What's A Real Christmas Tree?

For the first few years of our marriage we chopped down and decorated real Christmas trees. But, ever since the year of the bug infested Christmas tree we have had an artificial tree. The kids have seen me take the tree out of the box every year. I must admit that I have missed the smell of the Christmas tree in our home. I have always wanted to share the experience of going out and chopping down our own tree with the kids. I have great memories of doing this with my family growing up. This year I realized it was time for this experience. I told Chloe that we would be getting a special real tree to put in our downstairs family room this year and she told me that Gavin could get a green one and she would like to get either a pink or white one that she had seen at the store. I let her know that we wouldn't being going to the store for our tree, but to a tree farm outside where we could chop it down. Chloe cocked her head, looked confused and ask, "Why would we do that?" I couldn't stop laughing.

Yesterday, despite all the rain we decided to go get our real Christmas tree. Even our trip out to the farm was eventful. On our way the car in front of us hit a bird and I saw it flapping around on the side of the road. The next thing I know it is flying right at us. It hit our windshield and got stuck under our windshield wiper. I just looked at the poor thing in horror as it went swish swish with the wipers. This is when I put my hands over my eyes and refused to look at it. Randy turned off the wipers and pulled over. This is when I hear from the back of the car, "Mom, what is that on our window?" I still didn't want to look at it. I told Gavin to watch his movie and not look at it. Chloe was luckily fast asleep. Then Gavin said, "Mom, is it a bird? Is it dead?" This is when Randy pulled up the wiper and the luckiest bird (surviving two hits) or the most unlucky bird (being hit twice in one day) flew away. We were able to go on with our family outing after that.

At the farm we were able to find a tree and get it chopped down in record time due to the increased rainfall. Gavin was upset when he found out that we were only getting one tree and not one for each of them. Hence the frown on his face for the picture. The best part of the trip for the kids was the candy canes they got after we loaded the tree into the car. I guess in the end I got what I wanted, a family Christmas tree memory that we will never forget.

Gavin's Primary Part

Here is Gavin reciting his part. He also knew the words to most of the songs. We are so proud of him.

Chloe's Primary Part

On Sunday our ward had the Primary Program. Gavin and Chloe did a great job. They both memorized their parts. Here is Chloe reciting her part. She is saying, "I am a child of God and He has a plan for me. Jesus created the world for all of God's Children."

Kids Say The Funniest Things

This is a picture of Chloe at her Fancy Nancy birthday party this summer. The girl's got attitude.

I have been working on our online adoption paperwork and our blog all weekend. Randy has been keeping the kids busy so that I can get this all done. For the most part the kids have let me work in piece while I try to figure out the technical world of blogging. They know that we are trying to adopt another baby and they are very excited . This morning Chloe found me at the computer again and asked me, "Mom are you done with our baby homework yet? Are we going to get a baby now?"

Our Ballerina

Chloe recently changed dance classes. She was taking Creative Movement, which is designed for kids 3-4. I had noticed that she was getting a little bored with the class so I suggested trying out the pre-ballet class (ages 4 and up). Needless to say, Chloe loves her new class. She twirls, skips and leaps all over the house. Whenever she hears music she has to dance to it.

Youth Conference

We were so lucky to be able to go to youth conference this summer as a family. Randy and I were asked to be a ma and pa group leader at youth conference and since we were both going to be there they said that we could bring our kids. Gavin and Chloe were so good and they had a blast. They spent most of their days out in a big open area throwing frisbees to anybody who would play with them. It was so cute to watch Gavin attach himself to a group of older boys. He would just start hanging out with them and talking with them. All of the youth were so great with our kids. Chloe had a lot of fun at the dances. She especially loved dancing with the older girls and learning how to line dance. The kids are going to be disappointed when they find out that they don't get to go to youth conference again until they turn 12.

Gav Boy!

Gavin was so excited to start Kindergarten. After a couple of weeks Of school he finally talked me into letting him ride the bus home. We have always been very careful about who we leave our kids with. It was hard enough sending him off to a school full of people we hardly knew. However, I knew that Gavin was ready and excited about riding the bus. Luckly, it is a Kindergarten only bus. Even when I help out in his class Gavin wants me to go home at the end of his day and wait for him at the bus stop.

Smile For The Camera

It is so hard to get a decent picture of both of the kids in the same picture. I thought that we better get started on our Christmas picture. It will take a few dozen to find the right one. The kids wanted to take a few pictures of me too.

It's Snowing!

It isn't really snowing right now, but I love these snow pictures from last winter. I wanted to see if I could get them on the blog page. Yeah, it worked!

Well, I've finally given in and I'm now attempting to create a decent blog page. It may take me a little time to get it looking right, so come back soon.