Dog Night, apparently

So for our month of December, we have this calendar/advent that we use to guide all of our wonderful Christmasy family activities. We sometimes just get a treat. Other times we do an activity. Well, on Tuesday night, the activity read: Go to see Santa at the mall. We figured, Tuesday night will probably be pretty dead at the mall compared to other nights, so the line won't be as long. Boy were we wrong! When we got there, we were greeted by a long line of DOGS waiting (with their owners) to get their picture taken with the Jolly St. Nick. DH and I both agreed that there was no WAY they were paying this man enough to pose with up to (just what we witnessed, anyway) 5, read it 5 dogs at a time and sit there holding their leashes until the matching-sweaters-with-their-dogs owners were satisfied with the precious keepsake. Not that I don't like dogs, or people who have dogs (particularly instead of children) but this is what killed me: There were people there with multiple dogs, spending over $100 on pictures of their dogs with Santa WHILE THEIR SMALL CHILDREN STAND BY not even talking to Santa or sitting on his lap or anything. And they looked sad. I know, they could have already done it another day, but I'm just saying. M sat on his lap and told him he wanted a Rudolph toy, and that his brother (being held at a safe distance away by me) wanted candy. What were we thinking buying all those toys? Of course, last year he asked for a candy cane. We could get away with so much less, but who doesn't want to buy fun things for their kids? So we spent no money on pictures with Santa, which I figured was okay since we had witnessed at least $1500 exchange hands before we even got up to see the big guy.

P.S.- Have you ever tried to find a Rudolph toy in a store? I looked everywhere and all I was able to find was a pez reindeer dispenser that I'll have to paint red to look like him! Sheesh!

Our Tree this year

We've been under the weather off and on since Thanksgiving, and are still dealing with colds, asthma, etc...  We did get our tree, outside lights, and decorations up the weekend after thanksgiving though.  We got out on Black Friday and hit about 6-8 stores and got a new tree.  The next day we went to a very cold Christmas Lights Parade in Kaysville.  Free candy cane.  The boys were thrilled.  

This week, we have been doing a lot of Nursery Rhyme memorization.  M just can't get enough of it.  I got him "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and am going to have him learn that.  E is extremely needy right now, and is with my 24-7, so my energy is zapped and I'm not quite sure I'll be well for a long time.  At least I can deny him going on "walks" (he rides in the stroller) without much guilt, since it's so snowy outside.  

A Peaceful Thanksgiving

I hope you all have a peaceful thanksgiving with good food, family, and no throwing mashed potatoes at your brother.




I have been doing this today:

It's just not the same without Evelyn's rolls, green bean casserole, and cream pudding. Even if we're not in Boise this year, we will be having these fine staples. (you're welcome, DH)

Some things I am especially grateful for: (the order means nothing)
1- My Family. I have 12 great brothers/sisters/BIL's/SIL's and a few sets of parents I couldn't live without. And of course there's my sweet boys.
2- My home. We have painted, sanded, ripped up, put back together, and I'm sure bled on this place for the past 16 mos. It's not perfect, but it's mine.
3- That I have such a great husband with which to share not only this life but all those to come.
4- My friends. Not only do I have many wonderful "old" friends I remain close to, but I have had the good fortune of making many new ones this past year. I hope to find many more along the way.
5- My sewing machine. We're good buds and work together almost daily. I love the creative release that this hunk of metal allows me.
6- Velcro and microwaves. I feel sorry for all those mothers that somehow survived before these were invented.
7- The internet. I truly believe that a link to the outside world (at our convenience, no less) can be the determining factor between a happy mom and a depressed, isolated one.
8- The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the peace it brings to my life. I really am a happier person when I'm trying my hardest to abide by the principles of the Gospel.
9- My brain and all the wonderful things it can imagine, work through, invent, and comprehend. It may not be the smartest one out there, but it's done me good so far.
10- Books. Until I find another way to relax, calm down, escape, or learn so easily, I'm stickin' with 'em.
11- (just in case my mom reads this, I have to end with 11 just to bug her) My ability and opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom. For me, can't beat it.

Good Things Utah

I'm almost a week behind on this, but last Tuesday I went with my mom' friend (it was her birthday) and her daughter and my mom to a taping of the live local talk show. It was fun and we got plenty of free stuff and I even won something in addition :) We went to lunch afterwards. It was nice to do a grown up thing without my kids.
If I was a Hannah Montana fan I would have been pretty excited. Some kid from that show was there and he signed a bunch of stuff for my mom's friend.



On Saturday we went to the Utah Chocolate Show (free tickets from Good Things Utah) and the boys had a blast sampling chocolate and getting balloon swords and hats. It was fun to see Aunty And afterwards for dinner at Hires.

Also, a shout out to Chris, who had her 4th baby last Monday, a little cutie they named Simon Maxwell. He sure was cute when we went to see him the other night!

In other news, I have a giant pile of wrapped presents in my garage (don't look at this if you're a thief) and feel pretty proud since I'm not usually this far along on Christmas before Thanksgiving!

Once was sad, now happy

For nearly a week, my camera has been lost. The DH and I looked high and low to no avail. Finally, today I thought to look in my bathrobe pocket, and there it was! So I now have the rest of the story on the bread, and some pictures of the past week taken with my old camera.

The bread was pretty good. I took a few of the loaves to other people. I made homeade tomato soup to go with and it was really good! What was weird to me was: a) it took nearly 20 hours to rise, but was still pretty flat (house too cold?) and b) I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 5 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose, yet it totally seemed like wheat bread. Crazy.

M wanted me to make him a sling for his baby. Now they fight over it constantly. E had requested a blanket for his, but now wants nothing to do with it. Oh well.

Sourdough

So, dad gave me a sourdough start from some guy he works with and I've decided to try my hand at working with sourdough. I fed it this morning and am now waiting 12 hours for it to be "ready." This is what it looks like:




Also, we went to the Treehouse Children's Museum today, but of course I didn't remember to bring my camera, but it was a really fun time. M got lost twice, but it was just because E wanted to stay in the drum room the whole time, and he wanted to move on, so it's hard to blame him. I'm sure we'll go again and I'll take pictures.

The actual event

Because Halloween seems to last all month these days. Anyway... I was a bad mom because I promised them we'd go to the library halloween parade, but got the days mixed up. I think I'm forgiven, now that buckets of candy are full. We had our annual speghetti dinner and invited my parents before heading out into the neighborhood. The trick or treating was fun and exhausting (and we pretty much just went around the block) The boys were not feeling well, and were cold.

It is so cool living next to so many elderly people, though. They invite you in, talk to you, give you things without sugar in them. One cute widower down the street from us was giving out freshly baked loaves of bread to everyone. Last year he gave everyone a whole big bag of freshly popped popcorn. And they are so glad to have you, it's fun. We also drove up to our old ward to go to the house of a lady I used to serve on the enrichment committee with. She and her husband love our boys, and they LOVE halloween. Every inch of their house is decorated. Anyway, this was the 3rd year they took our kids' pictures in front of their fireplace, and we joked we'd be hauling them up here at 16 and 17 to get their picture taken and how they'd groan. She had little bags of prizes and candy all made up for them just hoping we'd come. I'm glad we made the trip.

Anyway, here are the pictures. DH was again Dwight (for those of you who are not in the know, he is a character on the NBC sitcom "the Office.") This time with a borrowed "dwight bobblehead" and a "dundee award." The boys talked me into getting a witch costume from the grocery store when we ran into a REALLY good sale on costumes the day of. So I obliged, although cheap spandex is much less than flattering, especially with a few layers underneath. E didn't quite like my wig, and kept saying "off" and pointing to my head. M decided to be a wizard, and was sad we couldn't find him any Harry Potter glasses, but settled for being a "regular wizard." So the rest of the night, whenever anyone said, "Oh, are you a wizard?" he would grumpily reply "No, I'm a regular wizard." Heaven forbid. E didn't want to don any costumes at all, but I forced the turtle back on him and he soon forgot he was wearing it.