Christmas Is Almost Here!

So little time to blog, so much to do, but so MUCH to blog about! Yikes! I have sooooo many cool pictures to post but only a few minutes, so I'm going to try and post the video that I took last week at Abby's school Christmas program. It was one of those "mom moments" where you feel so incredibly blessed to have this little person in your life! Blair and I were laughing almost the whole time because seeing all the kindergarten singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with actions is quite hilarious in person. We hope you enjoy the video, even though it's kind of dark. Abby is on the last row in the middle, wearing a turquoise sweater.

More to come....after all the festivities are over. Just a quick "gratitude", though...we are blessed and lucky beyond all that we deserve and even with all the running-around we will do today and tomorrow, it just means that we have lots of people that we love and that love us. We are truly rich in all the ways that matter - friends, family and LOTS of love! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Gingerbread House

Blair brought home a gingerbread house kit last week and Abby has been anxious to try it ever since. Sunday night was the perfect time. Don't they look cute building and decorating the house together? (Yes, Blair looks more like himself as the facial hair is back!

I'm pretty sure Abby just wanted to eat all the candy!

Looks good for their first try!

Abby & I are pretty blessed & lucky to have such a great guy like Blair in our lives! We love him!

Abby and Her Cousins with the Grinch

While we were at Christmas Village on Saturday night, we ran into the Grinch who was in front of the Ogden Standard Examiner's cottage. Cael & Emelia ran right up to him, followed by the rest of the kids. A photographer from the Standard was also there, capturing everyone talking to the Grinch. When he was done, he handed us a card with the following website address: www.standard.net/spotted

So, this afternoon I checked it out and found the following picture:

This is my sister, Kati and all her cute kids, plus my own in front. How cute is that? There are also other pictures (#157, #158, #160, #162, #163 and #164). I think I'm in one of them, trying to take a picture of the kids with the Grinch from another angle. Is anyone surprised by this? Anyway, I thought I'd share. Pretty fun times!

Busy Christmas Saturday!

This year for Christmas in my family, we decided not to give gifts. We decided to use the money we made at the Farmer's Market (plus whatever we'd spend on each other) and do some humanitarian projects. We met at Kati & Jeff's for lunch, then put together newborn & school kits, and my mom finished some baby blankets she made. All the kids helped and learned that Christmas is more than just getting everything on your list! I am glad Abby is learning that she can GIVE as well as RECEIVE! Here she is, putting pencils in some school kits:

One of the best parts for me was cuddling with Cole and taking lots of pictures of him! See for yourself:

This was the only picture I got of him kind of smiling, isn't he cute?

Thought I'd try a black and white one...

And, here he is, relaxing on his blanket!

I will admit that I am his biggest fan! It was fun to spend time with ALL the kids as well as the rest of my family and help with such a fun project!

When we were finished, my mom and dad treated as all to to dinner at the Pizza Factory (thanks, Mom & Dad!) and then took all the kids to see Christmas Village in Ogden. Christmas Village in downtown Ogden has been going on for YEARS (at least as long as I've been around - yes, that is a REALLY long time!) and recently, they've added new things to see and it was pretty spectacular! Even though it was kind of cold, I think all the kids (and adults) had a great time!

Checking out some of the cool sites...

Here are some of the awesome lights!

It was so fun hanging out all day, but now I am tired! Abby is already asleep (as is Yogi on my bed) so I guess I'd better go as well. Good night, all! :)

Our Smart Little Abby

While cleaning out Abby's backpack tonight, I found this in her folder:

I check her folder each night for homework and completed assignments, which this is. I noticed several important things right away -- first of all, there were TWO red "pluses" at the top. Whenever the kindergarteners do a good job, they get a "plus." Her teacher keeps a little tally of all of them and when they get a certain number, they get a prize from the treasure box. This was unusually good, so it got two "pluses." Then I noticed that she had written each word by herself on the page, going the right direction and everything was spelled correctly! I tried to scan in the entire page, but it was just too big. The picture above the words is the cat! How dang cute is that??? Yes, I am unbelieveably proud of her! It kinda scares me, too -- she is learning things so quickly - pretty soon she will be able to read everything!

She also drew me this picture the other day (she knows how to spell both my name as well as Blair's, so they show up quite frequently).

She also knows how much I love tulips, so she draws them a lot. Isn't she a great kid? I'm not quite sure how we got so lucky to be her parents, but I am happy and grateful every day that we are!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

In contrast to the last several years, we actually have been getting ready for Christmas lately! Last year I don't think we put up the tree until just a week or two before Christmas and our tree has been up and decorated for at least a week! Not that the shopping is done yet, heaven forbid! I have been using Amazon quite frequently, so Blair has been threatened with his life if he opens anything delivered by UPS! This past weekend, Abby actually got to talk to Santa (even though I'm not quite sure if she told him EVERYTHING she wants!) so I thought I'd share....

She was quite pleased to receive a candy cane as well!

When we got home, she wanted me to take a picture of the snowflake she created at school, so then she could eat it! Here it is...

So, of course once I started taking pictures, I had to get one of the tree...

Not bad for such a little space, eh? Then tonight, we just caught the end of "Mary Poppins", one of my all-time favorite movies, so Abby and I snuggled up to watch it. She decided to needed to lay down on the couch, so I put her down and went into the kitchen to start the dishwasher before bed....and came back to find this:

Do you think they're dreaming of the same things? That is Yogi's favorite spot to sleep, by the way.

Abby is truly making Christmas fun. She just assumes that everything she wants for Christmas is going to appear under the tree on Christmas morning! It's been interesting to talk to her about "needs" and "wants." I'm not quite sure she understands that yet. I'm not quite sure that I understand that yet! At any rate, it's been pretty fun getting ready for Christmas around here!

Abby Vs. The Lego Table

So, I was busy at work this afternoon, working on about four things at once when I got a call from Kindercare, where Abby spends her afternoons. It was Jenny, one of our friends who works there. She called to let me know that Abby had fallen off her chair into the Lego table, where she was playing and bumped her head. She assured me that Abby was fine, just had a bloody nose and a bump on her forehead. Needless to say, I was concerned but she assured me Abby was fine and I could pick her up at the usual time. I was interested to see if Abby or the Lego table were worse for the wear....and I think this round was won by the Lego table...what do you think?

Obviously she wasn't affected much by the fight with the Lego table (with the exception of the lovely red bump on the forehead and scrape under her nose!) and will hopefully be more careful in the future!

Billy Joel ROCKS!!! (But bronchitis doesn't)

I can't believe I haven't reported on our latest concert adventure! Last Thursday night, Blair & I had an actual DATE to attend the Billy Joel concert downtown. I bought tickets several months ago, thinking it would be fun since I'd never seen him in concert before. (Of course, Blair had - he is the concert KING!) The day of the concert came and I just wasn't that excited...I thought it would be fun to spend an entire evening with Blair, but I just wasn't in the concert-going mood, I guess. Derk & Christine agreed to watch Abby (thank you again!), so we met them for dinner at Saltimbocca (an Italian restaurant in Sugarhouse that I HIGHLY recommend) and no pun intended...Billy Joel....Italian Restaurant....get it?!?!?!?! Anyway, we arrived at the concert a little early, had some time to wander around and talk and the show got started around 8:10pm.....and let me tell you, IT ROCKED!!!!!! Billy Joel puts on quite a show! I always admire ANYONE who can play the piano that well and he was awesome! I have to admit, though...my favorite part of the show was when he picked up a guitar, called "Chainsaw", one of his roadies out on stage, and announced that Chainsaw was going to sing us a "sacred" song that he thought most of us would be singing the lyrics to on the way home. Chainsaw then proceeded to sing a rousing rendition of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell"!!!!!!! It was AWESOME! As AC/DC is one of my top five concerts (Billy Joel is in there, too) it was great. Needless to say, my non-concert mood was quickly replaced by absolute enthusiasm and we had a great time.



Here is a recent picture of Billy....

He actually looks like this now...he introduced himself to the crowd as "Billy's Dad"!!!



Ah, but my concert enthusiasm was not to last...Saturday night my week-long sore throat got WORSE (as if that was possible) and today my doctor said I have bronchitis! Wahoo - doesn't that sound fun? It's not like I'm BUSY right now or anything...are you kidding? I don't have MOST of the shopping done, Blair would like to the Christmas cards in the mail TOMORROW (I'm working on it....) and I still haven't finished the wedding video for Brad's wedding (Blair's brother) next Friday. Plus, it's almost the end of the clerkship, so work is pretty crazy as well. GOTTA LOVE IT!!!!! Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in soon and all will be well.

And, of course I have to include some "Abby Art" and hopefully this will be included in the Christmas cards to come!



Isn't it cute? It's supposed to be a Christmas tree (not sure if those are apples on the tree) but she was very excited to possibly have it on our cards somewhere! We'll see if I can cut it down enough to include in on the labels. Just more Christmas fun!

And, in honor of our fun concert last week, here is my list of "Top Five Concerts I've Ever Attended":

1. AC/DC (2001) Blair & I had just gotten engaged and I wasn't so sure I wanted to see AC/DC but it was AMAZING! Interesting people in the audience as well. :)
2. Styx (summer of 1983) I got the tickets for my 17th birthday and Tommy Shaw ran down the aisle right past me!
3. U2, both times (2002) & (2005). There is NOTHING like hearing "Pride" live and in person. I think I embarrassed Blair both times I heard it, as I had to dance and sing along. :)
4. Def Leppard & Journey (2006) This concert was last summer and Blair bought me tickets for my birthday. It was like spending the whole night in 1984 again...and it was AWESOME!
5. Billy Joel (see above description). I'm SOOOOOOOO glad I bought those tickets! It truly was a great concert!

Apples for Sale

So, Abby is at it again - being the smart, creative five-year-old she is! Last week we had a HUGE bowl of apples in the fridge and she decided we needed to sell them! So, she asked us how to spell apples and made the following sign:




Needless to say, we ate most of the apples and the world at large never knew about her "apple sale." Cute, though - don't you think?



I also took a cute picture of Yogi last Friday as I was furiously cleaning our bedroom. She LOVES laying on the rug in the sun!







And, then today it snowed about 6 inches! Isn't it beautiful when it snows?





This is the view from our back porch

And, this is the beautiful tree by our back porch


Blair spent most of the morning shoveling the sidewalks and now Abby and I need to clean her room. Doesn't THAT sound fun?

Happy Snow Day!