Christmas Morning

Christmas morning finally made it! Myla was the first one up at 1am. Then she and Ashlee were up at 2am. Thankfully they waited to wake their brothers until 6:30am. They were generous with letting John and me sleep until 7am.

Now the craziness begins...Royce got cars, trucks, a spiderman backpack, clothes and transformers.Jad got cars, trucks, a spiderman backpack, clothes, and transformers (notice the boys got the same things to avoid any fights- we're gettin' mighty smart in our old age).I think John enjoyed the boys toys more than they did.Ashlee's big present was a Nintendo DS - YES! Finally, no more begging big sister to play with hers.You know your kids are growing up on you when they get an item of clothing as a Christmas gift and they are overjoyed... oh, my little Myzee you are growing up too fast. Myla got a lot of clothes, jewelry, a secret password journal and some knitting stuff for Christmas this year and she couldn't be happier.Another big ticket item for Ashlee was this baby doll that talks, coos, and cries until she gets her bottle or pacifier. Well, that's what is suppose to happen anyway but this little sweetheart wont be comforted even with her bottle or pacifier. Who knew I picked the colicky one off the store shelf. It was quite hilarious to watch Ashlee try to quiet this baby all day long. We always delighted in the idea that one day we would get pay back for all the trouble she caused us when she was a baby, we just didn't realize it would come so quickly and in the form of a Christmas present. Ashlee wanted to play with her new DS but baby was crying...(hmmm, that's too bad)Everyone took turns holding the baby trying to comfort her.Even Royce took a turn. The grand finally was after all the presents were opened and dad unveiled this miniature RZR for Jad and Royce. They were ecstatic!

Dad told them if they drive like their mom they should steer clear of this stop sign in our front yard (mom had a little run in with it a few months back - no pun intended).

Thumbs up to another great Christmas morning!

Christmas Eve

The last chain on the girls paper count down to Christmas finally got pulled tonight...

It's Christmas Eve. We had a somewhat friendly gingerbread house making competition... John and Myla vs. Rachel and Ashlee. As long as John was winning everything was good.

Jad was the judge of the coolest gingerbread house (we knew he wouldn't be bias)...

but he liked them both.

Thanks to Nestle Toll House, making cookies for Santa was quick and easy. The kids kept a close watch on the Santa Tracker online while we read and talked about the Christmas story and opened a much anticipated Christmas Eve gift. It was then time to jump into bed before Santa arrived.

"Good night my babies. Thank you for bringing back the magic and excitement of Christmas for me. I love seeing it through your eyes." Love Mom.

Temple Lights

One of our Christmas family traditions is to go see the Temple lights.

Ashlee's favorite was the "pom pom trees".Myla forgot her jacket so she was a little chilly.... Royce loved all the lights...
Cheesy Jad... Ashlee and friend Dreya...All the kiddos (Ash, Myla, Royce, Jad, Greyson, & Dreya)

We all had a great time!

Star Charts

Star charts were one of the highlights from my childhood. Every year around Christmas time we created our star charts. When we would do something helpful without complaining or anonymously perform a good deed we would be rewarded with a star. I remember constantly thinking of things I could do to help out. I remember making my sisters beds in the mornings and then later at night turning down their sheets so they were ready for bed. It was always a race to do something amazingly special and get noticed for it. Man, we were such good kids!

On Christmas Eve we would count all of our stars and use them as money in a store which my mom set up in her room for us to shop for our brothers and sisters Christmas gifts. Gum, Hello Kitty art packs, notebooks, ear rings... ahhh the magic of walking into the "store" with my baggy of star money. I loved it!

Twenty years later I'm finding out how much work this really was for my mom to put together and follow through with. I really want my kids to learn about serving others so we are making star charts this Christmas...




They all worked so hard to make their charts perfect... I totally remember doing that.
I was explaining the rules of getting stars when Ashlee interrupted me wanting to know how much money each star was worth. "One dollar" I told her. I then asked if there were any other questions and decided it was time to put this to the test. I asked Myla to help the boys get ready for bed and she quickly jumped up to help out. Jad cleaned his room that night... hmmm, I was starting to see the light. It was working! My children were jumping at a chance to help out - this must be why my mom did star charts for all those years. I was really feeling proud of my kids for helping out so cheerfully. I then asked Ashlee to take the trash out for me. To my surprise it even worked on Ashlee! She jumped right up, picked up the trash bag and started heading for the door but paused as she passed by me and in a sly little voice said "it's gonna cost you a dollar".
Well, I can see that times have changed. I haven't seen any anonymous bed making going on or mysterious kitchen cleaning being performed but hopefully this will be a fun memory for them to look back on one day and attempt with their own kids.

Messy Situation in the Garage

Two nights ago we came home to some animal poop on the floor of our garage. Yes, animal poop! This was strange, we have no pets and the garage had been closed all night. I thought "this has got to be a joke" and I seriously looked around expecting to see the Brenay's car parked somewhere in our neighborhood. Were they really capable of toting some of Roxy's (their new puppy) poop over to our house just to see us squirm and to get some laughs? No, surely this could not be the explanation. "This is CAT poop, there is a CAT in our garage" John yelled.

Now you have to understand that usually our garage is clean and orderly but right now it is filled with crates of travertine, cabinets and a bunch of boxes of hardware and materials waiting to go into our side garage and casita... so there were plenty of places for a cat to hide.

John began making hissing noises and kick boxes around hoping to scare the cat out of hiding but nothing happened, nothing ran out. We stopped to listen for a while thinking we would hear some rustling, but heard nothing. We thought that maybe it ran out and we didn't see it. This eased our minds for the night and we went inside to go to bed.

The next morning John went out to the garage. After a few minutes he came back in the house and announced to the kids "you guys still want a pet? Well I've got good news, we've got one". The kids all perked up. "The bad news is" he continued "it comes and goes as it pleases. You will probably never see it but you get to clean up after it twice a day". The kids just looked confused. Sure enough there was more cat poop... lots of it, everywhere in our garage. John cleaned everything up and searched and searched. We left the garage door open all day long. The girls even made traps and put bowls of milk around hoping to lure the animal out. We felt successful by the end of the day knowing that we had done everything we could, short of taking everything out of the garage, to find the cat.

John and I went out that night to do some Christmas shopping. As we pulled up to the house John said "if I open this garage and there is cat poop in there I am going to take everything out of this garage and not rest until I find that CAT"! Sure enough, when we opened the garage door there it was perfectly positioned front and center - more cat poop.

"That's it! Everything is coming out" yelled John.

And so we began to disassemble our garage. The kids came running when they heard the commotion. We looked inside, outside, in between, behind and underneath everything in that stink'n garage... we were so bewildered we were looking inside the water softener and opening taped up boxes. For some reason we each took our own turn looking inside a closed refrigerator... we were so confused. Just as we were ready to give up, Myla spotted something under a crate that we had each looked under probably a dozen times.A closer look. Yep, it was a cat. Despite all the noise we were making, it didn't move a muscle. It took another 20 minutes to coax the cat out of hiding. "Awe, it's so cute" Myla said. "Can we keep it" Ashlee begged. I think we have had our taste of pets for a lifetime. The answer is NO.
So a smile of relief washed over us as we walked out into a "poop free" garage this morning. If there was any "pet hunger" lingering in John's mind after visiting with the Brenay's cute new little puppy the other night - I can assure you that it is GONE. Oh, and don't get any crazy ideas Brenays... it just wouldn't be funny!

Thanksgiving Day

John and I started the day off running in the Turkey Trot. The Turkey Trot is a 10k run (6.2 mile) that they put on every year down in Mesa. There were over 2000 finishers this year.We were trying to get pumped up despite waking up early to rain and a chilly 52 degrees outside (super cold for us Arizonans).WE DID IT! John ran it in 49 min. and I ran it in 55 min. We saw a lot of our friends running the race as well and cheering from the side lines - it really was a lot of fun!We were on our own this year for Thanksgiving. We decided to take it easy and go out to eat at Lucille's BBQ. They serve a special Thanksgiving meal but of course our picky family opted for the usual favorites of cassadias, ribs, steak, and pulled pork sandwiches. I love the JAR of soda they give you. Royce was fascinated with the guy turning all the ceiling fans off.Snickers pie... our kind of pie. Thank goodness for the Turkey Trot, it made indulging in this scrumptious treat gilt free.mmm deelish!The boys were intrigued by the flashes of lighting streaking across the sky... an amazing lightning show right outside our window. The best part was leaving the mess at the restaurant and coming home to a clean, peaceful house. We continued our tradition of putting up the Christmas tree.
The kids all pitched in but I think Myla was the only one who really accomplished anything.

Although we miss having family around especially on holidays, I am so thankful for my little family and that we are able to have so much fun together even when it is just us. I am thankful for my loving, caring, hard working, sensitive, funny, handsome husband who treats me like a queen- he is my best friend forever. I am thankful for our 4 beautiful, healthy, energetic, funny, smart children - they are my life. Even though I don't always see this as a blessing, I am thankful that I am able to stay home and be a mom to my kids while they are young - I just hope that I can realize the joy of it before they all grow up. I'm thankful for John's job which provides for all of our needs and then so much more - we have been so blessed. I am thankful for my family and for John's family - they love and support us in everything we do. I'm thankful that my moms surgery went well and that she is on the road to recovery and that she sounds like our "mom" again. I'm thankful for the gospel- without it there would be no meaning to my life. I'm thankful for my friends, some new and some from my early childhood - they listen to me vent and help me see the comedy in life... life would be so much harder with out friends. I'm thankful for the country we live in- despite all the negative we can say, we truly are blessed to live in this great land. I'm thankful for my nice home and the good schools that my children are able to go to. I am thankful for the quiet, peaceful moments at night when I get to relax with my husband, read a book, catch up on some cleaning or blog our family memories. I'm thankful that I didn't throw up after the Turkey Trot this morning when I felt like I was going to and I'm so very thankful for my life - I have a good one!