Christmas 2011

When I grow up, I want to be one of those bloggers who posts everyday (or at least every other day) with beautiful pictures of an immaculate house in the background and detailed tutorials of projects she's just completed and food she's just whipped up. But until I do grow up, you are just stuck with me---belated posts of albeit cute kids with a cluttered house in the background and ZERO projects completed and certainly no recipes whipped up. It's corndogs and cold cereal at this house, sister, on paper plates nonetheless. Honk if you can relate.

Now for the recap.....

Here we have 2 of my favorites at the Christmas school sing. I don't know why they call it a sing instead of a concert or something else---have you ever heard of sing being used as a noun? The look on Garrett's face really says how much he looks forward to participating in this event. 

Here's my G-Dawg at his class Christmas holiday party. I really enjoy being room-parent (have any of you every met any room dads that would require the usage of the term room-parent instead of room-mom? I'm just saying....) in his class. He has an amazing teacher and I love being in the classroom with him and 25 other first graders. Out of the mouths of first graders......come things that make me giggle!!

Another fun memory from this Christmas was the "Christmas tree camp-outs". The kids had sooo much fun taking over the living room on multiple nights, sleeping by the tree, or sleeping in each other's rooms.  Sam really got into it.

He still asks every night if he can sleep somewhere other than his bed.

We enjoyed lots of fun Christmas parties this year, with our neighbors and friends who ROCK!

We love love love our Christmas party each year with the Knoxes. There are always plenty of cheesy pictures by the tree, 

yummy food,

and first-rate entertainment. (Were any of YOU lucky enough to enjoy a piano-guitar-saxaphone concert this year?)

Finally we arrive at Christmas Day. It was fun to have everyone dressed in their Sunday best before we saw what Santa brought, and fun to wait until after church to open the rest, but not fun to have Grandma in the hospital and not with us. So glad she is home now and doing better.

And that's about it, the cat is out of the bag. We had a crazy, unorganized, wonderful, messy, joyful Christmas with 4 amazing, drive-you-crazy kids, 2 cats, 1 guinea pig, and a partridge in a pear tree.

It's that time of year....

It's that time of year when....

--the cats sleep in the puzzle box??!?

--the cats are in Christmas heaven sleeping under the tree and batting the bulbs

It's that time of year when...

---the shopping is not done

---the house is a disaster

---the Christmas cards are not mailed

---and everyone STILL expects me to make dinner each night

It's that time of year when...

--the kids want to frost sugar cookies

--I want to EAT sugar cookies (or maybe just lick the frosting off)

---the neighbor gifts are STILL not done or delivered

It's that time of year when..

---I vow to never get this behind again

---I recommit to focusing on the things that matter most

---I recommit to staying within my budget (beginning in January of course)

---I MARVEL at how much work fun Christmastime is and am so grateful for my drive-me-crazy family who I wouldn't trade for the world!

Shop till you Wobble....er, something like that

I'm always amazed at how much fun we have  Thanksgiving weekend, with our simple and silly traditions. 

There's always a jigsaw puzzle (or two) and plenty of yummy snacks (cranberry salsa is my favorite).

The feast is always delish. This year my homemade apple pie was a hit, but pumpkin is still the most popular.

Then of course Friday I had MORE FUN THAN ONE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO HAVE IN ONE DAY shopping with my favorite friends!! Oh the deals and laughs we shared......he he!!

Then Saturday......

we pulled memories out of boxes and sifted through years of Christmas joy as we decorated the tree and set up the decorations. It's such a fun day.

How can it be that another Christmastime is upon us? 

The Long and the Short of Cassidy's 74th Birthday

Cass' birthday was a super-fun day filled with shopping with friends, dinner at a favorite restaurant, and a haircut.

Several inches and a few pounds lighter, she is excited to try new styles and sport a new look.

There were also fun presents and fun grandparents, 

and a yummy cake with "74" on it because those were the only candles I could find!

She looks good for 74, don't you think?

Happy Birthday, Sis! We love you.

This weekend......

This weekend we are celebrating a BIG birthday. Cassidy Lyn turns 10 this very day.

She had a few friends over last night and they partied the night away.

Giggly girls! One of the many things I love about Cassidy? She has the most wonderful friends!

We danced the night away to Just Dance 3.

Sam can shake some serious booty!

We beaded some bracelets, necklaces, and even some keychains.

Then there were presents. (Lots of crafty stuff, notebooks, and even a magic 8 ball!)

We toasted the birthday girl with milk and cookies (check out our martini glasses).

And the party favors were a  "10" in my book.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Hope the rest of your birthday weekend is as wonderful as you are!

Last Weekend.....

Last weekend we.....

...wore matching PJs to a mother/daughter pizza party.....

.....watched Cassidy perform in two piano festivals with two of her favorite people. They really impressed the judges!

..........watched Ben's indoor soccer game. He is having so much fun and learning a lot.

Even though this wasn't last weekend, it was still too cute not to share with a wider audience.....

and one more just because it is cute how Sam and Ellie like to shove celery in the poor guinea pig's mouth!

Simple

Sometimes simple just works. (Then why do I always complicate things?)

Last night we had a simple dinner, and everyone loved it. A simple chicken casserole, pears, green beans, bread. Simple.

Then Ben did the lesson for FHE. Simple. Beautiful. Amazing. Stunned parents smiled at each other (as we dodged projectile Legos from Sam) over the person our oldest is becoming.

As part of his lesson, Ben shared the following poem he found in the November 2011 New Era. It's simple....and beautiful.... and amazing.....and it contains everything I want to remember and want to become:

Forgiveness

To forgive is not to forget.

To forgive is really to remember,
That nobody is perfect,

That each of us stumbles

When we want so much to stay upright,

That each of us says things we wish we had never said,

That we can all forget that love is more important than being right.

To forgive is really to remember,

That we are so much more than our mistakes,

That we are often more kind and caring than we think we are,

That accepting another’s flaws can help us accept our own.

To forgive is to remember,

That the odds are pretty good

that we might soon need to be forgiven ourselves,

 That life gives us more than we can handle gracefully.

To forgive is to remember,

That we have room in our hearts to begin again,

And again,

And again.

—-Sydni Masoncup

November 2011 New Era

It seems  like it should be so simple, this whole figuring-life-out thing, but it feels so complicated. Here's to more simple in my life, and in yours, too.

Funny

Cass and I laughed and laughed. This is SO our family.

Soc.Her.

Cassidy had an AMAZING soccer season playing with her beloved Fire Bombs under the direction of Coach Christensen. They won a ton of games and improved immensely. Cass thrives at defense on the field and really found her soccer moxie this year.

This super-quick throw-in led to a fast goal.

Battle!

Just stop looking so grown-up already, Miss Almost-10-year-old! Congrats Cass on a wonderful soccer season.  We love your enthusiasm and determination on and off the field.

Soc.Him.

Garrett had a wonderful season as the star tackle-forward for his soccer team the Silver Bullets. (Special, special thanks to Coach Mike for putting up with all of Garrett's tackles, tricks, and tumbles in this (usually) non-contact sport. Unless you're 7. And your name is Garrett).

Poor soccer ball. This looks personal.

One of the many things we love about G. He's just so grounded.

Garrett--we love your energy, excitement, blatant disobedience (well maybe not) and especially your smile. You got SKILZ, my friend, on and off the field.