A page out of Harry Potter

My mom gave me an old clock of hers that didn't have any numbers on it. I wanted to use it in our bathroom upstairs to help the kids be on time, but with no numbers I wondered how it could be useful. We have been reading the second Harry Potter and I thought I would use the Weasley's clock as inspiration. Now our clock reads, at appropriate times, "Ready? You can watch TV." "Get your socks and go downstairs." "Aaah! You're late!" and "Mortal peril." It was so funny and effective, I thought the mirror should get in on the action too. Our mirror now says "Hey Scruffy! Comb your hair!" The kids laughed and laughed about the clock and mirror and they were even on time for school for about two weeks. This morning was the first time in a while that we have been late. Maybe the clock needs to say something else.

Lion Cookies, Anyone?

The other day I wanted something fun to do with Caleb. I also wanted to make delicious lime melt-aways. Caleb is always telling me that boys like to help their moms cook. So I asked him, "Do you want to help me make lime cookies?" He perks up "Lion cookies? Yeah!" I tried to convince him that the lime cookies would be great, but he kept going on about making the lion cookies and how he was going to decorate them and they would say roar and... Anyway, we ended up making plain old sugar cookies and decorating them together. Katrina was excited to help too. They both had LOTS of fun making and eating the cookies. We made about 3 dozen cookies and they were all gone by the next morning. Here are some pictures of us making the cookies. The kids were just so cute that I pulled out my camera and thought I would share.

Rolling out the cookies.

She hasn't quite got the hang of decorating with the squeeze bottles.
Who knew decorating could be so painful?

The master at work.

A finished cookie.
Somehow the lion thing went by the wayside, but green globs is just as good.

Katrina is having the time of her life. I love this happy face.

Nothing is better than a fresh cookie.

The Happiest Christmas on Earth

This year for Christmas something very exciting happened. Santa sent us a letter about a week before Christmas saying that he had a special surprise for us, but that we had to get it a little early. The Saturday before Christmas we woke up to presents under our tree, but not just any presents: a two day trip to Disneyland. We were all very excited. Even Hannah, who had tripped over her pajamas the night before and hyper-extended her elbow. She wore a sling and took lots of pain medication for the first two days. It healed up pretty quick, and we were glad that it wasn't a broken arm as we had first feared. We drove down and stayed with Aaron's Grandmother Renee overnight and then on to Disneyland. We stayed about a mile from the park, but were able to walk in, so we didn't need our car. Our hotel had a swimming pool and it was almost warm enough, so we went swimming twice.

Disneyland was amazing. Everywhere you looked was some new fun Christmas decoration to look at.

This is the view down Mainstreet. And no I have no idea who these women are.

Here we are with Santa. No one wanted to sit on his lap.

We were able to go on almost all the rides we wanted to without waiting in super long lines. I think the longest wait was about 30 minutes--most were around 10. We used a program called Ridemax to plan out our days. It told us when to go on which rides to avoid the crowds.

Small World was one of our first rides.

Small World was interesting because it had so many Christmas traditions from all over the world depicted. And apparently, Jingle Bells is an international Christmas song--who knew?

One of the kids choose Tea Cups as our last ride of the day.

Why are me and Katrina the only ones who look exhausted?

Maggie and Caleb and I all rode in the non-spiny cup.

The next day we spent mostly at California Adventure. It was a little slower day. We got up later and left the park around 4pm. Then we went to a restaurant far away from Disneyland for some real food and no crowds.

A is for Abbott. Caleb, of course had to climb up into the A.

It was a really fun time to spend with together with our family. After all the fun and excitement and a good night's rest, we made our way up the coast to visit Aaron's parents and siblings. That was a fun time, too. I may post about that sometime, but the kids took my camera outside and took a bajillion pictures of their rock creations and videos of themselves being silly and used up the battery in my camera. That severely limited the amount of pictures I could take.

Whose Idea Was This Anyway?

Most of our house doesn't need any work. It's beautiful as it is. But there are a few areas that need a little attention. Our first renovation project was Aaron's office. It is the small back bedroom that was wallpapered in pink flowers. Needless to say, Aaron didn't want to keep the pink flowers. I can't imagine why. My sister Miekka did a lot of the leg work as far as defining the color palette and finding accessories to finish the room. She did a really great job. The room looks amazing. Here are a few photos of it as a work in progress.

Miekka and my mom helped take off the wall paper. Jakey helped too.

Taking off the wall paper was the "easy" part. Then I had to clean the walls. It took me about a week. I could only work for about fifteen or twenty minutes before my arm started to ache and I had to take a break. I could work longer at the end of the week, so I guess I developed some muscles.

This is the first round of painting.

Round number two.

I didn't take a picture of it, but there was a round number three too. Each round required two coats of paint, and dry time between them, and when I took the tape off, a lot of the paint came with it. After it was all over, I spent another night, or maybe two, doing touch ups. I didn't get them all either. I still have to go back and fix a few spots. Argh!

Extreme close up of the super cool stripe detail.

What office would be complete without a great desk? Here is the desk in progress.

We bought a great desk at Costco over the summer. It has a corner unit (which is in the picture). It has a file drawer and a hutch for storing things. It also comes with a tower shelf and another desk. We put the other desk on the wall to the right with the tower shelf on it. The corner unit is for Aaron to work on and for me to do bills. The other is for my sewing machine and big girl crafting. I have wanted a room like this for so long. Aaron has worked in the room a couple of times. It's lovely to have a place to put bills and know I'll be able to find them later.

In the end, it's a really cool looking room. It was just a total pain to do. I kept saying "Whose idea was this anyway?" Sadly, the stripes were my own. They sounded a lot easier when we were talking about them than when we were actually doing them. Oh well, I guess there's a first and last time for everything.

Maggie

Maggie has been enjoying school this year. She really loves her teacher. I know that makes a big difference and it seems like a really fun class. I have been in for several special projects that they have done and we have two more coming up before Christmas.

Here she is on her first day of school.

Her first project was a unit all about herself. The whole third grade put on a wax museum. They brought three items that represented themselves. Maggie brought a jump rope, her black teddy bear, and a book she likes.

This is a classic Maggie pose.

The next project they did was to read and do a book report on a mystery book. All the kids did their oral reports in a trench coat and hat. They came in with a magnifying glass on which they had written part of their report. The teacher played the Pink Panther theme as they walked in. Maggie really hammed it up. I didn't think about it till later, but a movie would have been appropriate.

Maggie did a great job on her report.

Okay, I just threw this photo in because Katrina's hair is so funny.

You gotta love baby bed head.

Finally, the school does something called Art Through the Ages. Every few months they talk about a time period and the art that was produced then. The kids get to do some fun activities and they also get to try out the art. I went into Maggie's class and taught about Egyptian art. One of the fun activities was mummifying the Pharoh. Maggie was our class Pharoh. The kids were upset about this at first, however, not only did I get to play favorites, but Maggie was also the only one who knew what the kings of the Egyptians were called.

Doesn't she look like she's having fun?

Sleeping Baby

We are currently at my favorite time for church--1pm. I love that we can get up, have a yummy breakfast, take baths, do a lesson, eat lunch and then go to church. I'm all about leisurely mornings. On the down side, it's right during Katrina's nap time. Last week I convinced her to take an early nap, but this week I was busy unpacking books. As a result, Katrina fell asleep on my lap before the sacrament even started. She was all bundled up in her blanket and just snuggled right up next to me. It was so sweet. All during church, despite Caleb's protests, I got to hold a sleeping baby. She was so peaceful. Her little cheeks were all pink. She breathed quietly and evenly with her mouth open, so you could see her little teeth. Her hands were so soft and tiny. As I looked at her fingers and held her hand, I was reminded of when she was a newborn and her pinkie finger was only as long as my thumb nail. The talks were all about being thankful and I was thinking how thankful I am for this time with sweet little ones. She stayed asleep all through Sacrament meeting, but when we had to get up to go to Sunday School, she woke up. I guess it was enough of a nap, because she was very happy this evening.

The Table That Ate the Diningroom

Many of you remember with fondness our Sponge Bob table. I really loved that table. It was so happy and fun. However, due to circumstances beyond our control, we needed a bigger table. So, Aaron and I went looking for one. We had a Kristen shopping experience. (I hope Kristen doesn't mind me recounting this.) My sister-in-law, when she was younger would shop for clothes this way: she would go around to all the racks and feel all the clothes and choose the one that felt the best--usually also the most expensive one. That's what happened to us. We went around to all the furniture stores and fingered all the tables. We wanted a square table that was 60 inches. But all the tables we saw were counter height or too small. Finally at the end of a long evening, I suggested we go to Pottery Barn. We had seen a table we liked there, but balked at the shipping. So we drove downtown and sure enough, they had the one we wanted, in a color we wanted, and we could pick it up the next day. Aaron brought it home and he and my Dad and brother set it up and brought it in. It is seriously the most massive table I have ever seen. It weighs a ton and seats lots of people comfortably. Many of you will want to see the table, but as I didn't take a picture, you will have to go to Pottery Barn. Look for the Amherst table. We got it in black. It says it seats ten, but if some of the people are small, you can get 12 people around it and I keep thinking that, in a pinch, you could seat 14. I think it looks really great in our dining room. We have honey colored chairs and my Dad gave us a huge lazy susan from their new kitchen. It can hold an entire taco meal. One added bonus is that the kids are getting really good at serving themselves. However, I think their favorite part is putting their cups on the lazy susan and spinning it around so I can pour them some milk. Hannah keeps saying that we should get a train to put our food on and just have it run around the table. Maybe for Christmas. After years of putting the milk and half the meal on the floor after serving so we could have room to eat, it's lovely to finally have plenty of room for everything.