tackling the giant snowman!
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Dec 31, 2005
December 31, 2005
Wow! This year has seriously flown by! I cannot believe we are headed into 2006. Does time speed up the older you get??
Well, we had an absolutely wonderful Christmas!! It was so relaxing. On Christmas Eve, we made Christmas cookies and fudge. We also finished doing the twelve days of Christmas for 3 families in our ward. One family had their dad deployed to Iraq recently and the mom just found out she is pregnant. Anyway, they left a thank you and a goodie plate for us. That was an unexpected surprise.
Kayla started asking questions about whether or not there was a tooth fairy. I asked her why she asked and she explained that her friend gets $5.00 for each tooth she loses and Kayla only gets 25 cents and that doesn’t seem fair. She is one you really have to be honest with or she will never trust you again. So, I told her that the tooth fairy is made up. That is when Marisa piped in saying "I found out when I lost a tooth and didn’t tell mom. It was under my pillow for weeks and no tooth fairy came!!" (Yes, I received the lame mom of the year award). Then you could tell she was thinking and she asked if there was an Easter bunny. So, I asked her if she believed in it. Her reply was "Yes, I believe there is one, but the kids at school say that is stupid to believe there is a gigantic bunny running around leaving treats for kids." So, I told her that it was not true and she said "Oh". Then I saw total panic hit her face and in a small whisper said "Is there a Santa Claus"? I told her that Santa was someone that loved her very much. She looked at my like I was an idiot and said "Seriously mom!". I knew the gig was up, so, I told her that no, he didn’t exist. There was dead silence for the space of several minutes when she looked at me and calmly said "That is disappointing..." I laughed so hard. She asked tons of questions about who puts the stuff out, who drinks the hot chocolate etc. It was a fun conversation. Then, she got another panicky look on her face and asked if Jesus was real. I quickly explained to her that YES, he is, of that I have absolutely no doubt!!! For that split second it made me question why we would pretend about easter bunnies, tooth fairies, and Santa. I am sure it confuses children a tad. Anyway, I did threaten her that if she told her younger siblings, then "Santa" would no longer come (hehe). Marisa only discovered there was no Santa this year as well.
Anyway... we woke up in the morning and opened our stockings, went to church, and then came home and opened each present calmly and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was able to see what everyone got and felt so incredibly blessed for all the loved ones in our lives! The kids got everything they wanted and more.
On Tuesday, we ran errands for several hours, including going to Barnes and Noble to pick out books. Then we went to the mall so Marisa could get her ears pierced (part of her Christmas gift) Plus, I am starting to let her wear makeup. I showed her how to put it on yesterday and it freaked me out a bit that I had a child old enough to wear makeup. I am thinking I don’t have a clue how to show her how to do this, I think I need help of my own to figure it out! Oh well! Then we took the kids to Osaka, a Japanese restaurant where the cook all the food in front of you. The kids loved it and we had such a great time! It was our reward for reaching our goal of reading the Book of Mormon before the end of the year. What an amazing experience that was! Now the kids are so excited as we got the new Old Testament Family Edition and they want to make a goal of reading it by the end of next year and then go to the restaurant again, they claim it is their favorite now. Sounds like a good deal to me!
We spent the week having so much fun. We watched 2 Star Wars, 2 Lord of the Rings (kids had to close their eyes through a lot, but were able to see why I LOVE Legolas so much!!!!), played Cranium (then we went and bought the family edition which was a blast!), watched National Treasure, played Twister, put together puzzles (several Alayna trashed right after they were done) and Bob and the kids built snow forts and had a snow ball fight. We have just thoroughly enjoyed being a family this week!
This weekend Bob and the kids headed to the Harts for a New Years Eve Party. I stayed with my ginormous list of things I can’t get done with Alayna around. So, I have now finished my last class and just have the final to take. I did watch Lake Placid on TV last night, which was dumb, so I had to sleep with the hall light on. How old am I again?
Marisa made the 2006 Metro Honors choir. She also made 1st place in the section 6A Geography Bee! She now goes on to compete with the other sections. We are so proud of her.
Well, I guess that is all that has been going on with us. We hope you have had a joyous holiday season. We love you and wish you an even better, happier, and more fulfilling year!
Happy new Year!
PS- I will post more pictures on Monday.
Wow! This year has seriously flown by! I cannot believe we are headed into 2006. Does time speed up the older you get??
Well, we had an absolutely wonderful Christmas!! It was so relaxing. On Christmas Eve, we made Christmas cookies and fudge. We also finished doing the twelve days of Christmas for 3 families in our ward. One family had their dad deployed to Iraq recently and the mom just found out she is pregnant. Anyway, they left a thank you and a goodie plate for us. That was an unexpected surprise.
Kayla started asking questions about whether or not there was a tooth fairy. I asked her why she asked and she explained that her friend gets $5.00 for each tooth she loses and Kayla only gets 25 cents and that doesn’t seem fair. She is one you really have to be honest with or she will never trust you again. So, I told her that the tooth fairy is made up. That is when Marisa piped in saying "I found out when I lost a tooth and didn’t tell mom. It was under my pillow for weeks and no tooth fairy came!!" (Yes, I received the lame mom of the year award). Then you could tell she was thinking and she asked if there was an Easter bunny. So, I asked her if she believed in it. Her reply was "Yes, I believe there is one, but the kids at school say that is stupid to believe there is a gigantic bunny running around leaving treats for kids." So, I told her that it was not true and she said "Oh". Then I saw total panic hit her face and in a small whisper said "Is there a Santa Claus"? I told her that Santa was someone that loved her very much. She looked at my like I was an idiot and said "Seriously mom!". I knew the gig was up, so, I told her that no, he didn’t exist. There was dead silence for the space of several minutes when she looked at me and calmly said "That is disappointing..." I laughed so hard. She asked tons of questions about who puts the stuff out, who drinks the hot chocolate etc. It was a fun conversation. Then, she got another panicky look on her face and asked if Jesus was real. I quickly explained to her that YES, he is, of that I have absolutely no doubt!!! For that split second it made me question why we would pretend about easter bunnies, tooth fairies, and Santa. I am sure it confuses children a tad. Anyway, I did threaten her that if she told her younger siblings, then "Santa" would no longer come (hehe). Marisa only discovered there was no Santa this year as well.
Anyway... we woke up in the morning and opened our stockings, went to church, and then came home and opened each present calmly and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was able to see what everyone got and felt so incredibly blessed for all the loved ones in our lives! The kids got everything they wanted and more.
On Tuesday, we ran errands for several hours, including going to Barnes and Noble to pick out books. Then we went to the mall so Marisa could get her ears pierced (part of her Christmas gift) Plus, I am starting to let her wear makeup. I showed her how to put it on yesterday and it freaked me out a bit that I had a child old enough to wear makeup. I am thinking I don’t have a clue how to show her how to do this, I think I need help of my own to figure it out! Oh well! Then we took the kids to Osaka, a Japanese restaurant where the cook all the food in front of you. The kids loved it and we had such a great time! It was our reward for reaching our goal of reading the Book of Mormon before the end of the year. What an amazing experience that was! Now the kids are so excited as we got the new Old Testament Family Edition and they want to make a goal of reading it by the end of next year and then go to the restaurant again, they claim it is their favorite now. Sounds like a good deal to me!
We spent the week having so much fun. We watched 2 Star Wars, 2 Lord of the Rings (kids had to close their eyes through a lot, but were able to see why I LOVE Legolas so much!!!!), played Cranium (then we went and bought the family edition which was a blast!), watched National Treasure, played Twister, put together puzzles (several Alayna trashed right after they were done) and Bob and the kids built snow forts and had a snow ball fight. We have just thoroughly enjoyed being a family this week!
This weekend Bob and the kids headed to the Harts for a New Years Eve Party. I stayed with my ginormous list of things I can’t get done with Alayna around. So, I have now finished my last class and just have the final to take. I did watch Lake Placid on TV last night, which was dumb, so I had to sleep with the hall light on. How old am I again?
Marisa made the 2006 Metro Honors choir. She also made 1st place in the section 6A Geography Bee! She now goes on to compete with the other sections. We are so proud of her.
Well, I guess that is all that has been going on with us. We hope you have had a joyous holiday season. We love you and wish you an even better, happier, and more fulfilling year!
Happy new Year!
PS- I will post more pictures on Monday.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Dec 18, 2005
December 18, 2005
I apologize for not getting a newsletter posted last week. We spent all day Saturday reformatting the computer since it was having problems, only to have it completely die on us Sunday morning. So, Bob has ordered a new computer which is on its way, and has temporarily set me up on the kids computer. So, I can put up news, but you will have to wait for our exciting pictures! Haha!
Anyway, we had a fun Ward Christmas party over a week ago. Marisa, Kayla, and I were asked to be in charge of the food tables, so we were very busy. It was a fun program which turned out to be a talent show. We were bummed, because if we had known we would have been in it! Oh well.
On Tuesday, I took my second final. It was a hard one. I felt I really studied, but didn’t feel good about the actual test. I am anxious to see the results. I also helped with the Missionary Zone conference luncheon. We had 70 missionaries, so it was a lot of work, but it went very smoothly. They were so grateful and then sang "We are as the armies of Helaman". That is so powerful to see that many missionaries looking at you singing that. Wow!!
We have had some bad weather, a lot of snow!! Our neighbor came and cleared our drive way at least 3 times this week. School was cancelled one day. We will definitely have a white Christmas this year!
Yesterday, Corey and Hal got to come down. They took Bob and the kids sledding and then we had a blast making chocolate molds. We had chocolate everywhere! That’s what we call heaven. Then last night we watched a wonderful movie called "Because of Winn Dixie". (Nina- I think Tara would really like it!) We also watched "March of the Penguins" with the kids last week. It was a fantastic movie!!! It was so beautifully done! I highly recommend it.
Alayna ended up getting sick last weekend. I took her to the doctor and found she had a really bad sinus infection and allergies. So, we have her on medicine and she is doing much better. However, this Friday, both Kayla and Tyler came down with bad coughs and were coughing like seals. So, they stayed home. This morning, Bob woke up with a mild case of what they have. So, I stayed home with the sickies and Marisa took Alayna to church.
Overall, we are doing great. Marisa made it to the top two in her class geography bee- she goes onto the next step on Monday. Alayna had a fun Christmas party at school this week with a fun book exchange. On Tuesday her class is having a pajama popcorn party. We are now on Ether in the Book of Mormon and getting excited to finish (or for them , find out what happens). We are also excited it’s the last week of school. We just hope to have everyone healthy by Christmas! Our Christmas cards will be on the way this week. We are a bit slow since we have had people sick.
We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!
Lots of Love,
The Harts
I apologize for not getting a newsletter posted last week. We spent all day Saturday reformatting the computer since it was having problems, only to have it completely die on us Sunday morning. So, Bob has ordered a new computer which is on its way, and has temporarily set me up on the kids computer. So, I can put up news, but you will have to wait for our exciting pictures! Haha!
Anyway, we had a fun Ward Christmas party over a week ago. Marisa, Kayla, and I were asked to be in charge of the food tables, so we were very busy. It was a fun program which turned out to be a talent show. We were bummed, because if we had known we would have been in it! Oh well.
On Tuesday, I took my second final. It was a hard one. I felt I really studied, but didn’t feel good about the actual test. I am anxious to see the results. I also helped with the Missionary Zone conference luncheon. We had 70 missionaries, so it was a lot of work, but it went very smoothly. They were so grateful and then sang "We are as the armies of Helaman". That is so powerful to see that many missionaries looking at you singing that. Wow!!
We have had some bad weather, a lot of snow!! Our neighbor came and cleared our drive way at least 3 times this week. School was cancelled one day. We will definitely have a white Christmas this year!
Yesterday, Corey and Hal got to come down. They took Bob and the kids sledding and then we had a blast making chocolate molds. We had chocolate everywhere! That’s what we call heaven. Then last night we watched a wonderful movie called "Because of Winn Dixie". (Nina- I think Tara would really like it!) We also watched "March of the Penguins" with the kids last week. It was a fantastic movie!!! It was so beautifully done! I highly recommend it.
Alayna ended up getting sick last weekend. I took her to the doctor and found she had a really bad sinus infection and allergies. So, we have her on medicine and she is doing much better. However, this Friday, both Kayla and Tyler came down with bad coughs and were coughing like seals. So, they stayed home. This morning, Bob woke up with a mild case of what they have. So, I stayed home with the sickies and Marisa took Alayna to church.
Overall, we are doing great. Marisa made it to the top two in her class geography bee- she goes onto the next step on Monday. Alayna had a fun Christmas party at school this week with a fun book exchange. On Tuesday her class is having a pajama popcorn party. We are now on Ether in the Book of Mormon and getting excited to finish (or for them , find out what happens). We are also excited it’s the last week of school. We just hope to have everyone healthy by Christmas! Our Christmas cards will be on the way this week. We are a bit slow since we have had people sick.
We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!
Lots of Love,
The Harts
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
December 7, 2005
December 7, 2005
Waking up to -16 degrees is just wrong!!! The kids almost froze to death waiting for the bus. We hear it’s a new record low for today and we were here to witness it. Oh happy day! It has just been so cold lately and we are expecting more snow tonight. Thank heavens we have a great home with a working heater!!! I was supposed to travel to Manchester with the Stake on Sunday, but we got like 6 inches of snow over night, so we just stayed here instead.
It seems this time of year is busy busy busy. We did finally get the tree up this weekend. (We were quite slow!) It seems we still aren’t out of the stage of having kids that need to touch the tree, but at least she hasn’t discovered she can unwrap the presents underneath. Alayna does like to ring the little bells on it, but shakes the whole tree. I see disaster in the future.
Bob took me out to lunch yesterday. Dates are just so enjoyable, even when it is 1 degree outside! Kayla has been doing great in her volleyball games. Marisa even expressed interest in maybe playing the next session. We cleaned out the toy room and packed away most of the stuff (it just gets too crazy in there), so now the younger kids have been finding fun things to play in there (since being outside is out of the question.)
On Monday, for FHE, we did a whole bunch of fun science experiments for my class. The kids had the best time. I have to say some didn’t work as well as others, like the egg that fell to the floor. But we had a great time!
We have been having a wonderful experience reading the entire Book of Mormon as a family. We are in 3rd Nephi right now and trying like crazy to finish it by the end of the year. Amazingly the kids have really enjoyed it. I read to them and since it is at an accelerated pace it reads much like a novel. We talk about our favorite characters, etc. We decide Teancum is pretty cool and we need a big painting of him for our living room (Big hint to Jonathan!!) In fact, Marisa has loved it so much, she is giving a copy to her Social Studies teacher. They have been talking about Mexico and South and Central America and their history, so she thought her teacher might be interested. It has been an amazing learning experience. It is so different to read it out loud and to have to try to explain it to children. Anyway, wish us luck in finishing!
I guess nothing else major has been going on. We have a lot of fun things planned for our Christmas vacation since Bob gets off the whole time the kids do. We are planning our Star Wars marathon and other such fun activities. Hope you all are having a warm and wonderful week!!
Waking up to -16 degrees is just wrong!!! The kids almost froze to death waiting for the bus. We hear it’s a new record low for today and we were here to witness it. Oh happy day! It has just been so cold lately and we are expecting more snow tonight. Thank heavens we have a great home with a working heater!!! I was supposed to travel to Manchester with the Stake on Sunday, but we got like 6 inches of snow over night, so we just stayed here instead.
It seems this time of year is busy busy busy. We did finally get the tree up this weekend. (We were quite slow!) It seems we still aren’t out of the stage of having kids that need to touch the tree, but at least she hasn’t discovered she can unwrap the presents underneath. Alayna does like to ring the little bells on it, but shakes the whole tree. I see disaster in the future.
Bob took me out to lunch yesterday. Dates are just so enjoyable, even when it is 1 degree outside! Kayla has been doing great in her volleyball games. Marisa even expressed interest in maybe playing the next session. We cleaned out the toy room and packed away most of the stuff (it just gets too crazy in there), so now the younger kids have been finding fun things to play in there (since being outside is out of the question.)
On Monday, for FHE, we did a whole bunch of fun science experiments for my class. The kids had the best time. I have to say some didn’t work as well as others, like the egg that fell to the floor. But we had a great time!
We have been having a wonderful experience reading the entire Book of Mormon as a family. We are in 3rd Nephi right now and trying like crazy to finish it by the end of the year. Amazingly the kids have really enjoyed it. I read to them and since it is at an accelerated pace it reads much like a novel. We talk about our favorite characters, etc. We decide Teancum is pretty cool and we need a big painting of him for our living room (Big hint to Jonathan!!) In fact, Marisa has loved it so much, she is giving a copy to her Social Studies teacher. They have been talking about Mexico and South and Central America and their history, so she thought her teacher might be interested. It has been an amazing learning experience. It is so different to read it out loud and to have to try to explain it to children. Anyway, wish us luck in finishing!
I guess nothing else major has been going on. We have a lot of fun things planned for our Christmas vacation since Bob gets off the whole time the kids do. We are planning our Star Wars marathon and other such fun activities. Hope you all are having a warm and wonderful week!!
Thursday, December 01, 2005
December 1, 2005
December 1, 2005
Well, we welcomed in December with about 3 inches of snow this morning. School was delayed for 2 hours which is always nice- a chance to sleep in!! Although, 18 degrees is not fun!!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Harts household. Debbie and family were able to come as well. The kids had such a great time with the mattress slide, playing games like pickle ball at the church gym, playing games as a family, watched Polar Express, doing awesome experiments with Grandpa involving dry ice, etc. I was able to get a lot of reading done for my class, which was nice. I only have 3 assignments left!! It is always so nice to spend time with family during the holidays. We took lots of fun family pictures and I will post some of the pics on our site.
On Monday, we helped out a family in our ward by taking their 3 kids for 3 days while they searched for a new home in Indiana. Although they were great kids, it was a handful dealing with 7 children!! So, things have turned back to normal and I plan to take it easy today!
Kayla had her first volleyball game of the new season on Monday and won 5-0! Marisa is absolutely loving the geography Bee club. Tyler earned 2 orange stripes in Tae Kwon Do this week! Alayna loves to watch "Wallace and Grommit" (Thanks to Grandma Cunningham!) All the time. Bob doesn’t have to work overtime this week which is great!
Sorry for the lame newsletter, I just wanted to get a quick update up. We hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season and are hopefully warmer than we are!
Well, we welcomed in December with about 3 inches of snow this morning. School was delayed for 2 hours which is always nice- a chance to sleep in!! Although, 18 degrees is not fun!!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Harts household. Debbie and family were able to come as well. The kids had such a great time with the mattress slide, playing games like pickle ball at the church gym, playing games as a family, watched Polar Express, doing awesome experiments with Grandpa involving dry ice, etc. I was able to get a lot of reading done for my class, which was nice. I only have 3 assignments left!! It is always so nice to spend time with family during the holidays. We took lots of fun family pictures and I will post some of the pics on our site.
On Monday, we helped out a family in our ward by taking their 3 kids for 3 days while they searched for a new home in Indiana. Although they were great kids, it was a handful dealing with 7 children!! So, things have turned back to normal and I plan to take it easy today!
Kayla had her first volleyball game of the new season on Monday and won 5-0! Marisa is absolutely loving the geography Bee club. Tyler earned 2 orange stripes in Tae Kwon Do this week! Alayna loves to watch "Wallace and Grommit" (Thanks to Grandma Cunningham!) All the time. Bob doesn’t have to work overtime this week which is great!
Sorry for the lame newsletter, I just wanted to get a quick update up. We hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season and are hopefully warmer than we are!
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