Gwenism #14

While grocery shopping.

Gwen: Mom, what is that?
Andrea: It's a pork butt roast.
Gwen: (Snickers.)
Andrea: (Thinks, "Oh, boy ... here it comes.")
Gwen: Butt roast? BUTTON ROAST! (Laughs uproariously.)

Christmas party

Our ward has great Christmas parties. There's always delicious food, lots of friends in attendance and fun activities. Last year, Seth and I sang, "Baby It's Cold Outside." This year, we were asked to sing it again. So we switched up the parts, and Seth was the one trying to escape my clutches.

My line: "I'll take your hat; your hair looks swell." His hair DOES look pretty swell. 

Rocking the jingle bell earrings Rebekah made me for my birthday. Seth rocking the guitar as he always does.

Then we switched strings. Seth put down the guitar, and I picked up the ukulele.

Seth announcing that I just barely learned to play. My look of nervous anticipation.

He's a crooner, that one. And I nearly got all the chords in.

A cute post-gig photo.

Then the ASL group signed and sang, "Once There Was a Snowman."

Including Rebekah (with her festive hair), Analee, Grandma Susan, Miriam and Andrea.

Followed by the Primary singing, "The Nativity Song."

And then Santa came to town.

Analee, Miriam and Rebekah all sat on his lap and talked with him. Winnie sat on my knee and deigned to even look at the man. But she gladly accepted the bag of goodies he gave her.

To see more pictures, start here.

Christmas card & newsletter

(click to view larger)

Miri-ism #35

While watching the final scene in Aladdin where Jasmine and Aladdin fly away on the magic carpet:

Miri: "Where are your kids! You need to have kids! Kids! KIDS!"

Tree hunting

We took the family back up to the wilderness in search of the perfect Christmas tree. That is to say, Seth hauled us up the mountain on the four-wheeler, then found, cut and hauled the tree back down the mountain while I kept an eye on four little girls. He's good like that.

And for the first time, I took a camera with me. Usually I'm hauling a baby around in a wrap, pouch, sling or backpack and don't want to carry the extra weight. This time I determined that Winnie is old enough to walk, so I brought the camera. And then I hauled her most of the way back down because her legs were tired.

Miriam climbing up the hill. I love her mouse mittens.

I think this picture is so beautiful of Winnie, despite her tear and snotty nose. Why is she crying? Because I dared to look at a couple of trees instead of staying right by her side.

 Analee trudging through the snow.

Grandma Scott helping grandkids up the hill (Bennet, Shelby and Miriam) while Aunt McKall watches.

Rebekah (and her festive green hair) enjoying snacks back at the truck.

Gwenism #13

While sitting at the dinner table.

Gwen: Mom, how did we buy our house?
Andrea: The people who lived here before wanted to sell the house. Daddy and I came and looked at it. We wanted to buy it, so we got the money from the bank.
Gwen: But how did the house fit on the paying thing?

Halloween

As per tradition, we spent an evening shortly before the holiday carving pumpkins. Bekah and Analee carved their own (first time for Ana), Seth carved Miriam's to her specifications, and I carved Winnie's to hers.

Analee, Rebekah, Miriam and Seth working on pumpkins. (Rebekah's wearing part of an inside-out volleyball on her head, in case you were wondering.)

Winnie and her jack-o-lantern.

Winnie, Seth, Rebekah, Andrea, Analee and Miriam with our creations.

Silly photo. Minus 10 points to Seth for turning his eyelids out. (Shudder.)

Top pumpkin: Rebekah's. Bottom pumpkins: Winnie's, Miriam's, Analee's.

I loved having Halloween on a Saturday. It made it so much easier to visit the grandparents before dinner so the girls could dedicate their post-dinner time to door-to-door trick-or-treating.

Winnie the ladybug (after tripping several times in her too-big ladybug rainboots, Seth brought her home to change to sneakers before going to more houses), Miriam the witch (with her hair in tiny braids, which she specified), Analee the vampire (in the cloak I made with fabric similar to Grandma Scott's Halloween tablecloth that Ana loves) and Rebekah the ghoul (who came up with her own costume and makeup).

Grandpa Wirkus growling at Miriam and Winnie.

Rebekah removing Winnie's costume from Analee at Grandpa Wirkus'.

Winnie laughing at Roscoe at Old Grandma's house.

Miriam and Winnie watching Grandma's bird and eating candy.

Rebekah petting Roscoe.

The girls posing in their costumes so Grandma Scott can take a picture to share with Grandpa Scott, who was in northern Idaho at the state volleyball tournament.

"Ice skating" on the newly poured floor of the garage Grandma and Grandpa Scott are having added on to their house.

More ice skating.

Knocking on Grandma Susan's door.

Hanging out in the basement. Grandma Dennis had his knee replaced earlier that week, so he had a separate bed set up in the family room for his recovery.

On Grandpa's bed.

To see more festive photos, start here.

Halloween party pics

"Hey, Andrea," Seth tells me. "I said I'd be in charge of the photo booth at the ward Halloween party. I didn't want to volunteer you to do it, so I'll take care of it, but would you be willing to help me?"

"Yes!"

So I borrowed the backdrop from my dad. And the backdrop stands. And I went to Target and bought some cute Halloween banners and lights. And I loaded all that plus my tripod, camera bag and bracket in the back of the van. Oh, yeah! And I bought some photo props on clearance after Halloween last year. ... Wouldn't that be fun?

"Can you take my picture, Mom?"

"Absolutely! We have it all set it! I'll take as many pictures of you as you want!"

(Seth was very helpful, by the way. I just got overexcited as usual.)

(And we rocked the toothbrushes and headgear like you wouldn't believe.)

(My husband is a good sport.)

Gwenism #12

While discussing Winnie and Miri's recent nighttime coughs ...

Andrea: We'll put the humidifier in your room tonight.
Gwen: Don't put fire in my room!

No more naps

For more than 10 years, my life has revolved around naps. Not my naps, mind you, but my children's. I have a strong conviction in the power of sleep, and so I have scheduled visits, volunteering, errand-running and life in general around my girls' nap times.

But when the youngest child kept getting out of bed at night because she had napped so well in the afternoon, I thought it may be time to do away with naps.

This has taken some adjusting to. Because, despite my best efforts, sometimes this happens:

Winnie napping on the couch while Miriam snuggles/watches TV.

And I have to totally rethink my life. Instead of having to be home by noon so kid(s) can eat and nap, I can spend the afternoons taking kid(s) to the library, shopping or going on walks.

Between this and my downsizing from a diaper bag to a purse, I feel like a new woman.

Visiting Grandma Scott's classroom

The other day after we visited Grandpa Wirkus (on his 93rd birthday!), we stopped by Grandma Scott's classroom because we saw her car was still parked at the school. At first, she didn't want to let in the random kids who were knocking on her window, but when she realized they were her granddaughters, she allowed us entry.

Miriam and Winnie playing with Grandma's stuffed tiger (their school mascot is a tiger) and the wearable classroom microphone (around Winnie's neck). Grandma is getting her Smart Board ready in the background.

Analee drawing on the Smart Board.

Rebekah helping herself to the books.

Miriam's drawing

Kindergarten has opened wide the doors of letters, phonics and sentence structure for Miriam. She has been sounding out words and writing notes like crazy. She drew this picture and wrote these sentences back in September.

 

"I am at the temple. I know Jesus Christ [loves] me."

Rebekah lately

Rebekah has had a few exciting things pop up in her life lately.

First, her science fair.

Rebekah came home from school one day very excited because she would be completing a project for the science fair. And she knew exactly what she wanted to do for it.

Bekah likes to create "art" from melting forks in the fire at hunting camp, so her idea was to see if white plastic or clear plastic forks melt more. Seth helped her orchestrate a reproducible experiment, and we found that white forks melt more quickly.

After the experiment, Bekah created a poster explaining her experiment and the results. Then she had to present in to her fifth grade class, and later they put them all up in the gym so the students could present them to parents.

 Rebekah and her poster at the science fair exhibit at the elementary school. She had changed to non-post-style earrings for the first time, so all of my pictures of her show her playing with her new hoop earrings.

Next, her coming of age.

When Idaho changed the hunting age from 12 to 10, Rebekah and Seth couldn't have been more excited. She has yet to shoot a deer, but that hasn't kept her from trying.

Seth helping Bekah set up a shot at a little two-point. 

Rebekah hanging out on the four-wheeler in the back of the truck while hunting in the desert.

Photo catch up

I recently transferred all the photos on my table to the desktop computer, and what a treasure trove it is. Check it:

 Miriam and the funny face she made on her lunch plate.

Mug shots from the Museum of Idaho's exhibit earlier this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 The post-op survey I had to fill out after my septum was un-deviated. (SNOT. HA!)

 Two girls pretending to be asleep in their room.

Seth and Miriam at the Idaho Falls zoo on a mommy-daddy-daughter date.

Love his expression.

 Miriam and Andrea on their mommy-daddy-daughter date.

 Our van window after it imploded for seemingly no reason at all.

 Rebekah chillin' like a villain in the backseat of the truck on our way to Yellowstone.

 Winnie and Miri on the way to Yellowstone.

The freaky panoramic I made while driving to Yellowstone.

 Winnie performing acrobatics on her car seat.

 Cute girl in the bathtub.