Swiper, NO Swiping!!

Does anyone else see the similarities between these two photos? Jenna loves to swipe things from people. She has a little corner in her room (between a bookshelf and her little kitchen) where she stashes things. We'll find all kinds of things there: jars of jam, packages of ham, Kristen's makeup/jewelry, my ipod, etc. Any time we can't find something, we go and check the stash. This picture shows someone's computer games, my lotion, someone's gift bag of candy from a friend, Kristen's ball (along with 2 of Jenna's), Jon's scissors, the family's cup of candy canes, etc. Oh! And I just noticed that there's a little pile of ornament strings that she apparently cut off. Hmmm...I guess that's what Daddy's scissors were for. What a silly girl! I sometimes seriously wish I could say "Jenna, no swiping!" and she'd say, "Oh, man!" and leave it alone. But it IS kind of cute....Sometimes....

Christmas 2009

We had a very nice Christmas. We were able to go visit family on the 23rd--right after the kids got out of school--and we came home on Christmas Eve night. My grandma always has a Christmas Eve party--dinner and white elephant gifts--and we didn't think we would be able to stay long enough this year to make it, but it worked out. We like to track Santa on www.noradsanta.org and the kids (and my mom) had a lot of fun with that this year. We sang songs on the way home and that made Jenna mad. She kept threatening us--if we didn't quit singing and make it quiet, we wouldn't get any presents. I've got to get a picture of her "mad" face--it makes me laugh every time. We got home and opened new jammies and slippers (for the girls) and socks (for the boys) and frosted sugar cookies. We also read Christmas stories. The kids didn't sleep well the night before, so they were pretty good. We managed to hold the kids off from opening gifts until about 7:30 am!! They all had such a good time opening gifts and spending time together--NO fighting at all yesterday--that's the best present I received. :) I think each one had a favorite gift or two. Kendall--an ipod and some star wars mini figs; Kristen--a guitar and some American Girl doll clothes; Jarren--LEGOS!!! Need I say more?! And Jenna--fuzzies. Lots and lots of fuzzies! They are the jungle in my pocket--little jungle animals covered in fuzz. This Christmas has been very interesting with all the deaths--it really makes me realize what's important and what the true meaning really is--family and Jesus Christ. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Dance Recital

Kristen had her dance recital last Saturday. She is on the competition team and will be competing in three dances this spring. The recital is really a time to showcase what the non-competitive classes have been working on. They had an opening number where all the competitive dancers participated in--Kristen is the front red present--and then she performed a Christmas ballet. I LOVE the costumes!! They'll be using them all year. My parents and brother were able to come and watch. Thank you!! The recitals are fun to watch and now Jenna is so excited to be a dancing girl. :)

Choir

Kristen decided that she wanted to sing in her school choir this year. She had to practice hard--before school for one hour twice a week--even while off-track. They had a fun program, full of Christmas songs and she did a great job! (She is on the front row on the far right end) They had 5 performances in one week! I was in the high school choir (my mom had to practically force me to try out), but it was some of the most fun I had! I'm glad she could have this experience...

RIP

I've decided that I hate getting older. Well...I don't mind the aging, but things really hit home the older I get. I finally realize how fragile life really is. I realize that I'll probably never have the chance to go everywhere and do everything I want to do. And I realize how important and precious the memories we make are. I had an email friend die last week and my neighbor passed away last night. Both were quite young and left young children behind. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I know and believe what we believe (life after death; being with loved ones again), but it's still hard to think of these families being without their loved ones during the holidays and for the rest of their earthly lives. I think of myself in their positions and my heart just aches and breaks. May these sweet individuals rest in peace and may the Lord be with their loved ones and comfort them at this difficult time.

O Christmas Tree

For the last few years, we've purchase a "real" Christmas tree. We have mismatched ornaments and the kids go to town. Two years ago, Kendall was really bothered by it. He wanted a fancy tree, so, since we were just finishing our basement, I went to Target after Christmas and got a tree and matching ornaments (all on clearance I might add) for us to put in the basement. Funny---our basement is the pretty, fancy decor and the upstairs (where most people see) isn't. Anyway...he thinks of it as his tree. My idea of the decorating is to just put the red and gold bows and glass ornaments on in a mixed up array, but Kendall's idea was to put all the red bows in one section, all the gold bows in a section, all the red balls in a section, and all the gold balls in a section. NOT what I would've done, but I left it and he directed the other kids on where to put what. I think we all love it! Jenna loves to turn off all the lights and just sit by the glow of the tree.