Eleven, Earaches, and Elephants

I LOVE this time of year, though with all of the added fun, I must admit that basics like laundry and dishes (and more laundry) are getting woefully behind! It's hard to feel too down with warm lights and Christmas carols everywhere.

Emily turned 11 on Tuesday, after counting down (OUTLOUD...to all of us!) for 2 weeks!! She had some friends over for movie and dirt cake the Saturday before, and got the camera she'd wanted, filling up her memory card about as fast as we can download her images and videos to the computer. Her first movie was animated glow bracelets to music :). Emily is SO generous and thoughtful—with candy, her time and energy, and anything else she can think of. (For Example: She bought some colorful duck tape with some of her birthday $, and the first thing she did was come home and make rings and necklaces for Anne & Lucy AND have a “Super Power Meeting” in a “clubhouse” (read “tent in her bedroom” to show them their new super power rings!) Her excitement is contagious, and we all love (and laugh) to be with her :). She chose Cocoa Pebbles for her birthday cereal, and Macaroni & Cheese w/ hotdogs & Lemon Poppyseed cake for dinner.

After Thanksgiving, some of our playgroup went to Free Winter Wednesday at Hogle Zoo--and the weather was PERFECT!!--sunny light jackets and short sleeves, we were SO glad!! AND the animals were fabulous!!--flipping polar bear, lots of elephants, roaming tiger, wild monkeys, and plenty of snakes (what all the 3 year olds were begging for??).  We all rode down together in our big white van, ate lunch there, and were all glad to get back even earlier than expected with all of the reasons (laundry is just the beginning) waiting at home that we shouldn't have left.

That night we took the 4 oldest to see our Snarr neighbors in The Savior of the World at the Conference Center.  It was so well done, and really fun to see familiar faces--especially right up front!!  Having scriptures re-enacted like that was like having my heart put out in 3-D on a stage, and seeing their 2 girls sing their hearts out to "Glory to God" in the angel choir made you feel it all over!

Santa happened to be in Wal-Mart last Saturday, so we took the little girls over for a candy cane.  Anne was thrilled; Lucy tried to disappear behind my legs, and now says enthusiastically, whenever people ask if Santa is coming to her house, "Yeah!--He a SCARY GUY!" I think last year is still haunting her.https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhClFPIuP5tuVPzGE42tZ04YszJOEcFrJtnISGV_c48JkrM3Yy19NpHeOBxtql7nIsVIXWy2a_txnj7x9_mwE2dGyuqpsdB-vYmT2P2FvKFtSXzY8BvGxaal4vHMmisI1OeGE5mMirZT6-0/s400/santatugowar.JPG

Monday, Anne was suffering through an earache, but hated to miss her violin concert, so we loaded up on Tylenol and warm coats, and made a quick night of her Suzuki Christmas concert @ Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  We saw just a bit of the Temple Square lights, and then got sandwich stuff from Tony Caputo's on the way home (since our favorite Siegfried's was closed!).

Anne got over her earache, we've finished most of our shopping and getting Christmas cards ready, and we ended the week hosting the Bishopric Christmas party last night, with some pretty hilarious white elephant contributions (our nose hair trimmer was just the beginning!).