Circus

Tuesday night the circus came to town. It's been on Sunday the last several years, so when it came this year on a Tuesday, there was no way I was getting out of it. Just because it was New Beginnings that night, and I had been running around like a crazy lady for two days made no difference whatsoever. I simply had to take a three-hour break in the middle of the day and go to the circus. And I'm glad I did. It was lots of fun and pretty cool. They had a white tiger, along with two orange ones, and boy and girl lions. There were pink and blue poodles, and cool motorcyles-riding-around-in-a-big-ball tricks. And then, of course, daring acrobats and not-so-funny clowns.
I made it back to the church five minutes before New Beginnings started, and thankfully everyone was ready to go. Everything turned out great, but boy am I glad every day isn't so action-packed as that one was.

My Brilliant Son

Last night we got a phone call telling us that Ben would be given an award in an assembly at school the next day, and his parents were invited to come see. So this afternoon we gathered, all the proud parents, and even one of Ben's Grandmas, at the back of the auditorium to see Ben receive his glory. Turns out he was one of the top five in his grade on the NWEA test taken in October. Not only in math, but also in Language Arts! He got a $5 Wal-Mart gift card for each certificate, and the whole school applauded. He seemed quite pleased with himself. My brilliant son.

However....
There were several things going on after school, and by the time Ben got home it was about 5:00pm. I immediately asked if I could see his certificates, which I hadn't gotten a chance to see yet. He suddenly got very sheepish and didn't want to show them to me. I couldn't figure out what was going on until he pulled out a beige-colored paper airplane from his backpack and started hastily unfolding it. I was quite upset with him, but took his picture with it anyway.
But wait, didn't he receive two awards? Why yes, he did. And where is the other one?

Well, it just happens to be on the roof of the church!

In the form of a paper airplane, no doubt.

My so very brilliant son.

Grand Total

(My apologies to those of you have already heard this story. Some of you more than once.)

In June of 2007, a friend of mine was telling me that she was so proud of herself because it was only half way through the year, and she had already read eleven books.
Eleven? That's all?
So I went home and tried to think of all the books I had read that year. I could only think of ten! I was sure I had read more than that, but I couldn't remember them. So as soon as 2008 started, I wrote down every book I read. And no, I didn't count any picture books, and I didn't count books that I didn't finish.
And so, at the end of 2008, the grand total was...

SIXTY-FIVE!

At the first of the year I was sure I could reach one hundred, but when you throw in The Count of Monte Cristo (1462 pages), Pride and Prejudice, and just life in general, it sure cuts down on one's speed reading.
Still, sixty-five's not bad. That's more than one a week.
And my goal for 2009 is to read at least sixty-six. :)
Anybody up for a little friendly competition?

Empty Nursery

Wanna hear something crazy? I have no children in nursery right now. Jennie went into Sunbeams at the first of the year, and Lydia won't be old enough until April. This is the first time this has happened since Emily went into Sunbeams. No wonder our nursery leader of ten years finally consented to being released. It's just too weird!

On Opening Presents

Most of my children LOVE opening presents. It is the coolest thing ever.

(As for the Bosch vs. Kitchenaid dilemma, I guess Jef thought Bosch was best :)

But one of my children got really upset when it was her turn.

Wait, you mean there's toys inside?Sweet.
Merry Christmas!

Lydia's Stroller

Santa brought Lydia a stroller to encourage her in this whole walking project. But it hasn't worked out quite like Santa hoped. Although Lydia loves the stroller, and she will walk behind it, she's a little confused. See, every stroller she's even seen before is for her to ride in. Not some silly doll. It's just that Santa brought one that's way too small.
But it's not too bad once you get used to it, I guess.

Christmas Morning

And finally Christmas morning came!

Robyn was thrilled with her bead kit.
Ben spent lots of time putting together his model airplanes,
Emily loved her new Diamond Castle Barbies,
Cannon got to add to his car collection,
and Jennie was delighted with her Dora toys.

But Lydia was ECSTATIC about all of that candy!

Christmas Eve

Every Christmas Eve we have our own little nativity pageant. Jef has always been the donkey, but for some reason he didn't want to the beast of burden this year and opted instead for the role of narrator. Jon and Jame were visiting, but Jon didn't want the job either. So Jamie nicely volunteered to carry Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Thank you, Jamerz! You were a fabulous donkey! Also special recognition to our guest star, Jon the Wise Man.
And here are my angels, shepherd, Joseph/Innkeeper, and Mary. And, oh yes. My sheep.
Now, I know that it might look to some people like my sheep isn't happy to be here. Like she might be upset because she's been stuffed into this stupid white sweater, set where she didn't want to be, and told to stay put. I know it might look like she's fed up with being dragged from one side of the living room to the other to see her sister holding a dumb doll and then being grabbed by the donkey. It might even look like she's ticked off that everyone keeps baa-ing at her and holding up cameras instead of helping her get to her mother!
But really, she's just being the best little sheep she can be. You know, down on all fours, head down (eating grass, of course.)
What a good little actress.

Ward Christmas Party

An important part of the Christmas season is our Ward Christmas Party. Including, of course, a nativity pageant done by the Primary children.
The most important parts in this year's pageant were the sheep

the angels,

and the innkeeper.

But the most entertaining part was, as usual, the Sunbeams. I mean sheep.


But even though I had several people tell me that Cannon was their favorite part, I guess Primary teachers still have a responsibility to keep things reverent. Much to the disappointment of my little boy.

Snowman

My kids love the snow.
If I wasn't sure that they were mine, I would wonder where they came from. I'm working on my attitude, I really am, but I'm pretty excited about being old someday so I can be a snowbird.
In the meantime, my children had a great time making a big ol' snowman. I thought using a bungee cord for the mouth was very creative, and I posted the only picture with both of his eyes in place. I've never wondered before, but how did Frosty's eyes of coal stay in his head while he was thumpity-thumping over the hills of snow?