Christmas in California--Before Christmas

Okay, finally catching up on all our Christmas festivities.  Here we go . . .

This year, all of the Stones got together to celebrate Christmas at StoneHaven.  It was the first time all of us, including spouses and children had been together since before Reed's mission.  It was super crowded but tons of fun.

Before heading up to Northstar, we did our traditional Christmas caroling.

I know this picture is not quite in focus, but I just had to post it anyway, so you can know what to look forward to if you ever have the privilege of being caroled to by the Stone Family.  While we were driving from house to house, I told my kids about how when I was growing up, Aunt Natalie always used to surprise me by pinching my bum when I sat down in the van.  Even though I'd check to make sure her hand wasn't there before sitting down, she'd slip it under before I'd made contact with the seat and GOOSE ME!  good times. 

 At the Cabin:

Jenny was genius and brought up stuff for the kids (and adults too) to make homemade ornaments to decorate the tree that we brought up to the cabin.

Melanie working on her Masterpiece, 

and Jade drinking capri sun, and looking very excited about her work.

The kids working on some of their ornaments

Daphne made these cool ornaments with her cousin Jemma while staying at her Aunt Jenny's house the week before Christmas on a home-school exchange program.  

Below, some more ornaments:

The beautiful tree!  I love how it turned out!

Other cabin activities included coloring giant coloring pages, movies, games, snacks, building forts, and there was some puking happening as well.  We had a lovely Christmas bug go through the family which, thank goodness, wasn't as violent as last year's bug.

Mom and Jenny brought up their sewing machines and all the materials for each of us to make these darling Valentine's table runners using a quilting technique that's new to me called stippling.  (I think that's what it's called.)  It was really fun, and, glimpsing the endless possibilities in the world of stippling, Julianne and I have already gone out to purchase our "free motion" quilting feet for our machines.

And this is me . . . finishing my table runner.  

The guys headin' out for their ski/board day.

goobers.

More skiing

 I think Hayden is adorable carrying his little skis!  

Not bad for his 2nd time on skis.

Okay, Jenny's gonna kill me, but I love this picture of her.  When I saw her wearing these goggles, I thought she'd put them on to humor her 3-year-old son.  

But no.  

She was wearing them because she was cutting an onion.  :)  

Luminarias

I guess we can now be official New Mexicans because this year we put up luminarias for the first time ever.  For those of you who are not of the Southwest, and therefore may not be familiar with these, they are paper lanterns (most commonly a paper bag weighted down with sand and lit with a small candle inside) that are traditionally set up on Christmas Eve, symbolic of guiding the spirit of Christ to your home.  (And even though I've lived here for six years, I just barely learned that. In fact, I looked it up just now so it would seem that I know what I'm talking about.  Thank-you Wikipedia!)  

Unfortunately, we were out of town on Christmas Eve, so we lit ours the few nights before we left town.  Kind-of random, but I liked them just the same.  I love how the flickering flame makes the light dance in these "real" luminarias, (as opposed to the plastic ones with light bulbs inside.)  It feels so festive!

Hayden's B-Day

Our Hayden turned 4 at the end of November.   This little guy is such a character.  (People who don't know him very well tell me that all the time.  And I just say, "He came that way.")  We just love this guy!  He keeps us laughing everyday.  

Opening presents--notice those shoes on without any socks.  He does that all the time and the result is a very unpleasant odor.  I am constantly reminding that kid PUT SOME SOCKS ON!

He loves Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," so when I saw this shirt, I knew he would love it.

And right now as I'm writing this blog, Hayden is sitting on my lap and just told me, "I was just trying to do the cutest smile ever."  

There he is again with the "cutetht thmile in the world."

I have been trying very hard not to increase the number of toys in our house, because nobody takes care of the toys that they already have!  So I've been thinking of other things for birthday gifts.  Hayden got play-dough and some play-dough tools, which was pretty fun for everyone.

spaghetti and meatballs

Uncle Eric made a Medusa Head, which inspired everyone else to make one.

Here are their play-dough creations:

Happy Birthday, Hayden!

Thanksgiving Festivities

A bajillion pictures of our Thanksgiving week for your viewing enjoyment.

Thanksgiving lunch with Sean's kindergarten class.

EXPLORA (a hands-on science museum)

I know this picture is blurry, but I still thought it was pretty cute.

The Gariety brothers getting their nerd on experimenting with the Bernoulli Principle.

BUBBLES! bubbles, bubbles, bubbles . . . . my bubbles.

(name the movie)

Thanksgiving Day

Mikey earned Hero Status by being the raw-turkey-handler this year.

Daphne was in charge of setting the table.  (I know it looks like I'm setting it, but Daph really did most of it.)  She carefully rolled the utensils up in napkins and secured them with various twisty ties that she found around the house. 

 I thought that was very resourceful of her.

Aunt Amber in a rare snuggling moment with Sydney.

(that Sydney doesn't give out snuggles very freely.)

The annual Christmas Tree Excursion:

I have some video of our mini-van trying to make it up this hill.  

It took three tries and it was sliding all over the place.

To avoid having a panic attack, I jumped out of the car.

lunch.

adorable.

Mike and Amber

Julianne, Eric and Caleb

Lilly tromping through the woods

Mike, the lumberjack taking down this tree with a hatchet.

Amber's turn to swing the hatchet.

Mike and Amber are such good tree-finders!

The weather was perfect, and so was the snow--

crunchy and sticky enough for great snowballs, but not wet.   

Hayden doing "one-arm-snow-push-ups"

While we were waiting for the dads to get back from their tree search, the kids made this snowman.  They rolled those huge balls of snow themselves!

snow angels

Hayden spent a lot of time licking snow.  He told me he was a Christmas cow.  

?

us by our tree

Anderson's by their tree

And Dallin and Arthur with a shotgun.

That's Arthur's new shotgun that we took out to the woods.  I have some pretty funny footage of me, Julianne and Dallin each taking a turn firing it.  It nearly knocked Dallin over!  Hopefully I'll get around to posting those videos soon.  

Catching my Breath

Wow.  I just finished an intense 3 weeks.  I think this might have been the busiest few weeks of my entire life.  So for posterity's sake, here's the quick run-down.  (I'll work on getting some pictures up soon for some of these events . . .)

Tuesday, Nov. 22nd--teach piano lessons, Reflections Judging (a PTA program for which I am the chairman for my kids school), company arrives for Thanksgiving.  (Mike and Amber!!!  We loved having you guys come out.  Thank you for making the trip.)

Wednesday, Nov. 23rd--homeschool chorus rehearsal, family outting to Explora

Thursday, Nov. 24--Thanksgiving--cooking all day and eating it all in about 30 minutes.

Friday, Nov. 25--relax, eat left-overs, go to Loft and Real Deals with Amber.  ;)

Saturday, Nov. 26--go to the mountains to chop down a Christmas tree with Mike, Amber, and Julianne, Eric and all the little ones.

Sunday, Nov. 27--Arthur ordained as a High Priest and set apart as a High Councilor in our Stake.

Monday, Nov. 28--teach piano lessons, invite every neighbor on my entire street to "A Child is Born," (a 2-day Christmas event hosted by our Stake including hundreds of Nativity displays and a concert of Christmas Carols performed by choir, orchestra and handbells) meet some new neighbors as a result, celebrate Hayden's 4th birthday.

Tuesday, Nov. 29-- my turn to teach Hayden's preschool group for the next two weeks (that timing couldn't have been worse), teach piano lessons, Hubert Humphrey Elementary's Reflections Awards Reception (my 3rd year chairing this PTA program at our school).

Wednesday, Nov. 30--homeschool choir practice, 2 hour Nativity Shift, pick up the kids from Sarah's (thanks sarah) scarf down a delicious dinner brought to us by a friend, (thanks kristine!) Dress Rehearsal for Stake Christmas Concert for "A Child is Born."

Thursday, Dec. 1--Teach Hayen's Preschool group, freak out a little bit because the power is out at the church, freak out a little more because in the minutes before I need to be walking out the door, Sydney smears sticky leg wax all over my skirt that I made specifically to wear for the concert. Wear something else not as good as my homemade skirt.  Conduct 1st performance of "A Child is Born" concert.

Friday, Dec. 2--get the wax out of my skirt, make 2 dozen cookies, bring the cookies to the church, Conduct 2nd performance of "A Child is Born" concert, in my homemade skirt that I don't have a picture of because I was too busy to take one.

Saturday, Dec. 3--take four of my children to Irish Step Dance.  Decide the oldest two are still the only ones ready to handle it, clean my house all day long, have dinner with Schmutz's.  Fall asleep while we are all watching the BYU/Hawaii game.  (sorry guys--please don't take it personally.)

Sunday, Dec. 4--rehearse the Stake Choir for Stake Conference.  Lead the music at Stake Conference. Completely fall apart during the closing song--as in, tears falling down my face, and eyes too blurry to see the music.  Yes, I felt the spirit, but I was also on the brink of an emotional breakdown--I'd been wound tightly for a very long time and was ridiculously exhausted.  Come home, take a power nap, and get ready for choir practice and a choir potluck at which we crammed about 80 people into our house.  Who'd have thought?  Good times.

Monday, Dec. 5--(I'm sure no one is still reading, but . . .) Experienced a major emotional down-swing after all the stresses and highs of last week. Taught piano lessons, desperately rotated laundry, and scrounged around for food because there was no grocery shopping happening for awhile at our house. Didn't want to do anything but sleep.  FHE--caroling with the Andersons and DeGolyers to some neighbors and VTing families, and then having cider and hot cocoa over here at the end.

Tuesday, Dec. 6--still trying to keep my head above water, teach Hayden's preschool group, teach piano lessons, direct the Homeschool Chorus in their performance for the Paloma Landing Retirement Community.  They did a great job!

Wednesday-Friday, (Dec. 7-9)-- finally pull out of my emotional slump, have lunch with friends, receive service from some wonderful friends who watch my kids and bring me dinner, (thanks sarah and amber!) teach more piano lessons, teach Hayden's preschool group, fold a BUNCH of laundry, pack a bunch of clothes, errands, get our Christmas cards done, take Hayden to the doctor to find out he has a double ear infection, drop the boys off at Julianne & Eric's for the weekend (THANK-YOU!) while Arthur, the girls and I fly to CA.

Saturday, Dec. 10--soloist rehearsal for the Turlock, CA Stake's "Messiah" concert. Figure out what to wear.  Happily surprised that I fit into my sister Emma's prom dress from a couple years ago.  Decide to wear that.  Take Sydney into urgent care to find and treat a double ear infection.

Sunday, Dec. 11--Sing in church with my sister Jenny.  (Our song had special meaning because we sang "Come Unto Him" from Messiah, but with added harmony arranged by my Aunt Kathy.  It was the way I sang it with her three years ago (or four years ago?) when I came out to sing for Dad his first year directing.  It's always fun to sing with any of my sisters.)

Participate in "Messiah" directed by my father.  Arthur, Mom, Jenny, Jacob and Nathan all sang in the choir (which sounded WONDERFUL!) and I sang the soprano solos.  I felt pretty good about them, and know that Heavenly Father was helping me.  With all that I had going on, I didn't feel as prepared as I did last time, and my voice felt a little weird and scratchy.  But I hope my offering didn't detract from the wonderful spirit that was there.  (If it did, at least I felt good knowing that I fit into my sister's prom dress--now that is a Christmas miracle.)

Monday, Dec. 12--Leave Daphne in CA with her cousin Jemma for this week as a "homeschool exchange student."  Fly home with Sydney who was completely thrilled to see her brothers again.  (She was laughing and dancing and giggling with them--so darling.)  Laundry, emails, blogging, and catching my breath.

I'm almost done--I promise.  I just have to share this quote that I recently read by Elaine L. Jack:

"Hands often speak as voices can’t. A warm embrace conveys volumes. A laugh together unites us. A moment of sharing refreshes our souls. We cannot always lift the burden of one who is troubled, but we can lift her so she can bear it well."

When I read that, tears sprang to my eyes because I immediately thought of the many people who rallied around my family during this extremely busy stretch in my life.  I was truly supported by dear friends who knew I was really pushing my limits.  As these weeks approached, I plead with my Heavenly Father for help in organizing my time, for strength to do all that was required of me and for patience with myself in letting things go that I just didn't have time for.  I absolutely felt His help with those things.

And I felt His love through the thoughtful service of friends who cared for our children during rehearsals (thank you Carters and Steels!), and took them during the day so I could get other errands done.  Friends who brought me dinner (a huge help since I really didn't even  have time to go grocery shopping.)  Friends who just listened to me in a moment of feeling overwhelmed.  And friends and family who prayed for me--I truly felt those prayers sustain me.  I am so thankful for the goodness of so many people who support and lift me up and who exemplify what it means to be a disciple of Christ.  I am truly blessed for your influences in my life.

November Quotes

Dallin:  Our family is one of the main families of awesomeness.

Hayden:  Mom, Sydney is messing my stuff up.  Can you just put her away?

At Walmart today we saw a little dog inside the store with a special coat on that said "Service Dog" on it.  Daphne asked if me if Dad would let us get a service dog that would help us.  I said, "You have to need a service dog to get one of those."  Out of desperation Daphne asked, "So if I got blind, would Daddy let us get a dog?"

Hayden:  Mom, if you don't go in there and help Daphne right now,  
I'm gonna hang on your leg.

(Hayden is smart because he knows that I get super annoyed when I have kids hanging on my legs.)

Dallin:  Daphne, I know how to get what you really want for Christmas.  I've noticed that the last few Christmases, Santa always gets me the least expensive thing on my list.  So this year, I'm gonna put the thing I really want, and then list a bunch of other way more expensive stuff in the letter and Santa will pick the least expensive thing, which is the thing I really want.

Hayden: When I'm a daddy, I'm gonna be a police, and a race-car guy and a pizza-maker.

Dallin:  Mom, I don't think everyone is awesome.  But I am one of the few people who are AWESOME.

Hayden:  I am not cute, Mom.  I am awthsome.

(Isn't it great that my kids have such high opinions of themselves?)  

On a different day, Hayden said:  Mom, I hope Thithter (sister) Ethplin doethn't say, "Cute Hayden" to me, becauthe I am Awthsome Hayden.

Hayden: Ladies and Generals, we are gonna sing a song!  "Bow-chicka-wow-wow, that's what my babeh says, bow-chicka-wow-wow!"

At school, Dallin wrote this descriptive paragraph about our piano:

The Piano

"I love the piano in my house.  It is made of lovely wood.  Some keys are shiny white and others are as dark as black can be.  The music it makes it lovely and sweet.  It is sweeter than the sweetest candy.  There is dust on the top of the wood on the piano, and on top of the dust there are photos of my parents. The wood is soft and the keys are hard, but the music is sweeter than the sweetest honey."

I love that in his description he included the  dust on the top of the piano, and on top of the dust are pictures.  What an honest description of our piano.  

After an inordinate number of timeouts occurred in a single afternoon, Arthur said, "I think we're gonna need more dryers."  (If that doesn't make sense to you, you may not know that sitting on the dryer is our time-out spot.)

Hayden:  But it's my birthday!

Me:  Just because it's your birthday doesn't mean you get to be a brat.

Hayden, knocking on the bathroom door yells, "Hey Sean! whatchya doin' in there?"

Sean yells back, "I'm goin' poop!"
nice.