Christmas Play

Sorry, I posted the wrong video the first time I published this post. If you read this on google reader, you may have to go to my blog to view the right video.

Anyway, I mentioned before that for part of our Christmas service we visited the widows in our ward and did a live nativity for them. It was so wonderful to be in therir homes, get to know them and have them get to know our family. These are each such amazing women who I admire and am glad to call them my friend. I hope this can be a family tradition.

By the way, Bailey is supposed to be our angel, but isn't very cooperative. Still cute as can be!!

Does This Count?

I get on my treadmill almost every day. I actually love it and crave it! (Ok, sometimes I hate it too). I have various workouts that include both walking and running. In the year I have had my treadmill, my running stretches are longer and faster.
Usually, I have a good book and can crank my incline all the way up and speed walk while I read. This is always a great work out and makes the time go fast. I try to run for a few minutes between chapters too (that's where the Ipod comes in). Having finished my latest book and not gotten into a new one, I am kind of bored with my exercises, so I decided to try something new...

Motivated in part by my holiday eating habits and in part by my friend Michelle, who just ran a half marathon, I thought I'd try out my stamina at running the WHOLE time. My goal was a "5K" (3.2 miles).

I DID IT!!

In 30 minutes, which was the other goal. Ok, Ok, so I was in my climate controlled house (with a fan blowing on me), water at my finger tips, and an incline of 1, but does it count? Can I call this my first 5K? HAHA

Let the compliments fly!!

Tis the Season to be JOLLY!

A few weeks ago I announced to my family "Mom will not do anything this Christmas season that is stressful. So who wants McDonalds for dinner tonight?"

I just didn't want to get all caught up in buying and wrapping a million presents, making a million treats (that I eat and then feel guilty about), sending a million cards, delivering a million gifts, etc, etc, etc. Not that I didn't want to do these things, I just really didn't want them to stress me out. Maybe just making the decision has helped, but my season so far has been completely jolly. I still hand made 75 cards and 35 jars of hot fudge (my neighbor gift), decorated my two Christmas trees...
One family tree with all the kids fun decorations

And one for me to have in the front window with all white decorations

I also went to "Scrooge" with my family. This is a tradition of ours that my Grandma Marilynn and Grandpa Jerry started about 100 years ago. This year was extra special because it was Adeline's first year (Austin's second). It is so neat to pass this tradition on to a new generation. They talked about it and even played "Scrooge" for days after. This really brings Christmas into my heart and the holidays just wouldn't be the holidays without it. Cami said it best "If you don't know this story then shame on you!"

Here's half the group

And the whole group. We had a few new comers this year.

Adeline loved all the "princesses" When we were little, we loved to sit on the end and touch all the puffy dresses as they walked by.

The best thing we have done this year has been to go out of our comfort zone to bring joy to others. We practiced for weeks to have our children reinact the nativity. Austin was Joseph, Addie was Mary and Bailey was an angel. They acted it out as I read from Luke 2, then they sang this years new primary Christmas song. We took this "performance" along with some treats and poinsettias to the widdows in our ward. It was so neat to get to know these strong and faithful women and to let them get to know our family. They have been through trails that blow my mind, yet are still happy, functional and God fearing human beings. Although it took a lot of time this has been a real blessing to our family and hopefully we are teaching our children to lose themselves in the holidays. Because we all know what it's really about...

PS I'll post a video of our homemade nativity soon.

Apricot Smiles

My very cute and talented friend Harmony started a little business that I think you should all check out. It's darling bows, binky clips, tutus, etc. for little girls.
She has a special offer running right now...free 2" pinwheel bow in pink, black, or white. You just need to pay for shipping and email the code GIVEME with your order. Shipping is combined so if they order any other bows there won't be any additional shipping charges! Her prices are very reasonable and she does such a great job! Here are a couple pictures from her site.

Check it out at http://www.apricotsmiles.blogspot.com/

Free Christmas Kittens

It's finally time to say good-bye to our kittens. It's very bittersweet. It has been so much fun for our children and even for John and me, but now that they are big and running everywhere, they need to go to new homes. These kittens have been played with from the very beginning and are so sweet and gentle. I read online that taking a kitten from it's mom too early makes mean cats. A mother cat naturally scatters her litter at 12-16 weeks. These kittens are about 12 weeks now, so they will be perfectly nice! They are completely litter box trained. We have never had an accident with any of them.
Tinkerbell is our runt. She loves John and will come lay on him whenever he's downstairs. She also loves to be cuddled by the kids. She just fell asleep in Austin's lap.

Here's Shadow enjoying a belly rub from Adeline. He laid there like that for about an hour while she just played with him
I have been running an ad on KSL for about an hour now and think they all may be claimed. I have a few people coming by today. If you want one, call me quick!

Heterochromia

Heterochromia is a virtually benign trait where either the eyes are two different colors or one eye is partially different. Bailey was born with blue eyes. They started to change after a few months. The process slowed, then stopped before her right eye had completely changed. I researched it to see if it could be a problem that is presenting itself this way. Turns out in very few cases, it can effect the hearing, but hers is fine. I came across this picture where her eye color is very pronounced and thought it would be interesting to post.
Another interesting tidbit about my Bailey is that her second and third toes on both feet are almost completely webbed! Mine are partially too (apparently it's genetic). We're just a bunch of freak shows here!
And here are some celebs I found with the same trait...
Kate Boswell
David Bowie
Elizabeth Berkley
Dan Aykroyd
Jane Seymour

Watching "Home Alone' for the first time

WARNING!!! This is posted by John with strong disapproval by Kim!!!

Last night we went on a date.

We left the kids (with a babysitter) to watch "Home Alone."

Tonight when we asked what their favorite part was, Austin said:

All we could say was, "Yep, that's a super funny part!"

My Thanksgiving Post (finally!)

Thanksgiving this year was near perfect. My mom scheduled their church, so we would have plenty of room to eat and play. The night before, my mom had these little projects for the kids...napkin rings and a turkey roll basket.

John was in charge of the camera, which means we got NO pictures. So these pictures are from my dad and Cami. This is a creative shot of Todd and Alexis


What would Thanksgiving be without a texting teenager?

Cami had a little craft for the kids to make turkeys out of cookies and candy.

Good job B!

We set up a TV for the kids to watch a movie in a quiet room. It was so great! The kids also played a lot in the gym and gave the adults plenty of time to get whooped in boggle by my dad.

Other great things about 2008 Thanksgiving:

• My mom, Cami and I divided the labor and no one felt over-whelmed
• We ate at 1 which forces you to finish your cooking early and play the rest of the day
• The weather was nice enough for me to rollerblade with Austin and Adeline outside
• Once the church was cleaned up, everyone came to my house for more food (Duh), football (for the boys), and flipping through Black Friday ads (for the girls, minus me)