Christmas Pajama's

This is the first and LAST year that I will make matching pj's for everyone! Since they were supposed to be a surprise, it was really hard to get the fit right for everyone. Even though I tried to use their pants as a guide . . .

Jerry's fit him like a pair of tapered-leg woman's jeans
Mine were too tight in the hips
I think Darren's were okay
Claire's were too short
and Miles had a big pooch of fabric on the rear
I didn't even try to modify the pattern to fit Sammi

I will say that I was proud of myself for finishing them.

Darren's first piano recital

Several other piano teachers and I gave a combined Christmas recital. It was Darren's first one, and he did great! He played "Silent Night" as a duet with his teacher, and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" from memory.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

I pulled the Santa card the other day when the kids were being really rotten, and reminded them that Santa only comes to kids who are being nice to each other! Well, I'm not sure how effective it was, because later in the day, I heard Claire giving this explanation to Miles:

Claire: "Miles, Santa has a list about you, and after you do a hundred bad things, he doesn't bring you any presents. Just a rock." (I like how they get to do a hundred bad things before anything happens.)

Miles: "Ohh."

Claire: "But don't worry, you'll still get presents from Grandma and Grandpa, Grandma and Grandpa Collingwood, mommy and daddy, and Uncle Taylor, Aunt Christy, Uncle Ellis, Uncle Paul, and Uncle Jon and everybody else.

Miles: "Okay."

Miles on his bike

Over Thanksgiving break, Grandpa taught Miles how to ride a bike! He is still working on using the brakes to stop instead of his feet, but otherwise does pretty well, and hasn't had any major falls. A couple weeks ago, I let him ride his bike up to the school to pick the other kids up. On the way back, he wasn't able to stop quick enough and ran into all of the kids that were waiting at the crosswalk. Since he wasn't going very fast, no one got hurt - but all the kids on their scooters toppled like dominoes - and they were NOT happy!

All of this for $30!

Ever since I was little and my aunts Debbie and Sally took us "garage-sailing," I have love going to garage sales. It is especially fun here, because each neighborhood does a community garage sale, and they happen every weekend for a couple months in the spring and fall. Some of my favorite deals this year were:

1. easy bake oven + 8 mixes and a box of cooking accessories: $12
2. solid wood rocking chair (more on this, later) : $20
3. 2 bikes (I looked them up, and they were $175-200 bikes) and a razor scooter: $31
4. Cat-in-the-Hat Costume for Miles (his FAVORITE movie character) : $1
5. Pottery Barn Kids surfer peg rack - totally goes with the decor in the boys' room: $1

I only bought stuff that looked new, and ended up saving most of it for Christmas. All in all, I think I spent less than $100. How cool is that?!

Black Friday

I LOVE Black Friday! Something about getting to shop in the middle of the night is just so fun to me! Ellis, Christy, Jon and I went to WalMart at midnight on Thanksgiving. It was CRAZY! The crowd was so thick you could hardly move, and people were shouting at each other and throwing boxes through the air to each other! (It was a little scary.) Meanwhile, back at home, Jerry was doing his research on LCD TV's, and at 2:00 a.m. decided to go wait in line at Conn's to get a replacement TV for our media room. What was funny about that, is that my mom's car was parked behind the van, but he didn't want to wake her up, so he spent about 20 minutes very carefully zig-zagging inch by inch across the garage to the other bay so that he could get out. He's got some serious skills! He also stopped at Staples to pick up two chairs for our office. My dad bought a new computer and printer for my mom. We were all very tired the next day!

Thanksgiving 2010

This year, my entire family was able to come for Thanksgiving! It was our first year to host Thanksgiving in a really long time. Luckily, my mom still cooked the turkey and made the stuffing, and Christy made the yummiest rolls. I made pies and everything else. We had lots of fun game nights and yummy food. Miles had so much fun with his cousins Tommy and Joey - we didn't even see them for most of the time; they were just off playing. Thanksgiving evening ended with a dance off with almost everyone getting into it! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures - just video. Sammi was a dancing machine! We are so thankful that we can spend our holidays with family!

The Secret Code

One day when we were walking home from school, Darren wanted to go ahead of us, so I told him the code to open the garage. Several days later, he came downstairs all excited.

"Guess what, Mom?! I was trying to watch a show on TV, but it was blocked - so I put in the code for the garage, and IT WORKED!!!!!"

Great. He's a smart kid. But now we need to change our password for everything.

Claire's "Make-over"

I took the kids to the Dollar Store to pick out prizes, and Claire chose a make-up set. Here she is looking all beautiful(she did her makeup herself, then asked me to take a picture:)


. . . and up close!


My brother asked if "play makeup" is pretty much the same thing as real makeup, except in really terrible colors? I think he might be right . . .

The Treat-Monster Guards Her Stash

My Lil' Pumpkins

The kids had a day off from school, so I took them to the pumpkin patch. The weather was beautiful, and they had fun picking out their own pumpkins, playing in the hay maze and bounce houses, and going on a hay ride!

New Looks

Darren got glasses, and Claire got a haircut! I can't believe how fast they are growing up!

Happy Halloween!

Fancy Nancy, The Cat in the Hat, Harry Potter, and our little Pumpkin

This year, Halloween was on a Sunday, so we decided to go to our ward trunk-0r-treat on Friday night, instead. Miles' friend Natalie went with us. The weather was great, and we got lots of yummy candy! On Sunday, we had uncle Taylor over for dinner. We had "mummy dogs"(sausage wrapped in crescent rolls,) "bloody fingers" (french fries with the ends dipped in ketchup,) and "monster eyes" (peas and carrots stuck together.) Then we watched Disney's "Haunted Mansion." Halloween is still one of my favorite holidays!

Murder Mystery Dinner

For Jerry's birthday this year, we had some friends over for a murder mystery dinner. The setting for the night was a 1950's diner, where everyone was gathered for a high school reunion, only to find out that a fellow classmate had been murdered! Everyone was supposed to come dressed as their character, and they didn't disappoint! I decorated the eating area of the kitchen like a diner, and we served sodas, hamburgers, fries, candy, brownie sundaes, and apple dumplings. It was definitely a night like no other - thanks to the Walls, Smiths, and Hamann's for coming and making it so fun!

Time Out for Women

I've always wanted to go to Time Out for Women, and this year it was only 45 minutes away, so several of my friends and I made a weekend of it. We went to the Friday night session, then spent the night at our friend Amy's house. She was such a wonderful host! We stayed up WAY too late eating treats, painting nails, and talking! The next day was wonderful, too. My favorite speakers were: Virginia Hinckley Pearce and Wendy Ulrich. I came home wanting to be a better mother and wife. I am so thankful for a wonderful husband who knows how much I need a break every once in a while, and good friends that make life fun!

Happy 38th Birthday, Jerry!

We have started a traditon of going to the Dollar Store and letting the kids pick out presents when someone has a birthday. It is always interesting to see what they will pick. This year, Jerry got a pencil sharpener shaped like a globe, an apple corer/slicer, and a fake ice cream cone that shoots water. Happy birthday to the best dad and husband!!! We love you, Jerry!

Grandma Atwood's House

One of our favorite visits on our trip was with my Grandma Atwood, who lives in Pingree, Idaho. My two aunts, Debbie and Sally, came to visit, and my cousin Charlyn, her husband, and new baby came also. When I was growing up, we would visit my grandma almost every summer. There were certain things we would do almost every summer with our aunts and cousins, like go to the Pingree store and buy penny candy, play games, set up a pool, have a hot-dog roast, and sometimes even an Easter egg hunt! We felt so spoiled, because my aunts made sure that Darren, Claire, Miles, and Sammi got to do all those same things! They even got to go over and feed the animals on my uncle's farm each day. Jerry and I spent the afternoon playing a fun game with my aunt Sally and Grandma while Debbie played with the kids. We are blessed to have such wonderful families and such good memories of our time together.

Here are a couple funny stories from our visit there:

#1. My grandma had several older kittens at her house. I guess my kids had never really seen a cat before - I know, it's weird. Anyway, the first thing that Miles noticed was that it had a tail. He said, "Look. It has tail! And we have bottoms! That's funny!"

#2. My grandma's bathroom has an opening above the door. It is right off of the kitchen. I walked in and saw Claire trying to stand up on the bar. I said,"Claire! Someone's in the bathroom right now. You need to get down and wait your turn!" She repied, "I know. I just wanted to see who was in there."