Christmas Bliss

Christmas was a whirlwind this year! I wasn't as prepared as I was last year, so the last minute preparations were a little hectic. We had a great time though. Christmas Eve we had everyone over to our house for our annual chili dinner, church, and opening presents. The boys did a great job of waiting patiently to open their gifts. My family has always opened our presents to each other on Christmas Eve. This is a Danish tradition from my dad's side that we have always carried on. Christmas day started early, of course. The boys were so excited about their gifts. We went to my parents for Christmas dinner. Instead of turkey, we decided to do pork tenderloin. It was so good that we decided to make that our new tradition. It is something you can throw in the crock-pot (easy!) and it is so delicious.Here is my attempt at getting a nice picture of all three boys. That is quite a chore!

Here are the boys posing in their Santa hats while we passed out presents. They did a great job of being paitent, even though I heard "Can we open presents now?" all day long!

The present opening frenzy. The boys always start out taking turns, going one at a time, but then they all just go crazy opening their presents at once!

Here are the boys in their new PJ's from their Aunt Mary and Uncle Andy. They were ready to head to bed and wait for Santa to come!

These were taken at a home outside of Hansen, ID. They have an incredible light display that you can walk through. They even have a camel that you can feed carrots to! Poor Preston gave her a carrot and was rewarded with a handful of drool!

Quilt for Granny

At Thanksgiving, my family draws names for Christmas. It has made holiday shopping a lot simpler when you're shopping for one instead of six! I drew my Granny this year. It's hard to pick something for a 91 year old. I decided to make a wall hanging to coordinate with the quilt she made that is on her bed. This was my first attempt at quilting in six or seven years, and I didn't have my quilting friend, Michelle, from Flagstaff to help me! It was an Amish Star quilt pattern. I had fun making it, but I definitely need lots more practice. Quilting is such an exact art and I seem to be disabled when it comes to cutting straight! It started out OK, but as I added more and more to it, it got more crooked! My sister is a little more experienced quilter than I, and tried to help me correct it, but it was beyond repair as far as making it straight. Anyways, I finished it and, of course, Granny loved it and claimed that she couldn't see any imperfections in it! I want to take a beginning quilting class so that I can learn how to cut and bind properly. Hopefully the next project I post will be more accurate!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thankgiving this year. We were especially thankful because we got to meet our nephew, Atigun, for the first time. He is a precious little boy and our boys were loving being with their cousin. We are so lucky to have four healthy boys in the family! We had short, but fun visit with Andy, Mary, and Atigun. I am also thankful that our boys get to spend time with our Granny, who is 91! She is a very special person and we are lucky to have her in our family!

Halloween Fun!

We had a great Halloween this year! Preston dressed up as Optimus Prime, Jackson was Bumble Bee, and Austin was a lion. They were too cute! I didn't know if Austin would like going trick-or-treating, but he had a blast! The boys went around the neighborhood with their best buds, a ninja and Wolverine. It was a lot of fun and the boys ended up with tons of candy. One benefit to Preston having a peanut allergy is Gordon and I get to eat all of his Reeses and Snickers! We lucked out with the weather. It was probably in the fifties when we went out, so no one had to freeze!

On Friday my class dressed up for the Halloween Parade. Everyone in the school dresses up and then walks through the whole school so we can see all the great costumes. My fellow Kindergarten teachers and I had fun too! I wore my mom's M&M bag costume. It is at least 20 years old, but it's held up well!

Austin's Baptism

It was a very special day today because Austin was baptized. I was a little nervous that he would throw a fit, but he did great! I think that he was happy that he was finally allowed to be the center of attention at church! (He tries his best to steal the limelight away from the pastor each Sunday) We are very grateful for our wonderful church family and all of the support that they give us. They presented Austin with a beautiful banner for his room that is symbolic of the church's belief in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. The meaning of baptism is explained by the Apostle Paul in Romans 6:3-4, "Do you not know that all of who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."

First Snow of the Season!

We were pleasantly surprised when we woke up this morning to a blanket of newly fallen snow. It's hard to believe that it was pushing 90 degrees here just a week ago! The boys were super excited to see the snow. They immediately wanted to go outside. As soon as they were all bundled up, Preston and Jackson headed out to the backyard to shovel and throw snowballs. Austin had to content himself with watching from the back window. Soon after the boys headed out back, our neighbor came to collect them to go make snowmen across the street. They made three huge snowmen with their two best friends and then proceeded to knock them down in an exciting snowball fight. It was a perfect wet snow for making snowmen. Usually our snow is so dry that you can't make anything out of it. They then made an awesome snow fort in our neighbors backyard. It included a snow slide, a tunnel, and a basketball hoop! It was all topped off with hot chocolate afterwards. Snow fun!

Fall Exploration

We had a fun day exploring another lake that we hadn't been to yet. We drove to Anderson Ranch Reservoir today. It was a lot of fun and it reminded me of Blue Ridge Reservoir in Arizona. We fished for awhile and Gordon caught a small mouth bass. The boys had fun running around and throwing rocks in the water. We saw a lot of evidence of either coyotes or wolves. We even thought we saw bear scat! On the way home we stopped at a small pond in Gooding. We all caught at least one fish (bluegill) and had a lot of bites. It was a great way to enjoy the beginning of fall!
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Fall Soccer

Another season of fall soccer has gotten underway. Preston and Jackson are on the same team again, the Goal Busters. Next year they'll be on separate teams. Our neighbor, Robert, and Gordon are coaching the boys. Preston has become really aggressive and does a great job of stealing the ball. He's scored several goals so far! Jackson is still warming up to the idea of playing. He'll go out on the field and run with everyone, but when the ball comes his way, he usually turns and runs away from it. I have really enjoyed watching them!

First Day of School

It's been an exciting start to the new school year! Preston started kindergarten, I can't believe it! His teacher is Mrs. Ahrens and she is a wonderful teacher. Preston is enjoying school very much and is doing very well! It worked out perfectly because I got a job teaching afternoon kindergarten at the school he is attending. We go in together and eat lunch before he goes outside to play and meet up with his class. I love it!

Jackson is attending preschool. His teacher is Miss Margaret and she is a great teacher too! Jack has had a lot of sensory issues this year related to his premature birth and his teacher knows how to deal with his issues when they arise. It's nice to know he's going to school somewhere that his teachers will believe him when he says his feet hurt! I drop him off at my parents house and the bus picks him up there. My dad then picks him up after school. (We decided that was best when it took the bus an hour and a half to drop him off the first day!) I'm so grateful to have my family here so they can help with the boys!

Austin is being watched by my parents. It's such a relief to know he is somewhere that he is loved and well cared for. He loves it and doesn't even notice when I leave! My year is off to a good start. The first week was very stressful. Trying to get 24 kindergartners loaded on the right bus and sent home with the right people is very difficult! I took for granted when I taught secondary-aged kids that they knew how they were getting home! Gordon's year is going well too. He is teaching Earth Science and Biology. So far he has good classes. Football is in full swing too. He is coaching 8th grade football. They had their first game last night and won! Go Tigers!

This year was all about Transformers for the boys. They picked out Transformers backpacks and shoes! Hopefully the rest of the school year goes great for all of us. Fall soccer starts up next week for Preston and Jackson, so we'll be very busy!