Will's favorite holiday: DECEMBER

I asked Will what his favorite holiday is and his answer was DECEMBER! Which you may find funny, but it's really a legitimate response. Here's why: We celebrate the heck out of December!! Starting with his birthday, then Hanukkah, then Winter Solstice, then Christmas, and ending with New Year's... it's a month of parties and celebrations! Who wouldn't say December was their favorite holiday:)

Here's a recap of our celebrations and traditions:
Christmas Eve we always get new cozy jammies. I rotate colors every year... this year was red. I literally LIVE in my jammies from Christmas Eve to New Year's Eve. (Will's friend came over to play and asked him "Why is your mom still in her pajamas?" to which Will replied "Because it's the day after Christmas." Too funny!)

Drew with his Christmas morning haul... not pictured is his bike.

Will with is haul... also not pictured is his bike.

The two coolest kids ever in their new clothes on their way to Grandma's on Christmas morning. So cute!

Here we are at our annual Winter Solstice celebration with Danny, Kelly, James & Jesse. We get together every year to celebrate this important turning of the season. We learn all about our ancestors who cherished the birth of the sun.

The boys act out the battle of the Holly King and the Oak King. In the past Jeff and Danny have acted it out, but this year the boys wanted to do the battle.

We light a Yule Log that we've decorated with evergreen. We throw pine cones and twigs into the fire as it burns and share our hopes and dreams for the future while we reflect on the year that has past. It's always fun to hear what they kids will set as their goals and it's always great to hear the adults really dig deep and share things that they wouldn't normally share.

I make a Yule Log cake every year and we all look forward to eating it! This year I added a little knot in the log... I'm getting fancy in my old age:)

Hanukkah started December 11th. In the past we've had our own little celebration as a family but this year we were fortunate enough to have family members join us who were interested in learning more about this important Jewish holiday. Matt, Cathy, Carrick & Maple joined us, as well as Drew's friend from school Max. It was really fun! We feasted on Latkes at dinner, watched a movie and read books all about Judah and the Maccabees, then answered Hanukkah trivia questions to earn gelt (chocolate coins) to use as we spun dreidle.

The kids all made shields so they could reenact the battle. (My boys love any holiday that includes battles or presents!)

We all took turns lighting a candle on the menorah... we lit all the candles and pretended it was the last night of Hanukkah. It was a really fun celebration!

Another highlight of December is decorating Gingerbread houses. We do it at least twice every season. They're getting really good at it! (Their favorite part is yet to come though... it's New Year's day when we give them each a hammer and let them destroy their house!)

This year we decorated houses at my mom's house on Thanksgiving with my nieces... we then did it again at the Bergstrom's a few weeks later.

So now you can see why December is Will's favorite holiday... and now I'm finally up to date on all my blogging!! Hip hip hooray!!!!

Thanks for reading everyone! Hope you had a happy December!!

Will's Candyland Birthday Party!

Will decided he wanted a Candy Land Birthday party because he LOVES candy and thought it would be a perfect opportunity for he and his friends to get loaded up on CANDY! So I put my creative juices to work (we all did a lot of brainstorming at dinner one night thinking up activities) and planned another fabulous party for my little guy!

Normally I only allow my boys to invite as many friends as they are old, but it was too hard to stick with my rule this year because Will is a VERY social kid and he has too many friends and we didn't want to hurt any one's feelings, so I allowed him to invite pretty much all of his close friends. We had a house full! I set up the party to be like a game of Candy Land with each of the "lands" in a different room throughout the house with a different activity in each land... Starting with the "Gingerbread Tree" where they each decorated their own Gingerbread person.

Then they headed out to the garage where we had "Snowflake Lake" set up with a scooter race obstacle course. (It was the closest thing we could think of to ice skating.)

Next was a trip to "Chocolate Swamp" where they created their own pudding paint swamp creatures with their fingers.

Then we crossed the "Rainbow Trail" back into the house for a visit to "Peanut Acres" where each of the kids got a chance to use nutcrackers to open and taste a variety of nuts.

Next came a trip downstairs to the "Licorice Forest" where "Lord Licorice" had set up a bunch of licorice ropes hanging from the ceiling that the kids had to eat without using their hands. It was funny!

The next stop was "Peppermint Forrest" where they used croquet mallets to push a ball through the peppermint stick course. (For Jeff's sake, notice the creative way he got the peppermint sticks to stay standing...)

Then they crossed "Gumdrop Pass" into the "Gumdrop Mountains" where they raced each other while holding a gumdrop on a spoon in their mouth.

The final activity was "Lollipop Woods" where they had to use different colored lollipops to create patterns. They all had a great time playing the game! While we were eating cake we asked the kids which activity was their favorite and it was cool to hear how each one of them had a different favorite... there was something to appeal to everyone!

Will made a haul in presents! From Nerf guns to Lego's and all sorts of great things in between! He was very pleased!

For the cake, I "commissioned" Harmon's to create a Candy Land game board cake. I took a photo of the game board in to the bakers and then used the cards from the game to accessorize once they were finished. It turned out great!!

Here's the final pic of the whole gang! It was a sweet party for a sweet kid! Happy Birthday Will!

(It's too bad Disney doesn't own rights to the Candy Land game because I could totally send in all these party details to Family Fun magazine and get published! But I tried it with Drew's dog party and never heard back... Oh well, I love party planning! So it's all worth it! Especially when I'm planning a party for the ones I love!!)

Drew's Choir Perfomance

For the past 3 months Drew has been getting up an hour earlier on Wednesday's and heading to school for choir practice. This is the first year that he's been eligible to participate in the choir which is has only been open to 4th-6th graders in the past. He was so excited when he found out 3rd graders were now allowed!

We were so proud of him for being so eager to participate and for following through on his own the whole time. We never had to remind him he had practice and he always got himself up and got ready and walked himself to school in the cold on his own. He was very dedicated!

The performance went well and the kids all sang beautifully!

It was the same day as Will's Birthday, so after we ate dinner with the Grandfolks at Olive Garden, we all headed over to the school for some holiday entertainment. It was a fun night!

Will's 6th Birthday!

On December 10th my sweet little baby boy turned 6 years old!! I can hardly believe it! He's so grown up and such an amazing human being! I feel so blessed to be his mom!

I wanted his day to be extra special from beginning to end... unfortunately we had a little mishap that I must briefly share. As you know, I've been teaching full-time, so Jeff and I have been juggling around the boys to accommodate me not being home. Jeff made Will a special birthday breakfast and sent him off to school. I packed treats for his class in his backpack for him to give out (something I already felt bad about because this is something I've always brought in, in the past). Then my mom was supposed to pick Will up after school. Well, my mom had a devastating morning filled with Doctor's appointments that were not bringing her good news, so needless to say, she forgot to pick up Will from school. I got a call at my school from Will's school informing me that "the birthday boy had been waiting for 45 minutes for someone to come pick him up"! I felt awful!! Like the worst mom in the whole world! Here I am transitioning into a working mom and already I'm falling short! And on his birthday of all days!! I couldn't hold back the tears! I ran to the office and begged the copy lady to take over my class for me so I could go pick up Will from school. Picture me in tears as I explain to my 7th graders that they need to be nice for the copy lady while I go take care of a family emergency. It was pathetic! By the time I got there to pick him up, my mom was there and feeling horrible (not only because of the bad news from the doctors, but for forgetting Will) which made me feel even worse because I just kept thinking that it's all my fault! If I hadn't been at work, none of this would have happened in the first place. AAghh! It was not the wonderful day I had hoped Will would have, but fortunately he was completely understanding and didn't stop smiling for one second! It was his birthday after all, and it was a good day no matter what happened! So the day proceeded as planned from there. Grandma took Will shopping for new cowboy boots and out to lunch, while I went back to school. All is well that ends well!
That night we went out to dinner at the Olive Garden with both sets of Grandparents (and Josh, which is always a bonus!). We opened gifts and sang "Happy Birthday" and ate the yummy chocolate cake that they provided.

We got him Lego Rock Band and he was sooooo happy!

I just put this one in to show that he still loved me and didn't hold a grudge for me leaving him at the school on his birthday!

Will with his Grandpa & Grandma B.

Will with his Grandpa & Grandma P.

Grandma with Will in his new cowboy had and boots that she got him.

Drew with Will in the Captain Rex outfit that Drew got him.

Happy Birthday Will! Thank you for being the wonderful person you are! I have loved every minute that you've been in my life and I love looking forward to the future with you as my son! I love you!!

Change for China - Part 1

This is my good friend Kate who recently moved to China. She is going to be living there for two years and she graciously invited us to come for a visit. Well, maybe she was just being nice because she never expected we'd actually come, but we're going!! All four of us! We've already begun our saving plan (yes, of course we have one! If you know anything about me you'd know we're savers and planners!).

Our first plan of attack at acquiring the necessary funds for our adventure has been my current gig working as a long-term substitute teacher at a local middle school teaching French (yes, I speak French... I minored in it in college and was certified to teach back in 1997). I'm just filling in while the regular teacher is out on maternity leave, so I'm just there until December 22. I'm not going to be making a fortune but every penny I make I'm saving for China! (I should add that while I'm teaching I'm WAY busier than normal so I may fall behind on this blogging bit, but I'll do my best to keep up!)

Next, I'm going to be working again for the Associated Press at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010, so that will be the next chunk of change I save for our trip... more to come on that.

The boys are trying to get in on the "Change for China" campaign as well... they've got a plan to set up a table near the crosswalk at their elementary school and sell after school snacks to kids on their way home from school. It sounds like a great idea to me, but we have to wait until the boys are off track in order to pull it off, and they don't go off track again until January, which may be too cold for an outside stand, but they're not giving up hope, they're thinking of selling hot chocolate or something warm like that... we'll see how it goes:)

Jeff's doing his part as well... he's already had his leave approved so he has the time off and everything! It's pretty amazing! I am so excited and really, really, really hope this all works out! I will definitely keep you posted on our progress! In the meantime, I'd like to invite you all to view Kate's blog called "Ron and Kate plus 8 million". It's hilarious! She's a fabulous writer and very, very funny! She talks all about her culture shock surrounding her move to this foreign country. It's really great! You should check it out! Here's the link: http://ronkatepluseight.blog.com/ Enjoy!

Halloween... been there, done that!

Yet another Halloween has come and gone! It was another fun holiday for our little family. This year Will was a Vampire Rock star and Drew was a Punk Rock star, so I guess you could say we still had a theme like in the past, but this time Jeff didn't join our charades (see my last post to see me as a Rock star).

This is Drew, complete with piercings, tattoos and "guy-liner". He looked awesome!! Almost too good! I hope when we flash forward 10 years or so, he hasn't decided to wear this look on a daily basis! (Will kept teasing him that he looked like a girl with the make-up on and it really got to Drew, so I doubt he'll want to.)

Here's Will (with eyebrows) as cute as can be! It seems I am always painting eyebrows on him at Halloween because he always wears dark wigs with his costumes. His eyes are radiant in this pic!

Well, instead of recapping all our activities for this Halloween, I decided to take you on a little trip down memory lane, to see all the fun themes we've worn through the years. We've always dressed up as a family so it's been a little hard on me to see the boys growing out of that tradition. So bare with me as I cope with yet another new chapter beginning:)

Here's where it all started... In 2001 I dressed up as Dorothy and Drew (at 8 months old) was my little dog Toto. Later, Jeff dressed up as the scarecrow, but we didn't get a very good pic, so this will forever be the memory of that inaugural Halloween.

This is 2003 when we all dressed up as the "Spot" family. (We skipped 2002 as we were moving to OKC on that day.) A friend was having a party where we were supposed to come as our favorite character from a book, and Drew was fascinated with the Spot books, so we decided to go as them. I was HUGELY pregnant with Will so I'm attempting to hide my belly in this pic.

In 2004 Drew's new favorite movie was Peter Pan, so we decided to go as those characters. Jeff was Captain Hook, I was Tinkerbell, Drew was Peter Pan and Will was the Crocodile. My mom and I made (well, let's be honest, my mom made and I assisted) our costumes and we started them in August! It was a lot of work, but we've gotten many years of good use out of them!

In 2005, Drew's new obsession was Power Rangers, so we decided to go as a Super Hero Family. (This was pre-Incredibles:) Drew was the Red Ranger, Will was Super-man, I was Wonder Woman, and Jeff was Super-Dad because he refused to wear tights! He had all the things a super dad would have: an apron, tool belt with tools and diapers, and a pocket full of money:)

In 2006, we went the "traditional" Halloween route. I was a Witch, Jeff was a Vampire (not the sparkly kind), Will was Frankenstein, and Drew was a Skeleton. I had a bunch of really cute scrap booking paper that I'd been holding onto for years just waiting for the right opportunity to use... and this year I finally got to use it!

Then in 2007, Drew and Will were both obsessed with Star Wars, so we decided to use that as our inspiration. Jeff was a Jedi Knight, I was Princess Leia (my LEAST favorite of all of my costumes... I hated myself in that wig and plain white dress), Drew was Darth Vader (but I hate masks so I made him wear it backwards or not at all), and Will was Yoda. They STILL play in these costumes all the time!!

I honestly can't think of a theme we HAVEN'T done... so I guess I shouldn't be so sad about not dressing up as a family anymore. But I still do.

Anyway, hope you all had a happy Halloween and got lots of candy and had lots of fun!

Pre-Halloween Festivities!

Well, we've been doing lots of fun Halloweenie stuff lately so I thought I'd post a few fun pics since I've got the time:)

Wednesday we visited the witches at Gardner Village. Every year they set out tons of fun witches and encourage kids to come and do a scavenger "Witch Hunt". After you find all the witches they give you a chocolate chip cookie. It's pretty fun. Everyone's all-time favorite is "Witchy-poo" which is a witch sitting in an out house reading the newspaper taking care of her business... The boys always get a big kick out of her...

Then last Thursday night I took the boys up to Red Butte Garden for the opening night of Garden After Dark. It was BEAUTIFUL!! Seriously!! I LOVE Red Butte all year long, but I don't know if I've ever seen in more beautiful than with all the fall leaves! They had fun activities for the kids... they got to paint pumpkins and that sort of thing, but my favorite was the broom-making activity. They used dried grassed and sticks from around the garden and tied them together into brooms... then they had broom-stick races where they won ribbons to decorate their broom. What a genius idea for re-using your dried grasses as you're winterizing your yard! Genius I tell you!


Okay, then Friday was the kids' annual school Halloween carnival. It's always a great time! There are kid's activities all over the school and it's the one time they get to wear their costume's to school (their principal has a real thing about safety and he doesn't permit costumes or a parade on Halloween... it sucks, but we deal because it's a great school!). We were all rock stars. It's important to notice my sleeve tattoo's and nose piercing:) It think I should dress like that every time I go volunteer at the school... it was normal enough that folks didn't really notice I was dressed up, but different enough that people kept giving me double looks as if they had to remind themselves that it was Halloween and I was dressed up. Too funny! I'll post more pics of the kids in their cute costumes later...

Saturday we had a Little Gym carnival, but it was such a mad house I didn't take photos. I am afraid my boys have outgrown Little Gym... It's time, yet again, to close a chapter and move on to the next one... But that's another story:) Back to Halloween...


Then Sunday my good friend Rachel held her annual Halloween festivities. She called it "Owl-impics" and she had us running an obstacle course throughout her neighborhood dressed like this (Jeff & I went for the old stand-by costumes of "Hippies", Drew was a rockstar and Will was Indiana Jones)... It was a beautiful day and we had a great time, as usual. I love her parties because I don't have to plan or do anything. It's so unlike my life, that I relish in it!

So that brings us up to now. Just 3 days til the big day and I'm almost all Halloweened out... nah, that would never happen! I love Halloween!! Hope you are all enjoying the season! I can't wait to see all your pics of you and your families in your costumes!