Ryland's New Favorite Chore

Over the last few days we have had several inches of snow. After watching Chuck shovel the driveway only to have it covered by snow again only minutes later, Ryland decided that he could do it. He spent over half an hour shoveling our driveway and then asked if he could go shovel the neighbors' driveways, too! Unfortunately, he's now decided that shoveling driveways is a good way to earn money and now asks for $2 in return! (I won't let him ask the neighbors for money, though ...)

Graham Cracker Houses

One of the things that Lindsey and Ryland love to do each year is make graham cracker houses. I usually put together a basic house and then buy a ton of candy that the kids can use to decorate. It has quickly become a fun tradition!

Santa and Build-A-Bear

We took Lindsey and Ryland to the mall to take pictures with Santa. I think this is the first time neither of them cried about sitting on Santa's lap! (Although Ryland wasn't too sure about it ...) Afterwards, we decided to walk around the mall for a little bit. The first (and only) store we went into was Build-A-Bear. Chuck and I were feeling really generous and decided to let each of them pick out one of the $10 bears. Lindsey had gotten to go through the whole process for her 7th birthday, but this was Ryland's first time. Both of them were so excited and really enjoyed picking out their animals and being able to help stuff them. It was worth it just to watch their faces! Also, they both told Chuck and I repeatedly that we are the best parents in the whole wide world! A little bribery will work wonders!

Lindsey and Ryland posing with Santa

Ryland displaying his "bear skin"

Lindsey chose to make the dog

Lindsey helping to stuff her dog (the foot pedal powers the machine)

Ryland using the blow dryer to clean off any stray stuffing (look at how serious he is about doing a good job!)

Lindsey clearing off stray pieces of stuffing ...

Ryland is dressing his bear in the outfit he carefully chose for it (no suprises that he chose a motorcycle shirt!)

Ryland proudly displaying his finished bear!

Lindsey and Ryland completing the "birth certificates" for their new friends (Lindsey chose to name her dog "Mutt". Ryland heard her and decided to name his bear "Indiana Jones")

Lindsey chose not to get an outfit for her dog. She didn't see anything that she liked in the budget range we gave them and instead let Ryland have her half of the clothing money so that he could get the outfit he wanted. Lindsey is such a great big sister!

Lindsey as "Arya" from Eragon

Our niece, Ginger, recently had a birthday party where all of the guests dressed up as superheroes. Lindsey chose to dress up as Arya, the main elfin character from Eragon, one of her favorite books. She just looked so cute that I had to include a few pictures! (Ryland dressed up as Spiderman ... but I missed getting a picture of him.)

Sour Lemon

Ryland is a very finicky eater. There are very few healthy foods that he likes and he rarely tries anything new. Anyone who could see his facial expressions when he does try something new would realize it is a form of torture for him. Needless to say, I was very suprised when we were at the grocery store and he begged for me to buy a lemon so he could try it! I wasn't about to say no. That night while eating dinner he even reminded me about the lemon and asked that it be included on his plate (just the thing to go with ham and eggs)! Chuck cut it into slices and gave him one to eat. He immediately took a bite (he usually holds the food in front of his face for quite a while while gathering his courage ...) and quickly learned just how sour a lemon is. Chuck handed him another slice and told him to try another piece. He took another big bite! Over, and over again he bit into the lemon slices and each time declared that it was too sour! We don't know whether we should be be proud of him for initiating trying a new food or worry about how many times he gave into "peer pressure" to take another bite!

Decorating for Christmas

As soon as Thanksgiving was over, Lindsey and Ryland started begging for us to decorate the house for Christmas. (Before that, every time Ryland saw Christmas lights on a house he would say, "What are they thinking? It's not even Thanksgiving, yet!" So cute!). Anyway, Chuck dragged all of the Christmas decorations out and we spent the day making the house look all festive. The kids had a great time decorating their tree downstairs while Christmas music played on the stereo. Ryland only fell against the tree once - not too bad ... I was even able to find a spot for all 13 of my nativity sets!

Ryland adding a decoration to the "kid's tree"

Lindsey didn't need the ladder to reach up high!

Lindsey and Ryland in front of "mom's" tree

Thanksgiving Fun in Idaho

It's been a few weeks, but I wanted to include a few things about Thanksgiving ... We were all able to spend the Thanksgiving weekend in Idaho. We first went to Tim and Nola's in Menan. The kids really enjoy visiting them and were very excited to have Thanksgiving dinner there with their Grandpa Hale, Uncle Matt, and quite a few new relatives (we love Nola's family!). Ryland was so excited to start eating Thanksgiving dinner that when Tim started to quiet everyone down for the welcome and prayer, Ryland just started praying. He did a really good job blessing the food and even included several things he was thankful for. Chuck and I did a pretty good job of not laughing too loud and ruining the spirit of his prayer, but it was pretty tough. The meal was wonderful and the company was very enjoyable. It was a really good Thanksgiving day.

Lindsey and Ryland really loved playing in Nola's yard, especially in the huge pile of leaves Chuck raked up. When Chuck first threw Ryland into the pile of leaves, he disappeared completely! He had to reach in and grab Ryland by the arm and pull him out! I really wish I had caught it on film!

By the end of Thanksgiving evening we had a few more things to be especially grateful for - We were grateful that we hadn't burned down Tim and Nola's house and that everyone was safe! Nola had mentioned a few times that we needed to make sure there wasn't anything in front of the heater vents in the bedrooms. I pictured more of a radiator style heater vent (gold colored and protruding about an inch from the wall). It turns out the vents look just like the AC/furnace vents in our house. So, when we put the kids to bed around 9:00pm I straightened the room a bit and threw their coats into the corner, not paying attention to the nearby vent. We also closed the bedroom door to help muffle the sound of the rest of the household. When Chuck and I went to bed a few hours later I asked Chuck to check on the kids. When he went into the room he could smell something burning! Both of Lindsey's coats were ruined. A good portion of one had melted, but the scariest was her denim jacket - it was really close to catching fire! There were even scorch marks around the vent! We are all very thankful that a potentially horrible disaster was averted! Extra prayers of thanksgiving were said that night!

Lindsey's two ruined coats.

The scorched heater vent. Chuck says it has heater coils in it similar to a toaster oven's.

The day after Thanksgiving we were able to attend my cousin Clint's wedding and then go to my mom and dad's for a few days. Lindsey and Ryland always love spending time and Grandma and Grandpa's house! They were able to play with their cousins William and Hannah quite a bit, which they always love - especially Lindsey! Ryland loved going to see Grandpa's horses. He got to ride in the back of his truck and even learned to climb fence! He climbed back and forth over the fence for at least half an hour! All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving weekend!

Ryland and Grandpa

Lindsey and Grandma

Lindsey and William

Ryland and Hannah

One of Ryland's new favorite activities - climbing fence!

I Ran a Mile! (By Lindsey)

today I ran a mile in p.e. I came in secened place. A kid named Landon came in first. I was behind him the entire time. I was the first girl to finish.

A Trip to the Zoo

One of Lindsey and Ryland's favorite places to go is the zoo. We were able to go there last Saturday with some friends of ours. Lindsey says her favorite part of the zoo was when she got to play on the rhino statue. Ryland says his favorite part of the zoo was playing on their playground and riding the new carousel. I probably should have just taken them to the park!

Ryland on the giant spider at the zoo playground.

Ryland on the carousel. "I'm flying, mom!"

Lindsey and Maegan on the carousel.

Lindsey and Ryland playing on the rhino statue.

More fun on the rhino!

Ryland spent the whole day figuring out where we were on the map.

You are here ...

They did get to enjoy seeing some animals, too. There's a tiger in the background of this picture of Lindsey ...

Lindsey and Caleb in the giraffe house.

Ryland in front of the gorilla exhibit. Doesn't it look like he's standing in front of a painting!

Lindsey is a Cutie!

I just think that Lindsey is the cutest thing ever! We put her hair in rollers so she could wear it curly to church and I just had to share how adorable she is! (Chuck was even trying to talk her into getting a perm - don't worry, it's not gonna happen ... )

Halloween

Halloween was, of course, a busy, fun time for the kids. This year, Lindsey dressed up as a fencer and Ryland was a skeleton (he was actually a skeleton dirt-bike-rider, minus the dirt bike). Ryland had a pre-school carnival, Lindsey had a class party, and our ward also had a Halloween party. Halloween night we went trick-or-treating at Thornberry Apartments where my Grandma and Chuck's mom both live. We were able to meet up there with Sam and Sarah and their kids for a bit. Afterwards, Chuck was able to take the kids trick-or-treating around our neighborhood while I stayed home handing out candy. The kids had a wonderful time, even despite their grumpy mom who was suffering with a bad head cold and just ready for the holiday to be over : )

Lindsey as a fencer ...

Ryland as a skeleton ...

Lindsey and Ryland with Great-Grandma White

Lindsey, Ryland, Kaylee, and Ginger with Grandma Hale

Lindsey, Ginger, Ryland, and Kaylee

Ryland with his two best friends, Jonah and Gavin (don't you just love the matching mohawks!)

Lindsey does actually have girl friends! Each of these girls, except one, live on our street and Lindsey does play with them occasionally (when one of the boys aren't around ...).

Lindsey and Ryland scored on the candy! We didn't have as many trick-or-treaters as last year so we also had a lot of left-over candy that wasn't handed out!

Ryland and Lindsey are already planning their costumes for next year. Ryland wants to be Curious George and have Chuck dress up like the Man in the Yellow Hat. Lindsey wants to be a "dragon rider" - she never picks the traditional costume ... (We are reading Eragon together and she is absolutely "loving" it! She has even organized a game at school where the kids are dragon riders, or dragons - at last count she says there are more than 17 kids playing the game during recess ... most of them boys of course!)