Mini Me

This may not be the best picture in the world, but it sums up my little Lindsay-Lou! She cracks me up! She is at the age where she mimics everything! It is pretty cute! The other night I was on the phone and I turned around to find Lindsay on "her phone" leaning against the wall just like I had been and carrying-on an eerily familiar conversation with one of her "friends." (Notice the crossed ankles even! I didn't realize I do that, but I do!) Jeff took a quick pic with his phone for evidence. Funny girl!

White Christmas...Eve

We were really excited about all the snow we got this year right before Christmas! The kids had lots of fun playing together. Of course, Lindsay never lasted more than about 10 minutes. Wouldn't it be great if they would play outside for hours instead of coming right back in with all sorts of snow all over them? Oh well--good thing we have a mud room! Although now I think we could use a bigger one or more hangers with all these wet snow clothes! Here are some highlights of Christmas Eve.

Does someone want a snowball fight?


Looks like a White Christmas!


Snow Angel--Calvin


Lauren and Lindsay taking in all the snow!


Lindsay's not sure what to think about this much snow! "Is this supposed to be fun? I can barely move!" She couldn't really get up on her own. Thankfully, her sisters and brother took good care of her!


What is better than tons of snow to play in while you're waiting for Santa?

This year's Christmas Card

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Happy Winter Holidays!

Calvin's Christmas Program this year was way cute! All the second graders worked together to put on a "Winter Holidays Program." (I know, soooo political! You've got to cover everybody these days!) Anyway... his class sang and spoke about Hanuka. Another class covered Kwanzaa (Lindsay's happy about that). Two classes sang about Christmas--yeah, finally! Then Calvin got to don an elf hat and push Santa's sleigh! And for the icing on the cake--he sang a solo in the final song, "Let There Be Peace On Earth!" He was so cute! I wish we had an updated video camera that didn't need to be plugged into an outlet to work, so we could have recorded it! He sang in the center of the stage at the top of his lungs (nearly), but on tune! He had about three different spots in the song where he solo'd (I know that's not spelt correctly, but soloed looks weird to me!) and then the remainder of the children joined in on the chorus--we were so proud! (I must say I am a little befuddled by two of my kids being willing to sing solo's for school programs! They are much braver than I!) The cutest part of all was when the girl next to him wasn't spaced quite right and they were to join hands at the end. There he is in front of everyone trying his best to keep his grip on the hand of the boy to the right of him, yet reaching his best for the girl to his left. After three times of trying, he finally ignored the breach in the choreography and continued on as if nothing was wrong...the show must go on! It was fun to see him doing such a great job. Love you Cal!

You'd never have guessed that we had such a struggle convincing him that a long sleeve white shirt means this (above) not a blue polo shirt with long white sleeves underneath! Serenity now! (Don't worry, we're still enjoying the journey, just sometimes you still need the "Serenity now!" shout out. Right?

Am I seeing double?

Finally! We finally found someone in our family that would wear our "Elmo Head" in the spirit in which it was created! I made this "Elmo Head" about twelve years ago for Lauren's second Halloween. She loved Elmo so we got her some red sleeper pajamas and even some Elmo house slippers--they were really cute with Elmo's beady little eyes on top. I figured out how to make the hat out of some fleece and foam balls that I painted (remember Traci?) to look like Elmo's head. The costume was so cute, but the second we put it on, Lauren cried and cried. Every picture the entire night is of Lauren looking like she is in being terrorized. Don't you just love it when your best intentions are subverted by your little ones?

Fast forward twelve years...Lindsay came down from the playroom last night holding "Tickle Me Elmo." (Yes, the original--given to Lauren from Aunt Ashli that same Christmas of the Halloween debacle--seriously, she really did love Elmo! Can you believe we still have it?) Jeff and I started tickling her and telling her she looked like Elmo. She loved it and we got the idea to see if we still had that Elmo head laying around. Surprise, surprise--look what we found! She loved it and didn't cry at all! Well, at least someone appreciates my handy work! Finally!

Mother of the Year Award goes to....

...not me. A couple of weeks ago Calvin and I were in the kitchen together. We had a conversation that went a little bit like this. "Mom, if we don't get a baby brother, can I be adopted by one of my friend's families?" Huh? I was a bit shocked and said something like, "Why would you want to go live with someone else?" Then he said something like, "Because I really want a brother." I came back with, "Wouldn't you miss us?" To which he thought about it for a minute and shrugged, as if to say, "I don't know." I stewed for a minute and then chose to reply with a tender teaching moment, "Sometimes you can't control what you are given. Heavenly Father sends you what He thinks is right for you. What would you think if we got another baby sister?" He didn't respond and I thought we had come to an understanding, until he said out of the blue several minutes later..."yeah, I want to be adopted." So if you see something that looks a little like this picture, with the addition of a red handkerchief holding all his possessions and tied to a stick that's resting on his shoulder, you'll know that Calvin has left us for greener pastures!

I think things have smoothed out a bit since and he wants to stay with us...I think. So much for that Primary Song "Families can be Together Forever." Just warms a mother's heart! Not!

Time for a Check-up

We all (yes the entire family) went to the Dentist's today for our check-ups. Lindsay was getting impatient in the waiting room, so she and I went to see how Calvin was doing. Lindsay thought it looked like a lot of fun, so the nice Dentist and Hygenist let her have a turn, even though she's not really old enough yet. Look at all the stuff they let her hold--even "Mr. Sippy!" Notice the pleased look on her face!

Time for counting teeth! How many kids do you know that actually smile during their exam?

Open wide!

Perfect teeth! Nice job Lindsay!

I think I know where Lindsay might want to go for her Birthday this year! (I say this because when I was about 5 I wanted to go to the Doctor for my birthday--I guess I thought that was a pretty cool place, too!)

Snow!!!

I hope everyone reading this loves snow, because it's going to be all about that for a minute! I am so excited that it is finally really snowing! We had a little bit of snow for Thanksgiving and it felt so cozy! We stayed in a cabin with Jeff's side of the family for the weekend. When we arrived there was a definite lack of snow, but as we woke up in the morning--yup, we found SNOW! Immediately things felt cozier inside. The kids played in the snow as much as they could and grandma made real hot chocolate. Good times. I'm telling you, there's something about snow!

Doesn't that look fun? It was great and we were really getting in the Christmas frame of mind...but then we came home and--yup, NO SNOW! It was a little hard to feel Christmas-y, ya know? Maybe it had something to do with our family speaking in church the very next day! Hmmmm...can't be sure. Anyway, now that it's snowing--Yippee! It just makes me want to bake some cookies while I listen to Christmas music and wrap presents, if only I had all my shopping done...I think we'll still be able to make the most of it--how's that for enjoying the journey?

Happy Kwanzaa?

Funny Lindsay...This morning she was sitting at our electric piano playing along to the programed song "Silent Night." Calvin and I were commenting on how nice it sounded. Calvin asked, "Lindsay, are you playing 'Silent Night'?" She said, "Yep, for Kwanzaa." What? I guess it's time we start to Celebrate our Heritage!