Eljin

Meet our elf, Eljin. Ben grew up with a similar looking elf at his home. We acquired Eljin a few years ago. He is Santa's helper in our home. He arrives in our home the day after Thanksgiving. He watches everything our kids say and do - his big ears are especially good at catching everything that is said. He relates this all to Santa, of course. He changes his sitting place every nite.

The kids love waking up in the morning and finding out where Eljin is. They talk to him. They remind each other, "Eljin just heard/saw you do that!" I don't even have to say it. They draw him pictures to give to Santa (and put him in a little Christmas-mailbox I bought for $2 at an antique store).

We didn't plan on all this when we got Eljin. It just sort of evolved. . .

Long Live Eljin!

Oh Christmas Tree. . .

Post-Tryptophan-Post

Well I should have written a whole post dedicated to all that I am thankful for. But I didn't. Life got in my way. But that is exactly what I am thankful for: Life. My Life. My Life that includes a wonderful family, great friends, a home that I adore, health, my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and all else. Okay, not all else. But a lot more. For I do have much to be thankful for.

I don't have a single picture of Thanksgiving Day. Pathetic. So I'll just have to write what happened sans pictures. :(

I did a turkey-trot run that morning. I had registered to run one in Utah at my parent's place, but since we didn't end up going I found a race here in town. Me and about 100 other people braved the 4 degree temperature (no lie, no joke). In fact, because the sun was out (the run started at 9) I actually warmed up and took off my mittens. I would have taken off my hat, too, but I was too lazy to carry it, ha. But the 4.3 mile run was fun, sort of. I loved it, really, but was not expecting to run inclines and hills.

After that I came back home and Ben was finishing up his pie. He then took the 3 older kids out on a walk and I tended to Lucy and started my pie (neither one of our pies turned out too grand. whoops). After lunch our family watched the traditional Thanksgiving-Day movie: Jack Frost. Then around 2ish we headed over to our friends' home and had a splendid rest of Thanksgiving. We visited a lot while our kids ran around and played and made messes. It was lovely. And the meal? Just as I expected: fantastic. A whole lot of fantastic, in fact. Later on in the evening Ben and I played some Wii (one "i" or 2?) Fit. It was my first time ever seeing it - Ben's second. It was super fun! Too bad I didn't kick the kids off earlier so we adults could play longer. :) We did some ski-jumping, juggling, snowball fighting, and marching. Totally fun. But I had to call it a nite so I could get Lucy down before she fell apart - thus leading to me falling apart. The kids had an amazing time, too, and so the day was a definite success.

Except the part where I forgot to take any pictures. So lame. So here is this picture:

A picture of one of the people I am indeed most thankful for. Oh she is just scrumptious.

Bittersweet

Well today we decided to not travel for Thanksgiving. We were going to go to my parent's home for the break, but given the "blizzard conditions" in Utah we just thought it would be wise and safest to stay home. Such a bummer for us all. It was a heart-breaker to have to tell my kids -- who have been talking about Thanksgiving with their grandparents for the past couple of weeks. Gag. But I think they got over it faster than I did (it helped that we decided to go visit the week after Christmas instead).

But the sweet part is that our good friends in town invited us over for Thanksgiving day. If we can't spend the holidays with family, good friends are a very close second.

And check out this cute boy:

He's been all into everything turkey the past week. Making lots of Thanksgiving crafts at school and home. This is but a small fraction of the crafts he has done. He's too cute.

Lucy is 3 months

Well Lucy is 3 months old today. She continues to grow and to just be adorable. She loves to smile when you smile at her and she even loves to giggle (my babies have never been big gigglers). She's really into "talking" lately, too, and that is just as equally adorable as her smiles and giggles. She's just too cute and we're all smitten by her charm. Well Emmy is at times - giving her the sweetest of kisses and the cutest of words. But then Emmy turns, uh not so darling, and "punches" (Emmy's words) Lucy in the belly with her flip-flop, while Lucy is in her crib awakening from a nap. SO MAD WAS I. Oh gosh. When I went to get Lucy and realized something was up, I saw a tear streaming down Lucy's face and it was just too sad. I got a little (uh a lot) upset at Emmy for hurting my baby. Don't mess with Mama Bear.

Anyways, Lucy is the best. Really. She naps in her crib during the daytime now. She goes to bed at night in her crib with hardly a fuss. She doesn't mind our cold - and sometimes snowy - walks in the morning to take Miles to school. She gets all bundled up and, once again, is just too cute. Here are pictures I took today and had some fun playing around with at picnik.

(a small p.s. just in case lucy reads this one day and thinks she was the perfect baby. she's not. but darn close. she has her moments throughout the day. but it is the evening that she drives me a little crazy: every evening between 5-6pm she just cries. right at dinnertime. right through the entire dinner. every evening. i know, i know. it's only an hour. i know many people have colicky babies that are only not crying for an hour a day. but, really, crying at 5pm stinks. i'm tired by then. i've dealt with *kid-stuff* all day long. it's just bad timing babe.)

MST

No, not Mountain Standard Time but Mormon Standard Time.

Anyways, just a few thoughts. So tonite we had a neighbor family over for dessert. Cinnamon Dumplings with Apple Cider Syrup. We had told them to come at 6pm. At 5:55pm I was thinking I had 15 minutes before our guests would arrive - you know, MST. I thought I would have time to change and get Lucy down - well, nope. Guests came 5 minutes early! You kidding me? It was great, though just not what I was expecting.

And then I got a little "gift" from our guests. We've had these neighbors over before and the last time they came I was brought some flowers. Very sweet. Tonite I was given some "vaniljesukker" [ha]. A mix of vanilla and sugar - like in a spice bottle (the gal is from Denmark). Once again, so thoughtful.

I just thought it interesting. Perhaps we in the Mormon culture (or perhaps it's just me and my family!) get too casual in our engagements? Showing up at MST.

Or perhaps it's because we've got the 3.3 kids to get ready wherever we go, while others only have 1.8.

Sealed with a Kiss

Here is a letter written by Jonas. It's a little light, so here's what he wrote:

"Mom I Lic Yoo I Luv too Pla Wiv You"

translation (though I think it's pretty good!) - "Mom, I like you. I love to play with you."

Isn't that great?! Even greater if you're the sweet boy's mom. :)

Quote of the Week

Ben told me he was getting off work and would pick Miles up from school. Well Ben was running late and so had to leave from work in his scrubs. When he got to school and picked up Miles, this was Miles' comment:

"You don't have any body parts on your clothes."

Ben asked what he meant and Miles said, "You know, from the people you work on."

HA!

Just For Fun Friday Fotos

This was Miles' pumpkin that he carved. He had gone on a walk with Grandpa Max the week before and saw a "barfing pumpkin" and so he did the same. Just Awesome.

Oh the fun-ness of playing on the vents has returned! Emmy turned into marshmallow gal here. Too cute.

This is not what Emmy was wearing when I put her down for a nap. But it is what she was wearing when I got her up. This girl changes a bazzilion times each day. And, no, she does not put her clothes away when she gets out new ones. Ugh. :)

Ode to Scout

Scout you were a lovely dog

I got you so together we could jog

But you were so big and pulled me so

And I got tired of yelling, Whoa!

I also don't like running in the dark no more

I can't see anything behind or before

So I stopped taking you out with me

And you were left all day in the backyard to pee, pee, pee

And sometimes poop, of course

With droppings as much as a horse

You also enjoyed chewing up wires,

digging up holes, and running into tires -

You almost died when you tried that

But you have 9 lives, just like a cat

Although I thought you real sweet and did love you so

I felt so bad with you out all day and knew you must go

Go somewhere else where there'd be more time for you

Time to play frisbee (you were so good!) and chase, too

So Ben placed an ad on craigslist.com

And along came a family - 2 kids, a dad, and a mom

They loved you - even with you jumping all over them

With all of your great vigor and vim

So they took you to their home, which includes 3 1/2 acres

We the givers, they the takers

2 of us loved you (myself and Miles)

(When you left Miles cried and was devoid of all Smiles)

But hopefully you are in a much better place

And we'll always remember your adorable face