Gingerbread houses

Friday, we got the chance to go to the kids' school and make gingerbread houses with them. All five kindergarten classes met in the gym and (with their parents) made gingerbread houses. Now, I don't know about you, but I had an image in my mind of how this was going to be. To my shock and disbelief there were no children bouncing off the walls, throwing candy and pouring bowls of M&M's in their mouths. It was a lot of fun. Aiden ate about as much candy as he put on his house...aren't you supposed to?

Avery's house

Aiden's house

On a tangental note, Aiden is no longer our little great white. He lost his first tooth the week of Thanksgiving, on Sunday the 22nd. The second one dropped on D-day. He is now the tooth fairy's biggest fan.

Snow Days!!

The beauty of living in Nebraska? Don't look at me I'm the one asking. But, one of the great events that happens every winter here is the inevitable snow day! And last week we had three of them! Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the kids were out due to "inclement weather" as it were. We didn't leave the apartment for the first two days, mainly due to the fact that it was -3 degrees outside, with the wind chill it was -20 degrees. We made crafts, cookies, more crafts, and more treats. Check out the ornaments the kids made and the cookies they made and decorated.

Here we are decorating the cookies!

Six year olds go through sprinkles like Tiger Woods goes through...well, you know.

Pretzels dipped in almond bark and sprinkled with crushed pieces of candy cane. Mmmmm, my favorite.

We finally got out on Thursday and went sledding at Nana's. Don't worry, I stopped them before they went careening into the lake.

The nicest thing about winter in Nebraska? The chance of snow days, getting to spend time with my kids without having to do anything else. Almost like a guilty pleasure...minus the guilt. Thank goodness something is.

Lost Tooth

On Tuesday, Avery lost her first tooth. It had been loose for just a short time and Jeremy yanked it out. She was quite nervous about it all. When it came out she ran down the hall and yelled, "I am so awesome!!!" I was unaware that tooth loss was a function of "awesomeness."
By that rationale, we could all learn a thing or two from this guy. Restrain yourselves, ladies.

Here's Avery missing her tooth, looking as "awesome" as ever!

We now refer to Aiden as "The Great White." The boy now has rows of teeth...rows...literally. After Avery's tooth came out, a disgruntled Jaws wanted his pulled. So, we gave it our best shot. After lots of floss and tears he still has teeth to spare. The dentist said to give it more time and it's normal for those first teeth to take a while to come out. We're working on them...

Boo!

I love Fall. I love the crispness of the air and the changing colors. The costume parties, classroom parades, and trick-or-treating. The best part, of course, is watching Charlie Brown's, "The Great Pumpkin." I think Fall gets a bad rap because Winter follows it, and everyone is dreading the cold and all the ice scraping. But, all that aside it really is a great season. Carving pumpkins is always a challenge. We broke all of our carving utensils and Jeremy had to McGyver something up to finish them.

Thank goodness for carving patterns. We had a melting jack-0-lantern, a bat, and a witch.

Avery's class
Aiden's class

Games at the ward party.




Our ward has a "trunk or treat" every year. The kids walk around the parking lot and we pass out treats from our...you guessed it, trunks. Check out this car. I can't compete with that.

Fast and Testimony Meeting

Avery bore her testimony for the first time in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. We were sitting in "our pew" listening to testimonies and bunch of kiddos bore their testimonies. Avery asked when she could go up. I answered that she could go up whenever she would like. She said she was ready now, to which I replied, "Right after this next boy is finished." Thinking she would be too nervous I didn't say anything after he sat down. Avery looked and said, "Okay Mom...what do I say?" I replied, "Say what you feel, what you know and believe to be true, what you are grateful for." She got right up to the microphone and bore her testimony, my sweet little Avery. After we sat down she said, "I was kind of nervous when I was up there; everyone was staring at me!" I'm so proud of my little girl. I don't think I bore my testimony until I could vote.

6th Birthday

On October 14th my little babies turned 6 years old!!! I can't believe it. It doesn't seem like that long ago that I was making bottles. We had their birthday party at Lifetime Fitness. They had a ball: scooter races, parachutes games, pizza, and cake. With every new age we have more and more fun. They are so fantastic- I enjoy every second of being their mom! Happy Birthday Aiden and Avery!

Weeeeeeee!

Parachute games!

6 months to go

We closed on our house on October 9th-yay!!! Now we are crammed into a two-bedroom apartment until the home we are building is finished. And since we are just barely in the permit stage, we've got about 6 months to go. I don't have any intention on recapping the whole "move." Sufficed to say there is no way we could have done this without my mother & father-in-law. They came out from Utah over General Conference weekend and we boxed and moved almost the entire time. After listening to Elder Bednar's talk on expressing love, I immediatly thought of them. We've been instructed to not only tell our family we love them, but to show them through kindness and service. Lonna and Jerry are such good examples of how to do that! They couldn't possibly know the gratitude I feel for them. They are always willing to help and never grow weary (or at least you'd never know it). They helped keep me from getting overwhelmed even when I grossly underestimated the amount of stuff we had. Jeremy and I want to do something to show them how truly grateful we are for all of their help but, they would almost be offended because helping is just what family does for one another. I know-I'm not kidding, they really are that great.