The desert oasis?!?

Okay, Okay! So I've been thoroughly reprimanded for my terrible attitude about the snow. But, to understand my discontentment, you must know that the neighbors all say this is the most snow they have moved in a decade!! My biggest problem is that snow was not part of the package presented to me when I agreed to give central Washington a try. This town is nicknamed "the desert oasis!!"

Luckily, not everyone is as annoyed with the snow as I am. The boys had a great time romping in the powder yesterday afternoon. It wasn't sticky enough for a snowman, but it was sticky enough for them to bring a bunch indoors with them when they came, so I got to move snow off of my driveway and my tile floor yesterday. Lucky me!!!

(I'm glad that Kade wasn't tempted to give Jordan a little nudge! I'm not sure that the pond is completely solid!!)

Livin' the Dream

If I were to turn back time a little today, I think that I'd help a couple of our familiar Christmas song-writers join forces to create a Christmas song with lyrics more in tune with what a lot of us are actually thinking (or muttering under our breath) :

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, . . .But, only in my dreams!!! "

The idea of a white Christmas is beautiful, magical, cozy bliss. The reality is freezing, back-breaking, cooped-up misery. Because my husband had a small surgical procedure done on the bottom of his left foot Thursday, our tremendous snowfall of Saturday and Sunday meant a lot of work for me. It also taught me two things -- first, I am so grateful for a healthy, hard-working husband. I'm not sure what I would do without him . . . it hasn't been pretty with him laid up. Second, I'm not sure that I've found the place I want to live forever. I don't love this town so much that I'm willing to deal with the inconveniences that come with it. What are housing prices like in Arizona? You don't have to shovel heat off of your driveway.

The view from my front porch -- after 3 1/2 weekend hours of painstaking snow removal.

Spicy Burritos

Apparently the cuisine I prepared for last night's dinner was not particularly kid-friendly. When I told the boys we were eating the leftovers tonight, Kade told me that my burritos were too spicy this time and Jordan said, "he has a point." (Brett and I thought they were great!) They have decided they would rather have Macaroni or cereal or something. Kade told me, "I know what's inside a burrito that makes it taste spicy . . . the spicy stuff!!"

My Dapper Darlings

We are going to have a great holiday season.

I'm so grateful for my boys . . . all 3 of them!

Living Right

Anyone who knows me very well knows that I have severe feelings of fear, dread, rage, hatred, annoyance, disbelief, horror, and nausea regarding the post office in my small town. I'm quite certain that emergency rooms are the only places on Earth that could foster more waiting and frustration than this place. I avoid it like the plague and when I have to go, it ruins my whole day. I know that all post offices are busy, but, out of the 6 or 7 that I have frequented, this one wins a ghastly rating. (I told my sister just last week that part of what helps me gauge the quality of my experience there is how many of the other customers have teeth!) I am convinced today that I must be doing something right in life!! Two days in a row now, I've had to make a trip to the post office to get all of my Christmas cards and packages sent off and away. Both days, I walked in and had to wait less than one minute to be helped!! Both days there was a line of 20 + people behind me when I walked out. My timing is impecable! I am soooooooo glad to be done with that place for the season without any bad days, tears, scars, or shock syndrome to speak of. Happy, Happy Holidays!

Deck the Halls

Although we do love turkey dinner, our favorite part about Thanksgiving weekend is that it finally feels prudent to decorate for Christmas!

A few of our Christmas decor must-haves:
1. Stocking hangers that can support the stockings when they are full. We finally found some with that claim this year and I tested them out myself . . . if they can hold my purse without tumbling down, they are definitely tough enough for the job.
2. Rope tinsel on the tree. Brett and I didn't see eye to eye on this at the beginning of our life together -- I was certain that Martha Stewart or Mrs. Pottery Barn could surely be quoted on deeming it unacceptable for any Christmas tree. But, it is quite nostalgic for the both of us and has grown on me considerably.
3. A hodge-podge collection of ornaments about us, where we've been, and what makes us happy. We will never have what my husband calls a "Relief Society Tree." -- Definition: A "boring" Christmas tree with Ribbons, flowers, and completely coordinating ornaments. Instead, you can find American flags, Disneyland souvenirs, the Batmobile, Captain Jack Sparrow, Rainbow Brite, Spiderman, LDS Temples, Star Wars characters, and more on our tree. We have a tradition yearly of each choosing a new Christmas ornament from the Hallmark store on Thanksgiving weekend. This year our picks were: Brett -- Indiana Jones; Julie -- a little drumming soldier; Jordan -- Batman, the Dark Knight; Kade -- Rocket from Little Einsteins; and in Zoe's memory -- A clam shell with a pearl that reads, "Every life leaves something beautiful behind." We also added ornaments from Mount Rushmore and the Denver Broncos. Nearly every ornament on our tree has a memory that it conjures up.

We are geared up for another great holiday season - - if Kade doesn't drive us crazy asking us numerous times each day if it is Christmas now. We keep telling him that it is the Christmas season, but Christmas day isn't here quite yet. He is slightly tortured by the wait. But, with little ones so excited and full of Christmas spirit, I'm certain this is going to be good.

Whooping, Hollering Buddies!

Although we don't have winter weather here yet, there aren't many chances to go out and play after school these days. The fact that it starts getting dark around 4 pm probably has something to do with it!! (I swear we must be on the edge of our time zone!) At least our boys find ways to entertain themselves in the house -- and it sounds like a playground while they are doing it, so maybe it is exercise!?! Some Mom's have couch potatoes; I have couch howler monkeys!!

Bake me a cake as fast as you can!

Jordan's class at school read a story this week about a Hedgehog that baked a yellow cake and then ate it warm with a nice cold glass of milk. His teacher copied the recipe for all of them and he could hardly wait to make his cake when he got home from school. I let him measure and dump in all of the ingredients, beat it all together with the handmixer, grease the pan, and get the batter into the pan all on his own. He really enjoyed doing it.

But, he enjoyed "clean-up" the very most and so I am reassured that

he is a child after my own heart.

The difference between Jordan and I, is that he let Kade in on the dirty work. I've always considered it the chef's job. I always new he was a nice kid!

(FYI, my rubber spatula is still in one piece!!)

The cake was yummy baked, too!

Big Bumber!

There are some coding problems between Blogger and Blurb, so Blurb's slurping utility for Blogger will not be working for an indefinite amount of time. For those of you, like me, that have been "slurp"-ing your blog posts into Booksmart to make a blog book with all of your pictures and text (as a sort of family journal), this is really bad news. It is going to take me so much longer to finish my 2008 book when I have to copy and paste everything over, or post it in both places everytime!! Eeeeeewwww! Technology!! No wonder I retired from my computer programming career!!

Who ya gonna call?

Kade's pre school class went on a field trip to the fire station today. I got to be one of the field trip mom's . . . again. (That's odd!) I'm not sure that the fire fighters who sacrificed their time to educate us felt like anyone was comprehending anything they were saying, but the kids had a great time. While we were there, the kids got to:
1. look at the huge map of our town and see if they knew where they lived (apparently, a few live in the middle of the lake!),
2. learn about who to call and how when there is an emergency situation (hope they understood the 'when' part!),
3. check out all of the different emergency vehicles and learn about what they do, and
4. look at, touch, and even try on all of the different parts of a fire fighter's gear.

The main goal of the firemen was to show the children what a fire fighter will look and sound like if they come to help you out of a burning building. They told the kids not be nervous or hide from them because they are nice guys just wearing a lot of clothes so that they don't get cooked.

I hope that Kade didn't get any future career ideas. I'm going to write a new rendition of "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys." This mama isn't letting anyone become a fire fighter. There are much less dangerous jobs out there that have a sense of adventure. Take Brett's job for instance . . . he also wears a coat, gloves, and a mask and barrels into the unknown. But, he is still alive and well with squeaky white shoes at the end of his work days. How does dentistry sound to you, Kade?!?

Yes, all of that blue stuff is water, and no, Kade

isn't sure where to find his house on that map.

No explanation needed!!

Kiss Me

Kade has never been one for kisses. In fact, he has always been known to say, "Kiss me on my hair so I can't feel the wet." But the last couple of days he has been spoiling me with kisses . . . on my lips. Last night, after one of these sweet kisses, he turned to Jordan and said, "I didn't know that I would like that, but I do!" When his precious innocence fades, we are going to have trouble on our hands!

What now?!?

What do you do when your child's intelligence passes the point of absolute childhood innocence? We can no longer spell things that we don't wan't our kids to understand -- Jordan's reading skills foiled that method a long time ago. We can no longer speak in our synonym style code -- Jordan's reading skills have in turn increased his vocabulary, so that tactic is also history. I learned last night that the only type of deception that I thought that I had left is also a thing of the past.

When I was tucking the kids in to bed, Kade was giving me a very long and detailed description of a Republic Gunship toy that his friend, Graham, owns that he would like to have for Christmas. I was giving him all of the appropriate listening-interestingly cues, although I didn't have even the foggiest clue what he was trying to tell me about. (It is just simply not possible for my understanding of Star Wars guys, ships, planets, species, force powers, lingo, and plot to match that of my two boys. My female brain does not have the capacity for such things -- altough I do play a mean game of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit.) When he had finished his explanation, he said, "Do you know which one I'm talking about, Mom?" and I said, "Yes!"

My shock came when Jordan gave a wicked little chuckle and met my gaze with a very amused look on his face. Then he very saucily said, "That's a 'yes' of 'No, Kade. I don't know' ."

I was absolutely taken aback! I didn't know whether to laugh or to fall apart. I have always taught that honesty is the best policy, but didn't feel it wrong to let my tiny guys believe that their extremely juvenilish technical explanations of things are important to me and make perfect sense. I guess my method of letting them believe is no longer going to be enough. I've been found out!! Aaaahhhh! Jordan is too smart for my own good!! I guess this leaves me two choices -- I have either got to spend some of my free time pouring over Star Wars books and movies to learn all of the facts that my boys already know so I can share this exciting part of their lives with them, or I'm going to have to admit defeat and acknowledge that they have surpassed my expertise in this area and I'm just a boring girl. My boys are just growing up too quickly!!

A long time ago, in a galaxy far away . . .

Introducing the winners of the 1st annual

ML Stake Harvest Carnival costume contest:

From left to right: Padme Amidala, Bobba Fett,

Blue Clone Trooper (aka Commander Kade), & Jango Fett

Jango wanted an exact clone replica for himself, and he got close,

but, little Boba seems to look a tiny bit like . . . Padme?!?

It seems that Jango Fett got a bit mixed up about his orders --

He was sent to stop Padme's heart, not win it!

Little Boba seems to be a budding photographer! Nice job, Jordan!

Now that's an alien life form that we had never before encountered. The boys were very excited to see their friend Aria and share some late night sugar cookies and hot cocoa.

In keeping with our theme, our pumpkin carvings included a Tie-fighter and the Rebel Insignia.

"Don't move Jedi!!"

Our Stake is having a Halloween Carnival at the Church tonight and it is almost time to go. The boys are suited up and waiting for my transformation from Mom to Padme Amidalla. Do you believe in miracles? Brett found some pretty cool Star Wars costumes at an online store and the boys are more than ready to be in character for the evening. We have plenty of movie scenes and lines in the bank to make our charade believable.