Gingerbread Houses 2011

*This post contains a personal recommendation of a product for which I received no compensation.*

We didn't make Gingerbread Houses last year (and by that, I mean 2010) because it was in the middle of our "no candy" challenge and I didn't want to deal with the disappointment of loading up a house with candy and then not being able to eat it!

But this year (and by that, I mean 2011), candy was not an issue. ;) And I'd seen an advertisement for this cookie cutter set from Wilton. It cuts out a perfect-sized gingerbread house and it cost me less than $8 at a party store in town. No more templates or bad measuring for me! I made 3 houses and "glued" them together earlier in the day of our event.


Every "team" got a bag of royal icing, which we called glue while we worked. We didn't hold back in our use of glue, just like in real life! Daniel is prepping his work space with glue.


Rebekah and I worked together on a house. She really likes gumdrops and made sure to line the peak of our roof with it. We used Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal for the roof shingles.


Nathan, Joseph and Leah were another "team." They also used gumdrops on their roof. It was a popular idea!


Sarah was her own team. She didn't build any houses, she just ate as much construction material as she could. And she stayed in the middle of the table the whole night.


Luckily for her and the rest of us, there were plenty of construction materials to go around.


So how is it that she was running out of something to eat?


Rebekah was dedicated to finishing our house. I took breaks in between snapping pictures to help her. Doesn't it look good enough to eat??


Chad and Daniel were a team and they specialized in using as many M&M's as possible, as well as one other thing.


Chad dedicated his creative skilz to the development of gumdrop/pretzel people. He had even more fun placing them into crazy situations. I had been so tempted to send in a few pictures to his co-workers, but I just never got around to it. (Shucks!)


Here is Nathan, Joseph, and Leah's house. I think it just dripped creativity! Do you see the little car on the right that Nathan engineered?

Rebekah and I had a small zoo in the yard of our house...

...as well as a kid in a large snowsuit riding a sleigh, followed by a reindeer. Rebekah came up with the reindeer after watching Chad make his clumsy people!

What a happy bunch of construction workers! Sarah's face tells the story of her participation.

What a nice contrast to the pictures of December 2008. I had yelled at the kids during most of the activity and you can tell what effect it had the kids. This image has been burned into my mind and conscience and I am happy to say that I have mellowed a bit since then. Maybe they won't need therapy for that night anymore.

So sad. Not one of my better parenting moments!


I've learned that there are a lot of traditions surrounding gingerbread houses. Most traditions seem to not include actually eating the house. What a tragedy! We started eating our houses nearly right away. Here is what they were starting to look like after the kids left for school the next day. They were yummy and we were ready to throw away the left overs when they became too hard to chew.

'Anta Laus

We went to a little Christmas tree display (like a "Festival of Trees", but MUCH smaller) to help kick off our Christmas season. They had a Santa there and meeting him was free (thank you small towns).

Sarah had already learned to identify the red and white man. But identifying is not quite the same as appreciating...which she did not.

Leah tried to introduce her. It didn't go well. Notice that both Leah and Daniel find some humor in this situation.

When it came down to it, Sarah was OK to be near him as long as he didn't try to touch her. You'll notice that two of my children are not in this "group" photo.

Daniel, who long ago learned the magic behind Santa Claus, really just wanted the candy cane.

Nathan didn't know about Santa's magic yet at this time. He is happy to meet the jolly fellow. :) And now we see someone creeping into the scene. When Joseph realized that candy canes were being given away, his courage kicked in and he started inching closer.

Next was Leah's turn. Leah has yet to learn the truth of Santa' magic, but she wasn't fooled by this guy. She knew he was just the real Santa's helper, dressed up to make the kids happy. Do you see that Joseph has moved about a half an inch closer?

Finally, it was time to push away the fear and go get that candy cane! If I remember correctly, Joseph didn't say anything at all, but he didn't cry, either.

Sadly, the same can't be said for Rebekah. We are still not sure what made her react this way. She doesn't fear Santa. She just wasn't feeling it this night, I guess. She still got a candy cane.

And poor Sarah. She was really out of her comfort zone here. But it makes for a cute picture. Thanks for helping her out, Daddy!

Those were some interesting responses to Santa Claus. I hope that our next meeting will be a little more friendly. Santa still said they were cute kids. Maybe he really is the real Santa!

Christmas Tree Hunting

*I finally got smart about uploading my pictures. I am ready to roll!*

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we loaded up in the van and drove...for two hours...to Wyoming...and cut down our Christmas tree. Why in the world would we do that to ourselves? I have no good answer, except that our family likes to have adventures like that. And when is traveling for two hours with 6 kids not an adventure?

We drove to Wyoming because a friend at work had mentioned there were some nice trees there. And Wyoming is a nice state, so we decided to go.

It was a beautiful day: no clouds, no wind, no people. It wasn't too cold, considering the time of year and location. Thankfully, the snow wasn't too deep because we are two out-of-shape parents with a lot of little kids! There was about a foot or so of snow.

We had some sleds which came in handy sometimes and were a burden at other times. Pulling a kid on a sled at an increased elevation nearly made my lungs explode! But my legs were turning to rubber at the same time, so I didn't know which problem to focus on.

Rebekah and Nathan are taking a break while we investigate the trees in the area.

Daniel was enjoying himself A LOT!

We finally found a tree that seemed better than the rest. It's funny how your standards can change based on your circumstances. If I had seen this tree in a tree lot in town, I would have never given it a second look. But after nearly passing out in search of this beauty, I was in love (and continued to be throughout the holiday)!

Chad let the kids who wanted to help saw down the tree. Nathan was first.

Leah wanted to try it out, too.

Both kids soon discovered they weren't quite lumberjacks, yet.

Sarah, looking happy here, did NOT have a good time. She cried nearly the entire time and cried louder when she was put down. Her little feet couldn't keep her boots on and she spent most of the time being carried around by Chad.

So now I know that she doesn't like the beach and she doesn't like snow. Should we just keep her home until she becomes a little more adventurous?

When we finally had the tree cut down, we were faced with getting everyone and everything out of the forest. We had to go in shifts. Chad took some of the kids out to a spot to wait, then came back to help me and the boys heft the tree. It wasn't too heavy, but it was a tree. And we are wimps. I was also lugging Joseph on a sled behind me. Darned rubber legs!

But we did get out alive and got back to the van where we had hot chocolate, tied the tree to the top of the car and then played in the snow for a (long) while.

Sarah finally stopped crying when she reached the safety of her car seat. She gets that red mask on her face when she cries really hard (so does Rebekah). Thankfully, she probably won't remember the trauma and will be willing to try this again next year.

AFTER we spent 5 hours getting a Christmas tree (and way more in gas and food than it would have cost to drive to Home Depot for a cut one), we spent the rest of the day/evening moving furniture and setting up the tree.

Chad had light duty this year. :)

The kids decorated...they always decorate. I always record the event.

Nathan decided not to compete for space on that tree and turned his attention to a tree of a different kind. It ended up looking really pretty with the lights on it.

Sarah was thrilled with the crawl space behind the tree. And since the piano has been in that corner since the day we moved in, it was even a bigger novelty.

A parting shot of Joseph adding an ornament. He's got his hand on the back of his pants to keep them from falling down. Skinny kids means that sometimes you have to make adjustments...or end up with your pants in a pile on the floor!

What a beautiful tree!

Pictures? Not in this post

OK...I have to say that part of the reason I haven't been blogging lately is that I have pictures to upload (don't you want to see us cutting down our Christmas tree?). But Blogger is so incredibly slow that I have avoided it.

I just spent 15 minutes of my life trying to upload pictures, with no results. My patience is thin, my time is limited and Blogger is in my cross-hairs!

I have Plan B, but you'll have to be patient while I work at it. Thanks for your understanding. (Is there anybody left out there, or have you all abandoned me because I abandoned you?)

Checking In

I know I am so far behind. It is not only my blog that is suffering. I found myself busy with Christmas and the new year, Leah's birthday and now her baptism. My church calling is still a little demanding as well as the family. Not to mention my house is a mess and only a few rooms get clean at a time.

I am checking in to let you know I'll be back...hopefully soon. It would be sooner if I thought Blogger would be fast at uploading pictures.

And maybe I can find a way to make my family more mad at me. I'm on a roll (apparently).

WoHoo! Happy New Year, Everyone!

I love you

It's interesting to me that there are so many ways to express love to someone. Sometimes, we find it really easy to say those words or make ourselves understood. Other times, it is really a puzzle to figure out how to make ourselves understood.

I think when we find ourselves trying to say we love someone, it's important to wait around a while and see if they got the message. It's possible that they don't receive messages on the same channel that we're sending them.

If you find yourself in that situation, don't sit and wait for the person to flip through the channels until they find the one you're sending your message through. I promise you that they will hear your words, but they won't understand them in their hearts. If you really want to communicate your love, you need to change your channel to match theirs.

Does it seem like I am trying to make a point? Heck, yeah. But I'm getting closer to throwing all the channels out the window instead of pretending that I understand words I hear. That is not my channel you're using!

Simple Melody

Sarah is sitting on a step stool with a "Wheels On The Bus" book. In her high-pitched little girl voice, she is singing, "Wheels on bus...GO, GO, GO!" Each time she turns the page, she repeats the verse. At the last page, she sings one more time then says, "All done." That's when she starts over. If you look at her, she stops singing and turns away, embarrassed.

That girl can add joy to even the saddest of hearts (I can testify to that)!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we drove 2.5 hours to Chad's parents' house in Hagerman. We had been fighting a cold bug that most of us had graduated from, except for Daniel who was in the middle of his 3rd day of fever and had a cough. (Joseph was the only other one to have a fever and it wasn't real reliable, so I was surprised Daniel still had his.) Chad and Nathan never got sick. The last time we had a family gathering like this, we had sick kids so we cancelled. This time, it was too close to Thanksgiving, we were bringing the plates and rolls, and we would have been without a dinner of our own - so we decided to risk it (plus, it wasn't a throw-up germ). Since then, I've heard of at least two different families that have been sick and it was probably from us. I feel really bad about that and I apologize to them. It's so hard to know what to do sometimes.

In addition to plentiful germs, the food was also plentiful (and better for the body). Here is Rebekah, doing her best to avoid the nasty, healthy food and only pick out the "treats." Chad is trying to influence her for good.


There were 31 people in attendance, aged about 6 months to about 568 months. ;) For that many people (and months) you need a really long table.

It's impossible to get such a long table in one camera shot and still see who is at the table. So took two shots.

The food was really yummy (at least what I ate) and more than filling. Many thanks to Peter and Kelly and anyone else who brought over the whole platter so I could keep eating without burning any unnecessary calories.

After dinner, some of us slumped around and questioned our eating habits. Nathan and Rebekah tried to make me feel guilty by working Grandma's elliptical machine together. When you're the size of Nathan and Rebekah, it's not something you can do by yourself!

Other children burned off their feasts by jumping on the trampoline. Leah and Nathan (again with the guilt, Nathan?) and their cousins had fun getting a natural high. ;)
I have not jumped on a trampoline since I was 23. I think I will be able to say that for the rest of my life.

After the feasting over turkey was over and cleared up, and a couple of hours had passed, it was pie time. Chad's family has a pie palooza every Thanksgiving. I don't know what their record is, but this year was a record for me. Check out all those pies. You can try to count, but you'll come up short because they aren't all in the picture. There were 31 pies (it might be 32). Our family of 8 only brought 2. Maybe it wouldn't have mattered if we didn't show up! ;)

Sarah really like the chocolate pie that Grandma fed her. When Chad was dressing Sarah that morning, I was thinking her shirt was a little underwhelming when it came to a holiday outfit. But when this happened, I was glad for a shirt that would welcome a few more dribbles!

Sarah has a little cousin that is about 4 months older than she is. They don't see each other too often, so it's pretty much like meeting a stranger each time. But they seemed to be hitting it off nicely this time!

In Chad's family, a gathering is never complete without at least one game. (I played a game of Phase 10 earlier in the day that lasted at least an hour and a half and never got off Phase 3. They teased me for throwing the cards after each round, but REALLY!)

We have "Our Book of Thanks" that we started last year. We have everyone write what they are thankful for and we put in a picture of the whole group that was there. Here is Rebekah writing her thanks.

Here is the picture for the book. There are 8 siblings in Chad's family; five of the siblings made it this time. Santa needs to bring me a better camera if I am going to be expected to take nice pictures of a group this big ever again!

We drove back home that night. We left about an hour later than I said I wanted to (as I knew we would) and got back home a little before midnight. It never fails that when we drive in the dark, certain people in this family have serious meltdowns about 50 minutes from home. Tradition was honored and I was so glad to not be a Black Friday devotee.

The kids enjoyed playing with cousins that they don't get to see very often and it was nice to be part of a family celebration (instead of by ourselves). We must have left the rest of our germs behind because Daniel's fever finally passed and no one else got sick. Now we live in fear of the flu bug that is going around the schools and community right now.

Mistaken Identity

Chad is on the floor playing with Sarah, Joseph, and Rebekah. They have the Book of Mormon figures out and Chad has been saying to different kids, "Do you know who this is?"

When Chad held up Moroni appearing to Joseph Smith and asked that question, Sarah said, "Jesus Christ, Amen."

Ha Ha! That is the first time I've heard her say that on her own. Good job, Sarah! We won't count it as a wrong answer this time. ;)

More pancakes?

The kids are having pancakes for lunch today (because we had extras from dinner last night).

I walked up to Joseph near the end of his first pancake and asked, "Do you need more pancakes?"

"Not yet," he answered. So I stood for 10 seconds longer and watched as he forked the last piece into his mouth. He looked up at me and said, "Now I do."

Such precision.

Bouncy Power

A story about the power of motivation...starring a bouncy ball and a passionate 4-year-old boy.

Joseph wanted me to wash his clothes but he didn't want to help get them collected. I suggested he just pull the laundry basket to the top of the stairs with all his dirty clothes in it and I would take it from there. He pulled a half-filled laundry basket to the top of the stairs. At the request that he drag it back to his room and put ALL of the dirty clothes in it, he flashed into a screaming, stomping, pint-sized monster. It was about that time that I walked away. I don't "rescue" in situations like that. Or maybe I'm just as lazy as he is!

Anyway, about 10-15 minutes later, Joseph approached me with a deal. If he brought down all his dirty clothes, I would give him a bouncy ball. Minutes ago he couldn't even bring down an half-filled basket, but now he has the strength to return to his room and get the rest of the clothes and bring it down the stairs, up a couple of different stairs, through two rooms and a hallway and into the laundry room for a small piece of foam rubber.

I didn't make it through 11.5 years of motherhood without learning to recognize a small victory. So I agreed to the deal. The clothes are now tumbling in the washer. Joseph and Sarah fought over, I mean played with the ball long enough for me to get a shower. I think I got the best part of the bargain!

Here is the object of desire.


It just goes to show what a little motivation and feeling like you have control of the situation can do...even if you are just 4 years old.

Blue

It was just one little Dum Dum sucker. I think it was 50% food dye and 50% sugar. I am the best mother in the world! And at 9 AM, no less.