12 days of Christmas
Since it is ALMOST here I thought I would go ahead and post my plans…just in case any of you are feeling extra christmasy and want to try this out yourselves! This is what we are doing from the 12-23 and I’m hoping we’ll be able to make this a tradition (you know…only plan it once and then keep using it over and over again!).
1-matching pj’s
2-christmas book (this year – Thomas gets a snowplow)
3-decorate christmas cookies
4-make homemade ice cream
5-new container of stephen’s chocolate cinnamon hot cocoa!
6-make caramel and dip apples into it!
7-christmas craft – make snowmen out of marshmallows
8-see the lights around the city
9-christmas craft – make paper snowflakes
10-rent a christmas movie (or buy one if you want to)
11-visit temple square and enjoy the lights
12-make gingerbread houses
I’ll have to let you know how it turns out, but I think it’ll be fun and it won’t cost us very much money! BTW, Aaron took a half a day on Wed. and I finished ALL of my Christmas shopping. It feels SO good! Good luck to all of you in your christmas preparations!
We talked about missionaries for FHE and Aaron had Nettie dress up as a missionary – pretty cute huh? Parker managed to reach his bowl of rice cereal…seriously – these kids crack me up!
wowsers.
So this morning Nettie woke up at about 6:00 ’cause her leg hurt. After taking care of that I got back in bed hoping she would rest for a little bit longer ’cause let’s face it – I’m not a morning person. As I was trying to get back to peaceful slumber I heard a creak and then the horrible sound of running water…coming from the ceiling in our bedroom.
First it looked like this………………..and then like this…..
Here is a good shot of the roof…from the inside!
Apparently our swamp cooler has been leaking. I don’t have all the details yet, but we’ll have to wait for the area to dry before they can redo the sheet rock. Like I said. Wowsers.
On a happier note – doesn’t this look yummy?
the art of persuasion
I’m not sure when exactly we made the change but it is now going strong. We have to persuade Lanette to do pretty much everything. She just has a mind of her own. She wants to do what she wants and she wants to do it whenever she wants to do it! Don’t get me wrong she is a good girl. She is sweet and loving and obedient most of the time. But that is mostly because we’ve schooled ourselves in the art of persuasion. Have you ever had lessons? I’ll admit I was kind of a slow learner. There were quite a few meltdowns (on both our parts) before I realized that she didn’t want my help. Have you ever thought about how hard it is to stop helping your kid? A kid who has been totally dependent on you for the last 2 1/2 years and then all of the sudden she wants her independence. I have had to make a totally parenting change. But ya know what? It is great. She is really good at doing lots of things by herself and she is great at helping out. You just have to convince her to get started! I think, even though it has been quite a transition, that I would take her being indpendent over her being depenent. So for now I’ll continue persuading her to do things my way as much as possible…
Did you know Parker has 4 teeth now? Lanette didn’t get her top teeth until she was almost a year old. I’m hoping I’ll be brave enough to keep nursing Parker. 🙂 It is fun to see the differences between Parker and Lanette already. He is just so aggressive physically it cracks us up. What a difference!
Good Things
A few things I’m lovin’ right now….
First a little preface – my mom makes bread…the yummy healthy kind and she makes it in large quantities and it always turns out perfect. Granted she has been doing this for year and years to hone her skills, but needless to say the task of making bread is a little daunting. The other day at the grocery store I found my answer. For roughly 3.25 I stumbled on 3 loaves of frozen whole wheat bread by Rhoades. Thaw and bake. Tastes like heaven and smells like homemade. Some prayers really are answered!
The Melting Pot. We went there for our anniversary and it was soo good. It was fun to have them make the cheese fondue right at your table and then to boil our own meat. Their Raspberry black walnut vinaigrette was awesome! It was pricey, but what nice restaurant isn’t? If you ever go make sure you get on their website and sign up for their fondue club – we got a free dessert with purchase of a meal. It saved us $15! It took us 2 1/2 hours to finish and it was so fun to enjoy a leisurely meal together.
Papa Murphy’s has a cinnamon wheel that is delicious! It was like a souped up cinnamon roll. We had it during the BYU football game and it really hit the spot. They also have deLight pizza’s that we love. The thin crust is yummy. (If you want more on BYU football go to Aaron’s blog.) Oh and the Cougars broke into the top 25 this week – way to go Cougs!
Thanksgiving week is finally here – what are you doing to show your gratitude? I think we are going to send a letter to my nephew on a mission and make cookies to share, and pick up leaves at the park. What other gratitude things are good to do with kids?
Did I mention I love BYU football?
Go Cougars! They beat TCU last night and although Aaron leads the family with useless football facts…I’m coming in a close second….
Here are some pics of us at a pre-season shin dig in Provo. Can you name any of the players?
If you need some hints…made the sweetest catch last night and managed to get a foot inbounds….broke the freshman running back record for most yards….catches the long bombs and can speed past his defenders….he’s the quarter back!
Day light savings…grrr
I’ve always felt like day light savings was kinda fun. Until I had kids. Now I know better. Anyone know when my kids are going to “adjust” their inner clocks and stop waking up at 6:30? I’m not really a morning person so this is getting rough. Is there an age where this stops being a problem? It has been especially crazy with Parker. I had a nice schedule all worked out and then bam…it’s all messed up.
On to happier stuff. What do you do to gear your family up for Thanksgiving? It seems like now that Lanette is getting older I can start really settling into some fun family traditions. Only problem is, I don’t have many for Thanksgiving. (Other than the big dinner…) I’ve been wanting to think of some great ideas for service projects, but what do you do with a 2 year old? If anyone has ideas I’d love to hear them! I want to have some specific traditions that we do before Thanksgiving (like the week of) that we can keep doing year after year. Like a service that we do on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before we get to the good eatin’ on Thursday. Oh, and Aaron is kind of opposed to dropping off cookies. He doesn’t want to feel like an errand boy.
Have you ever played “DON’T EAT PETE!”? We played it last night for our FHE game with Lanette and she was cracking up. She couldn’t stop talking about it and we HAD to play it again today. (Click here for how to play!) It probably works best with older kids, but we modified it a bit and the lots of fun ensued! Enjoy.
Oh my heck…and french toast tips
When I was driving in the car to the grocery store I was flipping through radio stations and – OH MY HECK there was Christmas music playing. That’s right. Christmas music. Now I may think about Christmas many, many months before it comes – you know, planning the 12 days before and thinking about what gifts would be best for my kiddies, but I draw the line at Nov. 1st Christmas music. I mean come on! I stand firmly for holding off on all Christmas festivies (music, decorations etc.) until after Thanksgiving – whose with me?? (Don’t worry, if you can’t resist…I’ll still like you, just don’t play the music in front of me!)
So you know what I’ve come to find fascinating? Cooking shows. The kind that actually cook things that you could eat, things that you do eat – they just make it taste better. French toast especially. Aaron and I were watching a show last night (I know, what a lame thing to do on Halloween night…We are so an old married couple with kids) and got some of the best French Toast tips! I thought I’d share them with you.
* Leave your bread out overnight so it can get a little stale
Funny Things 
