Christmas update

Wow most of us holding still, all in one place(that never lasts) for a Sunday Christmas shot.
Tunnel Joy.
Big Loud Red Truck Joy.
Lego Joy.
Dolly Joy.

We are blessed to have had each other for another wonderful celebration of Christmas. We are grateful for the Savior and the Joy we feel knowing him. We hope to have many, many more joyful years to come, with or without the toys.

Ho Ho Ho

So, you can never have enough Grandparents. This is the first Christmas we have been able to spend with the Merrills(as far as I can remember) as well as the usual crowd.
S. enjoyed Grandmas musical globe and toted it around till it was covered with playdoh and sticky finger prints.
T. never tires of the treats and especially loves to eat (and wear) chocolate everything.
N. impresses(?!) Grandpa with his indoor R/C helicopter. Watching mom untangle Z.'s hair from the blades was especially entertaining.
Z. turned her horse into a marionette of sorts, creative kids just need ribbon.

kissy kissy

Okay since I cant get the video version of this grossness to work you can view a photo instead. Its not as yucky since you cant see dog tongue all over her face. She is loving it, squealing and a giant smile. Wouldn't catch me with a dog tongue on my face!

Our family is now complete....ly crazy

What greater Joy at Christmas time than to add to your family.
We did just that thanks to a family that couldn't keep their "kids".
Thor and Izzy joined us last night.

Z. asked if she could stay up with them all night, maybe thinking they wouldnt be there in the morning. I reassured her that we would have them for like 10 more years. Then she wouldnt quit about the "Till i'm 17!! 17!! Wow!! No way!! That means N. will almost be 20 and T....."on and on . I don't think she got much sleep, again. The night before she had just met them and couldn't sleep thinking about bringing them home.

N. studies them. Telling me just how many black toenails they each have and how they treat their new toys. I doubt these sweet dogs have ever heard their names called so many times in 24 hours.

T. was the lucky one last night and got snuggly wet kisses while he was sleeping. Somehow Thor got in his room and onto his bed for the night. "Lucky!" was Z.'s response. I think it helped T.'s fears of them and now they are bonded. Tonight no more dogs in the beds though.
S. has fallen in love with Izzy, like the rest of us. She lays next to her or in her face and just watches her or pets her head. I thought it would take a little longer for her to get used to them.
What a wonderful thing to complete our family and it couldnt have come at a better time.

Where can you get blisters and think its fun?

We attended a holiday ice skating show with the kids that got them excited to try out the moves themselves. A few days later they got the chance to see just how hard those spins and jumps really can be.
N. is a speed demon who has to be a foot or two ahead of mom at all times, he also has perfected the" jump right up and continue skating like the huge wipe out never happened" move.

T. wanted to be pushed or pulled along although he got the hang of skating pretty quickly. He prefers the lobby area due to the videogames and the heating.

S. was content to sit in her stroller and have anyone push her along the ice, no stopping allowed though.

Z. is a natural but I think its because she is already so bruised up from sledding, school snow hill, and normal 6 year old clumsiness that she was trying her hardest at all times to avoid another bruise. She actually spent a good deal of her night trying to befriend a fellow skater. I think its the first time she has been unsuccessful at finding an immediate friend and that hurt even more than the uncomfortable rental skates.

In the end we had 2 blisters, a pinched hand and a bumped forehead not including all the bumps along the ice. What fun. Wish we could go every week.

Does anyone actually like Gingerbread?

The kids love the icing and all of the candies for decorating but i'm not convinced that gingerbread is a flavor of cookie that people actually enjoy.

N. has always been my reminder of traditions. Without him we would probably not be decorating much at all. He loves traditions, especially if they have to do with treats.

Z. was her meticulous self and made a gorgeous house wall with several windows and floral designs.

S. was handed a pre frosted slab and a handful of candy. She placed the candies just long enough to pick back off and eat while licking icing off her hands.

T. was worried about the mess of the icing but once he figured out how delicious it was we didn't hear another peep out of him.

D.'s wall was the most ornate. He is totally into flourishes and did a beautiful job with the jawbreakers although I think he was wanting something with less color. You just cant be choosy with a pre fab kit when it comes to candy color.

Maybe one of these years I will get motivated to make a homemade Gingerbread House but until then we are all happy with our little Christmas house. By the way it lasted a whole week with out much damage but as of yesterday you wouldn't even recognize it as a house at all. Yummy.

Sleddin' on the "Big Hill" aka "Old Main"

N. has begged us since he heard about it (thanks daredevil 4th graders) and the weather got cold. Old Main is awesome if it weren't for the ancient trees and even the lil saplings planted to replace the ones that have passed on (yes, trees are alive to me). You just don't want to get going 60mph down a sled hill backward and hit one of them. Pain, Death, stuff like that.


S. had a surprisingly fun time considering cold makes her cry,(yet she wont wear shoes and socks?!)except for the one time she gave her self a whitewash.


T. kept up right till the end when his legs just plain gave out. His spirit was willing...


Z. is the one who gave us the heart attacks and started stricter rules. I guess there is one other drawback to Old Main and that is the road the hill ends at. Not a nice parking lot or empty field but a busy thoroughfare. Z. wanted to see just how close she could get.

N. of course wanted to see if he could make it too. He differs from his sister in the sense that he thinks things all the way through and has a real gift for obedience. One holler to stay away from the road and he was bailing off like halfway down the hill, not anywhere near the cars. He's a good sport and i'm glad he begged us into going. New tradition starting, I can feel it.

Kiddos

Its a different life for boys I think. As a girl I just wouldn't be comfortable with tarantulas in my bathtub, but maybe that's just me. N. seems to think that the more creepy things the better. Ewww.

Z. surprised me this week by falling asleep with her"grandma wolf" under the Christmas tree. Kids are so sweet when they are asleep. Maybe because they cant whine or backtalk or pull attitude when they're sleeping.
T. ended up with pinkeye, again. How often does a kid need pinkeye? Anyways he must need it every month and this time around he added an injury to spice things up. I suppose beanbags could be used for sledding but its just not a good idea in the livingroom aimed directly at the chair. He learned and didn't even need stitches. The bandaid relieves the pain(?) but dad figured it shouldnt go right over the eyelashes and eyebrows in case it needed to be removed later in the E.R.

Grandma calls this one her "monkey bug" Its fitting. She is a hoot. She is feeling well enough to laugh again(its been too many months of ear pain) even if she follows Merrill tradition and gets hiccoughs afterward. Its worth it to tickle and tease her just not right after shes eaten. That can get messy.
(Sorry about the rotated pict. its too late and i'm too tired to try again)

'lil Aggies

Although D. and I aren't true Aggie's yet (kissing on the A) the kids wanted their turn. We spent a chilly afternoon on Old Main Hill playing around and freeing S. fingers off. Z. as usual ended up not only coatless but shoeless("ya know if you wear socks you won't get blisters"). She was born with an overactive internal heater of some kind.


"Why have you abandoned me here ?" look, from S., yes it was a frozen piece of concrete but it wasnt for very long.
T.'s jump off was excellent but the picture was a giant blur. He really cant hold still for 5 seconds!
This is just one of several cute poses Z. thought up for herself, natural modelness(not modestness)
N. took the idea of going underneath(how many candybar eating Aggies can claim that?!) from one of Z.'s poses but threw in his ROARING bit. Nice.

T. lives to be 4

As active as this kid is I expected him to be wheelchair bound or at least have a few sets of stitches holding him together by his 4th birthday. Fortunately he is safe and whole(at least as I am posting this).


He had an eventful day starting before the sun was even up. He got the eggs and cakemix all prepared for mom before 7:30,even getting them cracked! I forgot to get a picture of his cake, he designed it himself with 2 required items:Halloween teeth and Candycanes. It was interesting.
He got the motorcycle bike he had been talking about for months!(more on this in another post)
His Grandparents Merrill came up for the day bringing gifts and his Grandparents Adamson watched him open their gift on Skype. Lucky, Loved little guy.

Since I dropped my camera back in October my awesome sister Andrea decided to let me have her old one. Its different than I am used to so most of my pictures of T. end up looking like this blur on my couch. He is just too quick and mom is just too shaky. (Looks like I will still need a new one for Christmas even with the kind donation)
I can get a good shot of him though, when he is sleeping somewhere on the floor, not as much movement and I can rest the camera on the carpet instead of holding it. He is just so worn out these days, waking up early so he doesnt miss seeing the kids off to school, that an afternoon crash is inevitable.

duct tape, backwards jammies any other ideas?

S. has decided her clothes are not for her. She doesn't mind them so much during the daytime but as soon as it gets dark she peels off everything including the diaper. Its cute to see a little bum running around. Poop on the carpet isnt as cute. I love that she thinks T.'s snowboots will keep her warm. When Z. hit this stage she also wanted to potty train along with being diaperless so it wasnt as messy. I'm thinking a few pair of overalls might be necessary, unless she can finagle her way out of those too.

What am I again?

Trick or treat highlights:

We ran around with Grandma K. and Aunt Andrea and cousin S.

We got too much candy!

Perfect Halloween weather.

N. was a mountain man with some kind of gross hand mutation(why do kids need to be dressed up as like 3 characters at once? ). He and Dad literally ran from house to house for a whole hour collecting the goods.

Z. was dressed up for school(first year it was allowed)as a magician. Kids wanted to know if she was Michael Jackson with the shiny gloves. Why is it 1st graders know who M.J. is and not a magician anyways? Then for Grandmas house she was a clown. She told mom it would just take a little more practice and mom would be good at making hearts and stuff on faces. Thanks.

T. just wanted to wear a cape, he couldn't remember the word Dracula for the life of him. That black hairspray is not recommended for blond hair for a reason. I wouldn't recommend colored hairspray ever (sorry about the towels mom!) even on a non blond. When I told T. that Dracula turned into a bat and bit necks to suck blood he got excited to be able to kill people. I should work on that thinking first, then talking, thing some more.

S. was a cute lil' princess. She loves the hat and loved the candy of course. Now when she wants to dress up with the kids she gets her coat and the dress both out. Funny the things kids copy without knowing the purpose. She wore the coat to dress up at grandma house, why not inside at home?

All the collected pounds of candy should have lasted us months, where'd it all go?

tooth hurty (2:30)

For a 1st grader who hasn't lost any teeth, just watched all the other kids loose theirs, the discovery that her hurting tooth is really a loose tooth is the best day of her life.

She told us so.

Alot.

She couldn't keep her fingers away from it.

During reading time with mom she had to sit on her hands so mom wouldn't see her fingers in her mouth distracting her peripheral vision. It can be very distracting to see hands on faces sitting next to you , you know.

Not wiggling it just about killed her though.

2nd day she wanted to show us how she could do fun tricks with the tooth.

"Watch me twist it!" was the last time we had to hear about the wiggly tooth.

You should have seen the surprised look on her face when twisting turned into loosing.


She was so excited about loosing a tooth ,finally, that she lost it again a few hours later.

The surprised look on her face then wasn't as intense since she had actually been warned about how small things (like teeth) can easily be lost around the house.

After finding the doubly lost tooth she lost it, again.

No one was surprised that time.

Tooth fairy (who she swears is dad!) had to deliver the cash without a trade.

If she does find it again does the Tooth fairy come again?

Fambily Resemblance

I get the feeling that my Great Grandma Jeannes' genes will forever be impacting my kids looks. Its a good thing , she is dang cute and so are the relatives who resemble her. Here is Grandma(who the kids call Gma Tractor) R., T. and N. a few Christmas years ago
S. pulling her sly Uncle T. face. Which actually should be credited to G.Gma. except we dont use sly as a way to describe grandma usually.
Handsome Uncle T. and a most recent Grandma who didn't know the kids were sneaking around taking more pictures.
Thanks to Grandma for the cute, handsome, sly, face genes!

Lego art and the train place

Field trip to the Kimball arts center in Park City with Grandparents Merrill and an Uncle and Cousin. Like a big artsy family reunion.Z.'s fav. was the still life. You would think that with all the different types of art she has been exposed to the last few years she would be attracted to something more modern. She has a love for paint and especially for fruit still life.
N.'s fav. was an easy guess. Does it have to do with money or a game he can win?! Monopoly, of course.
T. was a little hard to keep behind the lines. These sculptures are all made of Lego bricks so what kid wouldnt want to touch?! He didnt really have a favorite, it was all very fun for him to see.
A stop for lunch at the Train Place (I think its called dairy keen) topped off the day in Heber. I love the action shot of T. jumping off the train table. He can ever just walk or do things the easy way if there is a possibility of running and jumping instead.


All the kids on the outside freezing train. Who needs icecream when its freezing outside, Oh yeah, we're Merrills?!