Christmasness

Prepare yourself for a flood of festive photos. (In other words, Andrea attempts to catch up the blog in one post covering two weeks' time.)

CHRISTMAS EVE

As per Grover family tradition, we took the girls to the Museum of Idaho's free Christmas exhibit on Christmas Eve morning. We were the first ones in and basically had the place to ourselves. All the more fun for ...

... smashing noses on glass. 

Analee and Miriam look at some of the Christmas decorations under glass.

... whacking Daddy on the head.

This is what Seth gets to saving Winnie's legs by letting her ride on his shoulders.

... practicing bird conservation.

Analee finds a nest for the owl puppets in the Children's Discovery Room.

Rebekah checks in on the bald eagle puppet in its nest. A good portion of the time she spent in the Children's Discovery Room was dedicated to finding the baby eagles.

... getting attacked by squirrels.

At first the squirrel was content talking to Winnie, but then it got a little hungry.

...fixing dinner for everyone in a log cabin.

Miriam plays house all the time, so it was no surprise when she started cooking for all her woodland friends.

As per Hendricks tradition, we met with family for food, fun and a nativity reenactment.

Miriam begged and begged to be Mary in the nativity. Bekah has done it for several years, so we thought it was Miri's turn. She was so excited that as she entered the stage (the back of the gym), she kept saying, "I'm Mary! I'm Mary!" When she finally quieted down so we could hear the narration, she pointed to herself and mouthed the words: "I'm Mary." 

Gwendolen getting help from Aunt Rachel to be the Christmas star.

Rebekah as a sheep and Analee as an angel. Kaylie and Madelyn were also angels.

As per Scott tradition, we had dinner together, read Luke 2, sang "Silent Night in German, and the girls opened Christmas Eve pajamas.

I don't remember why, but Miriam felt the need to roll her eyes at Seth while he buttoned up her new Hello Kitty jammies.

Grandma Scott wasn't sure which jammies would fit which girl. Bekah and Ana ended up switching, and Andrea hemmed up Ana's pajama pants.

Andrea gets Winnie dressed in her Christmas Eve jammies. She loves to examine the feet (which look like kitten heads) and meow at them.

Miriam helped Grandpa Wirkus open his presents.

Rebekah used the bubble wrap from Grandpa's present to give the kids a ride.

CHRISTMAS DAY

We did our own thing that morning (opening presents and stockings, eating fancy shmancy cereal), then headed over to my parents' and Seth's parents' houses for more unwrappings, foodstuffs and goings on.

Miriam unwrapping Barbie accessories at Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Susan's house. 

 Rebekah and the crystal growing kit she got from Aunt Melissa and Uncle Kent.

Aunt Jessica helping Winnie open her music player from Grandma and Grandpa Scott.

 Analee shows off the doll Rebekah made her for Christmas.

Rebekah unwraps her present from Grandma and Grandpa Scott: a book of science experiments. She got a camera from Mom and Dad for Christmas, and she proceeded to videotape everything for the rest of the day.

Two days after Christmas, Seth stayed at home with the younger two so I could take Rebekah and Analee with me to Salt Lake for my

COUSIN'S WEDDING

The night before the wedding, I took the girls to Temple Square to see the lights.

Part of the group waiting for Camille and Nick to come out. My cousins watched the girls while we attended the sealing.

Analee at the wedding luncheon.

Rebekah needed a quiet corner to read her Kindle. Ellie and Ana needed a quiet corner to play on the tablet.

Between the luncheon and reception, we had some time to kill. We went to Scheel's (a sporting goods store) in Sandy and paid $1/each to ride the Ferris Wheel they have in the store. Ana loves a good ride, but Bekah is squeamish when it comes to heights, so she sat the ride out with Grandma Scott and Grandpa Wirkus. They are the little people in the middle of this shot.

Ana didn't mind being up high.

A Ferris Wheel. In a sporting goods store.

After the reception and some time in the swimming pool, we went back to Uncle Ross and Aunt Susan's house to sleep. Sunday morning we had to high-tail it out of there because Rebekah and I were the musical number in sacrament meeting in our ward. Then we had one night in our own beds before we went to the

HENDRICKS REUNION

Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks had arranged for all their kids, grandkids and great-grandkids (as their schedules permitted) to stay in one of three cabins in Island Park for the week following Christmas.

Unfortunately, Grandma Hendricks fell down some stairs on the first evening up north, so she and Grandpa spent the reunion at the hospital and at home while the rest of us played in the snow, ate incredible food and visited together.

A slew of great-grandkids eating dinner. There are three booster seats attached to the chairs against the wall.

Photobombed by Uncle Jim.

Relatives eating and visiting downstairs.

Our girls had a blast riding snowmobiles, sledding, watching movies, playing games and having a big family sleepover.

To see more holiday photos, start here.

Christmas party

As our annual ward Christmas party approached, the Primary leaders told the children they could dress up as part of the nativity. I asked my girls what they would like to be; Rebekah and Analee immediately said they wanted to be sheep. Miriam agreed to be their shepherd.

After we ate dinner at the party, some adults gathered the children together in the hall and had them enter the gym as they were mentioned in Luke 2. Rebekah became quite indignant when they wouldn't let her go in with the shepherds at first, but I think they realized that a shepherd isn't a shepherd without something to herd, so Bekah and Ana crawled in with the last couple of shepherds.

The Boston cousins are here visiting for the holidays, so they were able to participate as well. Our girls were very excited to have them at the party with Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis.

Then the kids all sang a couple of Christmas songs ...

 

Miriam, who is still in Nursery until the first of the year, didn't know the words of the songs but stood nice and still while the rest of the kids sang.

 

Analee singing "Away in a Manger."

 

Rebekah sings with the Primary.

Lily the angel.

Calvin the wise man.

... and waited patiently through the rest of the program for Santa.

Our family was asked to share some of our Christmas traditions with the group, so each of us took a turn with the microphone. This is what we said.

Miriam: All the time we make gingerbread houses. (She meant "Every year" instead of "All the time," but that's what you get when you put a 3-year-old in front of a microphone.)
Analee: Every year we drive around the city and look at cool Christmas lights.
Rebekah: Every year we go to the mountains and cut down our Christmas tree.
Andrea: Every year we go to the Museum of Idaho's free Christmas exhibit.
Seth: Every Christmas Eve we have a get-together with the Hendricks family and act out the nativity. Then we go with Andrea's family and have a traditional German dinner.

To see more images, click here.

Miri-ism #22

Seth: Miri, you're a good girl.
Miriam: But sometime's I'm being grumpy. I'm being a grumper right now. A "grumper" means bad.
Seth: You're not bad. Most of the time you are very very good.
Miriam: But my heart still thinks I'm bad.

Miri-ism #21

Seth: We're on Thanksgiving break now. You go back to preschool in five more days.
Miriam: Five more days! That's not very much! That's a ton! That's zero!

Miri-ism #20

Andrea is looking through some piano music while Ana and Miri play in the background.

Ana: Ouch, Miri! That hurt!
(Miri tries to take care of the problem of Ana telling on her and runs up to Andrea.)
Miri: Mommy, don't listen to anything!

Vacation

All six of us have the entire week of Thanksgiving off. No school, no preschool, no work, no piano, no dance. To occupy our time, we decided to take a day trip yesterday.

First we drove to Lava Hot Springs and spent an hour in the Portneuf Kiddie Cove. It's basically an indoor splash pad. The water is warmer than a typical swimming pool's; the deepest it gets is 1.5 feet. The girls played on the slide, in the fountains and with the other toys. Winnie would have stayed all day, but the other girls got tired out, so we packed it up and drove north to Pocatello to get some lunch.

Our post-lunch plans included going to the Museum of Clean and the Idaho Museum of Natural History. Seth was incredibly skeptical of the Museum of Clean at first, but when we got inside and saw that it was EXTREMELY kid-friendly and NOT a giant advertisement, he came around.

Don Aslett himself gave us and a few other families a tour of the museum. He was funny, he kept the crowd moving, and he was really good with the kids.

 Rebekah in the hall of mirrors.

After demonstrating the puppet theater, Don showed us a melodrama using a dollar bill as a prop. The bad guy (dollar bill used as a mustache) demanded, "Pay the rent!" The damsel (dollar bill used as a bow) insisted, "I can't pay the rent!" And finally the good guy (dollar bill used as a bow tie) stepped in and said, "I'll pay the rent!" Then he asked a volunteer to come up and do the melodrama the same way he had. When several of the older kids backed out and Miriam kept insistently raising her hand, he called on her. Not only did Miri do a great job with the melodrama, but she also got to keep the dollar.

After the tour, we were turned loose to reexamine the exhibits and play.

Ana and Miri washing windows.

Seth and Winnie on Noah's ark.

Analee getting her hair sucked in on the "Vacuum me!" exhibit.

Revisiting the hall of mirrors.

Miriam the chimney sweep.

The Museum of Natural History is a smaller museum, but what it lacks in space in makes up for in the hands-on children's room.

 Rebekah checking out the prehistoric sharks.

Ana asked for a picture at the swirling teeth.

Winnie enjoyed the dinosaurs but kept making a break for the door. Eventually Seth took her on a walk around the ISU campus in the stroller while I stayed and played with the bigger girls.

Our mad scientists trying to avoid a blast of air from Seth.

Miriam and the magnifiers.

To see other pictures of our exciting Thanksgiving break adventures, start here.

Miri-ism #19

Miriam and Analee sitting at the table eating snacks and playing with Play-doh.

Miriam: Ana, you are my best friend forever. That means you get to share your toys with me all the day.

Family funeral

My aunt passed away a couple of weeks ago, and we had the pleasure of attending her funeral in Holbrook the following Saturday.

Seth, being the supportive husband he is, asked me what I wanted him to do. As much as I enjoy his company, I wanted even more not to chase an extremely mobile 1-year-old during a touching service. So he stayed home with Gwendolen (and cleaned the house, I might add), and I brought the other (also mobile but more reverent) girls with me.

We carpooled from Idaho Falls; our van fit the four Grovers plus my parents and sister. Because Dad wanted to be there early (it was his sister who passed away), we had some time to get the wiggles out at the nearby playground.

Rebekah going down the slide head-first. All the more impressive because she's in her dress. 

Miriam on the swings.

Ana swinging on a ring.

When it came time for the funeral, we settled down and got in our seats inside the church. As sad as funerals are, I enjoy attending them and hearing more about my loved ones.

After the service, we drove to the nearby cemetery and laid Aunt Eunice to rest.

Pallbearers moving the casket. (The funeral pictures are in a separate album here.)

The Relief Societies of two nearby wards (keep in mind that this is rural Idaho, so the wards are very small) provided a wonderful luncheon for us, and we had the opportunity to visit with uncles, aunts and cousins inside the church and out on the lawn on an unusually mild November day.

While Rebekah, Analee and cousin Libby played at the playground, Miriam got ganged up on by her uncles.

She defiantly told them that when people do things like that to her, she shows them her "bear bum."

Unfortunately, her uncles got more bear/bare than they expected. Miriam's teddy bear tights had inched down her backside a little bit when she lifted her skirt. I guess she wanted to be a plumber.

Our van was one of the first to arrive at the Holbrook church that morning, and it was among the last to leave that evening. Because my two brothers traveled quite a distance to attend (Washington and Boise), our goodbyes lasted longer than most.

Uncle Jon hugs Miriam goodbye while Andrea and Libby watch.

 
To see more pictures, start here. 

All things Halloweeny

We made sure to put our costumes to good use this year by attending no fewer than five Halloween events.

Before we go to the narrative, here's a quick run-down of our thrifty costumes:

Miriam and Rebekah in their Halloween costumes at the public library's family Halloween story time.

Miriam as Rapunzel

Miriam had a hard time deciding which princess she was going to be for Halloween. First she thought she'd be Merida. Then she thought she'd be Rapunzel. Then she thought she'd be Ariel. I think she cycled through one or two other princesses before she settled on Rapunzel. We let her choose which one of our princess dresses we already have to wear for the holiday festivities, and Analee sweetly insisted on buying the dollar store hair extensions Miriam used for her costume on a shopping outing one day. (I ended up attempting to brush through the wig before braiding it and adding flowers to try and make it a little more presentable.)


Rebekah the bumblebee

Back in May when I got to see Rebekah's dance costume for the first time, I said, "You know, if we added some wings, antennae and a stinger, you'd make a great bee for Halloween."

 

The very cute and expensive dance costume.

Although Rebekah considered some other Halloween costume alternatives (robot, Mad-Eye Moody), I was able to steer her back to the bee with "You know, you probably won't fit into that dance costume next fall." Bekah made the antennae herself with a headband and some pipe cleaners. I made the stinger with some felt and stuffing. We bought the wings at the dollar store.

Andrea as Peter Pan; Analee as Captain Hook; Seth as the Tick Tock Croc; Gwendolen as a Lost Boy.

Andrea as Peter Pan

One day as we were discussing Halloween costumes, Ana asked if I could be Peter Pan to her Captain Hook. I thought about it for a little while and assured her I could easily do that. I bought some felt from the craft store, looked up a Peter Pan hat tutorial, sewed the thing together and hot-glued a feather to the side. Apparently I already dress like Peter because I had everything else already in my closet. Several of the kids at the girls' school mistook me for an elf or Robin Hood, but I assured them I had just forgotten my pixie dust.

Analee as Captain Hook

This one was a no-brainer. Her dance class received very elaborate Captain Hook costumes for their recital, so we added a dollar store sword and switched out the booties for the black boots she already had.

Sometime between the end of May and the end of Halloween, Ana removed the embellishments from her hat, but it still worked.

Seth as the Tick Tock Croc

Because we already had a Peter and a Hook, we tried to think of an easy way to make Seth one of the other Pan characters. We kidded about making him wear a dress and go as Wendy, but in the end we found a croc hat at the dollar store, and he whipped together a Flavor Flav-type neckpiece so people would get the idea.

Gwendolen as a Lost Boy

Honestly, I thought she'd just be a run-of-the-mill leopard for Halloween (that was the baby-sized costume we already had that fit her best), but then I realized that
Winnie could fit into our partial Pan theme if we just changed what we were calling her.

All right ... on to the festivities.

First of all, the three older girls attended a party put together by their wonderful and talented Aunt Melissa. Seth and I used the opportunity to go on a pseudo-date (we had Winnie with us), but I hear the girls had an incredible time.

Next, we attended our public library's family Halloween story time. They had some fun stories and songs and a treat to hand out at the end.

 Seth the crocodile attacking Winnie the Lost Boy.

Rebekah got the opportunity to participate in one of the stories.

Although it didn't involve costumes, we also did our annual jack o' lantern carving. This year Rebekah carved hers (mostly) by herself. Seth helped Miriam carve a scary face. I helped Analee carve a mermaid.

Although this isn't the best photo of all of us, I had to include it here because I think it's funny. Winnie's expression is priceless.

Bekah's angry face, Miriam's scary face, Analee's mermaid.

Then the older girls and I attended a party put on by my old friend, Robyn. Analee won second place in the costume contest, and the girls all got to play Bingo, do a beanbag toss, decorate cookies and eat fun and festive food.

Miriam, Rebekah and Analee decorating sugar cookies.

Then the two oldest girls had their respective class Halloween parties. I got to supply the game for Analee's first grade class. The kids had to split up into teams, designate a mummy and wrap that kid up using an entire roll of toilet paper.

Analee wrapped up her friend, Maddy.

That night, of course, we went trick-or-treating. I took the girls to most of the area grandparents' houses.

Miriam reverse trick-or-treating; she gave Grandpa a rubber band that Winnie had picked up and chewed on.

Ringing the doorbell at Old Grandma's house.

Grandpa Scott was in Coeur d'Alene at the state volleyball tournament on Halloween, but before he left, he made personalized luggage tags for each of our girls while he was making them for his Idaho Falls Tigers. Grandma Scott got to hand them out.

When Grandma Scott picked up Winnie, it reminded me of a similar picture I shot five years ago with baby Analee.

Winnie is 13 months old; Analee was 5 months old.

Rebekah showed us how she could blow big bubbles.

After dinner Seth took the older girls to do door-to-door trick-or-treating and to visit Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis while Winnie and I took care of the trick-or-treaters who came to our house. Suffice it to say we have enough sugar at our house to last until Valentine's Day.

 Our cute trick-or-treaters.

To see more Halloween pictures, start here.