Tuesday, November 28, 2006



Hunting For Our Tree!
We went and cut down our Christmas Tree last weekend. The weather was a little cold but no rain. The kids had a great time picking it out, helping cut it down, and then drinking hot cocoa. On the way home Jon said "Wasn't that fun?" "Or would you rather blow the dust off a box that I get out of the attic and then we put up the tree?" I have been talking about getting a fake tree, but I guess he is not quite ready for that. I was shocked when Mom and Dad finally broke down last year a got a fake tree. I don't know many people that get real trees anymore. The Jackson Five will continue the real tree tradition. We now have it up and all decorated. We put the finishing touches on the Christmas decorations last night while blasting the Christmas music. Now all we have to do is the outside lights. We'll see if that happens. Jon is very nervous to get on the roof, and our neighbors usually put up our lights. Morgan said that he should do it this weekend. It would be a good surprise for me when I get home on Sunday!

Morgan and I got up early on Friday morning to do some shopping. We were first going to Fred Meyer for their half price sock sale. Well, I woke up LATE! We were suppose to get up at 5 am, but I rolled out a bed at 6:20 am. When I woke up Morgan she said "Mom what if they run out of socks?" I am happy to report that Freddies didn't run out of socks. We were gone for 4 hours of fun and crazy shopping, which included Morgan getting her ears pierced!
November Snow Storm?
When the forcasters talk about snow in the NW you never know if you should believe them or not. Well this time there were right. It snowed on and off on Monday and into the evening. The kids had a great time playing in it, having a snowball fight with dad, and sliding down the neighbors driveway. It was a perfect family night activity! Maddie watched from the window but then got really jealous. I bundled her and myself up and we joined in the fun for a little while. Morgan's comment was the best. When she saw it starting to snow she said "I am so excited we are going to have a white Christmas!" (It will be long gone by then) The snow didn't melt yet and it snowed into Tuesday, the kids even started school late so they were able to enjoy it a little longer this morning.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

November 22, 2006
Ten Years Ago
It has been ten years since we moved to the Northwest. I got on the airplane with my little Morgan ten years ago today. It almost seems unbelievable that it has been that long. I was talking to a friend about living here that long a couple of weeks ago. She said how long have you lived here. I told her ten years. I then thought I have lived here almost as long as I had lived in Michigan.(I was born in Michigan and lived there until I was eleven) So this has almost been the longest I have ever lived somewhere in my entire life! As a kid I wanted to live in the same place for elementary, Junior High, and High School. But we moved a lot. But now that I am doing that with my own children it seems weird. I love living here in the Northwest, but also think "do I want to live here the rest of my life?" We will see, but for now I am just amazed that it has already been ten years! Wow how time flies!

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Mom, Just Tell Me the Truth!
This afternoon, Morgan asked me "Is Santa Real?" I actually can't believe that she made it this long in believing in Santa. I said "Do you believe in Santa?" and then I let her ponder that for awhile. About a half hour later she was down stairs just hanging out on the couch. She said she was just tired. After I had put all the other kids to bed, Morgan was helping me get out our Christmas decorations. I said to her Morgan it's time for you to know the truth. I told her that Dad and I are Santa Claus. I felt so bad because she immediately started to cry. She said "I knew it, that's why I was lying on the couch earlier because I was sad!" I comforted her that it was ok to feel this way and told her that Santa will still give her presents. She then said "so do you eat the cookies, and milk?" I told her yes and she continued to tell me how she will make us (Jon & I) cookies and hot chocolate on Christmas Eve. I also told her that she must not tell her Brooklyn, Brinley, and Mason! It's sad that she doesn't believe anymore, and it's sad that she is old enough to know the truth about Santa Claus!

Thursday, November 16, 2006

True Blue Cougars
Our family loves BYU! Grandma Baldwin gave Madelyn My First BYU book last year for Christmas and Brinley has loved it ever since! She especially loves the Cougar Fight Song, and had us sing it to her every night for about six months. This past summer we visited BYU campus and took this picture. The kids loved the BYU creamery, book store, and running around the campus grounds. What fun memories it brought Jon and I. We did say to each other, "Can you believe that we went here fifteen years ago and that we now have five kids!" WOW! I thought that this post would be appropriate now since the cougars are having a great football season! They are ranked 23 in the nation. I follow BYU football, but not quite like Uncle Al! When we went to the BYU bookstore this summer we all got BYU t-shirts. There were so many cute ones it was hard for us to pick just one! Hopefully one day we will be visiting Provo, and our children in Cougar Town!

Thursday, November 09, 2006

My Crazy Life!
I am pretty much on the go most of the time, but some weeks are more hectic than others! I wrote down everything I did one week just so I could remember what those weeks are like. This was my week two weeks ago.
Monday: teach at 9:30am, my turn to drive preschool carpool at 12pm,(also class picture day for Brinley), my turn to drive to Kinders to school at 12:45pm, pick up preschoolers @ 2:30, my turn to drive to ballet for Brooklyn at 3:45pm, soccer for Mason @5:30 pm, took dinner to a friend at 6pm, FHE, Nightly Routine!
Tuesday: Went VT at 9am, Mommy & Me music time 10-11 am for the 3 little girls, Ballet for Morgan at 4:00pm, Teach my class at 6pm (plus my boss was going to evaluate me that night STRESS!! but she was a no show!), Enrichment Committee Meeting at my house 7:30-9pm. Nightly Routine was all Jon this night!
Wednesday: Teach at 9:30am, three parent-teacher conferences all back to back, Brinley's Halloween party at school,birthday party for B/B to goto, Mason to a friends for playdate, Piano lessons for M/M.
Thursday: Gymnastics for Brinley at 10am, Volunteer at school 12-1:30pm, watch a Stephanie's kids 3-5pm, Cub Scout Pack Meeting 7pm without Jon because he had Stake Meetings.
Friday: Field Trip with Brooklyn to the Pumpkin Patch 9am-12pm, was suppose to VT but got canceled, Ballet for Morgan 4:45-6pm, Mason's soccer from 5:30-7pm.
What a crazy week! This was one of the busier! This was on top of laundry, cleaning, cooking, homework, and all the things we do as mothers! I know one day I will look back at these days and long for them. So as my good friend once told me "Nicole this is the season of life you are in right now, so enjoy it!"

Sunday, November 05, 2006


I have decided to become a fellow blogger. I am not sure who will be reading this besides my family but it is a good way to keep a journal. I have been reading Monique's blog and have thoroughly enjoyed keeping up on her family(even though I talk to her on the phone quite frequently). Like Monique I want to be able to remember funny and cute things the kids say, or post pictures of crazy things they may do, or just talk about my hectic life! So here's to my first post that we will call "What an Incredible Night"
For Halloween our family dressed up as the Incredibles! It was very fun and I have to say we were the hit of the ward party. My brother and sister-in-law wore the same costumes last year, so we stole the idea from them. The kids resisted a little bit at first, but they loved becoming the Incredible family. Brinley would watch the movie to see her character, (Edna, the costume designer) and as she would watch it she would say "Mom I don't want dadddy to do that". Mr .Incredible would sometimes get beaten up, and thrown around. Jack, Jack (the baby) catches on fire in the movie and she started to cry because she thought that would happen to Maddie. Brooklyn was a little sad because she thought that she didn't look like the babysitter. She got some braces put on her teeth the day before Halloween but they all fell off. We all had tons of fun that night and got lots of yummy candy! As we were talking after family prayer that evening Morgan, Mason and Brooklyn all said "Mom we had fun tonight but can we pick what we want to dress up like next year?" I said , I guess!