January

I told Megan at the start of the month that January is the longest month of the year cause of the dark, cold, snowy days and I have not been wrong. I'm ready for February and am already looking forward to Valentine's Day and dreaming up what our celebrations will be.

Here is some of what we have been up to these past few months.....

My baby no longer looks like a baby....now he's a little boy with short hair. (He picked the barbie jeep to ride in)

There is Megan on the end...singing with her school choir at the Festival of Trees.

Spencer and I all dressed up ready to go to his work party. We had a good time and even stayed later this year for the dance portion.

This one is worth celebrating...Megs finally! lost a tooth. Her permanent tooth was already growing in but the baby one just wouldn't let go. Megan would not allow Spencer or I to help with the removal, we were only allowed to wiggle it. Then one morning as we were sitting down for breakfast it fell out on the table.

Our Christmas celebrations

Sorry for being so busy/tired and couldn't be bothered to post pictures of our Christmas celebrations as of yet. (Actually we didn't take too many pictures this year for some reason, I'll find some to post later)

I'm personally taking some time to do so now. (Most of you would have already heard/experienced some of our celebrating by now anyways....here goes...)

This Christmas rolled by faster than I was prepared for, but all the important things got done.

Some things that kept us busy include:

• sledding on the warmer days
• trying our hand (or feet and skill) at skiing. (We think that this will be our new family winter activity; we survived one day anyways. Megan was able to take a lesson, Evan was too young. It was a struggle to help him, when neither Spencer or I have been skiing in years. Our best success came from having him take off his skis and walking a little way up the hill then helping him back into them and sending him down hill. He loved that. But kept asking if he could take the tow rope to the top of the bunny hill and when he would be able to use a snowboard. Yikes! One ski day at a time. He'll get there eventually and so will Megs.)
• watching despicable me at the cheap theater while eating a large popcorn! The kids finally all stayed fairly interested and in their seats for the whole movie! (actually I told Evan that if he didn't; as he typically likes to scale the seats, visit the arcade and washroom etc. during the movie; that I would no longer take him to the theatre to watch movies) It worked!
• Went swimming at a wave pool, and played at a real indoor park
• Of course the usual errands and grocery shopping (nightmare with 3 kids in tow!)
• Forever cleaning the house together
• Decorating cookies with grandma.
• Pushing and shoving our way through various stores to find the "perfect" gifts for others
• Attending Spencer's work Christmas party (looking fabulous in purple)
• going to our Ward Party
• Watching Megan's school Christmas party
• sending/receiving Christmas cards
• I did no Christmas baking, but opted to buy a few treats (time and stress savor)

Now for a more spiritual side of activities:

• Listening to Christmas music
• Decorating the tree together
• Spending time with family
• Not rushing too much through out the day
• Selecting a few people in our ward to drop of a stocking of goodies too to help brighten their Christmas ( one carol was sung!; Megan joined us in delivering these stocking, while the boys fell asleep in the van due to the long ride and wait. BTW we were wearing elf hats/Santa hats)
• Having one Christmas dinner with good friends and another after Christmas with family.
• Having our own version of Christmas Eve festivities, we each shared a talent and watched a Christmas video from the church website.
• Attended a live Nativity (PS. it was the coldest night that week to be outside but we were bundled and ready, then the kids enjoyed their dinner at Rotten Ronnies)
• Christmas morning brunch and relaxing with new gifts and spending the day together

Of all our favorite Christmas traditions that we have done my favorite are:

• writing letters to each member in our family that we read aloud Christmas morning (part of our stockings)
• doing a food hamper/stocking with gifts for those in need in our ward

both of these things help us to more focus on the real meaning of the season and include a way to show love and service to others, just as Christ would do.

There are typically other things that we do that didn't happen this year....like taking a night to drive a look at lights, or attending the tree lighting downtown and going to the legislature. We had a more relaxed and slow Christmas which turned out to be perfect. Maybe next year we will find time to include all these other things, but for now we are happy with how our Christmas turned out.

Slurpee Snob...

That's right, I'm too good for Slurpee's. I didn't even buy myself one this year and I only think that I treated my kids to a few. (Maybe because the summer wasn't so hot!)

My drink of choice comes from Booster Juice....and the drink of the Christmas season has arrived....their wonderful Eggnog booster juice. A light eggnog taste with banana and frozen yogurt. Megan and I give this two thumbs up! Any other time of the year I enjoy the original and the orangsicle (taste just like an orange popsicle). A bit more of a pricey treat but healthier and tastier.

Funeral

My Grandma Herget passed away on the last day of November. It has been such a long time that I've been to a funeral (both of my grandfathers passed away around 20 years ago). Spencer stayed at home with the kids and I went down to the funeral with my sister and brother in law. It was such a quick trip. All of her kids and grand kids were there (minus one). It was great to see everyone.

It is amazing the effect and influence that one couple can have. My grandparents had 5 kids and 29 grand kids and 68 great grand kids. She lived a good life and loved many and worked hard. She will be enjoying this Christmas with my Grandpa Herget. Merry Christmas Grandma. I love you and will miss you.

Movember three weeks growth

This is what we all had to live with for the rest of Movember. He looks great in a gotee but a moustache is a little different. He reminded me of a french inspector....we are all glad that it is over with now and we have our Spencer back.

Movemeber = one weeks growth

Well you don't need an up close to see all that scruff on Spencer's face. Only a few more weeks to win our prize with our Movember contest among the brothers/in-laws. So far so good. Except for Megan, she absolutely HATES Spencer with his goatee. We are still trying to figure that one out? At least she cares or is more concerned about the pokes she gets when giving Spencer a kiss.

P.S. sorry for the bad picture Spcncer! But it is for a good cause.

Fun with the kids

So Megan had an extra long weekend. We invited a friend for her and a friend for Evan to play with one day (thursday), complete with movie, popcorn and candy. After that they just all played together. It turned out really well. They (they came from the same family) played and got along well with other, since they all have similar interests. I'll have to do that more often.

Then next day (friday), Megan saw Evan off to preschool and then had to join me in running "mom" errands which was just grocery shopping. But in the afternoon we went to an indoor playground and then went for a swim. A bit of a handful swimming with 3 kids of varying ages/interests and abilities, but it all worked out and we had a great time. Then that night Spence and I went to the Temple. We also stopped in at the stake center to check in on our CV YW/YM and ran into our niece and a few nephews; we also go in a few dances. Phew! what a day.

Here is Megan showing her skills on the monkey bars.

Evan has just learned how to go down the "fireman pole" at the parks and loves to do it! It is awesome to see kids learn new things and to be so excited!

Here is Aaron crawling as fast as he can through the tunnel on the playground equipment.

Then the next day (saturday) I was again the single parent as Spencer was off to some early morning meetings and the kids had swimming lessons. Then that night we visited with some of Spencer's siblings. Which was nice, we don't get to see them too often.

Then the next day (sunday) Spencer jetted off to a work conference for 3 days. Boy we sure miss him and all the help he provides. I managed somehow in church. Miracle of miracles! Actually the kids and I really pull together to help and get things done.

Hopefully this weekend will be a bit slower, but I'm not counting on it. We are just really busy right now with kids, work, family, studying and church responsibilities. But we manage and keep putting one foot in front of the other as we continue on. We feel really blessed in so many ways.