First Snow and a Real Haircut

We got our first, and possibly only, snow of the season on Monday - Wednesday.
Rhaevyn got to go sledding at her best friend's house on Monday.
The other three had fun gathering what snow there was on the ground, Monday, to throw at each other.
Wednesday they went out and built a small snowman and two forts.
The snow was very pretty. I love watching the snow fall at night. It is so magical. I am glad that I did not have to drive in it though.

Today we treated Myles to a "real" haircut.
He has been looking forward to going to the Barber's shop all week.
He absolutely loved it!
He got to sit in the chair and watch football, got a back/neck massage, and gel in his hair. To top it off he got a back of popcorn and a lollipop too.
He had the biggest smile when it was all done.
He was a bit concerned about "issues".......translated I think our clippers are dull.
I think he looks so grown up and handsome.............well he does normally, but I just love the style.

Myles-isms

Yesterday Myles asked if I thought he was muscular. He kept flexing his arm muscles for me.
Then he came over, puffed out his chest and says to me "Mom, take a look at these guys!", nodding toward his pecs.

The girls were entertaining Elsa by looking at old blog posts and viewing video footage from when she was a baby. Myles energetically said "Can't you just pop out another baby, Mom, so we can have another sibling?"

I so love the innocence of youth, and I absolutely love my guy, Myles!

We had an enjoyable two weeks off from school. This past week we got back into the swing and routine of school........with a new semester, new work books and a new literature circle book.

But here is a little recap of what we were up to on our time off.....

I recycled our oatmeal canister.

I found a new use for this picture frame.......again.
I had put pictures of the kids in it, but I found that I needed a place for all the clips we've been sent and that I've made.

We added some pizazz to Myles's room.
Chris came home with last year's calendar, and Myles was in heaven.
He picked out his favorites.....

He had a hard time narrowing down to just four, so we put one on his door and one on his closet as well.

Lots of drawing, Lego building, and playing with Barbies went on during out little vacation from schoolwork.

Rhaevyn, Aeva and I decorated composition notebooks.
That was a lot of fun. We used pictures and words from magazines,
printed quotes, photos, mod podge and shipping tape.
These are Rhaevyn's.

Front #1

Back #1

Front #2

Back #2

This is my literature circle notebook.
I covered mine with several quotes from Corrie Ten Boom.
If you don't know who she is, I highly recommend you find out.
We are reading The Hiding Place for literature. If you have never read that book, I would encourage you to do it. I am reading it for the second time, and love it even more than the first time. There are amazing life lessons to be learned from the pages of the book. It is very inspiring. Corrie and her family truly were amazing and loved the Lord. If you decide to read it or have read it, share your thoughts with me.

Front

Back

This is my Sunday School notebook that I use for my lessons on Sunday.

These are the two that Aeva decorated.

Front

Back.

I love how unique and personal each notebook turned out.

We also tried our hand at Sufganiot.
Suf what you ask????
They are Jewish jelly donuts.
I will just say I am really not much of a baker.
I put in way too much yeast. Well it was not entirely my fault.
I will blame it on the recipe in the book we were reading about Jewish Holidays.
Since I am not a baker I had not way of knowing that the ratio of water to yeast was all wrong or even how to dissolve yeast in water.
Ya, I stirred and it became a paste.
Oh well, I learned some valuable lessons.
They at least were tolerable because they all got eaten, but boy, let me tell you, too much yeast is not good for the digestive system.
I decided not to let the mishap with the jelly donuts keep me from doing more baking.
Last night I made Challah.
Challah is the bread that Jews have for their Sabbath dinner and at Rosh Hashanah.
Anyway, I found a really good recipe that walked me through everything.........even how to dissolve the yeast.
I have to say I am so proud of my beautiful Challah..........

It was so yummy. For my first try at it I would say it was a success. Not as good as some I've had made my the "professionals", but it was not a failure. Yay!!

And now we prepare for another week and what it may hold.
The quote most used by me this past week was "Come what may and love it!"
I wonder what my most used quote will be this coming week....

Good-Bye 2011.....Hello 2012

The last week of 2011 was a great one.
For most of the week we've had fun playing some new games and watching two movies we got for Christmas.
Monday I woke up bright and early and took the Christmas tree down.
The living room was just feeling a bit too cramped. That afternoon the girls went on a date with Chris.
We had a family date on Thursday. The kids were itching to get out of the house. So we all piled in the car and headed to Ikea. We perused to our hearts content, and then we had dinner and dessert for all six of us for under $10. What a deal! Myles had not voted for Ikea, so we visited the Learning Palace for him after Ikea.
Rhaevyn and I had a date on Friday. We hit the local clothes consignment shop and found a couple of outfits for her and new pair of church pants for Myles. Then Rhaevyn treated me to lunch at Red Robin, and we checked out a few shops at the mall. We had a great time.
Saturday was clean the house day, and we had a suprise visit from Brynn and Alayna.
Brynn started babysitting the girls when Aeva was just a few months old. She ended up going to college and on a mission. She is now a mom of two very cute boys. Her sister Alayna ended up taking over the babysitting of the girls and Myles, but she now lives in Utah :( We were ecstatic to see both of them, as they are such a part of our family. You'd think it was Christmas all over when they are in town and come to see us. The kids jump up and down and squeal with delight.
I really wanted to start and complete this one craft project before the new year.
I have had the vinyl lettering for over a year (thanks, mom). I had decided on the clothes pins several months ago and had decorated them. I decided it was finally time to get it done.
I have to say I am very happy with the end results.
I made one for my best friend too.
Now the kids have a place to hang their artwork and school work.

Here is mine.

My little munchkins did some water colors today,

so I'd have some beautiful pictures to hang up.

This is the one I did for my friend to hang in her school room.

We were party poopers New Year's Eve.
We did not make it until midnight.
Rhaevyn had wanted to stay up until midnight because she and her best friend were having a contest on who would stay up the latest. Needless to say, Rhaevyn did not win the competition.
Her best friend called at midnight, though, to wish her a Happy New Year.
Chris and I had to laugh because I think she expected Rhaevyn to pick up the phone and not Chris. But she was cute, she wished us a Happy New Year.
We are on a new schedule for church now, so Sunday we got to to sleep in.
We watched our usual for New Year's day....the Wiener Philharmoniker at the Musikverein (Vienna Philharmonic). Elsa had a blast. She put on her ballet shoes and danced to her hearts content.
Today I've been nesting. I've Started the new year off with organizing, de-cluttering the house, and moving pictures around.
It's been nice to not have a schedule, play a bit and just relax.
Wishing you all a very happy 2012!

Here is a clip of Elsa saying what her new favorite movie is...

An Event in the Life of Rhaevyn's Hair

Good bye dear friend....it is time for part of you to depart.
Parting is not such sweet sorrow, as the many hair balls clogging up the drain, painful knots and piles of ripped out hair on the floor will not be missed.
What will be missed? Well, mom for one will miss all the wonderful hairdo's and living vicariously through Rhaevyn's long, curly, molasses taffy tresses.
Ahhh, but alas, it is just hair and will grow back.

This is Rhaevyn's hair before......

She got apporoximately 12 inches cut off, and is sending it in to Locks of Love.

This is Rhaevyn's hair after....

Christmas 2011: A Few of My Favorite Pictures

Skyping with Oma and Opa so they could
watch Elsa open their present to her.

The Nutcracker and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Gadzooks..........I am so behind.

I think my blog posts will be in short spurts and snippets to get caught up.

Myles and Aeva were in The Nutcracker at church. Our ward, instead of doing a Christmas dinner, decided to do the Nutcracker using 88 of the primary children.
It was a hoot.

Here is Aeva, one of the party guests,
with "Clara" on her right and another party guest on her left.

Myles was one of the little kid "clowns" that came out
under the lady's dress (Mother Gigogne).

Myles and Aeva had a great time performing in the play.


Here is a small clip of Myles playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the violin.

Aeva is 11 Now!

Aeva is officially 11....
One year left of Primary. She is very much looking forward to being in YW with Rhaevyn.
For Aeva's birthday Oma treated us all to a birthday dinner at Applebee's.
It was a lot of fun!

She got some awesome gifts and was glad that
when her birthday arrived because she was on pins and needles
to open them.
A big sketch pad from Aunti Cullen.

Headbands from Rhaevyn.

A big hymnn book from Chris and me.

She acutally got this last month. We were planning on getting her one,

but she really needed it sooner than her birthday so she could mark the organ

pedals in it.

And the much anticipated present......

The Lego Roadster from Oma and Opa.
They got to watch her open it on Skype.
That was a really special.

Elsa helped put candles on Aeva's birthday pie.

Aeva was so excited she forgot to wait for us to finish
singing to her before blowing out her candles.

Happy Birthday, my sweet baby girl :)