Christmas Photos

Christmas Eve my kids get to open one present. It is my present to them and it is pajamas. This year Anneke wanted to add a PEZ dispenser to the mix. She helped me pick them out. Thanks to Uncle Dave, Marcus collects them, but I think everyone has a large collection because of that.

Mo got cupcake feetsy pajamas since she is so sweet and a Cinderella PEZ.

 Luke wanted feetsy pajamas and these were the only ones in his size I could find. He really likes Cars, so his PEZ is Mater.

 I chose Anneke's pajamas this summer. It is a mermaid nightgown. She loves nightgowns and her size is difficult to find. Her PEZ is Belle and we had never seen one before. That's why she wanted to do PEZ.

 I am not a fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Marcus's teacher found out that he had never seen it and they watched it for their Halloween party. He was fascinated by the art and claymation aspect. So, I found these pajama bottoms for him. His PEZ was Winnie the Pooh since that was his favorite when he was little.

After an evening with friends (hopefully I can get those pictures and post about it) Andy and I stayed up until nearly midnight. Santa's elves were spray painting a cozy coupe turned bat mobile into a Minnie car and it still wasn't done.

We told our kids they could get up at 6:00am not earlier, but later was okay. They came in at 6:03 and said they let us sleep in. Mallory was still asleep, so we let them look at Santa gifts.

 Luke got the Imaginext Gotham City and a few other things. He is holding Splat the Cat Goes Back to School. He kept talking about a book and I could never figure out which one it was. Santa knew, though.

 Anneke got 2 Ever After High dolls and Elsa from Frozen. Mallory has Anna so they can play together.

 Marcus got the Toy Story play set for Disney Infinity and a Jack Skellington figure. He also got a bunch of Old Spice stuff and a sketch pad. He has enjoyed changing body washes and deodorant and his parents have enjoyed it, too.

 I woke Mallory up a little later. I didn't want her to miss anything. (She took a 3 hour nap that afternoon.) She got a Punzel tower and figures. She is holding up Pascal. He is teeny tiny and she loves it. The tower even had a little frying pan!

Since I always give pajamas I feel stifled. One year I got them each a gift instead and everyone was sad. SO, I figured out that I could also get a game for the family. I LOVE games. We open it and play it on Christmas together.

 This year I chose Boom Boom Balloon. 

It is quite nerve racking. Luke keeps his hands over his ears. Anneke lost 3 out of the 4 times we played. Mallory asks to play. I love this shot of Marcus.

We had a very fun, blessed Christmas. This year has been full of ups and downs, but we are ending it with hope for the future and that is the best gift. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas Example

This is my Luke. He is snuggling with his blankey that used to be my Dottie blanket. I love this boy a lot. He has been a great example to me. 

Before I tell this story I should explain something. My kids rotate which sibling they give gifts to each year. This is to keep the cost down, but especially so we don't get overwhelmed by stuff. Last week Luke woke up early, sat on his floor and spent a long time drawing pictures for everyone in the family. He labelled them and put them under the tree. He wanted to give everyone a gift and did so by the only means he had. My picture was of him and me. Next year I need to help my children figure out ways to give to everyone they would like, especially through service and love.

Our family has the last day of advent on Christmas Eve. This year we were invited to a friend's home. We had an early advent. I was worried about the change, but it was fun. We played Christmas charades. Before hand they asked a series of questions and we answered them on paper to act out. I was writing both Luke's and mine. "Who is you favorite Christmas Character?" I don't remember what I wrote, but Luke quickly said, "Jesus." I asked him if he knew what  character meant and he said, "Yes!" all exasperated, "Write Jesus, Mom."

Hope your Christmas was as beautiful as mine!

Dear Cousins,

(I will be doing a few posts about Christmas starting with this one. Stay tuned.)

Thank you for the great gifts. I know that we will write thank you notes and I will forget to send them for many months. This is my solution.

Nathanael,
Thank you. I been wanting this set for a while. I now have the Justice League except Green Lantern. Anneke is especially excited about Wonder Woman.
Love,
Marcus

Bella,
Thank you for the gift. My favorite part is the adorable monkey. I play with my Ever After High dolls together with the doll.
Love,
Anneke

 Noah,
Thank you. I needed Superman and wanted Wonder Woman for a long time. I like playing with them.
Love,
C. Luke

Evie,
Thank you. I play with my Rella doll. It talks to my new Anna doll. It makes me happy.
Love,
Mallory

December photos

I can't believe that it is Christmas Eve!!! I know that it hasn't been that long since I last posted but I finally uploaded my pictures from this month.

My dark chocolate birthday brownies:

 Mallory was on hand to help, just in case:

 The beginning to our Vegas snow adventure:

 I am not sure why, but I love this shot of my boy:

 Anneke gets excited about everything:

 Luke said the snow tasted like "bubbles and water, but better":

 It was the most fun to watch Mallory and Luke play in the snow:

 Anneke tried catching it to see what it looked like:

 Marcus held Mallory and she danced. It was very sweet.

 I just love this little lady:

 My little boy is almost my height and maturing too fast for my taste:

Now you are updated on photos. I forgot my camera when we went to Anneke's play. She looked so cute. Make-up accentuates her features and makes her look even more gorgeous. That is always disconcerting to see her dark eyes and lashes with rosy cheeks. I am glad she is a tom boy right now.

We got an interesting envelope in the mail yesterday. It was addressed to Andy. He opened it up and all that was inside was a newspaper clipping announcing 3 English professor jobs at Snow College. He had no idea who it was from. He started reading off the address and I knew Doreen had sent it. It is nice to be looked after. He is almost there on word count for his book.

I am going along. There are days when I have a lot to say but later I wonder if I offended anyone or said something weird. Sunday was one of those days. I just wanted to erase a lot of it. We invited a family over for Advent. They stayed about an hour, if that. The mom insisted on doing the dishes and they left right after. I was bummed. I have seriously been wondering if I offended them somehow. I am trying to let it go.

Marcus really wants his own electronic device. I know I can't hold off forever, but the internet worries me. I like knowing exactly what he is doing. He told me that I could put blocks up and everything, but it is harder to see what someone is doing on tablets.

Anneke has been very emotional and "everyone hates her". Sunday she left advent and we found her asleep on her bed after everyone had left. I am not ready for the drama.

Luke is enjoying the magic of Christmas. He loves searching for our elf, Chris, every morning. I love his giggles and excitement. He feels that cleaning is dumb, but nobody is perfect.

Mo has been sick. The result is a very snuggly and sleepy toddler. She has long legs and is outgrowing her pants but not shirts. She has people that she loves like "auntie" (she gets so excited when Heather comes over, more so than her cousins), "Michael" (whose actual name is Micah and he is the husband of the nursery leader. Sunday I lost her. She had grabbed his hand and made him take her to nursery.) and "Sister 'rico" the primary chorister. It is great to see her love of life and appreciation for those around her.

Saturday we got tickets to see The Forgotten Carols. Then someone else offered us tickets. We had a total of 5. I asked Heather to watch Mallory so the rest of us could go. She suggested I take Bella and she would take my 2 little ones. It was perfect. The kids had to better seats on one side of the theater and we were on the other side. We knew many people there and they watched over our kids just as much as we did. I had never seen the play or heard the music before. Many people say it is their family tradition to go every year. It helped us get into the spirit of the season. At the end there is a sing along, "We can be together forever someday". You are supposed to sing to someone not with you. Anneke sang to Mallory, Bella sang to her family, Marcus sang to Grandma and Grandpa Bailey and I sang to my Papa, Grandma Brugger and big sister. The kids were frustrated when several people stopped us to talk on the way out. We have officially become embarrassing parents. I was excited because we have actually lived here long enough to know so many lovely people.

We are celebrating a second Christmas in this house. We have lived in the same home for almost 2 years! It is a Christmas miracle! (Right, Pam?) Merry Christmas! We love you all so much!

A long week already

I am sorry I did not follow through and post sooner. It has been a hectic and long week. We are officially out for winter break, though.

Tuesday evening Andy needed to visit the young couple that lost the baby. (Incidentally, it was their 2nd wedding anniversary.) Marcus kept an eye on everyone so I could go with him as a support for my friend. They are surprisingly upbeat about it right now. When we returned home Mallory was really clingy. She wouldn't eat dinner. Andy held her, discovered her fever and put her to bed. Since then she has had a fever on and off. I have been snuggling and reading to her a lot. We watched The Christmas Toy on Amazon Prime and she has been asking to watch it again. This week she says that Santa is bringing her a Minnie Mouse VW bug that will drive by itself.

Also Tuesday evening we got our unbirthday presents from the Pfiesters. Amazon mislabeled 3 presents. If things had gone how they were labeled Anneke would have gotten a Minnie Mouse matching game, Luke would have gotten a salt and pepper set and I would have gotten Gorilla Grodd. Luke and I switched but I still tease him about it. That really frustrates him. His presentation went well and he recited The Night Before Christmas with a few classmates yesterday. (It is posted to facebook if you are interested.)

Anneke has had quite the week. She has been upset that she couldn't decorate the coin purse the Pfiesters sent. Tuesday night she stayed up late finishing her science project. She chose to go solely with the chewing gum question because of time. Wednesday night she stayed after school for a dress rehearsal. Then stayed up late sewing a solar system, writing a fictional paper based on an actual event (she chose one from World War II about her great Grandpa Bahlmann) and not working on a group project she had due with her partner, Maggie. Last night she and her cousin Bella were understudies for A Little Elven Magic, but they were able to perform improv before the show began. She is devastated I won't let her do the musical in the spring.

My children would do every extra-curricular activity if we would let them. As evidenced by Anneke's week, something has got to go. I had them list the activities and rate them, 1 being the most desired. They could keep 2.
Marcus's list
1 basketball
2 soccer
3 piano
4 choir
5 musical

Anneke's list (she already had to get rid of cheerleading and soccer this year)
1 volleyball
2 piano
3 choir
4 musical

Marcus tried to game the system and negotiate a bit. However, he is not going to do soccer, but focus on basketball and piano. Despite this exercise, they now both want to do the musical. *sigh* We will revisit this over the break, I guess, since auditions are right when they get back to school. Marcus figures he can do church ball instead and get to do the musical since church activities don't count. Anneke wants to drop volleyball, but we already paid for it, so we will have to see.

Marcus has been putting together a lot of Lego this week. He still really enjoys it, like his grandpa. (Thanks Pfiester family.) He is at the age of not believing. He came to talk to me about it this week. Sad.

This is too lengthy already. I hope to post pictures and a bit more next week. Merry Christmas!

A rough week

I will write about the rest of our week tomorrow. Today I had something else I wanted to talk about.

This week we had 2 members of our ward pass away. The first was a woman that Andy home taught. It was unexpected. She had been ill, but was doing better.  She died of a heart attack. Her husband seems to be handling it okay, though. He bore his testimony on Sunday and told us not to take each other for granted. 

The second was a 6 month old baby. I visit teach his mother. That one was not so unexpected, but it has left a scar nonetheless. The baby has been on Hospice since birth and started to go down hill. I visited his mother this week and he seemed better. He was sleeping peacefully, which was rare. Our bishop was inspired and my husband went with him to visit the little family. They arrived about half an hour after the baby passed away. Andy scrambled a bit to get a talk ready since he had asked the father to speak. However, the father did speak and mentioned his gratitude for the topic and talk about strength that prepared him for the hardest trial of his life. It was a beautiful, spiritual sacrament meeting. 

Our week

Anneke was reading Christmas stories to Mallory before bed. This is what happened.

I decided I will try and post at least once a week. My parents are in Denmark for the next 17ish months and I want to keep them posted. Once we figure out Skype, it may decrease.

Let's see. I had a birthday. I am old. My Sunday School class all bore their testimonies since my birthday fell on Fast Sunday. That was the best gift! Andy made me dark chocolate brownies with frosting since I don't like cake. We had some good friends over and they indulged my desire to play Liebrary. I got Monk seasons 5 and 6. Andy made me a fun shirt for our date on Wednesday. (pictures next time I hope.)

Andy is starting finals week. We are still applying to many, many jobs. TED talks is coming to UNLV. Andy missed the application deadline because he didn't hear about it. He emailed to see if he could participate anyway. He is also preparing a panel and book review for a conference. He is working on his own book trying to get the word count up and the publishers are still interested in it.

Marcus did a presentation on Superman and Batman. Marcus did not get to share his testimony last week, so his dad let him do it this week. Marcus said he didn't want to, but Andy encouraged him to pray about it. It was great! About 5 weeks until he is 12!

Anneke is working on a science experiment. It is about gum. She has 2 questions. Which chewing gum keeps its flavor the longest? Which bubble gum blows the biggest bubbles? It was surprisingly hard to find bubble gum. We went to many different stores, only chewing gum. Her cousins and siblings are happy test subjects.

Luke is working on a project about cowboys. I was trying to find our family brand. Carianne even went to the YO Hilton to look for me. (Anyone know what it looks like?) He is loving it.

Mallory is currently very into Frozen. She wants the dresses from it. (Santa already got her other wishes, though.) She sings the songs and wears capes. "Let it go. Cold bother me anyway." Her personality is developing.

November birthdays

I have a lot to be thankful for, especially in November. My youngest 2 babies were born in that month. (Plus my Popi.)

Here are some shots from their big days. Luke's happened to fall on Thanksgiving this year, so we had an honorary birthday for him 2 days before. In our house they pick the meals, don't have to do chores and get unlimited screen time. Also, even birthdays are family birthdays and odd birthdays are for friends. Mally's friends are her cousins and Auntie, so that is who came to her Punzel party.

 Sprinkle pancakes and Minnie Mouse!

 To Mallory, dress up clothes are not just for play. You should wear them all day whenever you get the chance. (Kind of like Heather and footy pjs.)

 I made a yellow braid out of yarn as a garland with flowers in it and I made a smaller version with bows I had made for pin the bow in Punzel's hair.

 Anneke likes to be where the action (or camera) is:

After a couple of tries the candles were blown out:

 (Can you tell what the problem was?) The cupcakes were lavender with yellow sugar sprinkles.

 Luke got his candle in aebelskivers.

 He got Cars playset for Disney Infinity and 2 Bey Warriors.

On Luke's actual birthday we went to see Frozen. He loved it. Mallory was adorable. After a bit of switching between her parents' laps she got up and sat with Anneke. She recognized the sister theme and wanted to be with her sister. I also realized that Luke doesn't understand snow...at all. He doesn't seem to know it is cold and made of ice. 

Belated Halloween

I got the camera cord and thought some might be interested in seeing my kids' Halloween costumes. Sorry it's a month late, but here they are.

Marcus as Leo from The Lost Hero book. 

 Anneke as Harley Quinn

 Luke as Luke, Skywalker that is.

 Mallory as Minnie Mouse:

 Luke designed the pumpkin and then smashed it when it's mouth started to cave in after a few days.

 Somehow we managed to forget to take pictures on the actual day. This is my costume, kind of. I wore a mask and tutu. It was cute.

Andy wore a Nightwing sweatshirt I made. He also had a mask. We won Trick-or-treaters choice for our batcave trunk. So, just in time for Christmas enjoy our Halloween shots.

He's okay

Yesterday evening a man committed suicide on the Las Vegas temple grounds. Many have expressed concern for Andy. He was not working, thankfully. However, our prayers are with all that are and will be effected by this, including security and the many people that were there. All sessions were cancelled last night and this morning will probably be the same. How do you prevent something like this? The shooting in the parking lot at the Ohio temple earlier this year and now this. More security? recommends to get on the grounds? security guards with weapons?

Rumors

My youngest is quite the character. On Sunday this was apparent all through sacrament meeting. 
"Mally, can you be reverent?" "I am reverent, I am just LOUD!"
As she is playing with the Little People elephant "MOO! MOOOOOOOO!" (We think it's because of the new Mo Willems book I am a Frog.) 
Waving frantically to her dad on the stand, "Daddy not wave to me. UGH!" then she flung herself backwards off my lap.
She also drew a family picture of Daddy, Mommy, Mo and a baby brother or sister. She asked when she would get one, I told her to talk to Daddy.

In nursery they learned about baby Jesus. Mallory then told everyone she was going to have a baby brother or sister. They tried to clarify by asking, "Is your mommy pregnant?" "YES!"

So, after church one of the leaders came up and asked, "Is something going on?" I was really confused and said no. She asked another equally vague question and then point blank asked if I was pregnant. I might have been offended had I not remembered sacrament meeting. I assured her that as far as we knew our family is the perfect size. But, in case you are wondering if there were to be another baby it would be named Jax, regardless of gender. Just ask the 3 year old!

Oh, and she is definitely left handed which causes her grief when she tries to copy me in the kitchen.

Funnies

I have a bunch of pictures on my parents' camera but I can't get them on this computer yet. I will try and post Halloween and Mallory birthday pictures soon. In the mean time here are two things that made me laugh the last couple of days.

On Mallory's birthday we gave her a talking Minnie Mouse stuffed animal. She loved it. She talked with it, played with it and even took its temperature. Somehow while we were playing we missed the phone call from Aunt Cari. She left a sweet phone message that I put on speaker to let Mal listen to. Apparently Mo thought they were having a conversation. Here is the gist of it:
Carianne sang her the birthday song and then said, "We love you and miss you bunches, bunches, bunches on your special day. I am so glad your mommy sent me such a pretty picture of you and I love you have a good day."
Well, Mallory said, "I love you, too. And Minnie loves you and you love her. See her. She is pretty like me. I have a good birfday day. Thank you." She held up Minnie to show the phone and talked and talked. It was adorable.

Yesterday we had parent/teacher conferences. We started with Luke. He is getting straight A's. His teacher told us that on Thursday he and his buddy, Jacob, (the only other boy in the class) were having a deep conversation then they both came to her desk. Luke said, "Excuse me, Ms. Ayala. Jacob and me think that math is too easy and we don't like easy things." She laughed and laughed. Then, gave them 3rd grade math to do without telling them and they aced it. She was impressed and told them what level it was. Luke neglected to tell his mom about it that day, though.

My older 2 are so unorganized. That is the only complaint. Their teachers know they do the work, but then my children can't find it to turn it in. *sigh* My biggest problem is I can't understand this way of thinking to be able to help them fix it. My brain cannot understand how their binders and cubbies are so chaotic and they don't care. It is obvious to me. Suggestions?

Bellagio

Fridays are still "Fun with Daddy" days. We have several things we rotate doing including going to visit the Bellagio Gardens.

We decided to take our time and enjoy the slower pace. Mallory loved looking at the water. 

 I tried to get a shot that looked like Ocean's 11, but they all moved. This is the staged shot.

 Mallory was not sure about the Ent. I thought it looked pretty neat.

 A nice woman took our picture. I love the water mill they have been using this year.

 She returned the camera and I lost my grip on it. This is what the pictures look like that it takes now. The colors and textures vary, but this is it.

I think it is still under warranty so we will send it in and get it fixed. (Fingers crossed.) In the mean time we are grateful for the loan of Mom and Dad's camera.

90th birthday and family

Andy's grandfather turned 90 on October 4th. Andy's cute, sweet cousins planned a surprise party for him. We made a special trip up for it. I am so glad we did. This time last year they were planning a funeral. It is a great blessing to be a part of this family

We hid in the garaged and when they pulled up we opened the door and yelled surprise. Here is the whole Bahlmann bunch except Zack (he came later) and David.

 The birthday boy (with Marcus and Connor in the background).

 That night we were able to stay with the Dittmar's. It was so fun! I miss being by my family. (It has been fun having Heather around, but she is getting a life now and is busy.) They thought Mallory was hilarious. I think that pears will be apples from now on at their house.

Everyone wanted to hold Molly. She is so sweet and tiny.

 Dallin even got out his Star Wars toys for Luke and Marcus.

 This is a bad picture, but Mallory loved Sara. She played with her, talked with her and even made a bed for her. 

 Aunt Marianne made a cute little bow for Mallory, but she wouldn't keep it on.

 Anneke tried to fill up Grandma's cuddle quotient, Mal was too busy.

 Even Andy needed to hold Miss Molly.

I can't even figure out how to describe how amazing it was. Knowing that families are eternal is a blessing and joy. We were able to see Christina before she went on her mission. We were there for Sara's birthday cake. We were able to see Mom and Dad again before they go on their mission. We were able to see many of Andy's family members that we haven't seen in years. It is never awkward. The love and friendship is constant even if it has been years.

(Happy birthday tomorrow, my sister Carianne!)