It's Great To Be Eight!

Wow! What a crazy couple of weeks we've had since December started! We celebrated Lucy's 8th birthday on December 4th with a BANG, when both sets of grandparents flew in from the West coast for her baptism. But we'll get to that in a minute-- first things first: 

A happy newly turned 8 year-old girl on her birthday morn, all dressed up and ready for school!

I think she really wanted to stay home from school and play with Grandma and Grandpa Morris who'd flown in super late (or super early depending on the time zone) the day before, but since we'd missed a whole week in October due to Disney World, we decided she'd better go. We sweetened the day up by bringing her lunch from Subway, and her favorite red velvet cupcake from C Cups. She was sure cute to watch interacting with her classmates!

That evening we gathered everyone together for dinner at her favorite place ever-- Olive Garden, and enjoyed catching up with Grandpa Tom Tom who'd been golfing earlier that afternoon. 

Cute little birthday girl got pasta and a free piece of cheesecake. 

Once we got back home, we had to wait for Jon to get home from Scouts before she could open her presents, and the anticipation was killing her! He finally made it around 7:45 p.m., so she opened her big present of brand new scriptures with her name embossed, and a hot pink scripture case to put them in.

 More presents from Grandma and Grandpa Morris-- a pearl necklace and a tithing bank. She was pretty happy with her haul, so it was time to move on to the birthday cupcakes.

She helped me pick a recipe off of Pinterest for some Harry Potter-style Butter Beer cupcakes that were amazing! They were made with cream soda in the batter, and had a butterscotch ganache in the center and some really yummy butterscotch frosting. They tasted just like the liquid stuff we'd had in October!

Lucy really wanted me to decorate them like I'd done Leah's Frozen ones, so we printed off pictures of the whole gang-- Harry, Ron, and Hermione-- and topped each cake with one. It was a birthday treat fit only for a true fan!

Singing Happy Birthday to the Lu!

Oh our Dear Lucy! We love you SOOOOOO much! She is such a special girl, and has so many people that love her. She recently got accepted into the AIG program here (Academically Intelligent and Gifted), so she gets pulled out twice a week to go work with a specialist. They did her her reading assessment, and tested her at an 8th grade reading level. Thank you, Harry Potter! 

That night Grandma and Grandpa Cardon took a red-eye from Seattle and arrived early Friday morning. Luckily the kids had a half-day, so while I made Jon, and my mom and dad take my Body Pump class at the gym, they were able to pick the kids up from school. That afternoon the guys went golfing at Foxfire, and my mom and I took Lucy and Zach to go see "Big Hero 6" while Grandma C stayed at home with a sleeping Leah. We met everyone after the movie at Brixx for some delicious pizzas and even better company!

Saturday morning we woke up to cartoons and pancakes, and ran our errands to get ready for Lucy's baptism that afternoon. Grandma and Grandpa Cardon brought Zach two new Star Wars costumes to dress-up with and he had a BLAST playing with them and using Jon's light saber!

My friend Nicole made this darling invitation for Lucy's baptism. Lucy handed it out to all of her teachers at school (K-2nd) and some of her friends as well. Unfortunately none of them could make it, but I was SO proud of her for inviting them.

We made these little goody bags to hand out at the baptism to the kids who came.

Miss Lucy, dressed and ready for her baptism! She looked beautiful and SO grown up.

Lucy with her Grandma and Grandpa Morris, who came from Idaho to be a part of it. So thankful they could make it!

Lucy with Grandma and Grandpa Cardon, who flew in from Washington state. They were only here for 2 1/2 days which felt like the blink of an eye, but we are so very grateful they sacrificed and traveled such a loooong way to be here! Lucy will always remember that her grandparents were here for her North Carolina baptism, and that both Grandpas were able to help confirm her.

For her program, we had Grandpa Cardon give a short talk on Baptism, and then Lucy was baptized. Then Grandma Joanie gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, and Lucy was confirmed. It was such a special baptism because it was just Lucy-- so all the attention got to be focused solely on her. The Joyners, Winkley's, Bassett's, and Lyken's from our ward were able to attend as well. After the baptism we got to go to dinner all together, which was so fun for us to not only have visitors, but to also show Lucy lots of support on such an important decision in her life. It was a really special weekend she will remember forever! 

EIGHT THINGS THAT ARE GREAT ABOUT LUCY:

1. Her smile. It lights up a room!

2. She's kind. She treats everyone the way she'd like to be treated.

3. Her passion. From Harry Potter, to crafts, to school, she does it all with gusto!

4. She's helpful. Her younger brother and sister adore her because she'd do anything for them.

5. Those big brown eyes! They've had Jon wrapped around her little finger since birth.

6. She's fun! Lucy's always been our party girl and loves to socialize!

7. She's smart. Just ask her about history, mummies, or science.

8. She has a heart of gold and strives to be like Jesus!

Baby Lucy, 4 days old

Turkey Day 2014

Thanksgiving is officially over and the rowdy children must head back to school bright and early tomorrow... Which I suppose is good and bad-- I'll miss the sleeping in and not having to check homework, pack backpacks, and make lunches every night, but I'm thankful for a routine again after five days without one!

 Wednesday the kids didn't have school, so we hit the gym for a pre-calorie-consuming workout, ran some last minute errands at the grocery store, cooked up some pies and other delicious odds and ends, and then topped the night off with a killer bonfire out back that night. 

 It had poured and poured for a couple of days beforehand so the wood was totally soaked, and it was taking forever to get it started. Jon finally poured a hefty amount of gasoline on top to speed the process up, and I think we may have lost a couple of eyebrows in the process, but we learned a very valuable life lesson along the way! But, the s'mores were a hit!

 Fireside selfie!! Ha ha ha!

 Turkey Day dawned bright and COLD-- and the best part of all is that we all got to sleep in until 7:15 a.m.! Since we didn't have to be to dinner until 4 p.m., and most of my sides were made the day before, we had quite a bit of time to kill. We decided to head to the park and play for a bit, hoping the kids would burn off some energy. Hoping being the operative word in that sentence!

 Leah and the swing stick together like glue. That's pure joy!

 Zach and Lucy scooted around the park until they were cold enough they thought their fingers might fall off (and mine too)! We figured then it was about time to head back home.

 I decided that because I was only supposed to bring ONE pie, and we had TWO pies just sitting around, I might as well help myself to an early serving of banana cream pie for lunch. I figure the recipe is at least 100 years old, and when I tell people "banana cream pie"-- I mean the REAL deal. Not crappy instant pudding. Real old fashioned pudding. The whole nine-yards with heavy cream, a double boiler, and lots and lots of stirring (at least 20 minutes worth). H-E-A-V-E-N. It was quite a way to start the Thanksgiving feasting off. 

 Lucy and Zach started working on some Gingerbread Houses I'd bought the day before, and had a blast decorating their Christmas houses, while I started the laborious process of decorating for Christmas. Ugghh. So much work (I feel you now, Mom!), but worth it.

We'd been invited to share Thanksgiving with some friends in our ward, the Bassett's. They have two kids both the exact same ages as Lucy and Zach, and they get along great (if not a little wild together). I took this during a "selfie-competition" initiated by Whitney, so what you see is what you get: Us, loaded up in the car, me with boiling hot candied yams on my lap (that spilled all over the very first turn), and Luce dressed like an Indian. "Over the River and Through the Woods" to the Bassett's house we go! 

The one and only picture I took-- of the kids eating pie and ice cream right at the end. Oh well. The turkey wasn't quite done when we got there, and not wanting to give everyone the gift of salmonella, we waited and waited until that dang thermometer popped. We got a late start and that kind of threw me off, but it was delicious! Actually, I kind of hate turkey, but who cares.

The next day we spent unstuffing ourselves at the annual "Unstuffathon" at the gym-- a 90 minute workout with pump, step, and flow, that I got to teach at. It was super fun! We headed home to shower, then to a wicked rocket launch, then up to Cary for some power shopping for all the Black Friday deals at Target, Old Navy, REI. and a few other spots. Can't say that we found anything too out-of-this-world, just tons of people and lots of traffic. We decided to get dinner at Red Lobster before heading back home.

Can you see how much Zachary loooooved those garlic cheese biscuits?!? They were the best part of the meal. That night Jon and I organized the day's haul.

Saturday was like a glorious bonus day since we'd already had Thursday and Friday as a holiday-- so the fun just continued. We'd wanted to go to the new "Big Hero 6" but our local theater wasn't playing it-- don't ask (smh)-- so while we finally finished decorating the tree we brainstormed some fun ideas. I had LOTS of little helpers when hanging ornaments, and our tree looks beautiful! Leah LOVES our tree, and is constantly unhooking ornaments, examining them, and then rehanging them. 

 We decided to go paint pottery and make some special gifts for some special grandparents, so Lucy and Zach's pictures aren't posted. Ssshhhh! They're a secret! We ran some more shopping errands, ordered Mellow Mushroom for din-din, and called it a night. Phew! We were all turkeyed out, ha, ha.

All ready for church this morning in her Christmas dress! We are SO thankful for the countless blessings we have of love, home, and family. Being in the military and living so far away has certainly taught us the hard way how thankful we are for our Savior who knows each one of us personally, for each other, for the good AND the bad times, and for the sheer fact that we ARE making it, one day at a time. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

November in a Nutshell

November is flying by! It seems like little Leah's birthday was just yesterday, I blinked, and now it's already the week of Thanksgiving. We just had our second to last Stake Conference last Sunday, and it was crazy to think that at the conclusion of one more this spring, we are officially outta here. They recently split our ward into the Pinehurst Ward, as well as a new Southern Pines Ward, which caused quite a bit of shake-up! It's amazing to see how the church has grown since we moved here 3 1/2 years ago.

Right about the week after Halloween, all the fall leaves change color and turn this ultra-bright red and orange, and then overnight they turn brown and die. These were trees we enjoyed right in front of the gym. Gorgeous!

 A beautiful tree right in our own backyard! I will miss these long gorgeous "Indian Summer"-type autumns wherever we end up next year.

Zach found Leah's My Little Pony headband and glasses one afternoon while we were waiting to pick Lucy up from "Chicken Club" (they stay after school and feed and water the school's chickens), and he was teasing Leah to keep her entertained.  What a goof!

I recently organized our ward's November enrichment and we made these cute paper Christmas trees as part of an advent calendar for December. You insert a scripture about Christ in the bottom (as well as some chocolate kisses if you want), and then each day you open the tree and read the scripture.

The activity was a hit and they turned out really cute. They look very festive all lined up along the top of my piano. The kids can't wait to start opening them!

We busted out some of Lucy's old winter boots, and thankfully, they look just like the boots Anna wears in the movie Frozen.  And since Leah is super picky about her shoes they are an easy sell. She hates keeping her clothes on-- she loves to undress herself and walk around in just her diaper, and even tries to pull that stunt at the gym.  Thankfully she was fully-clothed and posing very sweetly for this one in her Thanksgiving shirt and Anna boots!

Zach's class celebrated Thanksgiving by learning some Pilgrim and Indian songs and poems and inviting all the parents to come watch them recite them.  I couldn't find a sub for my class, so Jon was more than happy to take the afternoon off and go support Zach instead.

Little Sarah Castelli is the last girl on the right in this picture (with the walker). She has cerebral palsy and is in Zach's class, and Zach LOVES her!! And apparently the whole class just adores her. She is the cutest little girl, but Zach absolutely loves to be "Sarah's Helper" and volunteers to carry her supplies and walk with her in the halls, or play with her at recess. He is a very loving boy.

Enjoying a Thanksgiving feast after their program. Yum!

Zach was a good sport and offered to sing me a couple of his songs when he got home from school.

Saturday morning we decided to brave the cold and do a one mile fun run called the Turkey Trot that our gym sponsors every year. It started at 8:30 a.m. on the dot, and due to trying to haul out all the winter clothes from storage, properly bundle up the kiddos, and find parking close enough to the park we barely made it there by 8:25 a.m. Naturally I was panicking! 

It was 27 degrees but felt much colder with the wind, but at least it was bright and sunny! Lucy's covering her ears and trying to stay warm!

Zach was a good sport and although he missed out on his Saturday morning cartoons, I think he had fun and was glad we made him do it.

There was also a 5k, 10k, and Half-Marathon, so overall there were almost 1,000 participants, which for as small a community as we live in, that's fantastic! It was a huge success for the Fitness Center, as well as for us! We all ran the entire way-- the kids didn't complain (other than about the cold), but we finished in about 10 minutes flat. The kids got medals which they were thrilled about, and I'm so glad we tried it! Next time I'm making them do a 5k, ha, ha.

We decided you only live once. and headed right for the brand new Waffle House for some breakfast waffles and some hot chocolate to help us warm up! It definitely hit the spot! 

Later that afternoon we headed back to the Village to the Pinehurst Resort to check out the Festival of Trees and Candy Cane Lane where Santa Claus was visiting for the day!

I made my kids dress up in their Christmas duds and I think they looked super cute!

We walked around and admired all the trees first, while we waited for our ticket number to be called to go see Santa. Leah especially liked this Hello Kitty tree.

While Jon and I waited in line, the kids listened to Christmas stories read by Mrs. Claus.

HOORAY!! Not one of them was afraid of meeting Santa, and we kept telling Leah that Santa was very nice and would give her candy, so she had no problem going up there. He was an awesome Santa and had the perfect "Ho ho ho."

Telling Santa what they want for Christmas! Lucy wants an Easy Bake Oven, Zach wants a Hot Wheels track, and Leah wants Elsa. I guess we'll see what comes Christmas morning...

All finished and ready to head back home! We are so excited for Thanksgiving, and for Jon to have a little bit of time off to go do some fun things as a family. We are so THANKFUL for November, and that it gives us the opportunity to reflect on just how blessed we are!!