Creative Juices Are Flowing

(Editor's note: I was going to warn you that this post really won't be interesting to you unless you are perhaps a grandparent, but then I realized that applies to the majority of my posts, so I'm not going to warn you, just remember this is my journal and you are welcome to be bored to tears.) We are thrilled to announce that Brennan and I finally tackled the den and created an arts and crafts room for the kids. I get my dining room back - yay!!!!

I should have taken a "before" picture, because without that you just won't understand what a feat this was. First of all, clear back in like August when I was called as choir director the former choir director brought a huge filing cabinet and a room full of music. I tried to re-organize the music and put it in big bankers boxes, so then we had bankers boxes, huge filing cabinet and other choir stuff. Then every time we weren't totally sure where to put something, it went into the den. Shortly after that we had our carpets cleaned and because the den sort of hooks onto our bedroom (separated by sliding doors) we put our bedroom couches in there too. We decided we loved our room sans couches and the inevitable clutter that piled up on them, so we left them in the den.

Yesterday we tackled it all. Goodbye old couches, goodbye filing cabinet, bankers boxes, old computer and bags and bags and bags of garbage. Goodbye and good riddance. Since we moved our computer into the family room a couple of years ago, the den has been largely unused except for as a dump. We are so excited to be utilizing this great space with built in desks and shelves and cabinets. We're also excited that people won't walk into our living room and see mounds of creativity piled on the dining room table.

The best part is how excited the kids are. They each have a drawer where they can store their projects and supplies, plus I've promised I'll buy plenty of new art supplies for them now that we have somewhere to put them. The downside is we have hardly seen the girls since, but they have already produced some fabulous works of art. The boys have also spent a fair amount of time in there. It was fun to create such a fun change without spending one penny.

Brennan gets the top shelves for his important things :)

The happy artists

Abby has to bring something she made for show and tell this week and decided she wanted to bring something 3-d, so she came up with this flower in a pot.

Both girls made "pocket buddies" which is basically just a little girl they each drew and then laminated by wrapping it in scotch tape which they keep in their pocket all day. Today they worked on creating homes for their buddies.

The pictures are sideways, but here's Abby's

Here's Anna's

Celebrity!

Anna went to a birthday party tonight where she's supposed to dress up like a celebrity either past or present. We went with one from the past, any guesses?

Potpourri

So the other day we were discussing baby names. I was trying to think of some biblical boy names and mentioned the name "Luke." Nate immediately piped up saying, "Yeah, or Obi or Chewy!" (As in Obi Wan Kenobi and Chewbacca) Let's hope we have a girl so Nate won't be devastated when we don't name our baby Obi or Chewy.

My cute nieces, Belle and Molly at the Children's Museum

A cozy group in front of the fire when Oliver was visiting.


Ben's latest get-up. A bucket that serves as a helmet and a dartless dart gun.

Update

Happy January! This week has been really nice to really slow things down and just be mellow. I love all the coming and going and hustle and bustle and visiting family, but I do need some down-time afterwards.


There's been a LOT of football on at our house and I've learned to mostly tune it out, I've read a lot of books lately. However, last night's Sugar Bowl was so exciting even I got into it. Brennan sent us to the store to get some snacks and we came home and all watched the game. The kids were into it too, it was fun. Brennan also took the kids to a skating rink earlier in the day and gave me a nice big break. What a guy! He's been working really hard lately to try and win a contest at work for a trip. We hope he won, but won't be sure 'til next week. Either way, I'm really proud of him for all his hard work. We love Brennan!

New Years' Eve we had two of my siblings and their families over, Chris, Rebecca and Oliver and Josh, Eliza, Abe and Belle. Once we got the kids to bed we happened to stumble on ESPN who was showing some truck and motorcycle crazies doing death-defying stunts. We, of course, had to watch it. I must admit it was exciting and happily no one died. After that we watched a movie. It was really low-key, but really fun. Chris and Rebecca and Oliver drove home the next day and we are missing them already. New Years' Day was really nice, Ben took a huge nap and during that the big kids and their friends and I played Uno and Skip-Bo. It's so fun to have kids old enough to really play with. That's one of my favorite things to do.

Anna has been really busy with her friends. We're so grateful she's got two of the sweetest girls as her best friends. She is such a blessing to have as our oldest child. Right now she is downstairs patiently facilitating and playing polly pockets with Abby, Nate and Ben. She always manages to make a little twist to make it more fun for Nate and Ben, like the other day they played "Star Wars polly pockets." We love Anna.

Abigail has also been enjoying her school vacation with friends. Abby had my whole family laughing hard with her latest infomercial impression: Snuggies. She and I happened to see this infomercial for a blanket with sleeves. We both cracked up and when I brought it up later, she of course repeated it word for word in the best "infomercial voice" ever. She has a natural sense of what is funny and a great ability to mimic. She can always get us laughing. We love Abby.

Last night in the middle of the football game, Nate said, "Dad, thank you so so much for taking us rollerskating and letting us watch this football game." It was his perfect day and he never forgets to be grateful for things like that. He'll often walk by me and hug me saying, "I love you, Mom." It was fun to play Uno with him and see how old and smart he's gotten. He totally knew what to do and had no trouble with the numbers. We love Nate.

Benjamin has been particularly colorful lately. He was singing a song while jumping on my bed, but before he began he yelled, "Let's do this thing!" Brennan has a bad shoulder and the other day slipped on some ice which caused him to jerk it and really hurt. The kids all saw and ever since then every time the kids are wrestling or rough housing Ben usually grabs his shoulder and says, "Oh! My Shoulder!" There are so many things he says and does that get us laughing. The thing is it's not that what he says and does are particularly funny, it's just funny because they are things you don't typically see or hear from a 2 year old. He just doesn't get that he's two. We love Benny.

Happy New Year!

So here are just some of my goals for 2009:

1. Try and locate and re-acquire any of the patience I had a few months ago.

2. Sleep as much as I can.

3. Look into how much those dental suction thingys cost.

4. Eat anything I can find that doesn't repulse me.

5. Try and cook a dinner that doesn't involve the microwave or boiling water first (ramen noodle soup, mac & cheese, rice etc.)

6. Gain weight, but not too much.

7. Exercise, but not at the expense of sleep.

8. Be nice to husband and children (see no. 1).

9. Attempt looking respectable at brother, Davis's wedding in April.

10. Enjoy every second of new baby in July.

"Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas"

We had a wonderful Christmas and hope you all did too. Unfortunately with all the to-do I didn't take very many pictures, but I did get a few.


We kicked off Christmas Eve at my parents with several of my siblings and their families and Davis and his FIANCE!!!!, Melissa. We had a beautiful turkey dinner and then watched a short little nativity video and then did a sing-along to "Hallelujah Chorus" which is always fun. The kids opened their jammies and we went home to be Santa's little elves. We tucked the kids in and most of them were tired enough to drift off to sleep, but poor little Anna only slept a couple of hours. The rest of the night she spent watching the clock for 7:00 am when they can come get us and begin the present opening. Brennan couldn't sleep either so he went downstairs to check on the girls around 1:00 and when he discovered Anna wide awake stayed down there with her for an hour or so and chatted. That was definitely a Christmas highlight for him. Mine was sleeping soundly in my bed :)

Nate in his new jammies

Ben and Abe aka trouble and more trouble

(These two felt Christmas wasn't quite white enough so upon discovering a box with Styrofoam in it ripped it into tiny little balls all over my mom's stairs and basement)

Abby and Anna

The girls came up at 7:00 sharp and woke Nate and Ben up. They had to wait anxiously in the hall while Brennan and I put a few finishing touches together (i.e. turn on the lights, start a fire, get the camera ready etc). Not like the seemingly 90 minute torture my mom used to put us through on Christmas morning. I'm pretty sure Dad went out and chopped the firewood and started it with some rocks, and Mom saved 435 candles to light for the occasion :) Anyway, we finally gave the go-ahead and they raced in to find their shiny new bikes and several wrapped presents. We took turns opening everything and the kids gave the perfect reactions to each carefully thought-out gift. Ben was a little bothered to have his play interrupted each time it was his turn to open a new one, but he got over it. He pulled an orange out of his stocking and started yelling, "Who wants my strawberry????" Here are a few shots of that morning:

Waiting in the hall

After breakfast and lazy time, we got dressed and went over to my parents for more presents, games, cousin time and food. Here are the little cousins playing "Ring Around the Rosies" with Grandma and Liza.

When we left that night it had started snowing - hard. It took us about 10 times, but we finally made it up our hill and then after about 7 tries we got up our driveway. We went to bed happy and grateful. Merry Christmas!

More Festive Fashion

I feel like my kids are certainly rich little characters, but I feel doubly blessed by the addition of their friends. Their friends like Chloe and Abby's best friend, Paige, have definitely added even more color to our lives. Yesterday Abby was playing at Paige's and Abby came home and retold the following conversation:

Abby: Paige, ever since we started 2nd grade you've been dressing really fancy.

Paige: Abby, fashion is becoming part of my life. (Begins skipping around humming "Popular").

LOL, these two crack me up. Paige told Abby all about what she was wearing to school tomorrow for their big class Christmas party. Abby came home and enlisted the very enthusiastic help of Anna to find something "fancy" to wear the next day. Anna got right to work and after lending Abby a skirt and leggings decided she would design the perfect shirt. She got right to it with wrapping paper, tape and scissors. Nate even got into the process and suggested she add a little glitter. Anna kept saying, "Nate! You are BRILLIANT!" She also said things like, "Abby, make sure you tell everyone that I made this for you." She finished her masterpiece and then made one for herself.

Here are the very festive original designs for your viewing pleasure: