Temple Square

Tonight we decided to bundle up and go to Temple Square to see the lights! It was beautiful! It's really amazing how many lights they can get on one tree! (And my husband thinks I use too many!) Anyway, the kids loved seeing the nativity scene and the Christus statue. It was really nice!

Lovable Lyrics

Annie loves to sing! In Nursery, she learned the song "Kindness Begins with Me." This is how she sings it: "I want to be kind to everyone, for that is right you see. So I say to myself, 'Remember this: It kind of begins with me!'" We had to explain that it says "kindness" begins with me! And then she said, "What's kindness?" It was all very cute! She had been singing it for a week and a half before she got it down right! :)
Then, this morning, she was singing "Frosty the Snowman" as follows: "Frosty the Snowman, was a jolly, happy soul--with a corncob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of COLD!"
Sam: "Annie, you said, 'cold.'"
Annie: "I KNOW--two EYES made out of COLD!"
Sam: "It's COAL!"
Annie: "That's what I said, 'COLD'."
Me: "Annie, it says, 'COAL'--you can burn coal in a fire."
Annie: "Oh."
I'm not sure she really understands that one yet!

A GREEN December?!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!! You know, this time of year, I think it should be against the rules for it to POUR RAIN. All day. I got sooo excited when it turned to snow this morning...only to have it turn back to rain and melt everything!

Saturday afternoon, we went to our annual Candy House Extravaganza! My mom had, as usual, made 33 houses and invited the whole family! The kids had a great time making their houses! (They've been having a great time eating them too! Frank & I were commenting that next year we'll have to make it a priority to put the tastiest candies on our houses... neither of us used anything really yummy!)

Winter Wonderland

Annie-isms

This morning I said to Annie, "Can you please run and get your sippy cup so I can wash it?"
"Oh, sure!"
(Gets the cup.)
"Mommy, it still has water in it. I want to drink the water."
"Well, drink it and then give it to me."
"Mmm...perhaps I don't want to drink it. It's old and moldy."

Later, I moved our couch around. Annie walked into the room and said, "This is different!"

Changing Tastes

A few days ago, as we were waving Frank off to work, Sophie said, "Mom, why did Grandma make me a pink robe?"
"Because she thought you'd like it to keep you warm in the mornings."
"But why didn't she make me a BLUE robe? I wanted a BLUE robe."
"I don't know. . . because she knew you liked pink and she thought you would like it."
"Well! I'm all grown up now and I like blue. She should have made me a BLUE robe."

This coming from the girl whose undeniable favorite was pink... right up until that moment.

Bribery: A Mom's Best Friend

Bribery: No, I am not referring to other people bribing ME (though chocolate sometimes helps persuade). I mean, does anyone else ever find themselves saying, "I'll give you a popsicle if you'll play nicely together for TEN MINUTES!" It's November. Yes, it was an exceptionally warm day. And then it's, "You're not playing nicely! You're not going to get a popsicle."
"NO! Do NOT throw sand at each other."
"Okay, no one gets a popsicle." (Whining.)
"Well, you had both better stop it, or else..." (Several minutes of modified behavior.)
"OH, alright, you played pretty well for those last five minutes." (Calculations in my head: a popsicle will occupy two small children for roughly ten minutes. Sanity at last.)

Lagoon

For those of you whose last experience with Lagoon was our Senior Lagoon Day, I suggest you take a trip there at least once more. Despite the carnival atmosphere, I was pleasantly surprised by how FUN it was! Frank's work took everyone for a Halloween party. We spent the entire day in Kiddieland--our children LOVED it! They have a carousel, roller coaster, car/boat/airplane/helicopter rides, a miniature Tidal Wave ride, the Ladybug Bop (the kids' and Frank's favorite), and a carousel. They also have a train that goes through a miniature zoo. So, we got to see zebras and lions too! Being an expectant mother, I naturally couldn't ride on anything (except the rides that I noticed the "do not ride if..." sign AFTER I had already ridden on it once or twice). And I still thought it was fun! For those of you who prefer bigger rides, Frank stood in line for "Wicked" for an hour and twenty minutes "and it was worth every minute!"

Blogging Bandwagon

Well, we've finally done it! After months of perusing friends' blogs, we've jumped on the blogging bandwagon! This is just to keep a nice update of what our family is up to! Enjoy! :)