Mary's First Recital

About a year and a half ago, my parents were at one of those "estate sales" where you anticipate that things will be overpriced or that there won't be anything that you would actually want. Anyway, they scored. They picked up a small upright piano for $50! It's certainly nothing fancy, but it is in good condition minus one decent-sized gash along the top of it. It's a little out of tune, but not that bad and we hope to tune it soon. It stayed in my parents garage until we moved back home to WA and when we moved up here to Whidbey Island, it moved with us.

For the last 6 months or so, Mary has been working on teaching herself the piano along with some astute tutoring from a local friend. She has been using the Jon Schmidt method and is specifically using the book "67 Fun Songs Arranged by Jon Schmidt". He is an amazing pianist and if you'd like to see some of his work go to youtube and search "Piano Guys" and there is some real cool videos that he does along with Celloist Steven Sharp Nelson. Mary's friend helps her with specific tips and corrections here and there. Mary has been doing great and tries to practice 10-15 minutes a day. I have been impressed with what she has started to put out and I have also enjoyed seeing how it inspires Sarah to practice a lot on her own... and she seems to have quite the knack for it. It's been great and a huge thanks to my parents for picking up the piano for such a steal and thinking of us!

Anyway, Mary had her first recital (Sarah played at it as well, impromptu) at her teachers house, who has several other students - adults and kids. Mary played Jon Schmidt's version of Silent Night and it sounded great... not perfect, but great! I was proud of her accomplishment and her pushing herself in this regard and seeing benefits. I enjoy hearing her progress a little over time and am impressed with how much she has grown in a relatively small amount of time.

Fort Ebey for the 1st Time

A couple of weeks ago I took the kids (minus Molly who went down for a nap) to Fort Ebey State Park, which is about 15 minutes away. This was our first trip there and it was a lot of fun. It's a very large park that has a lot of camping and hiking/walking trails as well as a lot of Mtn Biking trails in the Kettles section of the park. It also has some old tunnels as it was an extension of Fort Casey... the tunnels aren't that long and there is really just one with a couple of different branches, but the kids had fun with their flashlights in it for a little bit. We hiked down to the lake and hiked part of the bluff trail. We also spent a good deal of time at the beach there.

While we hiked, the kids enjoyed playing an animal identification game where someone gives a hint ("I'm thinking of an animal that is brown and lives in the forest") and the rest of us have to try to guess what the animal is. This kept them going when they got bored or tired and I was actually impressed with some of the animals that they guessed and tried to have others guess.


There were two crazy guys who thought it was a good day to surf and thought that was a good place. We watched them for a while from the bluff trying to surf... they were largely unsuccessful except for a couple of times and they just looked really cold to me. The kids asked a lot of questions about what they were doing and why. Sometimes I didn't have the answers.



They enjoyed playing at the beach and throwing rocks into the ocean and walking/climbing around on the driftwood. Their favorite part, though, was when they found a long pole that was propped up on what looked like a piece of a driftwood tree root or something. Sarah wanted to climb up to the top of the pole. As she was doing this and started getting closer to the top, her weight started to cause the back/low end to lift up. This was a little frightening for her but I caught it in time and then they had the idea of this possibly being a teeter-totter. We had to work out the weight proportions as the pole was unevenly placed on it's fulcrum. We first had Sarah and Nathan do it and then were able to eventually have all of us do it. We did it long enough that someone else ended up walking by and snapping a picture of us. It was fun and even though Jane was a little scared about it, she did great and we all really enjoyed it. [And wouldn't you know it, that this picture actually captured one of the surfers, actually surfing... cool... didn't realize this until I looked at the pics at home].


Anyway, the kids had a lot of fun and this will definitely be a place we will frequent among the many other parks and beaches on Whidbey Island.

A Poem for Christmas: From Sarah to Daddy

I received the below poem from Sarah this Christmas. It was her gift to me. She told me many times leading up to Christmas: "Daddy, you're just going to love my present to you!" Mary obviously helped her write it and I'm sure Mary helped her come up with different rhyming words and put things together. But I LOVE IT! It is sitting on a bulletin board of mine at work in my office. It means a lot to me. She drew little pictures of some of the things in the side margins on the one that she gave me. I'm grateful for a daughter that is VERY thoughtful and finds written words and drawn pictures to be very meaningful in her relationships. One of her favorite things to do is to make or write cards for people - all kinds of cards to all kinds of people that she has met. She also loves to draw pictures for other people, something that those who are close to her have probably experienced or witnessed. She has a special, giving heart about her. For example, she has begun fasting with us the last two months on Fast Sunday (she skips one meal - last month she went from dinner Saturday until lunch Sunday... I was impressed!)and both times she has fasted for other people that she has been concerned about or worried about. She is so great. This poem to me represents so much of who I see her to be. I'm glad she's mine and that when she says "Daddy", she talking about me!



MY DADDY

My daddy is the best daddy I know,
He helps me learn as I grow.
He cares about people and animals too,
But sometimes he sneaks up on me and hollers “boo.”
He tickle wrestles me down to the ground.
He doesn’t agree with mommy that we should get a hound.
He wants a smaller dog that will still run around and play.
I bet we can find a perfect one; if we make him out of clay.
Daddy makes moose and dog shadows on the wall.
He hurt his knee playing basketball.
He taught us how to play baseball during the summer.
And he once hit himself in the head with a hammer.
I used to pretend to do it too.
It did make me look a little silly and cuckoo.
I just wanted to be like him,
But he asked me to never do it again.
My nose gets itchy and my eyes water
When I’m around cats, just like my father.
He reads me lots of good books like Nancy and Plum,
And sometimes I catch him chewing gum.
He fixes things up around the house
And he makes me pancakes that look like Mickey Mouse.
He wants a boat to water-ski,
And catch crabs that scare me.
He loves to take vacations in McCall,
And takes me to horse lessons with Brother Hall.
Sometimes he gives me a piggyback ride to bed.
He looks cool with hats on his head.
We like to ride bikes around the cul-de-sac,
And daddy’s really good at scratching my back.
He called mommy from work one day,
And said “hurry, quick, killer whales are coming your way.”
We enjoy taking walks before it gets dark.
We’ve seen a bald eagle and even a baby shark.
My daddy’s really fun, but what I like most about him,
Is that he helps me follow my Father in Heaven.
He teaches me to love and to give,
And he serves wherever we live.
Every Sunday he puts on a white shirt and a tie,
And whispers “be reverent” as the sacrament goes by.
He shares with us his testimony,
And shows us to have courage and honesty.
He takes mommy to the temple and he never forgets to pray.
I sure hope I can be like my daddy some day.

Love,
Sarah

I Need to Take My Kids Camping...

Observe:



These are pictures of my kids in our backyard. They have built a "fire" (complete with a less than adequate fire ring) and sitting around their fire roasting pine-cones. They were pretending their pine-cones were marshmallows or hot-dogs, but when they were pretending to eat the bigger pine-cones, they were pretending it was corn on the cob. Fun and creative kids.

Horses!

In moving back to Washington, one of the things that I thought we would miss out on is the "country" aspect that was prevalent surrounding us in Mtn Home, Idaho. We knew several people with horses and had tentative plans/offers to do some riding with them in the Spring/Summer of 2011. I thought we had missed our chance as I was never really exposed to horses at all while growing up in Western Washington. But there are a lot of horses on Whidbey Island. I have a co-worker who does eventing with horses and so she told us about a local event that was going on. We attended this and the kids really enjoyed watching the horses, though Sarah was mostly interested in just being close to any horses that were waiting or done and feeding them or talking to their riders than watching the actual event. It was a lot of fun, however, for the kids.

Soon after, we discovered someone in our ward (church congregation) who trains horses. Miraculously (to us at least) was that he was not only willing to teach Sarah and Nathan, but that he doesn't charge us for it and finds that him teaching them is somehow a benefit to him (he is trying to come up with curriculum on how to teach kids how to train horses... so we are kind of his guinea pigs). We try to do things to help him (clearing rocks out of the fields, clearing trails of debris/sticks, etc) but we have been doing this a couple of times a week for the past 5 months or so. His is a slow process and I think that sometimes Sarah and Nathan (especially the latter) get bored of it sometimes, but they are learning the basics about care and safety around horses and will probably be doing a lot more riding in the near future as Sarah is seeming much more independently comfortable around the horses (especially the pony, whom she works with the most).





Nathan is mostly just observing, playing with sticks or finding grass to feed one of the surrounding horses. He gets a token ride here and there but isn't doing a lot of hands-on stuff as much as Sarah is. But I can tell that he is much more comfortable just being around them and when there is more interest from him and more available time from either me or Larry, I'm sure he will move more quickly than Sarah has. Larry says that Sarah is her "star student" and seems to have a natural comfort around the horses and is responsive to his instruction. I enjoy accompanying the kids each time and I am becoming more comfortable and learning a lot myself about being around horses.






As many other kids out there, Sarah absolutely loves horses! She has numerous books about them and loves reading about them or drawing them. One of the things that Larry has taught us is that horses are very nervous and scared animals and that they are easily spooked. He is teaching us that we need to become good friends with the horses that we work with (through consistent action, strength, and a reassuring verbal tone) so that they can trust us. We then, can become their courage and their hero - these are words and phrases that he uses often with Sarah, in teaching her about these horses. Sarah seems to take pride in her efforts to become a horses hero by being its friend and being consistent, strong, but also respectful. So, much of their time has been spent being around the horses so that they can gain and reflect that confidence so the horse can deservedly trust them. She is doing well and it is fun to watch her grow and learn about herself and the horses that, before now, she only dreamed and read about.



Sarah thoroughly enjoyed going to watch her cousin, Ruby, perform in a recent event in which she did very well. Sarah hopes to be able to do the things that her cousin is able to do in the near future. Jane is very envious of her sister and brother each time we go, but the one time we took her she was very hesitant, scared and tentative to be close or to even touch them. She has a real interest in horses as well, so I imagine down the road, she may be joining us.

Sarah & Jane!

I just love these two kids. Sarah is getting so big and is growing up so fast. She is maturing and learning so much right now... it's hard to keep up. Jane is at that magical age that I absolutely adore and (for the most part) can't get enough of. Whenever it's bedtime and we're singing Sarah her bedtime song, Jane will always insist on laying in Sarah's bed, right next to her, under the covers. This is usually adorable, but sometimes there is the (understandable, at times) complaining from Sarah ("You're on my hair", "OUCH", "Jane just hit me", etc.). But usually they enjoy these few moments each night where they get to cuddle or where they both get their backs-scratched while I sing them a song (that's daddy multi-tasking!). I love bedtime for many reasons, but it seems that our kids can be the sweetest when they are tired and just enjoying the process of being put in bed. Anyway, we caught some fun times with these girls before bed time one night recently. Enjoy!

Sarah's Dance Class '09-'10

Sarah participated in a dance class that was put together and ran by some of our friends. The class was held every Monday afternoon and Sarah really enjoyed and looked forward to these classes. She had her dance recital in late March on a Saturday afternoon. We invited some of our friends to come and watch the performance. Our Bishop and his wife were there, of course.


Afterward, they had a little potluck dinner. We got Sarah some roses which she really enjoyed. She was very articulate in her dancing. She loved practicing at home and would often be found in her room playing her dance CD for her brother and sister while trying to teach them the dances. She would get frustrated when they wouldn't get it. She is such a fun big sis! We look forward to this starting next year again. Her, teacher, Emily J. did such a good job and has such a passion for both dancing and kids, we are lucky to have her in our ward! Thanks Emily! A couple of weeks after the class ended, Sarah remarked how much she missed going to dance class on Monday afternoons.



This is the group of girls that Sarah danced with. These are all girls that Sarah enjoys spending time with outside of dance. Two have since moved :( That is Emily J with them. This was their dance number to the song "Good Ship Lollipop"



This is Sarah's group after the recital posing for pics

Camping at the Sand Dunes 3/5 - 3/6/10

Camping at the Sand Dunes 3/5 - 3/6/10



So we had an unseasonably warm week in early March and I was a little over excited about Spring and Summer coming, so I started to think about camping. As I watched the weather (with most of the attention being paid to the daily High's) it looked like it was shaping up for a gorgeous weekend. So I decided to go camping early in the week.

We decided to use a site that had electricity and water along with a firepit and little shelter for a picnic table. I had told the kids earlier in the week that we would try to go camping this weekend and they were really excited. Sarah wrote the following little note for me on Thurs: "Dear Daddy I hop we have a fun time together tomorow going camping at the sand doons I hop we have a grate time of corse you now that. to Jeff from Sarah Hamm." What a sweet girl! Nathan was also very excited and looking forward to camping. They were counting down the days all week. Their excitement and anticipation alone would have been worth the trip! They helped me pack some of the camping stuff on Thurs evening and asked over and over why I had to go to work on Friday, because they wanted to camp “all day”. I got home from work early on Friday and we finished packing all the great food that Mary had put together for us and we were on our way. We got out to the camping spot at the Sand Dunes around 5 pm and we set up camp. The kids had a fun time helping me and playing around the campsite. We then went and registered our campsite at the pay-station and the kids found “firewood” (really just small sticks and twigs) as we walked around the campgrounds. A neighborly camper pointed out that there was a horned owl in his nest in a nearby tree so we went over and looked at it, the kids thought that was cool and I answered their questions about what it eats and how it catches it’s food. We discovered that there was no water at the campsite so we had to drive to nearby Bruneau to get some water from a gas station there. The kids enjoyed seeing some deer in the fields as we drove. We got a fire going when we returned and the kids enjoyed helping with the fire. We then cooked hot dogs over the fire and the kids enjoyed eating those and some chips. After eating dinner we just sat around the fire and talked (about owls, fires, camping, etc.). We then made Jiffy-pop popcorn and Sarah and Nathan were quite impressed at how it grew as it was cooked and popped. They enjoyed the popcorn. They were both really excited about eating roasted marshmallows and Nathan, especially, had talked about this all week. However, when they were actually cooked he only had one. Sarah had a couple and then they wanted to go in the tent as it was dark, the fire wasn’t really providing much warmth and it was getting much cooler. They wanted to put on their jammies and get in their sleeping bags. So we went in the tent and we had brought a little fan/heater and that came in handy and took some of the edge off of the cold during the night. We kept it on all night! We played around in the tent a little bit and got them ready for bed. We brought two books to read: The Bernstein Bears “Bear Scouts” and Mercer Mayer’s “My Dad and Me” camping trip book. The kids enjoyed these stories. We then read the Book of Mormon and then we talked for a while. Before they went to sleep, I had them come out of the tent briefly and look at the stars. Unfortunately the Observatory here was closed. After I left I just walked around the camp a bit and cleaned up our stuff and then I joined them in bed. It’s so fun to sleep between your kids while camping. I had enough light to see their sweet little faces sleeping comfortably (and I hoped that they were warm enough with a sleeping bag and blankets). They both slept well – better then me I think… I never sleep good when camping/hiking.



In the morning it was cold and windy as the sun started to come up. They were both tired of being in the tent and wanted to get outside, but I knew they would be very cold as there was frost on the windshield and due to how windy it was. Thankfully, Mary had sent us with some doughnuts so we didn’t have to make pancakes right away for breakfast. So we got in the car and drove about 25 mins to Bruneau Canyon, which is amazing and very deep. It was still windy and cool, but the sun was up which provided some warmth. The kids enjoyed throwing rocks over the fence at the lookout and trying to listen to hear it hit the ground or canyon face below. We probably spent about 45 minutes there and then traveled back. This worked out good because even though it was windy, the sun made the campsite much warmer. I made pancakes on an electric griddle, but it was still so cold and windy that by the time that they ate them they were very cold pancakes and they ate very little, and I didn’t blame them. The syrup was cold and the pancakes were cold. Luckily they had eaten the doughnuts. To get something else in their stomachs we decided to cook the last couple hot dogs, so they had hot dogs and doughnuts for breakfast – what a healthy breakfast!



After “breakfast” we went in the tent and got them dressed for the day and packed up some of our stuff in the tent. Then we got ready to go to the actual Sand Dunes to play. Here’s a funny story. So, apparently on Friday morning while Mary was shopping for stuff for us to go camping at a local grocery store (Paul’s) the kids were telling everybody that they were going camping with their daddy to the sand dunes. When they were checking out of the store, the cashier told Sarah and Nathan to “be careful, last time I was there I saw a rattle snake!” This apparently stuck with Nathan.



When we parked at the bottom of one of the dunes, he refused to come out because he was scared of rattle snakes. I assured him that we wouldn’t see any this time of year and that I would stay with him. He would have none of it! He chose to stay in the car, but it was close enough where he could see us from the car go up and down the dunes. So he stayed behind in the car. Sarah and I walked to the end of the dune and then climbed up it’s spine, rather then hike straight up. The sand was cold on our feet underneath. We got to the top and Sarah enjoyed repeatedly jumping down [“like a bunny – hop hop”] the dune and then climbing back up. She also said that she felt like she was walking on the moon… she seemed to really enjoy this.




After about 30-45 minutes of us playing on the dunes (I jumped down them several times with her as well). I went down to check on Nathan. He was fairly distraught and it looked like he had been crying/upset for a little while. Poor kid! He still did not want to come out and go on the dunes, he just wanted to go back to the campsite. So we went back there when Sarah was done playing on the dunes.


We finished cleaning up our campsite and had a snack. We put the fire out with our remaining water. In the midst of cleaning up the camp, Sarah had apparently been talking to Nathan about how fun the dunes were and that she didn’t see any snakes. She had been so sweet and gently encouraging him to go on the dunes. What a great big sister she is for her little brother (and sisters!). She is so kind and sweet and is such a great example to her siblings. So after we had cleaned everything up, Nathan said he wanted to go back to the dunes. This time we picked a smaller dune that wouldn’t be difficult for Nathan to walk up. He was insistent that I hold his hand while we walked to and then up the smaller sand dune. Sarah ran ahead and we caught up to her at the top. Nathan didn’t want to do any jumping off of the backside of the dune, but enjoyed watching Sarah and I do it (Sarah had to hold his hand while I jumped down). We really praised him for being brave even though he was worried about rattle snakes.



We then drove home. The kids had a great time! I was really glad that we had decided to go even if they were pretty cold at times. It is so fun to see them so happy and excited about things like campfires, tents, sticks, bugs, animals, stars, marshmallows, hot dogs, sleeping bags, etc. Time and money well-spent!


*on a side note, I didn't find the camera in my bag until after our trip to Bruneau Canyon in the morning :(

The Date Passed with Little Recognition Besides My Own

My oldest daughter, Sarah, is now closer to her own High School graduation then I am to mine. This significant calendar event passed quietly several weeks ago, without fanfare but with an awareness that I mostly kept to myself. Sarah, who will be going into 1st grade in the Fall, will likely graduate in just under 12 years. Me, on the other hand, graduated just over 12 years ago. Kind of crazy! And, sorry if I ruined anyone's day/week/month.

This Story Must Be Told

Both Sarah and Nathan are good little sleepers (Hallelujah!). But when Sarah goes to bed and wakes up within the first few hours after going to sleep, she's a little delirious and "out of it" and trying to communicate with her verbally is a futile effort. This is especially the case when she has to go to the bathroom. She'll go in the bathroom and just cry, like she hasn't figured out why she's in there even though she needs to be there... or something like that. We usually just need to get her on the toilet and then get her back to bed and all is well and she doesn't remember a thing about it in the morning.

Anyway, so the other night, it was about 11 and I was finishing up brushing my teeth and I heard Sarah come out of her room and new she would need to use the restroom. She came in (yes, we only have one bathroom!) and said, very lucidly, that she needed to go "potty". So I told her I would give her some privacy and exited the bathroom, while leaving it a smidgeon cracked so that I could make sure she didn't need any help. I watched her curiously as she pulled the stool (a similar one is pictured below) out and put it right below the sink, pulled down her panties, sat down on the stool and proceeded to go "potty"... right on the stool. I opened the door and said "Sarah, what are you doing, that is the stool!" I totally startled her and likely fully woke her from her daze.

I told her to go on the toilet and then I started laughing and went in to our room telling Mary what had just happened. Mary asked if she had finished going to the bathroom and I realized that she probably hadn't and so we assisted her onto the toilet and then cleaned up the mess that she had made of the stool and the floor. And, conveniently, in the morning, she didn't remember a thing! At least there are blogs to make experiences like this timeless!

Happy Valentines Day '09

You know you're a parent on Valentines Day when your first kiss of the day is your son catching you off-guard by licking your face while he pretends to be a dog, which was the case this morning. You also know your a parent on Valentines Day when your day begins like this:

[Jane's cry is heard over the monitor and the time of 6:10 AM is noted]

Mary dutifully gets up to nurse Jane and, as she's leaving, states: "Sarah's light is on in her room and Nathan is at his door and I think he has a poopy diaper"

Jeff: "grooooaaan.... alright" [thinking: maybe I can get them to come cuddle with me for a while... after changing Nathan's diaper, Sarah comes out of her room and, after much work and the offer of a balloon for them, they agree to "cuddle" (read: bounce on and crawl repeatedly over dad while he continues in his delusional belief that this is actually like sleeping in)]

Jeff: "Happy Valentines Day you two, you are so special, we love you so much!"

Sarah [very excited]: "Today is Valentines Day?!" [confused because she celebrated it yesterday at school]

Nathan: "Happy Birthday to you Daddy!"

Jeff: "Thank you Nathan, it's actually 'Happy Valentines Day'"

Nathan: "Oh... Happy Birthday to you, Sarah!"

Sarah and Nathan [many times]: "Dad, it's time for breakfast"

Jeff: "let's wait 'til Mommy is done nursing and then she'll come in and cuddle with us and we have a special surprise to tell you about" [I knew that would hook Sarah, who could hook Nathan and delay the exit from my bed]

[Eventually, Mommy joins us and rescues Dad from getting trampled]

Sarah [as soon as Mommy enters the vicinity]: "What's the surprise?"

Jeff: "Oma and Opa are coming here today and visiting us for a couple of days"

Sarah and Nathan: "Yay!"

Anyway, they eventually drag us out of bed and I made some yummy pink pancakes for them and used a cookie cut-out to make some heart shapes. Sarah was pretty skeptical about the color, but I reassured her they would taste the same. Sarah likes her pancakes pure and undiluted (one time I made her chocolate chip pancakes and she wouldn't eat them... Geesh!)

Mary and I enjoyed going to a Valentines Dinner last night at church for couples and then talking with each other about some of Mary's past suitors (always an enjoyable conversation, with lot's of laughs... you should ask her about them sometime). Today we get to meet Oma and Opa in Boise and then they will take the kids home and Mary and I will get to go out together and run some errands without kids.
Here is the card that Sarah made for us. This is our family (sans Jane) "Jumping on the trampoline" of course. Pretty cute! Oh, and Sarah is currently stating that she doesn't like the "h" at the end of her name so she had to add that afterward.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Valentines Day today. We love our family.

Christmas '08

So, this is obviously long overdue, but if timeliness was a requirement I would've had to stop blogging long ago. Anyway, the kids didn't get up earlier than normal, which was nice... in fact I think they didn't get up until after 7 am (we'll enjoy this while it lasts). The tradition in my family growing up was to take a picture of the kids just before they got to run down the hall and open the presents. We have continued this tradition so here is our little trio together for Christmas for the first time. It was a beautiful morning, having snowed much of the night and it continued to snow for much of the day.

Nathan's Christmas was all about Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. He got this little interactive book (pic below) from his Nanu and Bumpa (Mary's parents) as well as Thomas PJ's, another book and a bunch of the trains that you'll see below. He also got a Disney Characters "I Spy" book that he really enjoys as well. He got a Dinoco (CARS) helicopter from Uncle Kris and some art supply stuff from his Aunt Jenny's family. The kid was in heaven! Thanks for all the wonderful gifts everyone.

Could this reaction be any more excited! Sarah got some first readers books from her Oma and Opa (my parents) and has really enjoyed them (if only she'd read them instead of trying to memorize the story and then just quoting it almost word for word after a couple of reads!). She got some My Little Ponies from her Uncle Kris, some play food stuff from Nanu and Bumpa, and some art supply stuff from Aunt Jenny's family. She also received a hat and glove set from her cousin Ruby. Thanks again for everything.

My Mom made this adorable skirt for Sarah and a matching one for Jane that they both should be able to wear in a few months. Adorable... Sarah is really excited and both of her matching outfits with Jane have come from her Oma and Opa and they look so cute together.

As mentioned above, Nathan got a bunch of Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. The pic above is of the stuff that he got from his Oma and Opa. Mary and I were so particularly excited for Nathan's Christmas because he's at the age where we know (sometimes) what he wants (and this year it was SO obvious) but he's not to the point where he's really asking for it. So we knew it would be (and it was) a totally, unexpected surprise of pure delight! It's so fun to be a parent at Christmas and seeing your kids get so excited over their presents. Anyway, so Nathan got this James and Rickety combo pictured above. As soon as he gets it he says "James" and takes them and runs into the toy room where his brio train tracks are (we've had a bunch of this for a while but we haven't really had any Thomas pieces to go with it) and starts playing. After a bit we go in and tell him that there are more presents to open. So he comes back in and opens the large set that we had gotten him with a bunch more Thomas characters and some more track. As soon as he opens this up he says "Huh! James!" and runs into the toy room to retrieve James where he had left it and bring them all together. The kid could not have been happier and it was so fun because, for the most part, he woke up that morning not expecting much of anything. So cute! Here he is below after his Dad totally loved using some of the new pieces to build a really cool train-track.
When we were younger (I don't even remember actually doing it) we all designed our own plates and then they were somehow laminated or something so we had them for a number of years. I know we did these at Christmas at some point because we always thought my Dad's plate was the coolest and it had some kind of a Santa on it, or something. Anyway, my parents got us this plate set for Sarah and Nathan and Jane to do some plates. Sarah was the only one that really did one on her own and it was pretty adorable as you can see above (it's a "kitty cat"). Nathan's was his hand traced, a little bird, and some clouds in the middle and then around the outside of the plate was some train track and then a bunch of the Thomas character's names as Nathan announced them. Jane's was cute too as it just had some stats about her being born and what she was currently doing (crawling, eating, nursing every three hours, getting bit by Nathan, talking, and some other stuff I can't remember). Anyway, we were really excited about these and the kids were excited to use them. However, unfortunately, it apparently wasn't a very good product as the dishwasher destroyed the finish on the plates the first time we ran them. We were really disappointed as we had carefully followed the directions :^( It was a really cute idea though!

The rest of our day was just spent with Mary and I playing some games and just enjoying relaxing. Last year we had these grand plans to cook this great dinner and then never got out of our jammies. So this year we changed course a bit and just did a whole bunch of appetizers. We made some really good stuffed mushrooms, had little smokies, cheese logs, wassail, and some other stuff. We just let the kids play all day and really enjoyed the day, though we terribly missed not being in W. WA with my family. However, we were grateful that we didn't plan on going because the weather certainly would've kept us at home. Anyway, we hope everyone had a wonderfully Merry Christmas! God Bless!

Christmas Eve '08

So on Christmas Eve in mid-afternoon, we were out delivering the last of our goodies to friends. We dropped by one family that we haven't spent a lot of time with but have been wanting to get to know more and who have watched our kids on occasion for Mary during the day. Anyway, when we stopped by they spontaneously invited us over for Christmas Eve dinner. Being lonely and missing company (family) and knowing that they were kind of in the same boat (used to big gatherings) we were excited to spend the evening with them. Instead of a simple yummy broccoli cheese soup for dinner, we had that plus ham, potatoes, homemade rolls and all the other good stuff. Their family does a pinata on Christmas Eve and so we had fun doing that with them and just being around them. Nathan loved just playing by himself with all their Thomas the Train stuff (a preview of sorts for him!) in the other room. Sarah loved being around their girls who are mostly a few years older. We enjoyed hanging out with DeRay and Emily. DeRay was preparing to go kayaking on Jan 1st (CRAZY!). Anyway, it was great fun and filled our need to spend some of Christmas with others. They were great surrogate family and it was so kind of them to have us over on short notice!

Here's Nathan swinging for the homemade pinata. He really enjoyed this (and so did Daddy!)

Here's Sarah giving it a good thump. She almost got hit one time diving in for candy a little too soon.

After spending time with our friends we went home and let the kids open their traditional new set of PJ's on Christmas Eve. They were both excited!

Jane did get some new PJ's as well but they don't quite fit her but they do match a pair that Sarah wore, so that'll be fun when they can wear them together. Jane was just as happpy with the tinsel and the bows! What a doll!
We got a little Nativity set from some friends in our Church earlier in the day and the kids had fun playing with that in their new jammies before bedtime. It was a nice Christmas Eve for our family.

Christmas Family Get-Together '08

On Dec. 20th we headed to Rick and Laurie's house in Fruitland. It was a crazy weekend as Mary and I went to my work party in Boise on Friday, Mary went to the ward Christmas breakfast while I went to work all day on Saturday and then when I got home we threw the kids in the car and headed to Fruitland and didn't get home until late Saturday night. It was our chance to spend some time with some family over Christmas as we were wishing we could be in WA, where all of my siblings and their families were gathered for Christmas (we so wish we could've been there!). The weather was snowy and blustery but we made the trip safely. There were plenty of desserts and just fun conversation/interaction. There were about 40 of us there and Laurie did a gift exchange for the kids that Sarah and Nathan participated in and, as you can see from the pic below, they really enjoyed themselves and the little gifts that they got. Then they did a gift exchange for the older kids and adults after everyone played SANTA Bingo.

Here we are before we left. Actually a decent picture of our little family!

Here's the whole group for the adult gift exchange. Fun times!

My cousin Joey enjoying hanging out with all the Farmer girls. We enjoy being around my cousins!

These pics are of Sarah and Nathan participating in the kids gift exchange. They had a blast and it was good because the presents weren't opened until the end so no one knew what they were giving up as they passed them back and forth.