Getting in the Christmas Spirit

This weekend we decided to get ourselves and our house in the Christmas Spirit. We pulled out the artificial tree (I know for some this is blasphemous, but in Texas we couldn't keep a tree alive so we bought a fake one), decorated it, listened to Christmas Music, finished our Christmas shopping, decorated a gingerbread house (thanks to the Wonka Gingerbread House Kit), and the girls even wore new dresses to church. I think we are in full Christmas mode now.

Emily, keeping us in stitches

On our drive home through many hours and miles of the country side, Emily often had funny things to say. There were several times that Mike and I just busted up laughing...Emily was funny, but I think we were a bit punchy too. Here are 2 of my favorites.

We were playing a revised, Emily version of the alphabet game where you look for things that start with the next letter of the alphabet. Emily was stuck on Q, it is a nasty letter in the alphabet game. She kept finding words that had a "K" sound in them and making them have the "Qu" sound instead. Nebraska would be "Nebrasqua", etc. It was really fun putting the "Qu" sounds in the wrong places. It made for some funny moments on the long drive.

My favorite of all was on the last day of our drive. We were passing through Independence, Missouri. In the LDS church we believe that some day Independence will be a special city called Zion where the Savior Jesus Christ will live for 1000 years. There is a plot of land set aside as land for a temple that will be built someday. We view Independence as a sacred place. As we were driving past Independence we mentioned to the girls that we were going by it. Emily said, "Zion has a SuperCenter!" Yes, it is true, there is a Walmart in Independence so there is a Walmart in Zion.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving week.

We started by driving to UT on Friday and Saturday. We tried to arrive by the start of the Utah vs. BYU football game. We ended up listening to the first quarter of the game on the radio as we drove past Park City. We arrived at Mike's sister Jennifer Kinghorn's house to watch the rest of the game. Sadly, it was not BYU's day and Utah won the game. It was pretty painful to watch. The vacation began at Jennifer and Al's. The kids played and we enjoyed good food and conversation.

Sunday we spent the morning recovering from our drive by sleeping in. Then we visited my friend Julie Morra who was visiting her parents in Centerville, UT. Sunday night we enjoyed a family dinner at Jen and Al's. Al made ribs. Yum. It was really great to see Ally and her husband Alex. It is hard to believe I have a niece who is married.

Monday Laura and I went to see Twilight. Yes it is true, I love Twilight and all things related. Laura was gracious enough to be my date. We saw it during the day, so it wasn't too crowded and there wasn't a whole lot of screaming, well I did a bit, but not too much. Just kidding. We both enjoyed it and found it entertaining. (Of course I still love the book more). Monday afternoon was spent with the Kinghorns. It was great to see the kids play and Emily really liked being the oldest and taking charge. They played a lot of school which I found fascinating considering it was vacation time...away from school. Grace is 3, Sam 2, and Paul is 6 months. We had a great time staying with them and spending time with them.

Tuesday we drove down to Provo to visit BYU. Yes, we like to visit the campus and reminiss and see our old stomping grounds. It makes me feel old and young at the same time. I feel like I should still be there as a student, but then when I see how young they look I realize that I am old. Oh well. We all got t-shirts/sweatshirts and walked a bit around campus. We also went to lunch with Mike's mission friend, Trace Eddington. It was great to see him and catch up on each other's lives after more than 10 years. After visiting campus we visited my friend, Tonya Wendel, and her family in Lindon. We happened to see them last month in Washington D.C., but it was nice to spend some time with them in their home. Again, the kids got to play and the adults got to catch up. I miss you guys! We then drove the mile or so down the road to Mike's sister Robin Eide's house. She lives in Orem. Robin made a delicious dinner and the kids played. Robin has 2 girls, Katherine 14 and Elizabeth 12, who played great with Emily and Julia. Thanks K and B. Andrew is 17 and I enjoyed hearing about his football prospects for college. I have to admit that the boy is huge and I look forward to seeing how his football career goes.

Wednesday we spent at Mike's sister Laura Ludwigs. The kids played great. Jeremy is 11, Ian 9 and Shane 7. It is great because Emily and Jeremy are in the same grade and Julia and Shane are in the same grade. All 5 kids get along great and it is fun to see them together. Laura made a great meal and then we headed downtown to Temple Square. We visited the Joseph Smith Building, the North Visitor Center, and then went to the Conference Center to enjoy a show. It was a musical called, Savior of the World. It was truly excellent and we felt the spirit as well as enjoyed the music and show.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. Yummy food, pie, reading books, watching football, kids playing all around. It was great. The only downside was Julia getting a fever. We are not sure what happened, but she looked pale and got fevery. The only food she ate was Laura's clouds (rolls). I think she ate 4 all together over the course of the evening. That night, Jeremy, Ian, Shane, Emily, Julia, Katherine, and Elizabeth had a sleep over on the Eide's floor. They watched movies and hopefully slept some.

Friday morning Mike got up early and did some shopping at Target. I met a friend, Kimberly Poulton, for breakfast at Kneaders. We both had french toast and it was scrumptious. Kimberly and I had a nice visit and then Mike came to get me for out drive home to St. Louis.

The drive back to St. Louis took 3 days. Between the snow and Julia's fever/stomach bug and the Sunday traffic, the drive seemed to take forever. We had snow in Wyoming and stopped at 7 in Cheyenne. Julia threw up for the first time in the hotel and had a just a few more until her last one the next morning. We left Cheyenne and drove through more snow while Julia slept most of the way. Mike really wanted to get back home, but it was just taking too long with the snow and it was dark. We finally stopped in Kansas City for the night and arrived about 9 pm. We all slept really well. I am glad we stopped. Julia woke up feeling much better, but still no appetite. We had a yummy breakfast at the hotel and set on our way. We drove through more snow and lots of traffic on I-70. We arrived home to a snowy house about 3 pm. We were all so glad to be home. Mike did a great job of getting us home safely and as quickly as possible. I think it will be a long time before we take another long road trip.

I am grateful for family and friends. The week was great because we spent so much time with friends and family. I am grateful for portable DVD players. The girls did a great job of keeping themselves busy with movies and music and sleeping. I am grateful for Mike buying me an ipod for Christmas. He gave it to me early so that we could listen to music in the car. It was fun to have the music play and not have to keep changing CDs (although we did listen to CDs too). I am grateful for Mike. I am grateful for my happy children. I am grateful for my home. There are so many things to be grateful for and I am truly blessed.

A bigger hole!

If you thought Julia had a hole in her smile before then you will really like the hole she has now. She lost the 2nd tooth on the top on Thanksgiving Day. She says that now she can truly say, "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth!"

Is that a hole in your head?

Julia finally lost one of her top teeth. This particular tooth has been loose for months, but just never got loose enough to come out. It was finally so wiggly that Mike yanked it out. Now she has a hole in her smile. We keep joking with her that she has a hole in her head. She kind of pouts, but then flashes her smile and plays along.

(Julia seems to be wearing these pajamas in every photo. Does she ever take them off?)

Dwelling

Emily had a social studies project on Indian Culture. She had to choose an Indian Culture, create a dwelling of the people, and then write a project on other cultural aspects like food, clothing, symbols, etc. Emily chose to focus on the Hopi people who are Pueblos. She spent and afternoon with her dad and sister and 2 lumps of clay to create this beautiful pueblo. You may not be able to see her paper, but she got 100% on her project! Way to go Emily (Mike and Julia too).

Sleep over fun

Now that Emily is 10 years old she is allowed to have a sleep over. So far she has only had 2 sleep overs, all at our home. (I am still a little nervous about her going over to someone else's home, especially since we are fairly new in St. Louis.) Emily had her friend Haley over and they had a ball. They sang, they danced, they dressed up, they watched movies, they talked, they ate, and they used Julia as a life-sized doll. I think Julia liked the attention. At least she wasn't left out too much. Here are some silly girls enjoying playing like kids should.
Haley and Emily playing Barbies

Julia getting a "make-over" into a pop star

The "after" shot of Julia as a pop star

Some of my favorites from the video...
"Don't really sing"
"face the camera"
"Glamourafied"

Fall

They call autumn "fall" for a reason. The leaves FALL!
We have been in Texas for so long that we haven't seen a true fall in a long time. We have enjoyed this fall...seeing all the pretty colors, watching the leaves fall to the ground, having our neighbor "vacuum" them up (glad I haven't had to rake them all, heehee). Last week the girls were waiting for the bus and their was a little breeze and the leaves were gently falling all around them. I was watching through the window and it was just beautiful.

Mike took a picture of our backyard in all its colorful glory. Then a week later took another picture to show how the leaves have fallen.

I hope you enjoy fall as much as we have this year.


Before/After
















Before/After

Julia says the darndest things...

Julia cracks me up. I think she is just naturally funny. She has really good timing too. Here are 2 examples of her wittiness.

The other day Emily and I were talking about The Women's Suffrage movement. She was talking about the inequality of men and women and we discussed some of the changes that have occurred and the improvements in women's rights in the last 100 years. I stated that men and women really aren't equal and shouldn't be equal because they have different roles in family and society. She made a comment about ONLY being a wife and mother and I tried to impress upon her the importance of that role. Then I asked her if there was anything that she wishes that she could do that she can't. She couldn't come up with anything. So I asked if there was anything she could think of that men can do that women can't. Before she had a chance to answer a Julia voice spoke up from the couch...
Professional Football!

Emily and I were discussing the joys of womanhood and all that comes with it. Emily asked why boys don't have to suffer some of the joys that women do. I explained that boys have their own problems to deal with. Again, a Julia voice piped up from the other room...
Like hairy arm pits.

Halloween Fun

Julia The Witch

This year we had a Halloween week instead of a Halloween day.
On the Saturday before Halloween we had a church party at a local park. There were games and a costume parade. It was open to the whole neighborhood and it was fun to see the kids in their costumes. That night we went to a Halloween party at the local High School. It was put on by their student council and clubs. Again there were games and activities. The girls favorite activity was the huge inflatable slide. I think they enjoyed that the most.
Thursday the girls had a Fall Festival at school. They did a Pumpkin Run around the field and the highlight was that Radio Disney provided music and dancing at the finish line. Then they got to put on their costumes for their afternoon parties. I helped with Emily's 5th grade party. We ate food, did a toilet paper mummy wrap, and some craft activities. Unfortunately I missed Julia's party, but I think both girls had a lot of fun.

Emily The Snowflake Fairy


Friday we went trick or treating in a neighboring community. They have one long street with lots of houses next to the golf club (Caddyshack Circle). We chose it for its easy access to houses as well as it being on the girls' bus route, so they would know some of the kids. Unfortunately we live on a non lit, no sidewalked street that is not conducive to trick or treating. We saw lots of families out on Caddyshack Circle.
We learned about trick or treating in Missouri. The people in the homes ask for a joke before they give you the candy. We weren't prepared, but the girls came up with some jokes on the spot. Next year we will be ready with a joke or two. The other interesting thing was all the parents pulling coolers full of beer on the street. Apparently they enjoy a cold beer while they walk with their kids. Luckily none of them were drunk, just pleasantly buzzed. Maybe next year we will carry a cold IBC root beer.
Happy Halloween!






Emily kicking the soccer ball into the net for a prize.








Julia throwing a football through a hula hoop.








Face painting...a bat and a pumpkin











Dinner of mummy dogs, vampire fangs, and monster fingers

Flat Stanley

Our friend Flat Stanley came to visit from our cousin Shane Ludwig in Salt Lake City. Since the girls had a half day on Friday we decided to take Stanley around our town. It was a fun afternoon on the Metro and visiting some of the sights in downtown St. Louis.

The Laumiere Sculpture park by our house
























The home of the St. Louis Cardinals












The Mississippi River












The Gateway Arch

Wedding of Jason and Jennifer Clawson

Last week the girls and I were able to go to Maryland to celebrate and participate in my brother Jason's wedding. It was a weekend filled with a bridal shower, family dinner, wedding at the Washington D.C. LDS Temple and reception at La Ferme Restaurant. Most importantly it was a weekend filled with love and spending time with family. I always love seeing my family and seeing my daughters play with their cousins. Congratulations Jason, Jennifer, and Jack!


Bridal Shower
Jennifer, the bride



Aunt Linda, Me, Cousin Shannon, Mom Jeannette





Kathleen Clawson , Sandy Frederick (Jason's birth mother), Courtney Arnold, Linda Sullivan, Shannon Bowler

The Reception
The Reception was held at La Ferme. This is the same restaurant that Michael and I had our reception in 14 years ago. It was fun to be there for another wedding. And, the girls recognized some of the places in the restaurant from our wedding photos.
Our Clawson Family
Jim and Jeannette Clawson
Jason and Jennifer Clawson, and Jack
Courtney and Darren Arnold, and Amanda, Chris, Jeff and Megan
Brooke (and Mike who had to stay in St. Louis to work) Carter, and Emily and Julia
Brett and Kathleen Clawson, and James, Charles (and Peter who was with a babysitter)


The Cousins (missing Peter)













The Cake












During the reception, Jack had a nap. He conked out on his dad.

Natural wonders

Speaking of the balcony...
We got to see nature working right on our balcony. This lovely spider appeared several nights in a row. I finally took some photos and looked him up on the internet. He is an orb weaver (this is what I think based on what I looked up).

Sadly, we got to see him do his trapping when a big moth flew into the huge web. It was quite a lesson right out our window.

The spider hasn't been back in over a month. I am afraid to know where he went and what he is up to.

Happy Birthday Michael!

Michael celebrated his 37th birthday on September 9th. Happy Birthday! I love you Michael.


He bought himself a glider to play with off of the back balcony. It is kinda nice to reach the age where you can buy yourself a present.