Some odds and ends posted on yet another snow day

It wasn't a two-hour delay after all.  School is canceled today.  Sigh.

David and Mary are off playing with the neighbors, so I will take this opportunity to post some random pictures from the last two months with accompanying comments.

Sara and my mom look at a book in our Idaho hotel back in January.  Sara is so sweet and loving.   People love to be with her.  She has a special gift of bringing happiness to those around her.

Sara loves books.  She is much more genuinely interested in them than my other two kids were as babies.  Sara is truly excited to see what each new page will bring.  She also enjoys the act of carefully turning the pages one by one.  

These pictures were taken over a month ago.  I love spending my days with this sweet baby.

This little cutie still has no teeth, no words, and has taken no steps.  So it's hard to believe she will be 14 months old tomorrow.  But she is getting some of the toddler attitude and sense of humor.  She is curious, thoroughly exploring her surroundings.  And she watches her big brother and sister, joining in their fun.  My personal favorite is when I sit and do Mary's hair--Sara gets in the supplies and earnestly tries to put her hair in a pony tail.  It's so funny.

BFF Bailey came over for a sleep over on MLK weekend.  The boys worked hard on this Lego creation, which they named Fort Bavid.  What luck that David's best buddy lives just 2 hours away.

This is the Grand Canyon.  This was a Grand Crisis.  But it everything turned out fine.  By the way, it weighs two hundred pounds and takes up a lot of shelf space.  It's adorable, but, really, how long am I obligated to keep it?

This is the first grade at their music concert.

You can find Cousin Evan in this picture.  (Middle to the right, white button-down shirt.)

And the lovely Mary.  She was very nervous beforehand, but then thoroughly enjoyed performing.  That's Mary.  She gets nervous before performances, but she ends up LOVING it and totally gets a high from it!

Usually Mary takes a bath with Sara.  But this time it was David.

Sara loves her silly brother.

This is David and Brother Echols.  David's Pack had a father-son cake contest, and Brother Echols kindly filled in.  Brother Echols is super nice, and David had a great time.  Plus, they passed off a bunch of  Cub Scout electives while they were waiting for the cake to bake.  (By the way, Universe, enough with the father-child events!  We are blessed to have awesome, fun, loving people fill in--but these events still make my kids so, so sad. They can't help but be reminded that their dad is not here. )

This is David and their cake at the Blue and Gold Banquet.  (A HUGE thanks to Aunt Janell who was inspired to send cake pans for Valentines this year.  She thought it was totally random--but it was truly inspired.  It was a small but real mercy to have the storm trooper cake pan on hand for this project.  Thank you, thank you.)

The cake won an award!  (And it was yummy.)

The theme of the Blue and Gold Banquet was Invention Convention.  David did a presentation on George Eastman, the founder of Kodak, who made easy-to-use cameras that everyone could use.  David did an awesome job!  He is a smart kid and he know a lot of things.

One Saturday we went to the school's extravaganza.  I usually dread things like that.  But it was so fun!  It was a huge undertaking with carnival games, drawings, a silent auction, bouncy houses, tons of food, etc., but really well organized.  The kids had a blast--it was like a play date with the kids they never get to have play dates with.  Mary even won a prize!  Yay for a fun Saturday activity (that conveniently fell in between Sara's naps)!!  Also, now that you know where my kids go to school, please don't kidnap them.

This is a three-person Sunday morning play date.  Can you see the three?

David, Mary, and their dad.  They were busy playing when he was available to skype, so the brought him along.

This is so cute to me.  It's nice when they can skype.  The time difference has been killing us.  So far the kids have really only been able to skype with Greg once on the weekends because he is asleep when they are at school.  I realized that he's just going to need to start getting up in the middle of the night--especially to talk to David, who really needs to be able to talk to his dad during the week.  I usually talk to Greg on the phone every day at 11 for about 15 minutes.  Sometimes 30 minutes. I am old-fashioned, and we usually do not skype.

Mary and Sara are developing a very close relationship.  Mary takes very good care of Sara, walking her around the house, reading her books, and helping me clean up her messes.  She also likes to take care of Sara in the mornings, which I appreciate so much.  I have really begun to rely on Mary a lot.  She carries a lot of responsibility.  I have to remember she's only 6.  

Greg said it best:  Sara is a giver, not a taker.  She gives joy and energy and happiness.  She is gentle, and she will trust you to be gentle too.  And that trust, that sweet smile, fills your heart with gladness.  This is a special little girl.

David and Mary are back from sledding.  Gotta go...

Christmas cheer here and there

With Greg's training in Texas the week before Christmas and all the preparations for his deployment, the Christmas season felt a little rushed and overwhelming this year.  For simplicity, we made the decision to cut back on a number of things, or cut them out entirely.

Whenever people say they simplify their lives, I wonder what exactly they mean.  What do they really cut out?  In case you wonder the same thing, I will give you some examples.  For instance:  We didn't get out all of our Christmas decorations (which I regretted come Christmas Eve).  We simplified the advent calendar (which was fine for this year, but we lost some of the reverence and focus on Christ).  We skipped the church Christmas party completely, and I did not attend the kids' class parties at school.  No Christmas cards (this hurts).  We did not watch very many Christmas shows or movies.  We only put up one strand of lights outside (which the kids thought was lame but better than nothing).  In some ways we scaled back on gift-giving, like skipping new pajamas and, I hate to admit it, not giving those small thoughtful gifts to people like Primary teachers and the school bus driver.  I did basically no baking.  Besides buying coats for a collection at school, we did no extra service or special charitable acts.

But it's not as if we did nothing.  There was Christmas cheer in our lives.  And some Christmas busyness is especially important this year--to distract us Greg's departure next week.  While we cut out some things, I am grateful for what remained on the calendar and in our day-to-day December lives.  Greg, David, and Mary went to the high school production of A Christmas Carol.  I took David, Mary, cousin Eliza, and the two kids next door to a production of The Nutcracker.  (It was delightful!)  We delivered simple neighbor gifts.  We read in the Book of Mormon about the birth of Christ from the perspective of His followers on this continent.  We have been listening to John Denver and The Muppets  ("five goooooolden rings, ba-da-bum-bum!").  David and Mary have been learning Christmas songs on the piano.  We even managed to decorate Christmas cookies.  It's been a wonderful Christmas.  You really don't have to do every little thing to feel the warmth of Christmas.  This year was enough.  More than enough.

I have pictures of a few other ways that Christmas cheer has filled the season...

David's Christmas concert

If I look at my pictures of David's music concerts through the years, I think in most of them what you see is the back of his head!  What can I say?  He's a social kid.

David was so excited about playing an instrument in the concert.

Christmas crafting

David drew this at church one day.  It's very sweet.

That same Sunday, Mary made this.  It's not technically Christmas-y, I guess.  But I had to include it.

Mary decided to make a blanket for Sara this year for Christmas.  Isn't that sweet?

Making things for loved ones is definitely  part of the holiday season.

After a yummy, whine-free dinner at Macaroni Grill we drove through the lights in Sharon Woods.  Yes, that is a baby head.  Since we were going 2 miles per hour, I put Sara on my lap and it was like all her Christmas dreams had come true.

We have lit candles and sung songs.  Favorite Christmas carols this year have been "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," "Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing," "Christmas Bells," "Christmas Is Coming," "Deck the Halls" and "O Come All Ye Faithful"

The best part about this Christmas?  It's Sara's first!

I love my family.  I am grateful for a happy, cheerful, delightful Christmas season.