Decorating The Christmas Tree - November 30, 2013

Saturday - November 30, 2013

Thanksgiving 2013 - November 28, 2013

We went to Linda's house for Thanksgiving this year. It was a lot of fun.  I love spending time with my family.  I brought my camera and camcorder, but I forgot to use them.  So, I have no pictures to remind us of this day.  The kids had fun playing with their cousins.  Kristy and her kiddos weren't there this year, so that was a bummer.

After we left Linda's we went to Cindi's house to visit with some of Roger's family.  It was his mom's birthday, so we made sure we got a chance to go and see her.  We had fun visiting and eating pie, then we headed home.  It was a good day.  I took some pictures of the kiddos before we left to go to Salt Lake.  I just love my children!

 Brinley is just goofy.  I came in the living room to take her picture and she was putting some carmex on.  She is too goofy!  Any time I ask her to smile for a picture, she starts in with the crazy poses and funny faces.  Good times!

BMX Cake - November 27, 2013

Wednesday - November 27, 2013

I made this cake for a guy that Roger works with.

Missing Teeth and Pre-Thanksgiving - November 25, 2013

We had a pre-Thanksgiving Dinner, because Roger got a free Turkey from his work.  I don't make pies very often.  I should make them more, because Roger loves them so much.  The first time I tried to make a pie, I was so frustrated, because I thought making the pie crust would be so easy and it wasn't.  I kept messing it up.  I didn't mix enough water in with it and that made it so I couldn't get it to stick together very well after I rolled it out, so getting it into the pie tin was impossible.  I'd end up with a really funny looking pie crust after I'd lay it in the pie tin and patch in the pieces that broke off when I tried to transfer it.  After my first disappointing experience with trying to make the pie crust, I didn't feel like trying again.  I'm not a big fan of pies anyways, so I wasn't very motivated to figure out how to do it right. Every few years or so, I'd try again and have the same results.  Well, this year, I finally did it!  I finally figured out what it was that I was doing wrong.  It only took twelve years of marriage, but I did it.  I only tried 3 or 4 times during all of those years, but it is still pretty sad that it took me twelve years to figure it out.  Here is the picture of my first successful pie crust.

 Roger and Brinley waiting for the food to be ready.

 Alissa and Brinley both ended up losing a tooth at school on the same day.  They were so excited when they got home from school.  They both came racing in the door to tell me what had happened.  They both had loose teeth and they both just happened to have their tooth fall out today.

 Here we are enjoying our Dinner!

Brinley's Loose Tooth and Flyers for Alissa's Play - November 24, 2013

Sunday - November 24, 2013

Brinley has another loose tooth.  It's so funny how scared she gets about it.  My sister, Kelly posted a picture of her daughter with a loose tooth the other day.  It was really funny to see that Delia had the same loose tooth as Brinley.  Kelly told how Delia doesn't like to pull out her tooth.  She gets scared and does all she can to keep it from falling out.  It was funny to learn that Brinley has a cousin that is so much like her.  Brinley gets so scared about loosing her teeth, but once they're out, she is so excited.

Alissa got a flyer yesterday at Play practice.  She is so excited to start letting people know about the play she will be in.

Play Practice - November 23, 2013

Alissa is going to be in a play at the Old Barn.  It has been a lot of work.  She spends a lot of time going to play practice.  I'm pretty sure she is getting really tired of it.  She hasn't complained about it at all, but I can tell she is ready for it all to be done.  Practice is just about over.  The play starts the first weekend in December.  That means for the month of December, Alissa will be busy every Friday, Saturday, and Monday night.  It's exciting for her to be in a play.  She just decided this last year, that she is very interested in acting.  She plans to take drama classes in school and be in as many plays as she can.  I'm excited for her.  It's so fun to watch your children grow and figure out who and what they want to be.

Turkey Crafts - November 22, 2013

Friday - November 22, 2013

I signed up to be a room mother this year in Parker and Brinley's classes.  A lot of other mom's signed up in Parker's class, but only one other mom signed up in Brinley's class.  Since I signed the list first, I got stuck being the head room mom in Brinley's class.  I don't mind helping out, but I don't think I like being in charge.  I don't think I'll be signing up to be a room mother again after this.  Next year I'll be too busy doing daycare that I won't be able to do this again anyway.

So, for Thanksgiving, the PTA provided a treat for the room mother activity, but we had to do the rest.  The class party went really well.  The other room mom came and she brought a game for the kids to play, called 'Don't Eat Pete!'  Brinley' loves that game, so I knew the kids would all enjoy it.  I brought a craft for the kids to make.  It was a turkey that you color in by gluing beans, rice, and noodles onto it.  I wasn't sure if the kids would like it, since I had Brinley try making one the night before and she got frustrated and said she didn't like it.  So, I printed up a bunch of activity pages to entertain the kids who weren't interested in the craft I had planned.  Everyone in the class liked the craft (thank goodness)!  I felt really bad though.  I didn't think about what a big mess it would make.  The floor was covered with rice, beans and noodles by the time we finished.

Here is a picture of the turkey I made and the turkey's Parker and Brinley started to make, but didn't want to finish.  The colored in turkey's are from the activity pages I made for Brinley's class.  Brinley made one and a boy in her class, Tanner, made the other one.  I used to babysit Tanner, so he hangs around me a lot when I go and help the class.  When he finished the turkey he said that he made it for me and he gave it to me to take home.  That was nice.

Playing on The Playground - November 20, 2013

Wednesday - November 20, 2013

Josie and Hannah's kids came over and played on the playground with us for a little while.  Parker and Brinley were really excited to have a chance to play with those kids.  Josie lives in the house that is directly across the street from our old house.  We just got to know Hannah's kids this summer.  I worked at the daycare with Hannah back in 2008, but none of the kids really remember each other from back then.

When it was time to leave, I convinced Parker and Brinley to play a game that I made up and loved playing when I was a child.  I called it dizzy racing.  Everybody spins around as fast as they can until someone falls.  As soon as someone falls, the race starts.  It is so fun trying to run when you are dizzy.  Usually, no one would make it to the finish line.  We usually ended up laying on the ground laughing and trying to recover from our dizziness.  So, Parker and Brinley started to spin.  Brinley wasn't going very fast, so I told her to spin faster.  She complained that she couldn't spin very well in the grass.  She wanted to try spinning on the black top.  I told Parker to stop spinning so we could all talk about it.  He stopped spinning and tried to walk over to me.  He barely took two steps before he lost his balance and fell.  The bad thing is that he fell the way he would when he was a baby.  It's like his head is heavy or something.  He always manages to hit his head.  I have a hard time describing the way he falls, but it always ends with a big bump on his head.  Luckily we were in the grass, so he didn't get a bump on his head, but he was not happy about the fall.  I felt bad for him.  Maybe that is not a good game for Parker, since it seems that no matter how he falls, he always manages to hit his head.

Carbon Monoxide False Alarm - November 19, 2013

Tuesday - November 19, 2013

This morning as the kids and I were getting ready for school, there was a news story about carbon monoxide at an elementary school.  The kids wanted to know what carbon monoxide was.  So, I told them what I knew about it and showed them that our smoke detectors were also carbon monoxide detectors.  After our conversation, I walked into the kitchen to make breakfast for the kids.  And that's when it happened.  The fire alarm went off, but it didn't sound the same as we were used to.  The pitch was a little different, but it was still loud and just as annoying.  As soon as the kids realized what the sound was, they all took off running out the front door.  They were all still in pajamas and had no shoes on, but they didn't care.  They were scared and just wanted to get out of here.  I didn't race out the door.  I was confused, because I didn't see any smoke or anything, I almost thought maybe the sound was coming from something else.  As I was looking around, a voice on the alarm said, "Warning! Carbon Monoxide! Warning! Carbon monoxide!"  That it went back to it's regular long loud beep sound.  That's when I realized that the alarms upstairs were also going off.  I grabbed a blanket for the kids and went outside with them, leaving the door partially opened.  The kids were really scared and cold, so I took them to a neighbor's house.  As we stood in the cold, waiting for them to answer the door, we could still here the loud alarm going off in our house.  I kept wondering how the neighbors on either side of us weren't hearing it.  Anyways, so we got the phone number for the police department and I called for them to come check it out.  They told us to wait inside the neighbor's house and that's where they would come and find us when they arrived.  They asked if any of us were feeling sick.  Alissa woke up with diarrhea and my tummy hurt a little, but I thought it was probably just from something I had eaten the night before.  So, they sent and ambulance, a fire engine and a couple police cars.  The EMT's came in and checked Alissa while the firemen checked our house.  The firemen came to get us and tell us they didn't detect any carbon monoxide.  They said, that when they went in the alarm had stopped.  They guessed that it was the batteries or something that caused it to go off.  So, I'm glad that we are all okay and there was no carbon monoxide, but I wish the alarm would have stopped before I called the police.  I felt really stupid having them all come and it was nothing.

The whole experience was really traumatizing for the kids.  When we got back inside and everyone had left, they all just broke down and cried.  They ended up missing their bus' to get to school.  When they all calmed down, they said they wanted to go, so I called a friend and she drove them to school for me (This is one of those times that it would have been really nice to have two vehicles).

When the kids got home from school, they wouldn't leave my side.  They were scared that the alarm would go off again.  It was hard to get them to sleep tonight also, the alarm, just scared them sooo... bad.

Snow! - November 16, 2013

Saturday - November 16, 2013

The second snow storm of the year.  We love the snow!  The kids were so excited that they got to be home to play in the snow this time.  They were stuck in school during the last storm.  By the time school was over, the snow was melted.  So they were really excited about the snow today.

My Cousin's Wedding - November 15, 2013

Friday - November 15, 2013

My cousin, John Altig married Deanna Hartshorn today.  My cousin grew up in Alaska, so I only met him once or twice before this day.  My sister, Linda did an amazing job with all of the decorations.  I'm always so impressed by her talent and the things she comes up with.  I made the wedding cake.  This wedding was really nice, because, we didn't cater it.  It was nice to be able to relax and enjoy the reception after all the decorating was done.  

Towards the end, a wedding crasher came.  He came over and talked to my sisters, he told them that he used to be a member and he had a reception like this.  Then he mentioned that everybody had their phones and they didn't have that stuff back then.  He started talking about how computers are taking over the world.  Missy said, they thought he was being funny, so they laughed.  But, he didn't take to kindly to that, he told them all that he hopes they all make it to the Celestial Kingdom or maybe they could just beam themselves there on their phones.  Then, as he started to leave, Mikal (Missy's husband) told him not to let the door hit him on the way out.  I was over sitting with my Grandma when this happened, do I didn't hear it all, that's just what I was told happened.  I was really sad that I missed out on that.  I love crazy encounters like that.  I love having those kind of fun stories to share.  Here are some pictures of the decorations at the wedding:

One of My Favorite Main Dishes - November 13, 2013

Wednesday - November 13, 2013

I just really love this meat loaf.  I wish Roger loved it more.  Then we could eat it more often.  These are called Little Cheddar Meat Loaves.  I love the way they taste.  When I saw meat loaf cupcakes with mashed potatoes piped on to the top, like you would icing, I decided to get creative with the food I normally make.

Brinley's Cute Hair - November 7, 2013

Thursday - November 7, 2013

Brinley wanted her hair done in a heart braid today.  She picked out the cute hair ribbons to match her shirt.  I love it when she lets me do her hair.  I wish she would let me style it more often.

Helpful Children - November 3, 2013

Sunday - November 3, 2013

I love having church start later in the day.  That means we get an extra sleep in day.  Parker and Brinley never want to wake up on school mornings, but when they know they can sleep in, they almost always wake up early.  So, Parker and Brinley woke up a lot earlier than me today.  They came downstairs and fixed themselves some bowls of cereals.  When they finished eating, they had a brilliant idea.  They decided that they would surprise me by mopping the floor.  They filled two buckets with soapy water, then they each got out a handful of dish rags.  They neatly laid one rag on the floor to set their buckets on, then they stacked the other ones in a nice pile next to their buckets.

This is what I woke up to:

They got bored of this pretty quickly, so they pretty much only cleaned under the table.  Later that day, Parker came back in the kitchen and set things up, so he could clean a little more.

At dinner time, Brinley came in the kitchen really excited about setting the table for dinner for us.  We didn't have a big fancy feast, but I always think it is so fun when the kids set the table.  I love to see the fun ideas they come up with.  This time Brinley wrapped a napkin around some of the silverware.  I asked the kids if they wanted to learn the proper way to set the table, but none of them were interested.  They like to have the freedom to be creative and do it however they like.

Brinley and her Doll - November 2, 2013

Brinley wrapped her baby doll up all comfy cozy and put her baby to bed.  Then she laid down by her little baby and asked me to take their picture.