Just a Few More. . .

I think my mom and I were blogging at the same time, and when I looked back at her blog, I decided to snag some of her pictures to share. The first shows Mitchell with the one person he prefers over me (and who wouldn't when Grandma will haul you around no matter what else she's trying to get done, whereas Mom puts you down and insists on the use of both hands for matters such as stirring a boiling pot). In the second picture Marcus, Caleb and Sheridan tell some festive jokes (Marcus's favorite "What's white and goes up? A confused snowflake."). The last picture shows us having Christmas breakfast with my parents--the result of a Christmas-morning errand we ran, and our having left our camcorder at my parents' the night before. What a great start to the day.

Merry Christmas!

Let's just say that the boys were not at all deprived this year when it came to gifts. Mitchell didn't get as much as his brothers, but he was thrilled with the rocking chair I (luckily) found for him last-minute, and the cell-phone Santa left in his stocking. Add a couple of rubber balls, a towel from Aunt Shawna and a book from Grandpa, and his Christmas is complete. His smile when he saw his chair pretty much made mine complete.

White Christmas

Although we didn't have as much snow as other locations nearby, we definitely had a White Christmas. It stormed in the evening on Christmas Eve and then again in the early morning hours. When we were driving on Christmas Eve, the storm was very gloomy with lots of wind, and very small flakes. I complained that it wasn't like a proper Christmas snow at all (Sheridan's reply "You're right. This is more like January snow.") The second storm was much more appropriate for the holiday (I had a hard time sleeping so saw it first-hand), and with the bright blue skies, made for a magical Christmas morning.

Christmas Pajamas

Here is my mom with just some of the great pajamas she made for her grandkids this year. She announced that Drake won the prize for the most difficult pajama request (a replica of the "outfit" worn by a Lego Mars Mission minifig), and Sheridan took that as a challenge, determined to come up with something more detailed for next year. Poor mom.

The Nativity

For unknown reasons, Caleb was determined NOT to be a part of the nativity, so Marcus stepped into to be a very serious Joseph. Addie (as the only girl around) has a lock on the role of Mary for the forseeable future. Drake talked his mom into making him a costume so he could be the Angel (he was inspired by Gladys in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever"), and Sheridan was the lone shepherd with two uncooperative sheep. Casen was the sleeping sheep, and Mitchell acted well his part as the wandering black sheep.

Christmas Eve

We braved the snow and drove to my parent's house for a really lovely Christmas Eve celebration with my family that is around here. After a really yummy dinner (at which point I realized I'd never fed my family lunch. Can you say "Mother-of-the-Year"?), we sang some carols (Mitchell sang along and played the bells--1st picture), then had each family share something. We showed a video of 3-year-old Marcus singing "Rudolph" and the boys told a few Christmas jokes. Drake and his mom sang "O Come, All Ye Faithful" in latin (last picture), and Marenda and Addie led us in "Must be Santa." Then We got more reverent for the kids to act out the nativity, and ended the evening with them opening their new pajamas that my mom had made for them.

Ornaments

Another thing I did this year was make the ornaments for the boys. We've developed the tradition of giving each boy an ornament every year. As several people have pointed out, our tree will soon be filled to over-flowing, but the boys really like hanging up their old ornaments each year. This year I really fully intended to buy them their ornaments, but I looked around a bit and just couldn't find what I wanted, so with some ribbon, scupley clay and hot glue, I came up with these. They are shown in age order and highlight some of the boys' interests or achievements (see Caleb's big-boy undies for example), or funny things (Marcus's baseball cap which he is never without, Caleb's ? because he's always asking "why?" and Mitchell's graham cracker--his staff of life).

Stockings

I wanted to document some of what I managed to do this Christmas. I'm amazed every year how I believe I can do so much more than what is acutally possible. I did decide a couple of weeks ago to save the Christmas quilts I was planning on making for the boys for next year. But here's some of what I did get made. When Guy and I got married, he designed and my mom made a stocking to match our other family stockings, then I did the same thing for both Sheridan and Marcus when they came along, but I hadn't managed to get Caleb's made, and likewise didn't have one for Mitchell. In addition, I decided I didn't really like the ones I'd made for the big boys, so this year I decided to make new stockings for all the boys. Mom mom had them already cut out (from a project a couple of years ago, and sewed the boys' names on them, then they chose what they wanted on them, and I finished them up. This project actually went much smoother than some of the other things I tried this year, and the boys were pretty pleased with how they turned out (but, really, the fine detailing is lost on them, so I told Guy it was his husbandly duty to ooh and ah appropriately). At school, Marcus has been learning how to "finger chain" in an attempt to improve his fine motor skills, so I asked him to finger-chain the loops to hang the stockings by, and he did a really great job.

On This Day in 1907 . . .

My maternal grandmother turned 100 years old on December 12 so that Saturday, we did a quick trip to Southern Utah to celebrate. I was too busy trying to catch up with some of my cousins to take any pictures, so I copied these off of my mom's blog. Grandma had 5 children (1st picture. My mom is the middle child and pictured on the right of her mother), 39 grandchildren (I think) and Kendra reports there are 97 great-grandchildren (with at least 2 more expected that I'm aware of). The second picture shows family members that were able to make it to the party. Our family is to the left of Grandma by about 7 people. Sheridan and Marcus are on the floor in front of us. Grandma lived on her own until about 2 1/2 years ago when she fractured her femur. She is still in her own home, but now my parents take turns with the other children staying with Grandma for a week at a time. Congrats to my Mom and Dad and aunts and uncles for pulling off such a nice get-together. I think the day meant a great deal to Grandma (who sported a "100" tiara the whole time).

It May Not be "Martha-Approved". . .

Dec. 10 This year we bought a gingerbread house kit for the first time and the boys enjoyed putting it together (though they declared that the frosting--which was a real pain to use--tasted like cement. How they know what cement tastes like we may never know. . ). It was interesting trying to meld 3 opinions (actually 4--mine too) and Caleb was loath to do anything that was different from the picture on the box, but I think they were all pretty pleased with the outcome. Caleb asks every day if it's time to eat the house yet.

Snow Day, pt. 2

Dec. 8 On our second Saturday of snow, Mitchell was very insistent that he go out in it. It was dark by the time the storm eased up and we went out to shovel, but Mitchell stayed out as long as the rest of us, though he did go and climb into the stroller after a while and indicated his desire to be driven around rather than walk in the snow.

Snow Day, Pt. 1

Dec. 1 We had back to back Saturdays of significant snowfall. On this day, the boys spent a couple of hours playing on "Harrison's Hill" in our neighborhood. Guy took a break from what he was working on to play with them and get some pictures.

School Projects

November Most weeks Marcus does a 'report' or a project for school to go along with what they're learning about. This was one project that was still intact when I finally got around to photographing it.

Another Day, Another Mess.

November 28 Mitchell is certainly clobbering me in the eating battle--both in what he will deign to eat and in how he eats it. I surrender.

Boys in Suits

November 11 Our Primary Presentation gave me the perfect excuse to make the boys all dress up in their suits. Mitchell even wore a little blazer I have, but when we took these pictures after church (on the new retaining wall in the front yard), it was already dirty and Mitchell needed a nap, so he is absent. Caleb is blurry in the first one because he wouldn't quit bouncing up and down. Now, I know I'm probably biased, but I think that's a mightly good-looking group of guys.

Golden Days

We have been enjoying the most glorious weather for the last couple of weeks. The days have been warmer than normal, and the light reflected off of the leaves gave everything a golden glow. The boys have made good use of the playset, often staying out until the sky was dark and their fingers a little frozen. The pictures didn't turn out as well as I hoped (I've no idea what Sheridan is looking at in the second picture, and Mitchell really loved the swing, despite what his face may show), but I wanted to try and catch some of the bouyant feeling I've had with these gorgeous days. Supposedly, tomorrow will be the end of it, and for the sake of our reservoirs, we need the storms to start coming, but I have loved our Golden November.

Girls' Weekend

November 1-4 17+ years after graduating, three good friends from high school and I finally got together for two really great days in Arizona. We started out with a temple session in Mesa, and the rest of the time was spent just catching up, laughing and talking, eating really good food, and not sleeping much. Between us, we have 16 children, 53 years of marriage, and a wealth of experience, and it was so wonderful to renew our friendships. Thanks, girls for the fabulous get-together and for being such wonderful friends.

After our reunion, I spent a day with Kendra and Barry, got to meet new baby Tessa, and play with Kira and Trenton. Trenton made me feel right at home by tackling me within minutes of my arrival. Then, when it was time for me to go, he said, "No, Aunt Trina. Please don't leave me." It's nice to feel loved.

I had a fabulous time. Many many thanks to my parents who helped out enormously with the boys while I was gone, thanks to Liz for feeding them all dinner one night, and especially thanks to Guy for not only not complaining about my being gone, but for giving the boys a great weekend. What can I say? I got me a good one.