Sophie's Anna

I want to post this because it is so cute. I want to remember it. Soph has been a stinker at going to bed lately. We spoiled her when she was sick with her 10 + day ear infections. I would hold her on my lap, and we would watch Elmo or I would lay her on my belly in my bed until she went to sleep. Well, I'm pretty sure she feels fine now, but she still wants to be spoiled. Tuesday night I didn't put her down until 10:00 after we watched something on TV. I don't even remember what. Wednesday night, I put her down about 9:00 after we rocked and watched "Momma's TV" (American Idol). She screamed for 1 1/2 hours--and I mean screamed! I was ready to do the same thing. I can't believe Anna slept through it. I finally ended up on the floor next to her bed while she screamed, "Momma's TV" and "Elmo" and "poopy" (which she wasn't)for 1/2 hour. She finally gave in. Last night Mel started before 8:00. I put Anna to bed hoping she would calm down with Anna, but she just kept crying. Annie came down around 9:00 and said, "Mom, she is still screaming. I can't sleep." So I told Anna to go get in my bed with Pops. She came down a few minutes later crying. She said, "Mom, I feel so bad for Sophie. I can't leave her alone in there. She is so sad. Can you do something?" I told her no, of course, because getting Soph out of bed was not going to help cure the problem. So Annie went back up to be with really mad and sad Sophie. Then I felt guilty, so I went up and took Soph out so Anna could go to sleep. We sat on the stairs in the dark until she calmed down, and then I put her back to bed, and she finally fell asleep around 9:30. Good news--tonight she only cried for 1/2 hour! We're getting there! But what a cute big sister who wanted to take care of Soph! Love that Annie!

A Little Out of Order, But New Official Photos

So, we took the plunge and made the yearly trip to the photo studio--it is getting easier. It was actually a pleasant experience, and I didn't even break out in a sweat. The purpose was for Sophie's two-year-old shots, but since we could take pics of anyone for all the same price, we threw the rest of us in for a few. As you can see, Sophie's pics are the best, and she has the most, but T and Annie look pretty cute. You've got to love the over-jetting, big-people teeth that Annie has acquired over the last few months! The serious family ones are my least favorite. When did Mel and I get so old and. . .how do I say it nicely. . . sturdy? The funny family ones I actually like. Go ahead and weigh in. The great thing about Fotofly (the studio) is that we got the CD with all the decent pics they took, so if anyone wants 25 copies, just let me know!
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6 Only Mel would bring ugly fake teeth for pictures--and Thysie willingly wore them!! Two-of-a-kind.
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15 Don't like this pose too much. . .

Christmas

As usual, we had a wonderful Christmas. Our kids are at a wonderful age for enjoying all the magic of Christmas. They were so cute and so excited. We wrapped every possible little thing separately, so it looked like they had a lot of presents. Anna came up to wake us up and said, "Mom, there are a hundred presents down there. Come on!" There really weren't, but if she thought so, all the better. Sophie really got into the opening of gifts. She kept grabbing and opening whatever was closest--didn't matter whose it was. We had a great morning trying out all the new stuff, and then headed down to exchange gifts with the cousins and have dinner with the family at my parents. Great day!
T with the "not your average" remote control car that Santa brought Thys and Mel--can you guess who drives it the most??? It is waterproof, mudproof, and who knows what else, so it's been out for many a spin in the snow. We won't tell what "Santa" did to get this car.

Only Santa would be crazy enough to bring a girl an over-priced remote control dog. Her reasonable mother and father, on the other hand, gave her rollerblades with all the protective gear.
Soph loves her pillow pet--she mostly loves that she got the same thing that Thys and Anna got!
The aftermath.
Thys trying out the new Wii game.
Anna learning the ropes of LiteBrite in the privacy of her room where the little sis can't "help." Did you all have a LiteBrite back in the day, or was it just me? I was sooo excited when I realized they were still around!
Mel getting the new weather station all set up.
Soph with her new doll that zips, buttons, buckles, etc.

Christmas Eve

We had a fun Christmas Eve. Usually we go down to Orem to my parents, but we were the only ones who were not with the in-laws (however, we would have loved to be with Bupa and Mimi if possible). So instead, my parents came to our place. We decided to have prime rib since we had a small crowd, but the cooking time got messed up, and we waited quite a while for our meat. So, we read Christmas stories and decorated Santa's cookies. After our dinner was finally cooked, we ate and then went downtown to see the lights at Temple Square. We were worried it might be crazy, but it was really nice. It was a nice "warm" evening, as far as winter evenings go, and we parked easily right by the Trax stop at Gateway (we had to ride the train of course). As we walked down the Trax stop the trained pulled up, and we hopped on and rode to Temple Square. There were really not that many people at Temple Square, at least no more than any other night. It was perfect!Sophie and Grandmas working on a cookie. Don't think that this little girl is going to miss out on ANYTHING Thys and Anna do!


Anna decorating cookies.
Thys decorating cookies.
Cute little Sophie in her apron.
All of us at Temple Square

And More Holiday Fun

Anna is our tradition child. If we've done it once during the holidays, we have to do it every year. We varied the gingerbread house tradition by doing a train (for Mr. T). But as usual, we had a great time, and we ate more candy than we put on the train!


Anna sang with the 1st grade in the school Christmas singing program. It was cute!
And then they had a little ballet performance for Christmas. . .
Sophie. . . oh my. What a two-year-old she is becoming. Here is her latest invention of how to NOT eat in her high chair. This was all her own doing. Resourceful little pill. . . .
Becky's program was entertaining as usual. We do love Becky so much! She is so good to us and to the kids. We almost missed the whole show because something was wrong with T's eye, but Becky said the show could not go on without Thys because he was her best singer. So we snuck him in at the last minute and hoped that he didn't interact too much with the other kids. I think we were safe. No one, not even Anna or Sophie, got pinkeye or whatever it was. Thanks goodness!
MR. T the elf.
Anna the reindeer who is almost too cool for all of this (but deep down she loves it all).
Once again, Sophie wasn't really part of the official show, but she took Thys's reindeer hat since he opted for the elf hat. She was sitting with us, and when the kid started singing, up she went to stand with Anna and the other kids. She is a funny little girl.
I don't know why the kids look so somber when they are singing, but they were really happy and sang really well! It is all so cute!

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