A Flurry of Posts

Finally -- the cards have been mailed, the goodies delivered, the presents bought (and almost all wrapped), the school parties are over, the stockings are hung -- and I have a minute to myself to catch up on the blog. It is an amazing time of year. I hope I have slowed down enough to soak it in. Tonight for family night Zac wanted to act out the nativity. It was fun even though Brook (the cutest angel you have ever seen) kept taking the baby Jesus out of the manger. When we were done, we asked the kids why the Chritsmas story is so important. We asked them what would have happened if Christ had not come to the earth. (Zac answered that there would be more robbers and, you know, he is probably right.) I really thought about it too and realized again how grateful I am that He did come to earth. It was a beautiful moment as we talked about our need for the Atonement and the precious gift of repentance. No wonder the multitude of heavenly hosts sang for joy. Have a Merry Christmas as you too rejoice in the life of our Savior.

Brook's Bathtub

Brook has figured out how to open the lid and dump the toys out of this tote. She likes to push it into the living room and climb into it. Yesterday she climbed in and said, "bath -- splash, splash." She was very pleased with herself. Tonight she decided to read in the bath. We love seeing her imagination begin to emerge.

Icing on the Cake!

Joseph technically finished his Master's Degree in August. On December 12th we drove up to Logan so he could get "hooded" and make his walk across the stage. It was a fantastic day. There he is, the handsome one in the crowd. (I am not sure what I did to this picture, but it was a great shot.)
We took the two little girls with us. Zac and Sariah did not want to miss school, especially since it was Polar Express day in Kindergarten. Some good friends took care of the kids after school. The ceremony was short and sweet and definitely worth the drive. The girls were wonderful. When the string quartet began playing, Ally piped up, "Mom, the orchestra is playing." I did not even know she knew that word.
A glimpse of the future. (A future that is coming way too fast.)
Brook is proud of her Daddy and so are we. He worked hard and sacrificed time and sleep. It is a great feeling to know that it is done.
Grandpa Anson came up with us, too. Thanks, Dad, for making the trip and for always supporting us.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

The day after Thanksgiving the kids were chomping at the bit to get the Christmas stuff out. They had a great time "decorating" the tree. We had to more evenly distribute the ornaments later. They got the most excited about getting out the singing snowman and the advent calendar that Grandma Anson made. The highlight of each day is choosing a toy to add to Santa's Workshop. Only three more to go.
Sariah was thrilled with her job of organizing the Christmas CD's. We added some fun ones to our collection this year. The Christmas CD in the van gets a lot of play time, especially track 1 (Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer) and track 4 (You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch -- One night Sariah said she was going to sing the scary part. That would be the "dum-da-dum" intro. It was pretty funny).
And now it feels like Christmas. In the last week we have finally gotten some real snow. Today it snowed almost all day. A few days ago we bundled Brook up and let her go for it. She was not too sure about touching the snow but she did run around yelling, "No (Snow)!" Since then when she sees the snow she says, "No, hat, gloves, hands." It is fun that she can remember things she has done and tell us about them. I think it is safe to say that we will have a White Christmas.

Lying Down on the Job

We were out raking leaves one day when we looked around for Zac and found him like this. What a character.
The kids actually turned out to be pretty good "leaf helpers" and probably did deserve a break.

Happy Birthday, Zac!

Zac has been six now for over a month. We had a great day celebrating his birthday on November 15th. (Yes, I am hopelessly behind.) He wanted a Hot Wheels party, complete with a racetrack cake -- which was fun and fairly easy to make (thanks Family Fun).
We started the day by inviting some friends to the "Anson Speedway." We had several races including a backward race, "potato sack" race and the grand finale. For the finale, racers made a pit stop during each lap. On lap one they had to gas up (down a cup of Kool Aid); during lap two they had their winshield (face) washed; and lap three required a tire change (they finished the race in a pair of Joseph's shoes). Then we went inside to eat cupcakes, open presents and play. Each boy left with a treat bag and a Hot Wheel of his own. I think it was a success.
Later, the family came for a family party. Zac loved all his gifts, but seemed especially excited about the baseball guys from Grandma Walker. Joseph was pretty excited, too. They did not waste much time setting it up. Since then, we have had many "baseball games" in the living room. Sometimes the kids line up stuffed animals and other action figures along the sidelines to be the spectators. I think one of Zac's favorite parts is changing the scoreboard. He aslo really enjoyed the Backyard Baseball game from Aunt Laura. He is now very much into NFL football.
Happy Birthday, Zac. We hope all of your wishes come true. You make us laugh every day and we look forward to another year of great memories.

Happy Halloween

The scariest thing about our Halloween is how long it has taken me to post these pictures! It was a great Halloween. Our kids are at a magical stage when they get so excited about the little things in life. I have to admit that I still get excited about Halloween, too.

Zac knew he wanted to be Darth Vader in September. I am not sure where the interest in Stars Wars came from. (Joseph) He had a great time and looked the part. He was a little disappointed that he could not wear his mask or take his lightsaber to school. I kind of wonder if he wanted to be Darth Vader just so he could play with his dad's lightsaber.

Sariah wanted to be a beautician. She had a great time decorating her apron and deciding what she would put in the pockets. Yet when it came time to dress up, she did not want to fill the pockets at all. She is so funny. In preparation for Halloween she did give some pretty fantastic "haircuts" to any willing "customer." (Thanks, Emily).

Brook was a ladybug. She had no say in that decision, but she sure looked cute. She did not really enjoy putting her costume on. However, once she discovered that she got candy out of it, she changed her tune. She would not let go of her bag. After Halloween she added three new words to her vocabulary: "teet" (treat), "cocklet" (chocolate) and "ucker" (sucker).

Ally was a clown. That was a game time decision. She kept changing her mind. The close runners up were Master Tigress (from Kung Fu Panda), a princess, a regular tiger, Superman, Supergirl (Mom's suggestion that she reluctantly considered because she really wanted to be SuperMAN) and a pioneer girl. Maybe if we start narrowing it down now, she might know what she wants to be for next year in time to give me a chance to be prepared. All said, she made a pretty cute clown.

On Halloween night we made the rounds to visit all of the Grandmas, even the adopted ones in our ward. We are lucky to have so many grandmas to love and take care of us. At Grandma Walker's house we got to see Emily and Chris. Emily was a pirate and Chris was an adult.

One of the best parts of our Halloween was a visit from Laura, Donny and Katy. They were here to go to our ward party with us. Katy was the cutest little kitty ever. The visit went way too fast but we loved every minute we got.