It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

December has been a busy one.  We start off with Chad's birthday, then there is all of the busyness that comes with Christmas time.  I had a couple of baking orders.  I actually made 21 dozen Raspberry Half Moons in one week.  Yeah, I'm trying to start a home based bakery.  We'll see if Rolling Pin Bakehouse takes off.

So, here are a few cute/funny things my stinkers have done lately.   Heidi was trying to cut a tag off of a new shirt.  She was wearing the shirt and the tag was hanging from the underarm.  I look over to see her holding a large chef's knife, going toward her underarm.  I don't know what goes through her head sometimes!  That girl is book smart, but still needs to work on common sense stuff!!!  The boys both wore their suits to school last Friday because they wanted to look nice for their school Christmas parties.  Too cute!  Christmas night Owen was having trouble going to bed.  Hoping to calm him down, I told him he could pick a new toy to sleep with.  Instead of choosing a toy, he asked if I would sleep with him.  He's so sweet!  I laid in bed with him and Noah for a little while, and he was pretty sad when I got out.

The kids did an awesome job today of helping get the house back in order.  We are having a Surprise birthday party for Noah tomorrow, so I needed to do some major after-Christmas clean up.  I can't wait to see his face.  He's going to love it!!!!  Little Emmy is still not walking.  We got her a walker toy that will hopefully help her out.  She has got the cutest toothy smile!  She is such a joy!  Heidi received about 20 books for Christmas.  She is a happy girl!  When we saw Santa, she asked for books, Owen asked for 100 bucks and Noah asked for, what else, Legos.  Sadly, Owen did not get his Christmas wish!  We gave Heidi a corner reading chair that I bought at a garage sale back in the summer.  I think we'll get our money's worth on it!  Chad got me a garbage disposal- I'm super duper excited to get it installed.  My grandma gave us all family heirlooms.  It was pretty awesome!  All of the women got antique dishes that are really gorgeous.  My dad got some tool used with flax that has been in our family since 1790!! Chad's grandma also gave us family heirloom items that are pretty cool.  It was a great Christmas!  Now we get to look forward to the annual New Year's Eve party with Knecht's!

Little Owey

Owen can be such a sweetheart.  He is sometimes very helpful and skips around asking what he can help with next.  He will say I love you out of the blue.  He loves to snuggle.  He is often frustrating to me also.  I commonly hear "I don't have to if I don't want to.  No, I'm not going to...."




 He started Kindergarten this year and I figured he would do fine because he has been going to church his whole life and is always good for teachers there.  Kindergarten has been the same.  His teacher says he's a joy.  He follows all of the rules, works hard...  He's just so up and down at home.  I know that he understands our rules and why we have them.  He just has a hard time controlling his emotions and making good choices at home.   He sometimes shocks me!  Yesterday he was asking everyone what their biggest dream is.  Heidi said she wants to go to every amusement park in the world.  Noah said he wants to be Anakin Skywalker.   Owen said, " My biggest dream is to be with my whole family and Heavenly Father and Jesus."  What a sweet, sweet boy I have.  I need to remember this next time I want to ring his little neck because he's refusing to put clothes on for school.

Revelations

So, I've grown up hearing stories from my grandma, aunt and uncles about the mean things my dad did as a kid .  I've known him for 30 years and I know that he is a little mean spirited at times.  We all laugh when someone trips or falls, but with my dad it's a little more sinister when he's laughing at others misfortunes.  Like the time he laughed hysterically after nailing me in the jaw with a softball when I was 10.  The stories I've heard are usually about normal mean brother things, like putting a spinning propeller in his little sister's hair.  BUT today there were new revelations into the mind of Ross.  My dad, his brother and their friends were hanging out  in a friend's barn -and as any good barn has, there was a rope hanging  down.  Well, my dad decided to tie a noose.  I'd like to know how and why my dad knew how to tie a noose!  He then convinced his OLDER brother to step up on the crate and put the noose around his neck.  All of the boys were just laughing and laughing as my uncle's face turned red.  Thankfully, the one boy's father came out and rescued him.  After hearing this, all I could say was,Wow!

New York, Niagara and Ninjas

We recently took a trip to Western New York to visit Niagara Falls and church historical sites in Palmyra. We drove to Rochester, about an eight hour drive, without incident. The kids only needed restroom breaks twice-when we ate lunch and when we got gas. Easy enough. The drive back was not so nice. Noah is obsessed with bathrooms. It's really weird. If he hears the word bathroom, he suddenly must empty his bladder. We were at a building that had nice, clean bathrooms inside, but also had port a potties outside. He saw the port -a- potty first, so he ran to it. GROSS!!! The hotel was nice. There was a pool and a hot tub, so we hung out there for a while, then headed to bed. The next morning, we headed to the Peter Whitmer farm and church building in Waterloo, which was an adorable town! Then it was off to Palmyra for a full day of sights. It was 100 degrees, and HUMID. We hung out in the Book of Mormon publishing building for a while because it was air conditioned. We had lunch at a pavillion by the stake center, then went to the Smith family homes and Sacred Grove. The kids were so wild, I wasn't sure if they were listening to anything that was said. They have been talking about it, though, and get excited when they see pictures in the back of their Book of Mormon from the places that we visited.

We set up camp in the stinkin' hot weather, then drove out to save our seats at the Pageant on Hill Cumorah.  We bought supper there and ate outside, then hung out at the Visitor's center and enjoyed the air conditioning before the start of the Pageant. It was a great presentation.

Our camp site was interesting. There wasn't anyone there when we arrived. It was just an open field at the 4-H Fair grounds. The website said they had showers. So, Wednesday morning I headed to the showers with my clean clothes and towel. The first shower I turned on had no hot water, neither did the other two! When you turned the hot water knob, no water even came out! I was an unhappy camper. It had been so hot the day before-there was no way I could skip a shower. BRRRRRR! We drove to the top of Hill Cumorah Wednesday morning. The time spent in Palmyra was really great.

Off to the Falls! We had directions to Niagara Falls, but the signs said to go a different way, we followed our directions, and they got us to Canada! We were planning on doing both sides, but since we ended up in Canada first, we just did that side. For some reason it took a long time to get into Canada, as if a lot of people want to go there? While we were sitting in traffic, there was a woman walking across the bridge who was wearing a head scarf that covered her entire face, except for her eyes and Noah whispers with enchantment, " A ninja!" We corrected him and had a good laugh. The Falls were amazing!!!! The water is a beautiful green and it's just awesome! We did the Maid of the Mist-which cost more on the Canadian side-boo!  What a bunch of hosers, eh?  It was totally amazing! Heidi got drenched. Noah and Owen didn't want to get that wet.

 After a long day there, we headed to Northern PA-to the Allegheny National Forest for camping over night. On the way there, Emmy had a blow out and I think we gave a few people some good laughs. We were on a pretty busy road and I had her dangling, while Chad was wiping her naked body clean. Oh, the joys of travelling with a baby! When we checked in, the lady said that the mama bear had just been out with her three cubs. I'm not a fan of camping with bears. I was a bit nervous! The bathrooms were the nicest camping bathrooms ever!- even nicer than some hotel bathrooms. The kids went exploring on all of the trails. The forest was gorgeous!

     On the way home, we took a slight detour and went to a light house on Lake Erie, near Port Clinton. We could see Cedar Point across the bay. We got to walk up into the lighthouse. That was lots of fun. Being on the lake is always great! We finished the trip by eating at Mi Pueblo. I love my family and love that we were able to take such an awesome vacation.

Time?

Summer is approaching, and our calendar is not lacking. With all of the outside work that comes with warm weather, and all of the fun stuff there is to do during the summer, it makes it hard to keep up with everyday inside chores. How do people live in warm climates year round? I rather enjoy when Jan/Feb come and we have a bit of a lull in extra activities.

Lately we have been busy with Noah's baseball games and practices. The other night Chad told him to throw the ball quicker during the game and he asked, "Won't that make the game go by faster?" He finally got to be catcher tonight. He has been talking about it since the season started. I was pretty excited for him! Owen is going to play soccer later in the Summer. He has been practicing at home. He has never played before, so we'll see if he enjoys it. Heidi is also going to play soccer for the first time. Heidi was tested and recommended for a special school program that is for kids that learn faster. So, she will be going to a different school in the Fall. She is kind of sad to leave her friends, but she is good at making friends, so I'm not too worried. I think she will benefit from this schooling. If it doesn't seem to be a good fit, we can pull her out of the program. Emmy is about 7 months old and almost ready to crawl. She scoots everywhere and grabs at cords and anything on the floor. I've had to do some redecorating, and move decor from the floor to a higher plane. Emmy has the biggest, open mouthed smile. It's so cute and funny. She has been an easy baby and this has been the easiest time in my life to have a baby. The other kids are pretty independent. They all get themselves dressed, brush their own teeth, strap themselves in... They are good helpers and they enjoy helping. They all love Emmy and want to sit by her and want to make her laugh.

The kids have been making me laugh. The other day at the zoo Owen asked how orangutans protect themselves against carnivores. Crazy! Noah, told me that he read a book where a wheelchair went 1,000 miles per hour. He then added, very informatively, "It was fiction, of course." That horrible Red Solo cup song was on, and Heidi thought it was about hot chocolate. I'm not sure what led her to that conclusion. Heidi gets to spend a week with Ben and Jocelyn. Jake and Zach adore her, so that will be great for them and her. We get to visit our friends, Blair and Kendra Shumard, in Ohio. I'm excited to hang out with them!!!

We did 2 joint garage sales recently. The South Whitley one made much more money than the one at Vanessa's. For about an hour, we had the kids holding up free signs, just so we could get rid of stuff. Some people cleaned up pretty well! We gave away our dining table and chairs. I really think they should have just been added to the burn pile in the back yard. We gave away our 10 year old tube TV that had a missing button, so we had to change the channel by inserting something into the void- we chose a plastic fork. We are eating on our card table for the time being. We ordered a table a while ago, but it won't be done until the middle of June. Chad and I are busy with church stuff too.

I Know the Recipe for Cinnamon Toast

Heidi had two friends over for a sleepover last night. Oh, the things I heard!!! These girls are so funny. They are in third grade. One of them told us about her boyfriend who proposed to her. The other girls gasped and couldn't believe that she accepted his proposal. Her response to them?- "Of course I did! He's cute, honest and smart." WOW! They wanted to pretend to be princesses and Heidi said, "Yeah, but we'll be reality princesses, not cartoon ones." I heard someone say, "That looks so old. It looks like it's from the 80's and belongs in a museum of natural history."

They were so sweet and made breakfast in bed for us. The one girl who "knew the recipe" for cinnamon toast asked if we liked it. When we said yes, she replied, "Good, I need a critic, other than my family, if I'm going to open a restaurant." It was a fun night for them. The boys were gone on their own sleepover, so that was nice to not have bothersome little brothers around.