Christmas break, beckwards

I loaded our pictures backwards. Sorry, you'll get the drift.

Efficient cousin Joyce and her crew were in AZ for the holiday and planned a lovely day at the park for meet and greet. The oh so fun Marie and gang brought their wagon and other "stuff" and great fun was had by all.



The "cousin clubhouse". We LOVE cousins.


Now, rewind a week to California. I just thought this was so cute, Nora, Em, Diana, and Ally huddled around I don't even know. They had a lot of fun playing together.


Emily is a BIG fan or Ramona and now our collection is almost complete. Uncle Michael bought scarves in Jerusalem for all the girls and they love wearing them everywhere.

On Christmas Eve after the spiritual FHE, we watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and honestly, I thought it fit in quite well with the spirit of the day.


Angles

Shepherds

Mary and Joseph

Dad and Grampy raked leaves on Christmas Eve and the kids helped stuff the green barrel.


Leaf jumping



Castle Rock state park. Ryan payed for parking for the first time EVER here. He never would pay the fee in high school or college. Adulthood brings remorse for past sins.

It was really cold but very beautiful. Isaac was a dreadful hiker. Emily was amazing. I told Ryan she can go to Switzerland next time to hike with us. She was singing the "Who" song from the Grinch at the top of her lungs wanting "every one in California to hear".


This fine looking bunch of kids are the offspring of Dave (Ryan's best friend) and Cindy, and Laura (Ryan's former girlfriend) and Craig. We spent a fine day playing and eating pizza and checking out "the job site" ie, Dave and Cindy's someday to be completed house.

Is it strange that we are friends with a former girlfriend? I don't think so, she's amazing, Ryan wouldn't have dated her otherwise:). Ryan finds it slightly ironic that she has 4 sons (no girls), since she was always very feminine - heehee.

We hope this whole crew ends up at BYU together.


The Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose - lots of fun.

All in all it was a fabulous break, Ryan and I even got some painting done (he's a nice husband).

Merry Christmas!

Ours was splendid!! The older I get the more I love watching my kids, the more I love our Saviour, and the less I need stuff - pretty wonderful!

wrapping up the week

This is what my bedroom looks like today (Sunday). Boxes of gifts, sleeping bags, luggage, Sunday clothes. We did 9, yea NINE loads of laundry yesterday. I usually do laundry on Friday, so Ryan misses it. He was shocked we do so much (not including the sheets on Mondays, towels on Wednesday, and the random loads in between). I assured him, we are normal for a big family, Just wait until the kiddo's clothes get bigger.

I'm looking forward to a week at Grammys, but man, I do not love packing. Oh well.


About 4 months ago a biggish bump showed up on Diana's temple. Two weeks ago it started changing colors, so off the dermatologist we went. Poor Diana had to miss her school holiday party to get the thing cut out, plus stitches. We told her she needs to keep track of the stitches she gets in her life to see if she can beat Uncle Stephen (he has had 88 at last count).


Nora's friend Isobel came to play on Friday. Isobel is an intense crafter so we did "mystical magical macaroni art" (you will only get that if you watch Abby's flying fairy school on Sesame Street). Anyhow, it was a fun and easy project. Glue macaroni onto a piece of card stock, brush with glue or do glue dots and swirls and then GLITTER! They are beautiful all over our house.

b.y.b.b. society

Sarah is a founding member of the Bare You Beautiful Belly Society. Only those in diapers need apply.

nativity tour

Every year we go to the Mesa Temple to see the lights (and in years past to hear Jen play the harp). My favorite part is walking through the visitor's center's display of nativities from around the world. Every year it is a different collection and always very cool. My favorite this year was from India - gorgeous.

For your enjoyment, here are the Nativity sets we have up in our house this Christmas.

Nativity coloring pages from the Nursery Manuel by Nora, Diana, and Emily respectively.

A Nativity done by Diana last year - love it.

I think this was from Grammy the first year we were married.

This one is from Africa, my mom gave it to us.

Israel. I didn't buy an olive wood nativity in 1997 when I was there, but by the time Michael went last year I decided I wanted one. Thanks Thang.

Made in China. The kids LOVE to play with this one.

Gift from Grammy. Indestructible and again, the kids love to play with it.

From Grammy (are we seeing a trend?) This is from Alaska and the girls think it is especially beautiful. I love the polar bear.

Ornament Nativity from Bethlehem. I think Jessica gave this to me.

Germany, from Grammy. The kids have a really hard time not touching this one, but the pieces are so small, I have to insist.

I really love having all of these Nativites around. What Nativities do you have displayed in your home?

mary scarf

I bought this scarf in Jerusalem in 1997. All the girls love wearing it when it's their turn to be Mary.

adventures

Our car died this morning in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Bummer. I tried calling Uncle Ern on a pay phone, no go and then I was out of quarters (when did pay phones go up to 50 cents??). It was a long shot anyway since everyone has caller ID (except me) and don't answer the phone unless they know who it is. So my prayer turned to , "Please let me see someone I know". Nope. So, I hiked Sarah higher on my hip, Isaac followed like a good kid and we went in search of a kind soul in the parking lot. I found a nice man with a big truck who was kind enough to wait for me to buy jumper cables (good thing we died at Wal-Mart) and then jump me. He also re-taught me how to use jumper cables, very useful, since we were dead again after the incredible pre-school Christmas program. I figured we would be, so I parked such that my friend Kori could easily jump me. I'm really grateful for nice people and that I died at Wal-Mart and not in the middle of Death Valley next week (Yes we are going to Death Valley on purpose on our way to Grammy's). We figure it must be a national park for some reason and we are going to find out!

Now all we need is a fully functioning car because tomorrow, and the next day, and the next are full of appointments, pre-school, speech, deliveries, etc.

farewell

I had to throw away these shoes. They were dead. I am really good at throwing things away, but these were a little hard. I walked all over London, Edinburgh, and Switzerland in these. I logged a lot of miles with my friend Kisha when we used to get up early and walk (darn that night job of hers and the dorks who blew up our economy so she needed a night job - grrrrrrr). Since September when I injured my foot I have worn them every day, all day with Uncle Cam orthodontics in them. They even ran a mile in November (I know, I'm still amazed I ran a whole mile, I can, however WALK a lot of miles in a stretch). Anyhow, I was sad to see them go, silly, but true.

On a slightly related note, throwing things away is good. I would love a free weekend to rip closets apart and do a good purge.

what's in a name?

I think every Sarah in the history of the world was gone by Sarah Bear at some point in their life. What's wrong with that? Being a confirmed efficiency person I have shortened ours to just "Bear". Ryan insists, "She is not a bear!". I ask you to weigh in: is she, or is she not a "Bear".

Thank you!

isaac

I love the magic of a Christmas tree; even an $18 Big Lots patheta-tree.

Isaac is feeling better, no flu here, just a fluke. I have his IEP meeting tomorrow to get him into speech pre-school. I have really mixed feelings about this, but I know it will help. I've ran into 2 random people the last month who have had wonderful success with the program and one of the therapists in the district is a good friend in choir. It's just that Isaac is my buddy and we really like hanging out together in the mornings and I will really miss him. By the time he gets home from school it will be time for a late lunch, nap, and then the girls are home and our lives are ruled by homework, piano and dinner prep. He, on the other hand, has no such misgivings, bring on the bus and the friends!! Forget that Mom lady - sigh.

pie

A picture of some lovely creations. We make HUGE apple pies (7-8 granny smiths per pie). They were very tasty this year. Diana is pretty scrumptious too.

In other news, poor Isaac spent 2 hours last night from 10-12 throwing up his chicken enchiladas. No fun. Thankfully he has a well visit today.

wallin visit

Sorry for the silence around here, we, like everyone, have been busy. One thing we have been up to is good family time. My cousin Erika was over for Thanksgiving and so we crashed their Wednesday prep day for a visit. Nora latched on to Kate and Lauren like glue and is very sad they live in San Diego. Aunt Sylvia has the perfect playroom upstairs in the house, so Isaac and Sarah were in heaven. Sylvia "whipped up" a divine pizza (remember, this was the day before Thanksgiving, she was also prepping dinner for 20 plus) - she is amazing, and Erika and I just gabbed. It was lovely.

Erika and me (yes Thang, I know I am short).

Sylvia and me (so is Aunt Sylvia). I should have taken my glasses off, in some ways we look a lot a like.

Lauren, Nora holding Sarah, Isaac and Kate.

trotting

Confession: I do not like running. I have friends who LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it; more than chocolate, more than a foot rub, more than an organized closet. They get a rush, a satisfaction, and a fit body from the simple act of putting on their tennies and running.

I tried liking running lots of times. My senior year in high school I took a PE class that consisted almost entirely of running, every day. I was determined to find that happy, mystical place where the wall was broken, the 2nd wind came, the happiness flowed, and it never happened. I tried running in Belize on my mission with Sister Stone who swore she would train me for a marathon (it lasted one day, missionaries in the field are too tired to run, although, I wonder how many people have run on a street called Princess Drive along the Caribbean Sea - I have). I did run successfully in the MTC - round and round and round that track to the sound of elders playing basketball and volleyball, man smell rising. I ran hard in the MTC, like almost throwing up because, by golly, it was a stressful place and exercise was a sanctioned way to be in your own thoughts and not speak Spanish, just pound pound pound in my gray pants from shop-co that I still love.

I've tried running other times too; it being a highly effective way of exercise (being short on time and resources, it just seems like the perfect solution) but I just don't like it.

Until now! Diana, Emily, Nora and I (with Sarah and Isaac in the stroller) ran the stake's turkey trot last Saturday. We did the piddly one mile at a 7,6,and 4 year old pace, but it was dang fun, and I'll tell you why: I was so busy cheering on my girls I pretty much forgot I was running. We ran, I yelled, cheered, told them they were great, pushed Emily through the trauma or a paper cut from her number pinned to her shirt, we sprinted through the finish it was FUN!

I have found that life as a mom is a lot like this, if you let it be. Folding laundry, cleaning bathrooms, building a birthday present, hiking, weeding, or running; most anything is more fun and easier to have a great attitude if you are the teacher, cheerleader, example!

I still don't plan on running a lot (hurts the old knees), but it was a great time and I look forward to doing more hard things with my kids (I know it was only a mile, but that's more than any of us had run for along time)

Here they are at home with numbers on. What great kids.

blog strategy

I have a new blog strategy to get pictures to Grandma and not feel like it is a major camera downloading, plan in advance sort of thing. In the past, I would unload my camera and be overwhelmed, (or underwhelmed) by stuff to post and half the time I would either do a huge long post about way too many things, or I would forget about stuff I wanted to share because I didn't post it that day,

I think I have finally come up with a solution (for me). Every time I empty the camera I go through the pictures and copy the ones that would be fun for the blog and paste them in my "blog pics" folder. Then when I feel like putting something out there, I just have to pick a picture or event and off we go!

In that spirit, here are the last three pictures from the blog pics folder before we fill it up again with Thanksgiving stuff.

SUGAR!

Nora helped me make this parking garage for Isaac's birthday. She LOVES to help.

The ultimate after school snack - homemade bread and jam. The only trouble is, no one wants dinner three hours later.

finery

Grammy sent Christmas dresses with Isaac's birthday package and WOW, WOW, WOW! Grammy plus Costco means exquisite girls. Sarah was equally fetching in hers, but she was taking her pre-church nap when we had the camera out. Not that the nap helps much - she is still VERY busy, noisy, and fussy at church. Five months until nursery!

isaac turned 3

Isaac had a splendid birthday - he got books, a backpack, clothes, a parking garage made of a cereal box and toilet paper rolls, a new car and a boat. We ate pizza and cake and ice cream and life was good. He's my buddy and I'm so glad he was sent to us.

As you can see, Sarah enjoyed her cake. I know the messy eating pictures are gross, but the kid won't let me feed her most of the time and honestly being the fifth, it's good to be a little independent. I know how to clean up and she'll get better as time goes on. I think some of Diana and Emily's eating problems stem from my controlling behaviors when they were at this age and they would have been better off had I given them some more freedom to learn on their own.

Live and learn.

dirt

We are still working on remembering to wear shoes outside and not track all the dirt into the house.

the goose is getting fat

The first box of our big Christmas order showed up - good times are coming! I LOVE online shopping!

curious

Ryan planted us nice, green, soft winter grass, so why, I ask, when I went outside, did I find the kids here??

And yes, Nora is laying in the rocks, carefully sprinkling rocks on to her skin. I had to tell her not to put them in her ears!

happy veteran's day

The kids have had a hard time the last little while getting up at 6:20 to get ready for school, so I was looking forward to letting them sleep until the sun came up today. Nice try mom; they were up at 5:40 and we were at breakfast by 6:15. Auuuuuggggggggghhhhhh!