snowy day

Don't you just love when this happens. When your little one has been so busy she just can't stay awake for one second longer. (or perhaps she just got so bored of waiting for her mom to come and get her...whichever)
She's probably just exhausted from all the shovelling that I HAVE HAD to do. :) We got a major dump of snow yesturday. Hopefully it will make for some good snowmen later on.





Abby made this cute craft yesturday at pre-school. Where do people get these ideas? No Really...where do you get good ideas? I'd like to know.

DONE!!!!!!!

We are officially finished our Christmas shopping! Hurray!!! Right down to the kids stocking stuffers...it's all here. Aside from the baking we want to deliver still, the holidays are looking pretty laid back and easy. Feels good.

Another thing we completed yesturday: We watched our final episode of M*A*S*H- a personal favorite of mine. We have bought all 11 seasons, and for the past 5 1/2 years John and I have spent our spare time watching each episode that ever aired. We watched the final one yesturday and I'm wondering...now what will we do?

Santa School and other events of today

Tonight Abby and I went to watch one of my neices perform with the CES junior girls choir. Ava did such a great job and those girls were so stinkin cute singing Christmas songs, all dressed up. Nice work Ava! My favorite song was "Holiday Lights!!"

Other events of today was one of many Christmas parties that I get to attend this year. Sweet! I'm averaging 2 turkey dinners a week right now. Gotta love it.

Abby is fascinated with the whole "Santa" thing and seems to be a little fixated on his elves. She is very interested in what elves do exactly. I'm not sure what to tell her. The funny thing is though she keeps calling them "students." A typical conversation between us goes like...
Abby: "Mommy? Does santa's students know how to fix the toys?"
Me: "Abby remember they are Elves..."
Abby: "Oh ..yeah...right I forgot. Do they know how?" To which I proceed to explain to her that Santa has taught his elves very well. It just makes me laugh to hear her call them students.

Clearly, she is the daughter of a school teacher:)

The search...

Christmas shopping has begun!
This time last year I had all of the Christmas shopping done already. Not only done, but wrapped...signed (by Santa of course:)...and hidden away. Not this year. I wouldn't consider myself a scrooge in any way but this whole "gift" thing this year has been a tad more stressful then I thought it would be. What is wrong with me? Could it be that I'm not as obsessive compulsive as I once was? I sure hope not. I've always taken pride in my ability to be prepared...weeks and weeks in advance. Maybe I'm just learning, (now that I'm all grown up) that there is more to Christmas then just gifts. Maybe though, I've yet to find that perfect thing for those that I love. I feel a little lost as I search for that "Gift" that will make my kids' year.

I never go Christmas shopping without thinking about my favorite Christmas 23 years ago. My siblings remember this year well. My mom was ill. Together her and my Dad had decided that they would not purchase a single thing for us but instead, they each would make us something. My mom made us all matching pajamas. My Dad set to work building something. ...something big. For weeks and weeks our basement was "off limits", while my Dad labored on our gifts. We could hardly wait to see what it was. On Christmas morning we woke up and went downstairs to find the most beautiful playset I had ever seen. I still have not found a playset that would match this one. It took up an entire room. This playset was big, it had everything, real dials, faucets, a dishwasher, food...the works! My sisters and I played in that room for years, (with the odd invation from my brother and some of his He-Man.)

I recall very little about that time in my life...but I do remember the hours spent with my sisters in that little room. Perhaps that is the gift my Dad wanted to give most of all. As he knew we would be losing our mother, perhaps what he wanted to give us, more than anything else, was the ability to just...play. To be kids. Even now this playset occupies a room at my sisters house and all our girls love it and use it as much as we did. Now that was a gift.

So as I contemplate what to give my own kids now, and when I get tempted to just buy "anything" off the shelf or think it doesn't matter, because Christmas isn't about presents anyways; I'm reminded of that year, and I'm inclined to think that maybe Christmas can be a little bit about "presents", IF we find the right one.

So my search continues. Luckily, if I fail to find something great for my precious three, I can always take comfort that they do know about the greatest gift of all. Yes, the real meaning of Christmas. Thank goodness for that.

The best half of "US"

I recently got tagged. Since I failed to respond the last time I was "tagged" and seeing that these questions are mostly about my "better half" I figured I'd give it a go.



What is your husband's name: John

How long have you been married: 6 years in December

How long did you date before you got married: 9 months (engaged 2 months)

Who eats more: John by a long shot. He tends to LOAD up his plate and then before beginning to eat he sits there and marvels that "ALL THAT food" is about to fit into HIS stomach.

Who said I love you first: John

Who is taller: John is a bit taller.

Who sings better: John by a long shot. Hopefully there are no more questions about who does what better. John trumps me every time.

Who is smarter: Drat! see above.

Whose temper is worse: Oh here, finally something I'm better at.

Who does the laundry: Me...

Who does the dishes: Me...

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed: With three kids, under the age of 5, I really can't say. By morning, none of us wake up where we started.

Who pays the bills: Me...

Who cooks dinner: Me...

Who drives when you are together: John. But I'm great at telling him HOW to drive.

Who is more stubborn: I'm sure it is definitely without a doubt...John. That's not even up for debate.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong: I have yet to be wrong, so, hard to say.


Whose parents do you see the most: john's dad is the only one of our parents who is still living. We love him tonnes, and try to see/speak to him daily.

Who kissed who first: John kissed me. ON the FIRST DATE!! (scandalous)

Who asked who out first: John asked me out

Who proposed: John

Who is more sensitive: I'm not very sentimental but I am the most emotional. lol. John is pretty sensitive and he definitely is the one who has the most "tact."

Who has more friends: There is not a person alive who doesn't love John as soon as they meet him.

Who wears the pants in the family: I think that is a nice way of asking "who is the most bossy." In that case...me.

Where did you meet your husband: I was YSA President in Edmonton. John moved up from BYU and to put it mildly he had a few "recommendations for improving the dances." He drafted a VERY lengthy letter addressed to the YSA committee, sighting several concerns along with many suggestions as to what we could do about it. I thought his ideas were lame-o until I actually met him. His dimples sucked me in big time. Suddenly his ideas were amazing. And of course, I would need his help implementing every one of them. Ha ha probably the only year when the YSA held structured dance classes prior to the dances.

What was the first thing you said to your husband: I don't recall. Nothing memorable obviously.

Where was your first date: At his house. John had to introduce me to the Star Wars Trilogy.

Where was your first kiss: At his house. First date...star wars...well before Luke Skywalker even joined up with Hans Solo and Chewbaca!

Where did you get engaged: At my favorite fishing spot along the North Saskatchewan River.

Where were you married: In Vegas! Jokes

Where was the Honeymoon: a ritzy resort on a deserted island. :)

Tag to: Crystal Payne, Laura Leavitt, Shauna Salmon, and Heather Rausch, and Jewel Hardy (because I know how much Kendall would appreciate this one;)

'Tis the season

There has been a lot going on this past week. We seem to be getting back into the swing of things. With a fresh new snowfall and the fact that various neighbors are getting into the spirit of christmas, we decided we'd better get on the band wagon as well.

On Monday night, we broke out the Christmas decorations and the kids had a blast setting up the tree and hanging up santa etc. We still have to put lights up outside but John and I are debating what to do. Icicle lights, or just multi-colored bulbs? Reindeer on the lawn? Santa on the roof? How will we decide?:)



I went down to Sears and picked up the famous Christmas wishbook. Abby has spent many afternoons (while sam and jess sleep) cutting out things she'd like and glueing them onto her own "Wish list" for Santa. She wrote a letter today for us to mail to Santa and asked me if she could mail all the pictures of what she wants with it. Something tells me we will have to narrow this list down a bit, AND perhaps teach her a little bit about money because let's face it, I love her daddy, but I didn't marry him for his money!


For Family Home Evening I brought out our newly purchased Nativity set and tried to teach Abby about the true meaning of Christmas. Why we "really" celebrate it. She had fun holding all the peices but she clearly didn't hear a thing. That night before bed I couldn't help but laugh as she was praying and actually had the nerve to sincerely say, "we are thankful for....Santa Claus." Yes Abby, we are thankful for Santa, and many MANY other things as well:))











Sam is keeping us busy. We took the kids swimming this past week and it was such fun. Sam however was content to just sit on the edge or better yet, "leapfrog" all around the deck of the pool.
Oh well, atleast he was saying "rriibbitt" which helped ease any fears I had that he doesn't talk. Plus, I think the little amount of Chlorine he did come in contact with helped wash some of this mess off of him.












I had to post these two pictures as well. Both are of the kids' bedroom door. Abby has been doing so much art work, at home and school that she has begun taping her best work to her door. I personally think she just enjoys using the tape all by herself, but whatever. It made us laugh though as we went to bed the other night, we glanced at the door and something caught our eye. She had actualy taped the roll of TAPE onto the door. Goof.



This second picture shows what has become a daily routine in our home. Because there is a good inch or two of a gap between the door and the floor, this is now what happens. Every afternoon when Sam wakes up from his nap he crawls out of bed, onto the floor and lies there watching us all until we notice that he is awake. Sometimes he will stick an arm or a leg out when he really wants to be noticed. For the most part though, he just lays there...watching. Creepy.




Oh yeah, this is a terrible picture but I'm very proud of this quilt that I made. I don't sew, (if you don't believe me just ask my seamstress/sister, jewel). But I did do this quilt for my Mother-in-law. It has all the handprints of her kids, their spouses, and her grandkids on it. I had hoped she'd get to use it lots before she passed away, but I barely got it done in time for her to use it for a few days. Still, it meant a lot to me to do this. Probably the one and only time I'll sew in my entire life:))












Well that is about it for now. The tree is up. decorations up? ...check. Nativity out? ...check. Stockings hung?...check. Christmas is comin' fast. Am I ready for it?...not even close!

I had posted an entry yesterday about the recent passing of my Mother-in law, but I deleted it last night. I guess I feel like I cannot adequately express my feelings, nor the love and admiration I have for this woman. For the past year she battled pancreatic cancer in, at times, an almost heroic way. Now that she is gone it seems a little bit weird to just pick up and carry on with things. John is back at work. All of the famiy have returned to their homes, and now we are trying to get back into our normal routine. The only thing is that Marilyn was such a part of our daily routine. This amazing woman meant the world to us. I will miss her very much. My heart goes out to John, his Dad and all of the family. Love you all.

Congratulations!!

John's brother just called and told us that he's engaged and we are thrilled thrilled thrilled. Congratulations you two. Another amazing sister-in-law!!! AHHHHHH!! Yippppppeeeeeeeeeeeeee! (Did we mention how excited we are?)

Winding Down

How was Halloween for us? Picture this. A beautiful little "Dorothy", a "scarecrow", a "very cute witch", a "tin-man", and ...a Frog? Yes a frog. After working endlessly on these costumes, and then spending a week trying to get sam to wear his...Sam refused to be the lion and instead dressed up as a frog. There is no FROG in the wizard of oz!! Ruined! My theme...was ruined:)) Perhaps I may have tried too hard:) Note to self: Next year...don't sweat it as much. (Luckily I did get some photos last week of everyone dressed up so scroll down to see them.) Notice i'm NOT posting pics of my little frog today. grrrr.

Having said that, it was definately a fun night. John celebrated his 32 birthday as well which made festivities extra great. Gotta love the moments when ya get to celebrate "John"!! I think I have the best husband in the WORLD! His parents came over for crepes and of course the tradional 32nd annual "Ghost cake with flaming eyes".

After dinner...time to Trick or Treat.
Abby...and I had been looking forward to this for weeks. Infact there may have been moments when I might have been skipping right alongside her I could hardly contain myself. Sam and John joined us for a bit of the evening. By the end of the night I think Sam started to grasp the concept of Trick or Treating. For the most part though he wanted only to hold his little chocolate bar (his first of the night) tigthly in his little fist, and heaven help the person who tried to pry that little candy away from him. When it came time to taking more candy he wouldn't because he refused to loosen his grip on the one he already had. Talk about missing the forest for the trees! Oh well. Sam is content.

Today has been much quieter. (is that a word) Took down the decorations because let's face it, after the holidays... decorations just look bad. Died my hair...dark. Bought some of these from Bellababies , Ate the last peice of John's birthday cake, but mostly just tried to get back to a normal routine.

Noticed some Christmas commercials today. Already? ... Can't wait.





John- Happy Birthday! XOXOX

Halloween Week!!!!!

K as a premise to this very long post, I must say, I LOVE Halloween. Christmas is nice, valentines is ok but Halloween, is my favorite day of the year. I love every thing about it- the pumpkins, trick or treating, dressing up... I am really quite over-the-top about this holiday and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Our costumes are ready, with some of us having two costumes. (seperate events of course:)) The house is decorated and we've been baking up some goulish recipes. Most of them have tasted as scary as they've looked but hey it's all good.

Perhaps my love for this holiday has something to do with the fond memories I have of halloween as a child. When it came to celebrating holidays, nobody did it better than my Dad. We'd almost always help him make a homemade pizza, then we would get into our costumes an hour before leaving the house (thus becoming overheated and cranky) and then ...finally...it would be time to go trick or treating. Dad thought through this outing carefully making sure that we stopped at the local dentist (for a toothbrush) the milkman (who gave away chocolate milk), and the Cooks (who always gave away the big chocolate bars.) We cleaned up. When we got tired, and no sooner than that, we would head home and dump all of our "loot" into a giant roaster and then the four of us kids, wide eyed and brimming with excitement would just sit and marvel at all we got. Of course it was an unspoken rule that the coffee crisp bars were off limits. They belonged to Dad! Even after we grew up and had kids of our own he would still buy a ridiculous amount of candy, WEEKS in advance and dump it all into that same vat of a roaster, and just wait for the moment that he could divide it up and deliver it to each of his grandkids.

I've often thought about how much more enjoyable holidays have become to me since having kids. It is fun to be able to go back and experience that excitement all over again through the eyes of our little ones. That said we've been busy celebrating already! Here is some of the scary things we've brewed so far.



My sister Jewel sewed this Dorothy dress for Abby! She's amazing.



John is so patient. He's willing to go along with whatever silly things I try to orchestrate. He'd probably be fine with not dressing up at all!!!



Lovely. Doesn't he play the part of the cowardly lion well. Personally, I think he is crying because he has no c -c- c- courage:)


I made this costume up for John last minute because I knew he really didn't want to show up at the High school on Wednesday and teach a bunch of high school students, dressed as the tin man. (We likely will all wear different costumes at different times throughout the week.)

We've got a lot planned! "Boo at the zoo" in Calgary...Halloween party on Tuesday...pumpkin carving...trick or treating on Wednesday...Johns Birthday (on halloween day).... The next 7 days will be a lot of FUN!


Monster toes and fingers.

Because there isn't much to say...

about our lives this past week, we'll just put up a couple of pics o f the random things that have kept our kids busy the past few days.



Abby and her cousin Mya made cinnamon buns together this week. And when I say cinnamon "buns" I really mean "big fat mounds of dough that have been played with for 20 minutes and then covered in butter and sugar. ...hold the cinnamon" Yummmm:))))



With Halloween coming up soon (my FAVORITE holiday!) we decided to clean out the dress up box. We emptied out the old and boring stuff and made a trip to two local bargain stores to stock up on better dress ups. Abby and Sam have been busy this week playing Fireman, doctor, something that requires abby be dressed like a genie in a cowboy hat, and of course...Ariel. I love this pic because it captures John's mood this week perfectly. Doesn't he look tired. It was a busy week for him:(


Jessica of course is perfectly content to play on her own. Of course how could she not have fun when she's making a mess like this!



The kids enjoyed this sunday evening game. It is a variation of keep away I guess, only we like to call it "pass the carbon monoxide detector".

Nope. It doesn't take much to keep us happy!

Talk of the town...

Jessica has graduated from eating puree veggies and fruit to the real thing. Yesturday she had real, fresh, PEAS! It is the cutest thing to watch her little eyes focus on her little fingers as they pinch a pea and then very slowly ...brings it up to her mouth...trying the whole time to get it in. Soo darn funny to watch. Meal time takes a bit longer these days but it is fun to think that she's starting to "grasp" the concept:))

Ok that really isn't the talk of the town, infact nobody but me really seems to care that Jess is eating solids. The town did hold elections on Monday...and that was the talk of the town. It is so fun to get to vote. I think it is one of John's and my favorite things to do. Many people here seemed to want a change and that is what they got. The new mayor, and most of the newly elected members of town council won by a landslide. Hopefully good things will come as a result in the next few years. If any of you are in a town/city with elections coming up...get out and VOTE!!!

Sunday at our house...

This morning I worked very hard to compile two church bags that were full of snacks and books/toys to keep the kids happy for the LONG one hour sacrament meeting. I felt very proud of the contents of those bags, thinking perhaps this might be the week that our kids sat quietly for the entire meeting. However, Sam discovered these bags while John and I were busy getting ready and he did enjoy them. He enjoyed dumping everything out and throwing things around. Abby came to us in absolute tears. When I asked her what was wrong, she said through her tears, "Mom...Sam is ruining SUNDAY for EVERYONE!" He later redeemed himself by staying in nursery the entire time without crying...or being mean to anyone. Good day for him.


I dressed my girls in the two cutest dresses ever. My sister Jewel had sewn them for her girls and has since lent them to me. Today my kids looked adorable! They were clean, happy, and they all matched (right down to the pony in Sams hand). Spontaniously I decided we needed a family photo. I had to photograph the kids in these outfits. So we hauled everyone out, posed took the pictures,...and were late for church. When I got home this was the photo we had.


Aside from the fact that the lighting was Terrible, I was so upset to not see all of the kids. When I asked John why he didn't get the kids outfits in it he said one word. ..."headshots?" lol:) Clearly John didn't appreciate the significance of that moment. Clean kids,...happy kids,...kids with nice hair...kids in cute home made outfits... May never happen again, but take my word for it...they looked great and did great today!

Abby, Sam, Jess and I enjoyed a nice Sunday walk this afternoon. The weather was beautiful! There is something about nice sunny day, this time of year, that I particularly enjoy. Perhaps it is partly due to the fact that I know it could easily be snowing instead. Makes me really appreciate the mild weather. All in all a great day and we almost feel ready to start the work week. ...almost.



PS: I don't mean to brag but we have the most pleasant baby you could ever imagine. Seriously I dare you all to have a baby who is happy 24/7, sleeps 9 hours straight at night, and cries ONLY when her old brother is sitting on her. What a doll!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow is officially thanksgiving here in Canada, but for our little family the celebrating is almost over. On Friday we drove up to Calgary to have a thanksgiving dinner with my siblings and their fams. I am so amazed at how well my sisters can pull off a grand meal, and it is always so nice to get together with them and to get to the city for a bit. John kept laughing at how "rushed" I was the whole time trying to squeeze as much out of our one day in the city as I possibly could. Visiting, a trip to walmart, a jog with my sis, and seeing some of our favorite former neighbors...we tried to do it all! Saturday afternoon we returned home for a thanksgiving dinner with Johns family. Several of his siblings travelled up, and it was a great time. Aside from the fact that you'd never find a better chef than John's Dad, we also got to see our little niece Brooklyn be blessed. We've so often missed out on these family events seeing as most of John's family live in the states, so we were glad to have been able to be a part of that. Family is just the best and we are so grateful for weekends like this to remind us of how lucky we are. We wish we could have seen all our loved ones, but we were sure thinkin of ya!!


My sister in-law Heather is the one we call on every get together to make dessert. It is no wonder why when she produces pies like this! Pecan Pie or good ol' apple. Pumpkin? okay we'll try all three. lol:)




This is my brother Chad...ready to eat I guess:)) I'm posting this pic only because he seemed to be the victim of much heckling by all of the nieces and nephews. It was pretty funny to hear these little kids telling "cop jokes" and teasing him the way they did. They did have a good leader...AVA!







This is our celebration with John's family. Their meals are legendary and the company is great! We sure love you guys.
The highlight was having an intimate little baby blessing for our newest niece at home so that Grandma could be a part of it. What a nice evening... and what a DOLL!!!


So that was our weekend:) We hope you all are enjoying thanksgiving as much as we have.

I YAM all over these dishes!

We had a ward enrichment dinner last night in which they served several turkey dishes, (in efforts to demonstrate the many things you can do with your turkey leftovers.) I think I tasted some of the best Yams I've EVER had. If you like yams...you'll love this. I'm also including two other recipes they shared as well.



Happy Thanksgiving!!!


Praline Sweet Potato Bake

3 cups cold mashed seet potatos
1/3 cup of milk
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1teas. vanilla extract
1/2 teas. salt

Topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup chopped pecans
3 TBSP flour
3 TBSP melted margarine

In a bowl, beat, the first 7 ingredients until fluff. Transfer to a 1 1/2 qt baking dish. Combine the topping ingredients until blended. Sprinkle over the top and bake @ 350C uncovered, for 30-35 minutes or until golden. This serves 4-5 people. IT IS AMAZINGLY good!!!


Turkey and Rice Casserole

4 cups leftover turkey
2 cups regular rice
Water mixed with bouillon cubes (approx 5 cups of water)
Mix water mixture and rice and cook in pan until rice is done. Add one onion sauteed and 2 can sof cream of mushroom soup to the rice and chicken mixture. Add dried parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Put in a casserole dish.

Mix 2 cups of bread crumbs with margarine and poultry seasoning. Brown crumbs in frying pan. Sprinkle on top of mixture.

Bake at 350C for 30 minutes. This casserole freezes well!


Deep Dish Pumpkin Pie

1 can pure pumpkin (28-29 oz)
1 can evaporated milk (13 oz)
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
3 tsp cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs

Mix all of the above ingredients together. Pour into a 9X13" pan. Glass pans work very well. Sprinkle (from the package) one yellow cake mix on top of the pumpkin mixture. Melt 1/2 cup of butter and drizzle on top of the cake mix. Pecans can be used on top if desired but are optional.

Bake @350C for 50 minutes. It is great served warm. Serve with whipped cream!

These are some dishes that we will be enjoying in the near future. (I think it would be a lot of fun if someone created a blog in which we all could just post favorite recipes) An online recipe book.
Anyways, here are my faves... Try them this weekend! Enjoy

There was a moment...

...a very breif moment today when my children were all in the same place, doing the same thing...and there was peace. Sam was not pushing Abby, or pulling Abby, and Abby was not slamming doors. No one was spilling water, nothing was being thrown, and most importantly...no one was upset. Don't you love those moments when they are together and all is well? I had to take a picture as it really only lasted a few minutes.
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Yes looking at this you'd think they actually love eachother:)) There is something about watching my kids sleep that almost makes me want to wake them up and play with them and love them better than I had during the day. ...almost