Sleeping like a ...Tiger

For the last few months Andrew has refused to sleep in his bed. Every night he lays blankets on the floor and makes himself a bed. I have been trying to think of someway to make him sleep in his bed (I was going to make him tiger striped sheets or something for Christmas but ran out of time). Then for Christmas his Grandma Nani gave him this tiger rug. You may have seen them at Costco, it is bigger than he is and has a stuffed tiger head on it. Well that next night he laid that on the floor, used the head like a pillow and snuggled in. I have managed to move the tiger onto his bed so he now sleeps in his bed- yea! Except his diaper leaked last night and the tiger has no washing instructions....

Christmas Break Playtime

We got some good snow before Christmas and we enjoyed an afternoon building forts and making snow angels. Kate loved being pulled in the sled so we all had to take turns pulling her and she would laugh and scream with joy every minute. It was so cute.

Sadly, I slipped on the ice on our driveway right before Christmas and bruised my tailbone. So that was the end of my playing in the snow. The kids and I had so many plans that now I couldn't follow through on, but luckily Greg had a lot of time off so he and the kids had a lot of fun. I stayed home and iced my bum.

My brother, Spencer, had his wii at my mom's house so the kids had learned to "bowl". They were so excited when we suggested they try real bowling. Mack's wii skills seamed to help him to victory, but Natali was sadly disappointed that real bowling was harder than the wii.

We had a really hot day right before break ended and the snow started to melt. Up until then we hadn't been able to build a snowman because the snow wouldn't pack. After dinner Greg got everyone geared up and went to play in the snow. So we turned on the back porch lights and they played in the snow for over an hour building snowmen big and small. I was sad to miss most of the fun but it was fun to watch the kids enjoying time with each other and their dad.

Mary, Joseph, and Others

For Christmas Eve we always act out the Nativity. Well this year in addition to the usual cast we had a tiger instead of livestock and a wise man who closely resembled Cinderella (and she wouldn't let Mary hold baby Jesus). Mary gave herself a very convincing tummy and Joseph was as hansom as ever, he even made the bed for the baby himself. I love this tradition.

Gingerbread Bomb Shelters

One of our Christmas traditions is to make Gingerbread houses (or more appropriately graham cracker houses). Well it can get a little crazy trying to help everyone at the same time. So this year Greg, in an effort to simplify construction, suggested that Andrew make a bomb shelter rather than a house. Everyone else heard the idea and couldn't resist copying. So we had three bomb shelters. Comically, they all thought bomb shelters held bombs, so they put jelly bean bombs inside and hidden candy bombs all around the outside. Meanwhile, Kate devoured piles and piles of candy. We finally had to just put her to bed to make her stop eating. This picture doesn't quite capture how sticky her face was, but it does display her new picture pose when you " say cheese". Cute - huh?

Football In the Snow

Well since Val was kind enough to lend us her camera we took the opportunity to capture a few other things. Here are the kids playing football while the snow is lightly coming down. Natali actually catches the ball here - no small miracle. It must have been the incentive of being on camera. The kids are so excited to see themselves on the computer after months of just viewing cousins and friends. So here you are guys.

She's Really Doing It

Here is actual footage of Kate walking. She is walking most of the time now. Yea!

Choir Nostalgia

When I was eight years old I joined the Treasure Valley Childrens Choir. For the next 10 years I spent every Thursday night singing. The director, Linda Walker, became a mentor and friend. As a teen, choir was the thing that made me feel valued and gave me confidence. I loved choir!

Well when we moved to this area I was so excited to learn that Linda was still doing the Childrens Choir and had started one in Nampa as well as Ontario. So Natali started choir this fall. She had her first Young Artist (the name for Childrens Choir in Nampa) concert this weekend. It was so fun to watch her up there. She was one of the shortest kids, but she did great. I borrowed a digital video camera so I could post one of her songs. But posting a song turned out more difficult than I thought (too long or something). So here is a segment that Greg recorded. Linda was trying to show how far they had come so she had them sing bad, then good. I think this is the good one. I didn't record the finale which was Natali's favorite, and that means you also miss a little girl puking on the kids in front of her.



After the concert we went to Dairy Queen and there was an older choir girl there. We started chatting and I realized that she started choir the year after I left it. She talked about looking up to my younger sister and her friends. It made me feel old. But, all told, the night brought back old memories and was the beginning of new memories as Natali begins the second generation in choir. Who knows if she will love it as much as I did, but for now she thinks it is fun.