Happy Birthday Kim!

Kim's birthday was on Sunday, so we went up to Ogden to help her celebrate! I made her a 'penguin' cake because she loves penguins... and it's winter. I am so grateful to have Kimmy living semi-close to me. She is always a ton of fun to hang out with; she's optimistic, creative, and hilarious. And did I mention a great shopping buddy? Happy Birthday Kim!

PS - Lincoln is WALKING!

Christmas Countdown

Christmas is just 3 days away! We're on our way to Arizona to spend Christmas with the DeFrancis side of the family! I thought I'd take advantage of the 10-12 hour drive and post some of the Christmasy things we've done thus far. Most of the pictures speak for themselves, and are activities from our advent calendar. When I was a kid our family had an advent calendar, and each day we pulled out a slip of paper with a Christmas activity written on it. They ranged anywhere from seeing Christmas lights, to singing at the nursing home, to drinking hot chocolate with candy canes. So a few years ago my sisters and I made advent calendars just like the one we had growing up (thanks to my mom who did most of the work) and we use those now with our own families. My kids love pulling out the slip of paper each day and get so excited about each activity, no matter how small. One day we turned off the lights and read Christmas books around the fire. Some of our favorites to date: Santa Comes to Little House (Laura Ingalls Wilder), Moosletoe (Margie Palatini), A Christmas Stocking Story (Hilary Knight) and The Little Drummer Boy (Ezra Jack Keats).

Chase's Christmas list this year consisted of Star Wars Lego's (big surprise), and Skis.

Clara's Christmas list was simply: a Hippopotamus, a purple flip phone that worked (in other words not a toy), nail polish, Girl Bakugans (Zoobles), and Ice Skates. I have no idea where she came up with the hippopotamus - I don't think she's even heard the song! And she'll have to wait a few years for the cell phone too, poor thing.

We have had such a busy and fun December, and I can't wait for even more of it all with the family in Arizona!

Go Neil!

Yes!!! Neil Diamond was officially inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame today. Diamondheads worldwide (such as myself) are thrilled.

Ellas Art Festival

The cute seven year old next door, Ella, decided to put together an art festival to raise money for the local women's shelter. She invited all of the children (and adults) in the neighborhood and at school to submit their art. Then she hosted an art show, and everyone who attended brought donations for the shelter.

Chase wanted to make a Christmas themed sculpture: A Snowman Jack-In-The-Box. Let me just say it was more difficult and time consuming than either of us anticipated it would be. Maybe because it was our first experience with paper mache (not as easy as it looks), and maybe because our wire wasn't strong enough (we had to call in Brian to help) to hold it up. But in the end Chase had a wonderful sculpture to submit.

While I was busy helping Chase with his art, Clara was left completely to her own devices. She of course wanted to make art for the show too, so she gathered her supplies and got to it. When I finally looked over and saw what she made I couldn't believe it. I know I am her totally biased mother, but seriously - this girl has some creativity!

Her first piece she called "Santa with his bag of toys" - and she taped a red balloon on for the bag. Genius!

And this is her second piece, which she called 'Sunset' -made with glitter glue, crayons, cut paper, and paint. Again, considering she had no help from me whatsoever I am amazed at what she came up with. I'm so proud of both my little artists!

Chats with Clara

Clara: Where did you go tonight?

Mom: I went to the Temple

Clara: Was Jesus there?

Mom: Yes, he was there

Clara: Did he walk with you?

Mom: Yes, he did

Clara: What did you wear?

Mom: I wore white clothes and white socks

Clara: Was Jesus teaching people?

Mom: Yes, he was

Clara: Was he teaching you how to tie your shoes so you don’t have to wear white socks?

Mom: No, he was telling us how much he loves us, and he told how much he loves you too

Clara: Mom, you take me to that exact temple tomorrow so I can see Jesus and he can tell me he loves me and teach me how to tie my shoes. And Mom, is it still going to be white day tomorrow at the temple or a different color? I have white socks, so I hope its white day.

Mom: (Wishing more than anything that I could take Clara to see Jesus tomorrow) How about we go to church tomorrow instead, and you can wear your white socks there.

We got one!

Way to go Bri! He just sent me this picture that he took on his phone when we went to see Tangled over Thanksgiving weekend. We now officially have one picture of our trip!

Gobble Gobble

Our family had a fabulous Thanksgiving in St. George - SO relaxing in fact that I didn't take a single picture! I can't believe it, but seriously that just goes to show how laid back I was feeling. We went with the whole Ebert clan and stayed at a beautiful home equipped with anything and everything. You'll just have to imagine Chase and Clara hanging out in the hot tub, playing pool or air hockey, or spending time in the amazing 'play house.' And you'll also have to imagine the delicious food, the guys golfing, the Black Friday shopping, and the afternoon napping. And even though it hit record breaking low temperatures, it was much more pleasant than what we were escaping in Salt Lake. Our only incident happened on the way home when we hit a nasty blizzard. Our usual 3.5 hour drive turned into a 9.5 hour drive (no joke)! Fortunately we traded vehicles with Bri's parents who left the day before, and ended up with a 4 wheel drive truck with chains instead of our little CNG Civic (which never would have made it). Our kids were amazing though (maybe they were fascinated by all the cars sliding off the road) which we were so grateful for. And even though we'd never choose to be in that situation again, it was good practice for our upcoming drive to AZ!