Our Homey Little Christmas

For the first time in a looooong long time, Christmas was just our own little family this year. When we moved to MN the first time, we traveled to Utah with Toddler Ethan and Baby Elise for a few years, and I think Grandma and Grandpa Sweat came to visit us one Christmas, too. (Didn't you? At our little split level house on 11th Street?) Then, after we had Jonas, Grandma and Grandpa Hallstrom were in Minnesota and were able to come and provide an audience for the kids' Nativity play and eat some Christmas dinner.

But this year? This year it was the six of us. And I admit that I was a little Utah-sick, at least at first, and especially on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is still an extended-family event in my mind. But I've got to say that at the end of it all, we had a really nice, cozy, relaxed Christmas this year. One of the most relaxed in recent memory. And that is a very good thing.

Here are a few of the highlights of our Christmas festivities:

My giant 3 year old, happy as can be on Santa's lap

This is this official Mall of America Santa, one I never thought I'd brave the throngs to see. I'd gotten complacent about my Santa pictures over the last 5 years since we were always able to see Santa at the Wilkey Christmas Eve Day party.  The day before Elise's Bel Canto concert at the MOA it hit me: Wyatt hadn't seen Santa yet!  And what would be a better time to do so than 2:00 p.m. on a school day.  Yes?  Yes?  Umm . . . no.  We got there almost an hour before Elise's choir was set to sing and the line didn't seem too long.  But this gentleman was the slowest. Santa. EVER!!!!  Finally, ten minutes before showtime and with four kids still in front of us in the line, it was decided that we had to leave the line in order to be seated in the audience in time.  Poor Wyatt was devastated, burying his head in my shoulder and sobbing (that's so much more heartbreaking than a temper tantrum), but I promised him that after Elise's choir concert we'd go and get BACK in that dang line and wait another hour so he could see Santa after all.  That seemed to placate him and we were able to settle in and enjoy this:

Elise: the tall, pretty girl on the right

 Here's a quick, ill-shot video of part of the concert.  I can't be entirely blamed for the shaky videography.  I had a 3-year old pulling on my arm, trying to see himself in the viewfinder every 30 seconds.  But still, you can get a taste:



Ethan also had a concert this week, his band holiday concert.  Here he is in front of the Christmas tree, looking handsome in his black band shirt:

We did a few other fun things the week of Christmas that I didn't photograph:  Jonas's class Christmas party (they had a book exchange, and he had the idea to cut the letters name of the girl he'd chosen, Jacqueline, out of magazines so she wouldn't guess it was him); Wyatt's class Christmas party; sledding at a ward member's house; Forrest and I attending a couples' progressive dinner Christmas party as well as a party with all the Mormons in our specific neighborhood (there are, like, seven LDS families in our neighborhood alone, a fact which continues to amaze me).  And, surprise surprise, none of the white elephant gifts at either of these parties were wildly inappropriate (although we did take home a book on managing incontinence and an adult diaper with a tootsie roll inside).  Ah, the cringe-worthy white elephant gifts that would be exchanged in South Jordan.  Memories.

We also got some Room Doodles from Amy and put them up on Elise and Wyatt's walls.  They look so dang cute that I don't even mind that I broke Wyatt's bed by standing on it and wrenching it around the room whilst putting said doodles on the wall.  (Forrest put it all back together again.  Thanks hon.)  Don't they look great?  Thank you again, Amy, Room Doodler Extraordinaire!

Elise's peace sign.  She loves it.

Wyatt's WYATT. He thinks it's awesome.  "Hey, that's my W-Y-A-T-T!" he said.

Anyway, we had a relatively leisurely week, culminating in a really nice, homey Christmas Eve, just the six of us:

The family gathered around our traditional Christmas Eve dinner based loosely on my childhood where Christmas Eve was all about making food everybody likes.  We had: popcorn shrimp, macaroni and cheese, scones, and pears.  We were supposed to have pineapple . . . but it was rotten.  Drat! But the dinner was still tasty.  Mmm.  Scones.

Ethan helping Wyatt act out the Nativity with our kid-friendly nativity set.  The big kids deemed themselves too mature to dress up this year.  Sigh.

Elise and Jonas narrating the Christmas story

Ethan also wrote a hilarious skit based on Ebenezer Scrooge, but I haven't uploaded that to Youtube yet.  I will soon and give it a post all its own.  I will say, though, that Ethan takes after his mom.  I remember all those years that as the Eldest Sweat child, I was in charge of the Christmas Eve "program."  This year I told Ethan it was his job, and he whipped out a script and had the kids rehearsing in no time.  How many 14 year old boys do you know that relish the opportunity to write and direct a Christmas spoof skit with their siblings on short notice?  Exactly.  Ah, genetics.

The traditional top-o-the-stairs shot, wearing the new pjs from Grandma Sweat.  I realize Wyatt is aiming a gun at us in this photo.  It's actually an extremely cool gun, if that helps at all.  It was Grandpa Hallstrom's gun when he was a little boy and it's over 50 years old.  Grandpa H. sent it along with a real-life World War I (not II, I) holster that he's had all these years.  Wyatt was thrilled beyond belief, slept with said gun and had it with him all Christmas morning.  Even on the stairs.

And, yes, here Wyatt is opening yet another gun.  It was the one thing he asked Santa for: a Nerf rifle he saw in Target and had been longing for ever since.  Santa could not disappoint him.  But Santa also wants people to know that he got Wyatt a nice Woody and Bullseye set and a Crayola drawing table and some other non-violent toys which Wyatt's mother is hoping he will decide to play with at some point. :-)

Jonas holding his big gift this Christmas: a DSi.  Jonas's first DS, a Christmas gift from many moons ago, met its maker when it was accidentally dropped in the toilet.  (Who has time to stop playing Pokemon to go to the bathroom?  I ask you?)  But two years have now passed since that tragic day, and Jonas feels he is responsible enough to put the electronics down when nature calls. 

My Precious!  Okay, Ethan might kill me for posting this picture because he DOES look a teensy bit on the psychotic side.  But this shot does exemplify the extreme emotional response elicited when a 14-year-old is given an iPod Touch.

This is a better picture of Ethan.  And, oh yeah.  Jonas and Wyatt got swords.  Wyatt has been almost as interested in playing with the swords as he is in playing with his guns.  (The crayola drawing table is still waiting.)  In case you were wondering. 

And Elise's gift to beat all gifts: a touch phone!  I finally gave in and added Ethan and Elise to my Verizon account, coming to terms with the fact that kids 12 and up all have cell phones (well, almost all of them do) and that I find it quite handy for them to have cell phones, too, what with all the picking up and dropping off and everything else a Mom of teenagers has to do.  And my relationship with our previous teen cell phone carrier, Tracfone?  Strained.  At best.  Elise was thrilled with the results.

Is this the true meaning of Christmas or what?  Sigh.  At leas they're sitting in a circle, facing each other.  Right?

There aren't any photos of Forrest or me and our Christmas goodies, but Forrest got a new carry on bag. He needed one, Santa decided--taking a the carry-on I'd purchased for the boys (light blue with lime green trim) on business trips just didn't do his Studly Business Traveler persona any favors.  In my humble opinion.  I also got him two books I'd like to read myself, and some Godiva chocolate I'd like to help him sample.  Christmas is a time of giving!  And speaking of reading, I have ventured into the world of e-books and now own my very own Kindle.  It's very cool.  Once I finish reading my first e-book, I'll return and report.  

It was really a wonderful Christmas, and I'm enjoying this week of no school and sleeping in.  The kids are, too.   We missed our family a lot, but we're grateful to have each other and enjoy a slower pace that helped us focus more on what Christmas is all about.  (And no, it's not gunplay.  Or swordplay.  Or electronics.  Or chocolate.)  Cue the sappy music:  it's love.  Really, it is, and we're blessed to have that in abundance.

Since We Won't Be Playing Sing Star This Year

I figured the siblings could at least have a LITTLE musical holiday fun together:

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

And last but not least, what's Christmas without a leg lamp and a Red Rider BB Gun?

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

(Wyatt just finished watching all three of these movies.  His official opinion? "Mom, that's creepy.")

Merry Christmas!

Let It Snow. And Snow. And Snow.

So here in the land of snow and ice and frigid wind, we've enjoyed a big storm almost every weekend since mid-November.  It's been one of the craziest Minnesota winters in decades (as the TV weatherpeople keep telling us).  This weekend we experienced the whopper storm to beat all whopper storms: 20 inches of snow falling, coupled with winds gusts around 40 mph, followed by a blast of arctic air that left us at -1 this morning (-20 with wind chill).  Yesterday the whole state decided to hunker down inside sturdily-roofed structures and wait the storm out.  And it's a good thing!:



A good video-of-destruction-where-nobody-got-hurt is always fun to watch, isn't it?

Here at the Hallstrom house, Elise's choir concert was canceled, as was our ward Christmas party; later we found out they decided to cancel church on Sunday, too (although we woke up this morning to sunny skies and no snow actually falling, so church would have been okay).  We had a really nice day at home together yesterday, eating scones and homemade turkey soup, playing Settlers of Catan and Scrabble, doing laundry.  Oh, and Forrest and I watched It's a Wonderful Life in its entirety, a movie which (Grandpa, I apologize in advance) neither of us had seen all the way through.  In a way, I don't think you'll really get It's a Wonderful Life until you're at least 30--preferably pushing 40--so it's good we waited.  I can see why the movie's famous.  I also think Forrest and I will occasionally use this line, when appropriate:

"George, why must you torture the children?"

Indeed, George.  Mary asks a good question, one we all would do well to consider.

And now for a bad transition.  Here are some pics of the Saturday storm:

A little blizzard sledding

It's good to have a 14-year-old to give Dad a reprieve from his considerable snow blowing duties.

Freezing, pelted by blowing snow, happy as can be.

We woke up in the morning to this:

Our back yard, waist deep in snow.

Although we didn't have our church (you know, the Mormon one) today, Wyatt's preschool Christmas program at the Lutheran church was still on.  At his school, they have the children participate in the actual Sunday service instead of simply having a singing program just for them, so we got to sing the hymns and listen to the pastor's sermon and follow along in the program, reciting the lines the congregation is told to recite--the whole Lutheran nine yards! I haven't been to another denomination's services since I was performing with madrigals in high school, so not only was it fun to listen to Wyatt sing and recite, it was interesting to spend some time in another church.  (Loved the stained glass windows, wondered what it would be like if we passed around a silver bowl in which we were all supposed to deposit our tithing.)  It is good to remember, always, how many good people there are who worship in their own particular way and strive to bring the spirit into their lives.  It's also good for me to remember how much I like being a Mormon, noisy sacrament meetings run by a rag-tag assortment of non-professional clergy and all. :-)

Here's Wyatt and his preschool friends.  There's nothing quite as cute as a preschool Christmas program:

We brought our video camera to record the singing--I wasn't sure if videoing would be allowed, but it was--but we found as soon as Wyatt's class started singing their first song that the batteries were dead (!!).  Luckily I thought to ask Forrest if he had a video feature on his new Blackberry.  So--voila!--we were able to catch at least one song.  For your viewing pleasure: Wyatt.  And although it's true that he doesn't do the actions during the song, he ends the piece with an interpretive flourish:



One other quick noteworthy happening this week: Ethan tried out for the school's one act play.  Over eighty students tried out, and Ethan was one of a group of 40 that made call backs (only 4 freshmen were in the group).  He was pretty sure he wouldn't get a part (there were only 11 parts available, and he's an unknown freshman with very little actual acting experience, after all), but he did a great job at call backs and got a lot of positive feedback.  He got to do a little improv and tells me that one of his lines got both laughter AND applause.  Proud of him.  His speech coach is really excited about his potential in the storytelling category for speech, too.

The other kids are happy and well, as are mom and dad.  More frigid temperatures are on the way this week, but at least the blizzarding is over.  And--miracle of miracles--I'm DONE Christmas shopping.  Even got all the Christmas cards and packages mailed before the big storm hit.  Now we just get to snuggle up and try to stay warm until New Year.

It's the Little Things

It's freezing outside--so very very cold that Wyatt was crying as we hustled our way into the YMCA this morning, saying his "face hurts."  Then when we got to the YMCA I decided for the first time to bring my clothes and showering paraphernalia and get "ready" after working out, like I often did in Utah and at the most glorious and beautiful of all exercising establishments, Lifetime Fitness.  Needless to say, the YMCA experience isn't quite the same as what I'd become accustomed to, e.g. tiny cramped changing areas, ishy shower floors, bad water pressure, a gaggle of seven naked old ladies blocking my locker (oh, the naked old ladies at the Woodbury YMCA, all shapes and sizes!), nowhere to change besides a bathroom stall (which probably explains the naked old ladies), a total of three whiny old blow dryers, etc. etc.  Wyatt, too, isn't as enthusiastic about going to the child care at the Y as he once was at the high tech Lifetime, with its giant climbing maze, bank of computers, kid-size basketball court and brand new toys.  "Which gym are we going to Mom?" he asked me this morning.  "The YMCA," I said.  "Is that the baby one?" he asked (the babies were segregated from the rest of the kids at Lifetime).  "Yes," I admitted.  "Dang!  I don't like that gym!  It's weird."

I agree, Wyatt.  I agree.

ANYWAY, I was feeling a little sorry for myself as I trudged through the biting wind to my car.  But then and there I decided to stop it.  Knock it off, Angie, I said.  Count your many blessings! I commanded.  Positive mental attitude and all that.  I reminded myself that, although little things can get you down (the showers at the Y? nowhere to put your shampoo but on the floor), little things can also pump you up.  So I started cataloging.  Here are some of the little things that make me happy:

-McDonald's Bacon, Egg and Cheese biscuits.  I hardly ever eat these.  Who goes out for breakfast, right?  Plus, they're totally unhealthy, ridiculously calorie-laden, and all that.  But when I do eat them?  They're like the perfect food.  Buttery, salty, warm.  If ever wind up stranded and starving, like a member of the Willie handcart company or the guy in Southern Utah whose arm was pinned by a boulder, a Bacon, Egg and Cheese biscuit would be the perfect thing for my rescuers to bring me.  Just so you know.

-Top Chef All Stars.  I had NO IDEA this show was about to air until I saw it mentioned on Mormon Mommy Wars.  Then when I saw the post I was like, "What?  Seriously?  Richard?  Fabio?  Spike?  Jen?  Karla?  ALL TOGETHER?"  I realized I'd missed the premiere but, luckily, Bravo replays everything like fifteen times.  And the premiere?  Totally lived up to my expectations.  I was trying to explain to Forrest that this particular "All Stars" show (which happens to be my favorite reality show, hands down) is as exciting to me as an "All Stars" basketball game would be to a sports fan IF the game actually meant something and the players weren't just dorking around with their friends, but instead had something to prove and an intense desire to prove it.  Seriously:  this is gonna be great!  And isn't it fun to have something to look forward to?

-The school bus.  All my kids ride the school bus, and as I wave to them from the front window, be-robed and warm as they skuttle across the slippery driveway, I am filled with gratitude.

-Funny stuff on the internet.  Every once in a while I run into something that makes me laugh, lightens my day, all that.  Somebody mentioned the blog Hyperbole and a Half on the AML's blog, so I googled it.  Reading this made me happy.  I thought the story was great, but I was also just generally happy that somebody was so witty, and such a good writer, and could draw such funny/cool illustrations in Paint, and that the amazingness of the internet makes such communications possible.

-My bed, and sleeping in it. My bed is just the right size, the covers are the precise amount of warm, my pillows are the exact degree of poofy, and sometimes (like on Friday, a day off of school for the kids) I get to sleep in it until 8:45.

What does it say about me that the things that make me so very happy are: fast food, reality television, surfing the internet, sleeping, and giant government vehicles driven by who-knows-who relieving me of my personal parental responsibility? Hmmmm.  Don't want to know.  Too busy being grateful.

What are the little things that make your days better?

Thankful!

Oh, we had such a great time with my mom and dad over Thanksgiving break.  I'm so glad they came to hang out with us--I don't do well without extended family at Thanksgiving.  Turkey and yams and stuffing and little bowls of olives aren't the same without a few extra faces around the table, you know?

And what lovely extra faces (and regular everyday faces, too) they were:

Here's the table, set and stocked with foodie goodness by all sorts of helpers:

The gelatenous mound of shimmery cranberries from can?  That's for Grandpa. :-)

Besides Thanksgiving goodness, we had a fabulous time going to the Mall of America; attending Grandparents' Day at Wyatt's preschool (good timing, no?); indulging in a little Black Friday shopping (thanks, Mom, for coming along with your crazy, cold-braving daughter to snag some great deals); seeing Tangled (really good! Great music, and I even wiped away a tear . . . now, granted, it doesn't take much to warrant tear wiping when you're me, but still); watching The Sound of Music on Blu-Ray (the hills are SO alive on Blu-Ray), and hanging around the house playing games and watching random shows on our newly obtained streaming Netflix account.

All the kids + Grandma, watching The Secret of Kells on Netflix. A gorgeous, strange little movie.

One of our small sources of fun was rearranging the little cubes on the window sill that were supposed to spell "Merry Christmas" into amusing phrases.  One of Ethan's offerings:

Yes, Grandma.  It is, and will always be, your Camry.

Thanks so much, Grandma and Grandpa, for flying yourselves to the frozen North and spending some quality time with all of us.  We love you!  We miss you!

To round out the post, how about some general updates on the Hallstrom Fam?  Let's start with the my good looking husband, why don't we?

We took this picture right before church on Sunday.  Forrest needed a photo for some career-related profiles, and I thought he looked handsome and (amazingly) I had five minutes to spare before we rushed out the door to church.  As far as a general Forrest update goes: he's been a little sick with a cold the last week, which I think was something of a surprise to him.  He doesn't get sick very often and kinda takes it as a personal affront.  He's feeling better now, though, and he still managed to cook a very juicy turkey on Thanksgiving despite being a couple notches below top form.  It's been frikkin freezing here (ah, Minnesota) but he still wants to get out there and try to kill one more deer before the season wraps up.  He likes his new job.  He likes his calling with the young men.  He's good.

Ethan has hit the accelerated state of adolescence and seems to be literally growing before my very eyes.  He had a great time doing the musical, is a stellar early morning seminary attendee, and his grades are still looking strong.

After much wavering back and forth over whether he wanted to be on the wrestling team or the speech team, Ethan has decided to go with speech.  For a while it looked like it was going to be wrestling, and while I was more than willing to be a supportive mom, he came home from one early practice worried about making another kid's lip bleed (the same practice where all the athletes had to take a cognitive test they'd use as a baseline whenever they suspected a kid had a concussion) and I thought, 1. do I want my child to be involved in a sport where bloody lips and concussions are, you know, commonplace? and 2. is wrestling really the right thing for him if giving somebody a bloody lip fills him with angst rather than self-congratulation?

It would have been a big challenge for him, and Ethan really does want to be involved in some kind of sport during high school . . . but I kind of breathed a sigh of relief when he decided not to wrestle (they had two weeks after practice started to decide--it's a new program and anybody can come and see if it's for them).  He's thinking he'll try track and field in the spring.  I was also THRILLED to find out that he'd be able to take part in the speech team after all.  The two conflicted, so he needed to pick one or the other, but we just heard back from the speech coach that he did an excellent job in his auditions and they're excited to have him on the team.  Hooray!  Not only is speech something Ethan's really good at, but I'm sure he'll make some great friends.  And no bleeding!

Yes, this is my beautiful daughter.  She's also on the accelerated grow-up plan.  Doesn't she look nice? She's all gussied up for her 7th grade choir concert.  She volunteered (!!) to read/recite an introduction for one of the songs and was told she could either read it or memorize it.  Come to find out Elise was set to introduce the very first song!  So in an auditorium full of parents and pretty much the entire 7th grade, she marched up to the microphone and recited her intro from memory.  (She skipped a tiny little part, but nobody but me and the choir teacher probably noticed.)  She was a little nervous, but did great.  And then, wouldn't you know it, every single other kid READ their introductions!  How's that for going the extra mile?  She was also one of the prettiest girls on stage.  Yes, I'm prejudiced, but I'm telling the truth.  And I know we're not supposed to tell our daughters they're pretty because it warps their sense of what's important and and all that jazz, but, as her mother, I must speak the truth. :-)

Elise has been working hard as her first trimester in middle school wraps up and she's doing very well.  She and her new friend Preeta teamed up (just today, in fact) to do a project for science where one is supposed to make a model that represents the parts of a cell (e.g., they chose to do a farm: the fence is the cell wall, the farmer is the nucleus, a basket full of eggs are golgi bodies--you know, golgi bodies!).  It was so cute I had to take a picture:

Elise, Preeta, and the Farm-representing-a-cell.  Aren't their little clay guys cute?  And yes, the farm is stolen from our Christmas village.  They have promised to take very good care of it.

Jonas Leo is also very good looking, but informed me today that he "really needs a haircut."  Um, I agree.  He's holding the little clip on his bag that he received for being his class student of the month.  Teachers have always loved Jonas from preschool on up.  He's the perfect combination of smart but not smart alecky.  And he'd nice.  And he loves to read.  Elementary school teachers are always taken in by book-loving boys.

Speaking of being a book-loving boy, Jonas is participating in a team event called Battle of the Books with some friends at school.  They read 12 titles, then compete in a quiz-bowl like event in February.  It's a cute group of kids---they decided to name their team the "Nerd Herd" (irony! in 4th grade!) and get together every two weeks to talk about the books.  Tomorrow Jonas is leading the discussion.

 And what about Wyatt Dean, you ask?  He's spending a lot of time dressing up like an "Inja" (for some reason, he insists on dropping the N.)

Dark stocking hat? Check. Skeleton gloves? Check. Cammo pants? Check. Pistol in the pocket? Check.  And last but not least, ninja sword down the back?  Definitely, check. He's ready to rumble.

He loves preschool.  He loves anything that has to do with playing, really, which is why I signed up for a babysitting co-op with some women in our ward.  Once every two weeks I host a co-op time, and whomever needs a babysitter for that time slot pays me with "tickets" I can then use to have Wyatt attend the co-op at their house.  It's a slick set up (laminated tickets and everything!).  But unlike when I had three little kids at home, I don't really need the time to myself as much as I think Wyatt enjoys the time with other kids.  Today was my first day to host and two darling little girls signed up to come over to our house.  I brought the "girl toys" upstairs from the basement, and after playing with the Barbies and the Little People Doll House for a while, Wyatt exclaimed, "Hey!  I like playing with girl toys!"  Then he promptly went upstairs and put on his cowboy clothes.  (Perhaps he thought the Inja clothes would be a little TOO aggressive for the ladies.)

Wyatt and two darling little ladies.  One of them caught me drinking a Diet Coke and said, "You have soda at your house?"  "Yes," I replied.  "But don't you know that soda's not good for your body?"  Ah, the honesty of children. :-)

And last (and least--really, I'm the least interesting member of this family, and I say this without a shred of self pity), the main thing I'm doing besides puttering around, feeding/grooming/coraling the children, and buying modeling clay and styrofoam boards at Wal-Mart for science projects, is getting my final issue of Irreantum out the door.  It's going to be a great issue.  I know I say that every time, but it really is.  I'm glad to be going out on an issue I can be proud of.  Here's the cool cover:

The other thing I do well is write loooooooong blog posts.  In case you haven't noticed!

Anyway, lots to be thankful for right now in my life.  And I am.

best.calling.ever*

So a few hours after pressing "publish" on my kinda whiny post last Saturday, I got a call from a member of the bishopric asking me to come in before church and talk to the bishop about a new calling.

Buh, buh, buuuuuuuuuuuhhhhm!

The last time I received a calling right before church I was a little blindsided by being released from the RS Presidency and called as a Webelos leader.  (BTW, overall the Webelos calling was definitely a challenge, but it wasn't as hard as I'd though it would be and--not to spout a cliche or anything--I did learn a lot.)

But this time?  This time I walked out of the bishop's office with a smile on my face and a spring in my step, because I got pretty much the best calling of all:  Relief Society teacher.  Sunday calling, ONCE A MONTH, teaching, spending time studying gospel topics, getting to know other women in RS, etc. etc.  Perfecto, insecto.  I've only been an official RS teacher once before in my life, and it's been a long time since I've had a teaching calling, so I'm pretty durn happy about it.

*But I did put an asterisk on the title of this post, did I not?  The reason is because today was supposed to be my first time teaching, so I spent a little extra effort getting ready for this particular lesson.  First impressions and whatnot.  The lesson was on a great topic: gifts of the spirit. Had a song (not a sung song, but a play-on-the-ipod song, a lovely classical piano piece by The 5 Browns), had my reading assignments all printed out, found a very cool story that would illustrate the idea of developing the spiritual gift of charity.  I even pre-made little strips of cardstock to magnet-stick to the chalkboard (and I usually don't do that--I usually just write stuff--but I wanted Marvin J. Ashton's list of spiritual gifts to be on the board and I knew I couldn't write that fast).  But then we woke up to freezing rain and slippery, icy roads, and then the phone calls started.  Church: canceled!  Ah, well.  I learned a lot about gifts of the spirit this week (really, I did).  I doubt I'll get a chance to teach this particular lesson, since most RS teaching schedules are pretty locked in, but we'll see.  Missing teaching a lesson really isn't that big of a deal, especially when I consider that our Young Women in Excellence was supposed to happen right after church (poor YW Presidency!  Those things take a lot of time to plan).  And the woman I visit teach, who's a relatively new convert, was supposed to speak in sacrament meeting and had been stressing about it all week.  The bishop told her she'd probably speak sometime in December now--so, as she told me when I called her, she has a few more weeks to worry about it.

So instead, all of you get to have my Relief Society lesson.  Go read the great Mormon Women Project interview and Marvin J. Ashton's talk I linked to above, if you'd like.  (I also used an Ashton quote in my sacrament meeting talk.  I'm liking Marvin J. lately.  He was just a little bit before my time, but whenever I read his stuff it really resonates for me.  He's like the Uchtdorf of the 80s.)  And it has been nice to hang out at home with the family and relax.  We're almost done getting the Christmas decorations up.  I know!  Totally on the ball of me, yes?  Mainly it's because I wanted to get it all done before my Mom and Dad come on Tuesday for Thanksgiving.  TUESDAY!  It's going to be great to have them here.  I already have every day planned, with a trip to the Mall of America, Black Friday shopping, a movie, and (c'mon guys, you know you love it!), a PARADE!  (Yes.  A parade.  Outside.  In November in Minnesota.  It's the Target Holidazzle and since I no longer get to go see the lights at temple square, I'll do my best to make this its frigid, colorfully-lit replacement.  Bundle up, baby!) And I have made time for naps, Mom.  I promise.

Can't wait.

I Guess it's Winter in Minnesota

Although we've been having beautiful September-like weather over the last few weeks, resulting in many gorgeous nights like this . . .

A view from the front porch

. . . this morning I woke up to let the cat out, and she and I were both surprised to find a winter wonderland.  It's been coming down ever since.  Wyatt was excited to get outside and help his dad shovel the driveway.  He even donned some goggles:

All tricked out . . . in a coat Jonas wore when he was seven.

Ready for the white stuff

Wyatt and the cute cute girl who lives next door (whose name I can't EVER remember)

Before all this snow descended, we spent the week in pretty low-key fashion.  Well, at least I spent it that way.  The house is about 90% put together, which means I've shifted from frantic-frenzied-purposeful to puttery-wandery-loose endy.  (Yes, loose endy is not a word, but it's the best antonym of purposeful I could come up with and I'm shooting for parallel sentence structure.)  This loose endiness is a good thing most of the time--I have these long structureless days with which I can do pretty much whatever.  Of course, I have plenty to keep me busy--taking care of the kids and the house is always enough, especially if you do it right--but it's been so long since I've had at least half a dozen looming deadlines or pressing responsibilities that it's kind of weird to not have them pinning down the beginning and ending of my day.

And, yes, I'm enjoying it in lots of ways.  But I also feel a little bit disconnected, which is to be expected when you move away from family and friends and quit your job and don't have a calling.  I'm not completely without distractions--I'm working on my final issue of Irreantum (I'll be stepping down as editor after the end of this year)--but it's almost done.  And, of course, I'm writing too.  But all these things are completely within my own purview.  I can do them for however long I want to, whenever I want to.  Don't have to go to any meetings, don't have to grade any papers, don't have to plan any activities for 10 year old boys, etc. etc. etc.  So I'm enjoying it.  Mostly.  I'm also remembering that this "new normal" won't be the new normal for long, and that even though I would like to have a little more purpose and structure to my days, I'm going to do my best not to overload my plate.  And underloaded plate is always easier to balance than an overloaded one, yes?

Other members of the family have been pretty busy, though.  Mostly Ethan.  He's been on tech crew for the high school production of Beauty and the Beast, which opened to wild acclaim last night.  He's been at the high school every day until late at night over this last week, and I've been feeling his absence.  But it was really fun to go see the play last night and the fruits of all his hard work.  He does wish that he'd actually tried out for the production--he was a little leery of the singing and dancing--but he learned a lot working the lights and now knows for sure that he'll try out for the musical next time.   It brought back so many memories to go to the high school and see the show last night; I so loved being in plays when I was younger.  One of those things I'm so glad I did then, because most of us don't get the opportunity to do it ever again (unless you're Grandpa Hiatt, then you can do it for most of your adult life).  It's so much fun to see Ethan interested in it too.

The other kids have been busy with school--all three older kids did great in their parent teacher conferences.  And Forrest has been having a great time sitting in his tree, shooting videos of the girl deer, fork bucks, and fawns that continue to taunt him.   And Forrest and I sneaked out this afternoon to go see a movie--the new Denzel Washington "Oh My Heck It's a Derailed Train!" movie.  It was actually quite entertaining.  We also have a great deal here in Woodbury; a guy in our ward owns a first-run movie theater where all tickets before 6 p.m. (even on weekends) are only four dollars.  So a first run movie for 8 bucks?  Pretty sweet, even if we don't have stadium seating.

And now I'd better sign off again.  Thanks to all of you who popped in and said hello last blog post after I mentioned that my post-before-that was a little (ahem) lacking in comments.  Seriously, though--no blog commenting pressure.  Blog commenting pressure is the last thing ANY of us need, right?  I know you love me.

And read EVERY WORD of my long winded blog. :-)

Other Newsworthy Items

So in the rush of moving in & getting the blog updated on Major Life Events, there are a few other things I've neglected to mention.  So here goes:

1.  I'm in the middle of my second cold of the last six weeks.  It is No Fun.  Not terrible, but just ugh enough to make me just a tiny bit miserable.

2.  I'm probably getting sick because I'm not exercising.  I read somewhere that if you exercise regularly then you reduce your risk of  getting a virus by about 40%.  So not only have I gained back the five pounds I lost in the throes of what I like to call Anxiety September, but I get a nice cough and head cold on the side.  What needs to happen is we've got to join the YMCA, because the two times I've tried to go ride my bike the cold air really really made my ears hurt and I turned around and came home.

3.  Had Wyatt's parent teacher conferences.  His teacher loves him and he is a joy.  He can almost write his name (just gets the letters in the wrong order), is impressive with the counting and color identification, listens extraordinarily well during Jesus Time (he can retell those Old Testament stories with hilarious panache), and, according to the teacher, is the "only kid" who hasn't yet gotten in trouble for poking or touching or getting up and running around during circle time.  He just folds his legs in "criss cross applesauce" and sits there like a good boy.  Good boy, Wyatt!  Really, he is a dang good kid.

One hilarious Wyatt-ism:  Friday night we went to go see Megamind.  (Pretty good!)  Wyatt had to go potty and (ahem) so did I, so he was in the stall next to me.  After a minute I hear, "Nice shoes you  got there, Mom!"

Maybe you had to be there.  It was funny.

4.  Got all interested in the elections on Tuesday.  Voted.  Don't know why voting makes me so happy--especially when I'm not super charged-up about any one particular candidate--but it does.  It IS nice to have the dang ads off the television, though.  The congressional race in our district was AWFUL.  Apparently it was the most expensive congressional race in the country: Tea Party incumbent Michelle Bachman vs. a state senator named Terryl Clark.  Both of them behaved like spoiled children having tantrums or, conversely, mean bullies kicking sand in the other kid's eye.  Bachman won reelection (incumbent, plus we're in a traditionally Republican district), but I think Clark might have had a chance if she hadn't gotten so nasty herself.  Anyway, glad that one's over.

But, in case any of you were wondering, I'm still an Obama fan.  Whenever I listen to him WITHOUT any spin (spin from the right or the left) I wind up feeling like he's still the smart, thoughtful man I voted for, and that (overall) he's doing a good job in incredibly trying circumstances.  I thought he rocked the press conference on Wednesday.  And I'll leave it at that.

5.  This happened a few weeks ago, but I still keep forgetting to mention it.  They caught the guy who stole my purse back in May.  I found out because we received a letter from the federal government stating that we'd been the victims of "mail fraud," which understandably freaked me out a touch.  Finally, after calling the toll-free number and getting transferred six times, I found out what had happened.  Apparently my purse-snatcher is a big time identity thief and he got caught.  When they went to his house they discovered dozens of driver's licenses and a bunch of forged checks and old credit cards.  Mine was among them.  I guess a lot of the stuff had been obtained by stealing people's mail, so mine was lumped in with those.  Luckily all our accounts were shut down and changed and we have credit monitoring services on both of us now, so it looks like we're as safe as we can be.  Still, kind of scary.  And glad the guy's going to jail.

6.  I'm doing NaNoWriMo again.  But not really.  Let me explain: I was planning to do a traditional NaNo this month (writing 50,000 words).  But.  The YA novel I'm working on is almost all mapped out and I have a few chapters under my belt already. I'm not so much in the "exploratory writing" mode with this one.  The first few days I kept wanting to take my time with the sentences, really plan out the plot, all that stuff.  So instead of requiring 50,000 words of myself, I'm simply dedicating myself to writing at least an hour a day.  (Except when my parents come for Thanksgiving.  That was another reason I wasn't so keen on the 50k word requirement: when my mom and dad are here I don't want to be locked in my office, typing all day.)  Anyway, I feel good about it, and excited about the novel.  Well, mostly excited about it.  Then sometimes I wonder if it sucks.  Isn't that how it's supposed to go?

7.  Forrest killed a big deer with his bow and arrow.  A girl.  We now have deer sausage and deer meat for deer chili and deer stew.  He promised me he wouldn't kill any more girl deer, or if he did we would donate it to the food shelf, so instead he is spending his time up in a tree waiting for a nice big boy deer.

Bow hunting is one of those things that I totally do not understand . . . but boy, does Forrest love it. Gives him a little spring in his step and a sparkle in his eye.  He comes home and draws me color coded diagrams of all the deer he sees walking around.  (He sees lots of deer walking around while he's up in his tree and has only shot at one--the aforementioned big ol' girl deer--so it's not like the whole hunting thing is all about killing Bambi's mom.  He only OCCASIONALLY kills Bambi's mom, then waits for Bambi's dad to come close enough so he can kill him and take his horns and NOT put them up in our house.)

Hunting.  Huh.  But I am glad to see Forrest so happy about something.  Yes, I'm a good wife.  Mostly. :-)

8.  Is it just me or is TV kinda blah this season?  I'm not very excited about any particular show, although I do really like Modern Family.  Oh, and I really enjoy The Good Wife. Everything else seems old and tired, and I'm not at all interested in any of the new stuff. Probably just as well: gives me more time to be productive.

9.  I love having my laundry room upstairs!

10.  I miss seeing my family.

And there you have it!  It is now 8:13 and I've been up, on a Sunday with 11:00 church, since about 6:15 a.m. (dang daylight savings, making your kid wake up at the crack of dawn).  Now I kinda want to go back to bed but it's too late.  And it's fast Sunday!  So much time to be hungry.  I'll try not to think about it.

And congrats to you if you read this whole thing.  Based on the two measly comments from my last long post, chances are few of you have. And that one even had pictures!

I am not whining. :-)

Lookie Here!

Howdy pardners!  Looks like a new blog template has wandered into these here parts.  Y'all as excited as I am?  Yee haw!

Okay, enough cowboy talk.  But:
1. Isn't that picture of Wyatt just about the greatest?  And . . .
2. It was about time for a blog redesign, yes?

So, okay, it's 11:15 at night and I'm just getting around to actually writing the post, but sometimes a cowgirl's gotta do what a cowgirl's gotta do.  Now, onward.

First, some Halloween goodness:

Cowboy Wyatt doing a version of the limbo at his preschool Halloween party.  He was super excited to wear his vest and bandanna and holster--"but no gun, Mom, no guns at preschool!"--to his class party on Friday.

Friday evening the kids got costumed-up for the ward Halloween bash.

Elise as a jeans-wearing cat.  Tale of the cat costume: we bought a size 14/16 "kids" size costume and neglected to try it on until a couple of hours before the party.  It was a little, um, short and tight.  Luckily Elise was as uncomfortable with the costume as I was, so she agreed to wear jeans over the bottom.  I think it ended up looking pretty darn cute anyway.  It's hard for Elise to NOT look cute.  Especially when she's wearing perky pink ears.

Jonas as a bottle of ketchup.  When he found this costume at the Halloween store he was immediately taken with it.  I, too, was taken with it, since it cost $14.99, didn't require any accessories, and wasn't associated with violence, death, or mixed martial arts.

And I'm sorry, but this is just about the cutest cowboy I've ever seen.  The costume came with a duster jacket, but he refused to wear it because it made him trip.  And see the smile on his face?  It's because I let him take his pistol with him to the church party.  Hey, there are people there dressed like serial killers and flesh eating zombies.  A little bitty cowboy pistol--a pistol that is the ultimate accessory to the perfect Wyatt costume--can't be too bad.  Can it?

Ethan, as a Jamaican vampire.  He's wearing a pretty nifty set of vampire teeth, more expensive than your usual plastic variety.  They mold to your teeth and pop in and out.  He did a lot of mulch hauling and trench digging to earn those teeth.  I think he enjoyed them.

And all together now!:

Here are some more Halloween pictures, taken at the ward party:

Wyatt, showing off his face painting.

 A little ring toss action.

 Ethan working the fishing pond.

Elise working the bowling game.  (She'd originally signed up to do the cake walk and was somewhat disappointed that she had to do bowling because setting up all those pins over and over is kinda a pain. I  empathized.  But then she girded up her loins--or, in other words, pulled up her Cat Jeans--and went to work.  Good girl. Although in this picture the other girl is setting up the pins.  They took turns.  You get the idea.)

 Wyatt and Dad watching the pie eating contest.  See?  Told you we had a big ward.

Jonas working the other side of the fish pond.

Halloween was actually kind of fun this year.  I say "actually" because Halloween often stresses me out.  The costumes, the decorating, the coming-up-with-kids'-games, the candy wrappers all over the house, the creepy-gory decorations in the grocery store or in a person's yard that fill my 3-year-old with terror and make him scared to go to bed at night.  But this year, Halloween was a little less stressful than I remember it, and actually, kinda fun.  It's probably because I wasn't required to come up with any kid games or crafts NOR was I asked to attend an adult Halloween party where costumes are required.  Oh, the angst of planning adult Halloween costumes!  The only bad thing, really, that happened was the sugar cookies I made for the cake walk--sugar cookies I'd meticulously decorated--got all smooshed on the way over to the church on Friday night.  That threw me for ten minutes or so, but I recovered.

Beyond Halloween, we've also got some pics of the upstairs to share.  Wanna see?

The upstairs loft, two views:

Desk courtesy of Ikea.  It's really nice to have the computer on one side and a desk for homework on the other.  The kids like it.

Love Sac courtesy of a guy who lives all the way across town who was selling it on Craig's List.  We've always loved Grandma and Grandpa Sweat's Love Sac, and I thought one would fit nicely in this spot.  So I perused Craig's List until I found a good deal--pretty cheap, and owned by a nonsmoking single guy with no pets who'd used it "like 4 times."  Granted, I drove 45 minutes across the Twin Cities in the dark in the rain to go find it, then when I walked up to his dark-ish house at the end of the street I wondered if the whole scenario would someday be replayed in a 48 Hours True Crime Re-Creation, but I was pleased to see that the seller had a roommate there, was on the smallish side, and seemed rather meek.  Well, except when it came to negotiating the price.  Then he wasn't meek.  I handed him $10 less than his asking price (which was kind of lame and embarrassing, really, I shouldn't have even tried to negotiate), then the guy, his roommate, and I heaved and squished and pushed that Love Sac badboy into the back of the Tahoe.  It was quite a scene.

But I survived.  And the kids are liking it.  It's cozy.

I'm also throwing in this picture so you can see what our entertainment center is up to.  It's still not all the way put together and I'm not sure what to put in the shelves, besides the Wii and Wii-related paraphernalia, but it'll do for now.

And now, the kids' rooms:

 Not super-exciting, and we could use some more decor.  But at least the room's big enough for some of his toys, since we don't have a basement to play in.

 The boys' room.  Not much has changed from their previous room, but it is a little bigger, which is nice.  They can actually use the desk that came with the bunk bed.

But the real design accomplishment is Elise's room!

Isn't it cute?  The wall color turned out really nice (well, nice if you're 12), and her new bedspread is extraordinarily cozy.  It's the cat's new favorite place to hang.  And, any of you planning to visit us, this will be our guest room.  Elise won't mind being kicked out for a few days in order to accommodate visitors.  Will you Lou?  (She really won't.)

And last but not least, the laundry room.  It's a little on the small side, but it's UPSTAIRS, hallelujah, and I'm really really liking that.  I'm also enjoying the new washer and dryer.  So efficient!  And they play a happy little jingle whenever I turn them on or open the lid, which makes the arduous task of laundering the clothing of a family of six a little more bearable.

And no, no pictures of our bedroom.  Still working on it.  And plus, it's just a bedroom.  Not all that interesting. Although we do have enough room on either side of the bed now for BOTH of us to have a nightstand.  Heaven.

Okay, friends, it's now after midnight.  I'm going to get in trouble for this (Forrest).  Good night!  And I promise I won't complain I'm tired in the morning. :-)