Happy Thanksgiving!

Ahhhh..... leftovers... aren't they wonderful? It's the one meal that my husband, who hates leftovers, will eat day after day.... after day! And we are sad that we did not have as many leftovers as we usually do! On the plus side, we are not sick of turkey leftovers, and are anxious to cook another one at Thanksgiving, and we were also blessed to be able to make some plates for those people without a family to share Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful day to be thankful for all that we have. Oh, and one more plus.... wouldn't you want leftovers with these handy dandy Rubbermaid containers??!! My mother-in-law bought these for us when she was tired of putting things in obscure containers.... I never knew that leftovers could be so much fun... and beautiful! So, although I failed to take a picture of us at Thanksgiving dinner, at least I got a picture of our leftovers :-) I highly recommend these containers if you're in the market! They stack oh so nicely!


This year, Todd had an agenda of things that he wanted to accomplish, and lists of materials for a shed he wanted to build. Well, it became a daunting task, and the choice was to lose Todd in the garage all weekend with some help from kids, or get some more little projects done, and spend more fun time with the kids. The latter won. The straw that broke the camels back, was James... he asked if I would play a game with him after Thanksgiving, and I told him that I needed to clean up... to which he replied, "It's OK Mama, I know you want to do these things with me, but are just too busy." That hit me hard. And Glenn was practically in tears when Papa was reading to him because he didn't get to spend every second with Papa (they've been SOOO excited to have Todd off for a few days, and Glenn had this idealized view of how it was going to go). That hit Todd hard. So, Todd and I talked that night, and declared it Kids Day the following day. We were to set aside all of our projects, chores, jobs, and just play with the kids and do what they want... Todd was concerned the following morning, when James was cuddling with him, and listed about 100 things he wanted to do that day... and although we didn't get to more than a dozen of them, all the kids went to bed with huge smiles on their faces! Some of the activities included, hooking up the DS's with Papa and playing Mario Cart... even Mama was allowed to play, and we all had a great time. Alex LOVED watching!

Then the boys taught Papa (and I interpreted) how to play chess. Papa and Glenn had a grueling game... and Alex's favorite part? Putting away the pieces! Oh if only he couldn't be that vigilant in cleaning up other things :-)

The day before, the boys helped Papa build and paint these barriers. So, at Glenn's request (Todd didn't even mention it, but was quite proud of Glenn's request) we went to the park to set up the barriers to practice our mounts and remounts. Of course, Todd and I got a great workout as well, once the kids started clearing out towards the playground!

Of course, we had to play with Ellie at her request! She actually started getting up on all 4's for a little while... till she kept face planting it when her arms gave out. She loved it, though! And here she is standing on her own against the Saucer. She is quite strong! Welcome to the world of getting into things! Look at how happy she is, though. I guess it's time to let her move on! I'm missing my little girl already!

And James' favorite thing to do with Papa was color a picture with him. They made an army base, I believe? With mountains, and battle fields, and airplanes galore... looked quite extensive. James now has it hanging over his bed. Then Glenn wanted to color a big picture, so he and James colored a picture of a battle between red coats and blue coats. Later when I told Glenn to hang his over his bed, he told me he wanted to give it to Papa. He ran downstairs to say that he put it by Papa's bed, and he wont' miss it... he certainly wouldn't! When we went upstairs last night, it was spread all over his pillow, and his piece was bigger than James'!

Other activities included lots of catch with all of us, wicked games of Kings Corner, and reading books. It was a great day. A day to be thankful for... not just for the kids, either. It was wonderful for Todd and I to stop to smell the flowers, not get so wound up in getting life done, but really enjoying what we have. When we went around the table for Thanksgiving, family was the first thing our boys were thankful for. Except for Alex, who said he was thankful for Viola, our neighbors mother who joined us, and that made her eyes sparkle! But this time with the boys is growing shorter and shorter, as they get older. I hope family will still continue to be first on their list, but I know there may not be many more days where they worship the ground we walk on (especially Papa's) and just want to be with us every second of the day. I am so thankful for this moment, and for the wonderful weekend we've been able to have! I feel like we're already shoving off from Thanksgiving, though. The turkey decorations are down, and Christmas lights and decorations are up.. ahhh the magical season of Christmas!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and I hope you all are ready for the huge spiral tunnel slide into Christmas, ending at the beginning of 2009! Take care everyone!

Our eating adventures....

Do not let this picture fool you! The only reason Ellie is smiling, is because she was able to once again push it all completely out of her mouth! She has learned to blow raspberries. But not because she's trying to be cute... like most children... because she's trying her best to get that food out of her mouth any way possible! She either blows raspberries, or spews it out like a volcano, or just lets it sit there on her tongue till we turn our faces, and then spits it out with a smile! James and Glenn are right there with me, trying to coax her into eating this delicious meal... she knows better! But at least she's still smiling! We've got some great sour looks on her face too on video clip, that are SO worth viewing! But they're too big to post here :-( Oh well, use your imagination! :-)

Glenn got his name and patches put on his Gi, and he was so excited that he came right home to put it on! Of course then James had to put his uniform on, and as you can see, they were having a great time showing off their moves! And Alex was right there with them! We didn't need to choreograph anything... he just followed exactly what they were doing. You should have seen him try to do James' kick... totally put his head and hands down on the floor and put his feet up on the couch, while yelling "Hiyah!" Watch out for Alex everyone!

Here's the boys together... happy as can be. They do enjoy doing karate together. Yes, they practice it together at home more than they should, but it's all in fun. They just love being together.

James, Alex, and Ellie all got a nasty sore throat and horrible cough last week. Of course they all took their turns in sharing the love, so it seemed to last forever! But when James was feeling fine, we headed down to karate, and just sat in the car and waited.... Glenn and I have Ellie driving lessons... I think she's going to be pretty good! Glenn loved taking pictures, and was taking pictures of everything in the car... thank goodness for digital cameras!

And lastly, is a picture of Todd after his last bike race... thought it was a classic... he was not in the posing mentality, because the women were lining up and he was yelling at me to get going, and stop taking pictures! But I'm glad I waited... thought this was a good one! He is caked!

Well, that's about it for now... I went to a blogging class last night, and it always inspires you to lift a little higher! So, I may be changing a few things... let me know if you like, or dislike! Hope your week goes well! And for you midwesterners, I mowed my lawn yesterday! It was a beautiful day! :-)

Purple Belt and Cross Picture and Election

This is the boys and I the night before the election, getting everything ready! I already knew who I was voting for... and had already gone through most of the measures... but still had to go through the rest of the candidates, and the rest of the measures.... Todd and I had a late night! James and Glenn kept me company for a while with Glenn coloring a picture of a flower, and James helping me with voting! I loved discussing things with him. He loves to know what we're reading/doing, and I figured, I'd go ahead and talk with him about the issues on the ballot. It was fantastic, and I hope a good learning experience for him. My mom sent this "Mini Page" from her newspaper that had election activities for kids.... FANTASTIC!!!! It explained the Electoral Voting process simply, and James spent the evening filling in the number of electoral votes for each State. Then Election night, he was quite diligent, and colored in each state as it came in on who was winning... blue or red. He loved it! And he can't wait till he can vote himself! And Glenn came down the following morning, saying that "tonight's the night we find out who wins... I sure wish I could vote." Your time will come Glenn, don't rush it! "Can you vote, Mama?" "Yep, my ballots all ready." "Wow, Mama, I can't believe you're old enough to vote!" So, I either look really young.... OR he thinks the voting age is really old :-)

Although we have not been able to find the "Dedication" picture taken by someone before, someone did pass this shot they took of us finishing up a cross race. It was completely unstaged... this is exactly how we look every race! We try to keep Ellie in her car seat or the backpack, because we're usually caked in mud after the races! The boys are such big helps, though, and James loves to ride the kiddy races, and loves to ride the course with Papa when the races are all done! We did not let him ride the race where there was a foot deep puddle that I went head first into! That was crazy! Yet insanely fun! A friend forwarded this YouTube video that I'll see if I can add for any interested people... to see what our crazy family participates in...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUfcrjUZD0c

James earned his Purple belt last week... and did a beautiful job! He was the only orange belt testing, and the teachers gave him wholehearted praise that he had enough energy in his Kee-eyes (sp?) for the whole crew of belt testers combined. Glenn watched excitedly, knowing that someday he'd be performing for his yellow belt! I love the fact that these boys enjoy cheering each other on. There is no competition... yet :-)... Glenn was so proud of James getting his purple belt, and loved watching the whole thing. It was nice to see.

Anyway, back to life! Enjoy!

I love Sundays!!

2 Sundays ago, we had Stake Conference, which is a 2 hour meeting with everyone within our Stake meeting together. The stars were aligned, and it went so well! Ellie slept through most of it, Alex acted up once, Todd took him out, and set him straight... and he actually listened! So, the rest of us could sit and enjoy. The boys were supposed to draw things that the speakers talked about, and it was quite interesting to see what they learned. James has a tower of King Benjamin in the middle with a tent next to it... and the funny thing I thought he drew, were the tanks... the 'no' above it.. and next to that is a brain. He told us that it was when the speaker said something to the effect that we shouldn't fight so much with our hands, but should use our minds.

Glenn drew pages and pages of notes! He really got into it! I love the phonetic spelling... "HLEGOST" for Holy Ghost. Then the person with black was a man with a suit, and in the middle was a bug... one speaker talked about how he watched a bug run into something over and over again, that would have been MUCH easier if he would have gone around. Just as we have the tools to go around and avoid bumping into things over and over and over again! But we need to listen to the Spirit to do so.

But, the real reason I love Sundays so much lately, is dressing Miss Ellie! Wow! I had no idea how much fun it would be to dress a little girl! I LOVE it!

Boys are so easy... go get your suit on... don't even need to comb their hair for crying out loud... at least if it's short enough! All right, let's get out the door! But with Ellie, I start in the morning (she obviously doesn't eat food yet!) and just enjoy spending time picking out what she's going to wear. And she always looks so cute when we're done! That's why I start in the AM, and just watch her smile the rest of the day! Ok, so Sundays don't always go like this, but when they do... bliss!

And I certainly think God knew what He was doing when He rested the 7th day! Isn't it wonderful to kick back, read books, and just relax for one day a week! Life is so crazy and hectic... but when we have one day where we just hang out as a family... when there aren't church meetings :-), and just enjoy each others time, without feeling the need to get this or that done. Again, I wish every moment were like this one, where everyone is sitting quietly reading books... it certainly still has its moments of the boys being boys! But once again, when it's like this... ahhh.... bliss! Getting out the door on time, though... hardly ever bliss! :-)

Halloween

We had the most relaxing Halloween that we've ever had! Usually we're running from place to place, getting all of the holiday in. But this year, Ellie had a runny nose, and Alex just seemed like he'd do better with a non-rushing day. So, we chilled. And the kids LOVED it! We picked up Todd, brought him home, carved our pumpkins, and baked pumpkin seeds.

Well, the pumpkin seeds looked really good BEFORE they went in the oven... then we went out trick-or-treating to a few houses in the neighborhood while leaving the oven on. I thought they'd be fine... Todd knew better and went back to check on them... they were quite brown! They're still edible, though, and I'm glad we got a good chuckle out of it! James made his own skull pumpkin, and Glenn made his own pirate pumpkin... not too shabby! I'll have to get a close-up... they are funny!

Glenn was all set to be a cowboy... then a Commander Cody (as I'm told.. I really have no clue) costume came in the mail compliments of Uncle Jay and Grandma D, and Alex became the cowboy! In the picture above, he is a cowboy that has fallen off his horse! James oscillated between Luke Skywalker (which I wanted him to be in the first place, but insisted he wasn't going to be that... but really I'm grateful for him, because I would have made costumes for everyone to match Star Wars, and that would have taken up too much time!) and later he became his Ancient Chinese Warrior. Whatever they were, the kids LOVED dressing up, and playing the part! I brought a Japanese robe for Ellie, but never ended up putting it on her... she was just cute little Ellie!

I also took a small pumpkin and baked it to make a crustless pumpkin pie. It was fabulous! Then we ended the night with the boys nibbling on candy and watching Harry Potter. It really was a wonderful Halloween together as a family!

And to those of you (Grandma D and Brown IN PARTICULAR) who have ever helped with our back fenceline... it's done! I finished up the rest of the bark Halloween morning in the drizzle... or course it cleared up a little about 30 minutes before I finished :-) I just need to train and prune the grape vines, and start pruning the flowers for winter. And of course, now I'm addicted to flowers, and even got a few more that were on sale to put in the green hanging planters. It will be a beautiful winter to look in our backyard :-)

I have grapes and daisies alternating along the back line, and have various bulbs planted in between... will be interesting to see where they come up! Yeah, it's done!!! Whew!

Happy Belated Birthday, Glenn

I can't believe he's 5!

You warm the heart, Glenn. Those are the first words that come to my mind as I think of Glenn. He has a beautiful smile that is so contagious. He's smiling first thing in the morning, always waiting anxiously to give everyone around him a hug and kiss. And he's got a smile from ear to ear as he goes to sleep, as long as we are cuddling with him. You have a gift to warm the hearts of those around you, and you use it well.

This year we were very fortunate to have Grandma and Grandpa Brown here for his birthday... a rare occasion to have family around for a birthday, and we were so grateful. I always ask the kids what shape of birthday cakes they want... Glenn wanted what James had.. a half of a death star, and the Millennium Falcon. And James help make the 'junk' around the Falcon, since it's the "fastest junk in the galaxy." It was a wonderful evening.

We started the morning, with Capt'n Crunch cereal! I tried to convince him to have pancakes, or something simpler... I know it sounds crazy, but I had everything for pancakes, and would have to go out to BUY this cereal. But he insisted! So, after a trip to the store I gave him the biggest bowl we owned, and he went to town, loving every second. Grandpa D once made french toast with Capt'n Crunch... that's the only place we think he could have gotten that idea from... anyway, the other kids enjoyed the cereal as well. I still have Alex asking every once in a while for 'Capn Cunch?'

Then later that day, Grandma/pa Brown took James and Glenn just by themselves to the bookstore. Glenn was treated royally with 2 new books, and some hot chocolate! He, again, had a smile on his face from ear to ear, and LOVED every second of it. Then for dinner, we of course went to the New China Buffet, our kids favorite eating place! The kids ate their hearts out... which is why we love that place because our kids eat their share! They gave Glenn a snazzy muffin, we all sang to him, and then we headed home for cake and ice cream. See above!


The next day was karate. And although you really can't see it well here... need to find my photo software, he again was grinning from ear to ear! The whole day, I was CONSTANTLY hearing, "Is it time for karate yet? Are we going to be late? Can we leave yet? I'm so excited! We're not going to be late, are we? Are we going to be early?" These questions/exclamations were asked over and over and over and over again! He was STOKED! And so cute! He RAN into the karate school, even after KNOWING he still had to wait through James' 45 minute class. He got dressed and ready all by himself, and was sitting by my side, constantly asking when his class would start! He was adorable.

Something funny that Glenn said the night before his birthday... James had earned a rock in the jar because he answered a question that I had asked him about the scriptures that we had read. Glenn asked if he could answer a question. So, Todd said, "For a rock in the jar, Glenn, tell me what is written on the face of the temple." Without skipping a beat, he replied "Words." Very true Glenn! He's as quick as a whip, and LOVES math! Any extra time he has... he wants to do his math... engineer maybe? :-)

Some of Glenn's favorites this year... Star Wars... Millennium Falcon... Green... Math... Mt. Rushmore... riding a 2-wheeler... riding tandem with buffalo... snuggling... cleaning toilets... gum... road trips!.... Grandmas and Grandpas... vanilla yogurt (actually vanilla anything)... 'yes, thank-you'.

I can't believe he's 5! He's growing up so fast! I LOVE being his mom, though. What a privilege it is! I have learned so much from him, and one of the most important things, is to smile! Thanks Glenn!