Catchup Time!

I gave up on November because I destroyed my phone by accident and failed to capture the birthdays of Owen and myself...and everything else that happened in November.  But those dark days are over...so here's what's new!  Just kidding, Owen had a great birthday and turned 10.  He decided last minute that he wanted a little party, so he invited two friends and James took them and the boys swimming.  Came back here for a low-key dinner and party.  Easy peasy!

Owen likes to ask a lot of questions.  I've noticed that he gets going especially strong at bedtime when James and I are trying to leave his room.  Sometimes we have to limit the number of questions he can ask us in one night.  The other night he pinned me down about Santa, then went on to ask about every other fairy tale creature--I told him he could just ask one of those questions a night.  So he waited till James came in and I left and he continued on with the Tooth Fairy.  ;-)  Sometimes he asks some pretty great questions that get you thinking, or that make it clear he's thinking.  He asked the other day if people who haven't been baptized yet feel the Holy Ghost.  That started a pretty neat conversation.  Owen gets a lot of bloody noses in the wintertime.  Probably a dryness issue.  The other day he had like 3 bad ones in one day, and when I was tucking him in to bed he had "plugs" up both nostrils.  He said in a really sweet voice, "Mom, I don't like it when I get these.  Do you think this is a trial?"  He deals with this trial very well, and is very patient with the annoying mess.  And it really is a mess!  Blood spatters everywhere in the bathroom when he has a bad one.  Anyway...moving on to December!

One night the three youngest ganged up on me and INSISTED that we do gingerbread.  So we did!  And it was fun.  But also extremely messy.  :-) Could you tell this kid no?

We set up "Christmas" pretty early in December.  I think I was pretty proud of myself.

Making "Teacher" gifts--Sand Art Brownies in a Jar.  

Same night--making sugar cookies for the neighbors.  This was a long-drawn-out process.  Very fun and messy.  Again...

The finished product!  Looks super healthy, doesn't it?

And although I did break a LOT of cookies getting them off the sheet, there were luckily a ton of cookies made.  SO it turned out fine!  Note to self:  Stars are really tricky and break easily.  :-)

Part of the mess.  The rest is all over the floor.

Getting fancy with dipping and drizzling.  Yes, I'm sure you can tell this was my first attempt.  I'm told they tasted pretty yummy!  Yes, I did resist.  Amazing, I know.

George and I got to follow Owen's choir around one day and hear his beautiful voice.  He likes being in choir a lot, and enjoyed this Field Trip day around the city.  They performed at city hall (the mayor was there), and a couple of homes.  Singing seems to make Owen happy. 

 Tommy turned 8 on December 9th.  He was sooo excited.  James had to be at a conference on his actual day, so we kind of started the celebrations a bit early. And then extended them when he came back--and had a little friend party.  We went swimming again.  Hey, if the glove fits, wear it!
We sure love this blue-eyed, energetic guy.  He is so pumped to have his own set of scriptures with his name on.  He can't wait to be baptized.  He talks about it a lot and thinks about it often.  He asked me the other day, "Who is more specialler, God or Jesus?"
He tells some little white lies and is working on changing that.  He's getting better at confessing things to me.  He gets chapped lips in the winter, and he came home one day and told me that he was tempted to put his lips on the cold window of the bus.  I asked him if he did that. He said, no, but you never do know...He does a lot of kind things, and he does some not-so-kind things too.  Usually to George.  He confessed that he really loves George, but sometimes he doesn't.  I think I had already guessed that that was the case!
Tonight at the school concert, Tommy said, "I want to be like Beethoven when I grow up.  But I don't want to be blind."  :-)

 Other news of the month:

Every week we go to hockey.  We sit on this bench and lean against this pole, and try to stay warm for 2 hours of hockey practice.  Its actually a lot more fun than that may sound.

Georgie's music class Grand Finale (for the semester.)  He looks clueless, but he actually sang most of the words to every song with great gusto.  I love practicing his "Music Class" songs as we drive around the city together.  Sometimes I get the words wrong and he corrects me.

Sarabeth, the fearless Music Class leader.  This is a very energetic bunch, and they adore her.

 Sometimes George gets the words a little mixed up in his songs.  He sometimes sings "And a Happy New Ear!"  instead of Year.  And today James and I were laughing over his rendition of Drummer Boy.  "Come, Victoria, pa-rum-pum-pum-pum!"
Other funny mis-sayings: "Hello President Iron-Man!" (When looking at a picture of President Eyring."  He heard me say "immersion" and he said, "A MAR-tian?  Its a scary guy!"  Tommy, who was nearby said, "No!  immersion means you go all the way under!"
He likes to help out in the kitchen and around the house--usually.  He was carrying something pretty heavy up the stairs, and he called out, "Can someone help me out here?"
His friend Seth called him on the phone and after some light chit chat George cut to the chase, "What did you call me for?"
Me: I love you one million gazillions.
George: I love you one chameleon!
This led to a discussion on chameleons and what they are--he got creative with the color idea, and said if it was white it could hide on some toilet paper.  If it was black it could hide on black licorice.
Whenever a friend is over, George warns them, "Don't step on the Dead Mouse Step!"  this is the step that did indeed have a dead mouse dropped on it (long story) and has long since been soaped and scrubbed...but it sure makes for a good thriller!  When he remembers about it, he makes a definite effort to step over that step.
George and I were shopping one day and he kept asking for different things.  My answer, which has always been a proven winner until now was, "Oh that would be fun to get, but it's not on my list!"  Finally, after the 5th disappointment in a row, he came up with a way around that.  "Well Mom, we're going on my list!  And that's on it!"  That was pretty funny.
"Ser-yos-lee??" (seriously)
I told him I had eyes in the back of my head, and he searched through my whole head of hair trying to find them.  Kinda knew I was joking, but also was a bit nervous of finding a blinking eyeball in there.
He loves to kiss me in my ticklish spot under my chin.  He will tackle me and then worm his way in there.  No, Bekah, no!
We have a game called "catching a tickle."  I tell him I see something, and then I go to grab it but really I just tickle him.  It moves around and sometimes it jumps from him to me.  He took it one step further in music class during the "a-hunting we will go" song.  "We'll catch a tickle and put it in a pickle!"
When we were memorizing a scripture as a family, he started adding a funny little phrase in and its stayed--"Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.  Neither do men light a candle and put it under a "bushel and a peck!" but on a candlestick, that it may give light unto all that are in the house."
Another game we have is saying "I love you."  I say one word, then he says another, then its my turn, etc.  Sometimes I surprise him by saying more than one word at a time, and he does likewise.    James always says how lucky I am that I get to hang out with him every day and I couldn't agree more!  He's so much fun.

George is a force in the kitchen.  He cut up an entire salad bowl of romaine lettuce the other night when we had company coming!  He actually saves me time in the kitchen.  Today I asked him to scrub the potatoes.  At first he said, "Oh Man!  Do I have to scrub off all those little black spots?"  :-)

I have never until this month witnessed one of my children (or anyone for that matter!) get a filling put in.  This just looks like a torture device to me!  Poor Tommy.  After this experience, he came home and was determined to floss every day.  Unfortunately, we both forget that resolution so easily!

Owen is always finding ways to change up his environment.  He slept in his "castle" for a few nights before deciding he was tired of the cushions falling on his face.

Owen's favorite Christmas carol is still We Three Kings.  I sure love this picture he drew.  Looks a little Three Amigo-ish doesn't it?  That mustache on the middle guy...

This was a definite highlight of the month and year--we went to Meet the Mormons at our movie theater in town.  The boys all took the challenge we issued them to invite 2 people to see the movie.  No one came with us, but some did go see it because we invited them!  That felt good. William was the first one to come home and report his success.  He said it was pretty easy to invite people--he just told them that his grandpa was in it!

There has been a lot of this.  :-)

And this.  :-)
We had a music night where we invited 4 older women in the ward over and the boys performed for them.  I think it made the boys feel really good to share their music that way.  It was pretty rewarding for James and I too.

And finally, a report on the twinner teenagers--
They have been really cute at the younger boys' hockey games.  They cheer really loudly and shout out encouragements and suggestions.  Will even said, "we should have worn our jerseys to support their team!"
I gave them the ultimatum about laundry, after washing the same clothes over and over--and finding them folded in the bottom of the dirty clothes bin.  However, I'm somehow still doing their laundry. Not sure where we're at there, but change is in the air...
I discovered the beginnings of arm pit hair on Ryrie when I was tickling him the other day.  This was a shock to my system.
Another shock--Will came home the other day and asked if it was ok if he gave his email address to a girl at school.
Its been fun being the boys' study partner for their many tests this year.  It brings back the memories for sure--I remember learning and memorizing all this stuff.  Its fun to pass on my memorizing tactics to them.
The boys have been helping James do a new shovelling job this winter--shovelling in front of mailboxes.  They are excited to earn "bigger" money and are anxious to "quit" the shopper route that they have once a week right now.  They figure that they can pass that on to their brothers next year.  We'll see, I guess.  They sure hate it, but they are super responsible about getting it done.  So I think its been a good things for them.

Ryrie is on the trumpet--just to the right and up from the teacher's head.

Tommy and Owen's Christmas concert was a great success.  They both sang with their grades and with their choirs.  They both played in my violin strings group--Pat a Pan and Jingle Bells.  It was a lot of fun to do that with them.

Ryrie's band concert this year was great!  He and his band have both improved a ton since last year.  He likes the trumpet a lot.  For the first month of school, he kept telling me that his teacher told him they didn't need to practice at home this year.  That myth was dispelled at PT conferences--and I think I embarrassed Ry because in class the next day the teacher mentioned that "a student's mom" informed him...oh well.  It was innocent enough.
The boys have made friends with another set of twins--they are identical though--and that has been pretty fascinating to see.  It will be interesting to see the whole friend thing unfold over the next couple of years.
We're grateful to have a couple of great babysitters.  James and I have enjoyed some fun dates over the last month or so.  Its payback time I guess!  :-)