Mott Family Reunion - Thanksgiving 2007

We had such a fun Thanksgiving this year. Some of Daniel's family (his mom, one of his brothers, and one of his sisters with her husband and their two kids) came to stay with us.

First they flew into Dallas and we drove up there to meet them (Dallas is about 3 hours north of us). They had never been to the Dallas/Fort Worth area before, so we wanted to stay up there for a few days and show them around. While we were there we went to a rodeo in Fort Worth, the JFK Memorial and Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, and the Fort Worth Zoo.

As usual, I took several hundred pictures to document all the fun. How else would we remember what a good time we had?


The First Night - Eating out at Carino's Italian Grill; Rodeo at Stockyards Station

JFK Memorial and Downtown Dallas

The Fort Worth Zoo

One of my sisters lives near Dallas, so she and her three kids were able to meet us at the zoo and spend the day with us. All of the kids got along great, and it was fun to be able to spend time with my sister.

On Tuesday we drove down to Austin to get ready for Thanksgiving at our house. We stopped for some shopping at the Round Rock outlets, and then ate dinner at Rudy's BBQ - a true Texas experience. The next day the boys went golfing and Gretchen and I took the kids to Austin Children's Museum, which they loved. They could stay at that place for hours. That night Anita babysat all the kids while we went to the Melting Pot in downtown Austin.

Thanksgiving day went perfectly, thanks to Daniel's mom - I consider myself very lucky to have a mother-in-law who knows her way around the kitchen and thinks cooking up a huge feast for everyone is fun. I don't know what I would have done without her.

On Thanksgiving the temperature literally dropped 35 degrees, and the next day we headed down to SeaWorld, San Antonio in 40 degree weather. It was freezing! We bundled everyone up, and all the kids were good sports, so we still had a good time. I did NOT envy the dolphin trainers this time around - that water looked much too cold.

Saturday we got to watch the BYU game, so that was fun. That evening the boys went out to Tokyo Steak House, and then they came back and watched the kids and the girls went out and did a little shopping. It was a good day.

Daniel's family left on Monday morning to go back to Utah, and it came much too soon. I wish Texas was a little bit closer to home so we could see everyone more often.

Austin Children's Museum in downtown Austin

SeaWorld, San Antonio in 40 degree weather

Dinner at Maudie's Milagro and Obstacle Courses for the Kids

After we got home from Maudie's, Daniel organized lots of races and an obstacle course for the kids. After all the excitement, Gretchen led them in some stretches and relaxation exercises to help them get ready for bed.

Here we go again. . .*

*see this post for appropriate background info


Oliver making a Christmas drawing to hang up

Last night we were driving home from Daniel's work and Oliver and Tristan were counting all of the houses with Christmas lights/decorations. At one point after we drove past a particularly fancy house, I heard Oliver mutter to himself, "Okay, I have GOT to start decorating tomorrow.

First thing this morning he went straight to work. This is what he's come up with so far. . .

- a little paper wreath to hang on our door. He was very proud that the wreath is visible from the street (after he hung it he walked out to the street to make sure), but he keeps asking me if people will think it's a real wreath or if they'll know it's just made out of paper. I told him they might realize it's paper if they come really close, but they'll still love it. So if you come to our house, you may want to compliment Oliver on the wreath.

- six little "Christmas lights" made out of paper, also hanging on our door. He was so excited when he figured out he could make his own christmas lights out of paper. It made me really sad for him, though, that as a five-year old he feels completely responsible for decorating our house, and he is only equipped with paper and markers to do it. I think part of him is very pleased that he made his own christmas lights, but the other part of him realizes that they don't have quite the same effect as real ones, and he's a little frustrated about that.

- a miniature candy cane decoration for the yard

- a miniature present decoration for the yard







In the past I've always felt like we had plenty of decorations - I always get a real christmas tree with lights and set up tons of nativity scenes around the house, but I've never really bothered with the outside of the house. This year I am feeling like I might need to do a little bit extra for Oliver's sake. I am torn between getting a few cheap little things that Oliver will be thrilled with (if he is so desperate for candy canes in the yard, Wal-Mart has 4-foot tall ones with lights for 5 bucks) or spending a little more to get some classy decorations that I actually like and will want to save for next year.

I told Oliver I'd take him to the store tonight so we could look at Christmas decorations and possible get some for the front yard. I guess I'll just see how it goes. He can't wait.

Quotable Quotes

Oliver loves to quote funny lines from movies, and Rachel loves to quote Oliver quoting funny lines from movies.

Lately Rachel has been quoting a lot from Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. These are her 3 favorites lines - all of them sound pretty funny coming from the mouth of a little three-year old:

1) "Coincidence? I think not. "

I don't think she has any idea what this means. She just loves to throw it out there at random moments.

2) "You're not saving the species tonight, or any other night! "
(In case you haven't seen this movie, this line is said to Manny the mammoth after he suggests mating with a girl mammoth in order to save the species.)

I sure hope she doesn't know what this means.

3) "What? It's catchy!"
(Sid the Sloth says this to Manny the mammoth after Manny tells him to stop singing a song the vultures made up.)

I didn't think she knew what this one meant until Sunday, when we had this conversation:

Rachel: Mom, don't look at me - I don't want to see your face.

Me: Hey, that's not nice.

Rachel (again): I don't want to see your face.

Me: Why are you saying that?

Rachel: I just don't want to see your face.

Me: Okay, new rule - you aren't allowed to say that ever again.

Rachel: What? It's catchy!


I think I ruined the stern disciplinary moment I was planning by laughing out loud.

The Best Part of Making a Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake

Mott Boys versus the Star Wars Action Figure Guys

A few weeks ago after church the kids were getting bored so Daniel got out his blow dart gun that he got on his mission (I'm not sure if it's from Singapore or if he got it in Malaysia or Sri Lanka or somewhere else he visited).

The boys (and Daniel) had so much fun setting up a huge Star Wars army and then trying to knock them down by blowing darts at them. The piece of cardboard in the background is to protect the walls from any darts that might miss their target.

Darth Vader was by far the hardest enemy to take out. Tristan and Oliver were almost convinced that he was using the force against them, as it took way more darts than it should have to finally knock him over.

Anyway, this is the kind of fun Sunday afternoon activity that goes on at our house. At least they are spending quality time together, right?

Rachel's Thoughts on Motherhood

Rachel, in what is (according to her) not the most ideal fighting outfit.

Rachel has been thinking a lot lately about becoming a mother. Recently she told me that if she were MY mom, she would let me have a pink army shirt AND a red fighter-shirt and a pinkish-reddish sword and we would eat pinkish-reddish cake and banana splits. (Rachel loves both red and pink, so to her "pinkish-reddish" is the ultimate color. And she absolutely loves banana splits, which is why she manages to work them into almost any conversation.)

Anyway, you can tell she's a girl with two older brothers if a pink and red fighing outfit complete with sword seems like the best gift a mother could give.

Rachel's ideas on mothering do not stop there - the other day she and Oliver were out in the kitchen and I heard them have this conversation:

Rachel (in a very condescending voice): When I grow up to be a mom, I will be in charge of my kids. (I can tell she just can not wait for this time of power - her poor children)

Oliver: Oh, yeah? Well, you'll have to do everything hard when you're a mom.

Rachel: What will I do that's hard?

Oliver: You'll have to clean your house and stuff.

Rachel: Well, this is what I'll do when I'm a mom:

• Get my little kids dinner, lunch, and snack. (I guess they're not getting breakfast)
• Cook some stuff in the oven.
• Get my kids some applesauce.
• When I'm done I'll put the food back in the pantry and fridge.
• Play catch with my kids with a soccer ball.

It was interesting to see how she views my life - it looks like it's mostly spent in the kitchen. At least I get out to the backyard once in a while to throw that old soccer ball around. I think I know where that part is coming from - the last few Saturdays Daniel, Tristan, and I have played catch out in the backyard (with a football, not soccer ball, I should clarify).

It's actually been really fun. Daniel is the quarterback, and he has me and Tristan run different receiver routes. On Saturday we were trying to see who could catch the most out of 10 passes for four different routes. I am embarrassed to admit that Tristan beat me on the first three contests. I only won when we were running out patterns, and even that one was close - we were tied at the end of 10 passes each, so we had to go until sudden death, and I managed to beat him. It's good practice for both of us and we have a lot of fun. Tristan is so competitive, though - he does not like to lose. Luckily I do not have that problem.

Rachel, Oliver, and Lizzy usually hang out in the backyard while we're playing, and I guess Rachel has been observing and decided that playing catch counts as a motherly duty now.

The "Relaxing Pants"

Oliver did something funny the other day. We were going through clothes upstairs in his room (I brought in all the winter clothes from the garage, so I'm trying to get rid of some of his summer clothes and too-small things. If you're wondering why I'm only boxing up some of his summer clothes, it's because even though it is the middle of November in most of the country, here in the heart of Texas it is some other month - on Wednesday the high is supposed to be 90 degrees).

Anyway, I was having him try on lots of pants, and we got to a funny little pair of plaid pants. I strongly considered tossing them, because I'm not sure if he has any shirts to match them, but they looked cozy and comfortable, and I thought he'd probably like them, so on they went. I said something like, "Ooh, these seem really soft and comfortable. I bet they'd make good "relaxing pants" (meaning, you are never to wear these out of the house, son!).

I guess he liked the idea of relaxing pants, because he got very excited, saying, "Yes! I love these! These are the best relaxing pants ever! I want to go lay down on my bed right now and just relax."

He ran over to his bed and sprawled out in his best "I'm relaxing" pose. He then gave a big contented sigh, and said, "This is so relaxing! I think I'll just grab myself a club soda and turn on some music."

I was laughing so hard. I have no idea where he heard about club sodas, and why he thinks they might be relaxing. I'm quite sure I've never mentioned them before.

Relaxing Pants: Exhibit A

Relaxing Pants: Exhibit B

Hard Decisions

My kids make the strangest candy choices. I don't know if you could tell from the "candy piles" picture on the Halloween post, but we had quite a few good piles going on, with lots of candy bars, chocolate, skittles, M&Ms, etc.

When I was helping the kids pick their 10 pieces after our ward party (they got to choose 10 more after trick-or-treating), we still had several turns like this:

Me: Okay, Rachel, it's your turn to choose. What one do you want?

Rachel: Um, I want this one. She grabs a little miniature sour apple-bubblegum dum-dum from the pile.

Me: Shudder. Are you sure? Look at all these big yummy treats over here.

Rachel: No, thanks. I just really want this one.

Me: Don't you want a big bag of skittles or a Reese's peanut butter cup?

Rachel: No, this one's my very favorite. Plop. Into her bucket it goes.

Me: Sigh. Okay, Oliver, your turn.

Oliver also had questionable taste. Tristan at least was trying to choose some big things. He has all these big plans for saving his candy. He told me yesterday that he figured out he could save it for 80 days if he only eats one piece every 4 days. About 10 minutes later he came and told me that he was thinking about saving them for just 40 days, or he might just do what Oliver is doing and eat one piece every day. We'll see.

Update: Since Halloween the boys have each held themselves strictly to only one piece per day, even though we said they could eat it whenever they want to. They are both alarmed that Rachel is blowing through hers much faster, as they are sure she will regret it later. They are probably right. The other day I heard Tristan say to Rachel as he watched her search around in her bucket for another treat, "I wouldn't do that Rachel! If I were you I would not eat one for like 5 days and then maybe you won't run out so fast."