Holiday Fun. . .So Far

We had a good holiday week. Last night we spent the evening with the Springer family at their family Christmas party. They are a great family and are always so welcoming to us "adopted" folk. Ray is the missionary who baptized Mel's parents, and Mel lived with the Springers when he went to high school here in Utah.
The Springers always read the Christmas story and create the nativity with the grandkids. Anna wanted to participate, so she dressed in shepherd attire. Thys wanted nothing to do with the whole thing. When Anna got up and sat down, Sophie looked around, went and picked up a shepherd cloth and brought it to me. She cracks us up. She has been so shy, but yet if there is a performance going on, she wants to be part of it. So here are our two little shepherds, and the whole Springer nativity, minus the four-year olds. (Ours was not the only one who refused to participate.)


The early part of the week was fairly warm , and Mel is working the early shift, so we decided we should take advantage of the warmer weather and visit one of the Christmas light spots. The kids wanted to go to Thanksgiving Point and ride the wagon through all the lights, so here we are, all bundled up. Sophie was hilarious. I think she was a little scared, but also fascinated. She wanted to be touching me but also see everything. She sat is the funniest neck-craning position the entire ride. (See below) She never moved. After the wagon ride we got to go see real reindeer, but I left the camera in the car. Darn.

Sinter Klaas Weekend

Our Sinter Klaas weekend has become a very exciting tradition. This year Sinter Klaas was on Sunday. On Saturday we got our tree, decorated it, and slept under the tree. On Sunday Mel cooked a "lekker" Indonesian dinner and we ate with Grandma and Grandpa (you may wonder why we are eating Indo food on a Dutch holiday--Dutchies eat Indo food like those of us in the West eat Mexican food; Indonesia was a Dutch colony), then right as we were finishing dinner, Sinter Klaas came and left a giant bag full of gifts on our porch. Oh, oh, oh! Were we excited. Sinter Klaas is so practical. He brought our Christmas PJ's, our Christmas books, and our Christmas T-shirts. He even managed to get a hold of Anna's old Christmas shirt for Sophie. What a resourceful guy. Then each child got a small toy. It was a fabulous weekend full of fun family traditions.


Picking out our "fat" Christmas tree

Waiting so anxiously to decorate the tree.
We couldn't wait, so we put the star on a few times first.

All done and ready to go to bed.
I forgot to take pictures while we were getting ready for bed and reading a Christmas story, but I had to get up after everyone was asleep and work on a lesson and do midterms, so I took a picture of the kids really asleep under the tree.
Indonesian dinner on Sinter Klaas
Emptying the bag from Sinter Klaas
New PJ's

Thanksgiving

Around here, Thanksgiving is the beginning of the holiday season. The kids get so excited, and we do too. We spent Thanksgiving with the Jorgensen's, as usual. Thanksgiving isn't really popular in Holland. Mel always makes the joke that the pilgrims were celebrating their departure from Holland (if I remember correctly, the pilgrims made a brief stop in Holland before leaving for America). The Dutch-Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving a month earlier, so we Americans have a pretty easy choice for where to spend Thanksgiving.

Anna as a pilgrim.

I got to go help with the Thanksgiving Feast in Anna's first grade class. It was so fun! I love being at school with Anna. I don't get to go very often because I am at work in the mornings, and I have a napping baby in the afternoons. I also got to help with the Halloween party, and that was a blast. I think Anna likes having me come as well, so it works for all of us!
Half way through the feast, Anna switched to the Native America hat. Have to be politically correct, right?

Here are out yearly turkey pictures. The kids have grown. If you care to see how much, flip back to November 2009 blog entries, and you can compare. I am too far behind on my blogging to spend time uploading pics that are already on here.

Big year for Sophie--sitting to standing--baby to toddler. Sad, but she is soooo cute!
Mr. T
My not-so-little-anymore little Anna.
It's always a fight over the turkey leg. T won.
Anna went with the next best thing: the wing ( it looked like a leg, so she was happy).
Soph is just happy to not be asleep. I tried to give her a nap, but Pops took mercy on her after one minute of crying and brought her out. I put her down again, and she kept hollering, "Papa, Papa." I wouldn't let him get her, so then she started hollering, "Gama, Gama." My mom doesn't have to listen to me, so Grandma rescued Sophie from the nap. My mom said she had to be pretty desperate to be hollering for Grandma, so she was going to get her.

Lots of Snow

We had a lot of snow early this year. The kids have had a blast. If you think Sophie was going to miss out on the fun outside, think again. Fortunately, we had just gotten some boots our cousin had outgrown (and who needs snowboots in Louisiana?!?!), so Sophie was equipped. The snow was really too deep for her to walk in, but she had fun being out with the other two.
Anna actually had strep this day and was home from school, but we seem to be developing a resistance to strep. We've had it 7 or 8 times in the last year. The kids hardly get sick. They just have a sore throat. And as you can see here, after a dose of antibiotics, they're good to go. Anna couldn't figure out why she couldn't go to school.


This picture is a bit blurry, but so funny with the big coats and the pose. Had to share.

The Many Days of Halloween

THURSDAY
We started our Halloween celebration on Thursday, even though Halloween was on Sunday. Anna had her costume parade at school, then I got to stay and help with her class party. She has the cutest little class. It was so fun to be there--I don't get the chance very often. Aunt Steph and Bryn provided Anna with a substitute costume since she was embarrassed to be Tinkerbell, the costume she promised she wanted to get and wear after Halloween last year. Right. Never doing the after Halloween sale purchase for the following year again--at least not with her!
Anna in the parade
Thursday afternoon Anna had ballet and got to wear her costume

FRIDAY
Mel's work always has trick-or-treating, so Friday afternoon we headed downtown to see Papa at work and get a huge stash of candy.
The kids at Papa's work
Our happy little pirate. Thys also got this costume last year after Halloween, but unlike Anna, he was completely happy to wear it. He is really into pirates, and he has been wearing this costume for the last six months on a very regular basis--to Sunday dinner, to bed, to Becky's. . . .
Right after trick-or-treating at Mel's work, we had to rush back to Becky's Halloween program: an event not to be missed. She always spends an hour before taking pictures of all the kids. I snuck in for a shot with my own camera.
This is Becky. She is the best. What 60+ lady do you know who will decorate a church, dress up 20 kids, dress up herself, take pictures for an hour, and then put on a program? We are so thankful to have her. The kids adore her and so do we!
One of the best moments of the show was when the kids started singing, and Sophie realized what was going on. She was sitting in the audience on Mel's lap. She jumped down and walked right up front with all the kids. She knows a few of the songs--at least the repetitive phrases. I don't think she actually sang, but she did some action,s and she was in the show. She knew where she belonged--with the big kids!
Thys is a singer. He has the cutest little voice, and he knows all the songs. He sang his little heart out.
Anna joined the group since she knows all the songs from the last four years at Becky's, but she was a little to cool for it, she thought. She stood with her arms folded and that, "Oh, brother," look on her face while she sang. It was cute.

After Becky's party, we went straight to our ward trunk-or-treat at the park behind our house. No pictures because we were a bit late, and our car was mobbed when we drove up. Then it got too dark.

SATURDAY
We hadn't had time to carve pumpkins yet, so Saturday morning we got our pumpkins ready for trick-or-treating Saturday night.

When it actually came time to trick-or-treat, it was pouring rain. We folded the seats down in the van, and took another seat out, so the kids could jump in and out of the back of the van in people's driveways. The rain ended up stopping while we were out, so Mel just followed us and our neighbor friends around the neighborhood. Sophie was hilarious. She had the whole gig figured out in about two seconds. At Mel's work she got three times the candy of the other kids because people just kept giving to her--or she kept taking while no one was paying attention. When we were actually trick-or-treating, she started to say, "trick or treat" as we walked up to the doors, then she would say, "thank you," as we left. Soooo cute!!!
I had to show how cute Sophie was from behind. She loved her costume. She wore it all day Friday, and first thing Saturday morning she put it on again to go to the store and wore it the rest of the day. She was a darling duck who ate more candy that the other two put together!!

SUNDAY
Sunday we went down to Grandma and Grandpa's for family Halloween fun. The kids dressed up again so all the cousins could see each others costumes. Mel and I couldn't stay long because we had to get home to teach Temple Prep class, but the kids stayed with Aunt Steph and had a great time.

The Last Party

Thys also had a party at Jungle Jim's with a few of his little friends. He plays with two little guys at Becky's everyday, and they are the best of friends. They came, and then one of the little neighbor boys. You have never seen such cute little guys! The had the time of their lives riding the rides and running around the place. We were basically the only people at the place, so they just had it to themselves. I can't post too may pics because I don't like to put other people's kids online unless I know they do it themselves. So here is T on a ride, and know there were darling little boys there enjoying with him!

Thys's Second Party

We really started celebrating T's birthday the weekend after his actual birthday. We had the annual party at Grandma and Grandpa's with a pinata, of course. Thys chose a Halloween theme, so we had a skull pinata and a graveyard cupcakes. So fun! Kids can never do a pinata too may times--at least in our family.
T hitting
Soph hitting--she is a big kid, according to her.
Anna going for it.
The hoarders
Soph checking out her loot.
I had to take a pic of Sophie because she just looked so cute this day. I bought her some skinny jeans because everything else falls off her, and she looks so cute in them. I just want to eat her up!
Opening presents from the family
Waiting too blow out candles while everyone sings.