Christmas...

...Cookies
...Dresses

...Ballet

...Eve Dinner and Nativity

...Eve Presents (snow globes. precious.)

...Gifts for Santa and his reindeer

...Morning






...Breakfast

...Cheer! We hope your Christmas celebrations were wonderful!!

Milestones

Eliza: Stopped sucking her thumb! Much less painful of an experience than I was anticipating. It began with tying a ribbon to her thumb to remind her not to put it in her mouth. Then we tied the ribbon to a bracelet she earned by not sucking her thumb at bedtime. Each night for a while she wore the bracelet with the ribbon to remind her. Then we painted her nails and now the polish reminds her. She doesn't suck her thumb at all anymore. Yes!!

Andrew: Has taken a small step out on his own. To explain, Andrew has a fear of separation from us. Doesn't affect him at school, but does for most other experiences without us. Like scouts. Normally Daniel would be at the church at the same time as Cub Scouts. Well, he doesn't have to be anymore, so we sent Andrew to scouts with another family. And he did it! He went and was picked up and didn't melt down! Even bigger, he went to a birthday party at an ice skating rink. He rode there with a buddy and came back with them. No problems! Is this a taste of freedom I am feeling?

Field trip and Bday party!

A couple weeks ago I accompanied Abby on a field trip to Shalom Wilderness Sanctuary. I went with Andrew when he was in first grade--it's so fun! We took a ride on a tractor (think hay ride with benches made to feel like a sleigh ride) with Santa as the driver! He is such a great Santa--he teaches the kids about animals that live in Wisconsin (and some at the North Pole too), sings carols, and has giant stockings full of little gifts for the kids along the way. Then we stopped at the lodge for hot chocolate and cookies (and lunch) afterward. We all loved it!

Another December adventure was throwing a birthday party for my good friend, DeAnn's daughter, Megan! I had auctioned off a birthday party for a boy scout fundraiser at our church earlier in the year and DeAnn bought it. Of course she did--her girl's birthday is on Christmas!! Smart Mommy. We threw the party early of course. Here are the girls playing the candy bar game--an old classic and favorite. They reminded me how fun and WILD the game gets!!
The party theme was "art" so we also made silly portraits of each other (props to make themselves look ridiculous--Debra--those noses came in handy!!), made blob art (put blobs of paint on one half of a paper-fold-press-open), and played a fun drawing game (draw things either with eyes closed, without picking up the pen, or make it from playdoh). Judging from the amazingly high level of noise throughout the afternoon, I think the girls had fun. :) To go with the art theme, I had Megan draw her own picture for her cake. I used her adorable reindeer and made the design into a cake! "Framed", of course.

Grandma Hovik

Sadly, this December Daniel's Grandma Hovik passed away. Daniel was able to attend her funeral in Utah. He couldn't say enough about how touching the experience was. How he was able to reminisce and enjoy the memories of his Grandma and see so many relatives together again.This is how I remember Grandma Hovik--that picture of her laughing--the time I've known her she's always been full of enthusiasm and zest! We will miss her.
Debra amazed me as she handled this event without her husband, John. He was in Hong Kong and nearly unreachable. Though they did make contact, he couldn't reasonably return for the funeral. I'm glad all the brothers were able to make it there to support Debra and their Grandpa.

Potato Guns

Daniel's long-time friend, Rand also abides in Arkansas. Rand and his wife, Sarah had us over to their acreage while we were in town for a new experience: shooting potato guns! Sarah's Dad has these guns rigged up--it's a wonderful combination of pvc pipes, hairspray, and a spark. If you have a hunk of potato in that pipe it'll shoot a good couple hundred feet! It was awesome! We had so much fun! Abby really got into it. If I knew how, I'd make her one for Christmas. Ok, not really.

We also got together with Rand, Sarah, and some of Sarah's family for gingerbread cookie decorating, lots of great food, socializing, and the BYU vs. UTAH game. It was so great--and we loved that BYU came out on top! (Dad, I really meant to email and rub it in, I hope someone else did!)

Arkansas Outings

After Thanksgiving we took an outing to the original Walton's Five and Dime. So cool to see Wal-Mart's beginnings! We picnicked in the quaint square downtown.

Aunt Heidi loaded the kids up with pennies to throw in the fountain...they are so lucky! A lot of wishes were made!
We also visited Pea Ridge for some civil war history.

Other kids got in trouble for climbing on the cannon. Somehow our 20 minutes of enjoyment was overlooked!

A Thankful Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we were thankful for much:

A new-to-us dvd player that pretty-much-worked-kind of on our 12.5 hour drive to Bentonville, AR

An amazing turkey recipe compliments of Martha Stewart

Katie for sticking her arm all the way in to rub herbs...between the meat and the skin

Loving husbands who love us...and love carving turkeys (we think)
Awesome family to be with and who love to stay up late talking and playing games

Heidi for amazing pies
Cousins who were thrilled to be together

A fabulous yard for tree climbing and kickball

A beautiful home with plenty of space for us all
A new haircut (about time!)

Stunning weather...good enough for a walk to the gazebo and a rollicking game of hide and seek
A Norman Rockwell moment with children singing along toChristmas songs around the player piano
And the desire to do it all over again!