What We've Been Up To

Life has been a little hectic lately...more than ordinary. A lot more rehearsing and prep work due to the different activities going on. Here is an attempt of getting caught up.

Our house is plastered with poinsettias that H has made. It all started when J and I came home from a date. There was one giant poinsettia hanging from our family room light. I loved it. I thought that one of the babysitters had made it, but H very proudly admitted that it was him. From that point on, his fingers have been very busy in creating and displaying them all over our home. I love them! Every look seems to bring a smile to my face. .....................................................................
Here is a picture of M's Christmas tree. (Her 2nd tree to be exact.) She found a piece of wood in the wood box, brought it in the house, put a tree skirt around it, and called it her tree. She sat it by a little chair, close to the wood burning stove. It lasted about 2 days. J built a fire, need some wood, and threw her tree in the stove (not knowing that it was M's tree.) That went over really well. I asked her to do a little job for me. When she was out of the room, I ran and got another piece of wood, wrapped lights and tinsel around it, and put a star on the top. When she came back in the room she saw the tree and called it a miracle. Now J can tell the difference between a log, and M's tree. It has been decorating our family room quite nicely.

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My little Sow Choir performed at our city's Christmas Tree Festival. We had two performances at the festival and then one at the public library for our Winter Recital. All three performances went well. I combined my piano students with the Show Choir for our Recital. H played the Chipmunk Song and Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. He played really well. I was proud of him. He practiced really hard to get them down perfectly. I've come to the conclusion that when H performs for a large audience something triggers the slow button. Usually younger people play as though it is a race, but not my sweet H. Hopefully things will change as he gets older.

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The kids have been having a good variety of friends over lately. With one particular friend, they found M's dress ups. All three of them came down the stairs dancing and smiling, having a great time. I about died laughing. Their princess playtime lasted about an hour, and then off to being cowboys again.

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We attended our ward party a little bit ago. The adults had soup in a bread bowl, salad and wasel. The kids had macaroni and cheese and corn dogs. The kids thought that is was great! They said that the food made it their best ward party ever.

They took family pictures for part of the ward party. This is how ours turned out. This year I called it good, and used this picture for our Christmas cards. It is a little out of the norm for us, but we all looked pretty good, so I thought "what the heck?"

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C had a Kindergarten Christmas Program at school. J was even able to attend. It was darling. Every song was choreographed and everything. The only problem is, C didn't perform in it. He was a little ticked that L sat by him on the bus. (It was the last day they would ever ride the bus to school, due to entering a new school in January.) He wanted to sit all by himself and that was ruined. Because of that one brief moment, that day was over...done...not worth participating in. It was a lovely day for me listening to C cry over everything. Even the most gentle look reduced him to tears. That almost brought me to tears. Thank goodness that day only lasted 24 hours. This is a picture of C during is program................happy as can be.

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This last week my grandfather turned 90 years old. We made a special trip up to see him. I even had a sign made and hung in front of his house. We arranged for everyone in the family to send him a birthday card. The kids even sent individual letters to him. Grandpa loved receiving all of the cards. Before going to his house, we picked up some Monterrey Chicken Dinners from Chile's for Grandma and Grandpa. They loved the surprise since it was Grandpa's favorite food. We also gave him a book that I had made of our 2009 Thanksgiving get together. We loved celebrating Grandpa's 90th birthday with him.

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While up north, the kids had a great time playing in the snow. M made a bazillion snowmen and had fun playing Family Reunion with all of them.

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J and I have been very busy making stables for all of kids for Christmas. Grandpa Slack made all of the older boy grandchildren stables before he passed away. He had planned on making them for our children, but never returned home from the hospital after his heart surgery. Anyway, we thought all of our kids would love one of their own. So we have been busy measuring, cutting, gluing and nailing them together. Sometime this week when they are all finished I will paint them all. I can hardly wait to give them to the kids.

This is our little workshop set up in the garage. When the kids come, we quickly throw things in a closet or under a little swimming pool. They know we are making stuff, but they think it is for J's work.

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M was climbing up on a bookshelf yesterday, and slipped and fell. Her chin got a nice cut on it. You can see how happy she is about it. Thank goodness it was a clean cut. We put some neoprene on it, cinched it up tightly and called it good. I looked at it this morning, and I think it will heal quite nicely.

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I was asked to sing O Come, O Come Emanuel in Relief Society today, and then at the last minute was told that the teacher had looked at the wrong lesson. Now I am to sing A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. I spent hours looking for a good arrangement that I was low enough for me. It think I found it. I guess we'll see how it goes.

Well, there it is in a nut shell. Busy, busy, busy.