2009

Kangaroo Zoo - Enoch (Apr 24)
Goblin Valley - Tresa
BYU Football Game - Gavin (Sept 19)
Sleep over at the Cabin - Gavin (May 30)
Go Swimming - Enoch (Feb 27)
Make Ice Cream - Gavin (Jul 4)
Shuttle Launch - Greg
Mount Rushmore - Tresa
Make a quilt - Tresa (Nov 28)
Ride Tractor - Enoch (Mar 4)
Space Center - Gavin (May 9)
St. George - Tresa (Jan 17-19)
Zoo - Greg (Aug 14)
Paper Airplane Contest - Tresa
Play MarioParty with family - Gavin
Dinosaur Museum - Enoch (Feb 2)
Make a 5-foot snowman - Gavin (Dec 31)
Camping at Yellow Pine - Greg (Aug 6-9)
Bike Jordan Riverway Parkway - Tresa (Sep 9)
Make Oreo Pyramid - Gavin (Dec 30)
Sleep on trampoline - Enoch (Aug 21)
Build a Catapult - Gavin
Liberty Land - Greg
Watch Hot-Air Balloons - Tresa (Jul 3)
Go Fishing - Gavin & Enoch (Aug 7)
Go 4-wheeling - Greg (May 14-16)
Geochaching - Tresa (Aug 8)
Disneyland - Enoch
Visit Outer Space - Gavin
Clark Planetarium - Gavin (Jul 22)

We didn't get in everything on our list, but I think we did a fairly good job. I did posts for most of these. For the few we squeezed in the last few days, I'll post some pictures here.

Make a quilt - Tresa (Nov 28)
I didn't do a full-sized quilt, but I did make a quilt for Lily that matched Kate's. I also sewed most of Kate's winter clothes, her winter pajamas, Enoch's winter pajamas, and doll clothes and pajamas that matched Kate's. That was a project. Maybe a quilt next year? PS - Mom, did you notice Kate's clothes are a cluster? hahaha

Make Oreo Pyramid - Gavin (Dec 30)
I bought a Costco box of Oreos for Gavin's pyramid. Within one day we had one sleeve of cookies left. Gavin built a small pyramid out of those last few cookies. Hey, don't eat them and you will have a bigger pyramid!

Make a 5-foot snowman - Gavin (Dec 31)
The snowman didn't happen, but I figure all the snow forts count for something. The kids got some snow bricks for Christmas and have had so much fun building snow forts. They also received some snowball makers (that work really well) for their battles. We have one snow wall in the front yard and two in the back for battles.

Enjoying our new Toys

We have had fun this Christmas break doing nothing. It feels so good to do nothing. We really have done some things, but mostly nothing - no homework, cleaning, practicing, cooking. Greg was able to get a day off, so we really enjoyed seeing him home. We did go to a movie, play in the snow and organize my sewing room (I'm so excited, more on this later).

Good Things at our Home:
Kate loves her nightlight turtle. Why didn't we give this to her sooner? She has had enormous struggles with being afraid of the dark. She would scream every night for at least 30 minutes before falling asleep. Three days with her turtle and she doesn't make a peep. The turtle is a stuffed animal with a hard shell. There are star cutouts in the shell which then project stars onto the walls and ceilings when turned on. There are three colors of lights - amber, green and blue. Kate likes the green best. What a great thing. We are all so happy!

Enoch has been building pirate ships, kitty houses and spaceships with his Fortamajig. It's great and he is having so much fun with it. He is in such a fort-building phase right now (I'm pretty sure he will never grow out of it knowing his personality), so this is perfect. No more books or clips to try to keep the eight blankets from sliding off the table. The Fortamajig is magical. Do I sound like an infomercial?

Gavin is loving the TV. We have given him unlimited TV time over Christmas break and he has taken full advantage of it. We let him watch Lord of the Rings (he finished the book) and he was in awe. It really is a great TV.

Christmas Sledding

The day after Christmas we celebrated with the Randall family at the cabin. We were hit by a snowstorm a few days before, so we knew there would be a lot of snow. We made it to the cabin fine. Grandpa Dee went up early and plowed the road; we are so thankful he was willing to do that.
We had some pizza for lunch with some fruit and chips and dips. We also had some yummy desserts. After lunch we opened presents. The kids got some books from Grandma and Grandpa Randall and some fun toys from their aunts, uncles and cousins. We then bundled up and braved the cold.
Sledding at the cabin is so much fun. We sled down the hill on the road. Grandpa Dee scrapes just the right amount of snow off so the sleds just fly down. All of the kids (and big boys) had so much fun. Greg brought up the 4-wheeler to pull everyone back up after they slid down. What a fun time! It was so cold, but everyone stayed out until they were exhausted.

Happy Christmas 2009

Our wake-up time on Christmas morning is 6:30 am. Gavin was awake at 6 am, but we had to wake up Enoch and Kate. We probably should have let them sleep in, but Gavin was ready to go and I really like the entire family together to open presents.

We raced downstairs to see what Santa had left in our stockings. Gavin was the first to notice our family present - a new TV! It's huge - 58 inches! The boys were so excited. Enoch kept saying, "It's just so big!"

Santa left some fun things in our stockings. Kate's favorite things were her toothbrush and My Little Pony coloring book and crayon roll.

Enoch liked his toothbrush, snowman socks and chocolate orange. After examining his snow globe-like toothbrush that flashes red he yelled, "Now I've seen ereything (everything)!".

Gavin liked his Preparing for the Priesthood book by Jon Bytheway, chocolate orange and Scout sash.

After stockings, we went upstairs for family prayer and breakfast. We gathered in the family room and finished our nativity advent calendar. We read our scriptures and then had Uncle Jarom place baby Jesus in the manger. Greg offered a very nice family prayer. It was a great way to start our Christmas day.

Greg received his gift from me at the breakfast table. He is getting a year's supply (okay, a gallon a week) of fresh milk and milking lessons. He was very excited and I thought it was the perfect gift for a milk lover. I had to sneak into the Ellis's garage to get the milk while the boys were downstairs playing with their remote-controlled helicopter they got in their stockings.

For breakfast we had breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, strawberries, hot chocolate, eggnog and fresh milk. It was all very yummy, but the kids were anxious to get back downstairs.

Greg opened a sweater, tie and tie tack. I got some sewing things, calendar and cast iron skillet.

Uncle Jarom liked his new clothes, books and crepe maker.

Gavin's favorite gift was his camping gear for Scouts (backpack, hydration pack, sleeping bag, mess kit, first aid kit and pocket knife). He also got a trebechet kit, arrows, the Harry Potter 6 DVD, BYU sweatpants and BYU slipper socks.

Enoch loved his huge, huge bag of Rescue Heroes (gotta love ebay!), Rescue Hero DVD and coloring book. He also received a Fortamajg, BYU hat and BYU shirt.

Kate was in heaven with her new baby doll, Lily. Lily has matching jammies and clothes with Kate, a bed (with a quilt that matches Kate's), a feeding set and a stroller. Kate couldn't be happier. She also got a bouncy horse, some board books, 2 My Little Ponies, BYU jacket and a BYU bear, Cosmo.

Wow! What a Christmas.

We watched the movie G Force on our new TV and it was incredible (the TV, not the movie). We then went to Fowler's and visited with Grandpa and Grandma and all the cousins. We came home and just relaxed the rest of the day.

Uncle Jarom

We were so lucky to have Uncle Jarom stay with us this year for Christmas. My parents are on a mission in Africa, so as a single, BYU student, Jarom was available for Christmas. We are so happy he chose to spend Christmas with our family.
Enoch especially loved having Uncle Jarom around. Jarom is the only person who gets to ride in Enoch's fire thunder boat with him. But, Uncle Jarom has to hold on really tight when the propellers start because the boat goes really fast and then turns into an airplane. He also has to wear his seat belt to be safe. They are metal seat belts so they are really strong.
Enoch and Uncle Jarom have a secret handshake. It involves lacing their fingers together and then wiggling them until they are loose (or something like that. I'm not exactly sure because it's secret!)
I hope we didn't wear Jarom out with our energetic kids. We loved having him stay with us.

Christmas Traditions - Part 4

Dec 21 - Tonight, we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas. What a holiday classic! We are losing a bit of steam with our daily traditions. We are trying to make it to Christmas!

Dec 22 - This day didn't exactly work out the way we wanted, but, oh well. Greg had to work late - nothing new about that except tonight he really wanted to be home by six. Why? The Las Vegas Bowl, of course! He didn't get home until half-time. We listened to it on the radio (I think our family is the only hold-out without cable!), made mint brownies for Greg's work party the next day, cleaned up, bathed the kids, wrapped some presents and worked on some bunny puppets for the Humanitarian Center. Busy night. BYU did win. Hooray!

Dec 23 - My entire day was thrown off when I slipped down our front porch stairs and deeply bruised my tail bone (which I have already broken). I spent the rest of the day in bed alternating between having an ice pack and a heating pad on my behind. Gavin was such a great help with the kids and our Christmas miracle happened when Greg was able to come home early from work. Greg and the kids went to Uncle Jarom's birthday party that night and I stayed in bed.

Dec 24 - We spent the morning straighting up (as best I could) and getting ready for Christmas. Greg came home about 2 pm. We made some truffles, tomato soup for the party, and visited with Uncle Jarom (who is staying with us for Chrismtas). The Evans Christmas Eve party was in Lehi this year and a lot of fun. We ate dinner (soup, rolls, treats), visited and watched the children's production of the nativity story.
Kate wore her Halloween angel costume and looked so cute, if not confused. She wasn't sure where she should be, so she kept running to the opposite end of the stage. Enoch was a wise man. Actually, he was a wise king, because he was the best and knew everything. Gavin was talked into the nativity for one last year and played the part of a shepherd.

After the party, we came home and finished our truffles. We rolled them in cocoa and powdered sugar. Very yummy!

We hung our stockings for Santa, prayed and tried to get the kids in bed.
They really did go to sleep quickly (exhausted, I think). Gavin slept upstairs so Uncle Jarom could sleep in his bed. Uncle Jarom was a great help for Mom, Dad and Santa.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town!

I'll admit up front, I've never really pushed Santa Claus with my kids. He's there, he's a part of Christmas, but never really a pivotal part of our family celebrations. I'd never take my kids to go wait in line at the mall for a picture with Santa. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not my thing. When I found out that Santa Claus was visiting The Treehouse Preschool today, I decided to take Kate, get a few pictures of the kids and see what happened.
Enoch seemed a bit hesitant from the start. As soon as Santa Claus came into the room, he plugged his ears and covered his eyes. I don't think he was afraid, just uncertain. Kate just kept checking him out from afar. When it was Enoch's turn to sit on Santa's lap, he wouldn't do it. He sat on my lap while I sat next to Santa. He warmed up after a bit, but not enough to get too close. He told Santa Claus he has been good and wants a fire thunder boat. Any ideas about that? I'm stumped.
Kate completely surprised me and sat on Santa's lap. I was thinking she wouldn't come within 10 feet of him. She sat very still and wouldn't look at his face, but she did sit there.
I don't think my kids will ever be too into Santa (and that's fine with me), but it was fun to see him!

Christmas Sunday

Christmas Sunday is one of my favorite Sundays of the year. I love the choir program (our ward choir does an amazing job!), seeing all the kids in their Christmasy colors and just knowing that Christmas is almost here!
This Sunday we had a lazy morning because Greg was actually home. We played in the snow, read the paper, talked and Skyped with Grandma and Grandpa Randall. I started feeling extra guilty when I was dressing Kate in her Christmas dress that the boys didn't have new outfits, but they didn't mind. They still looked very cute.

For nursery today, I found these great nativity stickers from Oriental Trading. Our nursery kids had a great time with them. They didn't quite get everything in the right places, but they were so cute. Here is Kate's:

After church we had a yummy dinner of ham, sweet potatoes and rolls. Enoch and Greg played the game, Landlocked after dinner. We finished delivering our Christmas gifts to teachers and then visited Grandpa and Grandma Fowler. After Kate and Enoch were in bed, Gavin, Greg and I played a few rounds of Frog Juice. It has been a great day!

Christmas Traditions - Part 3

Dec 13 - The kids love decorating the Gingerbread House every year. I know they eat more candy than goes on the house, but that's what it is all about, right? Enoch and Gavin each took a side to decorate. Enoch put a number 4 on his side and Gavin wrote about BYU in frosting, then covered it in candy. The kids have been picking at it all week and now most of the candy is gone.

Dec 14 - Tonight for Family Home Evening we talked about British Christmas traditions. Greg served his mission in Great Britain and we both have many ancestors from England and Wales. Greg talked to the kids about what happens at Christmas (mostly like things are done here) and then Mom had a special surprise. I had made some Christmas crackers. Mine weren't fancy or elaborate, but the kids had such an amazing time ripping them open and then playing with the toys. Each person had 1 mini Twix and 2 small sticky hands in their crackers. I can't believe how much sticky hands entertain boys! We will definitely do this again.

Dec 15 - Today we delivered our teacher treats. I made some yummy caramel apple butter in the fall and dressed the jars up with some fabric and ribbon. We got most of them out, but we still have a few more to deliver.

Dec 16 - Delicious! We decorated sugar cookies with lots of frosting and sprinkles. Kate took over the red and green mix of sprinkles and she wouldn't let anyone else use them. We love this tradition and the frosted cookies went very, very fast.

Dec 17 - Enoch performed in his Christmas preschool program tonight. It was adorable and Enoch did a great job.

Dec 18 - We took the night off.

Dec 19 - We are, as I type, watching Elf. The kids and I (Greg is working again) cleaned out the toys to make room for our new Christmas goodies and we are rewarding ourselves with a very, very funny movie.