Church? Cancelled!

Merry Christmas! We had a quiet day and it didn't really seem like Christmas. We're trying to get used to new traditions being so far away from family. My parents came in to town last night so the party is just now beginning. We were so excited to take them to church today so they could meet all of our friends and so we could show them off. But...

church got cancelled because of ALL this snow! LOL! You can still see the grass :) I even had two of my primary kids (I just got called to be the Primary President a couple weeks ago) who were supposed to be baptized today and that got postponed too. So strange. In Utah, this isn't even considered snow is it? Georgia has officially shut down...so awesome.

Happy Holidays!

Cambrie and Mitchell

Cambrie had her Christmas choir concert last night and the choir did such an amazing job.


This is a group of 4th and 5th graders who've auditioned to be in this particular choir. They worked really hard and it paid off...the music was beautiful. Way to go Duncan Creek Cardinal Choir!


SUPER secure, top of the line, safety gate: $50.00


Mitchell falling down the stairs: Inevitable


"If I can't open the gate myself, I'll just pull it down."

Awesome. Mind you, this gate was not easy to pull down. He figured out if he shook it back and forth hard enough, and enough times, it would eventually give. Every time we put it back up, he had it down again within a couple days...pointless.

I give up. This kid is totally in control.

Adjusting to Georgia

George and I NEVER had to take any of our children to the ER or Urgent Care while we lived in Utah, not once. In the 3.5 months that we've lived in Georgia, Max has been to Urgent Care twice, Brie to the ER once, Drew to the ER once, and last night we had to take Mitchell to the ER.

That's 2 visits to the Urgent Care, and 3 trips to the ER! In 3.5 months...what is it with Georgia and my kids? Mitchell had a fever of 104.7 last night and we couldn't get it to go down. He's fine now, but it was a long night and I am so tired of late night ER visits.

Hopefully we're done for a while.

Hopefully.

GEORGE

George never ceases to amaze me. I've never met anyone with as much motivation and determination as him, and he manages to channel it in all the right directions. I know people get tired of cheesy blog posts but the truth is, when the blogging craze is over, and I finally decide to fork out the $500,000 it's going to cost to print this baby, my family will be the only ones who'll read it. That being said, I would never want them to question my love for George, and I want them to know how hard he worked for us and how much we mean to him.

George has been in his PhD program for a couple months now and has read HUNDREDS of pages a week so far. It's incredible how much reading he has and he manages to get most of it done. He wakes up at 6:00am (NEVER hits the snooze button...I ALWAYS hit the snooze button), gets his bags and lunch packed for the day, wakes the rest of the family up at 7:00, has scripture study with us, and then runs out the door to catch his bus.

He then takes the 2 hour trek to Emory University (on public transportation), reading the whole way. He has classes, and then goes to work at the library on campus when he has a break to earn some extra money. When work is done, he RUNS across campus to catch the shuttle and begins his 2 hour trek home. He usually gets home at 5:45, eats dinner, and then has to be out the door at 6:00 to take Drew to soccer, or he stays home and puts the kids to bed while I take Drew to soccer (depends on the day). When he stays home with the kids, he puts them to bed, and then cleans up dinner before he starts his HOURS of reading or writing papers. If he ends up going to soccer, he does the same only much later when he gets home. We are both running around like crazy every day except for Wednesday, and so on Wednesdays he never does any work, he makes sure that Wednesdays are for us to catch up and spend some time with each other.

He is rarely in bed before midnight, and is often up until 2:00 am or so. But it doesn't stop him, he jumps out of bed the next morning ready to do it all again.

Last night at midnight, Max came in and told George he had thrown up. George had probably just gone to bed but didn't say a word to me, he just got up, and took care of the problem. I am so grateful for him! Who does that? And when I tell him thank you for all of these wonderful, selfless things he does for us, he just says "Sure," or "Of course," and he doesn't even think twice about it.

He plans his weeks out so that he is sure to have all his work done so he can spend time with us one the weekends. He hasn't missed a soccer game, has helped with all the parties we've had, plays sports with Drew on the weekends, the WII with Max, cooks with Cambrie, and chases Mitchell around the house. It's absolutely amazing to watch him accomplish all of these things. It's incredible to me, that he can fit in all in when really, there's not enough time in the day to do what he does! He makes sure that our needs are met first and foremost, and that we are well taken care of. And at the same time, he is able to meet all of his deadlines at Emory, and takes his studies very seriously.

That being said, he left class an hour early to make sure he was home last night in time to take Cambrie to her Daddy Daughter Date. She knew it was a big deal for him to leave class early, and I know it made her day knowing that he would do that for her. He knew it was important, and it wasn't even an issue, he knew where he needed to be.

I love so many things about George. I just needed to jot a few things down this morning so I won't forget the little things that he does to make us feel special. I'm so glad he does things for the right reason, and that I never have to wonder what his priorities are. He knows what is right, and somehow manages to keep it all straight even though at Emory he's surrounded by people with much different values.

He has tremendous talent, and I'm inspired by his energy and accomplishments.

I'm so grateful to have him and I love him so very much!

Happy Halloween!

The above picture is of the kids getting ready for school on Friday. They didn't get to dress up in their Halloween costumes, but could dress up as a character in a book. Cambrie had just finished reading Anne of Green Gables, so of course, she dressed up as Anne. Drew was a football player from the book The Gipper, and Max was an explorer from Mom Says I Can.

After school on Friday, we got to go to the church for a Trunk-or-Treat. So, round two of dressing up began and this is what we ended up with...


George and I dressed up as Siamese twins for the ward party and we won a gift certificate. I went to Goodwill and bought two pairs of jeans and two shirts and sewed them together. This picture doesn't really capture the costume, and our belt is hanging out, but you get the idea. It was VERY difficult to take care of Mitchell like this so the costume came off right after the awards were announced.


My little ninja...


Yeah! Candy! They about tripled this amount by the time the weekend was over...


Saturday, George took the kids to the local grocery store to trick-or-treat, and then Saturday night was Cambrie's Halloween party with her friends.

The had spider ham and cheese sandwiches, carrot sticks, coffin brownies, and green punch for dinner...


Some of the games included digging for eyeballs in brains and guts...


and eating doughnuts with no hands...


Cambrie invited a few friends from church, one from school, and three from our neighborhood. It's fun to see her making friends with so many different people, kids are naturally drawn to her. She has had missionary experiences already, and I'm sure she'll have a lot more as she becomes closer with some of these girls.

We always look forward to her Halloween parties and the chaos that comes along with it :)


This is day #3 of the Halloween celebrations...

Mitchell loved his ninja costume and loved seeing all the kids dressed up. He attracted a lot of attention and loved every minute of it.


Max's mustache had had it by day three...


Drew was originally going to be Troy, from High School Musical. However, he was having some behavior problems and lost the privilege of wearing his new costume. Sadly, he really didn't care much so I'm not sure we got through to him. He just pulled out his football uniforms and was on his way...


And then there's Brie, as a pirate.


When we got home from trick-or-treating on day #3, Drew and Cambrie went straight to the front porch to hand out candy...


Not Max, this is where I found him...

We had a wonderful, crazy, fun, exhausting, three-day-long, Halloween.

I'm so glad it's November.

He's Found Them...

It's happened! I dread the day when my babies find their nostrils...the only thing more disgusting than a nose-picker is a booger eater. So now begins the training of picking your nose ONLY when you're in the bathroom, and WITH a tissue. I told Brie and Drew I would cut their fingers off if I caught them picking their noses and eating it...it worked like a charm :)



He finds the fact that he has two holes in his nose so comical...why is that?



Cute little nose miner!

Pumpkin Festival

Happy Halloween! We took the kids to the Stone Mountain Pumpkin Festival last weekend and it was so much fun. They had a lot of fun activities for the kids...here are some highlights...

Mitchell eating his baby pumpkin. The other kids got to decorate theirs, he chose to eat his.


George and his new LOVE...


Cambrie, Drew, and Max got to dress the scarecrows...



Such a fun idea...they had a ball doing this!


Just a taste of fall in Georgia. I'm going to do an entire post on the colors we have here right now. It's breathtaking. Everywhere I drive I am in absolute awe.



On top of Stone Mountain...


Look how thick the trees are...amazing.


Having a picnic, eating non other than FRIED CHICKEN, before the lazer show.


Mitchell getting his groove on before the show started...he LOVES music!


The lazer show was awesome, we can't wait to go see it again. Notice how we're in shorts, t-shirts, and light sweatshirts, and Mitchell is full on ready for snow. LOL. I forget I'm not in Utah anymore. And yes, the beanie came off right after the picture...it's still 80 degrees in Georgia, who needs beanies?

Mario Birthday Party

The Mario party was a hit! This is the cake I made for the family party we had (which is very low key now that "family parties" only consist of the six of us).



Max as Mario, and Drew as Luigi



I threw Max a friend party the day after his birthday. The kids helped me make the loot bags by coloring pictures of Mario and Luigi...


And of course, 1 up cupcakes where hidden under the big coin box on the table...


The kids had to play games, earn coins, and then they went on a scavenger hunt to save Princess Peach. I had to post a picture of the posters I made because they ROCK! I am not an artist, and yes, it's a bit budget, but they turned out so much better than I anticipated. These babies are going on Max's wall in his room until we paint...I spent way too much time on them to throw them away.





Pin the mustache on Mario...


At the end of the scavenger hunt, the kids found Princess Peach in this "cage" at the playground. Cambrie dressed up and pretended to be Princess Peach..she's such a good sport. They got medals and then they got to turn their coins in for treats.


Princess Peach's Heroes!




I got to have lunch with Max at his school on his birthday. It was so much fun and it made his whole day. He passes out doughnuts to his class when they were finished eating lunch...he felt very special and loved being in the spotlight for two days.
This party was a lot of work, but in the end, it is always worth it when you see how happy it makes them. I only do friend parties for my kids on even years, so next year I get a break.

Whew.