Snow Fun!

So I am ridiculously late in posting this, but back in December, back when we were getting snow, Matt built this awesome snow fort for the kids! They loved it and played in it for almost two months until it melted... If you know me, you know that I suffer through February. I barely make it out of this month each year and usually it is not done gracefully or without at least one tearful break-down where I accuse Matt of ruining my life for making me live in this snowy prison! ( To be fair, ask me any other time of year and I love Utah. The seasons are beautiful and I am thankful to live here most of the time!) I, for one, don't miss the snow... but I do miss the snow fun for the kiddos. They love to play in it and now it's just mostly cold, damp and muddy outside. I am, however, thankful for the fresh, inversion-free and pseudo-warm air!

Christmas Lights 2009

We didn't make it down to Temple Square for Christmas Lights this year, so we just headed over to the see the City Lights:

We had a fun time at dinner with the Abercrombies even though the freezing temperatures kept our trip short!

Anderson Family Christmas Party

So, the first Saturday in December, we went to the Anderson Family Christmas Party!
This year, we held it in the Care Center where Matt's grandmother, aka: Granny Great, is staying. It is a wonderful opportunity to see all of Marsha's extended family and to see Granny Great.
Victoria spent much of the night trying to avoid eating actual food so that she could move straight to the dessert table. Here she is enjoying a bread bowl:
I couldn't fix the red eye in this pic and it's making me nuts! Matt and Raegan were trying hard to avoid being photographed- they would NOT look at the camera, so I suck a pic while they were smiling at each other. Hee Hee... they think they are sooo clever!

Victoria was completely enamoured with Will and Whitney's brand new baby, Oliver.

Here she is eating a cookie after a very pathetic version of eating her dinner:

Tori's Big Sister

Daphne and Victoria haven't always been the best of friends. Daphne has wanted to help from the moment she was born, but, like any 4 or 5 year old big sister... she sometimes wants to help a little too much. Daphne has a very strong personality- she's a leader by nature and sometimes... Tori doesn't want to be led. But, She is imaginative to the extreme, which keeps her (and us) busy for hours on end! And over the past few months, she has become: genuinely and magnificently nurturing to her baby sister. This has been pure joy for my mother's heart. I have seen Daphne grow and mature in her relationship with Victoria. I have watched her protect her, defend her, comfort her and tend her. One of the most satisfying things to watch is when Daphne observes Tori learn a new skill. Daphne's face is overwhelmed with genuine delight and pride for her sister. I love, LOVE seeing the light of Christ shine in her beautiful face and actions. I am so honored and proud to be a mother to all three of my miracles. Forgive me for gushing today about this one.

In these photos, Daphne is tending Tori and taking her for a little walk in front of our house while I help ( and I use that term loosely) Matt put up the Christmas lights on the house. It was pretty chilly outisde and Daphne worked hard to keep Tori covered and happy while Mommy and Daddy worked. We are so thankful that Victoria has such a great big sister to play with and learn from!

Run, Run, Run as Fast As You Can!

I have been teaching the concept of retelling stories in my class. This is an incredibly important early literacy task, and I like to use traditional stories and nursery rhymes. We taught the Three Little Pigs and The Gingerbread Man. As I was preparing my lessons for the Gingerbread Man, I was debating about whether or not to tell the story with the title character being, ahem, *eaten* at the end! The children I teach are pretty young, so I was going back and forth on the issue.

Then, I remembered that Daphne had a unit on the Gingerbread Man in her kindergarten class, so I asked Daphne what happened to him at the end of the story.

Daphne said, "Well. I don't remember what happened to the Gingerbread Man, but I do know what happened to the Gingerbread Girl!"

Alright- she aroused my curiosty. I bit. "What?"


Daphne: "Well, when the Fox tells her to jump onto his nose, she grabs a licorice stick from her hair and ties his mouth shut, and jumps off to the other side of the river!"


This sounds cute, I think. But, I ask, "What does the Gingerbread girl say when she's running? You know, the Gingerbread Man says 'Run, run, run as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!'?"

Daphne: "Oh! She says, 'Run, Run Run, with a leap and a twirl! You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Girl!'"

It's a really cute variation on the story, if you are ever interested, you can find it here.

So, of course, during thecourse of all this, I had to make Gingerbread Men! Isaac and Daphne were totally excited to make them and had a great time decorating theirs:
(with gobs of icing!)