Christmas

(First of all, someone needs to teach me to turn on red-eye-reduction, or how to edit red-eye. I'm too lazy right now to figure it out because Thys is sleeping, and I have ten other things I want to do before he wakes!) Above is Thys and Annie on Christmas Eve. After this pic with our tree, we went to G & G's to eat, decorate Santa cookies, and read the nativity story.
Christmas morning was so much fun! The kids are at really great ages for Christmas. Annie is playing her piano from Buba and Mimi, and Thys is eating M&M's from his stocking--certainly his favorite gift, but not the longest lasting. He's had to opt for other gifts since he ate the whole tube of M&M's Christmas morning (it was Christmas, okay?)

Winter Fun

NOT flattering of some of us, but hey, the truth hurts, huh? The one warm night we've had in the last few weeks, we took the chance to ride Trax down to Temple Square with cousins. We had a blast, and the kids, including Thys, loved the lights. Thys ooo's and ahhh's at all of them.
We have a perfect sledding hill for little people in the park behind our house. Anna, of course, had no fear, and even took a jump--on purpose. Thys opted for no sled, and was not so sure what he thought of the snow. He didn't last long, but we tried!

Angels We Have Heard on High

Becky, our super-babysitter, has a Christmas program every year. Here are all the little angels this year. The program is the cutest thing in the world--if your child is in it, but I have to say, a bunch of 2-7 year-olds singing "Angels We Have Heard on High" is the most entertaining and endearing thing one can hear. The "Gloria's" are to die for!

Holiday Traditions

I love traditions! I stole a great tradition from one of my college friends. When her family would decorate the Christmas tree, they would all drag their mattresses out to the tree and sleep around it. I loved the idea, so here we are. (It used to be easier when it was just Mel and me in the little condo--we didn't have to move the mattress too far.) It was a perfect winter evening with a big snow storm. We decorated the tree, then we slept around it in our Sinter Klaas pajamas and read our favorite Christmas book.


Here's another tradition that began even before we were married. One of our first dates was making a gingerbread house. Here is Mel and Anna's creation this year. Thys also loves it, but he just wants to eat the candy. We did this last Monday for FHE, and the candy is mostly gone--thanks to Thys, the sugar fiend!

Sinter Klaas

Sinter Klaas is a great Dutch holiday that we celebrate. In Holland, Sinter Klaas comes by boat from Spain and leaves gifts and candy in the children's shoes. Somehow he also makes it to Sandy, Utah. For a few night before December 5, Anna and Thys got little gifts and treats in their shoes. Then, on Sinter Klaas Eve, he actually came to our house, knocked on the door, and left a bag of gifts. We love Sinter Klaas. The tradition also includes everyone getting initials made of chocolate or pastry with almond filling. Above you can see my attempt at "banketletters"--thank goodness I could make an "O." I'm not sure any other letter would have worked. We also had kroketten, a Dutch ragu-filled, deep fried. . . something. I have to say, they ended up tasting okay, even though I can only read and understand about half the recipe!!
Anna bringing in the bag of gifts.
Thys with his chocolate letter.(I think we ate it--mean, huh?)

Thys is Trying

Thys has been trying to walk, but he is going about in a rather difficult fashion. He refuses to start from furniture or from Mel or me. He has to be sitting, stand up without holding onto anything, then walk. Every time Mel and I try to get him to walk with us, he pulls his legs up and won't put them down. For a few weeks now he has looked like a little frog because he tries to stand up, but before he is all the way up, he tries to walk and ends up playing a little leap frog. He is finally starting to actually make it up and can take quite a few steps, but he will be proud to say he has done it entirely on his own!

Turkey Time

My sister-in-law started a tradition with her kids of taking a picture with my mom's turkey every year to show how much they had grown. I loved the idea, so now we do it too. I was too tired tonight to go find Anna's first turkey shot (maybe tomorrow--I think it's from back in the non-digital days), but here is this year and last year. They both have grown!!!!

The "Real" Thanksgiving Party

The real Thanksgiving party was yesterday at Becky's. Becky is the woman who takes care of the kids, and she really does take care. She is amazing! For the party at Becky's, every child, including the babies like Thys, had a Native American outfit, headband, and macaroni necklace. They had pictures, ran outside barefoot like Native Americans used to, and then sat down to a feast with turkey soup and pumpkin pie. Anna was soooo excited, and I believe Thys slept through it all, so we had to make use of his outfit today for the two seconds he would leave it on. Anna wasn't so thrilled to be posing for the pic, so I just hurried and snapped it before she started peeling all the costume off so the cousins could give it a try. We love Becky!!!

Cousins, Cousins, Cousins

My mom, Jana, and I went to Montana to see Les. We had a 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 year old, so you can imagine pretty easily what we did, but it was sure fun to see Les, Jake and Luke and where they live. The kids had a blast just playing together. The car ride, though, is another story. The kids were actually really good, it was just really long!!!!

Halloween Hoopla

Anna loved carving the pumpkin. Believe it or not, we only carved one, even though we have about 20 on the front porch. I'm not sure what we're going to do with all of them. Anyone want one?
Annie finally settled on a witch for her costume, especially when she realized her friend wanted to be a witch, and they could have twin costumes. She and her friend had hats with stars on them, and in the stars there are little battery operated lights. (She's not wearing the light-up hat in this picture, but she is in the trick-or-treating pic with the casket.) The two of them twinkled all night long in the dark and got plenty of comments. She did depart momentarily from the witch to be a princess for one party, but she had to be twins with her friend for trick-or-treating!
Thys actually loved Halloween. We went trick-or-treating at Mel's work, and Thys was in seventh heaven. He was riding around on Mel's shoulders, and at one point, he had a sucker in each hand and was eating one of them. He was all about the candy, the lights, the noise. For the few minutes he went trick-or-treating, he was oooing and ahhhing and "talking" the whole time.
Oooooohhhhh!

Halloween in Our Neighborhood

Trick-or-treating in our neighborhood is a scary adventure. This is our neighbor who is a mortician--in a real casket with full costume. You had to get the candy from him in the casket. Anna was all about the candy, so she went for it. Every other house in our neighborhood has blow-up Halloween characters or scary stuff set up--one is even has it's own music to go with it. Some might call it tacky, but definitely not a three-year-old. We've been wandering the neighborhood for weeks looking at all the "scary" stuff.

Thys's Second 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Thys's birthday and Grandpa's birthday together. Thys is thrilled, as you can see, but I was happy, and Grandpa helped him blow out his candle.

Thys's First 1st Birthday Party

Thysie-Thys turned 1 today--unbelievable! Most of the folks we would have a party with are having a party in Yellowstone without us, so we held our own private festivities with just the four of us. We'll do the big hoopla when everyone gets back in town--maybe. It was actually kind of nice this way. . .
After the cake and ice cream, which, I must say, he ate quite daintily.
Too much of a party for these two!

Here's What's Keeping Me Up at Night

Our table was in bad shape, so I decided to refinish it. Some wise guy suggested I use oil-based paint so it would be harder and less likely to chip. Take my advice--NEVER use oil based paint! It's a little shinier than I would like, but at this point, there is NO way I'm starting over! The bad news is I still have four chairs to go! I'm not patient with things like this. I want it DONE!

A Fall. . .Winter. . .Fall Day in the Canyon

We drove up the canyon today to see the leaves, but we got a bonus and got to play in the snow!! Of course Anna was delighted, and Thys too, actually. We live in a beautiful place. From our house, it only took us about 20 minutes to get up the canyon.

The Kids

So, I obviously haven't figured out how to do this exactly. These pictures were supposed to come underneath the others. I don't know how to move them, so read on to see where we are.

So, here's Thys having a popsicle. He loves them, and obviously the camera. How does an almost-one-year know to cheese it for the camera? He gets it all, though. Makes one wonder what goes on in those little heads!

And Anna. . . .she is not really into napping anymore, but here is the result. After three hours of crying and tantrum throwing for any reason fathomable (is that how you spell that word, the English teacher asks?), she finally gave up. No worries, though, she woke up about a half hour later and started again. . . .not napping hasn't been an option since. She is really into Halloween. She is going to be a fairy, a princess, a dragon, and pumpkin, and today, a witch. Probably because we went to Gardner Village to see the witches and Halloween decor with some friends (see pics above).

The Fruits of Mel's Labors

This is a picture of our porch. These are some of Mel's home-grown pumpkins. The have a lot of. . . personality?!?!? Anna is thrilled with them, as is Mel, so as long as everyone is happy. . . .Oh, me? I think they should be arranged in a more aesthetically pleasing way, but I just haven't got around to it yet. Maybe after Halloween? Really, though, Mel has had a very successful gardening year for a first try. He's currently clearing more space for next year's growing season. . .we can only wait to see what pops up!

All New to Me

My sister and sister-in-law are doing this blog thing, and suggested we do this for our far-away family. I don't really get it, but here I am trying it when I should be cleaning up, doing laundry, sorting piles of papers, etc. Oh, well. It will still all be there in a little bit. I guess all of you are supposed to comment or something? I'm sure someone will fill me in, right?