Merry Christmas to all! We woke up this morning to a bit of snow! Just about 19 inches so far! Kids were up at 6:30 and then the tornado began! Grandma and Grandpa Pearson brought the City Truck with the plow and 4 wheel drive for breakfast! Everyone is happy and warm. Best wishes to all of you! Merry Christmas!!!!!

Wow What a Morning!!!

My cute little Songbirds!

The annual festival of trees was last weekend. On friday they always have the kids presenting Christmas songs. This year was a special presentation and the kids did some sign language and their music teacher did a great job. They sang beautifully!
Photographer issues! I couldn't catch a good picture of C.L.
However Darci listened to the music really well. I am still hearing "Jingle Bells"
and her favorite line "Somebody snitched on me"

Trimming the Tree

Christmas Tree 2008 I was not really motivated to get the tree out this year, so I told the kids if they would clean the house I would put it up. They did the rest! I have enjoyed looking at the lower cluster of ornaments and thinking about how much fun they all had decorating it.

Say CHEESY!

Supervisor in Training! Darci had to make sure she showed Daddy

every ornament that she loved!

Entertainment

Traveling to Utah we always find something to entertain along the way. Darci decided that her fruit snacks were really cool stuck to her eyes. Always something with that girl!

Chili Cook-Off Champion 2008

Chili Cook-Off Champion Prize

C.L. sporting his flashlights that he won from playing Bingo!
Darci with her furry purple hat from Bingo!

I think they gave her a prize so she would quit eating the markers which were candy corn.

Saturday was the Lost River Ward Chili Cook-off and Fall party! I was away all afternoon on Saturday doing a Pampered Chef party, so Carson decided to try his hand at making chili. This was his first attempt ever at making chili, so he was just gald that it tasted pretty good. (That is what he said when I asked him about it!) Well, he was dubbed the champion! He was pretty excited and I have to say he had some steamy competition (I had to test the other kinds). The activity directors went all out! The kids came home with prizes from Bingo and everyone came home happy!

Halloween 2008

Trick-or-Treat! Sweet and Innocent our little Tinkerbell may not be, But she sure is cute! She was so proud of her eyelashes that she pointed them out all night when she went into houses. She left them on for 3 hours!

Spooky - Creepy, Well that sums up my beautiful little spider witch. A knack for the drama! She was a beautiful spider witch!

The finished product from the last post! Jack-o-Lantern's on display! It was a great night and these little guys were still shining bright at 5am the next morning when we headed out to Utah!

C.L was the "Gatekeeper". He decided he would try his hand at creepy this year. At least we can still see his beautiful blue eyes! All three kids had a great time trick-or-treating and came home with enough candy to last till Christmas!

Pumpkin Guts!

Dad has to work nights this week, so we decided to have a Sunday evening activity and carve the pumpkins so that we could do it as a family. There was a little slime, a lot of giggling, and a little bit of disgust. Pumpkin guts are so gross!
Bryton is sporting a lovely orange beauty mark between her eyes thanks to her little sister and the flinging pumpkin guts!Darci was so cute with her pumpkin. She didn't want anyone to take it away from her, but she wasn't really sure about sticking her hands in ther and after they came out she always had to shake them. Many of us were casually wearing guts for the evening!

C.L. of course has developed a tradition of taking off his shirt to carve pumpkins, I am not sure exactly why............. I guess years ago I felt it was easier than cleaning his shirt and it just stuck. He must have a little bit of "manly" going on.

C.L. was pretty proud of himself because this year he cut all of his pumpkin all by himself. He is growing up so fast. He did a great job!I guess you could say that I must have ran out of steam, because I don't even have a picture of the final products, I guess I'll post them later.

"There's a snake on my head!"

My highlight of the day is the things that miss Darci says! On Sunday I put a little braid in the side of her hair for the first time. The first thing she said was, "There's a snake on my head!". She was quite entertaining with the snake noises and making the snake chase her brother and sister! Every morning since she asks me to make snakes. I am so glad that she is so "girly" and all. (NOT) She can sure make us all smile!

JUMP!

Along the way we found ourselves in Twin Falls for a night at a motel. The kids were having a great time!

Lock them UP!

A long weekend took us to the Pearsons in Nampa. We all met in Boise on Friday afternoon and went to the old State Penitentiary. We had a great time! Each of the time spent some time in Solitary Confinement (With a friend) and We enjoyed locking them up every chance we could get! It was a very entertaining and enlightening tour! Thanks for the visit and the fun!

When you "gotta go" !

Well, I guess I asked for it! I wanted her to be potty trained, and now I have to deal with the what if there isn't a potty nearby. While riding the other night she needed to go, and well she learned that she can squat and go, so this time she tried it all by herself. I can't waint until she figures out that only boys can just go wherever!

The "TRIKKE"

Okay, for those of you who have talked to me lately, my latest hobby/exercise is the TRIKKE! Dad saw it on an infomercial and I am so glad that he bought it! We have been learning together and taking turns at the church parking lot. I am far from a race or anything serious, but improving a little bit every day. Of course it is also great exercise! I have been taking the kids' scooters and bikes too. I guess we are all getting our exercise in thanks to grandpa!

TAGGED!

Okay, so I am supposed to reveal 7 things about myself that you might not know..........

1. I travelled by myself to New York when I was 13 years old to see my sister! I guess that flying didn't scare me, because I love it and wish I could travel more often.

2. I asked Carson out for our first date!

3. My first home-teachers as a married couple were two guys that I had dated.

4. I like to work. I love feeling the satisfaction of a job completed!

5. I am very afraid of spiders.

6. I am the only member of my family that graduated college.

7. I have 3 brothers, 1 sister and then 6 others that were a part of my childhood family.



Okay, complete.

I tag Angela, Barb, and Shelley!

Silence

Silence frightens me............ Of course that is because I live with Darci and usually that means she is writing on walls, or digging through the sugar container. The other night I realized that I hadn't heard Darci for at least 15 minutes, so I went looking. At first I panicked because I was sure she had escaped outside because she wasn't in her normal hiding places. When I found her she was loved up to her big sister and quite proud of herself!

Final Hoorah!

The kids decided that maybe it was warm enough to play in the water on Saturday. I wasn't completely on board with this idea, I guess nights in the 30's just don't leave me very warm! They enjoyed themselves completely!

Little Moments

Okay, so I haven't updated things for awhile. I am just sitting here listening to my kids playing, enjoying themselves. I have really been trying to just enjoy being a mom once in awhile. I try to appreciate the "accidents" when Darci screams "Its too late", or just plain muddy footprints clear through my house. I think that I get too tied up in all the things that I need to do, some being cleaning up after them, that I forget how much I am blessed and how lucky I am to have 3 great kids!



Bryton - Okay she is a beautiful child who strives to excel in all she does, even when it comes to spending time on the couch! I am so proud of her for being responsible and being my helper. I watch her grow and becoming such a great young lady.



C.L. - Entertains himself without more than a penny. Of course we hope he keeps it to pennies, instead of quarters. He takes every day with zeal, Never missing a beat. As he spoke in church today I realize how much he has to teach me. When being asked what his favorite story of Jesus, he came up with the Garden of Gesthemane. How blessed am I to have such a strong spirited child.



Darci - Live life to the fullest! That is my girl, from dancing and singing on the stage during the primary program to running around the house in her panties, never a dull moment! I am celebrating the fact that we are in panties, and that she is "2". I often hear myself say that and then I have to remember that for being "2" she is a very energetic and full of life little girl. Taking her to work every day is taxing. I know that she gets so sick of me telling her to be quiet, and getting impatient with her because she needs to go potty in the middle of a file, but really she is a pretty good girl.



How grateful I am for what I have been given. I just hope that I can show them how much I love them. I know that I get caught up in work, remodeling the house, and all the many other things I find wrapping me into constant motion, but I do stop and remember just how lucky I am!

Forgive the lack of pictures.................my camera is taking a turn for the worse, hoping to find parts for it.

The State Fair!

Just have to love the state fair!!!!! I always enjoy a day at the fair. We met up with many of our friends from Arco there and spent the afternoon on the rides on Friday. C.L. was the odd man out and ended up on most of the rides by himself. I was so proud of him, he did really well at being independent even when he was nervous. Bryton pulled her dad on many of the rides with her. Needless to say Dad spent the next 3 days laid up with a strained achiles tendon. Of course he tried to blame it on me, saying I ran into him with the Wal-Mart cart.

Darci did really well at staying in her stroller. I decided not to put her on any rides because I felt like it would only cause more problems than help. We did let her go in the petting zoo and she absolutely loved it!!!! She really liked the big bird (the ostrich).

The Big Bucket!

We spent Labor Day weekend at our favorite vacation spot.......Lehi of course. Mitch and Adella allowed us to come and stay with them and increase the chaos in their home for a couple of days. We are so grateful that they put up with us. The kids spent a lot of time playing and of course we had a couple of sleepovers. So glad that Aunt Rachel has a Tanner, C.L. sure is outnumbered other wise.

On Saturday we made all the kiddos smile by taking them to the "Big Bucket" as it is referred to at my house. I just never seem to get many pictures because it takes too much to keep track of Darci. The two smallest Michael and Darci both loved every minute of the experience, slides, sprayers and all.

Thanks for the fun Pearsons and Bloxhams!!!!!

First Day of School

Well I am officially down to just one kid home during the day! Of course she equals almost 3 so who am I kidding.

C.L. starts 1st grade without his two front teeth, well almost.........He had me look in his mouth and his two front new teeth were coming in behind, so we spent the weekend removing the other 2. He doesn't even hardly look like he is missing teeth at all. He was excited for school to start so he could see all of his friends, however he is a little reserved about going ALL day.

Bryton looking so grown up started 4th grade! She has Ms. King for the third time in her elementary career. (We love Ms. King) She is glad that school is starting because she is tired of being bored.....................