Keeping Up With the Joneses

Wow, life gets busy before Christmas. My parents got here last Friday and stayed at Jessica's a few nights before moving in to my house for THREE WEEKS!!! Can you believe they would do that!?!? (Just kidding mom and dad).  Anyway, we've been keeping busy. The boys before church. Not sure what Max is licking from his fingers. I helped Myles' kindergarten class build gingerbread houses. I was terrified  at the thought of doing this with 26 5 year olds but it ended up being great. Myles' Kindergarten class with their gingerbread houses. Myles is in front. Tuesday was the kids' Christmas concerts at school. Mason was so adorable and very professional singing.  Myles was hilarious. He was completely into it and took a bow after every number.  Mason lost motivation for school after he earned his Ninja costume for Halloween so we came up with a new incentive. If he could fill the jar at his tutor's house with beans (awarded for doing homework, pra...

This morning I had a little time and was looking back on the blog and my favorite parts are the records of the funny little thing the kids say and do. I want to include more. So, here we go (some repeats from Facebook): * My work does a Sub for Santa thing and I really wanted to involve the kids. So we chose a 7 year old boy and I carefully explained to the kids that sometimes parents don't have jobs and can't earn enough money to buy things for their family like food, clothes, and Christmas presents. I really tried to build empathy by asking how they would feel, etc. Well, poor little Myles really took it to heart. He ran back to the car to get some money he had stashed to put in the Salvation Army bucket, and tried putting about a million things he thought the boy would like in the shopping cart. But the funniest (and most embarrassing) part was that he stopped THREE different women and asked "are you poor? Do you have enough money to feed your 7 year old? Because we c...

We had another fun-filled December weekend. Saturday we woke up to gingerbread pancakes which the kids smothered with whipped cream. Then Marshall's parents came by and took Marshall and the boys up to the Discovery Center in Salt Lake while I had some much-needed Santa time. I got some shopping done, presents sorted and wrapped, and the house clean while the kids had a blast with their grandparents. Myles climbing the rock wall. Myles riding the horse. Marshall only took pictures of Myles--we have to keep a close eye on this kid! Then we met all of Marshall's family (all 25 of us) at the Olive Garden in Sandy for dinner. And it was there that a miracle came to pass: We had a kid's table (with about 12 kids) and an adult table. As I was walking back from the bathroom at the end of the meal an older man came up and asked me if those were my kids (um--only in Utah would someone ask if I had 12 kids) and I explained they were all cousins. He exclaimed "they ...

Weekends in December are always full of fun and this weekend was no exception. First, we went to the BYU President's Family Christmas Party. It is always a fun event that my kids look forward to. They have lots of kid's game, including ice fishing (their favorite), cake walk (poor Mason walked for 45 minutes without winning and finally we had to rig it so we could leave), crafts, entertainment, and donuts. Usually we wait in line at least an hour to see Santa but we skipped it this year and it was a great idea. In the afternoon I took Myles and Mason to Christmas Around the World and then to a friend's birthday party while Marshall stayed home and put together every puzzle in the house with Max. Making tiny tote bags. They were pretty into it. Eating donuts. Mason ate his and then finished mine and Max's. I'm just so happy his stomach is starting to feel better. We were commenting all morning how nice it is to have "big boys." For years we d...