It's December!

So I ran that 1/2 marathon to kick off the month of December. It was unusually warm and sunny that day. I think as we were driving away it was 60 degrees. So that wasn't the wintry mix of snow/rain that the weather man had been predicting. Of course, I brought the camera to the race. All the kids were there. It was a lovely day. And right as I crossed the finish line (yeah, that's the good news, I finished this time.), Darin mouthed the words "There is no memory card in it!", to me. That was disappointing. I had even run back into the house specifically to grab the camera. So, no memory card in the camera, of course. That's the way it's been going these days.

To make up for it, I was taking pictures at the Christmas tree lot later on that day...

(yes, Ruby is in her Halloween dress. Darin said these pictures would resemble our Halloween pictures. But you know how it goes with my girls. Sometimes it's just easier to let them wear the Halloween dresses.)

At home, the girls demonstrated equal excitement about decorating a Christmas tree as they do for cooking with me in the kitchen and folding the laundry. All things domestic apparently entertain them.

Later on that night, because of a nap, Jane was not going to be able to fall asleep at the appropriate time. We let her hang around until about 9:30, at which point even her loving parents were ready for her to go to bed. But she was being so chatty and funny, that Darin couldn't help himself but snap a few shots before sending her off to bed.

Jane's reaction to Darin telling her, that REALLY she was going to bed now. Real live heart break, captured on film!

So now we are busy preparing for Christmas, and of course planning a fabulous 6th birthday party for our man George on the 15th. This month already seems like it's going by too quickly. Hopefully I'll update again soon. Merry Christmas preparations to all...

Ready to Run.

I stepped out of the shower the other morning and Ruby informed me (looking like this) that she was ready to go running too. She had my running watch on, and what they call my running hat. So that was funny. Can you imagine if I looked anything like this when I stepped out the door to run?!

But I will be braving the elements to go and run here. And of course, the weather man is calling for snow through the night, and RAIN in Pueblo in the morning?! What kind of luck? Oh well. I'll be there. But I'll definitely have more clothes on than Ruby and Jane do...

Lunchtime at the Bird Feeder

This is the view outside of my kitchen sink. For mother's day two years ago I said I wanted a bird feeder to hang in the tree. Lunchtime is particularly splendid. Today there were three birds having lunch together. I ran to get my camera and as soon as I was about to snap, they all flew away. Other birds hang out in the branches waiting for it to be their turn for lunch.

Is it a sign that I'm becoming an oldish mom-type lady that I get all excited about my bird feeder and lunchtime in the tree? It is lovely though, don't you think?

A Hiar Cut.

So I was getting some grief from certain family members about Ruby's somewhat mullet-like hair-do. So she got it cut. I think it's smashing. Jane was offered a haircut as well. She refused. The lady tried to persuade her with several different offerings. But Jane would have nothing to do with the haircut. I will try again on another day. In the mean time, this will help people tell them apart.

Thankful for Thanksgiving

It was a lovely holiday this year. We were blessed to have family come. Darin's parents and little sisters, with brother-in-law Taylor. My parents, and two little sisters came too.

Rachel arrived first on Tuesday night. In time to help me with a few last minute craft projects and baking!

We managed to throw in a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot on Thursday morning. It was 19 degrees! But wonderfully fun.

Doing a little sightseeing with the family. This was taken at the Broadmoor.

Henry was baptized!

I hope he'll always remember how lucky he was to have so much family there with him.

Did you do this after Thanksgiving? Look through the adds to see what store you should be at at 6am? We did. And in fact, Darin and I started our shopping at midnight! A little date up to the outlets that opened at midnight. It was crazy. We probably won't ever do it again, but it was something to behold. That's for sure...

Anyway, it was a fabulous time. I am personally so grateful to everyone who made the effort to share it with us. Despite the freezing winter temps, I felt all warm and cozy with so many people around. Thanks everyone for coming and making it what it was. We love you all.

Special helpers, are hardly any help at all....

I just had to post this. Not that I'm feeling sorry for myself or anything, but EVERY night when I go to cook dinner, Jane and Ruby instantly hear me working and come rushing in. They each grab a chair to "help". They always position themselves in a most un-helpful place. I have to work and move all around them. All the while they inevitably have a separate agenda. And ALWAYS eat more of their dinner while it's being prepped than they do at the table.

Last night I was getting so frustrated I was nearly in tears. I was so close to screaming at them, moving their chairs and sticking them in time-out, or something. But then I counted to 10 and tried to calm down. I thought, if I can't change it, then why don't I document it. Try to see it in a different way. I can't say that it made it any easier to cook, but at least it gave me a distraction from my frustration. I mean, someday (in like one million years), they will be gone, and I will smile a whimsical smile (in my silent kitchen) and think back to the day when my girls would come running the moment they heard me in the kitchen. Back when they still believed they were my best-friend. So I'm trying to be grateful for my special helpers.

Like I said, they can't miss a moment of kitchen action. After dinner was over, I quietly started a pot of hot chocolate for dessert. And sure enough like little puppies, they came running, grabbed their chairs to "help".

Jane sniffing the cocoa.

What To Do?!

This is George.


He just can't seem to help himself. Despite the new rule and the new camera, I go to download MY photos, and this is what I find...You would think he would be smart enough not to snap the shot that would be so self-incriminating. But what can I do with a face like that?

We Went to the Zoo, and some other stuff...

Darin was in Idaho this weekend with the LDS Cadet Choir. Official duties and all. So we had to find a way to pass the time without him. Would you believe that on November 10th in Colorado it was a beautiful 72 degrees?! We had talked about going to the movies, but with that kind of weather, I just couldn't resist finding an outdoor activity. And while I am not a huge zoo fan, there are two good things about our zoo here in "the Springs".

1. The Giraffes. They walk right up to the edge of their "cage" and kids can feed them. It's right when you walk into the zoo. No wondering around forever to get to the thing that you actually want to see. First thing, right off the bat, the kids are feeding the giraffe and having fun. I have to admit that for a non-animal person I still get excited about how close the giraffe get to us.

Can you see that I'm not the only person in the family who's a bit of a non-animal type. Look at Henry's body position as George is feeding the giraffe.

The boys insisted that we photograph this bird. They loved his hair.

Ruby's request was to see the elephants.

Which brings me to the second good thing about our zoo. 2. It's location. It is sort of carved into the side of one of our mountains. Your visit to the zoo is a mountain hike up, and then you climb back down on your way out. I think it's genius. And the whole time you get sweeping views of Colorado Springs as you climb up and up. It was a beautiful day.

George and a black bear. (Just so you know, it took quite a bit of negotiating with George to limit the number of pictures of him with an animal, or just an animal.)

And then Sunday rolled around. We actually made it to Sacrament meeting on time. And then we even managed to make Swedish meatballs again, giving Henry a reason to use his new apron. Thankfully, the cadets had a 7pm curfew on Monday, so Darin returned home just in time for dinner on Monday night! A good time had by all.

Wow.

It's about time!! That's all I can say. I mean seriously, did it take Hershey's this long to realize that there were people who would buy their other variety packs to simply pull out every bar that had a nut in it, and disregard the rest?! I am usually so completely disciplined at the grocery store. I can pass by treat upon treat and never look back. But today, I just had to spend my $2.04 if only to send a message to Hershey's saying, thank you!! Way to figure it out at LONG last. So, to my sisters and my mom, hurry out and support Hershey's today too! (EVERY single piece has NUTS in it!!)

TGI Friday!

This is the first morning since the surgery that Jane has woken up and not asked for any pain medicine first thing. She is actually smiling and playing happily. I am grateful this morning for this little blessing. She and Ruby love Strawberry Shortcake, and they have a ongoing game through the day where they call each other by the names of the characters. Over the past few days, Ruby would try so hard to get Jane to be happy. She would walk up to her and say "Hello Angel Cake". And Jane would yell back, "I'm not Angel Cake, I'm Janie!!". In her most grumpy voice. And yesterday afternoon when I asked Ruby if she wanted to check if Jane was awake she said to me, "No mom, she's grumpy bear".

We are so happy to see our Jane back this morning, a.k.a. Ginger Snap. (That's her Strawberry Shortcake name this morning. A small sign that she is on the mend. Hooray!)

p.s. Maybe the key to happiness is being able to sit on the floor in your birthday suit and play...

What's a Scout Again?

Tonight was Henry's first night being a Cub Scout. For those of you who don't know this about us, we're not big scouters. Darin is maybe a Wolf himself. My brothers and dad are all Eagle Scouts (you guys make me proud), but for all the scouting that took place in my family, I have very little memory of any of it. I don't even remember helping on their Eagle projects. Did I? I hope I did. So anyway, we don't devote a whole lot of family discussions to Scouting. But George has been hearing us talk about how Henry would get to be a Cub Scout now that he is 8.

So tonight Henry's friend Ben came and picked him up and took him off to Scouts (whatever that meant). I kept telling George that we would go pick Henry up. It took me about twenty minutes to convince George and the girls to get in the car. They didn't understand what was in it for them (they rarely do). As we were driving out of the driveway and up the street George says to me:

"Mom, how long is Cub Scouts?"

I was all confused because I thought he understood that we were on our way right that minute to pick Henry up, therefore, no need for the question. So I kind of tried to lamely explain the scouting program with my limited understanding. But he got all frustrated.

"No, I mean, when will we see Henry again? I was sort of thinking we should have brought his toothbrush, and I should give him the new toothpaste you bought today. He didn't even get a chance to use it before he left for Cub Scouts."

That was too much for me. I was laughing so hard in the car. I finally told George, Henry would be able to try the new toothpaste tonight, at our house, because you only go to Cub Scouts for one hour once a week.

Can you imagine what they must have thought Cub Scouts was?! But it sort of explains why he was so sad that he wouldn't be a Scout with Henry.

No Pretty Pictures...

...of food this weekend. We've had an ornery patient on our hands with a mind entirely all her own. We showed up at church an hour EARLY, due to forgetting about day-light savings. Then I had to do Sharing time and Darin Singing time, all with Jane in toe. The nursery kicked her out for being too disagreeable and only wanting to play in the sink in the bathroom.



We tried to feature Mexico again this week. We had some delicious food. But the girls turned their noses up at the meal. And Jane excused herself after picking through her food to take off her clothes and build a tower out of paper towels.

The one weekend when we all could have benefited from an extra hour of sleep, and yet here we are trudging along trying to keep a family tradition alive. So, as I said in the beginning, no pretty pictures this week...and that's just the way it goes sometimes in life.

The Hospital and Halloween

Tuesday morning Jane went to get her tonsils out. I don't think we thought it all the way through. Or maybe we were just overly optimistic. I think we all thought we'd be done with the hospital at the very latest early Wednesday (Halloween) morning. But as it turns out, they held us hostage at the hospital until about 2pm on Wednesday.

(This is the bed I was supposed to share with her Monday night. They finally brought in a recliner. Didn't help to change my opinion about how unrestful the hospital ends up being!)

Jane the patient. (With her Strawberry Shortcake doll which her brother George picked out for her, as well as one for Ruby. HE thought it wouldn't be fair if only Jane got one. I let him make that decision, since I was obviously struggling with it.)

Jane waiting to be discharged. She had her IV out and her shoes on, and was READY to go. They kept delaying us telling us we were waiting for our meds from the pharmacy. Darin had brought her some nail polish which kept her busy until they finally let us go!!

The girls got dressed up to open the door. Jane was too tired to go out and trick or treat. And too tired to pose for a picture standing up with her brothers!

So I think this pose sums up how we all felt at the end of the day yesterday. I think Darin and I would have pulled similar poses last night were we not so mature. She got a good night sleep in her own bed last night, and she's being a good sport about getting gross medicine squeezed down her throat. We hope she'll make a speedy recovery.

P.S. The doctor didn't find any foreign object in her nose! Just an enormous adenoid which he thinks may explain the runny nose. We'll be able to tell if it cured her in about two weeks! Let's hope for the best.