Christmas Time Catch Up!

Though the weather here in Phoenix may not feel like Christmas (temperatures in the mid-seventies), Christmas is definitely in the air! Two weeks have flown by in a flash, like Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. Speaking of Christmas Eve, guess what tonight is? Well, I guess you can see by the post date! LOL This year We have decided to do things differently. We decided to have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, that way we can relax and not spend all day in the kitchen of Christmas Day, but instead do things that help us focus on the Savior more! Ill let you know how it goes! In efforts to catch up, here are a few things that have been a part of our Christmas Season so far!

Finally pictures of that house! This lady starts putting lights up after Halloween! Really, these pictures don't do it justice! People park and walk the property to look at everything. The lady has a popcorn machine to have fresh popcorn for visitors! Usually, we take her cookies. Hasn't happened this year!

What happens when a pillow gets thrown over the banister? It does this! Yep, I heard a crash and found the kids tree on the floor. We only had a few ornament causalities, but the tree defiantly seen better days. Garland is in disarray, and bows and ornaments are crooked! Gotta love it!

The board games have come out these past two weeks! This has been Sophia's favorite! Gotta love the sound of Hungry Hungry Hippo all day long! Ugh!

Tis the season to make surprises! Ethan has been in the Holiday spirit, going around making surprises for people! Here is something he came up with all on his own! Gotta love this kids imagination!

Whats December without a zillion Christmas parties? Aubrie's Dance Studio has a Christmas Party every year, at the Performing Theater close by. This year they catered Olive Garden (genius idea I must say:) and they exchanged their secret Santa gifts. Its a fun time for the girls to get dressed up and hang out and socialize!

The boys turned a game of Jenga into making buildings. Boston made this one. Any guesses as to what it is? It's a temple. Can't you see the "T" on the top, for Temple?

Bostons Cub Scout troop visited a nearby Rehabilitation center. Each cub scout picked a name and used their own money to purchase a gift for the person they had chosen. Boston got Milton. He is an 80 year old Veteran. Boston got him a DVD that had 20 old war movies on it, and a bucket that had popcorn, and candy in it! What a great opportunity it was for him to do this! The whole family went and had the opportunity to meet residents of the facility and sing carols. I had to leave early, but Aubrie said they all just loved little Sophia!

Round one of Christmas Programs! Both Ethan and Boston had a Christmas program this year. Ethan's was first. The Gymnasium was packed! Luckily Aubrie and Boston ran in right when they opened the doors and got us front row seats! Boy were we lucky, because there would have been no way to see him otherwise! Ethan's program was comprised of poems and songs. My favorite was a poem about a little snowball. It went something like this....

I made myself a snowball, as perfect as can be.

I decided that I would take it home to come and sleep with me.

I made it some Pajama's and a pillow for it's head.

It ran away while I was sleeping, but first.....it wet the bed!
Gotta LOVE the suit!
Some pictures from Ethan's Christmas Party!


Boston's Christmas Party!

They got letters from the North Pole, again, this year!;) They were so excited! Boston wasn't buying it though! :(

Ms. Anderson letting them feel the cold stocking filled with letters!


Boston's Christmas Performance. It was all about a making and finding a Gingerbread on the loose. They used Christmas Songs, but changed the words to fit the play! It was cute, and short!

Some of Ethan's holiday art!

"I want to be a reindeer so I can go on the roof!"
Christmas Exchange at the Lorenzana's!

Sophia got a Dora coloring set. Think she liked it?

Art stuff for Ethan!
A belt that Boston had been wanting! He put it on, and has been wearing it since!
A sewing machine for Aubrie!
Time for Sugar cookies! I'm looking so good...not!
Especially in this one....but I love Ethan's signature wink!


Last night we frosted them, while I worked on a project for my Young Women. We also watched What's Up Doc. A movie I watched when I was a little kid and remember me laughing and laughing. I ordered it through Walmart because they don't have it at Blockbuster anymore. It was pretty funny, and I was impressed how the movie was rated G and it wasn't even an amimated film. It goes to show that its possible to make a G rated film, that makes us laugh, and is entertaining! If only they could make more of those!

After the movie, Ben read some emails to the kids from Santa. They were video emails. Santa showed his book that had their picture in it, and what they wanted, and also shared some of his secrets with them. Some of the secrets he shared were how he eats all the cookies, how he knows if your good or bad, and how he gets around the world in one night! Aubrie was most impressed by it. Boston still wasn't buying it. Aubrie is a little upset that he doesn't believe. Aubrie found Sophia's bike in the garage today. She was crying and said that Santa must not be real. I thought on my feet, and told her we forgot to send in a list for Sophia, so we called him up and he said it was too late to make a bike. He said if we found one for her, he would pay us for it, and to just leave it in the garage for him. She totally bought it. Whew! that was a close one! Well, I Guess I better get to making our Christmas dinner!

I'm a Wise Virgin

I thought that might get your attention! I swear it's the truth!! So a few years ago, our other Ward put on the Ten Virgins Parable play. When speaking with my friend, who was the director, she was telling me it was hard to find 10 people to sing. I was shocked, knowing that there was definitely enough talent in the ward for that . She said that people were just not willing to do it. I told her, "Well that's ridiculous! I totally would have done it if you would have called me. " Of course, that was easy to say because it was already over and they didn't need me.

Well, here we are two years later and the phone rings in the middle of the day. It's one of my friends calling to ask me if I can sing in the 10 Virgin's Parable play for our Ward. My mind instantly flashed to that conversation I had two years ago. I knew I couldn't be a hypocrite and tell her no. I did inform her that I hadn't sung a solo since I was in the 7th grade, and she told me that was alright because it was a duet. I felt a little better, but was still a little panicked when I hung up. I decided that I would survive, and I definitely wouldn't be telling anyone about it!

That Sunday, the choir director hands me my sheet music to practice, and my lines to memorize. First of all, I didn't know I would have to be memorizing any lines, so I was instantly running all the things, I had on my plate, over and over in my head and wondering how memorizing lines was going to fit in with that. Then I look at the sheet music to find that my singing part was basically a solo. I just joined someone else on the last verse at the end of their part. When I finally got a chance to practice, I realized that the song was an alto part. I'm a Soprano!! At that point, I decided that all I could do was practice, and pray.

I did practice!! It was on my To Do list to practice the song at least once a day. They gave us a CD to practice with. Whenever I could tear Sophia away from her Strawberry Shortcake movie in the car (her new favorite), I would practice. Her and Aubrie actually have the words down. Of course, when you don't have the singer on the CD singing behind you, you realize you aren't as good as you thought you were.

At my first practice, a week before the performance, they also assigned me a solo part in the the last group song. That was another thing I had to practice and memorize. The week of the performance I still hadn't practiced or memorized my lines. I had so much going on, I hadn't had the time. I had planned on going over them while I was on the elliptical, but I had a change in my workout program, so that never happened. I didn't want to have to rely on a cheat sheet, that we were given permission to use. I said a prayer that the words would come to me, and that I would be able to deliver them in a manner that I was like the character I was supposed to portray. I started practicing my lines and something amazing happened. As I went over them, it was like I could just see the lines in my head the way they were on my paper. I was able to memorize them quickly! I'm not the best at memorizing. It took me 5 weeks to memorize the Living Christ. That was going over it every night for about 20 minutes. I always get hung up on little words. But this just came to me. I really feel like I was blessed to memorize the things I needed to.

At dress rehearsal I was a little intimidated by the microphone and I blanked on one of my lines. I made a SMALL cheat sheet, because I knew that would help me be less nervous, but I never used it for the performance. When I was up there, I really felt like I was that girl. I just blocked out all the audience and focused on the Savior. It was a great experience. The singing wasn't the best I had done during practice, but I prayed before that as long as the message got across and I didn't mess up bad enough to distract from the spirit that needed to be felt, I would be alright. It was good enough!

After it was all done, I celebrated in the hall ,with the others, that it was finally over! Later, I was suddenly overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity I had to do it. I was grateful for the opportunity to form new friendships, and strengthen old ones. I was thankful that the Lord PUSHED me in to using a talent I have long ago left by the wayside. Most of all I am grateful for the Spiritual lift it gave me. Practicing and thinking about my songs filled my lamp! As I practiced my songs and lines, I felt the spirit and was taught by him. I wanted to make sure I was the Virgin I was portraying; One who went to the Savior everyday, so she could become more like him. One who is loyal, and does not gossip, but only speaks kindly of others. One who weathers rough times with his help. One who wants to follow in Christ's footsteps, so she can be ready for when He comes again. One who makes sure she fills her lamp every day. If you can't tell, those were some of my lyrics. Those lyrics are stuck in my head, still, and remind me of who I want to be on a daily basis. I know Heavenly Father knows what we need, even if we don't think we do! I'm grateful for the conversation 2 years ago, that got me to say YES to this now!

Boston's Baptism

Boston's Baptism was great! First of all, I have to say that his baptism was less stressful than Aubrie's. I don't know if it was the fact that I had already been through this, or that I didn't have to worry about doing his hair, or that I didn't have a special table set up with all his stuff, but it just seemed much more relaxed! We left the house 30 minutes before, so we could get there in time to take a few pictures and get Boston in his whites.

When Ben came out with Boston in his jumpsuit, that's when it really hit me that my little boy was 8! Where had time gone? It doesn't feel like yesterday, but definetly less than 8 years ago when I held that boy in my arms for the first time and I was told that he was going to do great things! I held back the tears, knowing that this was the frist step towards that revelation!

After we snapped these pics, we headed to the chapel for the first part of the Baptism. In the chapel, they have a talk on Baptism for all the Wards. They asked me to give this talk two days before his baptism. At first I was a little frustrated that they would ask me, since I was the Mom of one of the kids getting baptized, and probably had a million things to do. It didn't take me very long, however, to feel lucky enough to have the chance to give this talk, and take part in Boston's special day. I was instantly lead by the Spirit as to where I was to pull my talk from, and how I was to deliver it. I prepared it the night before with ease. This RARELY happens to me with talks, YW lessons, yes, but talks, NO! I was a little surprised to see how many people were there in the Chapel. It felt like I was speaking in Sacrament on one hand, but on the other, I felt like I was only talking to 6 sweet little 8 year olds. The Spirit was definitely strong, and though the kids attention spans are limited at that age, they listened well. I even had a few others kids listening, as we heard them answer aloud some questions I posed. It brought some chuckles! Most of all, I loved being up there and looking into Boston's eyes, and going over what he was about to do. (Of course, he wasn't the only one I looked at, but I'm sure I looked at him the most!)

When it was our turn to go to the font, I could see the excitement in Boston's eyes! What a great thing to see your child go under the waters of baptism with enthusiasm! After the baptism, we all headed to another room to wait for the confirmations and talk on the Holy Ghost. Boston's teacher gave the talk. One of the first questions she asked was what gift they were about to get. Boston raised his hand and said, "Oh, I know! A blanket!!" Everyone laughed. He was right. This Primary hands out white fleece blankets with their names embroidered on them. Boston has seen them given out at other baptisms. He was so excited to get it and has been using it ever since!

His teacher did a really great job on the talk. She had a object lesson that was really good. She pulled out some dirty socks and a dirty shirt. It was like she had been soaking them in mud or something. She asked the kids to put them on. The girl was hesitant, but Boston was just ready to obey her, and then when he went to grab them gave a weird look, but still was going to do it. When we started laughing, he realized it was a joke. She then asked them why they didn't want to put them on, and of course it was because they were dirty. She compared that to how the Holy Ghost cant be with us when we aren't making good choices, or putting ourselves in bad situations.

After the talk, they had the confirmations, and a comment from the Bishopric. Then Boston got his blanket from the Primary president. After the meeting, there was no rush home to get a huge dinner going for everyone, no lingering around for more pictures, just getting the family in the car and going home. Maybe that's why his baptism seemed less chaotic and stressful. Sometimes, I think, when you keep things simple, it actually helps you enjoy the moment more.

Recital, Baptism, Party and more

So like I said, Boston's Baptism day was packed with a lot of activities. Because of that, I will post a separate detailed account of his baptism, with his pictures. This is just a run down of Saturday and Sunday!

Saturday morning we woke up early, to be early birds at Crackerbarrel. We planned it just right, because we walked right in with a party of 9, and 1o minutes later the place was packed. The kids had fun looking around the shop, playing checkers, and sitting by the fire while they waited for food. I even found a cool Christmas gift for my Mom while we were there.

After a nice breakfast, we rushed home to get ready and clean the house for our party that night. Ben was so great getting everything picked up and vacuumed while I got ready and the kids ready for their piano recital.

The piano recital was at 11:00, at a retirement center close by. It's the one we have gone to every year. Boston had "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree" and "Angels We Have Heard on High". Aubrie had "Joy to the World", and "Hark the Harold Angels Sing." They got their music just a week and a half before the recital. I was proud how hard they worked on them. Aubrie had to work really hard. "Joy to the World" had 3 note chords in the bottom hand, and it was tough for me, even. They loved playing them once they got them down, and we dedicated time during our FHE, the Monday before, to put on a mini-recital. Boston did very well at the recital. He always does one duet with his teacher. This year it was "Angel's We Have Heard on High". It sounded really good. Aubrie did great, too, until she got to the very end of "Joy to the World". She missed a note, and lost her place. I was right by the piano taking pictures, and I could see the panic in her eyes, and I knew she was going to start crying. I prayed she could get through it, but embarrassment overtook her, and she started to break down. I felt so bad for her, and wanted to rush and give her a hug and help her. The teacher tried to help her through the last few notes, and then when she was done she quickly walked away crying. Luckily we had to leave right after to get ready for the Baptism, so she didn't have to be around everyone. I told her that sometimes you just get stage fright, but that she had that song down perfectly, and I knew she was a great piano player! She seemed to be over it quickly, but was excited when she found out her second recital was cancelled!

Boston and his VERY pregnant teacher. She actually had her baby today, therefore the cancelled recital!

After the piano recital, we rushed home to get ready for the baptism. When we got home, I curled my hair, and then realized we had a lot of time before the baptism. Boy's are so much easier in that regard. For Aubrie's, I had to have time to curl her hair. We pulled Boston from outside about 30 minutes before, threw his suit on him and headed off. His baptism was great! You'll hear more about it later.

After the baptism, we came home and got ready for our annual Christmas party. Every year it seems to get bigger and bigger. It's always hard to know where to make the cut off for the invite list. I wish I had a HUGE family room, so I could accommodate everyone! I find myself making excuses as to why people couldn't come anyway, to make me feel better. "Oh, I know they couldn't make it anyway, or "Don't know how they would feel about the gift exchange". I know I shouldn't worry about those type of things, but I just do. I don't every want anyone to feel left out. I think that's why I jumped at the offer Ben made last year to be in charge of the inviting. Of course, I then missed people, so I took it over again!

There wasn't really much preparing to do. After a couple years of throwing it, we decided that it was easier and actually quite affordable to do Olive Garden take out. People were nice enough to bring desserts and a few appetizers, and Sparkling Cider. Because I just keep inviting, we ended up with a PACKED house and family room for the gift exchange. The more the merrier, though! It was a blast. Trina even happned to have flown in that weekend, so she got to be there. It was great to see her, and made me miss her even more! The gift exchange was fun. There were a few funny, and questionable gifts, that kept us all laughing or cringing! Some friends from last year, brought their gift they got last year, as a joke. It was a gift no one wanted, and so Ben and I decided that it would be the "golden gift" from now on. Whoever unwraps it gets to pick whatever they want at the end. Everyone seemed to like that idea. It was just chance that Ben got it this year!

This was probably the LEAST embarrasing picture I could post from the party. Doesn't he look great in the scarf and handbag? LOL

The last of our guests left around 10, and Ben and I had everything cleaned up within a half hour. I fell into bed, around 11:00.

Sunday was just a normal day...busy! Sophia was great enough to cooperate and sit in the pew the whole time. During second hour, they needed help in the nursery. Being in there brought back fond memories when I was nursery leader. It made me think how we are in our callings at a certain time, for a reason. The nursery was great for me then, and YW is perfect for me now! I remember missing my nursery kids when I had to go to RS for Visiting Teaching conferences, and I can't imagine being without my YW now! I always tell Ben I want to die in Young Womens, but I'm not holding my breath. I would like to be in there when Aubrie is, but I'm not sure she would feel the same way! LOL

After Church, we got a bite to eat, and then I took the kids to choir practice. They have a part in the Christmas Program. I loved hearing them sing, and loved how much Aubrie was loving it! Even though Aubrie complains about piano, she really has a love for music. I'm sure that's a reason she likes dance, too. When we got home she wanted to go over the song. I could tell she was excited to sing the song. Boston didn't show as much enthusiasm, but there is just something tender about seeing your little boy sing. I can't describe it, but there is just some extra tender chord inside me that gets hit when I see him sing.

The rest of the evening we filled up with Sunday stations, dinner, and Funniest Home Videos. We also snuck in a few Man vs. Food in. Whew!! I survived a weekend, and now had to prepare for something that was freaking me out!! More info to come!!

Nonstop weekend!

Ok, I can tell the Holidays are here, because time is getting away from me! I seriously refreshed my blogpage 3 times, because I couldn't believe that my last post was Thanksgiving! The week after Thanksgiving was packed with Christmas shopping, play rehearsal's (I'll get to that later) preparing for my Dad's arrival, getting ready for Boston's baptism, our Christmas Party, a piano recital, and every other normal activity that is on my weekly calendar .The real craziness started Friday. My Dad came in at 11:00, and then the weekend was a blur. I even got myself a clipboard and put ANYTHING I needed to remember on it, including a running "to do" list. By the time I got home from picking my Dad up from the airport, I was exhausted from a night of limited sleep, and an early morning work out. So I crashed with Sophia, in her room, until the kids got home from school. I think that threw me off a little, because I forgot all about Aubrie's MANDATORY dance practice that night. We just rushed off to dinner, and I didn't remember it till we were on our way home that night and we passed the dance studio. That kind of rattled me, wondering what else I might forget.

So back to our evening.....We all went to Fuddruckers, one of the kids favorite stops. It's the video games and vending machines that suck them in, and suck our wallets dry, too!

After dinner, the kids wanted to go to the mall to see the puppies. We had a great time there. The kids took us to Tilly's and the Van's store to show us things they liked. Luckily, I keep my camera on me, so I snapped some pictures so I could remember. Here are a few things they picked out. I only post them so my kids can look back at the styles the like! I'm sure they'll laugh, just like we did, and then they'll come back again when they have kids!

Ethan's Choice

Bostons's Choice ("To go with those grey skinny pants I want Mom!")

Boston's Choice

Aubrie's Choice

Boston's Choice

Seriously, the purple shoes are Boston's choice. Ben was rolling his eyes and dying, and then I reminded him of his pink golf shirt!

The kids found some wallets at the Vans store, that looked like Aubrie's "shoe pick", but different colors. I was thinking they would be a GREAT stocking stuffer (did I mention how much I hate stockings?). The next thing I know Ethan comes around the corner with a new wallet. That's what happens when I sneak away to the Calendar booth for just a minute! Of course, the other kids were trying not to complain, but I could see the look of "that's not fair" in their eyes! Ben let Ethan keep the change, and so he gave Boston and Aubrie the same amount Ethan got, and off they went to buy their wallets, and I was out of yet another idea for their stockings!!!!

After the shopping, and on our way out of the mall, Boston saw the pretzel shop. He asked, and we told him he had extra money, and he could buy it if he wanted. Aubrie realized that she wanted one too, so their money was gone before we were out the door. It was good for them to see how much that pretzel cost them, since I'm always buying them at the outlet mall. Maybe they'll appreciate it a bit more next time! On the way out to the parking lot, we met up with Ben and Ethan, who had taken a potty break. Ethan saw the pretzel and of course wanted one. He couldn't make up his mind if he wanted to spend his money or not, and than Boston said, "Don't worry about it Ethan, I'll share mine with you!" Ok, that was a proud Mommy moment because it's one thing to share your pretzel that Mom bought for you, but another to share the one you just spent the rest of your money on!

On the way home, (and after my panic attack at realizing I had forgotten about dance!) we stopped at this one house for Christmas lights. We stop their every year, and I'm thinking right now that it's time I get a picture of the place! It's so decked out I can't even begin to describe it, so look for a posting of it later! After that stop, it was movie time for the kids, and time for Mom to prepare her talk for the baptism! Yep, you heard me right! They asked me to give the talk on Baptism, on Thursday!!! I was glad to to it, but wondering if there was anything else I could seriously add to my plate for Saturday! LOL

Thanksgiving 2009

What an amazing Thanksgiving break we had this year! It started Wednesday for me. Ethan had a fun Thanksgiving party. All the Kindergarten classes took turns going to different stations. The stations included a few crafts, making pumpkin pudding, and then a Scarecrow relay race. That is what Ethan's class was in charge of, therefore me and the other Mom helpers from his class. It was a lot of work getting kids dressed and undressed over and over.

I definitely got a double work out for the day! Ethan had a fun time, and I had a great time being there watching him and getting to know the other Mom's better.

After school, Aubrie went to a friend's birthday party (which was a trip to the theatre to see New Moon, and get pizza), while Ben and I joined the Lorenzana's at Texas Road House to celebrate Ben's birthday. We had an early dinner because I thought I had a few places to be later, but they were cancelled, so we just chilled at home with the kids, watching movies, etc. Thursday morning, Ben did the whole Turkey Bowl thing, which was at the park right by our house. While he did that, I worked out. After my work out, I pulled Sophia in the wagon, and walked Ethan to the park. He woke up late (big surprise...NOT), and was sad that he didn't' get to join Aubrie and Boston. So after I walked him there, Aubrie took Sophia to the playground, while I ran the trails for another mile.

After my run, I came home and started breakfast; Danny's amazing buttermilk syrup, waffles, strawberries, and cool whip (therefore the extra mile run!LOL). I then prepared the dishes I was to bring to dinner; Shoepeg Casserole, Chocolate Pie, and a veggie tray! After I was done, we all went hot tubing. We all took our turns jumping in the pool! Ethan is a mad man, jumping in over and over. The kids finally got me in by pushing Ben, who was holding me! It was much colder than last weekend, and my legs were still numb several minutes after sitting in the HOT tub!

After getting ready, we headed over to the Lorenzana's for dinner, at 3:00. Her parents, and her sister and her family was there, too! We had a GREAT time socializing, and the kids had fun playing! The food was great, and the company even better. After clean up and dessert, we played a fun game called "paper telephone". It's where you write a sentence, and then the person next to you has to draw a picture of that sentence, and then the next time it is passed, you fold down the sentence, and the person has to come up with a sentence to describe the picture, and so on! We finally left around 7:30. Boston stayed at the Lorenzana's for a sleep over, and Maya came home with us for the night.

Aubrie's hair that lasted only a few minutes!

When we got home, I was ready to chill, but Ben had other plans. He was pulling out all the Christmas stuff. Next thing I know, our tree is plugged in and set up in our living room. Well I couldn't sit there and look at a bare tree, so the next thing you know its 11:00 PM and my tree is decorated. Luckily I got some help with the kid tree, after Maya and Aubrie were done hot tubing!:) Ethan wanted to help so badly. He was hanging the same kind of bulb in the same spot. I let him do a bit, and then Ben took him off to watch a movie, while I redecorated! Well at 11:00, I couldn't do another thing. I bagged the few decorations that sat in the containers, and swore off the stair garland till the next day. When we checked the girls, they were asleep on our bed, with the portable DVD player that hadn't even been opened. Guess they were tired!

Friday started with another work out (are you seeing a new pattern?), and then we braved Walmart to get some needed supplies. Surprisingly it wasn't that busy. I'm sure it was way picked over, since we didn't get there till 10:30. After picking up a few things, we took the kids to Chuckee Cheese for lunch. That place was sooooo DEAD!!! It was GREAT!!! The kids had a blast, and I loved that I could keep a better eye on them. Sophia loved the machines. She would come for the tokens one by one, and would typically bring back ONE ticket every time. Once Aubrie ran out of tokens, which happened quickly, she was more than happy to take Sophia around and help her spend hers. That was fine with us. Free Babysitting! Ethan pretty much played the same game the whole time, after hitting the jackpot on his first couple of tokens. When he came dragging his TRAIN of tickets he said, "I've been DREAMING about this moment!" There is one trick I have recently learned that has made going to Chuckee a lot more enjoyable. Ben and I used to sit at the prize counter and help the kids pick out their prizes. I HATED that. They could NEVER make up their minds, and it seemed like an endless process. Now I just send them up to the counter, and let the workers at the counter deal with it. I have found it goes much quicker, and sometimes they end up getting more. I think the people handing out the prizes are more willing to give them a little more just to get them out of there. Anyway, the kids walked out of there with stuff that cost Chuckee pennies, and us dollars! But they all walked out of there happy with their Laffy Taffy, Slinkie's, etc.

When we got home from Chuckee, Sophia went down for a nap, while Ben took the kids on a bike ride. They had a great time, and went a long way. Ben was impressed that Ethan could keep up with his little bike. The kids, Aubrie especially, has been asking since to go on another one. I really need to get a bike with a kid trailer, so we can all go together. Now that the weather is nice, it would be a great family activity, and a great form of family exercise! When they got back , and Sophia woke up, we went hot tubing (yes we live in there), and had dinner. After dinner, the kids worked on their Christmas letters to Santa while I finished up some last Christmas decorations.

Ethan got a little crazy with the crazy and started taking pictures of our Christmas stuff for a class project he is working on. Here is his picture of our tree.

We finished our evening watching an "edited" version of Liar Liar! I haven't seen that movie FOREVER. I remember quoting it all the time, and thinking it was the funniest thing. It was great to see it, again. The kids loved Jim Carey's sense of humor. They laughed and laughed at so many parts. Ben did great at being quick at the "editing button"!

Saturday was another work out, and then I took the kids to meet Ben at the church. It was our turn to clean the building. The night before we told the kids what we were going to do, and they all started complaining. I was a little sad that they weren't more excited about it, but the more I thought about it, I don't' think as a kid I would be clicking my heals to clean anything. Luckily, they were much more into it when they were there. I started them off in the chapel, having them clean out the hymnal's, and picking up trash off the floor. They started complaining how they couldn't believe people left so much trash in the hymnal's. It was a great chance to remind them to make sure they didn't leave trash there. Of course, they had fun going up on the stand and checking out where they prepare the sacrament, and talking in the microphone; something they never get to do. After cleaning the chapel, we cleaned the bathrooms and the kitchen. They never complained, and were eager to do things they wouldn't be so eager to do at home.

After cleaning the chapel, we came home and cleaned up here. We then quickly showered and went to see Planet 51 with the Lorenzana's. The kids were so excited, and were all spread out sitting by their Lorenzana counterpart. Ok, I'm sorry if anyone liked this movie, but it was such a snoozer. It had a good message, but that was about it. The kids said they liked it, so I guess that's what counts. I do have to mention that Boston was disappointed that we weren't there to see New Moon! After the movie we made a quick stop at Krispy Kreme, which is literally right across the street. I exercised great discipline and only had a bite of one of the donuts! After the movie we came home for some hot tubing (do I even need to mention it?), dinner and Twilight. The night did have a twinge of excitement, when Ethan tried to do a round house kick over Sophia's head. It didn't quite make it over her head though, and he ended up popping her in the left eyelid. It cut it open, but not enough for stitches (thank Heaven's). He felt so bad, and Sophia now goes around to everyone saying , "Look what Ethan did", as she is pointing to her eye. I think everyone at church knows that Ethan cut her eye by the time the 3rd hour was over. LOL

Today was a great Sunday. We didn't' have to leave the Chapel once during Sacrament. (Thank you Sophia!) Ben's lesson was great. It was on the Savior's Life. It made me think more about the Savior and the role he has played in my life. Third hour the Bishop gave an AMAZING and straight forward lesson on chastity, for the Young Women. I much appreciated it, and wish my leaders would have been that direct. We have an amazing Bishop! After church was Sunday stations. This week I added a station where the kids had to draw one of the siblings names and write a letter to them. I try to have a new station every week. It gets hard sometimes, but that ended up being a good one. After stations, I had a one on one talk with Boston and then with Aubrie, giving them my watered down Chastity talk. There is so much stuff out there, I am determined that they don't hear stuff from friends before they hear it from me. They were really good about it, and are still at the stage where they think everything is "Gross". I know that will change one day, and it's important they know the Lords standards and also that they can come to me with any questions.

During my talk with Aubrie, an amazing storm blew through. Ben was in the hot tub with the rest of the kids, and Aubrie quickly got her suit on to enjoy hot tubing in the rain. There was a beautiful double rainbow over our house. I am always amazed and grateful when I see rainbows! To me it's like a huge hug from Heavenly Father.

The rest of the night included our normal Sunday Spaghetti dinner, an impromptu piano recital put on by Aubrie and Boston, and then our Sunday ritual of America's Funniest Home Video's. They had some really funny ones tonight. Last week I posted on Facebook that Sunday's are never a day of rest for me. Well, today definitely felt much more restful. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father heard me and gave me that tender mercy!

Sophia liked her new coat so much, she asked me to take a picture.

This one is blurry, but I still had to post it, because the wink and her on her tip toes is so typical of her!