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. . )