In Which We Do Eventually Get a Christmas Tree

One sunny Saturday at the beginning of December, I had the bright idea that we should venture out to find a Christmas tree. Sounds innocent enough, doesn't it?
Well, on our way to get a tag, who should my children spy, but... Santa Claus!
So, of course, we had to stop and say hello to the old guy.
He was very happy to see us, of course, and sent each child on his or her way with a bag of candy and a can of pop.


(I know, this seems like an excess of Santa pictures. But, really, who would I leave out? So just keep scrolling. They'll end eventually.)








































So then we continued on our way, and you would think the next picture would be of us in the hills. But, no. I'm not actually sure what happened, since I was keeping track of children. Keeping track of the road -and the other cars on it- was supposed to be Jef's job. But suddenly he made a panicked kind of noise and I looked up just in time to see us hit the car in front of us. Turns out, our vehicle was much tougher than theirs. Our front license plate was ripped off, the front tow hooks were bent, and my knee smashed one of the A/C vents to smithereens. Other than that, the worst damage to our car was that all of that nice candy and soda pop that Santa gave us was suddenly at my feet in the front. So while Jef dealt with the other car - whose trunk was no longer functional - I was cleaning up a huge mess inside the car. The ambulance was for one of the kids in the back seat of the other car who wasn't wearing his seat belt and hit his head. But he turned out to be fine.

So then we set off again to find a Christmas tree.
And this time we made it!Jef and Ben decided that Ben should be the one to cut the tree down this year. Luckily we picked a tree with a very small trunk. I mean, we could have survived for several days on the candy and soda pop, but since the supply was damaged by Jef's adventure, that meant we really couldn't spend more than one night in the wild.

Turns out Ben is a great little lumberjack, and he had it down in no time at all.
So from here you'd think that we could throw the tree on top of Max and go home. But the pattern we had set earlier in the day continued to haunt us, and the kids just had to stop at a frozen pond and throw some rocks in. (Yes, Cannon is smiling at you.)
So, we did eventually make it home with our Christmas tree and even managed to get it decorated that night.

(OK, I admit it. I took this picture after Christmas, which explains why all the decorations are missing from the lower half of the tree.)

And they all lived happily ever after.

Christmas Tag

This tag is from Chelsi, who probably thought I'd forgotten or was ignoring her, but not me!

Four Things:
1) Four Places I go over and over:
Church, Wal-Mart, Lin's, the library.

2) Four people who email me regularly:
Image Checks, Rocky Mountain Power, Kohls, and Snapfish

3)Four of my favorite places to eat: ColdStone, my mom's house, and, ummm, oh dear. I think I need to eat out more.

4)Four places I would rather be right now: Sleeping, Reading, Watching a movie... wait, are those places? I guess I'm happy where I am. Except for that the house could be bigger and I wouldn't complain.

5)Four people I tag: Lisa, Jamie, Katie, and Sara

6) Four TV shows I watch: General Conference, the Olympics... and that just about wraps up all my TV watching.

---

I was also tagged by Tiffani, and since it's not New Years yet, then I figure it's still the Christmas season, and thus I can still get away with finishing up Christmas stuff.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping paper for Christmas, gift bags for everything else.

2. Real tree or Artificial?
Real tree - But I really wouldn't mind having an artificial one. No needles to vacuum up, no sap in the carpet... It sounds great to me. But there are seven other people who live in this house (the ones who don't care about needles or sap) who would think the world had ended if they didn't get to tromp out into the hills and find some poor innocent tree to chop down and haul back to our living room. I always feel bad for those poor trees.

3. When do you put up the tree?
As soon as there is a Saturday when Jef can lead the expedition into the hills.

4. When do you take the tree down?
Around New Years sometime. Just as long as it's before Young Women's annual Tree Burn. (Another tradition I'm not so sure about.)

5. Do you like Egg Nog?
I've never had a store-bought kind that I liked. (Of course, I haven't sampled nearly as many brands as my crazy cousins, so maybe I just haven't found the right one.) But I do LOVE home made eggnog. You know, the kind where you start with French Vanilla ice cream, then add more cream, more sugar, and more vanilla? Mmm.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
The swing set in the living room stands out as the most memorable. It was just too bad they eventually had to move it outside.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
Jef's three sets of parents.
It always seems like I should be able to just get them all the same thing, but that never works.

8. Easiest person to buy for?
This year it was Ben since he knew exactly what he wanted and it wasn't too hard to find. (Not like the year he asked for a bubble gum gun.)

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes, and it is one of my favorite possessions in the world. One year I searched and searched and searched for the perfect one, and finally found it... in the hardware store, of course. Silly me, I should have looked there in the first place.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Oh dear, what a huge guilt-inducing question. I have boxes and boxes of Christmas cards that I buy every November with the very best of intentions. Maybe someday I'll send some - just so I don't have to store them another year. But for now, how about a blog Christmas card?

There you go. And now you won't even have to deal with that post-Christmas dilemma of what in the world to do with it.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
My sweet Grandma likes to make us ornaments, but this year no one can tell what it is. The best guesses have been a fish, a mitten without a thumb, or a cell phone holder. But I'm sure as soon as we figure it out, then it will become very sentimental and thus removed from this category.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
Miracle on 34th Street. (The newer one.)

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Well, I think about it real hard during September, October, and most of November, but if I miss black Friday, then it won't be until December.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Well, I'm certainly not about to confess that on a blog that all of you read, am I?

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Sweet Potato Pie, Frog-Eye salad, and cookies!

16. Lights on the tree?
Now what kind of question is that? Are there really people who don't put lights on the tree? How would you sit in the living room at night, sipping your hot chocolate, and stare at the tree? It would be really, really dark if there were no lights on it.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day and all of the Forgotten Carols. But the Veggie Tales Christmas album is pretty good, too.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Christmas Eve and morning at home, but then up to Forsytheville for most of Christmas Day.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
You know Dasher, and Dancer, and Prancer, and Vixen. Comet and Cupid and Donner, and Blitzen, and Rudolph!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Currently a tipsy star, but I wouldn't mind an angel. (As long as she wasn't tipsy, too.)

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
One present on Christmas Eve. (I refused to buy pajamas this year, since I have a couple of children whose pajama drawers are so full that you couldn't possibly fit another pair.) This year each person got to choose one present to open. The rest are opened Christmas morning after breakfast.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Too many things all at once. I really do enjoy all of the parties and activities, but trying to cram them all into one month is insane.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
Wow, how cool would that be? To have a theme or main color for your tree? To have something besides a crazy collection of yarn, rick-rack, popsicle sticks, and construction paper? Someday I'll be so cool.

24. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Hmm. Too late for that question...

... and it's really too late to tag anyone else, since Christmas is over, but I'll catch ya next year!

Dance Recital

Way back at the beginning of December, Robyn and Emily had their dance recital. Only one of many events that combined to speed life up to a break-neck pace. But now that Christmas is over, you can finally enjoy these videos!

Emily is the first one on stage, and thus ends up at the far right.






And,
of course,
my lovely Robyn.

Happy Birthday Jennie!

I'm a little slow about posting it, but Jennie turned three on November 30th. She wanted a "Dora party," and she definitely got it. Every single gift she received was some kind of Dora thing, (including a toothbrush) and even her cake had Dora on it.
The only part of the party that Jennie didn't like was our singing.

Happy Birthday Jennie!

Dinosaur Birthday

Ben's birthday was the day after Thanksgiving. On our way home from Roosevelt, we decided to stop at the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point for a little birthday adventure. It was SO cool! I had never been there before, but we ended up spending about three hours, just because we were having so much fun.
Anyone who's been there can probably guess that the sand and water table was the kids' favorite. I loved how there was stuff for the kids to actually do, but also tons of things to interest adults,

and even things to occupy very small children!(OK, so I realize that a good mother would have been stopping her one-year-old from eating the sand instead of kneeling down to take a picture. But how could I pass up that kind of photo opportunity?) (For those concerned mothers out there, it's been five days now, and she's shown no unusual behavior. Except for eating sand, of course.)

HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY, BEN!

Thanksgiving!

So how was your Thanksgiving? Ours was fun. Crazy. But fun. If you could have peeked in on our holiday feast, you would have seen eight adults and twenty-seven children. (Yes, six of those were teenagers, but the rest definitely qualify as small children.)
Despite the chaos, there was still all the traditional elements of a great Thanksgiving.
Lots of food (of course), a little football,
(You really need to take a closer look at Cannon's face. Hilarious!)
And cousins, Cousins, COUSINS!
(This is a small selection of cousins pictured here. Whoever happened to be in the kitchen when I pulled out my camera. Only ten.)

When you get married you learn new traditions and realize that not everyone does things the same way you do. One major difference between Jef's family and mine was brought out this holiday. At our Thanksgiving dinner of thirty-five people, there were eight pies to split between us. Someone did the math and decided that was sixty-four pieces, and thus there was plenty of pie.
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. So I called up my mom and asked her how many pies they had at their house.
"Well, let's see. I made twenty-one, and John brought two more, so that makes twenty-three."
For how many people?
"Sixteen."
Hmm, anyone got a calculator?
I believe that adds up to at least eleven pieces each.
Almost a pie and a half for each person.
Enough to make you sick for at least a week.
Now that's my idea of a great Thanksgiving!

Family Home Evening

Four posts without any pictures? On my blog? How can this have happened? I hope you're proud of me, Lisa, for being so wordsy, but sheesh! It's gonna kill me. So here's a picture for y'all.
This is last Monday when we built Marshmallow towers for Family Home Evening. Yes, I am trying to cheat in the picture, making my tower taller than Jef's, even though mine wouldn't actually stand up at all. (You try playing against a Geometry teacher. Sheesh!)

Speaking of Family Home Evening, here's a funny story from last night. Jennie really really really wanted to play Button Button, Who's Got the Button? But we decided to play Telephone instead. I thought she was being unusually easy to get along with when she reluctantly agreed to play with us, and sat down in the middle of our "telephone line."
But the funny thing about this game was that no matter who started the "message," and no matter what the message started out as, it always came out the same on the other side.
"I want to play Button-Button."

Recipe for Kendra

Kendra is stuck in dinner rut. I know how she feels. How many nights in a row can you fix spaghetti, really? So she is begging all her blogging friends to post dinner recipes so she can widen her horizons. I have to admit I wouldn't mind at all if all my blogging friends did the same. So I will lead by example. Here's a fabulous (and not too complicated) dinner we all enjoy.

Black Bean and Chicken Enchiladas

1 cup cooked and cubed or shredded chicken (I usually add more to make it go farther.)
1/2 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp cumin
2 (15oz.) cans Black Beans
1 cup Sour Cream
1 (20 oz.) can Enchilada Sauce
8 Tortillas
1 cup grated Cheese

Combine chicken, seasonings, and beans.
Add sour cream and set aside.
On each tortilla spread:
1 Tbs. Enchilada Sauce
1/2 cup chicken & bean mixture
1 Tbs. Cheese
Roll and place in casserole dish
When all tortillas are filled, top with remaining enchilada sauce, cover, and bake at 350 for 35 minutes.
Sprinkle with cheese and put back in the oven until the cheese melts.
Serve with sour cream, green onions, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce... Whatever you want.

I did use these exact amounts the first time I made this, but have been "faking it" ever since. And I made up that whole 350 for 35 minutes thing. Just cook it 'til it's hot all the way through.
I admit I was a little nervous about trying black beans for the first time, but they are way yummy.
Enjoy!

So Close

I was thinking today about a story Malcolm Black told me while we were at his house.
His grandfather went to the Olympics as a boxer and tied for third place. Nowadays they give both the third place people a bronze medal. But back then they flipped a coin.
His grandfather lost the coin toss. ( I hate it when that happens.)
So he went home, gave up boxing, and became a doctor. He helped tons of people and everyone loved him.

Now doesn't that remind you of a movie? I've been trying for two months to think why that story sounded familiar, and I finally figured it out. (I know. I'm a little slow. I'm not even going to tell you where the missing house turned up.)

So did you think of the same movie I did? Come on, Jamie, I know you know this one.

Overheard at My House Today

Robyn: (While reading a letter from the school inviting her to join an accelerated math program.)

WHAT?!?!!

I'm excelling???

Weird.

---

Jef: On your mark!
Get set!
GO!!!!

Emily: (clueless) What?

So Many Choices

A few months ago the beaters on my mixer died, and I've been mixing everything by hand ever since.
This morning my blender died while making smoothies.
So I am quickly returning to a more old-fashioned style of cooking.
Those of you who think that's a good thing probably don't have six children.
So I've been daydreaming today, and I was wondering if any of you could help add some accuracy to my daydreams.
Any thoughts on Bosch vs. Kitchen Aid?
Both are horrendously expensive (That's before you buy any attachments.)
My mom always used a Bosch, and it's lasted for as long as I can remember. But the Kitchen Aid does come in a larger variety of colors, and it might be fun to choose between Pistachio or Bayleaf. But if it did a good job, I guess I could live with Green Apple.
I've heard they'll do everything in the kitchen and you won't ever need another machine. So if I could replace the microwave, the stove, and the fridge with this one handy little Green Apple machine, then that would be great.
But what I really need is a machine that will scrub the kitchen floor and do laundry. I would even be willing to settle for Majestic Yellow if I could have that!
So while I'm busy dreaming in technicolor, could you give me your advice?
Buff Bosch or Trendy Kitchen Aid?

Hard Workin' Woman

I thought I'd explain what I've been up to lately, since it obviously hasn't been blogging. This last summer it took until June to get our garden planted, so I decided this year to start in November.
We tilled in lots of leaves, some fertilizer, and some sulfur, and then made it all into raised beds and planted Winter Rye.
Funny how that all fits into one simple sentence, but actually represents hours and hours of work. In the Spring we'll turn the Rye over a couple of weeks before planting, and it will supposedly help our heavy clay soil to lighten up a little.
I also had Jef build me a compost bin, and I filled one side of it. I fit five big bags of leaves, a big pile of lawn clippings, and two rows of cornstalks (along with a whole bunch of dirt), into about a square yard of space. I don't know how that's possible, I just know that it was a whole lot of work. And I got a nice blister to prove it. :)

Sleeping Accessories

I was reading everyone else's blogs, and thinking how I really should post something on mine. So I went in and took a picture of Jennie sleeping. Tonight she is sleeping with seven books and six stuffed animals. I didn't tell her that one of the baby dolls and the small care bear are missing. They would usually be there, too, making it a total of eight friends in Jennie's bed.
Makes me claustrophobic just looking at her, but she gets very upset if anything is missing. I sometimes go in an remove things after she's asleep, but more than once she's woken up in the night crying, and I have to get up and go find the missing item in the dark. Better to just take a deep breath and leave them there.

Wow

The other day I had the brilliant idea that we should all go outside and do some yard work. I could work on dismantling the garden, and the kids could rake leaves. Well, it was actually going quite well until a whole ton of butterflies showed up. And then, even though I kept working on the garden, the kids were definitely done raking leaves. They ran to get my camera, and spent the next hour taking way too many pictures of our visitors. (Where do they get that from, anyway?) Although there were a whole lot of blurry pictures, there were actually a few that turned out amazingly well. The first picture was taken by Ben, and the second by Robyn. Handily enough, Reflections entries are due this week. The theme is Wow, and coincidentally, that's exactly what I said when I saw these pictures. Wow.

Just Put it on Your Head

Lydia's high chair sits a little back from the table, and she often gets forgotten as we all talk and eat. But she has discovered a way to become the focus at every meal. All she has to do is take whatever it is she's eating and stick it on her head. Works every time.
Sure, I'm always telling everyone to "Stop encouraging her and eat your dinner," but it doesn't really work. You try telling a four year old to ignore the laughing baby with spaghetti on her head. Good luck.

Officially Official

Well, I've been anxiously awaiting the day when I could post that
Jennie is potty-trained!
Hooray!
She hasn't had an accident in three days, so I think it's officially official now. Of course, at this point, it's questionable whether my life is any easier or not. Changing her diaper three or four times a day was much less time consuming than running to the potty with her twenty times a day. Which makes me contemplate one of life's inconvenient truths:
That sometimes, in order to move forward,
you must first take a step backward.
Sounds like a fortune cookie.
But it's still true, and I have to keep reminding myself that we're moving toward independence, here, and that's a good thing. So...
Hooray for Jennie!

Halloween

On October 31st, I became the proud mother of a ninja, a gypsy, a pumpkin, a witch, Superman, and a princess. It was quite a day. And, of course, with the transformation of my children came an absurd amount of candy. I had a few pieces yesterday afternoon and was sick the rest of the day, so I don't know how my children can stomach the amazing amounts of sugar they've ingested in the last two days. I finally got tired of it, and the candy pails have now disappeared. (Much to Jef's consternation who just now couldn't find any candy to snitch.)

Happy Day

Today is of historical significance for two reasons.

The first is that on this day one year ago...
I started my blog!
Yes, your favorite blog ever began on November 1, 2007 with this memorable post.
Between that day and this, I have posted 145 times, with the record month definitely being this last one. Thanks for taking a moment to reminisce with me. :)

The second reason is that on this day 29 years ago...
My sister Lisa was born!
I can't remember a world without siblings, but it must have been a cold and lonely one. Thanks, Lisa, for coming and giving me someone to play with, fight with, share with, and love. You've done a great job. Happy Birthday!

We've Got Guts - and Faces

It's that time of year again! My kids thought it was that time of year three weeks ago, but I held off until the day before Halloween.


The kids had lots of fun gutting pumpkins, but Robyn was the only one who actually carved her own. The rest were carved by Jef and I, and I'm pretty sure it will be a long, long time before I volunteer to carve another Disney character into a pumpkin.
But they turned out great, don't you think?

Missing: One House

There is a cute little red brick house that I pass often in my goings and comings that has been for sale forever. I haven't paid too much attention to it. Just an absent-minded mental note-to-self. "That's a cute little house. Somebody ought to buy it."

So when my brother called me up the other day asking me to keep an eye out for houses around here, I naturally thought of that little red brick one.
So today as we were running around, I thought I'd drive past it and see how much they were asking. I couldn't remember exactly where it was, but I was pretty sure it was on the north end of 2nd or 3rd west. Couldn't be too hard to find. I pass it all the time.
Hmm. Not here.
Well, maybe it was 1st west.
Not there either.
Could it possibly have been 5th?
To get to the point here, I have been up and down every street.
Every street that I go down on a regular basis, many streets I rarely use, and some that I have never been on before. And it's not there. It's not anywhere. I described it to Jef, who knows every house in town, but he doesn't know this one.
I promise I've been passing it on a regular basis for several years now, but where?
I have become obsessed with the finding of this house.
Not for my brother. No, the original point has been entirely forgotten.
My brother can find his own house, I'm busy.
Looking for my mind.
I seem to have lost it.

Family Pictures

Robert Whitmore's homecoming was on Sunday, and we took the opportunity to take some family pictures. Of course, when you put the Andersons and the Whitmores together, you do not end up with regular old normal family pictures.
Cannon was a little worried about falling off the pyramid, and kept watching the bottom people. But when we told him to look up - he did!
The girls' pyramid was not so geometrical as the boys'. But we're cuter, so it's alright.

Lydia does not approve of out-of-the-box family pictures, as you can see above. But she did think the leaves were pretty fun to play with.
Too bad she didn't smile this well for school pictures last week. I guess she likes leaves better than dead chickens. Strange...

What Kind of Water?

Jennie has something against hot water. Or even warm water. Why anyone would want to take a cold bath is beyond me, but she does. I'm always trying to make her bath as warm as possible, without her getting after me. Except she can't get the terminology quite right. When it's too warm, she says,
"No, I want clean water."
Does she think the warm water is dirty? I don't know. But she must have picked up on the fact that she wasn't saying it quite right, because now if it's too warm, she says,
"No, I want dry water."
What a cutie.

Truckful of Treasures

On Saturday, Jef went to an auction at an antique shop. But they weren't selling antiques. Just the junk out of the shed in back. But Jef was thrilled to find some swingin' bargains.
He bought a lawn edger for $2, and they threw in a snow blower for free.
He got three sections of triple wall insulated chimney pipe, which he was very excited about. (No, we don't have a wood stove or anything else that requires a chimney.)
Other bargains included a fertilizer spreader for $2, a dresser for $6, and he also bought some shelves for $4, but was required to take away everything that was on the shelves, too.
And there were all kinds of treasures on those shelves. My favorite was an Incredibles DVD, but that CD of The Best Darn Drinking Songs Ever was pretty good, too. (Anyone need 100 pocketknife holders?)
The other stuff, well, there was a lot of it. Some of which we have yet to discover a name for - or a purpose.
Here's a picture of Jef looking through his treasures which almost covered the floor of a U-Haul truck.

All for a total of $20.
(Eat your heart out, Kendra. ;)Everything you can think of, including the kitchen sink.
(Four of them)

Broken-Hearted

Last night during the chaos of bedtime, I suddenly heard wailing from the bathroom. I went to investigate, and found Jennie completely broken-hearted. When I finally got her to tell me what happened, she said through her tears,
"Cannon says I'm a windshield!"
Shocking, isn't it?

Happy Birthday Lydia!

Sunday was Lydia's first birthday!

I think that was probably the fastest year of my life.
And definitely of hers.

She really couldn't figure out the whole candle thing.
But she knew just what to do when we moved on to the eating part.

She is such a sweet little girl, and I am so lucky to have her in my life.
And she's not always so serious as she appears in these pictures. In honor of her birthday, here are a few of the

Faces of Lydia.

And here's a video for Jamie.
(Since I'm sure that's who she's calling. ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYDIA!!!