Casey's Gifts

‘Twas a year of hard times, a Merry Christmas in trouble
Yet, what happened that night is truly memorable.
Thanks to Casey at the age of eight years,
Did much more than just calm mom and dad’s fears.
Presents for everyone, this little boy gave
But who took him shopping? No one could say.
He searched through the house up, down, all around
Until all his presents for each of us were found.
To dad from Casey, what could it be?
A can of Chili Laredo straight from our pantry.
“Why, thank you Casey, how did you guess?”
“I knew you would like it, you eat it more than the rest.”
All of his presents were, in theme, very similar-
Items we would most often use, eat or wear.
A beautiful lesson, that night Casey taught:
Be grateful for what you’ve already got.
This Christmas season try to remember
The value of Casey’s simple sweet gesture.


I was so surprised when I opened my gift from Casey that year. It was a dress, in fact, my favorite dress at the time. I thought I had lost it because I couldn't find it for about a month. When I told Casey thanks and that it was my favorite dress, he replied, I know. You wear it all the time. I remember my mom's present was the grocery ads from back in November some time. This was a perfect gift for her because she loved to look at all the grocery ads and make lists of what was on sale and where. I also remember how proud Casey was that night, knowing that all of us would no doubt love our gifts. He had put some real thought into each of them. But I am most grateful for what he taught. Even though we may have gone without at times, we still had so much to be thankful for. He reminded us of all the little things we have in our lives that we take for granted and not just the intangible things such as our health, the gospel, our testimonies, or the love we share for one another but real things we use everyday. Thank you Casey.

not your average gift exchange

This past weekend we hosted an adult Christmas party. We ate dinner and then did a gift exchange. But this was a gift exchange with a twist. The giver was to pick out a toy that reflected the receiver's personality, profession, or hobbies. It was fun to see what everyone came up with. After the party, we then donated the toys to Salvation Army's toy drive. It was a perfect combination of having a good time and helping those in need this season.

first snow day of the school year

Today was a snow day! hooray! It snowed a little yesterday and then didn't stop all night long and continued to snow most of today. Yesterday, though, while Reed was at school Blue went out in the snow with the specific purpose of making snow angels.

His angels looked perfectly angelic. I fiddled with it in photoshop and now look at his angel:

Like I said... it was perfect.

new kind of marshmallow

My boys have been enjoying hot chocolate a lot lately. Usually they ask for mini marshmallows to go in it. The other day I was out of mini marshmallows which did not please Beau. He took matters into his own hands and improvised. I had just gone grocery shopping and left the tub of blueberries sitting on the counter. Bad move on my part...

He didn't just put two or three in there. He dumped the entire tub of blueberries into his hot chocolate. This happened on the same day that I was baking a chocolate cake. The cake batter was in the cake pan sitting on the counter while the oven was preheating. I ran upstairs to put my makeup on. When I came back down, he was covered up to his elbows in chocolate cake batter and the counter was covered with it also. Apparently Beau thought it made great paint for finger painting. He knew he was in trouble because the minute I came around the corner, before I even said anything, he burst into tears. I don't have a picture of this because, as funny as it is now, it was NOT funny while it was happening.

deja vu

The past FOUR years Reed has asked for a puppy for Christmas. As it turns out we have not lived in a house that would accommodate a puppy(it would have to live outside). And once again Reed is asking for a puppy. But take a look at what he has to say to Santa:

I know it is hard to read in the picture so let me decipher...

Dear Santa
I woud like for chrismas is: a puppy as you can see
a bild your own lightsaber
bongos
a lego thing
thank you but if not thats o.k.
That is all.

Poor kid. He is so used to disappointment from the big guy in a red suit. I just hope he isn't scarred when he gets older.

date night

Friday night I went on a date...
with Blue. He had asked me earlier in the week why I always went on dates with dad. I asked him if he wanted to go and he jumped at the chance. We were going to go get presents for Reed and Beau and then I told him we could eat where ever he wanted. We left the house at 5:pm and he fell asleep before we even got to our first store. Luckily, he woke up. When I asked him where he wanted to eat I fully expected him to say McDonald's. Nope. Pizza at the food court at Target. While I ordered, he chose what table we were gonna sit at. This was a serious job for him. He finally found the perfect table with two chairs, he was pretty proud. After Target, he suggested we go to Dairy Queen and get a banana split- because he never tasted a banana split before(his words). Never mind the fact that it was 30 degrees outside, we went to Dairy Queen and ordered a banana split. When we got it, he wanted to know where the cherry was. I told him I wasn't sure if they put cherries on their banana splits. He seemed pretty disappointed about that. But not too disappointed. He chowed down on the banana split, favoring the chocolate sauce side. We had a great time together and Reed is eagerly anticipating his date this coming week.

rock on!

Reed turned seven on December 9th(this past Tuesday). He decided to have a rock climbing party. We sent out rocks from our yard with a little tag attached for the invitaion. Reed spent a good half hour looking for six rocks. They had to be just right for the invitaions. We went to the aquaplex here in Flag, which has this great rock wall. Eleven kids, including siblings, came to the party. I think everyone had a great time. All of them tried to climb the wall at least once, and a few of them hardly stopped climbing the entire time. In fact, one kid kept his harness on while we sang happy birthday and then he shoved a cupcake in his mouth and went back to climbing. Reed tried the wall a couple of times and did great, especially since he is terrified of heights.

Blue was so cute, they had to pull a scale out to make sure he weighed enough to climb. He is a whole 34 pounds and the cut off is 30 pounds. He was pretty proud of himself.

For Reed's cake we just did cupcakes with brown frosting and then I ordered those big jelly beans that look like rocks. Not to tasty, but the kids thought it looked cool. The hit of the party, though, was in the party favor bags. I ordered these splat balls off of oriental trading. When you throw them they litterally splat out and stick to the floor. But when you pull them off the turn back into the form of a ball. They were sooo AWESOME according to the kids. I highly recommend them for any little boys party.
Now I will get a little sappy and sentimental. I can't believe Reed is seven and will be baptized in a year! I couldn't ask for a better kid. He is a great example to his little brothers and is so thoughtful. He is so creative, always making books and drawing pictures to go with the story(we go through A LOT of paper and staples in our house). I love that he will still hold my hand whenever I walk him to his classroom(which isn't very often 'cause then I would have to chase Beau down). He has such a tenderheart and is so in tune with the spririt. We are so blessed to have him in our family.

school pictures

You gotta love school pictures. They make you look like someone totally different that what you really look like, this can be good or most of the time, bad. Reed got his school pictures awhile back. Now isn't this the most natural looking pose? I probably should have made him do retakes, but then I would've had to surrender these. And I know this will be great material to pull out when he's older and he thinks he's a big shot.

woggles

Lately Beau has been wearing "woggles" around the house. He really likes to wear them when he watches tv. It is pretty funny to see him zone out on the couch with them on. He must think they are some sort of weapon because whenever he puts them on he also has to have a sword or a gun to hold.

visitors of the first Christmas night

Thanksgiving weekend we put up our Christmas decorations. There are a couple of Nativities around the house. My boys, especially Beau, are very fond of them. The camel's head is about to fall of because "someone" tried to bite it off. The donkey is missing a leg but somehow that does not deter Beau from playing with them. Beau has loaded up all of the wise men in his fisher price airplane and taken them on a trip around our house. The latest, though, are the visitors that (in my boys' minds) came the first Christmas night.

too strong

In order to get my boys to eat all their lunch or dinner, I use the old saying Don't you want to grow big and strong? You have to eat your dinner if your going be strong. The other day when I was trying to convince Blue to finish his lunch I used this line on him. And quick as a whit, he came back with, I don't want to be big and strong because then I might hurt somebody. Nice try, Blue.

school's out

Blue is done with preschool until after Christmas. Neither one of us are happy about it. Blue keeps telling me that school can't be over because he hasn't learned the letter "Z" yet. I'm a little worried about occupying his time 24/7 again. This past week he had a Thanksgiving program. I didn't bring the video camera because it is currently on a "hunt of a lifetime" with Colby:).
Let me give you a brief summary: the kids re-enacted the first Thanksgiving. Blue was an Indian and taught the pilgrims how to plant corn and hunt with bow and arrows. After the play the kids gave a grand bow.


After the play, a few songs were sung. Blue's favorite goes:
The turkey is a funny bird.
His head goes wobble, wobble.
And all he know is just one word-
Gobble, gobble, gobble.

whodunnit?

We have this turkey made of a pumpkin sitting on our front porch. Almost everyday I find that the "feathers" have been taken out and it has been roughed up a bit. My stinkin' boys, always roughing things up. When I ask them about it, they claim they haven't touched it. Well, today I discovered that they weren't lying to me. I found nibble marks all over the pumpkin, and a few big chunks missing. I guess squirrels like the taste of pumpkins.

the age of innocence

This morning I gave Reed $10 to put on his account for hot lunches at school. I didn't put it in an envelope or anything like that, I just told him to give it to the lunch lady. When he got home from school he told me he didn't have to pay for lunch. I was a little concerned because I know he doesn't have any money on his account. He said that they didn't ask for money and he didn't offer the $10 to them. So I asked him if he still had the money and suddenly he was really quiet. No. I asked him what he did with the money. I gave it to Dustin. I asked him WHY he gave ten dollars to Dustin. Because he said he wanted it. ARRGGHH!! Of course, he gave it to Dustin simply because he said he wanted it. I gotta nip this in the bud or Reed is gonna have so many "friends" asking for money. I guess I should have started earlier on teaching him the value of money. What do ya think?

myspace

No, I'm not talking about THAT myspace. I'm talking about my space, the space that I used to call my junk room. The space that I used to avoid at all costs because it was so messy. The space that I took my computer from and moved downstairs to the kitchen table so I could work better. Ya, I'm talking about my space. This past weekend, while Brittney & AJ and Heidi and all their kids came to visit, Brittney helped me whip my junk room into shape. This girl has skills! She did an amazing job! Thank you so much. And thanks to AJ for watching all the kids for us so we could run around town. What a good sport.

I'm not showing a before picture because it is embarrassing, not to mention disgusting.

first snow of the season

We had a house full of family this past weekend. What a blast! Cy was waiting all weekend long for it to snow, and it finally did when they were packing up to leave Sunday afternoon. While I didn't get any pictures of them, Cy, Reed, and Blue played in the snow unitl past dark. Cy was in heaven because of the snow and my boys were in heaven because Cy was here to play. I did manage, however, to snap a few of Avery, Jackson, and Josie. The little ones didn't stay out too long because it was FREEZING outside! FYI: these are pics from when it first started to snow and didn't stick. But about a half an hour later it came down harder and stuck(that is the snow the older boys played in for so long).

warning: birthday suits ahead!

When we built our house, I kinda thought a fireplace in the master bedroom was unnecessary. But this winter there are two reasons I'm glad we have it. Number one: the first weekend of really cold weather, you know the kind of weather that causes you to turn on your heater, we used our fireplace out of necessity. Our central heating wasn't working so we made little beds on the floor for our boys, shut the bedroom door to keep the heat in, and turned on the fireplace. We had a little camp out in our room.
Number two: My boys hate getting out of the bathtub because it is so cold. So I will let them turn on our fireplace in the master so they can warm up a bit after bath time. The other day I walked in to this:

Physical activity can also warm you up pretty fast:)

the elves

Tonight during dinner, Blue asked if the elves were coming. Colby and I didn't quite understand what he meant so we tried to clarify by asking him if he meant Santa Claus and his elves. No. Then we thought maybe he was talking about elk because Colby just got back from hunting. No. Finally he said You know, those two guys who come over and eat with us. Ohhh, the elders. Ya. I'm sure missionaries have been called a lot of names but this is probably a new one for them.

okay, I lied

I thought I would squeeze in another photo shoot with my boys. It is not easy shooting your own kids, especially Beau. He thought we were playing a game. He just kept running off then I would chase him and drag him back to where Reed and Blue were. Then the minute I turned my back, he was off and running. Oh well, I guess he is ONLY two.

Melchizedek Priesthood

Tyler, Colby's youngest brother, received the Melchizedek Priesthood on Sunday. All over Colby's siblings showed up for it. We had a great time eating and visiting afterwards. Way to go Tyler, we are so proud of you!

trick or treating

Halloween did not disappoint this year. Every year, without fail, there is drama involved with costumes. This year it was Beau. He wore his pirate garb around the house for the last two weeks, but of course, on Halloween night he refused to wear any of it. Blue was Luke. Simple enough, since he was Luke last year also(he might be slightly obsessed with Star Wars). Reed, at the last minute, decided to be Alvin from Alvin and the chipmunks. This was the best costume ever! He told me Halloween mornig that he could hardly sleep because he was so excited to wear his costume-and did I mention how easy it was to put together?!


Our trick or treating gang included Heidi and her kids, Brittney and AJ and their kids, Frances and baby Merrick(trick or treating is hard work for little babies, as you can see he fell alseep), and ever so helpful Tana. Beau fell asleep on the way over and I wasn't about to wake him up(he had no nap that day). So Colby took one for the team and headed back to watch a litttle TV while Beau slept. We had a great time. Thanks Brittney for hosting our Halloween night!

queen bee

Blue had a halloween party at preschool today. I volunteered to help out. While I love halloween, I normally don't dress up. But last night I got a bee in my bonnet and came up with a costume for me. I went as a queen bee. Notice the beehive and little bumblebees buzzing around it.



Blue's party was so organized and the kids loved it! They ate the cutest cupcakes that my friend Amber made, went trick or treating with the coolest little candy buckets(super easy-plastic black cups with googlely eyes all over it), and sang the funnest halloween songs. Way to go Miss Juliette!

Mr. Jack-O-Lantern

The other night the boys and I headed over to the Woolf's for some pizza and pumpkins. We ate the pizza and carved the pumpkins. I only bought one pumpkin for my boys to share. I did this because I figured I would be the one who had to clean out the pumpkins. Reed and Blue stuck their hands in the pumpkin but weren't to gung ho one the idea of having to clean it out. Luckily, Kason was willing to help us out with the task. Once the inside was clean, we moved on to our face. I put Blue in charge of the eyes, Reed in charge of the mouth and I would do the nose. Blue wanted angry eyes so we put eyebrows on our jack-o-lantern. Reed wanted a silly mouth so we added a mustache. We didn't do too shabby, if I do say so myself.

I'm no weatherman

Okay, so maybe I jumped the gun a couple of weeks ago when I thought we wouldn't get any more warm weather. This past week has been perfect! I took the boys out for, probably, the last photo shoot with warm weather this year.