The magic of the first snow

There is something magic about the first snowfall of the season!  We had ours mid-November, but I never got around to posting these until now.  We were all so excited!  It was quite a bit of snow for the first time around, not just a little skiff.  So there was plenty to play in.  Lucy loved it, but kept taking off her gloves.  She was intrigued and kept picking it up and touching it and playing with it in her hands. 

Cal lasted for about an hour this time around (that's pretty good for him!) until he was ready to go inside and warm up and drink some hot chocolate!

Then we snuggled and read some books and got warm by the fire.  This is a cute book, and I thought this page was perfect for a snowy day like we had.

Emma played outside pretty much all day!  We did a little sledding, snowball fights, made a partial igloo with the neighbors, then she made snowmen - they're her and Cal.  She loves the snow and wishes every day were a snow day!

I really love being able to see the magic of life through the eyes of a child again, by seeing things and people the way they see them.  Most of us grown ups complain and moan when it snows or when things aren't the way we want them.  But kids are happy in the moment.  They enjoy what life is giving them now.  They think others are great and always think the best of them.  I hope I can be more like them.  I think it is what the Savior meant when He told us to become as a little child.  So glad I have three so I can hopefully learn from them what I need to do!

We had a Happy Thanksgiving here!

Our Thanksgiving this year has been a little unusal, but it's been really good! 

 

We've been preparing for the holiday by reading books and talking about Thanksgiving.  I was also in charge of a playgroup.  We made pilgrim and Indian hats, little pinecone turkeys, turkey apple snacks, I am thankful game, and made little boats and floated them "across the ocean".  

Emma gave us a Family Home Evening lesson on gratitude.  She had us all draw something we were grateful for.  She was thankful to see snow.  She did a good job!

My parents were going to come for Thanksgiving, but my dad just found out that his job (where he's been for 30 years) will be eliminated.  So he has the choice to take early retirement, which he's not ready for, get a new job, or move to Sacramento.  So he's kind of stressed out and said they didn't want to put a damper on our holidays.  So we were sad they weren't able to come, we miss them!  Also, our other friends were going to join us but they had some other friends coming in town at the last minute, so they did Thanksgiving with them.  But we had a nice little holiday all by ourselves.  n Thanksgiving morning, we slept in, then watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  The kids were delighted! 

Then we did lots of cooking, Emma and I.  Dave tried to convince me that we should go out to eat.  But it's just not the same!  I insisted even though it was just us we had to make dinner!  Emma was a good helper, and Dave helped a lot too!

Besides cooking, we read, made some Thanksgiving hats, and did had a few snacks to pass the time. 

The highlight of the day was playing football outside together!  We played boys against girls, and I didn't get any pictures, but we had a blast and laughed so much!  It was one of those moments I wanted to freeze in my memories forever.  I forgot to take any pictures though!  Then the kids played apple bowling on the deck, and I went back in to finish things off. 

Then, it was time to eat!  We had a yummy turkey, real mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, corn, stuffing, cranberry sauce, orange rolls and regular rolls.  Mmmm...

They all have their favorite things.  Emma's our carnivore and loves meat, she thought this piece of turkey was cool because it was a heart shape!

Cal got stuffed on orange rolls! 

Lucy loved the "jou" (juice) and kept asking for more.  We tried this cranberry sierra Mist and it was really good!

For pies, we had pumpkin from Costco, and I made a caramel apple stuesel and chocolate pie.  I didn't take the time to make them fancy, since it was just us, but they sure tasted good!

It was so wierd to be by ourselves, but a good experience. 

We had our Thankful tree in our entry way that we made.  When someone would come to our house, we'd give them a leaf and let them write something they were thankful for.  It added up and was fun to see the responses.  Everything from God, my bed, the scriptures, teachers, food, neighbors and lots more were on there!  It was fun!

I wrote a little note to Dave on our dry erase board in our room.  I got a cute one back too that made me laugh out loud!

That night, we watched Charly Brown's Thanksgiving, played some games, called and Skyped with family.  It was a nice day!  Just what Thanksgiving should be!  :)  Food, family and fun!

Happy 4th Birthday, Callahan!

Cal is four now, which means he is out of the troublesome threes now, right?  Right?  No, he's so sweet, but he really likes to make trouble!  :)  Well, the party started the night before his birthday, when he decided (along with some help from sister) that he was going to open his presents a little early, since he couldn't wait any longer.  His presents I had wrapped and put in a big bag by our Christmas tree, and it stayed there for many days without anyone touching or bothering them.  Well, I thought the kids were in bed for the night, so I went downstairs in the basement to do laundry and my exercising.  Dave was working busily on a final paper in our room with the door shut.  When I came back on the main level to finish up cleaning the kitchen, I heard some footsteps pitter patting across the floor around 11 p.m.  I went in to the kids bedroom to see what was going on, and this is what I saw...

AHHH!  They must have been so quiet and sneaky!  I wasn't sure if I should scream or laugh!  I told them to hurry and get to bed and then we'd worry about it in the morning.  I went and told Dave and we just laughed about it!  Crazy kids, they're so funny!  Cal definately keeps us on our toes at all times!  Well, morning came and he didn't have any presents to open that day because he opened them all the night before, except a new outfit we gave him. He love, loved his main present though: Marbleworks with expansion packs.  He was fascinated, and still is, saying it's the most awesome toy ever!  We've all had so much fun playing with it.  We made a special breakfast for him, played, read his favorite books, and looked at his baby book. 

That afternoon, we went to Mobius Kids museum.  Cal's favorite is the water table, he could be there for hours!

Emma and Lucy also had fun playing at Mobius!  It's a kid's science museum, and the kids love it!

Later that night, we went to Shakey's Pizza and got some pizza and played a few arcade games, then we had cupcakes and ice-cream and sang to the little guy!  It was a fun day for a fun four-year-old!

We also had a "Sound the Alarm" firefighter birthday party.  Cal loves firemen and firetrucks and requestsed this birthday months ago!  So, the Saturday after, we invited all of his friends over for a little party.  I was making a cake for him the night before his party, like I do for everyone in our family on their birthdays.  Except this time I experienced a cake fail.  That's right, this is what happened to the cake - another AHHHH!!!  I was almost done with this cute fire engine cake at about 12:15 a.m., when it slid off the counter and onto the floor like this...

It wouldn't have been so bad except for that i was almost done.  I swirled in red and orange food coloring to make the cake look like flames and the cake just needed the candy lights and buttons and I was going to add some writing.  I screamed and said "Oh no!" and Dave rushed down and said it was okay, and gave me good hugs and made me feel better.  I was still pretty mad about it, but proud of myself that I never cried!  The next day we just ran and purchased cup cakes.  They didn't match the theme of his party, but oh well. 

His guests started arriving and we had a great time!  Cal was the Fire Chief.  He loved playing with his remote control firetruck!  We also played "Keep the fire off the ground" and the kids kept yellow, red and orange balloons of the ground while we were waiting for everyone to arrive. 

We had a bunch of yummy food - "fire extinguishers" (water), "fire hoses" (licorice), "Carrot flames" (didn't get touched), "Cheeto flames" (definately got touched), Fireballs, and Red Hots. 

Cal's Happy Birthday sign.  He loved it so much we just took it down yesterday, a week after the party.  He begged me to keep it up that long!

All of the kids got little fire hats when they arrived at the party.  Then it was time for the fun and games to begin!

First all of the kids got to make a little fire truck.  It was a crafty one they could color, and then they cut out and folded and glued it together.  They turned out really cute.  Then we played "I have a fire doggy and it won't get you, and it won't get you, but it will get you!"

Next, we had a fireman relay.  We had each of the kids take turns putting on their fireman outfit, sliding down the firepole, dodging some toy cars, helping an "old lady" cross the street, rescuing a kitty from a tree, and finally putting out the fire.  It was so cute!  I didn't take many pics because I was so busy being the old lady.  I thought the kids would think that would be funny to put the curly wig, glasses and shawl on, but none of them wanted to do that.  Luckily, my friend Talia who came over took some black mail pictures, but I haven't seen them posted on facebook...yet.  Ha ha!  But the kids were so cute and loved this!

Next was present time!  Cal was so excited and asked the whole party when we could open presents.  He got some fun things!  He also got some fun cards and money and presents from family!  Thank to you all who sent stuff - he loved it and was so excited!

Then we sang happy birthday to the kid, they were all pretty happy about the Angry Bird cupcakes!

Making a wish...

Mmmm...chocolate cupcakes!  Actually, Cal is a frosting kind of a guy!  :) 

Lucy liked trying to grab everyone's leftover cupcakes when they left the table, yuck!  This girl is a sugar fiend!

We also let all of the kids drive around in this fire truck.  They all loved it and I snapped a picture of them all.  Happy birthday, sweet Cal!  I hope you had a red hot 4th birthday!