Christmas Day

This year we actually slept in a bit. John came in at 7:00 am and by 7:30 am we were all downstairs and starting to unwrap gifts. The chaos was finished by 9:30 am and the building of 6 Lego sets, and numerous girl toys began. We never got out of our pajamas! We had a nice day together and received a lot of wonderful presents.

John with a Nerf gun Mark got from Santa

Alison going through her stocking

Mark with his 2 Nerf guns from Santa. How did Santa know we would need 2?

The chaos of unwrapping and waiting your turn

Building one of 6 Lego sets

Having fun with new toys

Makeup artist in training

So beautiful

My new look courtesy of Alison

Finally playing with the new Legos. Yes, it really floats!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent eating food, playing games and of course, reading the story of Christ's Birth. When it was time for bed the kids got ready so fast! They were excited for Santa to come. On a side note, I know that all of you are jealous of my Christmas Sweater. Mark absolutely can't stand it! I made it when I was a teenager and so for pride reasons, and the fact that he can't stand it, I keep it. I proudly wear it every Christmas just to hear him casually ask me yet again, When did you get that sweater? Is that what you are wearing today? It also comes in handy when your friend tells you that she got invited to a "ugly" Christmas Sweater party and "do you have any thing I could borrow".

Joseph, Mary and Wise Man

Angel, Mary and Wise Man

Our Christmas Eve dessert: giant Fortune Cookie, Gingerbread Man

and other cookies

Yum!

Poor Gingerbread Boy, we caught you!

Arctic Blast Continues

Day 9. We are cold. We are tired of each other. We are tired of the house. We have over 15 inches of snow! It is still snowing and has been snowing all day long. Mark tried to get us out. He shoveled the driveway. Chained up my car and went halfway down the street. It is to deep, just to get out of the house. Not worth it. Car is back in garage. Shovel, regular one by the way- not a snow shovel- is put away. Is it wrong to celebrate Christmas tomorrow? That way kids can have something new to do. We are in desperate need of sunshine! Please send some ASAP!

Arctic Blast 2008

We are now in day 7 of Arctic Blast 2008! The awesome name was invented by the news channels. School was canceled all week, that means 3 weeks of Winter Break! It has been in the 30's all week and no sign of warming up until after Christmas. Sunday's snow freezed and lasted until Wednesday. By Friday the roads were clear and all snow was melted. When we woke up this morning, the ground was covered with a few inches of snow again. It snowed all day long! Then we got freezing rain! The top left picture shows the 2 inches we got of freezing rain on the fence top.



On Sunday we went outside for a while to crunch the ice and sink into the snow beneath it. It was a fun experience and time spent outside the house. We can now say with confidence "Cabin Fever"!

Snow Day

"I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas"! We woke up to snow this morning! We had a lot of fun playing in the snow together. Of course church was canceled. Snow here on the valley floor is not a common occurrence. So most things shut down. They do not plow or sand neighborhood roads, so you are left to your own devices. We had fun making snow angels, building a snowman, and having snow ball fights. Okay, I was not to willing or happy to participate in the snow ball fighting. I don't like to be cold! I just want to take pictures of everyone else having fun. I do like to go sledding though. Our friends came over to use our driveway, the best one for sledding in the neighborhood. So we got to use their sleds! A wonderful trade. Any time of the year I would tell you I have to much padding on my bottom. But going down an icy driveway in a plastic saucer, I would have to say that I do not have enough padding on my bottom! The kids had a blast! After about an hour in the driveway, we headed across the street to the community college to sled down the hill there. It was fast and fun! It started to blow and snow ice so we headed back home. What a fun day!

Church Christmas Party

Today was our ward's "Elfish Christmas Party". The kids could dress up in whatever holiday costume they wanted to wear. Everyone got to make an "elf house" and Santa came! They served waffles with ice cream and strawberries and whipping cream for breakfast! The kids were so excited to go to the party! John had decided that he was going to wear his Rudolph nose and had me make him some antlers. Of course the morning of, he decided that he did not want to wear the costume or even go. Hence the frown in most of the pictures. Finally about 20 minutes before the party ended, he found his smile. Alison went as a Sugar Plum Fairy. She had so much fun making her house and saying hello to Santa! She loved singing Jingle Bells really loud so that Santa could hear us and come to the party. After breakfast, the icing had set and so the kids tried to "blow" their house down. We had an enjoyable time together and spent the rest of the day inside, it was to cold to go out!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Trimming the tree!

On the First Day of Christmas

my mom and dad gave to me, my own advent calender! This way we can open a present every day and mom can actually put presents under the tree all month long! It has been the best thing for the kids! They love coming down to the table every morning to open their window and see what new toy they get. John has a Lego advent, and Alison has a My Little Pony advent (and her two black eyes, poor thing).

John gets ready for school so fast now! I may have to do this all year!

Thanksgiving

The People were great!

Playing attack to work off dinner! Thanks Uncle Jason!

Jake Bowling's 1st Birthday!

We had so much fun at Grandpa and Grandma Thompson's house. We loved visiting with all of the family. We loved eating all of the food. We loved playing attack. We loved playing in the flooded back yard. We loved the sunshine. We love all of you and are so thankful for you.

Legoland

Legos are the most popular toy this year for John, and Alison loves to build with legos as well. So we decided to take the kids to Legoland while we were in California for Thanksgiving. It is nothing like Disneyland, but the kids still had fun. We had a great time together as a family and got to enjoy some of the beautiful Southern California weather. (If you click on the picture, it will blow it up for you to see better)

John had a lot of fun seeing all of the things that were made out of Legos. We went inside the factory and watched how legos are made and then into the store that had legos of every shape, size and color! He got to drive his own car and boat, and ride roller coasters with Mark. We saw where they make the Lego displays. John wished that room was his room!

Alison had fun riding a few of the rides as well. She was an excellent driver! She rode with Mark in the bumper boats. That was a sight to see! There was the four boats before Alison, then a massive pile up behind Alison! She would not let Mark touch the wheel. It was all hers, and she very verbally let him and all within ear shot know that. Luckily for all involved, everyone was letting their child be the driver as well. So no one was upset that they took forever to drive a 3 minute water course!

Here is a sampling of things you can make out of Legos. A firetruck, big rig, Thomas, Santa and sleigh, animals, a car, and people! Wow! There was even a Christmas Tree as tall as a building made out of Legos. I thought I took a picture of it, but I guess not. We all had fun and are looking forward to Christmas to see if there will be any Legos under the tree!

Graceful?

Our Alison is not the most graceful little girl, but we love her so! She was walking to the sink to wash her hands after dinner and her foot tripped over the pedal on the trash can. She fell right into the corner of the cupboard. A lump immediately appeared on her forehead. We iced her down and 30 minutes later she was up playing chase with John. Three days later the color appeared! We left for California the next day. Everywhere we go people look at her and make various faces. She forgets what she looks like. So when people ask her what happened, she looks at them with a "what are you talking about" face. After about three days of people asking her what happened she started to move her bangs out of the way to show the lump as her answer. No words, just move the hair and they should understand. She cracks me up. So then either Mark or myself have to explain what happened.

A Magical Night!

When your husband travels, you get good at finding out which restaurants have kids night. I took the kids to the local Mexican restaurant for dinner where they were having a magician come and perform for free! We had a really enjoyable time. The magician came right to our table for a private show! The kids were so amazed! He pulled 3 different scarfs out of John's shirt sleeve, poked his finger through John's sleeve, pulled money from behind their ears and did some card tricks. We had fun watching him perform at other tables as well. I don't know if the kids can decide which was better, the magician or the little umbrellas in their drinks?

Red Ribbon Week

It was Red Ribbon Week at school. In order to help the kids to remember to "Just Say No" they had a different theme each day. Monday, wear red. Tuesday, wear school colors= blue. Wednesday, crazy scock day. John wore my halloween scocks.

Thursday, silly hat day. I made him a silly halloween trick or treating hat. It was a big hit!

Friday, mixed up day. He wore his shirt backwards. Two different shoes.

And one scock upsidedown.

Trick or Treat

We had a lot of fun this Halloween! It started with lunch at Sweet Tomatoes for the kids that are not in school. Kids in costume ate for free! The moms had a great time eating and talking. The kids kept themselves entertained and kept going back for more ice cream!

Even, Aliyah, Alison, Ella, Luke

Is Luke not the cutest pirate or what?

Then we went to Heidi Watts' photo studio to have pictures taken. Proceeds were donated to Parrot Creek Child and Family Services. The kids loved having their pictures taken! I will post more when I get them. But here is a small sample!

My Indiana Jones heroes!

Pretty as a Princess

Trick or Treat

Pumpkin Carving

Time to carve the pumpkins! Always a good time!

"mom, take a picture of me kissing my pumpkin!"

All done and so proud!

"mom, take a picture of me licking my pumpkin"

Alison decided to paint her pumpkin this year and add things to it.

Deep in concentration.

Scary Scary!

Halloween Carnival

Tonight was the Halloween Carnival at the church. The youth put on a carnival every year for the Primary kids. John and Alison had a wonderful time. Alison really loved the candy bar walk. John really loved the spooky room where you put your hand in a box to feel "creepy" things. John even got his face painted! All along he has said that he was going to be a young Indiana Jones, before he had facial hair. He was not to sure about letting me put "makeup" on him. For some reason he decided last night to let the pretty girl at the face painting booth give him facial hair! I wonder what changed his mind!? Now, I am allowed to give him facial hair for Halloween night. Thank heaven for pretty girls!

Sweet Cinderella
Indiana John trying to eat a doughnut

Alison did not really want to do it after all. She liked watching John and I.

Watch out ladies!