Christmas is coming

The Christmas season has begun. We had our ward party last night, it was "A Night in Bethlehem." So we were all supposed to dress like we were from Bethlehem in the days when Jesus was born. A lot of work went into decorating the foyer and gym to look like a marketplace. It looked great. And there was yummy food. I spent all week making pita bread (not authentic because it had yeast in it, but good anyway), and made yogurt to make tzatiki, and helped make hummus. They had lots of other good food too. I think everyone had fun. The kids really had fun dressing up. Alice was quite enamored with her costume. And Simon wanted to wear his headdress to bed. (I made the costumes out of sheets and tablecloths and felt I bought at Goodwill.) It thought these pictures were fun so I wanted to share.

Oh, the little baby is a Joseph Yule, he belongs to another ward member. He was enjoying the comfy manger!

Funny things my kids say

Here is another installment of funny things my kids say:

Simon - I didn't spend all my money, right? (He got birthday money recently)
Me - No you have $5.
Simon - I'm in the black!

Who knew his 5-year old mind would grasp the concept of red/black financial descriptors that we explained to Eli a couple of days earlier when he asked about Black Friday! Gotta love it!

Happy Thanksgiving

I really like Thanksgiving and the time we all spend thinking about all the many blessings we have. I know that I am truly blessed and have so much to be thankful for. At dinner one night this past week (no not on Thanksgiving but prior to it), as a family we did ABCs of things for which we are grateful. So here is some of that exercise

A - Alice, it is good for me to remember that I am thankful for her and all her 2-year oldness.
B - Beds
C - Cars
D - Dad, both mine and the great one that Joe is!
E - Education and Eli
F - Family and friends and Freedom
G - Grandparents
H - Home
I - Ice cream
J - Joseph Smith
K - Knowledge
L - Love
M - Moms
N - Nighttime so we can see the stars
O - Opportunities (Eli thought of this one!)
P - Prayer
Q - Quiet times
R - Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
S - Simon and Scriptures
T - Telephones
U - Underwear!
V - Voting
W - Water
X - X-rays
Y - Yummy food
Z - Zippers
It would only take 4 things in each letter to have more than 100. Makes me realize how many great things I have to be thankful for and how easy it really is to count my blessings!

Halloween

I know it has been a couple of weeks, but here are some pictures from Halloween, Simon's birthday gathering and raking leaves.

Here is Alice as a ladybug and Simon the fearsome pirate.

My 3 cuties! Eli was Garfield.

This little girl is Riley. She is in Simon's preschool class. They found each other during the Trick-or-treat down Main Street, and the next thing I know, they were holding hands!

We had trunk-or-treat for our ward activity Saturday before Halloween. We dressed up as "Gilligan's Island"

Here is Simon with his cupcake cake. A definite pirate at heart!


Aren't these girls cute. It was a beautiful day and we had fun raking the leaves and jumping in them. I couldn't resist putting Taryn in the leaves in her pumpkin outfit!

Time to brag

I just wanted to take a moment and be proud of my kids. First, Eli. We went to parent/teacher conference for Eli and he is doing awesome in 3rd grade. His teacher thinks he is a great kid, and I know he is. He is very smart. She said they gave the kids the test for the end of 3rd grade, to see where the kids are, and he scored a 96%! And he has an average of 100% on all his math tests for the year so far! He is a smart kid and I am proud of him for doing a good job and continuing to try. I am a little concerned that he will not learn anything in 3rd grade (well he does need to work on his handwriting....), but hopefully the teachers will find something to challenge him with :)

Simon turned 5 yesterday! I can't believe he is 5! He is so much fun and so inspiring in his love of life. He is also very smart, he reads like a pro already! He loves preschool and dressing up. He was born at the right time of year because he sure loves Halloween (and Christmas, he is standing here reading as I type and insisting I add Christmas). He is so awesome at making me feel like a great mom because he gets so excited about little things. I bought him a pirate costume for Halloween, various parts from Goodwill, and he was so excited you would think he won the lottery. He told me it was the best ever and I am the best. Ohhhh, so sweet. I wish everyone had a Simon! (But I am keeping mine for myself!)

Is there a family resemblance?

Here are pictures of me when I was little...



And here is Alice now...

I love her in pigtails, but it makes her so little girl instead of baby :(

(Of course she also never leaves them in for very long!)

At a loss

I felt like I should post something today, in memory of 9/11. I don't know what to say about it really. I have mostly avoided reading or watching anything about it because it I know it will make me cry. Even 10 years later. The thought of all those that died, all those that helped, and most of all, those that survived and are mourning the loss of someone. Thinking about kids growing up without their mom or dad because of what happened is what gets me most. I don't know any one directly that died or lost someone, but I feel it. We all feel it. I know our country is different because of it, even from my little house out here on the eastern plains of Colorado. I just want to extend my sympathy to all those out there who have been so much more affected by the events of this day than I have. I pray for all of you and for our country. I am so thankful to live in the United States of America.