One of those pictures...

You know, sometimes you take a picture that you're so pleased with you just have to share it? Well, this is one I took of the boys yesterday. I hadn't had a chance to get a picture of them in front of the tree yet and before we take it down this weekend, I wanted a picture of them together in front of the tree. Joshua tried telling me not to bother because I'd taken a picture of them in front of the tree last year. He finally agreed to let me do it, even though he didn't agree with me that he and Nathaniel have changed a lot since last year's picture. So here is the 2007 Brothers in front of the Christmas Tree photo:

And to prove that yes, they have changed since last year's picture, here it is:

Merry Christmas

Nathaniel's first haircut

Last week Nathaniel got his first haircut...I was sad to see his cute little curls go (his hair curled over his right ear...over his left ear it was pretty straight) and see him suddenly turn into a little boy in front of my eyes, but he looks cute anyway!

Here are a couple of before pictures...

And here are the during photos...

And here are the after shots...

He was really really good for his haircut...he sat and let Mela cut it with no fuss, no crying, nothing...just sat patiently. Such a change from Joshua's first haircut (and just about every haircut until he was 4) where he cried, and sobbed and turned red and gasped for air and shook. Here's a silly picture of Joshua that Daddy took while Nathaniel's hair was getting trimmed:

Nathaniel

Just some random Nathaniel moments from the past few weeks...and here's a video of him playing the piano...he pretends to dance and sing (he wouldn't sing while I was videoing)...and if you listen carefully at the end he says, "All done!"

Reading Time

Joshua loves to read...Nathaniel loves to be read to. Nathaniel will pick up a book, smile at you and (if you're sitting on the floor), turn around and back up to you and plop down in your lap. Now, once he smiles, you're lost and you know you have to read to him or he'll get rather irritated. One morning after I got him dressed and got Joshua ready for school, he grabbed a book and smiled at me. The only problem was, I was still in my pjs and needed to get ready, too. So, I roped big brother into reading duty. Joshua wasn't too sure about it at first (but, mommy, I can't read all the words...that's fine, Joshua, just tell him the names of the animals) and neither was Nathaniel. He wouldn't sit in Joshua's lap - he tried to sit next to him, but that just didn't work. This was the end result...

Gingerbread House

Last week we made a gingerbread house. Brian had got the kit at Costco or somewhere and we'd been waiting until closer to Christmas to do it. We ran out of time for it during Family Home Evening the night before, so did it Tuesday morning before Brian went to work.

Nathaniel didn't get to participate too much...much to his dismay.

Joshua had a blast decorating with the candy...you can almost still see the back of the house on the side he had total control over! He gets to do a graham cracker house in kindergarten tomorrow...that should be fun. Nathaniel is going to go play at a friend's house so I can go help in the classroom. I'm sure after a couple of hours of helping five year olds stick candy on houses the day before Christmas vacation will further cement my lack of desire to ever go back to teaching :)

EIGHT YEARS!!!!!!

Eight years ago today, Brian & I married Oakland Temple.

It's amazing how quickly the years have gone!!

Christmas Preparations

Last Sunday (the 9th) we finally got our tree up. It took us a little while. Nathaniel was sick with some 24 hour bug and was running a fever most of the time, poor baby. After we got the tree set up and plugged in, we took a milk & cookie break (we had plenty of cookies leftover from the creche program the night before). Nathaniel was having a "feeling good" half hour or so and was able to enjoy some treats.

Then it was time to put the ornaments on. We have so many ornaments...some I have made over the years (some I remember making one Thanksgiving at college when I was all by myself in my apartment when all of my roommates went home for the holiday...such a nice peaceful days that was!), some I've had for years, a lot of Brian's family ornaments since we kind of ended up with all his parents' Christmas stuff, and of course tons that we got at my bridal shower since everyone brought an ornament as well as a gift to that and as wedding gifts (what happens when you get married the week before Christmas!) We didn't put nearly as many on the tree as we have the past few years. We had to be very careful with what we hung on the lower half of the tree - so Mr. Destructo doesn't have too much to destroy. He enjoyed putting the ornaments on the tree...but was starting to feel yucky again and by the time we were done and ready to take pictures, he was done and not wanting pictures.

I love this picture I have of Joshua looking up at the tree.

Two Creche Festivals and more...

This has been a crazy week or so...on the 1st of December was our stake's annual Creche Festival. This year we had a dozen nativities on loan there (2 were on loan to us from my Grandma Darlene) and Brian was some of the singing entertainment on Saturday evening. Sunday night we had to go back over there to pick up all our nativities. We went over to Terry & Theresa's first and then I left Brian and the boys there and Theresa went over to the stake center with me to collect all the nativities.

Fast forward to the 8th and it's deja vu...except it's at our ward building and Brian and I have way too much involvement with this thing. He got "asked" (I use that term loosely) to pull together a music program that was to include people from the community, which he did and it was great. I got "asked" (used even more loosely than before) to do the posters & flyers and the programs. Brian and I were up until 2:30 Friday morning getting those things to the point of being able to take them to the church Friday morning (well, later that morning) and copying everything. I've learned how to use Excel a little bit and also learned that if they do this again next year I'm not going to be volunteered for doing the programs, etc. They turned out beautifully, but what a headache!! When we went to copy the programs Friday morning, Joshua was at school. Brian didn't have to work until the afternoon. Which was a good thing. I helped, one-handed as I held Nathaniel on my hip, set up some of the nativities. Then I picked up Joshua, came back to the church, programs were just about finished copying, Brian was just about finished practicing and working with the lights and I helped set up our Nativities.

The program went well on Saturday, but it was just such a nightmarish headache for a while. Next year, we're not letting ourselves get volunteered for things...I haven't even finished my Christmas cards, much less got Christmas gifts finished or anything! It's insane!

Joshua sang with the Primary at the creche program on the 8th and did a great job...yay, hopefully we're past the dissolve into sobs and run from the stand stage. I tried to get a picture of him, but with the flash it's too dark and without the flash it's too light and it's blurry (or is it the other way around, I can't remember, just that I didn't get any good pictures, so I didn't even try when Brian was singing).

Here are some pictures of our Nativities. The picture at the top is what we used for the cover of the program...a white porcelain Holy Family that my Grandma Darlene gave me...the back drop is the dress that my mom made me to match the bridesmaid dresses she made for my sisters for my wedding 8 years ago. It made a beautiful backdrop for the white pieces.

My mom made this one for me while I was on my mission.

The foam one in the back left is one that Joshua & I made this year from a kit at Micheals. The front left one is a little Holy Family that Brian found at a thrift store this year. The tiny tri-fold one in the front right is one that Grandma Darlene gave Nathaniel last year from her collection.

Grandpa Bruce and Grandma Lorrayne made this cool block one for Joshua a couple of years ago. Nathaniel likes it...though he can get a bit violent with it!

The large one on the mirrored tray in the center is another one that Brian found at the thrift store near where he works...it's a beautiful set and in great condition and it was only like $5 or $6. The tiny one in front in the center is one that Grandma Darlene gave Joshua last year from her collection and the one on the right is one that she gave me this year.

This is one of Grandma Darlene's that she loaned us for the creche exhibits. My dad made this one for her. The one below is one that I cross-stitched for her a couple of years ago that she let us borrow for this.

We got this snow globe at Costco...the boys love it...so it has to go up high!

This was a multi-generational gift! Brian, after looking at all the nativities at the stake festival the past couple of years, requested a more traditional (than my little Indians) nativity, just painted white. So, Grandma had one in her stuff, Mom (and I, a little bit) painted it in October, Grandma fired it and Mom and Dad brought it down on their way to Arizona at the beginning of November. So Brian got one of his Christmas gifts almost 2 months early!

Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I'll post about decorating the tree and other stuff later!

Joshua's Christmas performance & Santa

On Saturday, the dual immersion kindergarten classes sang at the Friends of the Library/Community Christmas Festival. They sang "Somos Como Las Flores" (I think that was the title..."We are like the Flowers") and "Cascabeles" (Jingle Bells). Joshua was front and center. We were worried he'd have a melt-down like he has the past few times he's sung at church, but he did great. The kids were so funny...one end of the line was singing at one pace and the other half at another...then one half would switch to English and the other would finish in Spanish...it gave the effect of doing a round, which wasn't planned, but it worked. They'd made jingle bell braclets to wear/shake and bell necklaces. Joshua had a blast...Brian had worked in his classroom on the day they made the bracelets and he'd made one. Nathaniel got to play with that while they sang and shook it right along with him.



The pictures of Joshua didn't turn out the greatest. I hate the lighting in the community center...no flash was horrible. With flash gave major red-eye. Red-eye reduction mode didn't help. I had this same problem when he sang with the Primary kids a couple of years ago. So no, our town isn't possessed by a bunch of red-eyed kids, no matter what the pictures look like.

I tried to do video clips (Brian videoed the whole thing with the video camera) and got a decent one of the Flores, but my Cascabeles one didn't turn out that great...I was ready to go and J's teacher decided to move one of the girls and just as I got ready to start "filming" she stood right in front of Joshua...finally they got her moved and I got a short clip. You can kind of hear him singing toward the end.

After the singing, it was time to go see Santa. Joshua was slightly nervous but did fine. Nathaniel wasn't sure at first, but did sit on his lap with no screaming or fussing so we could take his picture. We also saw Santa at Walmart later on and the boys got their picture taken with him. I'll post those later after I have a chance to scan them.

Our Christmas Lights

For the first time in

almost 8 years of marriage & 7 years in this house, we finally put up Christmas lights! I'm loving the candy canes on the walkway...I think I want them up all year! (By the way...that's the moon up above the house, not a flash or something)

Raking Leaves video

For the first time ever, I think, we were able to rake leaves in the front yard and the boys could jump in them. In years past, we always had wind that blew them out of the tree and yard before they turned colors...or it would rain and they'd get all wet and nasty...or we had a dog and the leaves would, well, they'd hide stuff you really didn't want to jump into. This afternoon, after school, the boys and I raked the leaves and they jumped into them. Joshua had a blast...Nathaniel wasn't sure if he should throw the leaves, jump into them or what. I got a short video clip with the camera of them doing Buzz Lightyear's "to infinity and beyond" jump into the leaves...Nathaniel wasn't too sure of what he should do...I don't think he was too keen on diving face first into the leaves!

Joshua's School Picture

When I opened up Joshua's Kiwi Pack today to get out the homework for the week and whatever notes his teacher had sent home, I was pleasantly surprised to find his school pictures there. We did the retakes about 3 weeks ago or so. I had to go with him and be there with him so that he'd let them take his picture. His smile is slightly faked/forced but it turned out nicely! I think he looks older in the picture I took on the actual picture day in September, but he'd just had his hair cut for that one and in this one he was well over-due for one. Still he's a dang cute kid and I'm so glad he's mine!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was at our house this year - at least for some of the family. Carrie came over after work Wednesday night (well, it was really Thursday morning by the time she got here) and Sarah and Dave came over Thursday afternoon. We fixed a turkey breast, stuffing (good ol' Stove Top...I'm not a stuffing person, so I just make something for Brian and whoever else likes it), rolls (homemade crescent rolls), mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole and pumpkin and apple pies. Sarah brought her grape/fruit salad that is so delicious and Carrie made a no bake cheesecake with strawberry topping. It was all good - minus the green bean casserole. I tried to make it without the onions since they don't do well for Brian's stomach or mine and added cheddar cheese, but they just didn't taste right. They were also too runny, I was in a hurry and I think I added too much milk. Try again at Christmas.

After dinner, while I put away leftovers and did the dishes, everyone played games. After dessert and Nathaniel's bath, we played Guesstures. I think Brian and I have played it once in the years that we've had it...it's more fun with more people than just the two of us. When that was done, it was time for Joshua to go to bed and me to get Nathaniel down. Nathaniel, however, had taken a late nap (after we had dinner), so he was not ready for bed at all. Brian was teaching Sarah and Carrie how to play Sequence and Dave was stretched out on the living room floor sleeping, so I had nowhere to let Nathaniel run around to burn off the energy. Eventually, once everyone left, I was able to feed him and get him to bed. By then I was ready to crash. Carrie left early Friday morning to get to work and Brian and I rearranged our linen closet and food storage closet. We ended up switching them because we need a lot more room for our food storage than we do for our towels and stuff. That took almost all day - between rearranging, sorting, cleaning, tossing old cans of food and other stuff and of course, taking care of the boys. Brian added a shelf to one side of the food closet and it looks wonderful. It took up a good part of our day, but in the end it was worth it. Now, I just have to remember that the towels are now where the food was and the food is where the towels are :)

We got an additional side rail up on the top bunk for Joshua yesterday. He fell out of the top bunk (or something) a week a go Sunday. Since then we've had pillows piled at the side of the bed by the ladder railing. The railing was protecting, but I guess the way he squirms and moves in his sleep, he scooted around it or something. We had shifted the ladder down slightly from where it had been when he first started sleeping on the top bunk when we put Nathaniel in the bottom bunk last week. Now, with the side rail, we've scooted the ladder further down, but there's no way he'll fall. And now, I've got more room to reach over the side rail on Nathaniel's bed and get him into bed which is nice. A couple of weeks ago I also finally made the curtains for their room that I've had the fabric for for quite some time (less than a year, I think). Joshua had picked out Star Wars fabric...I'd thought he'd go for Cars since his comforter is a Cars one, but no, he wanted Star Wars. I was happy with how they turned out and so were both boys. Nathaniel says something and points at them almost every time we go into their room.

Here's our Wreath of Gratitude. This is the third year that we've done our wreath for Thanksgiving...it's a fun way to talk about being thankful with the boys. Also, here are two of Joshua's work pages from school. This one says, "Yo doy gracias por mi familia" (I give thanks for my family) and the other is supposed to be a list of things they are thankful for. Brian was working in his classroom the day they did this assignment and said that these were the things Joshua's teacher wrote on the board...which explains a lot because I didn't know how he'd come up with CARROS (cars), DINERO (money), REGALOS (gifts) and PERRO (dog). Our dog has been dead for almost a year now and when we talk about being thankful for things at home, he's never once mentioned cars, money or gifts...it's usually family, house, friends, church. I did ask him about his "thankful list" and he said well, he was thankful for money because it got him things...which is something I've never heard him say before. I guess that's what they talked about at school.