Merry Christmas

Here's the letter we sent out to people...most people on our blog list probably didn't get one, so here ya go!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Greetings!! We hope this letter finds you doing well, and enjoying a wonderful Christmas season. Here’s an overview of what’s going on with us:

In September Munchkin started Kindergarten! She has really taken to school and loves to learn. She’s doing well learning to read and has made about a bazillion friends. When we attended parent-teacher conference, we received her first report card. She had all perfect scores!!!

In July Buddy Boy was diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. It has presented us with a lot of challenges, emotional, financial, and other, but we feel SO grateful that he received a diagnosis at a young age. He’s an absolute delight in the family, and we’re now armed with more information to help him continue learning and growing.

In the summer Mom learned how to can, and began canning everything she could get her hands on. It was a lot of fun learning a new way to be more self reliant and to build up the food storage. We have much bigger plans for the garden next year!

All throughout the year Dad has been building things using scrap wood we have around the house. Among his creations are 3 fabulous food storage shelves, a new garden box, and a bench for the playroom. We’re loving that we can make such great use of scraps and not spend money.

In May we went to San Diego for vacation. We played at Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, and the Wild Animal Park. We also visited with family. We slept over at Mae and Nate’s place, and had the blessed opportunity to see Big Mama and family again. We also enjoyed dinner with Reggie and Michelle. What a blast!

As we look back at our year and make plans for the next one, we realize that we wouldn’t be where we are without our friends and family. And so we send our love to you this beautiful Christmas season.

Love,
The family!

Insulation

Jacob gave us a tip how to get a good deal on insulation. Qustar gas is giving some rebates for attic insulation. We thought it was too good to be true. When we bought this house there was about two inches of insulation in the attic, so about 4 years ago I put about 7 more inches up there. It was a pain in the butt!! It took a couple days of work. I wanted more than the 7 inches, but it cost us about $600.00 to put that in ourselves, and it made a mess of the house. It was a lot of work, but it had to be done, and I thought maybe in the future I would put more up there. Now Questar gas is giving rebates if you don't have very much insulation. Jacob found a company that does it for pretty cheep, and they will even fill out the paper work on the rebate, and have the rebate sent directly to the company so we only paid $33.00 for 10 more inches of insulation. Normally it would have been $600.00. Last week they came in and put it in. It only took them 30 minutes. I love insulation!!!
Dad

Partaaayy

We had a birthday party for Munchkin yesterday. It was a blast for all of us! (except Buddy Boy, he didn't like all the noise.) This was the first party we've done with friends from school, so it was a milestone party:


Buddy Boy was upset most the time, and after the party was over, he was exhausted and put himself to sleep right on the couch. Munchkin has had a blast playing with Mom and all the new toys!

My Gratitude Attitude

Anyone who knows me well (Mom) knows that I'm really good at complaining. In reality, I have a whole lot to be thankful for, and I want to take this chance to share just a couple of those things:

I'm grateful that Munchkin is such an eager helper. She is such a hard worker, and puts her all into everything she does! She said today, "cleaning is my favorite; I love it infinity cause it makes you happy!!"


I'm thankful my kids are such good friends. Talk about infinity love...these two love each other so much. It's so fun to see their relationship develop. They giggle together, read books, chase each other around, and they are pretty darn good at sharing with each other!


I'm thankful for our crappy yard.:-) No truly, it's a place where the kids have so much fun gardening, running around, jumping, creating, and just making memories.



I'm grateful to have a food storage. This past year I've really felt an urgent need and desire to build it up, and we've been blessed with numerous resources helping to make it happen.


I'm grateful that Dad is so affectionate with our kids....there is no doubt that he's completely enthralled with them, so in love with them.


I'm thankful for family...what more can I say? Families are the best, and I'm so glad they are forever.

Famous Ladies

Mom and Munchkin were in Saturday's (Nov 8, 2008) SL Tribune newspaper. The author and photographer came over to the house and took a bunch of pictures. Munchkin was a little disappointed of the picture they used, but she was still pretty excited. Word got out around the ward as well. Now Mom is going to give classes on personal finance. Here is the link if you want to check it out. ~Dad
http://www.sltrib.com/personalfinance/ci_10932106

First snow fall

Munchkin and Buddy Boy were both so excited to wake up to all the snow. Munchkin went to school, but wasted no time to go outside and play. We built a snowman, and pushed the sled around. Buddy Boy loved watching it fall. Outside though he just wanted to be held. Here is some of our fun. ~Dad

Halloween Joys

The day before Halloween doing some last minute decorations:



At school Munchkin in her "fairy princess ballerina" costume:




In her Jasmine costume:


Buddy Boy didn't enjoy us trying to dress him, so we let him off the hook this year. He was much happier to go as a cute little boy for Halloween and to be comfortable:

We Heart Families and Friends!

This has been a bit of a whirlwind week. Those who know me know that "whirlwinds" are not my thing, but it's actually been a good time! Mae, Nate and family came into town for a short bit. Mae and Nate were on their way to Nebraska, and so their kids stayed with Grandma Woods while they were gone (technically, Nate is still gone). That means a lot of fun for Munchkin. She LOVES these kids more than anyone. In fact, the other day she said she wished Aunt Mae could be her mom so that she could see Rylan more.....I tried not to take it personally :-)

We've also been blessed with so many generous friends and neighbors! We were given clothes for the kids from 4 different families this week! We also were given the chance to purchase an entertainment center from a neighbor for a fantastic deal. We're so flippin lucky!

Anywho, we've had a lot of fun things going on this week:

-Making and decorating sugar cookies at Grandma's house (The kids, not me)


-Teaching Junior Achievement in Munchkin's kindergarten class (the kids all love me now, I feel so cool:-))

-Having fashion shows and trying on all the new clothes and costumes we've received (I know, I'm a horrible mom dressing Buddy Boy up like that. At least I didn't put on the wig I'd been considering.)






-Feeding breakfast to all the elementary kids with other volunteers for "Walk to School Day"

-Taking leftover apples home from the breakfast and making syrup and applesauce before they could go bad.


-Making homemade tootsie rolls and Buddy Boy enjoying them and leaving the proof wherever he could.



-Taking Buddy Boy to get his hearing tested (which didn't work out too well. They couldn't even finish the test cause he was such a wreck! lol)

-Going to the park 2 times for playdates with cousins and friends.

-Going to the library to watch Zoomania present fun, FUN animals!

Playroom

We have wanted Munchkin and Buddy to have a play room for a while, but we had a hard time deciding what room to use for the playroom, so Mom and Munchkin decided we would make Munchkin's room the playroom. We used some scrap wood and made a bench. Munchkin and Buddy Boy both helped make it. They love playing on it. They both love the playroom. Everyday it becomes a complete disaster from all the toys. ~Dad

Munchkin Dance

Munchkin loves to dance and sing. This is her "Karate Dance". I love seeing her creativity in action. I would be really nice to get a candid recording, but doesn't usually work that way for me. She was dancing and I made her stop and start over so I could record it.
We just had our primary program, and she was so excited to be able to sing a solo. I wish I could have recorded that! It was wonderful.
Dad

collage

Yes, I am obsessed. I love collage pictures. Last week we made Munchkin one and Buddy one. I asked Munchkin to paint the picture frame, then we cut out some of our favorite pictures and taped them in the frame. We then hung it up by their names in their rooms. ~Dad



Here is some of my favorite pictures that I can't get enough of.

 

Tree

At the beginning of the summer I asked Timmy to help me take our tree down. There is one big limb that is pretty close to the house, that I was worried about. After a couple hours I chickened out. I was too afraid of the limb falling on the house. This time I got enough guts and got Timmy over again. The neighbors also came over and helped pull the rope. One neighbor (Don) got his chainsaw out and cut the trunk for us. Munchkin was the photographer. I'm relieved we cut the tree down before winter came. I was afraid it would eventually fall on the house. ~Dad

Bloomington (ID, not IL)

We went to visit Grandpa Findlay in Bloomington this weekend. (Just north of Bear Lake) He's just found out he has cancer, and so we wanted to go and visit with him and try to brighten his day a bit. Here are some highlights.



He told us a lot of cool stories, like how my great, great, great grandpa grew the first Utah peach. And one time, my great great grandpa and grandma were living in the Utah territory, and the Native Americans would come over fairly often. My great, great grandma would feed them, and they'd enjoy a nice meal together. Well one day they bought a new chime clock, and when they were eating dinner with the local Indians, the clock started chiming. The Natives ran right out of there, spooked completely, and didn't come back for a few months! They later said that they'd been scared of the "talking clock". It was so fun to hear these stories!

Back 2 School

So Munchkin's big day FINALLY came! While (seemingly) everyone else was starting school, Munchkin was fuming at home about how "mean" her school was for not allowing her to start with everyone else! However, the big moment did finally arrive...



...only to end in disappointment! You see, she doesn't know anyone in her class, but she does know 2 kids from the other class. (y'all remember her boyfriend, I'm sure) She got to see the kids she knew for "ONLY 15 minutes!!!" (at recess) In fact, "recess was WAY too short, and the teacher didn't call on her to be a helper, AND she only gave Munchkin one snack, not 3!!! Oh, and don't forget, they made me drink WATER too!"

Luckily, she later decided she would give school one more chance, and had a fantastic second day. She said she "got a sticker for being good in the hall, and recess was longer this time, and I made a new friend and we're gonna have a sleepover, and we finally did some learning." So, it's all good, thankfully!! And she looks gorgeous in her new school clothes, as you can plainly see. (Thanks again for those, Grandma Woods!!!)


Meanwhile, Buddy was enjoying one on one time with Mom, but did decide he wanted some alone time reading the paper and watching TV from the top of the couch. I took advantage of this and did some pilates for the first time in like a year or something.