiling, the lego table and the train table. I think it's been Luke's favorite since he was 4 and it's still holding up in his eyes!

Christmas thoughts

The best part of Christmas is hearing what the kids have to say about it. This year Luke is 7, Claire is 5, and Lily is 2. Perfect Christmas ages.

Luke is asking for a Lego ATT E walker and 4 hand warmers. He is 100% confident that Santa will bring it because he says, Santa has always brought me what I wanted. He is SO excited for Christmas morning.

Claire had been counting down the days until Christmas. Today Luke said to her, "tomorrow is Christmas eve!" And she said, "My heart is so excited!!!"

She's asking Santa for an American Girl doll and make up. She can't wait to open presents. We went and saw the Nutcracker at mountain west ballet in Sandy a week ago and she loved it. Before we went she kept saying, "I'm so excited!"

Lily is having fun watching Christmas shows with the kids and listening to Christmas music. When we waited in line to see Santa she asked him for a hat...meaning the reindeer antler hats he was passing out! She also says she wants a Minnie costume...She's a little confused about Halloween and Christmas!

The cutest thing ever is listening to her sing Santa Claus is coming to town! Her latest obsession is the movie Frozen and she belts out those songs all the time.

It's the night before Christmas eve and I think we're all ready! A few more things to wrap and a few more treats to make and that's about it! I'm really looking forward to hanging out at home and relaxing this week!

Station Park

 Now that I am doing this blog post, I am realizing that I'm missing two important pictures! One, one of me and Kiel and Dave and Char. We've been friends for 15 years now and that would have been fun to get a picture together. We're always so good about taking pictures of the kids! And two, a picutre of the line we waited in to see Santa for 2 HOURS (and it was so cold)! But I digress, I have these few really cute pictures of the kids and our night out at Station Park.

Luke went ice skating for the first time. I was so proud of him for being adventurous and trying something new. He really wanted to do it, and this little rink was the perfect size. He and Lincoln went out there by themselves and we watched and cheered from the outside. Luke said he really liked it.

 Claire and Abby are happy to be together anywhere. They had fun exploring everything and pretending they were ice skating on the snow.

Poor Lily was freezing but stayed happy the whole time. Of all times I probably should have paid for the Santa picture! They were happy to see Santa and tell him what they wanted. Lily told Santa that she wanted a hat because she saw the reindeer antler hats he was passing out. After seeing Santa we all headed over to the Habit for a late dinner. Having a Christmas night out with the Hibberts made us all happy!

Snow

Claire and I shoveled and played in the snow yesterday while waiting for Luke to get home from school. Claire sat and made these little snowmen for the longest time. She patted them down forever.

It definitely looks like Christmas around here. Everything is beautiful and white. The kids are counting down the days until Christmas and they're so excited! Kiel and I wish it weren't coming so fast because we both love the Christmas season. Sometimes I wish we could freeze time and keep our kids little forever.

Tiger Bark

Here is one of our traditions every year, and one of Luke's favorite things at Christmas.  Our annual tiger bark. This year he did almost all the steps himself. And of course eating it is the best part!

Traditions and Happenings

 I think we've hit upon a new tradition. The day before Christmas Eve, the kids have a sleepover by the Christmas tree. It was Luke's idea because he wanted to wake up and have it be Christmas Eve! And that's a perfect night to give them their new Christmas pjs. Then on Christmas Eve night after dinner and pjs, they can open a new board game to play together as a family. That was really fun this year so I think we'll try that again!

 This year Claire and I went to the Nutcracker with Mountain West in Sandy. My niece Ava came with us too. We wanted to check this one out because there's a chance Claire could audition for it next year if she wanted to. Claire loves the Nutcracker and knows the story and dances to the music at home just for fun. She liked the show a lot and had good theater manners the whole time, which is just as important to learn. I love that she loves ballet and with my Ballet West Season tickets we have a few shows to go to this coming year. Yay for having girls!

 I was so proud of Luke when he came home with a Super Nova certificate. He earned it by passing off his Light Steps reading. And the exciting part for him was that his name was drawn to be a part of the Super Nova party with the Principal. So he got to get out of class and play board games and get his picture taken. I loved seeing him so excited and happy!

 Another one of our easy new traditions are these cinnamon rolls. We had Rhodes cinnamon rolls in the freezer, so the kids helped put them in the shape of a tree, dye the frosting green, and ta-dah! I love finding inspiration online (momadvice.com) when it's so simple!

 One afternoon was so cold I knew we weren't going to go anywhere. So I popped in Sound of Music and watched it with the kids! What's better than introducing your kids to your favorite movie? I'm determined that they will grow up familiar with the Sound of Music!

 When moving into a new house gives you an overhead light that you don't totally hate, but don't love either, turn it into a new spot for Christmas decorations! Why not make something more festive?

 There's no better tradition than getting our Christmas tree. We found such a beautiful one this year. We love colored lights and our homemade ornaments and the small collection from big moments we've had. It's not fancy but it's "home" and it brings the Christmas spirit like nothing else.

Snowy Saturday

Last Saturday was wet and snowy! It was also the day that Kiel and Luke had tickets to the BYU football game. So they had to bundle up really good and Luke said that he had fun and wasn't that cold because he had hand warmers! He said the football game was his favorite part of the day. After the football game they went to Holly and Jordan's house and Luke hung out there while Kiel, Jordan and Boyd went to the BYU basketball game that evening.

The girls and I stayed home and had a girl day. We watched two Barbie movies, went to Target, and made soup for dinner. Then after they went top bed, I read my book and enjoyed a quiet house, which was so nice! But the best part of my day was cuddling on the couch with my girls, especially on a snowy day!

Jr Jazz Basketball

Luke and Drewbie are playing on the same Jr Jazz Basketball team through Farmington city this fall. They have practices on Tuesday and games on Wednesdays. Luke is having lots of fun with it and says he's been practicing at recess every day too. I'm so glad he's liking it. At the last game he said, "I think I played my best ever." I love to hear that and watching his games is so fun!

Big helper

Lily is such a good helper. This is a picture of her the other night. Even not feeling 100% she helped me unload the dish washer, without me asking her to! The other day I had piles of folded laundry and she picked one up and took it upstairs top Luke's room! Yesterday she got out her turtle game and then put all the pieces away when she was done.

Kiel was amazed when she asked him, daddy do you want to watch football? When she saw there was a football game on tv while we were flipping channels. And she's always getting things for Luke and Claire and making sure they have a snack if she has a snack.

She really amazes us and I'm enjoying her at this age so much.

This week she's had croup and it's been hard to see her coughing and having breathing problems, but even then she's been really sweet and happy. Luckily she seems to be getting better every day.

Claire on the Bus

Claire is taking the kindergarten bus home from school now! She thinks it's really fun and it saves me a trip to the school. The bus stop is right down the street from our house so she just walks home from the bus stop. It's the best thing that has happened all school year!

Visitors!

We had so much fun when Aunt Brenda and Jeff came for a quick visit a few weeks ago. Luke and Jeff played video games together, and Claire and Lily loved playing with Aunt Brenda. She brought them lots of dress up clothes and some fun games. Lily really knows who she is and goes right up to get to play or talk. Aunt Brenda even let Claire do her hair with lots of bobby pins! We're so glad they came!

First snow!

The girls were so excited to see snow they wanted to get the snow clothes on alms play right away! Claire did a snow angel and they stomped around for a while. Then they came in for hot chocolate!

Happy Halloween 2013!

Happy Halloween! The kids had a fun day! Parties at school,  then trick or treating and a haunted house!

Luke dressed up as a Clone Trooper named Captain Rex. He knew he wanted to be something from Star Wars and when Aunt Holly showed him this costume from their box,  he thought it was pretty cool.

Claire was a cute little witch. I thought she looked so cute and spunky in her costume. She's been wearing the witch dress for dress up this month.  It's just too bad the hat didn't say on too good during trick or treating.  But she was happy.

Lily was Minnie Mouse,  one of her favorite things. At the last minute I bought her a Minnie costume and she loved it so much she didn't want to take it off.  But after an hour of playing it had ripped at the waist! I was so bummed. I fixed it with safety pins which was fine for the night.

We went trick or treating in our neighborhood and then drove to the next neighborhood over. Lukes teacher was doing a haunted house in their basement. It was a little spooky...actually,  I think I was more spooked than the kids!

The kids had fun racing from house to house. My favorite part of the night was watching lily run to keep up with like and Claire. Her little legs were taking her as fast as she could go.  She was such a good little sport and was acting like a big girl. 

I'm glad they had a fun day and now we have lots of candy in the house to keep everyone nice and hyper!

Carving Pumpkins!

The kids are excited for Halloween! We carved pumpkins tonight and listened to the Monster Mash. The kids did the eyes and I did the mouths so that was good teamwork!

Block Party

We've lived in our new house for about two months now. We're getting settled in and it's feeling like home. I think it's been an adjustment that we're still getting used to,  but I think everyone is happy.

Kiel and I have been enjoying having more space,  and the garage... And the kids seem to be having fun with the cul de sac and the kids around. Luke says he likes his old school better because he was more used to it.  And I do feel bad he had to leave some of his friends and start out as a new kid here. But he's making friends and doing well. He gets to play with drewbie and more friends after school than he ever did in Bountiful.

Anyway,  one of the great things about this neighborhood is that there's a sense of community. People want to create friendships and memories for their kids. Like on the first day of school we see did the back to school breakfast at Kim's house. And this weekend we did a block party in our cul de sac.

We dragged out tables and chairs and brought soup and bread and treats. Kim rented a cotton candy machine which was a huge hit! And Keri did face painting and bobbing for apples. We met neighbors we hadn't met yet and got to talk with them. It was really fun! We have a lot of really great neighbors and I'm happy we moved out here.

A few happenings

October is a great time of year.  The kids are in the swing of things at school and when they're not at school we've been having fun.

Luke started basketball and has been drawing pictures of his games.  He had his first game last week and he said he had a lot of fun.

I've been enjoying having Lily and Claire home in the afternoons. Claire gets out of school at 11:30 so we either go straight from picking her up to lunch or errands,  or we come home. This day we went to the mall and Claire was such a good helper with lily. I love,  love,  love having two girls!

The kids were so cute in the sleeper pajamas. They came downstairs and lined up! Luke likes sleeper pj's still when it's cold. Claire likes skating around in them but always takes them off before she goes to sleep because she gets too hot. And Lily just likes to be like Luke and Claire! I love this picture of the three of them!

Even though there's lots of times I get grumpy and overwhelmed,  I've been feeling so blessed and lucky to have these three great kids in my life. They are so special and each have great qualities that make them wonderful and unique. I hope they know how much I love them. As Claire likes to say,  I love you more than chocolate ice cream!

Quick Trip

Lily was lucky and got to fly with me to grandma and papa's house last weekend. Papa was called to be the second counselor in the stake presidency. I was so glad we could be there for him to be set apart. He is so kind and genuine and has such great relationships with people that I know he'll be great in that position. 

It was also lucky because the day we flew in was Grandma's birthday and Aunt Brenda was there too.  Lily had lots of fun playing with Cole,  and completely loved putting her feet in the water at the beach! We were just there from Saturday to Monday so it was super quick. 

Luke and Claire stayed home and played with daddy. They went to Station Park and played and watched movies,  and were happy to get a surprise from grandma when we got home! 

Minecraft

Like all the other seven year old boys we know,  Luke is obsessed with the game  Minecraft. He loves playing it with Kiel and his friends. 

Grandma bought him a Minecraft shirt and he thought that was so cool. He kept looking at it and wanted to wear it to school the next day. Pretty cool Grandma. 

He can only play after he's done his homework so that's his incentive to get his homework done! Luke is so smart and good at figuring things out. 

Build a Bear

The kids have been wanting to go to Build a Bear all year, so we decided that they could earn it by being good while Kiel was out of town for work for two weeks.

I drew a rainbow and colored it in when they were being helpful or listening the first time.  They were completely motivated by it.  I loved it when Luke would say,  'Claire remember the rainbow!' So they were really well behaved the whole time.

Luke chose a dog which he named Brownie and an army helmet to go with him. Claire chose a pink bear and named it Heart and got a little pink dress for her.  It was a fun outing and we were happy that they were happy.

Lily's pink hat

First the last few days Lily has been wearing a pink t shirt as her hat.  She carefully arranges it on her head and walks around with it.  Then she tells me that I have a blue hat.  Her imagination and personality come out more and more each day.  She's so fun!

Ballet

Claire started her third year at the bountiful school of ballet this fall.  She loves it and is already looking forward to the recital in May.

During the week she likes to put her ballet shoes on and practice. Right now she's watching her ballet recital video. I'm so excited to take her to see the Nutcracker this Christmas!

She also just started a jazz class arthritis Bountiful School on Fridays.  She went to it for the first time last week and had a lot of fun.

I hope that if she really loves dance she'll learn to dedicate herself and work hard,  but also always have fun.  It's so fun to watch her grow and we love keeping her busy!