Snow Day

Monday morning we got a call from Christian's sister saying that they were on their way up from San Diego to go up to the mountains to play in the snow and they wanted us to join them. We didn't have our phone on that morning and by the time we got the message, we figured that they were already on their way. We couldn't get a hold of them but thought that we should throw some stuff together and join them. The girls were excited to play in the snow with their cousins. But they never called back and they didn't show up here so we guess they headed up without us when they couldn't get a hold of us.

The girls would have been too disappointed to not go up to the snow after we had gotten ready for it so we decided to take them up anyway and hoped that maybe they would call back and we could meet up there later.

We never did hear back from them and don't really know what happened but the girls had a blast. It was not too cold, especially once you got moving. Here is a picture of them sledding.

Here is one of Caitlyn attempting to make a snow angel.

They also had a little snowball fight with dad. But although I remembered to bring my camera, I did forget to bring my extra battery. My battery started getting low part way through the sledding pictures so I only took a few here and there hoping not to run out.

They also made their first snowman.
That really was Caitlyn pushing that huge snowball all by herself. She put her big sister to shame. Not one to be bested by her little four year old sister, she put a little more effort into hers and it got about as big as her sisters'...although, personally, I still think it was a little smaller.

We ended the day with a bit of hot cocoa.We did a little off-roading to get to a nice secluded place for the family to play and the girls got to take turns "driving" the truck.

Now, I have to say that after the initial excitement of getting my new DSLR, I have been increasingly disappointed with some of my pictures. I know that some of them were just due to my own faults (not focusing on the right subject, forgetting to reset some of the functions, etc.) But still, the pictures have been less than I would have hoped. So when presented with the opportunity to go up to the mountains to take pictures, I finally got a chance to try one my other lenses. I had not been using it and have not really bothered to take all my lenses with me when taking pictures. The one that came with the camera was a nice versatile lens and I didn't see the sense in dragging all my equipment along with me to take a few random shot now and then. But boy, was I happy I changed lenses because I see a dramatic difference in the quality of my pictures. I don't know if you can tell in these little web pictures but trust me, they are so much better. I need to do some more tests to be sure of the cause (especially since my camera was too low in battery to take too many) but right now, I think that the lens that comes with the cameras are crap.

Christmas Day

After Marian left, the kids got to play with the presents for a while while I cleaned up and started preparations for Christmas dinner with my family.

Here is a couple of pictures of the girls with their other cousins.

Not too bad considering how many kids were involved and what we usually end up with.

Even though the kids have been pretty good at taking their naps so that we can have all these late nights out, even they were pretty tired by the time we were all through. We all slept in the next day and got some much needed rest!

Christmas Eve

Even though I keep mentioning that I finished our Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, I keep having to run out into the crazy stores to get more stuff. The neighbor kids got our girls' Christmas presents, so after the exhausting parties, I had to venture out, yet again, to find gifts for the girl's friends.

Although Emily doesn't have school right now, they expect her to keep up on her reading log. We also think that it is a good thing so that she doesn't get too lazy while she is out of school. It becomes too much of a shock when she goes back to have homework again. Christian is also taking the opportunity to have her catch up on her piano lessons because she hasn't had time for so long because of the nightly fights over homework. She is doing pretty good and is getting back into it.

We don't make the girls' do too many chores except to keep their playroom relatively clean so that they have enough room to walk into it and play in it plus to make their beds. They have not been doing very well for either and so every weekend becomes a huge fight about cleaning up. So while they have been on break, we have taken the opportunity to get them into better habits of making their beds in the morning and keeping their playroom cleaner by putting things away along the way. It hasn't been fun.

All the while, Christian has been working on catching up on the maintenance and fixing some things on my car and the house. And so, we were extra grateful to have our friend Marian join us on Christmas Eve. We've been doing this for about 3 years now I think. Even though we are grateful to have Christmas Eve to ourselves instead of driving back and forth from families houses, I just don't know if Christmas would happen without her here with us.

She usually comes out on Christmas Eve and we have a really nice dinner. She would then spend the night (and we usually stay up way too late talking or something). Then we would wake up to Christmas morning with her and we get to stay home and open presents with her. With trying so hard to teach the kids good habits and proper behavior and most things not working, whether incentives or punishments, I think at some point, the threat of canceling Christmas (especially for Emily) would have become rather real (to some degree). Anyway, I don't know if we would do everything we planned and prepared for if she wasn't here. No, I know that we would not do everything we wanted to do for the kids if she was not here to help us. So, thank you Marian, we really appreciate it!!! And the kids appreciate it even more than they realize!

Here is a picture of the girls before the crazy Christmas present opening melee began...

...more pictures...

Christmas parties

On the evening of the kids' last day of school, we had a dinner party to prepare for and attend. Our good friends, the Jorgensons, watched our girls as a special Christmas gift to us (Thank you so much Kristi). We had a nice evening away from the kids and boy did we need it. Unfortunately, it never lasts long enough! I forgot my camera though so I don't have any pictures.

The next evening, Saturday, we had a birthday party to attend. So I had to make some food for it. Plus I had to make desert for Sunday as we would be going to San Diego after church. And again, I forgot my camera.

We stayed too late and had to get up early for church the next morning. Plus Christian is teaching Sunday school right now and I have to teach in Primary. After church, we got back, fed the kids lunch and threw them in bed for a quick nap while I finished getting all the presents together. Plus I printed out a bunch of things for the kids to do in the car ride and loaded up the car. So in my mad dash for packing and last minute preparations...I forgot my camera, yet again. Now I'm just getting pissed off. We were off to San Diego to celebrate Christmas with Christian's family and I didn't have my camera! I missed it all!

The kids were really good in the car ride but didn't really do much of the activities I prepared for them (instead of getting my camera ready). But I couldn't complain too much as the kids were pretty quiet. Unfortunately, the reason they were so quite was that Emily was feeling kind of car sick most of the way there. Fortunately, she told us about it and we were able to give her a quick rest and a bag ready for her. I changed places in the car with her and she made it within site of her aunt's house before losing it. Luckily, the mess was contained in the bag. We pulled over and when she was done, her dad walked her the rest of the way to the house while I drove her sister the rest of the way to the house. By the time Emily got to the end of the long drive and saw her cousin, she felt good enough to run the rest of the way!

The girls had a lot of fun with their cousins...too bad I don't have any pictures.

Christian's sister decided to try a new tradition of going around and telling everyone about someone in the party that we really appreciate before we opened presents. It got a bit emotional but it seemed like a really nice way to begin. I hope we continue that tradition, it was really nice.

We left later than we intended (as usual) and were utterly exhausted by the time we got back after three nights of parties!

Busy

I've been so busy with the kids and with the holidays that I have not been able to keep up on my posts. It got really crazy the week before the kids got out of school. Although I had finished shopping, I had to run out and pick up little things for the kids school parties. Plus I volunteered in Caitlyn's class at the beginning of the week but I ended up doing it again two more times that week because the teacher got sick and then one of the aide's threw out her back and they were making all these neat crafts and thing for the kids to take home in time for Christmas. We also had to fight with Emily throughout the week still about her homework. She has improved a little from the past two weeks but not enough to make much of a difference. We were getting so sick of this routine that she has set up that I even threatened to take back all her presents. The threat did not improve her behavior...it just made her even whinier for a few moments. She is so stubborn that no amount of incentives or punishments will get her to change her behavior.

Anyway, we survived the week and on their last day of school, I was helping out in Caitlyn's class in the morning and left for a while because Emily had her award ceremony that morning as well. So obviously, she has no real trouble with school. It is quite easy for her but her problem is that she is too lazy and stubborn.

After her award ceremony, I ran back over to Caitlyn's class. The parents came to have "lunch" with their kids (yes, it is at 10:10am). The class put on a little musical number for the parents and then we passed out goodie bags for all the kids (no candy, as usual...whoo hoo! It makes it a bit more difficult to find goodies to share with the kids but it is so much better in the end).

The party lasted a bit longer than her normal class time because they combined the party in the end with the afternoon students (so it was extra crazy!). I thought about going to Emily's class to check on her when I get a strange phone call from her saying that her shoes were hurting her. Apparently she was in the office and since I was just outside, I walked in to find out what the matter was. Apparently she was wearing these ridiculous glittery shoes and it started hurting after she ran around in the playground. I asked her how much it hurt and she just said, "a little." And since you can't find parking anywhere near the school due to all the parents coming for award ceremonies and lunch with their kids, I asked her if she could make it through the day with them. She said that she could. So I asked why she called me and she just replied that she didn't know. I was annoyed and walked back to her back to her class and spoke to her teacher. Apparently, all they had left was lunch and their year end party which included a movie so I left her to her fate of bad footwear choices for school. When she got off the bus, she was skipping along and I asked if her feet hurt. She says, "no, they're fine." What a nuisance.

Anyway, I appreciate the no candy policy in preschool even more (even though it seems a little extreme on special occasions) when Emily comes up totally hyped up on sugar and bouncing off the walls.

Oh, and I have one last picture to post only because it is so cute and reveals Caitlyn's true character so much. You can totally see the subtle mischievous look on her face. It is definitely a classic Caitlyn picture.

Christmas

Merry Christmas everybody...

Ward Christmas Party

On Saturday, we had our Ward Christmas party. The kids got to visit with Santa. I finally got some decent pictures of the kids with Santa. I might have gotten a passable one of Emily before, but Caitlyn never wanted to cooperate. She still wasn't too sure what to make of Santa yet. But she finally gets it now. They even got to sit and talk with Santa a bit. I meant to go back and find out what Santa talked to them about but I never got the chance.


After dinner, they got the primary children together to sing us a few songs. I got a couple of pictures and a few video clips but I was having trouble for some reason with my camera and some of them didn't quite come out as well as I would have hoped. Plus there were a bunch of people in front of me so I ended up getting their heads and stuff. But the kids looked really cute.

Christmas pictures

Taking Christmas pictures of the kids is a nightmare. You would think that because the girls are older, we would be able to control them more...which is somewhat true since I don't have to bribe them to stand or sit still now. And I don't have to jump up and down trying to get them to smile.

You would also think that with the digital age where you can snap as many pictures as you can stand that you would get a variety of your favorite pictures to choose from. But after a hundred photos, I can honestly say, that I did not get a single shot that I am happy with.

I thought that it would be easier to get a really nice shot with my new fancy camera too...but alas, I must admit that I wussed out and quit. I thought about getting the girls dressed up again the next day to try again but I just couldn't muster the enthusiasm to do it. I've been fighting a cold for a week now and I've spent more than my share of energy fighting with Emily over homework since she returned to school and after all that, I just don't have it in me to care that much.

I finally picked a picture that the girls both look pretty good in, but is slightly out of focus. The camera is focused on the tree behind them I think. Oh well, it will have to do. I am out of time and had to send the pictures out to be printed.

My revenge is to post some of the rejected pictures!

*Note to my girls: let this be a lesson to you...don't drive mommy crazy...