School Time

Sareny's class had a craft day in December and we all went to help out. It was pretty fun.

above: Susan, Abigail, Kristopher, Tahlia, Lindsay, Reyghan, Sareny, Isaac, Jacob, Jared, Isabella, Danny.

It was really fun for the little kids to be in Sareny's classroom working on projects.

Sareny loves art.

She made a snowflake Christmas ornament.

Hard at work.

The whole classroom.

I realize this is kind of a boring post. Possibly its because I am just really tired right now and am just not feeling it at the moment. But I just couldn't take looking at that last post for one more minute...

Up Close and Personal With Santa

Santa Claus made a detour during his busy month of December to come to our ward Christmas party. The kids all got to see him and tell him what they wanted. Fin was more interested in the candy than in the big man himself.

First Isaac showed Santa his stitches.

Then, and I thought this was the cutest thing ever, he got right up to whisper in Santa's ear what he wanted for Christmas.

And then Sareny. Sareny, Sareny, Sareny. When Santa walked into the room and made his rounds to a few of the tables, Sareny informed our table that it wasn't the real Santa. Not a big problem, since my kids were the only ones sitting at the table. But then, in a Buddy the Elf type of moment, she began announcing loudly to the entire room, "That's not the real Santa!" We quickly shushed her, and I don't think many people noticed. I'm sure she only had the best interest of the other children at heart, and if I hadn't stopped her just in time, she would have begun imploring the children, "Don't tell that man anything!"

For We Need a Little Christmas, Right This Very Minute...

Don't we? Or do you mean Christmas was over and done with a month ago? Well, be that as it may, here we go with a Christmas-y post. And might I add, I was a little disapointed nobody seemed to get my clever Toy Story 2 movie-quote-title from my last post. Anyway, this is a picture of the cute little nativity I got this year--before it was dismantled and darn near destroyed by tiny hands...It was really adorable for the 5 minutes it looked like this.
My kids absolutely love Christmas ornaments, possibly as much as I do. They are always so excited to get them out and find their old friends. Finley tried to put her tiara on.

Sareny doing her best Lisa Marie impression with her Hannah Montana guitar.

Isaac showing off Wall-E and a Cars ornament.

I really love Sareny's Belle ornament. We got it for her at Disneyland when she was two.

Fin loves the musical Hallmark High School ornaments we have, and she was busting out some serious moves!

And in between snapping a bunch of pictures, I pitched in to help get the tree decorated.

Aren't they cute?

And I think this one is just kind of hilarious. Isaac looks pretty chill, but take a look at Fin and Sareny's faces. They both look excited beyond belief.

Who's Behind? Mine...

Long ago, at the beginning of December, we went to the local residents club where some snow had been trucked in. The kids had a great time flinging snow at each other and their friends.

We ran into the Fuls', and Finley and Alora are really good friends (although Alora is Isaac's age.)

Sareny scooped up mounds of snow to toss at people.

She found some boys from her class to chase.

Then we decorated some sugar cookies.

A task that Isaac took very seriously.

He was very proud of his work.

Sareny also worked hard on hers.

Finley worked hard on eating hers. This girl loves treats more than any kid I've seen since her Tia Lexi.

And then the kids got to visit Santa, Mrs. Santa, and an elf. It was a fun, free day!

Requisite "Holiday" Concert

I know schoolkids the country over perform a concert in December, and I'm sure I can't be the only parent who thinks these things are just precious. They only do these for a few short years, and they are adorable.

This year, Sareny's class sang "Paint the Town December," which was a cute, catchy little number.

All the grades sang "Hearts Around the World," and if you were anywhere near our house in the weeks preceding the concert, you would have been able to sing along word for word. Lexi, Grammy, and Bampa, who were only here for a couple of days at Thanksgiving, could certainly have joined in.

Our attentive audience.

A Fab Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. Bampa fried the turkey, and it was gooo-ood. Lexi mostly helped entertain the kids while the rest of us were preparing the food, but here she is stirring the pomegranite salad.

Isaac and Fin were a big help getting the table set...or not.

The girls just before dinner.

The group eating dinner.

And here is another shot, because I just felt in both shots some people looked good, and some people didn't.

After dinner, we drove up to North Lake and had a nice walk around the lake before heading home for pie. That night, me, Lexi, and Keith didn't go to bed and headed over to Walmart at 11:00 pm for their big sale. It was crowded, but fun, and we got some good deals. The checkout was a nightmare, however, and we didn't get home until around 2:30 am. Keith headed upstairs where he tried, unsuccessfully, to sleep for an hour, while Lexi and I just stayed up downstairs talking and getting a little bit silly. At 3:30, we left with every single family member to go to Target. We were one of the few people I saw there who had drug their kids out of bed, but none of us was willing to stay home and miss out on the mad rush, so they got to come with us. And really, they had been excited and looking forward to it for weeks.

After Target, we split off from my parents and Lexi, and Keith and I went to Sport Chalet, where we got an awesome deal on some sweet bikes for ourselves for "Christmas." (We've already started using them--I just didn't see the point in storing them in the garage until after Christmas, especially since we are going out of town for Christmas and are not taking them with us to "open" there.) Anyway, I absolutely love my bike, and will post some pictures of it later. I think I almost love my bike as much as Pee-wee Herman loved his bike.

Saturday morning before the Keels had to go, we went to see a matinee showing of Tangled, which we all really enjoyed. Then it was time to say goodbye until Christmas. 

Stitches for Isaac

We had some excitement over here two days ago, and I think Sareny's artistic rendering really captures the moment quite well. The kids were playing, and Isaac fell and hit his head on our stone fireplace wall. (I could mention here that I never wanted a fireplace in the first place, but that would be a bit hypocritical, as I have since come to really enjoy having it...) I was upstairs and started coming down when I heard him crying, but I started running when Sareny yelled that he was bleeding all over...you know how head wounds are.
I rushed him off to the urgent care down the hill, only to find that the building had been foreclosed on them. What a sign of the times. Took him to Goodnight Pediatrics, and after waiting there for over an hour, were finally seen by a Dr. who looked at his head, then told us we needed to go to the emergency room, because she didn't do stitches. I thought stitches was part of basic Dr. training, go figure.
So we headed off to the local hospital, where we waited for about 4 hours before they finally came in to put some stitches in his head.  When the Dr. finally came in, Isaac told him "You are slow as a slow-poke!" I was secretly glad.
The Dr., whom I can only assume got his medical degree at the backwater school of the Institute of Poor Bedside Manners, asked me loudly right in front of Isaac, "How is he with shots?" Really?? He's four, he's not stupid, and, gasp, he can actually understand what you are saying! Big surprise when Isaac started crying and saying he didn't want shots. I was so mad! But somehow, we got through the night and Isaac was pretty good, even when he was getting three shots in his head. 

The final part of the story was so absurd, I almost couldn't believe it happened. First, I have to mention that my dad likes to play around with the kids and asks them, "Who wants blisters?" Blisters being spankings, like if you were going to blister someone's bottom. It's all in fun, and the kids secretly love it and run around squealing and both getting and giving blisters.

So here we are in the hospital, about to leave. A nurse came in, gave us our discharge instructions, and we all stand up to leave. Isaac tells the nurse, whom he has known all of two minutes "I'm going to give you blisters," and he raises up his arm. I lunged and grabbed him and said "No Isaac!" The nurse was like, "What did he say?" I think that was a perfect time to play stupid and pretend I didn't understand him either, but instead, my tired and sluggish brain didn't think of that, and I tried to explain as best as I could. I was so embarrassed! Anyway, here is Isaac today, all smiles now.