Desperately seeking SNOW!!!



♫♫Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.....Please. How sad is this? The kids are so desperate to go sledding they sit in their sleds in the house. Meanwhile, outside the window our hill awaits, covered in lovely green grass. All they can talk about is how they are going to make snow men and go sledding and drink hot cocoa. Every morning they run from their beds yelling “did it snow, did it snow?” Each time, they let out huge sighs of disappointment to see the green grass taunting them once again.  I know one of these days it will actually snow, and you can bet it will be quite a festive day at our house when it does.



  The kids got a big shock this week when we had a knock at the door and found Gram Wendy standing on the other side.  Jake and I knew she was coming but we let the kids be surprised.  They were overjoyed and had a lot of fun playing with her.  They even got to have a “slumber party” where they all camped out in the living room one of the nights. Judging by how grumpy they were the next day, I’m guessing they had a lot of fun and not much sleep.  I think Gram Wendy might need to sleep for the next week straight just to get caught up from a few days at our house.  It was so nice to have her visit and we were all sad to see her go.

Another fun surprise came when I took Hudson to his first swim lesson on Saturday.  It had been about nine months since he had been in swim lessons and when his teacher saw how well he was swimming they moved him into the advanced class. He is a few years younger then the other kids in his class and when he stands next to them he only comes up to about their shoulders. He looks so stinkin cute! I was so proud of him, and it was fun to see him be so proud of himself.  It was such a fun feeling to share his accomplishment with him.  No wonder parents can't help but brag about their children. What an awesome little man he is!

Autumn started to giggle for the first time this week.  If heaven were a sound, it would sound like her laugh. She is still a little stingy with it though.  I haven't been able to recreate yet for Jake, and I know he is sad to have missed it.  He is once again very busy. Although he has less classes this semester, he has twice as much teaching responsibilities, plus his thesis to finish, and job hunting to dive into. The next few weeks he is also participating in some landscape architecture competition involving urban land reclamation.  I don't know a lot about it, except it seems to require a lot of his "spare" time, ha ha. If anyone knows how to get the most out of their time it is Jake.  We are sure lucky to have him. 

Adventures in cooking

I sure enjoy my sweet little kids, but for some reason, everyday just before dinner time they all seem to get grumpy at the same time. On any given day you could show up to my door at 5 o’clock and find me in the kitchen working on dinner with an angry fussing baby in my arms and two kids running through the house screaming while trying to destroy it and each other. It really is a given, that no matter how sweet everyone has been all day, at 5 o’clock, the peace and happiness in our home is replaced with chaos.
As part of my calling in compassionate service I make and deliver a lot of dinners. Most people like their dinner to be delivered between 5 and 6 and you can only imagine how well preparing and packing up the dinner and the children goes at that wonderful time of day. I typically end up with some kind of burn and a car full of crying children. There have been a few dinners I have been a bit embarrassed to present to people. It’s one thing when you present your husband with over cooked food and an apology and he chokes it down and tells you its fine and even asks for seconds to make you feel better. Its another when you know you have tuned a roast into jerky and there is no time to make something new and you have to present it to people who have no idea that you had to prepare the whole meal with one hand while the other one is devoted to coddling a sad baby and rescuing a hysterical two year old who’s brother keeps locking her in various rooms and leaving her in the dark. I know the service is supposed to make me feel love and other warm fuzzies, but it mostly make makes me feel crazy. Ha Ha

The only thing that is more fun then preparing dinners to take to other people is when we have people over for dinner at our home. Preparing an edible dinner and a clean house at the same time is a whole other situation. Ellie can turn a clean house into a disaster in less then ten unattended minutes. So imagine the house is clean and I take the time to make a salad. I look up to see the couch cushions have all been removed and the couch is covered with hello kitty stickers. On one special occasion; Hudson decided to be a big help in my dinner preparations.

Jake had invited a good friend from school over for dinner. I was determined to have everything ready and not be in a frazzled state when they walked in the door ready to eat after class. I had brined a chicken in preparation for roasting and had pulled it out of the fridge and set it in the sick while I got the pan all ready. Autumn was napping and the kids were happily painting at the table so I turned my attention to some potatoes that were simmering on the stove. When I turned back to my chicken I found it was now GREEN. Hudson had poured his glass full of paint water all over the chicken. I showed Hudson his mistake and felt very good about myself for not losing my temper as I started on the task of scrubbing as much green off the chicken as I possibly could. I really hoped that the roasting would hide any discoloration that was left. As I put it in the oven I noticed the potatoes were done. I dumped them into the strainer in the sink just as I heard a loud “UHH OHH”. I looked over to see Ellie and our carpeted dinning room floor covered in paint and water. I let out a sigh and picked up my little girl and took her to the bathroom to clean her up. As I scrubbed the carpet I looked up at the clock and was so pleased with myself for not only having plenty of time to let the carpet dry but also, once again, I hadn’t let myself get too angry with the kids. Returning to the potatoes that were waiting for me in the sink I froze and stared at them in disgust. What should have been white was now a greenish grey color similar to the shade of Ellie’s eyes. Hudson had decided to “help” clean up all the remaining paining stuff by pouring it into the sink where my potatoes were straining. I angrily threw them into the trash and promptly yelled at Hudson and Ellie and sent them to time out for eternity. Fortunately they stayed out of sight long enough for me to prepare more potatoes and calm don a little. A little later when I rolled out some dough to make rolls; I found that although I had wiped off the table thoroughly, they still managed to pick up a little bit of green paint themselves. At this point all I could do was laugh and throw them on a pan and into the oven. Hopefully no one would notice. As we sat eating the meal that night I couldn’t help but smile as I thought about all the disasters that had happened to the food everyone was enjoying. I guess painting is not a good distraction to use on the kids when I need to get some cooking done. Lesson learned!



Remember that sweet little baby who loved to be held all the time?  Someone switched her with this this thing. This one is still pretty cute, but she thinks she doesn't want to be cuddled anymore. She loves to lay on  this pad and kick and grab all the toys. I can just hear  her tell me she needs her own space sometimes.




This is what happens when a group of kids beg me to make them a pinata and I only had what was lying around the house.  It might not have been very pretty, but the kids sure thought it was fun and it was a good way to use left over Christmas candy. 



Christmas is over.

Ahhh Christmas is over! As fun as it is for the kids to have our apartment full of Christmas stuff, it is equally fun for me to put it away. With each box that gets packed up I feel a little more at peace to see a small bit of order restored to our living space.  The kids were sure sad to see our tree go.  This year however, we were able to put it to good use.  We took it a farm where Jake is working on a stream restoration project.  The kids felt better about it leaving us since it was going to help the fish in the stream.  Jakes professor even brought some fish food and we were able to feed some huge rainbow trout. The kids enjoyed getting to see the fish their tree was going to help. It was pretty cold but fun to get out for a bit.



Hudson was reasuring Ellie, that the tree was going to be happy living on the farm.
They were so cute!






We just keep falling in love with our little Autumn more and more.  She is growing way too fast and is such a good baby.  We have a lot of fun watching her discover new things each week. Lately she has been spending a lot of time staring at her hands and discovering that she can grab things when she wants to.  She suddenly loves toys and coo’s happily at them and the people she loves when she sees them. We took her swimming for the first time and she loved it.  I think she is going to be a little fish just like the rest of us.  She sure looked cute in her tiny little swim trunks.   

                    I Love you THIIIS much!

Jake and I turned 30!!!

Jake, Hudson, and Ellie made me an amazing rice cripie cake!

I had a WONDERFUL birthday! I awoke to Hudson in my room.  He was very excited and told me that it was my birthday and I needed to sleep in.  While I dozed in bed he went to work decorating the house with streamers, and helping Jake make me a special birthday breakfast of yummy crepes with strawberries and whip cream. I have such wonderful boys! Later a friend watched our kids for us and Jake and I spent the afternoon together.  He took me shopping for a new coat and to a yummy lunch at our favorite Indian restaurant.

A funny thing I realized, was that I purchased my previos coat with money from my twentieth birthday. A few years later when Jake and I were dating, I was invited on my first outing with the Powells.  We went to Pine Valley to stay at the cabin and play in the snow.  Jake pulled me on a sled with a 4wheeler. Durring my ride we hit a patch of rocks and I ripped my then 2 year old coat up the back, destroyed the sled, and nearly broke my tail bone.  Jake felt aweful for both.  His mom lovingly patched up the back of my coat and time healed my tail bone.  Jake always offered to get me a new coat and it only took us eight years to get around to it. I can not believe how quickly ten years went by. The past ten years brought more blessings to my life then I could have ever imagined. I wonder what the next ten will bring?

 Jakes birthday seemed to revolve all around food. He also got to sleep in, but his breakfast was skillet eggs, and of coarse chocolate milk and donuts!  He was over joyed to get an enormouse brown sugar spiral sliced ham for diner. Everyone was excited to get to share his "black cookie" ice cream cake. He spent the bulk of the day up at school working, but at least he got to eat all his favorite things. 


A funny thing about Jakes birthday is that I spend most of the day thinking about his parents.  It must be because I am in mom mode these days, but I feel so much gratitude for them giving me him. Even today I can't think of them without tears in my eyes. Everything I love most in my life I have because of them. Jake is more then I could have ever even dreamed of. He is my definition of Joy.



Happy New Year!

 This year we went to a friends house for a new years eve party. It was a lot of fun and since everyone had little kids we had a mock countdown at seven thirty. It was just the right amount of partying for us. Ellie and Autumn weren’t very fond of the cheering and noise makers, but Hudson joined in with enthusiasm. 2011 was pretty great, but I think 2012 might just be even better.

Christmas 2011

We have had quite a festive week. We made gingerbread houses and trains, had carolers, attended Christmas parties, and made and received lots and lots of good things to eat. It has been a lot of fun, but it has dragged on due to our excitement for Christmas morning.  I found myself even more excited then the kids. I even found that I was the one who laid awake Christmas eve full of anticipation for the excitement of the next morning, and quite a morning it was. Our house was sure full of Christmas spirit! 

A few days before Christmas we found out that Santa's "Elks", (as Hudson calls them), like treats just as much as Santa. We also learned that if you leave treats out for them and are very nice while you sing Christmas songs and get your jamies on, the elks will bring you a fun game to play with your family. We sure had a lot of fun playing the game they brought us.

Can you believe we went to the park on Christmas Eve.  How sad is that!?
We sure missed the snow, but we did enjoy the sunshine.

The more excited Hudson got for Santa to come the more he seemed to test the limits of the naughty or nice list.  We saw a lot of the Charlie Brown pout in all its mopey glory. The first picture is a pout that followed Hudson exclaiming,
 "Ohh Christmas will never come!"

Christmas eve was full of fun family traditions.

I made a Palmer family traditional dinner of chicken noodle soup with mashed potatoes.

We performed a traditional Powell family birth of Jesus production. 

  

We also opened a small gift with treats and each of the kids got a Christmas book for us to read to them before bed.





Aunt Kim sent us a very fun advent calendar or the twelve days of Christmas.  Each day the kids took turns opening a small present that held an idea for a Christmas activity or small gift for the kids.  She also took the time to make the girls cute little Christmas hair decorations. The kids looked forward to it each day and kept close track of who would be the one to open the present. Hudson was thrilled to get to open the last one.

 We made and decorated cookies to put out for Santa. Hudson colored him a picture of a train and left it with the cookies just in case Santa forgot what he wanted. Then we hurried to bed so that Santa could come. I don't think the kids have ever fallen asleep so quickly.

Jake and I sat back and felt so much gratitude for the three precious gifts that were slumbering in their beds.

We thought about Heavenly Father's gift of his son on the first Christmas, and we felt his love so strong as we looked at our sweet sleeping children. Sometimes it is hard believe just how blessed we are.

The next morning the kids came and snuggled us in bed and then we all went out together to see if Santa had made it to our house.  Sure enough, he had filled our stockings, left us gifts and eaten our cookies.  There was even a little note for Hudson.

Each gift that was opened brought a burst of joy!

 Every gift Ellie opened got a big snuggle and love.



Little Autumn slept through most of the Christmas morning excitement. Her brother and sister even opened all of her gifts for her. We were sure happy to get to share her first Christmas with her even if she didn't know it was Christmas.
 I look forward to seeing her face light up with excitement next year. 

We all received so many wonderful gifts that were truly enjoyed.  Our families really spoiled us this year!  

Ellie was quite the little princess in these dress up clothes Aunt Jenny sent her.

 After the present opening extravaganza, we wolfed down some cake for breakfast. (Hudson had insisted that since it was Jesus birthday we needed to have a cake for him. Although, we never have a very hard time coming up with reasons for cake!) Then we got dressed in our new church clothes and headed to the church where Hudson got to sing to us with the primary. The wonderful Christmas music brought such a strong spirit and helped to make our day even more special.

 The rest of the day was spent talking to family and enjoying the day with friends. We are blessed to have so many good people in our lives.  We really missed our wonderful family back in Utah.  It was so nice to get to visit with them on the phone and computer.

One gift I was especially excited about was our new "indoor fire pit".  The Palmer's sent us this smore maker, so now we can enjoy the fun of a camp fire whenever we get the urge.....which for me, is often.

It was a wonderful Christmas indeed. We owe so much thanks to our family's who sent us gifts to make it even more special.  The only problem now is that the kids seen to think that Christmas should come everyday.  They can't seem to wrap their heads around the fact that they have to wait a whole year to enjoy it again. I'm sure it will come faster then we all expect.

You Better Not Cry

Only seven more days until Christmas. I can not believe how excited I am. I think it is even better being the parent with the anticipation of seeing your children’s excitement, then it is being a child excited to see your own gifts Christmas morning. At least I can't remember another Christmas that I was so anxious for. The kids are so excited and I can’t wait to see them run out of their rooms Christmas morning.

We have been passing the time with lots of Christmas crafts. Our tree is starting to run out of places to hang all of the kid’s home made ornaments(or ORGAMENTS as Hudsons calls them). It makes me smile every time I look at it. We have also been making a ridiculous amount of treats. The kids love helping me make them and we all enjoy eating them. "Tis the Season, Right!?" I have decided that since I have been wearing my "maternity jeans" so long, and it doesn't look like that is going to be changing anytime soon, I should just start calling them my "jeans".

The highlight of the kid’s week was going to ride on the State College "Polar Express". It was a community activity that started at the library where the kids were read "The Polar Express", which is one of Hudson favorite books. After the story, the kids were given a bell and a ride on a trolley that took them a few blocks to the "North Pole", where they got to meet Santa and pick out a toy from his work shop. The kids were entranced!




This Santa is not nearly as cute as my Grandpa Clause back in Blanding!



My heart is a little bit broken as I just went to my camera and discovered that I shot a weeks worth of pictures with no memory card in it. Just another one of the many ditzy occurrences in my everyday life. At least I have this one scan to share from the photo the kids got with Santa at our Polar Express outing.

The highlight of my week is that Jake finished his last final this week, marking the completion of another semester.  This semseter was a busy one and it is nice to have it behind us. 

Christmas is Coming

Another week closer to Christmas and the kids are getting more and more excited. We have filled our time with lots of fun Christmas crafts and activities.



Last year the primary gave Hudson his first copy of the book of Mormon, with the challenge that we read it all by the end of the  next year. We have read a little with him almost every night. Sometimes he has loved it and sometimes not, but it has been a wonderful activity for our family.  This month we finished it, largely because he has made sure that we never forget. I'm really proud of him for accomplishing his goal this year and I hope he will continue to treasure his time with the scriptures.



We attended our ward Christmas party.  The theme was a "night in Bethlehem" and we had fun dressing up the kids.

I took the kids to the festival of trees. It sent them into a Christmas crazed frenzy.  I could hardly keep track of Ellie as she darted in between trees running like an elf on crack.  She turned the event into quite the treasure hunt for me. Every time I got close to her I discovered she had removed another ornament from one of the over 100 decorated trees. It was then my job to try and find the correct tree and return the missing ornament.