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.