Yes, we did have Christmas!

In reading everyone's blogs about Christmas I realized that you might be wondering if we actually celebrated anything this year. (Because I blog so frequently and all.) Well, we had a wonderful very low key Christmas. I have realized that there is no such thing as the perfect Christmas. The perfect Christmas consists of having my family surrounding me and I could give or take the gifts. Despite all of this, I have kids that still love the magic of Christmas. Christmas lights, Christmas stories, family traditions and, of course, Santa and his reindeer. We even put reindeer food out this year, it worked, Santa made it.

Well, here are some pictures of our Christmas. We went ice skating, the kids loved it.

We got to watch the zamboni clean up the ice.

Hope didn't want this night to end. She outlasted us all.

After we went and got frosty's and fries at Wendy's!

All she wants for Christmas is her one front tooth. Perfect timing!

We also made gingerbread houses, Kate's was the fanciest.

Holy cow, handsome boy! He was dying to have a vest for Christmas,
then he spent some his Christmas money to buy a bowtie.

Just waiting, is it my turn yet.

Sophia asked Santa to bring make-up. That's all. But when I ran over her bike about two weeks before Christmas we let Santa know right away and he pulled through.

Kate got a camera and somewhat of a crazy hairdo!

Nick got a couple of video games. He played them all day!


Kimball got a John Wall jersey and is still waiting for his other jersey! Santa got a late start and the mailman must have been too busy! (Jan. 3rd, it still isn't here.)

Hope's Perspective

Apparently we go through a lot of batteries. Everything takes batteries right! Well today Hope informed me that the batteries in the toilet needed to be replaced. (It must have not flushed right!) Just thought it was funny.

Another tender moment with Hope was her Christmas list. The most important things on her list were a Christmas tree and Christmas lights. She informed me of this many times until we finally put our Christmas tree and turned on the lights. She was so excited. She ran to the door and looked out into the darkness and was sure that it was snowing. Then she came and sat in front of the tree and said, "Oh, this is just like heaven." Oh, through the eyes of a child, it brought tears to my eyes. Who knows maybe heaven is like having the snow fall and the Christmas lights shining.

Soda Pop turned 6!

So this post is just a few days late! This year has been an exciting one for Sophia. She is finally in kindergarten and she is loving it. She is having her first friend birthday party this weekend and can hardly stand the wait. Sophia is such a fun girl to have around. She is so grown up and is going to be a fabulous mom someday. She likes to write and is learning how to sound out words. Sophia has lots of friends and is always orchestrating some type of game. She is a great big sister and really takes care of Hope. Our family would definitely have a hole without this little ball of energy. We love you Sophia and wish you a happy birthday.

Kate Bug ...they say its your birthday!

Where do I start! Lets just say I can't imagine life without our Kate Bug! She is so pretty, happy, loving, kind, caring, and considerate. She is definitely the middle child. She is a peacemaker in our home. It's really hard to believe that she turns 9 years old today. Kate loves to be with family and friends. She has been a singer since she could talk. Kate loves to read and excels in school. She loves to accessorize...yep, fancy hairdos, lots of hair flowers, headbands, etc. She loves to wear scarves and owns way to many pairs of shoes. She loves to listen to music. I feel so blessed to have such a fun daughter. We love you sooooo much. Happy Birthday to you!

Moments with my Mom

I can never let this day pass without being reminded that my mom is no longer here to celebrate with. However, a birthday is about happy thoughts, so happy thoughts it will be. Here are a couple of my favorite memories of my mom.

My mom made the most fabulous chicken noodle soup, homemade noodles and all. Whenever I make it I think of her. She always made it after Thanksgiving. I always remember thinking that she always was making to much, but rarely was there a time when there was leftovers.

As a teenager, when I would come home late at night she would stay up and we would have a midnight snack of chips and salsa followed up with a side order of chocolate chips. Yum...brings back so many memories!

When I was in high school me and one of my friends used to go walking at the college track at 5:30 every morning. Then my mom and her friend joined us. I loved walking with her. She used to help us study for tests and visit with us in those early morning hours as we walked. I really miss doing that.

I loved to feel her faith, if that makes sense. She was a believer in every sense of the word. She spoke of Christ, testified of Christ and had faith in Christ. She showed it by her words and deeds everyday of her life.

I am grateful everyday to be her daughter. Thank heavens we are an eternal family. I get all excited thinking about the day we will be together again. It will be amazing!

Twonce

I know what in the heck does "twonce" mean? Let me explain.

We were asking the kids to give us a report on President Monson's morning session conference talk. Hope got all excited and said "He talked about me". Actually, he did talk a bit about having "hope". Then one of the kids said, "How many times did he talk about you?" She replied, "Twonce". Is that once or almost twice? We have teased her about it a lot and tried to throw her off, but she insists that President Monson talked about her "twonce".

Creating my Bucket List

We had a great enrichment night in our ward last week. It was all about family history....kind of. We had different people come and talk about creative ways they are doing family history. One of my favorites is a sister in our ward who over the years has created her "Bucket List"...all of the things she wants to do before she kicks the bucket. Anyway, she has set goals and has them numbered in a special journal and as she completes them she writes about it in her journal and what she has learned from it. She also buys a little charm to add to her charm bracelet to represent each goal. Then when her kids see her wearing it they ask her what she had to do to earn that charm.

For example, she always wondered what it would be like to be a fanatic about something, like those crazy people that dress up like Star Wars people and go to the movie all decked out. Well, when Twilight came along she decided this was her chance to become a fanatic. She is very reserved and this is way out of her character, but she went to the late night premier of the book releases and movies. She knows everything about Twilight. What she did realize was that she had never read the Book of Mormon with that same zeal. She now reads the Book of Mormon in a different way.

So I am on my way to creating my "Bucket List". However, I am a woman with little imagination. Share with me what you would put on your "Bucket List".