Christmas

Every year time goes faster and faster and that means that there is less time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I felt frantic during this period trying to get all the shopping done while dealing with obligations from being a room mom, spanish teacher, RS teacher, PTA fund raiser and, of course, everyday Mom stuff. In the middle of the pre-holiday chaos, Matt got called to be Elder's Quorum president in the ward. We don't really know what to expect in this area but are excited for the opportunity.

Kristy and James flew in on Dec 17th. We went to the train park and just hung out for a few days. It was fun to catch up with Isaac and watch Mathew and Levi get to know each other. Freddy, Jenny, Sam and Sheila came in on Friday. I felt bad that we could not offer more comfortable sleeping arrangements to everyone--it was a bit crammed. Mathew had not been feeling well and he was crying a lot more too which didn't help the situation.

On Sunday morning we took Mathew in to the doctor--double ear infections. After stalking up on antibiotics, we went ahead and started up to Snowflake. It was cold but the kids still had fun playing in their back yard. Sam and Sheila also emptied out their garage and put a heater on so that the kids could play out there. Mathew and Levi had a blast. They were chasing, immitating and even throwing the ball to each other.

It seems like during the day the kids had a blast. But as soon as night came it was chaos. Mathew was waking up crying and Matt must have spent 4 days in a row entertaining Mathew from 2-4am. Isaac was also not sleeping at night so the rest of the trip is a blur of no sleep, crying kids and lots of runny noses.

We spent Christmas Eve wrapping presents and watching TV and in the evening we did the traditional reenactment of the manger scene. It was cut short because the babies were trying to open the presents. Sheila had put together packets of "Reindeer food" which they sprinkled outside-it was very cute.


That night, Sophie told Ellie they had to talk to her privately and they both went into the bathroom. They were in there for a long time having what sounded like a very serious conversation. I had my ear to the door but could not make out what they were saying. Suddenly the door flew open and Sophie had a very angry face on..she said " That's it, Mom was listening". I tried to convince her that I'd not heard anything but she was not happy about the situation. She finally agreed to tell me what they were discussing and, with Ellie standing right there, she asked "are you and Dad leaving presents out and pretending they are from Santa?". I explained that Dad and I did wrap presents and leave them out but they were from us...the Santa presents were separate. She kept on pinning me down asking "But are the Santa presents also really from you?" I kept on skirting around the question but she said "Mom, you're not really answering my question". This seemed like a crucial moment and I would have told her the truth but I didn't think it was fair to spoil it for Ellie and probably her friends at school too. Anyway we tried to distract her a little that night talking about other things but she still went to bed annoyed with us. She kept on saying "remember Mom, we don't keep secrets in our family". I felt terrible.

The next morning was fun and nothing more was said of it. Santa brought Sophie a makeup kit and Ellie a panda (exactly what they'd asked for). We spent a few more days in Snowflake and then headed off for Eagar.

Eagar was also very cold and the pattern of sleepless nights continued. Basically everyone got sick. Jenny ended up getting a sinus infection and pink eye the day before her reception and we had a day where nobody knew whether or not to call the whole thing off. In the end they decided to move forward and everything worked out well. Aunt Julie held the reception at their house. All of the Bosens were there from Phoenix and Wes came in from Safford.

Jo had bought and robotic horse and the kids had a blast playing on the horse and with the millions of toys upstairs.

On New Year's day, we decided to stay an extra day to go skiing. We took Sophie along and put her in Ski school for the day. Then Matt and I went skiing/snowboarding. We had not been since we'd gotten married and it was so fun! For a few minutes I felt free again. I thought I would have forgotten how to ski but it's funny how you pick up where you leave off.

The ski school was a waste of money--they didn't even get on the ski lift and all it did was scare Sophie. I guess they don't teach the snowplow technique anymore so it takes a lot longer to feel comfortable enough to actually get out and ski. If we go again, I think we'll just try and teach the girls on our own.

The next day, I watched Isaac and Levi while James and Kristy went skiing and Matt, Sam and Freddy went shooting. Then we left for Phoenix in the afternoon. Even though it was sad to see 2 weeks fly by so quickly, it felt good to be home and start working on getting some kind of routine back.

Christmas memories

January 7, 2008

What did Sophia do for Christmas 2007?
I remember putting on my make up kit. Having fun times. 1/2 way going to the park in Snowflake b/c it was too windy. I got a Chinese fan and I was excited that I got to go to church when I got back. I got to drink hot chocolate with mint. Almost got to fly kites. In Eagar Grandma and Grandpa had animal toys, lincoln logs and crystals for us to play with. I got to go skiing.

What did Ellie do for Christmas?
I got a panda.

Kristy, James, Isaac, and Levi came to stay with us the week before followed by Sam, Sheila, Jenny and Fredy the weekend before Christmas. We then all drove up to Snowflake on Sunday and stayed thru the 25th. We drove to Eagar the day after. Lara, Matt, and Sophia went to Sunrise and Sophia took ski lessons.

Thanksgiving in Utah

Thanksgiving in Utah

(click the picture to see the full album)

We thought we'd be really smart this year and buy our plane tickets to Utah early so we could get a good deal. One by one, members of the family ended up not being able to come. Then Julia started having complications with her pregnancy and so Mom went out to stay with her that week. In the end, the only people there were Dad and Tim & Julia. We were a little sad not to have the family reunion we'd planned for but ended up having a great time. We got more one-on-one time then we would have gotten and it was actually a very relaxing trip.

Mathew fell in love with the cat and spent 90% of the time running around finding "soft" and trying to pet him. We went swimming a lot and went on a fun hike in rock canyon. Tim & Julia have an awesome setup in the basement with their X-box hooked up to a projector tv. The kids loved the Bean measeum...Mathew went crazy and was yelling "soft" at the top of his lungs--he really wanted to pet all of the animals.

The girls had a great time with Grandpa--he read to them, sang a lot, decorated the tree together, told stories, and just hung out. Mathew loved hanging out with Grandpa--the are two peas in a pod.

We found a very yummy Mexican restaurant that we went to twice. We spent Thanksgiving day at Aunt Rosy's house up in Alpine. It was fun to see cousins I've not seen in a long time. The girls really enjoyed meeting new cousins and petting the horse.

We really missed seeing Mom--the timing was unfortunate but we understood that she was needed elsewhere. The airplane ride home was pretty painful. Mathew is no fun to ride on a plane with. I think for our family the balance between flying and driving may be shifting. The comfort of flying no longer out ways the benefits of dri

Ellie's B-Day

Ellie's Birthday was a lot of fun. She really feels so grown up. She also loved everything she got.
We had a party for her at the local park. And although we only invited 3 girls, it still seemed big because they all brought siblings. I stayed up all night trying to make this cake. My Mom gave me the coolest set for a castle case--it had 52 pieces. I used 3 cake mixes and it was still too small to use all the pieces. It definitely did not look like the picture on the box but the kids loved it.

2007.11.1 ellie bday

October

A few days after Sophie's Birthday Party, Matt went on a business trip to England and Australia for 2 weeks. I took advantage of the time to get a firm routine and start a parenting system called "Accountable Kids". The girls took to it well but I had to have all my ducks in a row and coax them through it every day. I would get the kids down early and then spend the evenings organizing and cleaning the house. I must say it's the most organized the house had been in a while.

Matt got home just in time for the ward Halloween party. It was so good to have him back. He brought lots of fun gifts back including a little Wambat which goes everywhere with Ellie. Sophie wanted to be Pocahontas and Ellie wanted to be the "Island Princess". I found Sophie's costume for 3 bucks at Savers but it was way too short so I supplemented with a skirt I made--I bought Indian type fabric. I couldn't get the sewing machine to work so I ended up sewing it by hand at the last minute.

Halloween night was so fun. We stayed in our neighborhood this year which was nice. The girls had so much fun and Mathew slept through the whole thing. It's amazing how much candy they got. Our neighbors sat outside to hand out candy for themselves and us to that was nice.

Sophie's bday

Yesterday was Sophie's Birthday. It started out with breakfast in bed. She opened Grandma/granddaddy Nuttall's and Kristy/James' presents. Then of course, marking her height on the wall was very important.

Matt was able to take a half day off of work and came to the class to have cupcakes and sing Happy Birthday. The teacher pulled me aside and told us that Sophie is an angel in class (I was very proud).

Then Matt went and picked up two kids from their schools so they could come to the party since their parents work. I took a girl home with us to take her to the party and we went to "Pump it up". I was a little late since it was a mad rush from the school. There were a lot more kids than I'd thought--a lot of extra siblings came so there were 31 people. Everyone had a great time. Matt had Mathew the whole time so I got to talk to the parents.

The cake got destroyed on the ride over but oh well overall it was fun. I decided we will have one party a year--alternating Ellie, Sophie and Mathew. On other years, we will just have 1 or 2 friends over to celebrate. We brought 4 kids home with us until their parents could pick them up so the party really didn't end til about 7:30. Then Sophie (and Ellie) opened the presents. We were all so tired afterwards and crashed.

Here are some pics...

Double click on this picture to see the slide show

Sophie's 6th Bday

Quick Trip to Eagar

Matt is going to be out of town for a while so Friday afternoon we decided to drop everything and take a quick trip to Eagar. October is our favorite time of the year there. It was super windy one of the days but we had a great time enjoying the colors and the pumpkins.

2007.10 Eagar trip