About the pooch....

Here are some details about Casey, our fluffy puppy!! (As per your request, Carrie!). He was born on October 12, so that makes him just over 2 months old. He is a full-bred Shitzu. He is seriously soooo playful after his naps and first thing in the morning. He chases his own tail like crazy! He loves the kids to pieces, especially Sasha, our animal-lover. He is doing great at potty training and getting to sleep at night. Last night we put him to bed at 10pm and he slept all night, and didn't wake until 7:30 this morning. (Geez, it feels like I am talking about a newborn, or something! LOL). He is just darling and we love having him.

Introducing.......Casey!!!

Oh, my goodness, we have a puppy! Santa brought him this morning and the kids are thrilled beyond words! Here he is trying to rest! He likes the kitchen the best!

He has the sweetest personality! So playful and so sweet! We all laugh when he tries to run! He is so fluffy and squatty (is that a word?) He is just darling.

Seth looks a little dazed and confused, but hey, Casey is lookin' at the camera for once! Sweet face, huh!

Casey really loves Sasha and has been following her around the house all day long. Do you think they will remember this Christmas for a long time!? I know I will! Merry Christmas, Sasha, Seth and Addie!

Something we said we would never do....

What do you think it is? We are getting something for the kids for Christmas that Will and I always said we would never have in our home.........any guesses? I'll post what it is on Christmas Day and the winner will get.........the satisfaction that they were right! How does that sound!?

Sleighriding.....

Today is totally snowing! I talked Will into not going to the office today since the roads are horrible! We went sledding at "the ditch"! LOL. There are not many hills where we are. Too far out west! Pretty flat! But, right by the church is "the ditch". The kids around here named it that. It has just enough of a slope to make us all happy. Sledding is so fun! Especially when you are a grown adult and scream like a little kid as you go down....


Weeeeeeee!!!! Seth and Daddy sledding!

Seth looks like he is havin' a ball, doesn't he!?

Sasha and I!

"Get ready, get set, GOOOOOO!"

Waiting for some of the neighbor kids to join us!

Up on the soffit.....

For those of you that have not been to my house, we have a soffit between our bedroom and master bathroom. It is quite cool, and we noticed that there is an TV outlet, so you can put your TV up there, lay in bed and chill. We have wanted to put at TV in our room for about 10 years, LOL, and yesterday, we did it! Will climbed the ladder, I lugged our massively heavy, outdated TV to him, (thank heavens I lift weights cuz that thing was soooooo heavy), he put it up there and viola. A dream come true. He then noticed how dirty it was up there, so he decided to clean it up.......a few minutes later I went in the kitchen to clean up a bit, and Seth comes to get me, saying he needs my help. I came in the room and saw Daddy sitting up there, telling me to hold the ladder so the kids can come on up. What?! Are you serious!? I caved and helped them climb up, took a picture and made them all get down before I had a heart attack. Geez.

The ledge is wider than you think, or so Will said, but still I was a nervous wreck. "Get down RIGHT NOW!!"

I love it here....

We decided, kinda last minute, to have a party and it was last night. I made some invites and passed them out to some great families in our new area and send some off to our friends in North Ogden. We invited like 23 families, knowing that most would not be able to make it. The RSVP's starting rolling in all week and we had 12 families show up for our 1st annual Christmas Bash. It was awesome! They all brought their cute kids, so we had a house-full and I loved it.

We played "The Candy Bar Game". Seth and Addie got upset because they didn't want to wait to get doubles to take a candy bar out of the pile......big shocker, I know. But the eventually calmed down and got the hang of it. Has anyone played this? You give everyone brown lunch sacks, put a bunch of candy bars in the middle of the circle, roll dice, when someone gets doubles, they pick a candy bar and put it in their sack. It gets tricky when they are all gone from the middle and you have to remember who took what so you can ask them for it. It is a great game for all ages!

It just amazed me how many great people I have in my life. We had some of our old friends come from North Ogden, not knowing anyone but us at the party, and it meant so much to me that they would come. Then we had so many great families that we have gotten to know since we moved here in June come, and that meant so much to Will and I, too! Thank you all for coming!! It meant the world to us!! You may never know how much it meant to us!!

A couple of families stayed until 11pm, and it was a riot! I had to get up and be at the church by 7:30am to help set up for our Ward Christmas Breakfast. I wore my pj's. I really did. I was really tired, but totally happy that we had such a great time the night before.

Merry Christmas to you all! We sure do love ya!

Addie, my love

Addie is obsessed with the computer. It is all she wants to do. Between her and Seth fighting over it most of the day, I do believe I am going bonkers.

Do I have any pictures of this poor child without food all over her face. I doubt it. But, did you notice her hair is done!!!! Shhh, don't tell her, she'll rip it out!

I know, I am so tacky. But I can't help it! I looked over at Addie as she played on the computer and saw her cute little bum crack. I had to take a picture. I know she will hate me later, but that's ok. She has a cute little bum.

A Roman Kitchen....

This one is kinda blurry. Sorry....

A fireplace with tissue paper as the flames.

The whole thing.....

Painting the dishes....

We started a unit on the Roman Empire, and I found the best book at the library that I think I'd like to own! It was very neat and had a lot of crafts for kids to do all about Romans. We found a picture of this Roman kitchen and decided to make it this past week. We made a batch of baker's clay, made the dishes, baked them, then painted them. It was very fun. Sasha has her sights on a model of a Roman house that she wants us to make this week. It looks very involved......

Anywhoo, the book is Step into...the Roman Empire by Philip Steele.

An awesome homeschooling moment.....

My good friend, Leah, who also homeschools, has given me lots of good advice. She told me recently that not all days will be wonderful. In fact, most will be crazy and you will feel like you didn't get much accomplished. I have gone into this homeschooling adventure, with that in mind, hoping for the best. It has been hard to do this with Seth and Addie raising a ruckus and wanting to watch TV or play on the computer while we are doing school. But, they are getting used to it. I tell them during "recess" they can do those things. So, Seth always asks if it "recess" yet! LOL! (It is right now and Addie is breathing down my neck because she wants to play on the computer!!!).

Well, today Sasha and I had a very cool homeschooling moment. We have been learning about biographies and today we read one about Abe Lincoln. It was well-written for children and we both enjoyed it a lot! I had her write what she learned about him in her composition journal. She wanted to know about slavery and we talked about it and how Abe Lincoln opposed it. I could see the wheels in her head turning as she thought about slavery and how wrong it was. It was just so neat to talk with her about it and to see her learning right before my eyes. I am so glad I am homeschooling.........

Some pictures to look at....

Here is the Hansel and Gretel house that the kids and I made a week or so ago. We did a unit on folk tales, read the story, and decided this would be fun to do. It has amazed me how much fun the kids have had playing with this and it was 100% homemade! We even made dolls out of old t-shirts. It has been the 1st thing the kids play with in the morning and they go to sleep asking if they can play with it tomorrow.......


This kinda looks weird, but they are really cute! Me and Sasha made these last year out of a strofoam ball, glitter, a real ice cream cone, and a red pon-pon. It isn't green.....it just looks like it the picture.



Our Walmart tree still doing us well! I bought this our first Christmas for $25 at WM and it is still with us. I do want a big, tall, lights-already-on tree, but I'll wait until they are dirt cheap.....

Merry Christmas, everyone! {{HUGS}}

Elder Wirthlin....

I just found out that he died last night and I am heartbroken. He was one of my favorites! He was just so darling! I especially loved his talk this past General Conference and Will and I have read it many times since it came out in the Ensign. I even posted some quotes from it on my blog.....and now he is gone! I love those men so much and am so thankful to live in a time where we get to hear their counsel.