Kid Funnies

Elizabeth: "Will, what is a swat team?"
Will: "It's like a team of special police fighters."
Elizabeth. "Oh, that makes sense. It's like a team of swat."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Me: "Elizabeth, remember when we had a talk a few days ago about you leaving tons and tons of toys in the car?
Elizabeth: "Yes."
Me: "What did I say would happen if you kept leaving them in the car instead of taking them inside?"
Elizabeth: "You said that they wouldn't be my toys anymore."
Me: "Yes, that's right."
Elizabeth: (sighs) "Oh mom, I know that growing us up is a hard thing to do. You just have to keep trying and you'll get it right some day."

Last Minute Shopping and Other Christmasy Stuff

Next year I am going to have all of my shopping done by Black Friday, I swear. It's only one week until Christmas Eve and I'm not even 1/2 done!

Elizabeth has made a very specific request for a Christmas gift this year. The problem? The one place to get it for a good price (and not 3x that amount) is, you guessed it, sold out. And the store that the website hails from is not answering their phone. Or at least I guess that's what's happening since I always get a busy signal. Since it's a toy store at Christmas time, maybe all of the employees are just hiding under their counters crying at this point.

I miss the good old days when I could have a little more say in what she wanted. It was so much easier then. Well, I guess they're still happening with Ella. All I have to do for her is show her a picture and ask her if that's what she wants for Christmas. She purses her lips, taps her chin with her chubby little finger and then screams "Nyesh!!!" while she jumps up and down.

This year, Will saw a commercial for the ASPCA. He promptly decided that he would like to forgo his Christmas gift from Santa and instead ask to have Santa donate $20/month to the ASPCA instead. What a sweetheart! After a lot of consideration, he's decided that he will earn/raise money for the Humane Society here in Pocatello and then go to their adoption day in January so that he can actually see and pet the animals that he is helping. I'm so proud of how willing to give to help others he is.

And Tera, I'm sorry to say, there will be no Gingerbread house this year. I think that if I add one more thing to my to do list I'll be heard to say "Ba Humbug" and we've already got enough of that with Ben around. :)

Two Posts In One Day?

I want it to snow. Right now would be preferable. And I'd like it to stick. I'd like the roads to have feet and feet of snow piled in the middle of them, just waiting for the tractors to come and scoop it into dump trucks so that it can be driven to the river and dumped in.

I don't know of any place on earth that does things like that, other than the little town that I grew up in. Every year at Christmas time I just find myself wanting to go back there and have it be like it was when I was little. I want to drive down the snowy streets and look at the lights on the houses and watch the snow falling in the glowing light of the lamp posts. I just want to lay on the living room floor with all the lights out but the Christmas tree and bask in it's glow. I want to sled on the giant hills of snow that my dad made for us out in the pasture with his loader. I want to drive home from my Grandma's on Christmas Eve searching the sky for Santa. And then I want to fall asleep looking out my frost covered window at the Christmas lights that hang outside.

Having little kids only makes this nostalgia that I experience every year come on even stronger. When I watch how excited they are to make Christmas cookies and watch the same Christmas shows that I watched, how they keep asking when we're putting up the tree and how rosy cheeked with excitement they get when they talk about gifts that they want to get for their Daddy, it makes me so excited that my heart almost hurts. It's like I get to experience it all over again, but with a much different perspective.

It really is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

Ella's First Prayer

It was the sweetest thing ever! Last night as we knelt to say our prayers before bedtime, Ella looked up at me with her little arms folded and said "No you heppie me Mommie. Me do it mine sef." She remembered to thank Heavenly Father for her wonderful day, and all of her bessings and then she said: "Tankyou poor mine Gaddy, poor mine Mommie, poor mine Bessie, poor mine Willow" I think my heart melted into a puddle right there onto the floor. She remembered to ask for help to choose the right and to be safe even! She's getting so very grown up. It's so bitter sweet that I just don't know how to feel about it. Of course I want her to learn and grow and become who she should. But at the same time, I don't think I'd be to sad if there were a way for me to keep her as my little girl for forever and ever.

North, To Alaska!

Well, we're moving to Anchorage, Alaska. Next summer, right after Ben graduates and our 4th child is born. Yep. We're crazy! But we're really, really excited. Isn't it pretty?

That big building in the middle is where Ben will be working every day. Thankfully, he's going to be working in the Tax department of the company so his travel will be minimal (after the first year, he's required to do some Auditing at the beginning). That is really my favorite part about the whole thing, Ben coming home every night.

This is a regular occurrence in Anchorage. (That's the airport in the background)

I saw 5 moose when Ben and I were there and Ben saw way more than I did. And that was just in the neighborhoods. Apparently it's not uncommon for bears to do the same thing.

Right now we're just trying to figure out the best way to get us all up there. There are tons and tons of options. The only thing that we're sure of is that we're going to sell most of our stuff in order to replace it when we get up there. But now we have to choose whether to drive, ferry, or fly up there (or more likely, choose which combination of the three is best). Will is voting for he and Ben driving or ferrying up with what things we do take. And that way, as he puts it, they can have some real "man time". Which apparently consists of watching football, spitting at any time and frequently, and not showering. If that is how they plan to go, then I'll be glad to fly, even if it means that I fly with 3 little kids and have to change planes twice.

But no matter what we choose, I'm just so proud of Ben. He has worked so very, very hard to make this opportunity happen for our family. It really is an awesome opportunity. Even if it is the opportunity that may cause this blog to be telling you, five years from now, that we're all moving to New Zealand!

Elizabeth

She is one funny girl. Pretty much every time that she does something that is frustrating, she follows it up with an explanation. And they are always, without fail, funny. Ben and I spend more time laughing than disciplining her.
One of my favorites happened right after she bit Ben on the hand. Ben of course said "Ow, Elizabeth! Don't bite me!" "Oh Daddy," she said "I did not bite you. I just hugged your pinger wif my teef!"

Sometimes her faith and sweetness pop up at very unexpected moments, too. The other night we were driving home from Dubois when we got caught in a terrible blizzard in Idaho Falls. I immediately started praying and called Ben. I can't ever remember being that afraid while driving. Ever. Halfway through the trip, Elizabeth said "I can feel the warmness, Mommy." "Oh," I said "I just turned up the heater because I was worried that you were getting cold. Are you warm enough now?" "No Mommy, not that kind of warmness. I feel the warmness from Heaven. We are going to be alright." It was kind of extra hard to drive through the blizzard after that. What with the tears and all.

I love you my little Elizabeth. For forever and ever.

It's Only Been Two-and-a-Half Months Or So...

Since our trip to Seattle, that is. And here are the pictures! I was going through all of our pictures yesterday and realized that I'd actually taken some good ones that capture a little of the fun we had. (It seems like I never take enough and I usually get people with their eyes closed or I get their hand over their face because they've realized what I'm doing before my camera can snap the picture.) So, anyway, without further adieu, here they are!

Ella in the car. We were almost there!

Elizabeth, ready to get out of the car, we couldn't get there fast enough for her!

Will, demonstrating how squished he and his long legs are in the back seat.

Poor Ben. He always drives most, if not all of the trip. Thank heavens he's a good sport about it.

Will and Manga. Not sure what they're looking at.

Ella and Cooper.

Elizabeth and Cooper.


Will and Cooper.

Bennett on the toys at the beach.

Cooper wisely took the opportunity to catch a few zzz's while my kids were preoccupied with the toys. I think it was the only time my girls left the poor guy alone!

Will on the rope climber.

What a beautiful girl! Emma sure loves to swing!

Elizabeth loves to swing too.

And Ella won't be left out of anything that Emma and Elizabeth are doing!

Super Woman Tera. She had three little girls all in constant motion and got Cooper to go to sleep. She's Super Mom!

Elizabeth trying to give me a heart attack by flipping out of the swing onto her head.

Emma loves to swing more than any other child I know!

Will, Elizabeth, and Bennett walking back to the beach to do some crabbing.

Ella, Tera, and baby Cooper.

Elizabeth and Bennett, all ready to go out and get some crabs!

Emma and Ella sharing some crackers at the park.

And last but not least, a perfect way to sum up the trip, Cooper getting one of my kids' messy faces squished into his hair.