Cars

We LOVED Cars Land!  We constantly kept pointing out the fun Christmas trees made of car things, and all the other added extras that created Cars Land.  The Radiator Springs ride was awesome!

 

     

A Favorite Part

Of all those fun pictures, this is one of my favorites because of the memories.  We were there during holiday hours, which meant the park was open from 8am until midnight.  We would get there right when the parks opened and then in the early evening head back to our hotel for a little break, so that we could go strong into the night.  There is something magical about the park, rides and fireworks at night.  Autotopia and Cars ROCK at night!

Anyway, as we would head back to our hotel we would talk and laugh about the day’s adventures so far, the rides, the people and just analyze our day at Disneyland.  I LOVED hearing what stood out to the kids.  I LOVED having just my kids around me, no crowds, no friends, just my kids bubbling over with excitement. 

One night as we were heading back to the parks Stephen ran back to grab something from the hotel.  I had the “brilliant” idea to climb across this low, prickly hedge and hide from him in the dark.  Well, of course two of the girls got all scratched up in climbing and falling  into the hedge.  Then to top it off, as Stephen walked by instead of us sneaking out to attack him from behind, Jerrica yells, “we are hiding over here, dad”.  All of that hiding in vain!  Yet, this little scenario was on one of the kids lists of what they enjoyed on our vacation.

I don’t know why, but I just loved these little walks back to the hotel each day, and this picture reminds me of those walks.

K’nex

I’ve been cleaning to get ready for company coming.  Today I was busy organizing toys when I came to the K’nex tubs.  The boys LOVED to build and create with them.  Jerrica had no clue what they were, so we brought the tubs up and started building together.  Jerrica enjoys puzzles and was way into the K’nex.

We made a little ferris wheel with a wind up motor.

 

Jerra decided that the little chairs needed Squinkies to ride on them.  I was surprised that they would stay on as they whirled around.

 

Jerra would even make the Squinkies wait in line and then, take them off in order just like a real ferris wheel.  Then she would wind them up and let it whirl around and around.  We sat there talking about how awesome that would be to shrink ourselves and ride our little K’nex ferris wheel with the Squinkies. 

Oh how fun an old toy is on a new day!

Kohl’s

Today after I finished shopping at Kohl’s, the manager and a small group of workers came running up to me announcing that I was the winner of the day.  They are doing a promotion where one winner every day wins everything they bought on their receipt for FREE.

I was thrilled of course!  Yet, mad that I hadn’t bought even MORE on this particular day.  In fact at the register I put back a $40 dress I was going to buy for Kaylee.  I wish that you would win as you enter the store and then you can shop accordingly.  :) Don’t I sound greedy?!? 

Another thing that they did was give me a $10 gift card with a little bling button on it to GIVE to someone else.  They told me that all they asked of me for winning was to give that card to another person.  I had just chatted with a friend that had recently lost her husband, so I ran back over to the check-out to give her the gift card.

As they were taking my picture another friend came by to see what was going on with me.  She looked at the manager and told him that they picked the perfect person to win, and told him about all the kids I have.

It was AWESOME! 

You really CAN expect great things from Kohl’s!

Snow White

Jerrica has always had an obsession with Snow White.  She couldn’t wait to meet her at Disneyland.

She kept her eyes wide open everywhere we went looking for her.  She knocked on this cute little house looking for the dwarves.

A little girl came up to Jerrica saying, “you are Snow White”.  She was just stating who she was because of her costume.  Jerrica quickly said, “Oh, I’m not the real Snow White, but I’m trying to find the real Snow White.”  It was so cute.

We did find the wicked queen on the first day.  I LOVE the villains at Disneyland!  They are always so in character.   She asked Jerrica “Why are you here?” and then further questioned her if she had “her apple” for the day.  Look at the body language in this picture…

     

She then insisted on covering up Jerrica’s “hideous” dress.

The last day we were at Disneyland, we created a little list of rides we wanted to ride and other little things to finish off our trip.  Finding Snow White was on the list.  We found her!

 

When asked what the favorite parts of the trip were, Jerrica immediately declares that seeing Snow White was hers.  I personally really liked that sarcastic, evil queen. 

Measure your Life

Stephen recently read this book, and then I saw it on a blog today.

This was Melissa’s favorite quote from the book….

“When the kids come home for a family reunion, I like to listen to their banter back and forth about the experiences they had growing up, and which had the greatest impact on their lives. I typically have no memory of the events they recall as being important. And when I ask them about the times when Jim and I sat them down specifically to share what we thought were foundationally important values of our family, well, the kids have no memory of any of them. I guess the thing to learn from this is that children will learn when they are ready to learn, not when we’re ready to teach them….Your parents most likely weren’t thinking consciously about teaching you the right priorities at the time—but simply because they were there with you in those learning moments, those values became your values too. Which means that first, when children are ready to learn, we need to be there. And second, we need to be found displaying through our actions the priorities and values we want our children to learn.”

Isn’t this so true.  I know there have been times that I’m in a teaching mode and no one is listening and then times when my kids are learning and watching me that I’m not even aware of.
Anyway, between this quote and Stephen’s reviews, I’m reading it next.  

Here is the link for the book - How Will You Measure Your Life?

Reading by the Tree

Rebecca told me the other night that she enjoyed reading Christmas stories in front of the tree.  I saw her tonight and had to snap a picture.

This picture looks so tranquil and soft.  Yet, the reality was chaos all around her as she tuned everything out and escaped into her story. 

Ash was gathering props to do a “Peter and the Wolf” play.  Nathan was freaking out trying to find a 30 line poem to memorize for school.  Kaylee and Jerrica were in the kitchen begging for a bowl of ice cream….  I sat there taking pictures zoning it all out right along with Rebecca!

Ramen Noodles

Jerrica is quite proud of herself because she can make Ramen noodles.  Today she was whipping up a batch as I was working on a project.  She came over to me and told me that the bubbles in the pot were “little”.  Then she ran over to watch her water some more.  After she checked it for a while,  she came running back over and told me, “they are now the size of teenage bubbles”.  I had to smile at how she was describing the size of her boiling water.  I proceeded to tell her to make sure and wait until they were “grown-up” bubbles.

Nutcracker

It was such a beautiful performance! 

I usually hate mice, but loved this one…

   

She ROCKED her Chinese dance, and didn’t miss a beat.

I have a feeling that dance won’t be a passing phase for Ash, like it was for the older girls.  She LOVES to perform.

Kaylee went with me to one of Ashley’s dress rehearsals.  We ran and got take out and then sat there laughing and talking about this and that as we watched the rehearsal.  I so enjoy Kaylee’s personality. 

Ashley loved hanging out with Katelynn.

She also loved the roses from Stephen after her performance.

You were awesome Ash!

Nutcracker Time

We have had Nutcracker rehearsals this week.  Tonight is yet another and then the performance on Saturday.  Ashley is a mouse and a Chinese dancer.

Ash loves performing.  She loves playing with friends back stage.  She loves the costumes and make-up.

I hate all of the time that I sit there waiting for her at the rehearsals.  I sit there thinking of all that I need to be doing at home.  The audience area is dark so you can’t read or work on projects.

Last night Ashley would come out of the dressing room and out to the audience to check on me.  She would tuck her arm around my neck and snuggle me as we would watch some of the dance numbers.  Then she would hug me and bound back to the dressing room to find her friends.  I loved how she kept checking on me and was glad that I was there to help her with a little extra lipstick or help find parts of her costumes.  It was good one on one time with my diva, even if it was a long night.

I think I’m sending Steve with her tonight.   BUT then again, I will be the one left to run Jacob to a party, Becca to basketball …  I guess I better take her …

Holiday Jerrica

Jerrica LOVES holidays.  She names them in order and describes what we do for each one.  She also incorporates the holidays in her drawings.  Her is one from last month…

And now she has moved on to December and created this masterpiece today…

I love each of her holiday drawings.  I usually stick them in the box of decorations with the other kids’ holiday artwork.  I know that these will be my favorite decorations in years to come.  I already treasure them now.  :)

Another cute thing she is saying right now that makes me smile every time is calling the Wise Men, the “Gift” Men.  I have corrected her but she quickly corrects me that they are the only ones that brought Jesus gifts.  This “Gift Men” thing is about to send Ashley through the roof.  She too corrects Jerrica, but to no avail.  Jerrica is firm in her stance that they shall be called Gift Men.

The other smile she gave me today was when she shared “the Voice” skit done muppet style on Sesame Street.  She ran to get Stephen and I to watch it with her.  When it was over she turned to me and said, “that was Completely Awesome”!

I think she is Completely AWESOME!

Arizona

The first part of our trip was spent in Arizona with Stephen’s sisters for the weekend.  We arrived in the evening and ALL of us immediately jumped in Lael’s pool and hot tub.  It was the perfect temperature for us.  We also spent the next afternoon out there.

 

Jerrica LOVEd the hot tub and made it her pretend home since she was a pretend mermaid.  Jon, Paul, and Stephen played a pool football game with all the older kids.  It looked wild and fun.

Thompson’s always picnic and we couldn’t resist doing one.  We first went on a hike and chatted away.  The highlight of the picnic was getting the frisbee stuck in the tree and having everyone chuck water bottles at it, to knock it down.  Jon and Paul “McGyvered It” with a stick and hook.

We had a pizza game night on Saturday and then a brunch on Sunday to celebrate Brooks’ blessing.

It’s always fun to visit, laugh, and enjoy family!  We stayed with Lael and as always, she was so good to feed and pamper us.

Jon and Janna’s family, Lael and us went to the temple.  We walked around the grounds and then went into the visitor’s center that had a crèche exhibit with nativities from around the world.

   

Then it was off to California!!!!