Snow in Texas

It snowed here yesterday!  And it actually stuck on the ground, which has never happened in the almost 4 years we've lived here.  

Oliver was in heaven (he's my snow boy, it turns out).  By the time he got home from school a lot of the snow in the yard had turned to mush, but he still stayed out there for hours, and managed to put together a little baby snowman.

They started school two hours later this morning, just in case things were icy and dangerous today (they weren't).

In unrelated news, here is a fabulous Valentine's card that Oliver made for me and Daniel:

 (note the fancy writing on the front - he hasn't learned cursive yet, but he's trying to teach himself)

Thanks, Ollie!  We think you're pretty great, too.

Decorating Cookies

Let's just say Henry was more than a little excited about his first time decorating Valentine's cookies. 

He could not get over how fun the sprinkles were.

And I can't get over how cute he is. 

I wish you could hear the sounds he is making in this picture.  Squeals of pure joy with a lot of growling mixed in.

I hope your Valentine's Day was just as exciting.

Generals and Tacos (A typical Rachel story)

Earlier this week, Rachel came up to me and out of nowhere said, "Mom, I know how it works with captains and generals." 

Me:  Oh.  Okay.  So, how does it work?

Rachel:  Well, the captains are in charge of the pirates, and the generals are in charge of the captains. . . .  But Mom, who is in charge of the generals?. . . . . Heavenly Father?

Me:  Um. . .

Rachel (feeling self-conscious about her guess):  Wait. . .no, that doesn't really make sense.  But, like, you know what I mean!

("You know what I mean" is Rachel-code for "I have no idea what I'm talking about and I know I said something that's not quite right, but as long as I throw this phrase in there, we can pretend we're all on the same page.  She does this all the time:

Me:  Hey, Rachel, what's 10 plus 10?
Rachel:  15?
Me:  No, it's 20.
Rachel:  Well, you know what I mean.)

Anyway, I don't really know what got her on this whole captain/general kick (or why she thinks pirates are also in the mix), but she's been talking about it a lot.  Somehow she has decided that a General = highest level of awesomeness.

Last Saturday I surprised the kids and brought home Taco Bell for dinner.  I got Rachel two soft tacos, and she was ecstatic.  "Mom, you are so nice.  I can't believe you bought me two tacos!  But do you know what would have been even better?  Three tacos!  And do you know what would be even better than that?  Four tacos!  And do you know what would have really been the General?  FIVE TACOS!  So, do you get it?  Like, four tacos would have just been the Captain, but five tacos is the General!"

Yeah, I got it, Rachel.  And there is no way you're getting five tacos. 

I'm thinking maybe we could start a new trend, though - if something is just really, really cool, I'm going to start saying "That is totally the General!"  It would be like instead of saying "the bomb."  (haha - do people still say that?)  Anyway, you know what I mean. 

Milking Old Steady

I love it when Rachel is in her "pretend mother" mode (and ever since she got that new play kitchen for Christmas, she stays in that mode pretty much all the time).  She talks in the best mom voice and calls everyone "little one", and says tons of random motherly things.

The other day when the boys got home from school, Rachel was laying down on the couch with a dreadful look on her face.  Oliver asked what was wrong, and she did a big sigh, and then said, "I'm feeling pretty sick.  I have two fevers and I'm pregnant!" 

I guess she had her baby later that afternoon (although he looked suspiciously not like a newborn, and more like a one-year old named Henry).  He soon proved to be too wild for even her superior mother skills;  I heard her telling Tristan, "Son, I just have one job for you - please don't let the baby talk to me.  I'm sooo busy, and I just don't have time to deal with him."  

Ha!  Now she knows I how feel sometimes.  She really is a good helper to me, though, and I can tell she's going to be a great mom someday because she practices so much with Henry.  She loves playing with him, and she's always willing to read to him or watch him when I need to get something done. 

A few days ago she told me she just wished she was a monkey, because then she could be such a good helper to me.  I was a little baffled as to how a monkey would make my life easier.  She explained, "Don't you get it?  Like, with one hand I could make Dad some breakfast, with one hand I could feed the baby, with one foot I could wash a door or something, I could vacuum with my tail, and with that last foot I could clean up the rest of the house!"

It made perfect sense, of course.

Today she was pretending to be a mother/farmer.  It was a funny combination. 

Here she is milking her trusty horse named Steady (yeah, I know.  At this point I kind of just go with it):

Like any good mother/farmer, she taught her "little one" how to milk her own horse (named Marzipan, I was informed).  Note how they each have their own milking stool/ball.  For some reason these were very important to the whole milking process:

And look!  Marzipan produces chocolate milk:

I'm so lucky to have such good little mother/farmer/helper monkeys.

Sister Trip - December 2009

At the beginning of December, Henry got to come with me to my annual "Sister Trip" with my mom and five sisters.  This year it was in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Henry was such a good little traveler.  He loves airplanes, and he couldn't believe that we actually got to go on one:

We had a layover in Dallas for a few hours, so he had fun playing around at the airport.  Our connection to Phoenix didn't leave until after 10 p.m. - I think that's the latest he's ever stayed up.  Luckily he fell asleep pretty much as soon as we took off. 

Chillin' with Aunt Marian the next morning:

We were all excited to start right off with giving our "sister gifts".  Here we are in our new pajamas from Christine and my mom:

The rest of the gifts:

Henry and his cousin Orva (she's only a few weeks younger than he is).  This window was his favorite spot to hang out - he would stand there and yell about any cars or trucks that went by.

Stuck in the bumbo.  I think this was my favorite spot for him to hang out.  Why have I never gotten one of these for any of my five kids?  These things are awesome. 

My brother Alex had just gotten back from a mission to Thailand a few weeks before, so we invited him to come down to Arizona with us as an honorary member just for this year.  It was so fun seeing him again and hearing about his mission, and Henry was thrilled to have another guy around (he was missing his dad). 

All ready for church - my sister Eliza lives about 45 minutes away from Scottsdale, so we all went to her Sacrament meeting.

The four little cousins who were there.  Alexander, Orva, Henry, and Alice:

Sunday pictures at Eliza's house:

Mom and her girls, in age order:  (L-R) Mom, Laura, Rebekah, Eliza, Joanne, Marian, Christine

Just the girls.  Between us we have 20 kids (and Bekah and Christine are pregnant).  It was nice to have a little break with only the babies there:

With Alex:

All together:

After dinner we drove to the Mesa Temple to see all the Christmas lights.  Henry loved it!

More cousin fun:

Getting a haircut from Aunt Laura:

Enjoying one of the many spinach smoothies we made:

Eliza's husband Brent just bought a chiropractic practice, so on one of the days we all went over to check it out (and get massages from the massage therapist who works there).  Henry had fun playing with all the equipment:

Alex helped with childcare while we were getting our massages:

The seasoned traveler, on his way home:

I love my mom and sisters, and we have such a good time when we're together.  I always wish we lived closer together so we could hang out all the time.