Arizona Christmas

Rawhide, AZ part 2

Rawhide, AZ part 1

Christmas at Hume

We had a wonderful Christmas at home this year. Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Debbie came here this year. We went ice skating, sledding, decorated cookies for Santa and had a Christmas Eve service at our small Hume Community Fellowship. Christmas morning was so fun. Lily got a Rose Petal Cottage from her other Grandma. She loved it. She also got a Princess cash register as well as many other princess things. Jack got Legos, Legos and more Legos! Hank got a Terrainiac R/C vehicle and a light saber. Will got a bunch of little cars and clothes. We also got Mario Galaxy for the Wii and everyone enjoyed playing that. It was a great time! Tomorrow we are going to go to Phoenix to celebrate with Darin's family.

Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Debbie!

They just got here. Lily was very excited to see them and greeted each of them with a large hug and "I love you!" She hugged Grandpa between each of them. She loves her Grandpa!

"Ummy"

Today Lily really wanted cupcakes at the dining hall but she couldn't have them because they had dairy in them, so I told her I would make her some while she was napping today. I did just that, but in the process made the biggest mess I have made in several years. I dumped a whole pan of uncooked cupcakes on the preheated oven door. Yep...it is as bad as you are imagining.... I considered calling Maintenance and having them come get the oven and get me a new one...but I know that would be out of the question...I also thought about moving seeing that packing my entire house might have been easier than getting all the batter off the hot oven door and all the cracks and crevices of the door and broiler. There are several upsides to this story... the rest of the cupcakes turned out okay and my oven is slightly cleaner than it was before I started making cupcakes.

When Lily woke up she helped me frost and decorate the cupcakes. She thinks they are "So Ummy." Will didn't think that it was much fun. He did like the sippy cup I gave him. In fact he actually took a little sip from it. Progress...

Snowy, wet day!

How Will eats a snack...3 out of every 4 treats get stuck on his clothes for later. I don't think he swallowed any of the juice he drank!
It's a Mario Party!
Relaxing by the fire...
Snowy day!

Today has been a very cold and wet day. It started raining early this morning and has alternated between rain and slushy snow all day. About 10 minutes ago it just started to snow really well...I hope it stays...the wet stuff is so difficult to deal with. It makes driving in it near impossible. The boys had a friend over to sled. They were out for about 1 hour and 15 minutes and then they came in soaked to the bone. I had to put all the snow clothes in the dryer. They are now playing Wii by the fire. Lily is still napping and will is having a snack by the fire. Its beautiful out there now... I am so glad I have no where else to go tonight. Hopefully it will be better conditions tomorrow. We are headed down the hill for a doctor's appointment, last minute Christmas shopping and a visit with the Brownells.

Reedley Tractor Parade 2007

Shaking presents!

Today I am up early with the kids. Sundays are Darin's day to sleep in. I get to sleep in on Saturdays...It's a really great plan, but I do hate getting up early...On the weekdays Darin gets the kids ready for school and feeds all of them while I sleep an extra 30 minutes or so. It doesn't seem like much, but it is like heaven! I am just not a morning person. Once I am up I am okay, but getting out of bed is such a struggle. I really have to work on my attitude.

Will gets up at about 6:10 every day. I know this is because he goes to bed around 6:10 every night. He usually gets up pretty happy and I put him in bed with Darin and I and he crawls from my face to Darin's face giving big sloppy kisses and talking sweet. He does this for about 30 minutes and then he gets mad. He wants to get up and explore things (or taste things.)

Lily usually gets up around 7:00 and on the days I am up the boys tend to get up between 7 and 8. They can sleep longer, but never seem to do so when its my early day.

Today the kids are spending the morning exploring the presents. They are shaking, counting, and rearranging them. Will gets right in there with them. He particularly loves the bows. This should be a very fun Christmas. They all seem so excited! I can't wait for them to see their gifts.. I think they will each love the things we got them.

The Brownells

The Brownells came up for the Clark wedding. We got to hang out with them for a while!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

This is the other video from the school play...

The cutest reindeer of all!

Today the boys had their school program. It was called "Christmas in the Woods" and it was very cute. The older kids did a small skit and they sang several songs. The younger kids were animals and the K-2 boys were reindeer. The K-2 girls were snowflakes and did a ballet that was so adorable. I video taped it for the blog...

Yo Gabba Gabba

Lily (and Darin and myself) love the new show Yo Gabba Gabba. It's a bizarre show with singing, silly puppets and a very interesting host, "DJ Lance" Although it is on the unusual side it does teach kids about feeling, health and other important lessons in a very modern, cutting edge way.

When thinking about it this morning I was reminded of Captain Kangaroo, the show that I grew up watching. I adored this show and can remember when I had to get my teeth pulled my main concern was if I would be back in time to watch Captain Kangaroo. This show seemed so normal in my memories, until I google imaged it and found that it is a lot like Yo Gabba Gabba in that the characters all look very weird....Funny huh?

Santa's Lil' Helper

Will is feeling very festive this morning in his Christmas clothing. I remember when my mom bought this for him last year. He wasn't even born yet and it seemed so amazing he would be 9 months when he would wear this outfit. Here we are and it's hard to think of what life was like without little Will. He is the perfect ending to our silly family!

Here is a picture of Lily watching Jack playing his PSP before school. I thought it was so sweet...you could really see her love for her big brother. You can also see her pretty pink fingernails. The other day we had "Beauty Salon Day" where I cut her hair, painted her tonails red and then painted her fingernails pink. Very glamorous!

Hank was feeling camera shy this morning...He didn't want to pose for me. I'll get some of him later when he is dressed as a reindeer for his school play!

The other pictures are of Lily and Will playing with the Dora house. Will likes to eat it all...luckily we bought it before all the lead was found in the paint...

William

Here is a video of Will playing in the kitchen today. He is getting to be such a big boy!

Graham Cracker Houses

Hank's House with arched doorway and tootsie roll firewood. So creative!


Jack's house with gumdrop tiled roof and tiny monkey hiding on top! Very cute and tasty!

Today in school Jack and Hank got to make graham cracker houses. They had a great time and we took pictures to remember the houses so that they could eat the candies they like off of them.

Darin was gone today doing a sales trip for winter camps. He had breakfast with a youth pastor in Madera and lunch with a youth paster in Lodi. Then he returned home. He left at 5:30am and got home at 7:15 pm. It was a long day for him and for me, being that I got everyone up and put everyone to bed and everything else in between! Someone always gets hurt when Darin is away. Today Will gave himself a bloody nose when he pulled up to the toy box and then let go, smashing his face into the side of the box. He recovered quickly and was busy trying to get hurt in many other ways.

It's cold here...maybe a high of 35 degrees. The snow is still here and the roads are icy. I actually like it as long as we don't need to go anywhere.

My Christmas shopping is all done except for a few small stocking stuffers. I did it entirely online this year. I am becoming a woman of the future, well at least a lazy woman who doesn't like to shop in a hurry, trying to hide things from the four screaming children in my cart. A few extra dollars in shipping is worth my peace of mind.

Fear

I have a love/hate relationship with laundry. I hate it most of the time. I love it when I think my washer might be breaking and I may have to go somewhere to wash all of my clothes.... This morning I found my washer full of water and stuck on the washed but not rinsed faze of washing. After tinkering with the knobs, I managed to get it going and then made a panicked call to maintenance, secretly praying they will come see my tired, over-worked washer and buy me a sparkiling new one... doubt that will happen...but one can hope...

Pink Snow Puff!

Twenty minutes of cuteness! It takes twenty minutes to put all this on so that she can play outside for two minutes!
She is cute though!
Daddy and Will all snuggly and warm!
Eating snow, Lily's favorite!
Snow at Hume Lake!

First Snow

Abby and Hank watching a show...
Playing in the snow before school.

Looking for snow that fell off Brother's boots. Yummy.
Lily and Abby playing in the play house in the snow.

Today was the first significant amount of snow. It was a little snowy on the way up last night, but not very bad. We made it up without any trouble. It was mostly rainy. It was really rainy at the Tractor Parade. We were grateful for the warm winter coats, hats and boots, but we were all still a little wet and cold. In fact I took Will, Hank and Abby back to the car a little early because we were cold. It was a great parade and we had a really fun time. Jaynie, Shannon, Karley and Eric came along and we also had Megan and Abby with us while their parents were in Fresno. Megan and Abby stayed over and went home this morning. We definetely had a car full of kids. Someone said it should have been yellow, because it looked like a school bus unloading. We had a great time at the parade. We were glad we went despite the rain. I will try to post pictures from the parade later. I used Eric's camera because it is waterproof.

Funny Elves Dancing

I am sure you have all seen something like this already. In fact I have already gotten several of these from friends all over the US, but I couldn't resist making one of the kids. It is so funny. It makes me laugh every time I see it. Here's the link:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1197804154

Today we are going down to Reedley for the annual Electric Farm Equipment Parade or the Tractor Parade for short. This parade is at night and the people of Reedley decorate tractors and farm equipment with Christmas lights. It has been a tradition of ours to go have Mexican food at Sal's in Selma and then attend the parade. We have been going for 4 years as a family and Jack went once with Jen Turner and Curtis when he was 2. It is always great fun and I will try to post some pictures tomorrow. It is supposed to be rainy, so lets hope it still happens...

Buttercup.

This is our pet snake, Buttercup. He (or she) is a rubber boa. He was wild caught by Jeff Lilley and was once Outdoor Ed's. He lives in a terranium in our kitchen (lovely I know). The snake is really docile and overall is a pretty good pet. He likes to be held and doesn't smell. The only problem is feeding time. He is supposed to eat mice...yuck... but it's the circle of life...right? We had a California Glossy snake before this and he ate mice too. He ate them quickly so it wasn't traumatic. This snake has yet to eat, leaving the mice...I won't go into details...but it isn't pretty. I don't like it so I have to cover the cage when we are trying to feed it. Oh to just have a puppy!

It's beginning to look like Christmas...

Yesterday after school we started decorating the inside of our house for Christmas. We put up our tree and set up decorations around the living room and the dining room. It was a fun time. We all took part in our own ways. Dad and Mom helped build the tree, the boys set out decorations and decorated the tree, Lily put the Angel on the top of the tree and Will cried in his exersaucer and when placed on the ground, tried to eat anything small enough to fit into his mouth. Good times!