Let's be Jolly, Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly

Merry Christmas!!

Our Chruch Christmas Program was last Wednesday and went pretty good for have one practice the week before and one practice the hour before the performance! Mom-Remember taking us every Saturday for a month with memory work! Yeah, they don't do that anymore.

May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,The gladness of Christmas give you hope,The warmth of Christmas grant you love.~Author Unknown



Who's ready for Christmas? We are!

A daughter is a day brightener and a heart warmer. ~Author Unknown

Here is my photo story of what we have been up to lately. The first pic is a little scary so prepare yourself. But yesterday Zoey got some makeup for her birthday. Today she gave me a makeover with eye shadow, lipstick and nailpolish.

This has been an amazing year for Zoey. She made it through our adventure of moving this year and has grown a ton! She had so many firsts this year. She got her first fishing pole, went tubing, learned to pump on the swing, can ride a big girl bike, and can spell her name. She likes to do workbook pages with matching, eliminating which one is different and tracing letters and numbers. She has even started dot to dots. She started her first year of preschool. I just can't believe how much and how quickly she is changing. Not to mention that only recently she is ok with being a girl. She has boyfriends and likes playing dress up, mom and dad and even asked for Barbies this year.

Yesterday we had Zoey's birthday party. We got her a birthday balloon bouque and had some of her friends over. We had cake and icecream after a few rounds of pin the tail on the donkey. Zoey got hers perfect on the first try and Isaac put his directly over the top of Zoey's. He said he couldn't see through the blindfold, but who knows.

Not my best decorating job, but it seemed to work.

Zoey started to blow out her candles as soon as we started singing.

And she LOVED opening presents!

After the party we went to Spirit Hall. It is a brand new NHL sized ice arena. It was open for public skate, plus they had pics with Santa and pizza (you didn't have to have the pizza in the pic). The weather had already started to blow in the storm, but we went anyway and had a great time. Zoey LOVED skating, telling me she is a fast learner. Of course she also told me that because I am big, I would not fall down. I think ice is slippery no matter how big you are. Isaac wasn't in the mood to go out, but we drug him with anyway and it turns out he likes to skate also.

He we are looking for the perfect tree in the Big Horn Mountains. Gosh, I love that man, taking us all up there for a great family day!

We scouted here for some trees. We walked up the hill (remembering it is actually a mountain). But didn't find the one we were looking for.

So we sledded back down.

Here's the one we want.

Again, a good man to bring us with and do all the work himself.


Even I enjoy enjoy making snow angels. Actually I love the blanket of untouched glistening snow! I also like the way it chrunchies when you walk on it.

I can't describe to you how much Ike likes to sled.

Wanna race?





Decorating the tree was fun. Where Zoey is standing is where ALL of her ornaments are and there is a spot on the exact opposite side for ALL of Isaac's.

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you. ~John E. Southard

Isaac draws the coolest things. I just don't remember drawing well at his age (or really ever I guess). At conferences his teacher said that she makes all the children draw people with hair and clothes. I suppose 6 year olds don't think about that much, but I did notice that this santa does not have a hat or hair.

Saturday was a great day. The whole family packed up in the truck, including Sherman and we headed up to the Big Horns. We searched for the perfect Christmas tree and it was a little harder than you would think with all those trees up there. But we found a good one! It was the first time Zoey and I had come along and not sure if we will make the trip next year or not. Zoey loves climbing and camping, but she is a very sensitive little girl. Her socks kept slipping down into her boots, so she would stop about every three steps, take off her mittens, attempt to pull up the socks, put her wet mittens on her wet fingers and before long she would say "I just can't handle it." The only thing mommy couldn't handle was pulling her up the hill (make that a mountain) in the sled. That was hard work! After we found our tree we went to Tie Hack and spent some time sledding. It was a great place to go. Once we arrived so did a few others and Isaac made some new friends and raced them down the hill. It was a warm and sunny day. Just perfect! (Unlike the cold and wind we have today)

Sunday we went to a birthday party. Isaac gets along with most everyone at school and Justice had come up to me after school one day and asked if Isaac would come to her party. So I signed him up for the bowling party. His class gets along really well, so even though it was a girl's birthday party--He was the only boy to come! And oh did the girls like that. The first thing they all said is "Are you going to chase me?" Isaac has told me that he has girls chase him at school, but with a crowd of girls all chasing after MY Isaac it was slightly overwhelming. He bowled without using the ramp and got 60ish. I didn't see his final score, but Zoey (who sorta crashed the party and was her ususal crying screaming self) bowled 105 which is very competitive with her mother.

We went to the Rec Center so I could work out after school today and I totally forgot that child care is not available until 4:30 so I had the kids run around the track for a while. Isaac comes up to me and says "I am really fast. Just like Dash from Increadibles!" He is fabulous.

We have Christmas program practice on wednesday this week. We will be making 35 cupcakes to bring to Zoey's class on Thursday for her birthday treat and I have even gotten her birthday invitations out already. The little stinker will be 4 on Saturday. At least this year I can invite people over that I have met before.

Well I can smell supper-so I should probably go check it before it starts on fire. And don't forget Peanuts Christmas is on tonight!

Like fruit, children are sweetest just before they turn bad. ~Dena Groquet

I almost forgot about the weekly church update. Today during the kids sermon they were supposed to learn about advent. The lady says "do you what day it is today?" Zoey pipes up with "its sunday". The lady says "do you know what we are waiting for this month?" Isaac proudly says "Santa!" Ironically the only advent calendars she could find had santa on them and not baby Jesus. However, she only bought enough for one advent calendar per household. This she mentioned after her son had already given my children each one. Zoey was more than just a little upset. I am sure the lady had thought that I had already tought my kids to share nicely. Yeah--not so much.

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart

It was a long couple of weeks with Chris being gone. He had some work stuff in Colorado for a few days then then headed up to Montana for a week and a half. He had a good trip and got two deer. Wednesday after school got out I brought Isaac up to Alzada to meet up with Chris for the rest of the hunting trip. I did NOT hit a deer on the whole trip!! Zoey and I had some girl time. We painted our nails and watched the Tinkerbell Movie (finaly after more than a year of telling her we would see it together.) Thursday we had a girls thanksgiving lunch with the Solems at Perkins. After we went home I enjoyed a moment of contentment. Those moments don't always last long, but I do have a lot to be thankful for this year! The boys returned with everyone healthy and my house is now back to its normal loud self with school in the morning.

Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action. ~W.J. Cameron

Just a quicky post, before the kids realize I am trying to do something.

Fridays we don't use daycare, so I brought Zoey with me to the Rec Center and to run my errands. It was fun to have her with me.

Saturday I invited the Solem girls over for the whole day so that Angie could make some progress on their move. The kids got along well and had a fabulous time. Later in the afternoon we added Ruhel to the mix for a sleep over. That kid just cracks me up. We ordered pizza for supper and played some Uno. The whole day just went smoothly, which I have to document since I don't get that many days that go so well. I was surprized at how early the kids went to bed, even though the boys told me they were going to stay up all night. Today we were back to our usually selves, with the exception that we were ready for church early. Can't complain about that. When we got back it was naptime for all. Even Ike took a nap for me.

I think that even though I am only working a few days this coming week--it still looks like a busy time. I am trying to prepare or at least realize the holidays are coming up fast. I definately did not get as much done in November as I had planned. Whoever is in controll of the speed of time needs to slow down just a bit. I am pretty sure Christmas will be here before I am ready even though I feel I am starting on time.

As for butter versus margarine, I trust cows more than chemists. ~Joan Gussow

Yesterday we dropped Isaac off at school. Zoey and I were watching him and she says, "I believe in Isaac because he is my brother."

I have no idea what that means coming from a three year old or really what she was thinking at all, but it was very cute and touching.

This morning however, we had an interesting conersation. I often times say sir or mam when talking with the kids and this morning Zoey referred to me as man. I said do you mean mam, cuz I am a girl not a boy. I assured her I am a mam or Mrs. because I am married. She said she ment man and also let me know that she is married too. Who to? I ask. I really would like to find out the dirt, thinking that she was going to say one of the boys she regularly plays with at school. Nope. She is married to a girl.

I am adding some new blogs/links to my site. The Kyle & Alli and Amy are great family blogs if you would like to take a peek at my wonderful and very good looking nieces and nephew. The Davies Bunch has been there for a while, but Annie does such a good job on her blog I would invite you to see it just for the amazing photography. She also has links to go to if you want to jazz up your blog for free. I have seriously thought about it, but not that coordinated yet. In the very near future I hope to be adding 5 minutes for mom. Its a good website for mom's and I have a link to my website from there.