Monday, December 31, 2012

Snowflakes!

It looked like flecks of glitter falling from the sky
this beautiful morning of only 3 degrees. 
We quickly discovered these tiny snowflakes. 

This tiny little speck is a plate snowflake. 
We learned that years ago when we studied William Bentley the Snowflake Man.

And these two teeny flakes....
....look like perfect little stars!

Happy New Year

 Good bye 2012....
which was an awesome year for us!
 Hello 2013!.....
which will be an awesome year for us too!
 Enjoying the frigid temps.
We never knew that winter could be so much fun.
Everything is crisp and beautiful.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Merry Christmas!


We have experienced a heap load of "Firsts" this Christmas.
We have been homebound due to the snow falling and loving every minute of it.
We hear that it gets old and that we will be regretting it in the Spring.
But for now, we are loving it!
We spent almost all of Christmas outside sledding!
I can't remember having so much fun on a Christmas day before.  It was never ending.
We even went "night sledding" in 12 degree temperature.
All our neighbors were probably thinking....there goes that AZ family again....
 It had to be one of the most exciting moments for us to wake up and see that it has snowed even more.  Not so fun about having to keep our front steps cleared off.  They get pretty icy.
I worry about anyone coming up to the door.
We had icicles hanging from the roof.  One fell off and the wall shuddered.  I later found a pretty large one lying in the snow.
 I thought this was deep.  This is now day 3 of snowing so I am sure it will be even deeper today.
 Victoria wanted to see if the dogs could pull her on the sled.  They weren't too sure of that.  But they sure do LOVE the snow.  They get so excited to run in it.
 I think these two are determined to get the dogs to pull the sled.
I don't think it will work but when you are a kid anything goes.
Daphne did sled for a while when our neighbor was out with us. 
We just didn't have the camera out then.
We are loving life!
 


Monday, December 24, 2012

White Christmas!

We woke up to ice cream scoops on our front porch railing.
We are so excited for this long awaited storm!
It has been snowing for hours now.  This field behind our house is completely covered now. The remnants of last seasons straw is buried.
These two were out back sledding down into the irrigation ditch when there were still sprigs of grass showing.
We had trouble getting the camera to focus on the kids...it kept catching the snowflakes.
Either way, it is absolutely beautiful.
From inside the house, we feel like we are in a snow globe.
Jared tested out the pile of dirt that the construction guys left on the corner.
This is a dream come true for us.
Snow on Christmas!
We aren't quite sure if we wll be able to drive in this weather to make it to Christmas Eve service at Church tonight......
 


Merry Christmas!

With sore fingertips, an achy neck, and about 13 movies later....I am so happy to announce that I finished Victoria's stocking early this morning around 1:30 am!  I watched...well mostly listened to the entire series of Harry Potter.  I finally know the story now.  I think I had about three movies all wrapped into one before.  I have that straighted out now.
Somehow it has become a family tradition that the kids received their cross-stitched stocking on the Christmas around their 8th birthday.  It just worked out that way. Victoria turned 8 and has felt like her stocking wasn't going to be completed by Christmas Eve.  I promised her that it would be hung in time for Santa to come and fill it with goodies. Though this past weekend I felt like just clothes pinning it to the shelf. You should have seen Victoria's face when I said that one! It feels good to keep a promise.  It feels good to be finally done!  I often wonder if I will ever attempt to cross stitch another item. 
Hmm.....I might put that in with not ever teaching someone to read or potty training another child. 

Thursday, December 20, 2012

A Snow Bulb

It amazes me how a tiny snowflake can fall and accumulate into a place that is least expected.

Traditions

Long ago, Kirk and I bought our first Christmas ornament when we were only dating.
It was this cute moose.  26 years ago I wanted to see a moose out in the wild.  My dream actually came true if you have been reading our blog. 
We finally saw one here.
Adding to our ornament collection has become a tradition over the years. Every year we have chosen an ornament that might reflect the year, or just be something that caught our eye. 
Like these that remind us the summer of gardening and all the deer that feasted in it.

 
 When the kids were babies, we would pick out their first Christmas ornament.  It was always a special occasion searching for the perfect one for a perfect baby.
When Kaleb was little, he and I went out on a date.  I think he was about 5.  Victoria was a baby and he really needed some Mommy time.  So we shopped for his ornament that year.  I was looking at all these really cute ones.  He chose this glitter ball.....It was right at his eye level.  He loved that ball and carried it like it was the most precious treasure. His cresent moon eyes just sparkled!
When Victoria was just 14 months old, we were in Michaels as a family shopping for a special ornament.  This one makes us all laugh and remember the moment.  This pink plastic ornament was hanging at the bottom of the rack.  She picked it off the hook and started walking down the aisle using it as a cane.  She was the first to find hers that night.
This year she chose this unicorn that is fragile. It was a toss up between another dog ornament or something different this time.  She is into fairies and fantasy right now so the unicorn is quite appropriate for her. 
Kaleb found this little alien in a space ship.  Perfect!
Jared surprised us all with this beautiful ball that he chose.
I feel like he is growing up. It brings tears to my eyes.
Daphne loves "culture" so she found this adorable little girl ballerina. 
 
 
My grandmother was a frequent flyer of McDonalds.  We always got McDonalds gift certificates in our little crocheted stockings at her house every year.  But one particular year, each of the kids received an ornament of Bernard and Bianca from the Rescuerers Down Under compliments of McDonalds.  It makes me laugh but it was my Grandmother. These have been a favorite of all my kids.  I am probably the only grandchild that still has theirs.
 

Kirk and I found this one the year we got married.  We had gone camping for our honeymoon.  Which, up until this past year, we have never met anyone else who would venture into camping for a honeymoon. Our new friends the Summits camped on their honeymoon.
See?....we aren't the only ones!

Every year, decorating the tree has been a walk down memory lane. There are some years that we don't have any for that year...like the year that we lost baby Sarah, or the year that Kirk lost his job and we had no money.  Kind of like this past year. But even though those were painful years, it shows growth.  We can look back and see where we have been and just know that God has an incredible plan for our future. I have all the ornaments logged in a special book with the date that they were hung for the first time on the tree.  The kids love seeing their little creations that they have made along the way. I hope they will continue this tradition. I think they will.

SNOW!

 It is only 9 degrees this morning!
I love the SNOW!
And I haven't heard any complaints from the rest of our family.
 There is just something so clean and refreshing walking through snow.
It's quiet...

Cardboard!

It always amazes me what my husband creates out of cardboard!


12/12/2012

Jared caught the time of 12:12 p.m. and 12 sec on 12/12/12.
There is a neat story behind this watch.  When he was about 5 years old, we were vacationing in San Diego, California. My Dad and I were walking the kids back from the restrooms along burning hot sand when I saw this watch just lying on the ground.  Someone had dropped it.  Of course there was no one around so I picked it up and immediately saw these little dolphins jumping across the screen.  It has little jelly fish and a moon and stars too.  My Dad was carrying Jared so I ran up to show them. 
My Dad was like....... wow, what a neat watch, let me see that. 
I know better than to hand things over to my Dad. 
I was not going to let go of this one. 
Kirk doesn't wear a watch so I asked Jared if he wanted to wear it?
He has worn it every day ever since.
Everytime my Dad sees Jared he askes him....
So, how's my watch?
It took us about three years to figure out how to turn off the 5 am and 5 pm alarm.
He has managed to wear through about 3 bands and two batteries.
Not bad for it being found on the beach.


Saturday, December 15, 2012

Kitties

These two are so spoiled.  They are both 16 and are really showing their age.  Toby trips on the bed when he stands up, Mattie is just a whif of a kitty.  Always has been.  They love my side of the bed because it gets sunshine from the window.  These two have developed new habits this past year that I don't necessarily like.  They used to hang out on Daphne's bed but now that the sun shines more in our window they are on our bed.  And with it getting cold, I was finding Mattie curled up snug between my pillows.  Yuck! I never minded the cat hair when I was a kid..... Now it bugs me.  And with their frailness, and the cold, and just feeling like I could help them out, we bought them a bed. They are the sweetest things when they are sleeping together like this.  Not so sweet at 5 a.m. when Toby decides to yodel through the hallway for food.  This is totally new and we aren't really liking it on the weekends. Anyway, they love their new bed.  Now all I have to do is vacuum their bed.  Ours is clean. Every morning, Mattie sits on the bed waiting for me to put her bed on top so she can get in and snuggle, waiting for the sun to shine through the window.

Service Project

Some of the Teens in our co-op at Star Academy went to the Logan Assisted Living Center to clean wheelchairs.  This was something that was desperately needed and had requested about 12 kids to help clean.  Well, we showed up with over 20 so all the walkers and wheelchairs were cleaned and ready for the snowy weather.  And boy did these wheelchairs need to be cleaned. A couple of them were really gross!
Even Daphne came to help. I was really impressed with the kids and how they just jumped in and did it.  They had a blast working with eachother.  (I know the picture is blurry, I had the camera on the wrong setting for inside with flourescent lights)
Afterwards, we used a room at the Library in town to have a little Christmas party for the kids.
They had all brought board games to play but started playing "Do you love your neighbor?" and didn't stop for two hours!!! Oh wait, they stopped long enough to have a couple treats and then it was back to the game. It was hysterical to watch and hear what they came up with.
Have you played this game? My kids have played this with Pastor Phil when we were at Chaparral Christian Church. So they were very excited to play it again.
One person stands in the center and asks someone if they love their neighbor.  If that person says yes....then the two people sitting next to that person jumps up and switches seats before the person in the middle steals it.  If that person says No...but I like everyone wearing red, then only kids wearing read jump up and trade seats before the person in the middle steals a seat.
 It was really fun to watch.  They got creative and were saying ....No...but I love all those who Homeschool, or have holes in their jeans, or have the last name of Headley.....
My kids have been so blessed since we have moved here.  I had always prayed that they would have friends that they could just have fun with and now they really do. 
And where is Victoria in all this....she was at a friends house with three other girls just having fun, playing in a tree house, hanging out at the Grandma's house who lives in the neighborhood and playing house in a camping trailer. She was just as exhausted as we were when I picked her up.
It was a great day for everyone!



Fiddler On The Roof

 Victoria has had a wonderful opportunity to sing in a choir this past
fall with a wonderful instructor and her little friends.
When there was a slight shortage of boys to
play the Papa's, Victoria volunteered and asked if she got to wear a beard. 
At first I was going to react with what I wanted and stopped!
I said, really? You want to be a Papa?
She did.  I bet you can guess who she is. 
Our crafty friend knitted Victoria a beard which she is very proud to wear. 
She had to check it against her Daddy's.  It definately passed inspection.
I couldn't find the girls having fun after their show. 
They were extremely quiet which is always very unusual. 
And then I heard a giggle..........