We Wish you a Merry Christmas!

This year we enjoyed another great holiday season! Mark was slammed at work all during December - so he was ready for a few days off come the holidays! We had our friends the Mclellands over the week before to act out the nativity with us (this is our 3rd year of this tradition.) Then on Christmas Eve June came over and brought our family wonderful gifts that the kids loved including a basket of grape jam that I love! We love June and I am so glad she tolerates us since we don't have any family-grandmas here.

Christmas day morning we went to the Julians for our traditional brunch that we have been doing at least the past three or four years. Stacy makes some seriously delicious food and we bring the smoothies! I think we get the good end of the tradition!

After brunch at the Julians we met up with our wonderful family here (yeah! we finally have family around) We went to the Lees and had a nice evening with Liza and Jane's families. One of the funnest things about Christmas 2008 was all of the SNOW! We did some fun sledding with the cousins and the kids spent a lot of time playing outside.

Living in a Snow Globe

Well here we are, Christmas week 2008 and it has been the snowiest one on record (or something to that effect!) I must admit that we were happy about a white Christmas and I enjoy my children's return to the great outdoors to play in the white stuff (they don't go out to play in the cold, generally, unless there is snow)! But it is crazy how the snow has just gone on, and on and on! Mark said that one of his patients said we are living in a snow globe! And that is EXACTLY what it has felt like -- yep, it's still snowing every time you looked out the window for the past week and 1/2! Until today at around noon. Now it's warming up and the meltdown is creating some serious slop wherever you turn! But overall, I am glad for the snow. The kid's Christmas break started two School- days earlier than planned with the snow fall and school was cancelled. I snapped a few shots of our house and what Christmas looks like here.

My tree looks so lovely in this shot - but to be honest it is fake and looks it! I am ready for a new tree next year, but at night, it's hard to tell that the trunk has green plastic needles coming out of it! Also note the ornaments strewn about the floor. Ben and Sophia kept themselves occupied this year by stripping the ornaments off the lower portion of the tree every day.

We had a great Christmas this year. On Monday we had a family get together with my cousins Liza and Jane and their families. We love having them here in the area. Christmas Eve was spent at home and our friend June came over. Christmas Day we had our "traditional" brunch (I think this was the 4th year we've done it) at the Julians and then our cousins came over in the evening. We enjoyed all of the get togethers with people we love. Every year there is always a dilema on what and how much (or little) to get the kids for Christmas. We kept it simple this year and tried to give more than we got as a family. It was a good balance.

Holiday Photo Shoots

My friend Christine is just one of those cool people who has such a unique and fun style that she makes you wish you were more interesting! She is a talented artist who does not realize how amazing she is - very retro and has a beautiful - that's B E A U T I F U L family. We got a late start in the season in scheduling a little photo shoot for her Christmas mailing and were stuck with a photo shoot in the middle of a blizzard. The light was not ideal! But we had some fun with an orange wall and got some great photos anyway! Next year, we'll do it before the winter sets in.

Giving Thanks and Baby Camden

We are unusually thankful this year because for the first time my parents (Grandma and Grandpa Hanson) came from Salt Lake to spend Thanksgiving with us! They have hosted every year at their home but this year Uncle Jarom and Aunt Liina are back in South Carolina doing their residencies and the other locals spent Thanksgiving with their in-laws. We LOVED having my mom and dad here! After Thanksgiving We took them on our traditional Lake CDA cruise and light show to the North Pole where Santa waits in his work shop to greet the children by name (the crazy things we do in the Northwest!)

And, of course, we watched movies! Lots of them!

During the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, my friend Jessica Albrecht who has long-awaited a baby boy, got a suprise call that they had been chosen for a baby that had been born in Charleston, South Carolina. Their son was born in the same hospital that the afore mentioned Uncle Jarom is doing his residency. (too random to be a coincidence) Another bunch of miracles ensued over the next few days as baby Camden joined the Albrecht family in a way no less miraculous than a complicated delivery! What a blessing to watch this process unfold and see the way Heavenly Father guides us every step of the way. He is surely in every detail.

Wisemen Seeking

This year, I have had a Christmas card dilema. I'll tell you why; my friend Meagan has a card party every year the first weekend of November where the ladies make and address their Christmas cards in marathon fashion. Lots of food and conversation- always a great time. Love it. This gets me thinking about my Christmas card sooner than is typical with my usual last-minute style. Anyhow, my dilema began mainly because my last year's card unintentionally made an impression. Ben was a baby and I was inspired by another friend's picture to dress the kids up like the nativity and take a picture with Ben as the baby Jesus. I figured it would be the last chance I would get to have a genuine baby Jesus in our picture and I would have it to display forever in my house. I liked how it turned out, mainly because it was my kids and Ben was just the perfect little baby Jesus floating in the middle. So I sent it to Shutterfly and it became our Christmas card. It also seemed a fitting end to a year where we had been served by so many during a lengthy hospital stay. I was suprised when people started receiving the card and calling me because it was a true "Christmas Card" I guess. People I haven't heard from for a long time really appreciated the image and what it represented. So, I have felt a self-imposed need to keep the spirit of that card going with a new image with the kids while they are still young enough to be compliant. But, I just couldn't figure out what and where. The card party came and went and I still had no idea what to do. I finally got an idea going before Thanksgiving and by the weekend, had the image I wanted (for the most part). This year Mark was there to assist me which was incredibly helpful - especially because the county park was the location! I took my children, their costumes, baby Jesus (borrowed from Jessica), a manger (an old crate borrowed from Nancy Holdaway) and Donkey (borrowed from Shrek!) tromping out through the brush. We were quite the spectacle with hikers going by about every five minutes!

The kids were great sports for the most part, but I think Abe was really digging deep by humoring me. Mark thinks I do not need to make Abe do this again. I think, "When are you too old to dress up like a Wiseman?! Never!" As Abe put it - "Sure Mom, YOUR friends will think it's cool, but MY friends will think I'm a dork!" Aren't we above all that?! We'll see. It is not a relaxing photo shoot by any stretch of the imagination - but I LOVE doing it! I love putting the costumes together and getting creative.

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There was a lot of candy involved this year - as you can see. Ben was the first to get a sucker in his mouth. He pretty much had one the whole shoot. By the end, everyone had candy in their mouth and Abe was seriously over it. I can't knock him, though. He truly sacrificed for his mother on this one!

Below is one of our last pictures, the kids were done!

Can you guess which one I am using?

It was kind of cool because I ended up with some flare on the lens that seemed to land on our baby Jesus for many of the images. Funny what Mark would call "torture" - I call fun!

My Secret is Out!

Sometimes you have secrets and you don't even know it. (This is kind of like unknowingly having a hunting knife tucked away in your purse (thanks Abe) when you are trying to get through airport security---true story). This time, I discovered my own secret during family scripture study on Thursday morning. So, we were sitting in the living room before school and reading a few verses , when the sun came peeking out from behind a cloud and must have suddenly cast a glow upon my head that got Abe's attention. "Mom!" he said, "you have some grey hair!" (yes, it is true, I have a white hair situation that is getting worse at my temples by the day and I may have to start seeing my stylist a little more often). "No kidding Abe!" I said, "and I'd have a lot more than that if I didn't get my hair colored every few months!" Abe looked like I just confessed my true name was not Kerry Jensen and that I was a part of the witness protection program or something! Then, he laughed, "You do not dye your hair Mom!" Now I had to laugh! "Uh, YES I do!" Abe was seriously stunned! He almost reacted as if I was doing something immoral! "Well, how long have you been dying your hair?!" he asked. "Since you were six weeks old," I told him. "When I was pregnant with you my auburn got a lot darker - so it's pretty much your fault!" I had no problem whatsoever placing the blame for my immoral hair-coloring habit squarely on his shoulders. Let him deal with the guilt! The other thing I realized by this conversation is how seriously uninterested our kids are in anything other than their own business. The things I could have been getting away with for the past almost eleven years! "Haven't you ever noticed that sometimes my hair suddenly looks a little more red than usual?" -- "Well Yah, but I just thought you were using different shampoo or something."
I wish! Apparently I could use a bottle right now!

Now That's a Shiner!

This picture does not do it justice, however I thought it appropriate to record Ben's first shiner. It was given generously by the corner of our fireplace and was a nasty black for several days. This picture caught it as it was moving out of the black, into the rainbow phase. OUCH!

Um, BOO!

(Abe's friend Andrew (Mutt Williams), Abe (Indy), Trey (Nerd), Sophia (Sharpei), Taft (Vampire))

Well, Halloween 2008 is over. We are 10 days out and the candy is almost gone. I haven't thrown it away this year because quite frankly, I have been snacking on it for the past 10 days. For the first time ever, Mark was out of town the week of Halloween. When we first realized Mark's C.E. course would render him gone for halloween, I thought - no big deal. As per usual, I forget how RIDICULES the week of Halloween gets with all of the school activities and commitments. I think I spent 48 straight hours minus 6 for sleep "doing Halloween." Including making cupcakes the night before until 1 am for Abe's class. Melting a pot of carmel for carmel apples for Elsa's class and attending Kate's class party. Elsa did not want to dress up for school this year - I thought the third grade is a little young to be over it, but I guess she didn't like her witch costume enough to wear to school! As always, I stopped short of dressing up because, uh, I just don't.

Kate was nervous about her class party and all of the rules about masks etc. She was very concerned that her cheetah ears would be against the rules. I assured her that ears were A-OK. Luckily, no Halloween detention for Kate! Look, a cheetah with cheetos!

Abe's class was partying with the rest of the fifth grade. No costumes. And lots of karyoke. I peeked in on him and he was belting out some highschool musical tunes with a crowd of kids. Very funny. No pics.

After the school parties. We readied the house for another party. My friend Lindsay and her family are temporarily between houses and apartment dwelling. She came with her four kids. My friend Stacy and her family came. My friend Nancy and then at last minute Liza came with her family. We were so glad they came and that Liza was feeling well enough to come.

This was by far the most pleasant weather we have had for Halloween in recent years. The kids almost didn't need jackets. Lindsay and her husband Brett and Chris (Liza's husband) took the kids out for the first round of trick-or-treating. Sophia (or Sharpai) got tired first, so Brett walked her back home. He said they had been walking about 5 minutes when she looked up to see that she was walking home with a man she hardly knew! She burst into tears and bawled that she wanted her mommy the rest of the way home! This was actually somewhat reassuring to me that she actually got upset being with a strange man. I have always thought she would just go with whomever - especially a man! However, it is a bit unsettling that it took her 5 minutes to realize she could be in peril.

It was a funny coincidence that the Kate's were both cats! They seriously had so much fun - united in their costumes - they have never gotten along better.

Have I mentioned how much I love our new house? It is such a great place for entertaining. Everyone has a place and there is plenty of space! Our new location (around the block from our old house) is much busier for the trick or treating than our other house. I think we got twice as many this year as years past.

Our friend Emma, cousin Jessica and Elsa.

Elsa was a witch, Sophia was Sharpei from Highschool musical and Ben was too big for the chicken costume my friend Jessica bought on a clearance sale last year. So he was Ben. The funniest thing was Ben's reaction to the pumpkins lit on the front porch. He totally thought they were alive and he got so excited talking to them!

Stacy's cute little lion baby Addie! Oh she's cute!

Another treat was when my cousin Jane's kids came by. Jane and Rob then took the older kids back out for round 2 of trick or treating. I think the kids went for about 2 hours. They got so much candy! The Frasers were dressed up as the 60s (3 of these people are a little old for trick-or-treating- don't ya think? But I gave them candy anyway!)

Illuminations

Abe recently had a big night for his Ables class. Ables is a special program Abe has participated in since the second grade. Once a week he takes a bus to another school where they do more creative group-type projects and research presentations. This time they were focusing on medieval times and Abe chose "Illuminations" as his subject. Illuminators were artists who would draw literature to make it come to life. We took all of the kids over to the school and listened to many enlightening presentations. This is the last year Abe will be in the program because he starts middle school next year (I can't even believe it!)

The kids that attend Ables have been doing this for three years and are pretty darn good at it at this point! Abe is a great self-starter and does all of his work on his own. He is one of few kids there that completely designed his own poster (a lot of the other's definately had parental help!)

Abe has had the same teacher for Ables all four years - Mr. Knowles. He is fantastic!! Abe has loved being a part of it!