School House Polka

I love this!

Sledding

The day after Thanksgiving found us on the hill behind Borah High School trying to take advantage of the little bit of snow left to go sledding.
It wasn't a very steep hill and the grass could be seen peeking out from underneath the snow but that didn't stop the girls from getting the most out of it. The girls took turns pushing each other as fast they could until they moved on their own and then ran down the hill to give them another push at the bottom to extend the ride.
When it wasn't their turn, the girls rolled on the snow and made snow angels. Papa Hammari and Mommy got cold a lot quicker than the girls and cut the adventure short. We came home to hot cocoa and pumpkin pie and a nice, fire-place warmed house, care of Grandma Hammari.

Bethany pushing Jessi and Kaitlyn on the sled.

Malia with the wind whipping her hair.

Jessi on her first solo "flight"

Kaitlyn having a blast.

I just love this action shot.

Hymns of Thanksgiving

For the last two months, my father in law and I have been going to practices twice a week for a community choir called Hymns of Thanksgiving. This choir has 277 members plus a full orchestra. We are all volunteers and while we didn't audition, this is the most talented bunch of singers I have had the privilege of singing with. This is the choir's 8th year of performing for the city of Boise. We performed in front of a live audience of around 6,000 and were recorded and will be broadcast on public television on the day of Thanksgiving.
This was so much fun. I had even more fun because I was able to have my mom and Bethany at the performance. It is not an experience I will soon forget.

My mom and I right after the performance.

The Purple Girls

Sunday we discovered that we had all dressed in purple. We had to take a picture to commemorate the occasion. This is the best picture we got because despite how cute they are, my girls are saboteurs at heart, especially that tall one in the back!

Megan, Bethany, Grandma Connelly, Malia, Grandma Hammari,
Jessica and Kaitlyn

The "New" Cousins

The girls were very excited to get to hang out with the Connelly Cousins (which of course, includes the Freeman Cousins too!). They have designated these the "new" cousins, despite the fact that most of these cousins were on the earth before they were. The girls and I had a blast! We got to see the play Thursday night so that left the kids to play together on Friday night under the watchful and responsible eye of their cousin Jenny. Bethany and Malia spent the night at Kelly's house where they were hard pressed to calm down and go to sleep when they were so excited to play with Melissa and Stephanie. The rest of us were playing musical beds at Cathy and Jon's house. With 20 some odd people in a house, it was amazingly quiet! Many Mahalos go out to Cathy and Jon and Kelly for opening their homes for this wonderful bonding experience.

James, Nate, and the Flash (aka. David)

How many people can you see in this picture?Ganon and little TJ

The "new" Three musketeers!
Watch out world, here they come!

Bye Bye Birdie

We had the wonderful opportunity to drive down to Utah this past weekend to see my nephew, Michael and my nieces, Kimberly and Stephanie in their high school production of "Bye, Bye Birdie." It was extra special because my mother was up from Arizona to see it as well. Michael did his roll well and didn't break character even though he knew his family was the ones in the audience laughing the loudest. We also cheered the loudest too. Kimmy out shined her counter parts (in my opinion) as she skipped and danced, always keeping in character. Stephanie was so cute in her sophisticated adult outfit. Bravo and Brava!

Stephanie played one of the parents of the crazy teenagers. I loved her outfit and her hair.
Very sophisticated!

Michael played the dashing Conrad Birdie that made all the girls swoon and twitch.

Kimberly played on of the Happy Face dancers! She was so cute with her bouncing curls and her rainbow colored petticoat.

It was so special to have Grandma Connelly there to laugh and cheer the kids on.

My little chefs

Bethany and Malia, both are trying to pass off some goals for their girls' activity group at church. Sewing was one of the projects that they undertook during the school break for parent/teacher conferences. Planning, cooking and serving a nutritious meal was another one. Bethany made mac & cheese with peas and grapes and milk to drink. Malia made hot dogs, carrots w/ ranch dip, tater tots, and strawberry lemonade to drink.
I just hope this domestic streak continues. :)

Malia "roasting" a hot dog over the open.....um...pot?

Malia's spread!

Bethany's colorful lunch

Jessi is modeling it for us just so you know how yummy she thought it was!

Jessi turns 4!!!

Jessi was so excited about her birthday this year. To hear her talk, you would think that birthdays were all there was to life! The one thing she was sure she wanted was "Mommy Bear!" She was the only one who forgot to bring a stuffed animal from NH. She has been snuggling with Daddy Bear so she has been ok. But she really felt that we needed a Mommy Bear! We went to Build a Bear Workshop during the school day in order to keep down the peer pressure and the jealousy. Mommy Bear was created with much love and tenderness!
Jessi had a family party, with her Great Grandma Louise, her Great Aunt Kathy and her cousin Wyatt's whole family there to celebrate with us. She had a special treat getting four dollars from her daddy AND her Great Grandma! She is SO rich!
I wondered what she would have to talk about once her birthday was over. Silly me! Her next birthday of course!

Jessi picks out her bear

Mommy Bear gets stuffed!

Mommy Bear gets "washed" and brushed.Jessi and Mommy Bear, dressed and all ready to go!

Four candles!

Money from Daddy!

A quilt for Mommy Bear, in purple, of course!

The biggest present gets opened last, a Little People's Castle

Sewing like crazy

We have gotten on a sewing craze here. Bethany made a pillow with this fuzzy, soft blue materiel. Kaitlyn made a quilt for her stuffed bear, Princess Lily, with the help of Grandma Hammari. Malia made a 45"x60" blanket for her self that has horses all of the front of it! Bethany and Malia actually did some of the sewing. Malia also made a similar quilt to Princess Lily's for a friend's birthday. I made one like it as well for Jessica's new bear, Mommy Bear (post on her birthday is forth coming).
I am hoping that this new found skill and interest will lead to more hand made presents for Christmas this year. Malia has also learned to crochet. This is impressive to me as none of my children has ever had the patience for that!

Bethany sewing her pillow case (and making faces, as usual)

Bethany putting the pillow form in the pillow case

Kaitlyn piecing her quilt together

Kaitlyn showing off the finished top

Malia sewing her horse blanket

Malia turning her blanket right-side out

Candy Countdown

Inspired by an idea that my brother and sister in law's family uses to countdown to Christmas (and to moderate the consumption of the Halloween candy), I decided to make a candy countdown to mark the time until Arnie gets home for Christmas. We did this while the girls were at school. Jessi was a great helper and loved handing candy down the line, as well as counting the chain links (5, 6, 10, 14, 19, 3, 4, 12, etc.) So helpful! There are two girls per chain and they take turns cutting the chain or picking the candy first. It is exciting to see the chain diminishing! We are really looking forward to Daddy coming home for this little bit.

Grandma Hammari placing the candies on the plastic wrap

Grandma double checking the candy count.

Mommy dating them with Jessi "supervising"

The finished product modeled by the lovely Jessi. Two girls per strand.

Halloween

Halloween was a smaller event this year only in the fact that it fell on a Sunday and we are living in a town that wouldn't alter the date for the community to go trick or treating to the prior evening. (I have lived in other places that have done this.) So, in that light, the only candy collecting (or doling out) we joined in was at our church's Halloween activity. There was a dinner followed by "trunk or treating," where everyone decorates the trunks of their cars and distributes candy to the kids in the parking lot. It is highly efficient but not high grossing, candy wise. C'est la vie! Who needs so much candy?
It was a bigger event in terms of costumes. Jessi and Kaitlyn were both princesses. I lucked out and found their costumes at a thrift store. Bethany wanted to be a sorcerer cat but it morphed into being a bat the last minute after I made her a really cool cape and her cat ears just didn't jive with the witch hat thing. Malia made out like a bandit getting much more than a costume. She now has authentic cowgirl boots and an authentic cowgirl hat that she wears all the time. The chaps and vest that she wore for Halloween have a great history, having been worn for the first time by her dad a long, long time ago.
This is the first time in my life that I have made my own costume. And I'm not talking about taking a white sheet and calling myself a ghost or anything like that. I mean I got material and sewed a queen costume. I was over ambitious though and didn't have it done in time for the party. I have the consolation, however, of being able to pack this away for use next year, and the year after that, and the year after that....well, you get the idea....;)

Bethany spreading her bat wings

Jessica is too cool for you!

Kaitlyn is a vision in pink!

Malia helped Papa at his bean bag toss booth

Mommy, the Queen

Something to post about

Last night for family night, we had each of the girls do a poster with their family tree, complete with pictures. The process of prepping for this activity brought about the picture below because I couldn't find a decent picture of myself. It also spurred some random thoughts that I thought I'd share.

One was that as a photographer, I don't have very many pictures of myself. I think Malia took a picture of me taking a picture but my face was obscured by my camera and didn't make for a good portrait. I think that there are a lot of family events where I appear to have been absent due to the fact that I was behind the camera. Note to self, get a little point and shoot camera to give the kids or Arnie so that I am remembered in this life.

Two is my hair. I have been getting a lot of compliments about it lately. I find it rather amusing as I haven't done anything extraordinary to it. Some women spend a lot of money on their hair, getting expensive cuts, perms, dyes, etc to obtain the look they want. I am not one of those people. In fact, I forget to get it cut. Hence the length. Arnie likes it long so much that for once, I am humoring him. Not sure why men like long hair, it drives me insane. This time I am consoling myself with the thought that after the holidays, I will cut it off and donate it to one of those agencies that turn real hair into wigs for those people that have cancer. Until then, up into a braid or ponytail it goes. This picture is one of those rare times you'll see it down. Sigh, I guess that means this an accurate portrait after all. Oh well!

Me under an aspen and an apple tree

Pumpkin Picking

For family time, we went out to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins. It is fun because you take a tracker-pulled hay ride out to the field where you pick the pumpkins. The kids had a great time running through the waist high vegetation looking for the "perfect" pumpkin. The sign near the patch stated that all children must be able to carry their pumpkins. This doesn't keep them from dreaming of hefting the biggest monster pumpkin in the patch. My back wasn't (and probably won't ever be) up to that, though. I got one of the smaller ones.

A line of pumpkins

The kids helping their cousin, Wyatt with his pumpkin selection.
Jessica with her long-stemmed beauty
"Malia! That is too big!"
"Ahhh, Mom!"

All the happy pumpkin pickers!

Riding horses in Idaho

We went to Melba to celebrate my girls' cousin, Wyatt's birthday. His dad owns a horse and had borrowed his dad's horse, Coco, for the occasion. Malia had just acquired an authentic pair of cowgirl boots and a cowgirl hat and was anxious to try them out. Uncle Rick is a very down to earth, country, no nonsense kind of guy but even so, I was just a little taken back when he just placed my three year old up on his huge horse with nothing but his six year old to keep her from falling off! However, Jessi had a blast and Wyatt had no trouble kicking Cadillac in gear and turning his head around if he needing a course adjustment. The horse rides, unfortunately, got cut short due to a sudden shower burst. Malia was glad for her hat as Coco was more interested in the salt lick than getting her out of the rain.

Kaitlyn kicking Cadillac! (Can you see him laugh?)

Malia, my cowgirlJessi and her cousin, Wyatt on his daddy's horse Cadillac, having a blast (while the photographer is trying not to have a panic attack)Bethany riding Coco who was content to just mosey around in a wide circle whether or not she held the reins or had her feet in the stirrups.