'Day after Christmas' Jello

Yesterday Adam planned and made a fabulous Christmas dinner complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, his yummy homemade rolls from scratch and some fancy, shmancy green jello made with bananas, colored marshmallows and 7-up. It was a jello recipe that would make any Mormon proud! I laughed at him while he was making it and named it "Christmas Jello" since I was sure it would be the only time of year such a jello wonder would grace our dinner table. The kids loved the Christmas jello and as we were sitting around the dinner table tonight eating leftovers from our over the top Christmas feast yesterday Britton said, "Please pass the 'Day after Christmas' jello." Adam and I both started laughing. Britton is a funny kid.

A few days ago I walked into the kitchen and found that Korinne had gotten into the cupboards above the desk in our kitchen and found a 100 roll of stamps. She thought they were stickers and had been busily putting them all over the kitchen and on every piece of paper she could find. She was so excited to show me what she had been working on and was very surprised when I wasn't as happy as she was. I tried to explain to her that each stamp costs money and they weren't stickers at all, but she never really got the concept. I spent a significant amount of time trying to locate and rescue every single stamp so they could still be used. There's never a dull moment with a 2 year old. :-)

Here are the girls playing with some of their new dress-ups.

I'm convinced that going to Temple Square to see the lights on Christmas night is the way to go! We got a great parking spot, the crowds were way down and it let us remember the real reason for the season. The kids loved it.

Merry Christmas

Here we are on Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa Price's. We had a big snow storm last night so we were really glad we only had to drive 2 miles to visit with family! We definitely got a white Christmas this year. In fact, we have had more 'white' this Christmas than we've had for awhile! Britton actually made it to Christmas morning. Yesterday he wasn't so sure it would ever come, the wait was absolutely killing him! He really had done so well during the rest of the Christmas season, but when Christmas Eve arrived he went into overdrive. He was like a little woodpecker as he came and asked me every 5 min. what time it was and how much more time we had before we could open our Christmas Eve presents. At one point I actually banned him from asking me any more questions. I figured he would have a hard time falling asleep and would be up VERY early this morning because he was soo excited, but he surprised us, he fell asleep right away, and WE had to wake HIM up at 7:30 a.m. to open gifts.
Here are the kids in their new pajamas:




Christmas morning with small kids is a lot of fun even though a significant amount of time is spent getting everything out of the original packaging. May I just speak for parents everywhere when I say, what is up with the packaging these days?? We just want to play with a toy, we DON'T want to hurt ourselves with all of the sharp objects required to get anything open. Britton's favorite gift was a Scooby Doo DVD, Jenna loved her Island Princess Barbie doll, and Korinne can't get enough of her Cabbage Patch doll. Adam came home one day last week and announced that he had purchased HIS Christmas present from me. I laughed and asked him what it was that I had gotten him, he told me it was a surprise and I would have to wait until Christmas to see what it was. Christmas was great for me, I was surprised with my own gift AND his gift. He got exactly what he wanted and I didn't have shop. . . I think we should do this every year!

We are headed to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights, I guess we better get going. . .

Tis the Season

Ah, 'tis the season for egg nog. There are 2 types of people in the world--those who look forward to consuming this beverage during the holidays, and those who would rather have a root canal than drink a thick liquid with "nog" in the title and a funny smell. As you can tell I am a self professed egg nog hater, but I'm married to an egg nog lover who has trained my children to like the stuff. Yesterday morning Korinne stood on a stool in the kitchen and yelled, "NOG! NOOOOOOG!" until someone would pour her a cup of egg nog. I admit that I indulge their passion for egg nog by buying it at the store for them. . .so I guess that makes me a 'nog enabler', which officially means I cannot say another word on the matter.

Jenna's preschool had a Christmas program this last Thursday and Jenna did such a good job singing the songs and saying her parts. There are 9 kids in her preschool class and here they are before the program began.


Here she is singing "Jingle Bells"

She did a great job and had a lot of fun.

We had another big snow storm. Every time Adam has to shovel after a big storm we start talking about getting a snow blower, but then it won't snow for a long time and we kind of forget about it. After 3 big storms in the last month, the snow blower talk is getting louder. :-) The kids went out and played in the snow while Adam did the shoveling.

This picture of Korinne makes me cold just looking at it. She loves those pink boots so much that she actually slept in them the other night. I took them off before she went to bed and when I went to check on her she was asleep in Jenna's bed with her boots back on. She always makes me laugh.

Hair by Jenna

Anyone who has one or more little girls in the family says the following statement at least once a day, "Ok girls, let's get your hair done." There are variations on the theme, of course, but unless your child is bald the hair issue has to be dealt with on a daily basis. This morning I'm sure I said the usual "Korinne, Jenna, let's get your hair done" to which Jenna replied with, "I'm going to do my own hair today." Umm, Ok. (She has been known to be somewhat successful in her previous attempts at hair autonomy) This morning, however, Jenna was determined to not only do her own hair, but to do Korinne's as well. I walked past the bathroom and saw Jenna being true to her word. There she was doing Korinne's hair. Without saying a word I ran and got the camera to take a picture. They were both so pleased with the arrangement. After Jenna "finished" Korinne's hair she was more than willing to let me take a picture.

It was classic. I don't plan on retiring my official family hairstylist status anytime soon, but it's nice to know my replacement is already in training.

Jr. Jazz

Britton has reached that special age that allows him to participate in Jr. Jazz basketball. Picture 10 kindergarteners running around the basketball court with no rules (or skills for that matter) for 40 min. and you can understand why we find the entertainment value of his weekly games extremely high. The ball exchanges hands on average once per every 3.2 seconds, traveling is only called if a kid makes absolutely NO attempt to dribble (double dribbling is not only acceptable, its encouraged-- In fact Jr. Jazz at this age is a lot like the NBA--5 or 6 steps without dribbling. . .no problem!) I love it when the kids forget what direction their team is playing, run away from a rebound so it won't hit them in the head, and take 3 min. to decide which one of their 4 open teammates to throw the ball in to. Really, any one of them will do. Britton has really taken to the game and has already scored a basket in 2 of the 3 games he has played. I'd say that is pretty good when you consider they only score 1 or 2 baskets during an entire game. His celebration upon making a basket is a little excessive, however. He's not a "in your face" kind of guy, but can you say ESPN SportsCenter highlights? I'm sure you can imagine him running down the court jumping up with one fist in the air, "YES!" and then leaving his fist clenched and bobbing like he was Tiger Woods after sinking a put. It's enough to make the other parents chuckle (in a good way). When it comes to sports Britton always has had a flare for the dramatic.

At church Korinne likes to get behind Adam in the bench and scratch his back. Its hilarious to watch her get behind him and then move her little hands over his back all the while looking at me with a big smile. Adam, of course, thinks its great. Today midway through the meeting the lady sitting directly behind us suddenly reached out to Korinne and started talking to her softly. Korinne immediately turned from her and slumped next to me looking like she was about to cry. When I looked over to see what had happened I saw that Korinne had taken a purple crayon and colored on the back of Adam's white shirt. (What is it with purple crayons and Korinne coloring on forbidden surfaces!) Adam thought she was scratching his back and made no attempt to stop her and I was actually trying to pay attention (shock). I can only imagine what was going through Sister Liddel's mind as Korinne started coloring Adam's white shirt and neither of us made any attempt to stop her. She has several grandchildren and found it to be quite funny, though she did apologize after the meeting for making Korinne feel bad. Korinne, Korinne, she is such a funny kid.

Tender Moment

Apparently old habits die hard. Jenna probably thought she was getting her own bed again, but when I went to check on the girls before bed this is what I found.

Korinne wasn't in her bed, she was in Jenna's bed and just before I took a picture of the girls sleeping she put her arm over Jenna. No kidding. I have to admit I did let out a small, "Ahhh" and found it to be quite tender. 2 of the last 3 nights we have found Korinne back in Jenna's bed. Korinne loves her sister.

At our the Ward Christmas Party the kids had an opportunity to see Santa and tell him what they want for Christmas. As you can see Korinne loved every minute of it.

He tried, but a candy cane didn't quite do it for her. Yesterday we took down the crib for the last time. Korinne is officially a big girl with her own bed. I paused for a moment and wondered if I should be feeling a hint of sadness but then realized I wasn't sad in the least and was ready to move forward. Korinne hasn't been using her crib regularly for months. More often then not she has been using Jenna's bed and on many occassions this is what we see when we check on the kids at night.

I'm sure Jenna is just happy to have her own bed back.

Wild and Crazy

The kids got such a kick out of their elf dance. Check it out!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

We had our first big snow storm of the year today. For kids there is an unwritten ritual that happens each year at this time. They spend 15-20 min. getting out every hat and glove from storage and putting together a suitable snow worthy outfit while Mom is trying to take inventory of which snow pants fit which child and who needs new snow pants, boots, etc. After a sufficient amount of chaos the children venture out into the winter wonderland and have a great time for at least 10 min. After they have reached the 10 min. threshold they return to the house and proceed to get everything wet and snowy. They finally succeed in placing the 10 lbs of wet snow clothes where they can dry out properly. . .but only after you remind them to do it at least 5 times. Yup, happens every year.

Only Jenna would remember to strike a pose for the camera before starting the play in the snow. It wasn't a huge storm, but significant. Here is a picture that will give you an idea of how much snow we got.

My favorite part about snow is how pretty it looks in the trees when it first falls (rarely do the words 'snow' and 'favorite' appear together in a sentence I have composed, but I am determined to be more positive about winter and snow from now on. . .I'm taking baby steps).

This is the big tree that we can see from the back of our house. As you can see it really is quite beautiful layered in snow. (baby steps. . )

The Campbell/Oxford Dictionary

There are a few terms that have recently been added to our family dictionary. They are as follows:

1. Lasterday. (las-ter-day) Jenna created this word a long time ago and I keep forgetting to write it down. In her mind she somehow merged the words "last night" and "yesterday" and it came out as lasterday. For those of you that see Jenna quite often I'm sure that you have heard her use it as she does so on a daily basis, i.e. "We went to Grandma's lasterday."

2. Foolsball. (Fools-ball) This is what Britton calls a Foosball table. Over Thanksgiving he played quite a few games at my Aunt & Uncle's house and was actually pretty good. He never mentioned names but claimed to have beaten a '3rd grader' and lost to a '6th grader' by only 1 point. (I found out later that his claims were actually very accurate and a few of his cousins were a bit dumbfounded at his "Foolsball" skills)

3. German Sugar--This is the name my kids have given powdered sugar. Its the kind of sugar that goes on German Pancakes so therefore it MUST be 'German' sugar, right? Even when we use it on French toast, it is still German sugar--go figure. I have made the mistake of asking them if they would like powered sugar on something and they quickly replied with, "No, No, I want German sugar on it!" Uh, right. Silly me.

Lately everyone has been telling me that Korinne is a "miniature Hilary with Campbell moments" so I decided to post some pictures of the 2 of us at the same age and see what you think. This is me:



This is Korinne:



This is me:




This is Korinne:

What do you guys think? We definitely both have the cheesy smile down pat!

Speaking of Korinne, we have had a few discussions with her lately on what constitutes art. We are of the firm opinion that art is anything that is on paper. Korinne is sure that real art involves walls. Britton and Jenna were never ones to color on the walls, but Korinne has no problem doing so and seems to prefer the color purple. It has gotten to a point that Britton and Jenna are my spies and immediately alert me if they see Korinne coloring on any wall. Today I was able to stop her in only a few seconds whereas before it took me up to 3 or 4 "masterpieces" before the damage was spotted. I put her in timeout today. She just sat there with her arms folded and did an exaggerated "Hmph" with her furrowed brow. I tried not to laugh as it was straight out of Jenna's "how to" book of attitude. Ah, they learn so young, don't they?

Happy B-daygiving!

Ok, so I tried to combine 2 words that were never meant to be one, but for Korinne every 5 years she will get to celebrate her birthday on Thanksgiving day. What a blessing. :-)

We showed up to my Aunt Kathy's house on Thursday for a meal good enough to be talked about all year long! Kathy spends weeks making homemade chocolates and candies for the big day and I can never get enough. Don't even get me started about the chocolate covered raspberries! (You know me, I'm such a health nut I insist on starting things out with fruit) To our surprise my cousin's wife walked in with a beautiful birthday cake for Korinne. Apparently her sister decorates cakes and they were thoughtful enough to arrange to have a cake made for Korinne. She loved it and we had a fun little party for her after the Thanksgiving feast.


The Price family has a long standing tradition of going bowling on Thanksgiving night. We have a girls and guys competition. The winner gets a traveling trophy and bragging rights for an entire year. This year all of the kids even got to make their own bowling shirts. Here is Jenna and Adam working on her shirt.

You can imagine our shock and horror when we arrived at the bowling alley only to find that they were full and had a long wait. What?! Didn't they know WE were coming and that we have been doing this for almost 20 years!?! We tried to go to the other bowling alley in town only to be turned down again. Unbelievable. We had no choice but to return to my Aunt's house and eat as many leftovers as we possibly could. It helped to soften the blow considerably. The competition soon became one of darts instead of bowling and I know at least a few of the guys had sore arms the next day. It was intense and involved the same 'high level 'of competition with all of the usual trash talking. I, for one, discovered that I am the worst dart player ever! I mean really, how many times can you completely miss the dart board all together and still be included in the game?? They kept having me move closer (totally embarrassing), but I don't think it made much of a difference. Adam did well, but then again he always does well in bowling too. . .perhaps the two are related in some way.

We did take the kids bowling the next day, and they got to wear their bowling shirts. Our numbers were reduced, but Adam beat the rest of the guys there and I'm sure I came in last on the girls side. So, not much has changed. :-)

We are a little sad over Utah losing to BYU yesterday. We raced home to watch the game and Adam was sportin' his Utah polo shirt, but alas, it was not to be. We have recovered so it's all good. (I knew you were worried) It was a great holiday and Korinne loves being 2.

Let's get this party started!

Korinne's birthday isn't until Thursday, but her BFF (that would be her Aunt Kimberly) isn't going to be around for the festivities so the party started last night. We all went out to eat in honor of Korinne. She had no idea what was going on, but thought it was great. Kim gave her some dress up jewelry and a tiara and she loved it.

The other day Korinne was watching "Dora the Explorer" with Jenna. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this children's program they often ask the kids to say stuff and then pause so the kids can answer. Kind of like this: "Will you help me find the magic cave?" Big pause "You will? Great!" I would dare say that 99.9% of kids don't respond and just stare at the screen waiting for the next line. Well, Korinne's language is really exploding right now and there she was yelling out responses at all of the appropriate places. It was hilarious! I've never seen a kid do it before. They would say, "Say backpack" and she would yell something that sounded a lot like backpack. They would repeat it, "Say backpack" and she would yell it even louder. She had a smile on her face and was watching the screen very intently. She was definitely in the zone and did it for the entire show. It was precious.

7 random things about me

Ok, I'll give this a try.

1) I've lived in 6 different US states (and if you want to get technical another 2 states in Brazil)

2) I don't love ketchup. I'll eat it if someone hands me something with it in it, but given the choice I opt out of applying ketchup to any food creation. (To those ketchup lovers who just gasped, sorry, but I do love a good dose of mustard!)

3) I have a birthmark on the back of my left calf. I only say this because during a big extended family trip to California to attend my sister's wedding a few years ago every member of my family at one point on the trip said something like, "Hil, what is that on the back of your leg?" Umm, a birthmark and it has been there my entire life. They all seemed really surprised though I don't know why. I spent a good deal of my teen years in running shorts and it was right there in front of their faces.

4) On the night of my Jr. Prom I was involved in a high speed car chase in downtown SLC. We were in a Limo and while stopped at a traffic light a car of teenage boys next to us shot a paintball gun into the Limo and it got all over the interior. The Limo driver got mad and took off after the car of punk kids who did it. It was totally out of our control but the driver was flipping U's and we were flying all around in the back of the car. He tried the run the other car off the road, etc. We were just looking at each other trying to figure out what to do. Definitely an interesting experience. Sure made for a good story at school the next week (and you know me, I'm always looking for a good story. :-)

5) I put myself through college "makin' copies" at 2 copy centers on the USU campus. It was the best college job ever! I never worked nights or weekends and pretty much got paid to do my homework.

6) I love Charleston chews. You know, the candy bar popular in the 80's that you can only find at a dollar store or Wal-mart? Yeah, those are the ones. I love em!

7) I like being in places that are humid. After living in Brazil and Georgia I got to where I really liked humidity. Unfortunately my current location does nothing to indulge my preference for humid places. O'well, it's all good.

There you go, 7 random things about me. Now its your turn!

What a "Big Helper"

Korinne likes to be a big helper, but at her age it is impossible for her to know when she is really helping or just making a big mess (mostly she just makes messes, but shhh, don't tell her that.) Last night I came into the kitchen to find her putting dishwasher detergent in the dishwasher so we could start it. Never mind that the dishes were clean and she had enough for about 2 or 3 loads, she was "helping" and wanted nothing but praise for her efforts.

Kindergarten is a time to learn and grow and make really silly turkey hats. I think it is an important and essential part of the curriculum. Here is Britton in his prize winning turkey creation (true story, well, except for the prize winning part, but he did get a gold star).

I can't wait to see what else they come up with during the rest of the school year. This hat was a big hit and both Jenna and Korinne wanted their pictures taken with it as well. Actually, Korinne just loves to have her picture taken period!

There she is also. . .

Korinne's favorite place to eat all of her meals is in Adam's lap. If Adam is in the house and there is eating going on, there is a 100% chance that Korinne is either sitting in Adam's lap, or is seriously trying to figure out a way to get there. She could be happily eating up to the counter, but if Adam's sits down to eat at any time, Korinne will automatically get herself to where he is. I took this picture this morning during breakfast. I was trying to get an "action" shot, but as soon as Korinne saw the camera she really turned on the cheese.

Surprisingly my kids haven't been that into their Halloween candy. (I know, could they really be my kids?!?) I took all of the candy away the first day because I kept finding candy wrappers on the floor. They didn't even ask me about it for 2 days. 2 DAYS! Even then they weren't that distressed about not having it. Britton decided that if he was good all day he could have a few pieces of candy at night. Jenna hasn't even brought it up. Last night we had some for our FHE treat. I love having little kids that are way more into suckers and smarties than snickers or other chocolate treats. I don't know how long it will last, but its awesome! I find myself saying things like, "Hey, do you want me to take care of that snickers for you?" Like I'm really helping them out or something. (Hey I'll do anything to help my kids, right?) Britton has actually been quite appreciative of all of the "help" I have given him with those pesky chocolate candy bars each Halloween.

No school. . .again.

Britton was out of school today. He didn't have school last Monday and Tuesday either, and he is out of school again this Friday. In 2 weeks he will be off for another 2 days . . .I sure don't remember getting so many days off when I went to school!! Has it always been like this? I enjoy having him home, but I think all of the time off seems a bit odd.

Don't forget to vote tomorrow!

Candy, Candy, Candy

As I write this Britton and Jenna are deep into negotiations. "I'll give you my M & M's for your Skittles. . " I guess it is a great way to learn an essential life skill-- the art of negotiation. So far we haven't seen any fighting, definitely a plus.

For Halloween Britton was a Shark, Jenna was Cinderella, and Korinne was a ladybug, which, by the way, is one of her nicknames. I always say things like, "Come here ladybug" and yesterday it actually made sense! Too bad Halloween is only once a year. Umm, kidding only. Can you imagine if there was always this amount of candy laying around?? It would be pure insanity. Here are the kids in their costumes ready to go out.

One of my Dad's favorite things is to take the grandkids trick-or-treating on Halloween and for once the weather was great. I took the kids to Adam's office earlier in the day and one of his co-workers had dressed up like a farmer and brought a real life pig as his prop. Yes, a real pig! Apparently he has a pet pig who is potty trained and everything and he (or she) just sat under his desk and slept all day. Who has pet pigs?!? (messy children excluded, of course) Here is a picture of Britton feeding the pig a carrot.

Definitely something you don't see everyday. Brings new meaning to the phrase, "Yeah, I work with a real pig." :-)

Quick trip to St. George

We took a quick trip to St. George for part of the UEA school break. Our original plan was to visit Great Grandma Campbell in Pioche, but after she hurt her back a few weeks ago we found it necessary to reschedule the trip to a later date so she would have a little more time to mend before playing hostess to our little family. This video clip is when I asked Britton to say why we were in St. George. I was expecting him to say, "We're visiting Gramma and Grampa," but, of course, Britton being Britton had a lot more to say. . .

The part that really gets me is when he refers to Grampa Campbell as "Adam's Dad." What is up with that? Britton kills me with his random use of our first names. I must say I've never heard him refer to a grandparent in that way before. What a character!

The kids had a great time at Gramma's Halloween party. They got to bob for apples, paint pumpkins, dress up in their costumes and play a few other games with cousins.

We loved spending time with Grammie Eksund! Here she is looking very festive in her Halloween sweater.

It was a quick trip, but the kids had a great time.

Star Student

Britton was the Star Student for his Kindergarten class this month and got an award at a school assembly today. The school called on Monday to tell me, but it was supposed to be a surprise so Britton didn't know about it until they called his name. The assembly was in the afternoon so I had to take him back to the school after the bus dropped him off from morning kindergarten. I told him we had to go back for a meeting and he didn't even question it. He was positively beaming when they called him up for the award. It was a proud moment for him.

Yesterday I heard Britton telling one of his friends, "Yeah, my nickname is Billy Bob." I just starting laughing on the inside. I called him that when he started losing all of his teeth, but I guess he really took it to heart. Jenna still thinks her middle name is Benna. During the same conversation I heard her say, "Well, MY full name is Jenna Benna Campbell!" Hmmm, I wonder when we should break the news to her. . .

The Band Aid Bandit

Anytime anyone in our family needs a band aid Korinne is convinced she needs one, too. If Jenna comes to me asking for a band aid, I automatically get 2 out because I know that Korinne will be along in 10 sec. or so insisting that I put one on her arm or leg. As you can see from the picture I gave out at least 2 band aids during the day.

A few days ago I was eating some yogurt and got distracted by something. Not long after I saw Korinne in her room holding my yogurt and eating it with my spoon. She had somehow gotten it off the counter in the kitchen and had it all over her hands, face and clothing. "Korinne, is that my yogurt??" (In retrospect it was a silly question to ask as I already knew the answer) She looked at me with a big smile and calmly said, "No." I couldn't help but laugh. I took the yogurt from her and went to get a washcloth to clean her up. By the time I returned she had run into my closet and with her messy hands and face she was holding onto all of my long dresses and putting them up to her face to hide. She was laughing and giggling, but all I could think about was how I was going to have to wash all of my dresses! My little Korinne is such a handful. She definitely has a mischievous side. She loves to help with everything, but is anything but cooperative when I'm trying to get her dressed or get her in her car seat.



So sweet. . .

But with an attitude!

National Day of Rejoicing

Yeah! It's my 31st birthday! People laugh at me, but I've always loved my birthday. If you know me really well, you know that I even celebrate my half birthday (that would be April 21st). :-) It was a great day. Britton and Jenna colored me pictures and sang to me and Adam always does a good job at stringing out little surprises so the celebrating lasts all week. A card here, a little chocolate treat there, cinnamon rolls for breakfast, etc. Thanks to everyone who called and e-mailed, it was good to hear from you.

My parents sold their cabin in Midway so yesterday we helped them move everything out. The kids were great and did an excellent job "helping." For example, G-ma Price had extra popsicles in the freezer that would have to be thrown away if they weren't eaten. The kids saw a need and set out to help! They ate as many as they could. . .even though it was cold and snowy outside. What troopers!