Christmas Season 2009

I decided that I've got to hurry up and blog about all this stuff, or it just isn't going to happen.

Our Christmas season was quite busy this year. As I'm sure it was for everyone. We started off on Dec. 2 with the Light Up the Night Parade the city of Moscow has every year. Our ward Primary always has a truck pulling a trailer with a live Nativity scene then the rest of the primary kids walk behind and sing Christmas carols. I am the primary chorister so I get to walk and sing too, and it is a lot of fun. This year Stephen, Anne, and Ellen were chosen to be Joseph, Mary, and the angel. (I did not choose or even suggest.) James, Naomi, and Noah were able to watch the parade and even saw Santa Claus. It was quite cold that night so we hurried home as soon as we were done.

That Saturday, the 5th, we all went as a family to cut down a Christmas tree. It turned into quite an adventure. It's kind of a long story, so let me just say that we ended up spending about an hour - hour and a half all squished together in the Jeep. And I mean squished. Noah knew that we were looking for a tree and didn't quite understand why we weren't choosing one of the many, many trees right around us. Every now and then he would point out the window and say, "Tree!" But we did have a very nice time together. The snow was beautiful and we (mostly I) sang Christmas songs and I really enjoyed being so close to my most favorite people. And we did end up with a very nice tree.

Dec. 13th was our ward Christmas party. We sang Christmas carols, then enjoyed a nice dinner served family style (which means the food is on the tables and we don't have to wait in huge long lines and juggle plates! Yay!!!), then we did get in a huge long line so that we could see Santa. Except for Stephen. He decided that he is getting to big for Santa's lap, so he and James helped clean up. The rest of the kids all got to tell Santa what they wanted and got their picture taken with him. I wasn't sure what Noah would do. He didn't say anything, but he didn't cry either.

We had two Christmas concerts, one for Stephen for band on the 14th (and I forgot to take my camera) and one for Stephen and Anne for school on the 17th (I did bring my camera, but Stephen was sick so he couldn't go). They were both great concerts! This picture is all of the 2nd graders of Lena Whitmore Elementary. Annie is in the middle row, 5th from the right. It's pretty hard to tell which one she is. They did a really good job!

On Dec. 18 Stephen was feeling much better and I had a little shopping to do, so we all went down to Lewiston after James got home from work. There is a park there called Locomotive Park where the city puts up a huge light display. It was so neat!

All the trees were very bright.
The very biggest tree has lights that go off and on in time with the music that is playing in the park.

There is a large mat, probably 20 x 20 feet next to another tree. The mat has big square buttons under it that you can jump on. When you jump on certain squares certain colored lights on the tree will turn on and off. Very fun, even for James and I.

They had a nice big fireplace.

A tunnel of lights over the sidewalk.

Dancing Penguins!

We had such a good time!! We will definitely be going back next year.

We had a nice Christmas Eve and Day. It was nice and relaxing to have just us at home, but we did miss our extended family. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Fun with words!

Stephen was home sick for a couple of days this week and was a little bored. Way back at the beginning of the summer I made a big list of activities they could do if they were bored, so I sent Stephen to look at the list. He took about 1 second and said he couldn't find anything. There was one activity I'd been anxious for someone to try but no one had yet, so I suggested we do it together while I do the dishes. He could do all the writing for us and I could just add my thoughts here and there. I don't know what this game is called, and I don't remember where I got the idea. Out of a book I think. Anyway, here it is.

Give each letter a cent value (a = 1 cent, b = 2 cents, etc.) then add up the value of words. Cab would be a 6 cent word - c = 3 cents, a = 1 cent, and b = 2 cents. What is the value of your name? How many $1 words can you find? "Excellent" is a $1 word.

Stephen was a little reluctant, but he was hooked after the first word he added up. He didn't care about the money part of it and mostly just went by points, so he was looking for 100 point words. It was a lot of fun! We worked on different words for quite a while, then when Annie came home we got her going as well. Here are some of the words we tried.

Stephen = 84
Santa Claus = 111
Christmas = 110
envelope = 94
magnet = 60
sausage = 73
winner = 83
forest = 83
banana = 33
Aimee = 33
orange = 60

And we did come up with a couple of 100 point words! Pumpkin and telephone both added up to 100. Anne found another one for us: Annie Mobley! She was pretty excited that her name would add up to 100 points. Can you find any more $1 or 100 point words?

Happy Noah!

Noah's 2nd birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year. He didn't seem to mind at all. He knew it was his birthday and every now and then would say, "Happy Noah!" Since it was Thanksgiving, we were able to have Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Chris celebrate it with us. We were SO glad to have them come visit us!


I had planned to make an actual cake for Noah, but after all the cooking and baking of the Thanksgiving food I just couldn't make myself mix up another thing! So Noah had a birthday pie instead and was quite happy with that. He still got to blow out the candles. The video starts out dark but we do turn the lights on part way through.

Noah has always admired Stephen's trumpet. Lately he has been using all kinds of things as his own pretend trumpet. He even moves his fingers! So we thought we would try to get him his own toy trumpet for his birthday. I found an instrument set at Winco, of all places, that came with a drum, a trumpet, a tambourine, and two maracas. Noah was very excited about it. So were all the rest of the kids. We had a few arguments and shed a few tears those first couple of days. I'm not sure that I was very wise to get that particular present, but I think we are all over it now and Noah has his trumpet so life is good.


A couple of weeks ago I was reading through some past posts and read about Noah turning one. I had listed 12 things that we loved about Noah. I enjoyed reading it so much that I've decided to make that a regular tradition. Not just for Noah, but for all the kids as their birthdays come around. So here we have our list for Noah this year.


12 things we love about Noah at age 2:

1. He is very busy! We've never had a child as busy as Noah.


2. Noah keeps track of every member of the family. He knows where they are and whether we need to pick them up or not. He also knows very, very well what belongs to whom. Whenever James is folding the laundry he likes to keep Noah nearby so that Noah can tell him who the clothes belong to.

3. If one of us is leaving the house, Noah wants to go too. Especially if it is Mama or Daddy but he would gladly go out with just Naomi if only I would let him.

4. Noah loves to wrestle. Especially with Daddy or Stephen.

5. Noah loves to play with balls, cars, trains, trucks, and animals.

6. Noah doesn't like the van to be sitting still if he is in it. Whenever we stop at a stop sign or stop light he quickly says, "Go! Go, go go!"

7. Noah loves his friend Paul who will be two in March. They talk to each other and happily share toys with each other and take care of each other. Today they started playing catch all on their own! They are just SO cute together!

8. Noah has a wonderful face. Dimples, round cheeks and amazing expressions!

9. Noah knows and LOVES all four of his grandparents and talks about them quite a bit. One day he saw a picture of Nana and wanted to call her. I told him that she was at work but that we could call her later. That night he remembered and insisted that we call Nana now! He was very happy to finally get to talk to her.

10. Noah loves to look at books. I think he looks at every part of a picture before he will move on to the next page. He always has a very intent look on his face.

11. Noah does not talk quietly. Ever. We had a special Family Home Evening lesson about whispering hoping that would help Noah learn to whisper during Sacrament meeting. It didn't work. I guess that's just what happens when you are the youngest and everyone already in the house is always loud. You have to be loud too!

12. Noah is a cuddler. He loves to give hugs and kisses and squeezes. And he still loves to be held whenever he gets the chance.

Interesting Names

Stephen had an Idaho geography assignment for his homework this week that was kind of fun. So we thought we'd see how you could do with a few of them. It's called Interesting Names. These are the instructions: Can you discover the city or town from the clues? Use an Idaho road map to help you with the names.

1. Found in the sky at night:
2. Our state - tumbling down:
3. President during the Civil War:
4. To squat down low:
5. The bill collector says you must:
6. Same as the capital of France:
7. To give thanks before a meal:
8. The winner of a race is the:
9. A storage place for dishes:
10. What the baseball coach says to the outfielders:

We could not figure out that last one. So Stephen called our wonderful neighbor, Mr. Kleffner to see if he could figure it out. He thought about for maybe 30 seconds and had it. Stephen turned the paper in the next day and found out that only he and one other girl got the answer to that last question. When he got home from school Mr. Kleffner was just coming home as well and Stephen went running over to tell him the good news. We are so thankful to have such sweet and smart neighbors!

Scroll down to see the answers.






































1. Star
2. Idaho Falls
3. Lincoln
4. Crouch
5. Payette
6. Paris
7. Grace
8. Victor
9. Cabinet
10. Ketchum
How did you do?

Fall Soccer 2009

Stephen, Anne, and Ellen all played soccer this fall. Stephen and Anne had both played before (a couple of years ago), but this was Ellen's first time. Luckily for us all of their games were on the same nights and all at the same park. (Sorry, some of the pictures are a little dark or blurry, but I think they will work.)

Stephen loved every minute of it. He had so much fun and is a really good soccer player!

Anne was not so thrilled with soccer. She has already stated that she will not be playing soccer again. I'm very proud of her for sticking with it till the last game. Even though she didn't like it she still got in there and played. That blur on the right is Anne running up to kick the ball.

Ellen had a lot of fun. When the season started she very happily ran around the field, but never touched the ball. By the end of the season she was going after the ball and getting some good kicks and passes. All with a big smile on her face. She wants to play again! This picture was taken towards the beginning of the game. Just a few minutes after this it was too dark and none of the pictures I took turned out.

Naomi, Noah, and I had fun watching. Well....Naomi and Noah weren't always watching. They did a lot of running and playing around too. Overall it was a good experience. But we are so glad to be done for now!!!

No Imagination???

Mornings are kind of hard for Ellen sometimes. She just can't wait for school!!! The other day I had just sent Stephen and Annie out the door and was finally eating my own breakfast, when Ellen came and sat down next to me.

Ellen: "What can I do, Mom? I don't have any imagination!"

Me: "What do you mean?"

Ellen: "All I can imagine is a bird, an owl, a kangaroo, a squirrel, a fish, a dog, a hippo, and a rabbit." She sat and thought for about 3 seconds, then jumped up and said, "And a crocodile!"

She ran (crawled) off pretending to be a crocodile eating up every animal she could think of. With a little help from Naomi.

When Stephen has the camera...

Here We Have Idaho!

Since Stephen is in the 4th grade this year, he gets to take Idaho History. I have been waiting for this since he started kindergarten. I loved Idaho History when I was a kid.

One of the first things Stephen learned about was all the state symbols and emblems and things like that. The state horse is the Appaloosa, the state flower is the Syringa, the state gem is the Star Garnet which can only be found in Idaho (in Benewah and Latah counties) and India. The state vegetable is...well I probably don't need to tell you that one. Check out this website for more state emblems.

After learning about all of these emblems for a couple of weeks, Stephen's teacher gave the class a test. I was helping him study and came to the last question which was about the state song. I asked Stephen what it was and he answered it right. I am kind of a corny mom sometimes, so I started singing it. Stephen looked at me like he was impressed that I actually knew it. Anne and Ellen just looked at my like I was being a little too silly. Stephen then headed downstairs, went into his bedroom and started humming the song right where I had left off. Oh, did that make me smile!

Click HERE to listen to a UofI choir sing the chorus of Here We Have Idaho.

Noah Likes

It feels like life has jumped to light speed these last few weeks. There has been lots going on, that I could/should catch up on, but I thought I would just start trying to post a little more regularly and maybe the catching up will happen somewhere along the line. Don't hold your breath, though.


Noah is really starting to turn into a little boy lately, and has some particular likes. Well I think he really likes everything, but some things are especially appealing to him.


The most important thing to Noah would have to be milk. He and his friend, Paul, are very serious about their milk.


Noah also likes hats quite a bit. It doesn't matter what kind of hat, or who it belongs to, Noah will put it on and wear it for most of the day.


Shoes. Here he is wearing Stephen's soccer shoes. I think he really does like his own shoes, but it is lots easier for him to put other peoples' larger shoes on by himself.

Noah loves baths. So much that one day he climbed back into the tub with Ellen after I had already taken him out of his bath and put a nice clean diaper on him.

Like all little boys, Noah loves playing with cars and trucks and other things with wheels.

And he enjoys playing in the dirt. This sand pile was at the Latah County Fair where the UofI has an exhibit about digging up history.

Noah really likes food. All food. One morning after I finished making lunches for Stephen and Annie, I did not put the jam right away and hurried downstairs to take care of some laundry. When I finished and started to head up the stairs I found Noah sitting in the middle of the stairs with the jar of jam, eating it by the fist full. I couldn't help but take a picture!

Was he really big enough?

This was the first day of school way back in 2005. Stephen's first day of Kindergarten. Annie could not be left out of the picture. She was pretty sad that she couldn't go to school too. They both look so little! I'm so glad I took this picture!

At Home

This is what's going on at our house today...

Oh, yes, today is a school day. We made it to three whole days of school before anyone got sick! WooHoo!!! (Ellen and Stephen made it to four!) The three biggest kids have sore throats, coughs, and fevers. Anne is already on the upswing though, so the end shouldn't be too far away.

First Day of School 2009

Our first day of school finally arrived yesterday. It seems like everyone else started before us. It is so interesting to see how each child handles the first day.

Stephen seemed excited. I think he was. Without telling us, he set his alarm for 5:30 that morning. He was up early, and so was Noah. So I was up too. (I'd planned to get up at 5:45 so that I could have some quiet time before everyone else got up. Ha ha.) And since Noah is not a very quiet person, everyone else was up before 6. But since we were up so early we were ready to go with plenty of time to spare. That was very nice! I don't know if it was getting up early, or nerves, or what, but this is the best picture I could get of Stephen. He didn't even want a ride to school. He was set on biking and finding his classroom by himself. After all, he is a 4th grader now.

Anne spent quite a bit of time in the bathroom. She must have brushed her hair four separate times and then decided that she wanted it braided. She was very excited to get to school and see her friends and meet her new teacher. She was a little nervous about finding the right classroom, but once she knew which door to go into, she had no problems. She is very excited to be a 2nd grader.

Ellen is in the afternoon Kindergarten class. She has the same teacher that Stephen and Anne both had in Kindergarten so she is familiar and comfortable with her. Ellen just wanted to get there. After Anne and Stephen were gone to school and the rest of us were at home, she asked over and over, "How long till I go?" It was so hard to wait!

Whidbey Island

James and I enjoyed a very nice and relaxing few days on Whidbey Island (about 30 miles north of Seattle) last week. Mom very generously stayed with the kids, and I think they all had a good time.

Double Bluff Beach (sorry it's kind of a dark picture)

Salmon fishing. We got up at 3:45 one day so that we could be to the boat dock by 5:30. That included a ride on a ferry to get there. This picture was taken at 6:56. And yes, it was cold and windy. We each caught four Pink Salmon all between 18 and 21 inches long. James had a great time. The weather was even just the way he wanted it to be. He said that it would have been a little boring if the water was calm, but the wind gave some nice waves to ride around on. I was really nervous to go, but I did it! And I enjoyed it too! After fishing we took a nice long nap.

This harbor seal met us at the dock when we came back from fishing. Our boat captain, Dave, said she is there every day waiting for the fish heads and other parts left over as he cleans the fish.

Langely Beach. All of the beaches are rocky and full of drift wood.

A red jellyfish. This one was about 18 inches across.

Two deer joined us on the beach. It was kind of funny!

The view from some old gun batteries at Fort Ebey State Park.

One of the entrances to the bunker at Fort Ebey. You can't see it very well, but above the door way it says, "USED 1942"

Admiralty Head Lighthouse. The lighthouse is part of Fort Casey State Park, but was built in 1861, long before the fort was ever built. We even climbed up the narrow wrought iron circular stairs to look out the lighthouse tower.

James checking out one of the guns at Fort Casey. They called them disappearing guns because they could be lowered out of sight.

Part of the fort, including a look-out tower on the left. It was a huge place!

The view from the look-out tower.

We had such a good time just walking around and exploring. Fort Ebey was built during WWII and Fort Casey was actually built around 1900, I believe, and used briefly during both world wars. Neither were ever needed to defend Puget Sound, but it is still really neat to visit there.

Thanks for looking at my vacation pictures! They might not be very exciting, but they help me remember things I don't want to forget.