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:

Kindergarten Program

Today was Nate's big Christmas Program at school. He has been so excited and happily practising the many songs he's learned. I was excited, but not til we got there did it really hit me that this was kind of the first time we've ever really seen Nate perform. He had a tiny little preschool program last year, but it was pretty low-key. He's been of age to sing in 2 primary programs at church, but refused to go up both times, so as Brennan and I got there and watched the kids get ready we got even more excited. He looked so cute in his little Christmasey outfit topped off with a Santa hat that was too big for him and barely above his eyes. He was all business and did not break a smile (except once which I'll get to). He sang every word, with a furrowed brow, and intensely serious face.

Here is he ready for his big "rain stick" moment

He was really hard to see because he was right behind a little girl

He told me today that he was super excited for "the sway" and that he wouldn't tell me anything else about it. Well, when it came time for the big moment they were just singing "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" when all of a sudden Nate's face just lit up and he began a very deliberate series of movements: snapping, swaying, and beaming. I was sooooo upset I didn't have a good enough angle to capture it on video. We tried to re-enact it when we got home which I'll include here, but it doesn't come close to the magical moment in the program.

The Sway from Andrea W. on Vimeo.

Afterwards we got to go to his classroom for cookies. We're so proud of Nate, he did GREAT!

Lunch With the Mayor - Anna

You may remember last year I wrote about Abby getting to have "Lunch With the Mayor". Well, Anna got a turn this year. Each teacher eventually gets a turn to pick one child from her class to attend a lunch with a few other students, the school principal, Fire Chief, Police Chief, and Mayor. She loved it. Here's a photo of the big event:

The Real Story

Hopefully in a few days many of you will be getting a nice little Christmas card from us; however, when you do those of you who read our blog will not be fooled by the sweet little faces you will see. Here are our failed attempts at a photo shoot today:

The younger three are happy as can be, Anna is mad at me because she hates what I made her wear. (Yes, I made her, I let her wear basically anything she wants every other day of her life including her unique and originally designed outfits)

3 out of 4 isn't bad, right?

They're dropping like flies :(

My brother, Braden, is a teacher and has mentioned how much he loves getting ornaments from his students for a gift. I thought I'd have each of the kids paint one for their teachers. I think they turned out pretty cute.

Anna's, Abby's, and Nate's

Some Pictures!!!

Thank you, Joshy for saving the day with your card reader tip! Here are just a couple of random pictures and one video.

The boys in the first big snow, sledding down our driveway

We copy a tradition of my aunt Allyson's where sometime during the Christmas season the kids get to sleep under the Christmas tree. This is Abby, Anna and Nate the other night.

Tree skirt girl

This video is me attempting to catch Benny's new fake pout. You can see how quickly he snaps in and out of character.


Benny Pouting from Andrea W. on Vimeo.