Wednesday, November 30, 2011

November Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

The day after Thanksgiving was a very exciting day for me!  It was the day that my mom and dad brought me down a huge piece of freedom in the shape of a Chevy Venture.  Yes a minivan that my dad found on surplus at BYU!  Let me just say that freedom is very sweet!

My parents also brought some things from my Grandma Krantz’s house that no one else wanted or that my mom and aunt Mel thought I should have.  My whole front room had stuff piled high with things that they had brought in the van and the truck that my dad brought down.  Of course, I rarely think about taking photos of things I’m in the middle of, but I should have taken a photo of the piles.

On Sunday, after church, we took a picnic to the Mesa Temple and walked around enjoying the lights and crèche collection that they had on display.

IMG_0579

Here’s Vivian walking around with her sandwich.

IMG_0583

Christian had a difficult time sitting still as well…

IMG_0586

Both of them were a little over-tired after our 12:30 meeting and were on one…IMG_0588

Vivian refused to have her shoes on at one point and was then put in the stroller.

IMG_0589

Christian was on one while we were there so I thought I’d document his attitude just so he knows in the future that no, he was not a perfect child. Winking smile 

IMG_0591

The next day, Christian went to school and my dad and I worked on getting the car registered.  It was a long day but I was so grateful to my dad for giving me freedom that I didn’t mind too much.  Sadly, my parents had to leave the next day so I took some photos of them with Vivian before they left.  These are taken in my messy craft room so please ignore the mess. Smile

IMG_0595

Vivian didn’t want to stop coloring…IMG_0596

So she did it in their laps while I took pictures. Here are the photos…they are all so cute, I couldn’t decide which one I liked best.

IMG_0599IMG_0600IMG_0601IMG_0602IMG_0603

By the way, for those of you who’ve noticed, yes, Vivian is obsessed with hats. Smile

Thanksgiving 2011

The week before Thanksgiving, I had a craft night that only one person showed up to.  I was a little upset at first but at least I got to spend some one-on-one time with my friend and neighbor Tonya who recently moved away from being our next-door neighbor.  So maybe it was meant to be because we had a lovely time talking.  This is what we pigged out on: Pumpkin cake with cream cheese spread, molasses popcorn and cranberry corn muffins laced with lemon, along with some veggies. 

IMG_0548

The best thing about hosting is that:

1. I have motivation to clean my house

2. I get to have great leftovers for a few days

3. I get to spend time getting to know my friends better

and in the case of craft night

4. I get time set aside to get some crafts/projects done

So really, that “failure” of a craft night was in retrospect, a success.

The day before Thanksgiving, Christian’s class had a class party.  They had been practicing for weeks on songs for the occasion and it was so adorable!  When I came in with Vivian the kids hadn’t come in the room yet and let me tell you that the room was PACKED with parents.  At least each child’s parent was there if not two and some of the grandma’s and grandpa’s came too.  It was crazy.  Here are the kids in their costumes that they made. (Christian’ is on the left of the middle row).IMG_0549IMG_0551

Here they are singing their pieces.  Christian was intent with the whole singing thing…as you can tell by the photo.IMG_0554

The each child got up and said what they were Thankful for.  What was Christian grateful for? Knights of course.  (I’m hoping the other mothers thought he meant “Nights” but I wouldn’t count on it Winking smile).IMG_0561

Vivian was standing in the sidelines watching her brother and of course, Christian saw her and invited her up and then she wouldn’t come back to me and since I was stuck in the very back there wasn’t a way I could barrel through all the other adults and grab her so she stood in the front by her brother through the rest of the program. *sigh*IMG_0563IMG_0564Here’s the group showing their Thankful lists. You can’t see Vivian because Christians arm was wrapped around her head protectively.  At least he loves her right?

The next day was Thanksgiving and a little crazy.  Jared went and played football while I tried to stuff and put our 20 lbs. turkey in the oven.  Vivian was sweetly coloring in her chair as I was working on the turkey.  It was after I finished stuffing the bird and was placing it in the oven that I noticed this:

IMG_0567

Yes.  Vivian had somehow found a fuchsia marker and had scribbled ALL over herself (including her belly) and was very proud.  So after the turkey was put in the oven we had to break for a bath.  The photo just does not do justice to how pink the water was! IMG_0570

Things got so crazy for the Thanksgiving that I forgot to pull out the camera. We had Jared’s cousin Ryan over with his wife and their five kids and had a great time.

I am so thankful for my family and friends and all the wonderful blessings that I have been blessed with in my life.  I am truly grateful.

The First half of November 2011

November went by in a blur.  I really have no idea where all the time went (besides gone) so I am going to be doing some major catch up posts.

In the past two months Vivian has really started to enjoy the times when we read books to Christian and has actually patiently waited for us to turn the pages rather than getting impatient and trying to turn them all herself as quickly as possible.  She still gets a little impatient but there is a difference between night and day where we are at right now.

Here’s a colorful photo of Jared reading in Christian’s bed with the two (love the finger by the nose Christian)…Vivian’s smile was so sweet I choose to ignore the weirdness in this photo and post it.

IMG_0385

Jared probably read this book three times in a row that night, she kept wanting to hear it “again”.IMG_0402

One very fun activity in November was the day of Christian’s first class field trip to the farm.  I was a volunteer and Christian was super excited to have me come with him.  Here’s a photo of him with his trip-buddy Kyla who is pretty much the opposite of him personality-wise.IMG_0425

At the farm, they had a big pile of hay bales that the kids started jumping off of for fun.  Do you recognize the kid flying through the air?  Yep.  That’d be Christian.  Fearless as always.

IMG_0443

Now he’s running to get right back in line.IMG_0450

Here is Maya, Kyla and Christian on the hayride.IMG_0457

Christian was very excited to feed the goats!IMG_0476

This was the only thing that Christian acted at all nervous about: Holding the chicken.

IMG_0514IMG_0515

When I asked Christian what holding a chicken felt like he said “It felt too light!”

IMG_0539

Here is Christian surrounded by girls again.  This is the classroom where the farmers told the kids a little about the cows and how they take care of them.  It was interesting to learn that they put a magnet inside every cow to catch all the of the nails and metal things that they may swallow during their lives to prevent sharp things from going through their digestive track.  I wonder if my nickel allergy has anything to do with my intolerance to milk…?

Christian and I had a grand time on his class trip.  The only thing that was kind of sad is that his teacher Mrs. Varner didn’t get to go because she had a teacher meeting.  I took lots of photos of the trip and sent her a little smilebox slideshow of it.  I didn’t think it was a big deal but because of that, Christian’s teacher has since asked me to help put together the end of the year slideshow for the whole kindergarten.  Yikes.

This next photo was from later that day when Vivian was sitting on the steps looking at a book and Christian was really sweet and started reading to her so I snuck up and took a photo. Smile

IMG_0543

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Halloween 2011

This Halloween was a little crazy with all the parties and events we had scheduled. I helped out for Christian’s Class Fall party in the afternoon and then we all went to the ward trunk-or-treat on Friday. Saturday, I had a service project to help my friend Jessy who’s on the Human Trafficking Task Force. The Primary Program was on Sunday (where Christian sang the 3rd Article of Faith song as a solo and did great).

Halloween Day I was basically insane and painted the front door a gorgeous color called Roasted Chestnut by Benjamin Moore.

 

BeforeIMG_0322

 

After

IMG_0327

I like it so much better!  It is a little brighter than the roof tiles but I think it gives a much warmer impression!  My neighbor Jessy says that she is so happy every time she walks out the front door and sees this lovely color so I’m glad she likes it since she looks at it more than I do. Smile 

  When I picked up Christian after school, this is what he was wearing (they don’t allow kids to dress up in our school district Shifty).

IMG_0409

After I picked up Christian from school, we made a snack the kids and I of hot dog Mummy's and Goblin pizza.  Here are the mummy hot dogs (and one Goblin pizza):mummy hot dogs 

The Goblin Pizzas were just bread dough shaped like faces that we made look ghoulish by puncturing holes in the pizza for eyes and mouth.  Then we brushed on olive oil, Italian seasonings, garlic and onion powder and salt and pepper and topped with cheese to make them cheese pizzas.  I opened a can of spaghetti sauce for dipping and with Christian’s active imagination he kept talking about the sauce being “blood” and I pretty much lost my appetite. Smile

 

Here are some photos of the kids enjoying their snack before getting ready to trick-or-treat.IMG_0334IMG_0331IMG_0337

After I was sure their bellies were pretty full, we got dressed and ready to go out and trick-or-treat.  It was getting dark pretty fast so here are the best photos I got as the light was going:

IMG_0338

IMG_0342IMG_0362IMG_0354

We had a lot of fun trick-or-treating down the street for a bit and then went to my friend Julie’s for a Halloween party.  All that walking, treats, and staying up an extra hour must have been hard on Christian though because he slept in for three days straight after that.  Too bad it wasn’t a weekend Halloween, huh?

IMG_0381IMG_0384

I almost forgot to add the pumpkins pictures.  The first one Christian designed himself and even wrote out step-by-step instructions showing Jared exactly how he needed to carve it.  The other one Jared did from a pattern.  One of the legs fell off and Jared was so ingenious, he mended it with a straight pin and it worked really well! Oh, and here is the finished door with all my decorations on it that night!  It was much more cheery to have to open this lovely door a bunch of times that evening for trick-or-treaters that night than it would have been with the dingy door.  IMG_0380