1. Pie. This year all I had to do for Thanksgiving was pie. I'm kind of a pie freak. Any excuse to make some I'll take it. Kate and I worked all Saturday to make pies for two different Thanksgiving Dinners. I think we ended up with ten or so of all different kinds. She was super proud to be my helper.
2. We had a Thanksgiving Dinner at my Grandma Elaine's on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Lots of cousins, siblings, parents, grandparents etc were all there and it was fun to see extended family we don't often see. This picture is just of Amy and my kids- who were for the most part the only little kids at the dinner.
3. Marianne is such a joy. Instead of complaining about being in her carseat as we run errands she puts her hands in the air and pretend she is on a roller coaster and goes up the hills and down the hills and says "Weeeeeee" Sam taught her this.
4. Sam and Kate participated in Reflections this year, and art contest at the school Sam's picture won him a gold medal, a free pizza and a gift card to Wal-mart for ten dollars! He was very pleased especially when his ten dollars bought him two lego sets at Wal-mart.
5. This puzzle was a gift from a sister in law years ago. It has mostly just been a cute decoration until this year when it is a serious competition in our family. We often have somebody each day going for a new family record- which is currently Jake at 23 seconds- though Kate's personal record is not too far from that at 29.
6. Not pictured, my sweet Beth had to get some blood work done and we constantly struggle to deal with all her GI issues. I was dreading it as getting blood drawn from a toddler is usually horrific in my experience. Especially during a super stressful busy week. But we went, I had to bring Marianne as well, and Beth sat in my lap and literally didn't even notice as they took large amounts of blood from her. Not a peep, not and concern- nothing. It mad my week!
7. Thanksgiving Day was spent at my parents. It was a nice day with half my siblings. The kids are what I am most grateful for... but I think they were most grateful that I let them have four pieces of pie each.
8. Kate had a choir performance. She has been practicing with her choir for a few months. She was in a choir that was 2nd graders to 5th graders- but was actually only one of two 2nd graders in the group. So she got to sing with a bunch of big kids. On the day- though I had bought her a new Christmas Dress this year- she really wanted to wear this blue dress, and I totally let her, even though it is something I picked up at a garage sale years ago. But it was fancy to her. I took her to the dress rehearsal a few hours before than we watched the city tree lighting (which is what the performance was for) As her and I walked hand and hand to the tree lighting she told me that it was her favorite day of the whole year except for actual Christmas. Santa came and lite the tree then they served cookies. Then we watched the dancers perform. When the choir was about to start Jake brought all the other kids, himself and Grandma and Grandpa to watch Kate too. She did so well. She was such a performer- super animated. They sung a lot of really cute and comical songs. Afterwards Santa came, and stood right next to Kate and told her she had done such a good job. Then we waited our turn and the kids each got to tell Santa and Mrs. Claus their Christmas wish. Kate wished for a Merida doll, Sam wished for more Lego's and Marianne wished for Ariel stuff (and their mom grinned from ear to ear when she heard because Santa is already storing all of these things in my closet :) Sam was convinced it was the real Santa because he said in reply to Sam's wish " now you already have a bunch of Lego's right?" Sam was sure Santa knew this because he was real. Then we went out to ice cream all together.
9. The girls and I have been shopping around. For holiday stuff, basement stuff and to do something when its cold in the morning. There is often a stop in the toy section just for fun.
10. Jake did these lights for me when I was away at YW's. They look so magical. We've added a bunch of light trees and candles to the porch and windows now too. Our culda sac has really done well this year- and we were slacking :)
11. I scheduled Christmas pictures for our family this year. Something I never do, but I figured if we just had them done then I wouldn't spend every Sunday morning from here until the New Year yelling at my kids to just sit still for five minutes so I can take a picture. So as picture usual, I spent an entire afternoon perfectly ironing outfits, curling girls hair, and making sure everyone was perfectly napped and fed and we went. And Beth cried literally the entire time except the first picture. The pictures I got back were mostly laughable- but hours of photoshop editing and I was able to consolidate them into a very fake picture of our family all smiling at the camera, all we needed was just one for the Christmas card :)
12. December here in Utah has been the warmest on record in 75 years or something like that. I kind of am PRO- Global Warming :) We don't have any snow on the ground and Marianne sometimes plays outside in short sleeves while we wait for Sam off the bus.
13. I caught this funny picture of Kate devouring every crumb of cornbread out of the pan after dinner on night. I don't get as many pictures of her she is already so busy with school and piano and tumbling. Thankfully choir is over now so she won't be running around So much.
14. Beth is extra cuddly lately. It is so sweet. Her favorite place to be is with her blanket in my bed. It is kind of my favorite place to be too. I love getting the big kids off to school and then relaxing with my girls all cuddled up watching cartoons and reading books together.
15.Amy and her family are off to Portland for a few months. What a fun adventure. They stopped by for dinner the night before the left to hang out with us. We will miss them. Isn't it crazy that all those kids just belong to my twin sister and I?
16. More early morning cuddling with Marianne and Beth.
17. At the beginning of the year I started really noticing that Sam has a few sounds he still doesn't say correctly. An Articulation Disorder I believe is what is is technically called- he just sounds a little younger because he doesn't say all his sounds right. And as he has been learning to read I notice it more because I am following him along with words trying to figure out if he is reading correctly- and his few incorrect sounds became apparent. So he has been working occasionally with a speech therapist in Kindergarten as well as with me at home. We practice in the mirror and it is the only way he can say an "l" right. Until this afternoon. When we practiced some L words, and he was able to do them without looking in the mirror. Way to go Sam.
No comments:
Post a Comment