2012 Highlights & Lowlights

Oh 2012. 

We did a lot of things. We went a lot of places. We had a lot of fun. We worried a lot too. 

We celebrated our 12 year anniversary.

We went to a couple weddings- 1 & 2. We didn't get to spend enough time with our extended families- we miss you all! 

We did a lot of school. Spent a lot of time with our homeschool group and friends.

We had a couple trips to the ER (one trip didn't involve one of our kids), a couple more to Instacare, two MRI's, and more-than-I-care-to-count visits to doctors & specialists. 

I'm still reeling from everything we've learned about Olivia. I feel like our NF world was turned upside-down, inside-out, and it was a pretty topsy-turvy place anyways. 

We spent time with our NF family - at Racing4Research watch parties, support meetings, radio interviews, the Salt Lake NF Walk, NF Symposium, and hanging out at the park. 

I ran some races.

We had a family staycation.

We solved a mystery :)

We ate a lot of turkey. We opened a lot of presents. 

We spent a lot of time together- having fun & driving each other crazy. 

Good-bye 2012! 

Fruit Tree

In case anyone is wondering, I'm usually about a week or more behind with my blogging. And we got a new computer this week -switching from PC to Mac - so I'm trying to get all of that figured out. So far, it is annoying. So, here are some Christmas posts.

My girls and I like to make food art. It's fun. It's edible. For Christmas Eve dinner we decided to make a fruit tree- I just googled "edible fruit tree" and we created our own based on the pictures we found and the fruit we had. It was delicious!

Books & Stuff

Books

Expecting Adam by Martha Beck - about a woman's decision to keep her down syndrome baby in a time and place where everyone else expected her to "take care it." I read it because I am drawn to the experiences of other parents of special needs kids. 

The Complete Book of Flower Fairies By Cicely Mary Barker - I love beautiful books and this is one of the most beautiful books I've seen in a long time. Beautiful pictures, beautiful poems. Sigh. It makes my heart happy. There is also an official website, so go check it out. At our library we also found A Flower Fairy Alphabet, a cd of children's songs, and a few years ago my mom gave Nyah Flower Fairy paper dolls, so they've made a reappearance the last couple weeks. 

Lego: A Love Story by Jonathon Bender - Austin requested and checked out this book, but when I saw it I knew I needed to pre-read it. It is about AFOLs (adult fans of legos), the history of adult lego fans, and the author's journey into the AFOLs world as he and his wife are trying to start a family. Not exactly 11-year old boy reading material. I thought it was just okay, but I'm not an AFOL.

Eliza's Daughter by Jane Aiken - I love Jane Austen sequels, spin-offs, re-tellings, and so on. I consume them at an alarming rate- even silly ones. But this is the stupidest book I have read in a long time. The story is about the daughter of Colonel Brandon's ward which I thought could be promising. Not so. All the original characters from Sense and Sensibility were turned into horrid people, yes, even Eleanor and Edwards Ferrars, and the plot rambled all over the place in weird ways. 

Sebastian St. Cyr series by C.S. Harris - Yes, I read all 7 books of this series in less than a week. There were certainly some things I didn't like, but overall very enjoyable, engaging reading. 

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn - I was trying to find another similar series to the Sebastian St. Cyr series. This is not it. I don't like whiny protagonists. I live with whiny, I don't want to read it. I didn't make it past the first couple chapters. So maybe it gets better. 

TV

Kurt and I have been watching season 3 of Castle. And Big Bang Theory reruns.

Dying to Have Known - documentary about the Gerson therapy for cancer patients. 

MOVIES

We saw "The Hobbit" with Austin & Nyah. It's so fun having kids old enough to have read the book and see the movie and discuss it all. Fun fun fun. We've been watching "The Lord of the Rings" movies again as well. 

Adorable Sophie

Hanging out in the kitchen with Mom........ and the forks :)

December Craziness

December! December! December! Well, we've been busy......

Celebrating St. Lucia's Day

Going with Nyah's Young Stateswoman group to perform for a senior citizen center. Nyah played her piano recital pieces and did wonderful! 

Playing with the nativity - I asked Sophie what the wise men brought baby Jesus and she said (in her Duh Mom! voice), "Milk!"

We've had a few sledding days

Sophie's favorite phrase these days for everything, including sledding, is "I do it MYSELF!" and don't go thinking you can help her! Independent girl coming through!

Eating lots of candy, ahem, I mean making graham cracker houses  :)

And of course, there is all that other busy-ness of shopping, and wrapping, and playing, and seeing lights, and redecorating the tree every day (hmmm, just my girls?), and parties, and spending time with friends, and hanging out as a family. Love December!

Empty Hands

From The Hiding Place:

She was sitting at her round mahogany table, working on yet another appeal for her soldiers' center. AS she saw the number of people entering the room, she laid down her pen. She looked from one face to another, until she came to mine and gave a little gasp of comprehension. It was Friday morning, and I had not yet come up with the results of the test. 

"My dear sister-in-law," Father began gently, "there is a joyous journey which each of God's children sooner or later sets out on. And, Jans, some must go to their Father empty-handed, but you will run to Him with hands full!"

"All your clubs...," Tante Anna ventured.

"Your writings...," Mama added.

"The funds you've raised...," said Betsie.

"Your talks...," I began.

But our well-meant words were useless. In front of us the proud face crumbled; Tante Jans put her hands over her eyes and began to cry. "Empty, empty!" she choked at last through tears. "How can we bring anything to God? What does He care for our little tricks and trinkets?"

And then as we listened in disbelief she lowered her hands and with tears still coursing down her face whispered, "Dear Jesus, I thank You that we must come with empty hands. I Thank You that You have done all--all--on the Cross, and that all we need in life or death is to be sure of this."

Visitors! Visitors! Visitors!

Keshia & Trevor stopped by to see us on their way home from California. They were just in time to race cars with us. 

Snow!

It didn't matter that we only had 45 minutes before we needed to leave for a Christmas party. Or that we still had to have dinner. Or that we still needed to get ready. Or that our winter clothes were stashed in different locations all over the house. Or that it was dark and cold cold cold. 

Nope, there was snow and it was time to play. 

Lego Mania

A couple videos of the alligator Austin made for his Robotics class: 

A recent creation for the holiday season:

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

St. Nicholas visited our house on December 6th. 

Oh, he didn't make it to your house? 

Naughty naughty naughty. 

Just saying. 

Mom, the tooth fairy didn't come!

Olivia lost another tooth this week. I'm glad my kids aren't suspicious when the tooth fairy comes while they eat breakfast. She does that a lot. 

Smile!

Sophie Photography is now taking appointments for Christmas pictures. She promises the appearance of her fingers, ears, or eyes. You may or may not be able to see yourselves :)

Beautiful!

Plunk plink plonk

Austin & Nyah had their first piano recital. I enjoyed seeing them worried about performing in front of an audience and practicing 5 times a day without me nagging.  

Latest Books & TV & Movies

What I've read for me:

French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom - I HIGHLY recommend this book and other books written by Corrie Ten Boom. PHENOMENAL WOMAN!
Death in the Floating City by Tasha Alexander - Latest book in the Lady Emily series of Victorian murder mysteries - Love them!
So You Want to Raise a Boy by W. Cleon Skousen - Fabulous book for parents of boy. I check it out at least once a year for reassurance that my kid is normal. Someone needs to write one for girls. 

Books for kids' school:

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Queen Eleanor: Independent Spirit of the Medieval World by Polly Schover Brooks
Changes for Kaya (American Girl book) by Janet Shaw
Christmas Picture Books - one of my favorite parts of the season! Our favorite is Hilary Knight's The Twelve Days of Christmas (Hilary Knight is also one of my all-time favorite writer/illustrators. Love his Cinderella and illustrations for Owl & the Pussycat). 

TV:

Fringe & How I Met Your Mother- I'm don't really care about these shows, but Kurt is watching them, so I love to hang out with him until I'm ready for bed. 
Big Bang Theory Season 5
Latest episodes of Phineas & Ferb
Once Upon a Time - I want to like this show because I love fairy tales, but I find it horribly cliched and predictable. But I keep watching it anyways.
Stars Falling From the Sky - Korean drama. I don't watch it much because no one else likes it and they are somewhat tiring because each episode is over an hour long. I save them for when Kurt is out of town and I can impose early bed times for all. 

Movies:

Chronicle - weird, sad movie
SkyFall - love James Bond. Although it occurs to me James Bond movies are also horribly cliched and predictable. But I like them anyways. 

Helpers

It's impossible for me to do anything without my helpers. My plan was to wash the sliding door windows. My helpers make it much more entertaining. 

Wash windows

Stop to watch a bug

Wash the banister

Check on the bug

Wash the house

Check on the bug

Wash the chairs

What's next?

Lovely girls

You won't hear us complaining about the weather - we love spending time outside!

Making faces at the camera is fun too. 

Festival of Trees

We had so much fun visiting the Festival of Trees this year. 

We love seeing all the different themes and colors and toys! 

And as a BONUS we are able to support Primary Children's.