Christmas 2013

December?

What happened to it?

We were so busy, it feels like a blur now.

Thank goodness there's pictures!

So we can remember Adelaide in her super cute, 2nd grade concert. 

And remember just how excited we were waiting for our cousins to come. We squeezed in hair treatments for all. No dry, itchy scalp for the holidays!

Jordan's family came from Houston, TX. Christmas Eve we continued the tradition of "Minute to Win It" games with them. (Hey, I have no idea what you mean with that innuendo! I'm apalled!)

Our family was schooled by Team Houston.

So I stepped in to show us how it's done...

Then Kendra won.

This is my cute niece, the clear winner of this game: 

Then came the tradition of trying to attempt a peaceful nativity scene with a bunch of kids worked up into a sugared frenzy. 

(Jordan was a good sport.)

Ahhh, Christmas morning.

The kids were happy.

Especially Owen with this ball-pop toy. He was interested in nothing more.

But then nobody was happier than Ethan, the beneficiary of Santa's clear lapse in sanity, evidenced by the gift of a hamster. Ethan named him Jack. 

We decorated cookies.

(I bet you're thinking, "Why don't these people have blinds yet?")

It's laziness.

Amy and Rich came from Virginia.

We played on a gigantic Orange tree. The "unofficial" oldest and largest in the US. It is great for climbing.

And for looking cute and adorable with your cousin.

We decorated "gingerbread" houses.

And played lots of games. 

In spite of ear infections, colds and chaos we had a wonderful Christmas. We hope you and your family did too! 

Here's to an even better 2014!

Bessie

I've been sewing nativity costumes with fabric that belonged to Aunt Bessie. It has made me think of all the Christmases we spent with her.

On Christmas Eve we kids excitedly waited for her to come to stay. It seemed like she would never come. When she did, Christmas officially began. She often slept in my room which really felt like an honor. Socks, Santa, gifts all waited until Bessie had her morning shower. (She didn't always run on kid time which just intensified the anticipation.) She would join us in her shower cap and give us all kinds of love and attention with each present we opened. She brought ties for the boys, perfume gift packs for Mom and I, and Brut for Dad. Every year. Remember that? 

She made my childhood Christmas. Later came Uncle George and Grandma Rimington who made it even better.

I miss them.

Merry Christmas.

Laundry and Pie

We hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving. We sure did. We had some friends over. And, of course, we stuffed ourselves. We cooked a local, free-range, Kentucky Tom turkey. And boy was he delicious!

The pies were delicious too. Ethan made the pumpkins all on his own. (He's been practicing for weeks now. We've been eating a lot of pumpkin pie lately.)

Addie helped with the apple. She did a great job! It is fun to have help in the kitchen.

And Owen tried to get in on the action, or at least get some scraps thrown his way. 

Some of you have been asking for picture of our new house. And I would be happy to oblige if I felt we were settled in. But with boxes still in our bedroom and the card table set up in the dining room, it really isn't worth taking pictures yet. 

We've been working hard to get shelving in all the closets. We opted to do this ourselves because we knew we could do it better, and for much less than the contractor would charge. It is taking more time than we had hoped.

But the laundry room is done. And I love it.

It was empty of cupboards and shelves when we moved in, except for this sink which was a lot less dirty at the time. The sink has been moved into Randal's work area in the basement. And as you can see by its filthiness, he has been busy!

To keep cost down, we used the unfinished cabinets from Lowe's and painted them gray. The only thing missing on them is some crown moulding. Randal and I are in a great debate over that. I think it would be a nice touch. Randal says only if it's free, because it's a laundry room for heaven's sake. 

I'm biding my time until I can wear him down or the mouldings do, in fact, get marked down to nothing. 

Randal built this unit. We so indelicately call these "crap baskets". They are used for things like keys, hats, gloves, stuff like that. They are working out well. 

Except they were meant to eliminate the need for this embarrassing display in our kitchen. But the only time this counter has been 100% clear was Thanksgiving Day. And that is because we threw it all into a box and stuffed it aways in the office until our guests left. I'm working on it, but trust me when I say, IT. IS. A. DAILY. STRUGGLE.

Enough about laundry and junk, just look at our adorable, chubby princess. We are trying to get things done around here, but this little guy and his two siblings are making it difficult. We'd much rather be spending the time with them.

Fun to be One

These are a little past-due, but should not be forgotten. Owen is such a lovable one-year-old. He has taken his first few steps and will likely be walking by Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, I hear him terrorizing the tree. Just a minute...

Where was I?...

Owen loves to haul around socks (usually in his mouth like a baby kitten). He finds socks anywhere. We've had to retrain everyone to not leave dirty ones lying around because he will find them. And put them in his mouth. You're disgusted, I know. I was too until I found him eating a lady bug.  

Owen likes to be silly. When he's trying to be funny he laughs like George Bush. And when he "talks" we see he is trying to tell us the most interesting stories. It comes out as gibberish, but we know his little mind has tales to tell. 

I think it may be time to cut the curls. He is mistaken for a girl more often now. I don't really want to cut them. I know he will look less like a baby when we do. Plus, I like them. But I may not have a choice, I don't think I will be able to distract Randal from finding the hair-cutting scissors much longer. 

And this is the final photo of Owen's big year.

If he could talk, the picture makes me think he would say, "Peace, out!"

Halloween

We kicked off Halloween a little early this year with Ethan's Entrepreneur Fair at school. He worked hard with his friend to promote his booth and earn business. It was a fun family activity to attend and a great learning experience for the 5th graders. It has, however, fueled his dream of starting a business. He has been passing out flyers down the street for his new leaf raking business. (I hope someone hires him. It would make his year.)

Ethan trick-or-treated with a friend. It felt strange not having him around that evening. But boy did he clean up without us slow-pokes dragging him down--loads of candy, full-size candy bars, and even cold, hard cash. He was in heaven. And I am in h-e-double-hockey-sticks because now it is all here staring me in the face, and I want to eat it. 

Trick-or-treating was actually postponed by the city until the following day because of bad weather. it felt weird because I've always considered trick-or-treating a spontaneous activity and not one that is "organized". But it was great because the weather on November 1 was beautiful. Addie was thrilled she didn't even have to wear a coat over her Jesse costume.

And here are a couple more pictures. One of the kids playing "poker" in a made-up candy exchange game:

And one of our Chunky Monkey:

Now that Halloween is over we can now enjoy the pleasure of listening to Christmas music wherever we go. Let the games begin!

What? Thanksgiving?

Never heard of it.

Be Not Moved

In YW we recently tried to recreate the poster of the 2013 youth theme: Stand Ye in Holy Places. 

After the girls posed for individual pictures, they had fun making other silhouettes. Here are a few of my favorites:

It turned out to be a very successful activity. 

One Wonderful Year

Owen turned one yesterday! One whole year. One. It flew by. 

I couldn't get really great pictures. The sun was glaring through our blind-less windows. (I really need to make a decision and do something about that. Our neighbors are probably getting tired of the peep show.) Not to mention this kid DOES NOT COOPERATE for the camera. All four of us are practically standing on our heads to get this mild expression. He really is quite a smiley boy normally. 

The kids chose what his cake would be. They helped in the decorating too. He loves the book A Very Hungry Caterpillar so they thought it fitting.

Ethan and Addie made cards. This is Addie reading her card to him. It was so sweet.  

Her card said: Dear Owen, Happy first birthday to you! I know it's exciting to have your first birthday today on the eighth of October. I just want to tell you something that I love you very much and that everyday I love you more and more. I just want you to grow up...I want to see how cute you'll be...Love, Adelaide

Ethan's was a poem: 

To my favorite bubby

who is also kinda chubby

His birthday is October 8

So that means it will be GREAT

Can you guess who's grandpa's name is Ken?

Why of course, it's OWEN!

And then there was cake. The bib he is wearing is also a birthday gift. Addie spent her own money on it. She skipped by the toys and chose it because he would not be able to pull it off like he does his others. (Smile)

One year. I wanted to cry the entire day. I didn't. But if I had, they would have been happy tears, not sad. We just love him so much and are so glad he is a part of our family.