I want for... February

On the way to Marmee and Papa's house for Christmas, Grace realized her front tooth was loose.  I told her how Papa would wrap floss around it and pull out my loose teeth.  So Grace asked Papa to pull out her loose front tooth and wished for one toothfor Christmas.  I was hoping she would lose the other one while we were there, but it wasn't until the end of  January that she came home from school with a tooth around her neck and not in her mouth.  Side note: Grace will not leave her teeth out for the tooth fairy.  She thinks they are more valuable than anything the tooth fairy would bring.  (Is this a hoarding tendence?)  Anyway, she smiles like me so it was alittle difficult to get a smile with teeth, but it is so cute when I get a glimpse of those missing teeth.  Grace is such a sweet girl who tries so hard and is getting bigger, and smarter, and lovelier everyday.

Field Trip to PetSmart

Isaac and Jackson attend the same preschool.  Ms Mikki is a great teacher.  This year she took the kids on a field trip to Petsmart.  Since Trisa was out of town, I was lucky to bring Jackson with us.  He was a little shy so he stayed to the back with his hood up.  (I showed him the animals after most of the kids moved on.  Isaac was completely the opposite.  He was in the front of the group asking questions and absorbing all of the information about his furry, scaly, and feathered friends.  He still tells me that a rat, if you set it on your shoulder, won't try and jump off.  (Unlike, hampsters who are not smart enough to hold on... or something like that.)  Sam was just happy to be there and be a pre-preschooler.  I thought back to the days that I worked at a petsmart...  it seems like a lifetime ago. At the end, they each picked out a toy for their respective dogs and then we went for ice cream.  It gave me an excuse to go to Culvers!  I hope they enjoyed the field trip because Ms Mikki said she won't be doing it again ...
 small children + small animals = chaos  

Isaac at the Jazz game

Okay so I can't figure out how to turn this the right way but I wanted to include it so I'm leaving it!

Jake got two free tickets to a Jazz game from his work.  He was going to take Isaac.  He came home too tired and the game didn't start till 7:30 which is practically his bed time anyway.  So I took Isaac to the Jazz game.  It was great because he had just finished Itty Bitty Ball and he was interested in what was actually happening.  Of course not until he had his dip-in-dots in hand.  He was really interested in the defense.  (I think that is because he likes doing it when he plays.  Shooting is still a little tricky.)  We didn't stay for the whole game because it looked like he was going to fall alseep and I didn't want to get stuck trying to carry him three blocks to the car.  He is getting so big!  And he tells me so Every. Day.  He love to stand up against someone and measure himself against them.  He is so eager to get bigger.... 

Bird is the Word

January almost slipped by with nothing too exciting or unusual.  Then Marm called and said she was flying out to help Jessica with wedding plans.  Of course, what kind of sister would I be if I didn't offer to drive up with Allison to Rexburg and lend my services.  I was really great help too (with all of my wedding planning skills.)  Actually, I provided the much needed comic relief.  Matt's mom, Karen, was certainly a trooper, hauling us, playing games, and listening to Allison's scandalous comments.  Allison also was a good sport and let us set her up on a date Saturday night.  With venue and dress in hand, we headed back to Utah on Sunday afternoon.  I arrived home with Marm (whose flight didn't leave til Tuesday) to a clean house, and a newly painted green kitchen wall.  Jake worked some miracles and I was beyond surprised.  Happy to be home.  Marm and I ran errands on Monday and while we were out she bought each of the kids a bird house for our new house.  Grace and Sam painted bird houses and Isaac got one to put peanuts in.  Grace did a great job painting her bird house in about 20 minutes.  Sam spent about two hours painting every inch of his bird house and loving it. 
We were all very excited to put up the bird houses in the backyard.  Since we back up to a wetland area, we see birds all of the time.  They are also Grace's new obsession.  I have many wonderful memories watching the birds with my Grandparents in Florida.  Although we won't be visited by as many exotic types, everytime I see the birds outside or here Grace say, "Bird Alert," I think of my grandparents and am glad to be able to pass on this little tradition. 

Say What?

Okay so kids do say the craziest things, or in this case, hear them.  It was sacrament meeting and a man with a strong Tongan accent was speaking and he kept saying the word Tonga.  Isaac, who I can never tell if he is listening, looks up at me and says, "Mom, why he say zombie?"  Thanks for listening, Isaac.  (To be honest, it kinda did sound like zombie.)  If we only talked about zombies more in church....

My Basketball Stars

January was busy with moving in and me avoiding unpacking boxes.  The local rec center provides us with Itty Bitty ball. Sam has been looking forward to this since last year when he wasn't quite old enough.  It isn't just the love of the sport though.  They give them two laffy taffy at the end of each practice.  Isaac is getting so big.  He was so good at defense that that his "coach" had to ask him to let the other kids shoot.  It was exciting to see Isaac starting to understand the game.  Sam loved to shoot the ball and was devistated if Isaac tried to "help" him.  I loved being able to jog around the track and know that the boys weren't missing me one bit!

Christmas 2011 here there and everywhere...

Christmas season is always hectic.  There is the shopping and decorating and party and for us this year there was moving.  Hopefully the last move for a little while.  I am actually going to unpack all of the boxes.  This will not be a pleasant experience.  Lucky I was able to procrastinate the box opening until after Christmas.  The day after we moved everything, I left with my sister, Jessica, and the kids and drove to Ohio. This twenty- three hour journey included a lost reindeer antler, sickness, close calls in the gas department, having to choose either McDonald's or ... nothing to eat (thank you Wyoming) and a final hour of complete melt down.  Actually, the kids were really good, but we were happy to arrive at Marmee and Papa's house on day two.  Allison, Papa and Marmee greeted us with open arms.  The next day we helped Marmee put together some fruit baskets at church and Grace made herself one.  the highlight of the day after that was going to the nursing homes and visiting two ward members.  Sam danced while we sang Christmas carols and we ran into Santa at the second place.  He told Isaac that "he caught him being good."  Isaac said with surprise, "How did you do that?"  After our visits we went to Young's Dairy for some ice cream.  Usually at Christmas ice cream isn't so appealing, but the weather was delightful and the kids were able to play outside many of the days we were there. 
James arrived on Friday and Jake arrived on Christmas Eve after flying all night.  Jake promptly took them to the Air Force museum (second trip in two days).  Jake and Grace were able to tour a retired Air Force One, and I think it was one of the highlights of his trip.  On Christmas Eve, we went to the movies and saw Arthur Christmas which was really cute. At Christmas Eve dinner Sam pretended to be Santa.  He would tell everyone what they wanted and say "ho, ho, ho."  We did our traditional reenactment of the Christmas story.  Sam was Joseph; Isaac was a wise man; Grace was the Angel; I was Mary; Jake was a wise man; Jessica and James were shepherds, and Allison was a wise woman.  Then we all were nestled all snug in our beds knowing that Santa would not be coming till after church.  Jessica and Grace texted Santa and he said he would like to go to church too so he would come after church and before we were home.  We went to church at 9 with no melt downs although Grace was a little sad when she had to take an extra trip around the block because Marmee wasn't home yet.  The kids got everything they wanted and more.  Grace got a little sewing machine, a new leapster, bird watching equipment, and a marble maze.  Isaac received multiple guns (thanks James) and 100 bullets, an airplane and a pillow pet family.  Sam wanted a cash register, play food, a leapster, and Imaginex people, airplane, ambulance.  Sam played for hours with the Imaginex stuff.  We had a big breakfast (at lunch time) and then we had a big evening meal with the missionaries and a few friends (we usually don't have a big meal).   It was a lovely day.  The next few days we shopped, ate, played games.  Sour apples to apples and the Word on the street were new this year.  Also new this year was Matt joining us for post - Christmas  festivities.  Jessica is dating him.  He taught us the game 'Piggy, Pig, Hog"  which I have yet to win so I don't like it too much.   Jake graciously took everyone out to eat at a steak house with a few gift cards he accumulated.  It was tasty and since we had to wait an hour and a half we were given free appetizers too.   The Friday after Christmas we drove down to Kentucky to see MamMaw and PepPaw (my grandparents).  MamMaw made a huge meal and the kids played outside and then Aunt Kathy was able to come over.  She brought goodies for everyone and then kept the peace between Isaac and Sam who wanted to play with the same trucks.  By the time we got ready to go, they were ready to stay with her.  New Years eve we recuperated and packed to get ready to drive back to Utah.  In the late afternoon Jessica, Matt, Grace and I went ice skating in downtown Dayton.  Grace has been so excited to try it out.  She was trying to do twirls and skate backwards.  Crashing was no deterrent.  I was worried about serious injury so we worked on just staying up.  She wanted to skate around by herself and then she found a little friend.  She was on cloud nine.  Every time she fell, he would fall too.  They "blabbed" (her word) together until we had to leave.  She said it was the greatest day of her life, better than Disney world, better than Christmas. Matt was sneaky and took some cute pictures of Grace and Paris skating around.  Grace can't wait to go ice skating again.  We came back from ice skating to sparklers and a Mexican fiesta.  We played games, and I stayed up to ring in the new year, while Jake slept to prepare for our trip.  It was hard to say good bye.  I wasn't looking forward to unpacking but the kids were ready for their own beds.  We drove 13 hours the first day so day two wasn't so bad. We also were able to culture our kids by taking them to the biggest truck stop in the world.  Complete with a bowling alley and dentist office, it was great American culture.  As we drove to our new home, I thought about the past year and beginning last January not knowing where we would be by the end of it.  As we begin this year, I don't know what it will bring but I have faith we will end up some place good.