Categories
Family Fun

Scattered Pre-Christmas Update

This has been an exciting time of year! Our only Christmas party was our church party at the very beginning of the month, we got our shopping done early, we didn’t do Christmas cards, and we’re not traveling, so it’s been a very chill time for us.

One thing we’ve been up to is this: We’ve been eating tons of sugar. TONS. Especially Yours Truly. I think we’ve had a record number of treats from neighbors this year, and most have been brought over within the last week… So you’d think that we wouldn’t be baking any sweets. But of course, we love to make treats! We made lots of decorated sugar cookies to hand out to the neighbors. And here’s Chase, making some delicious No-Bake Cookies. He did it all himself and I just told him what to do! And then I ate most of them afterwards!

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The picture below is NOT very cute, but it’s one I took recently of all three kids together! I love them. All three have blue eyes. How did this happen? “McCulloch Blue is dominant,” as Granddaddy would say!

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We got together recently with Becky & her kids, plus her nephew. Between the two of us, we had 8 kids running around at the Del Taco play place. Awesome! We always get together around our birthdays in December (the rest of our December birthday roommate group has moved away). The original plan this time was to grab some lunch, then take all the kids to a jumpy place, but this play place was fun & FREE so we ditched the first idea & bribed our kids with treats.

I love Becky. She was in my church stake back home & we’ve been friends ever since we met when we were 12. She is just a wonderful, talented friend & mom and I like to hang out with her not only because she’s fun, but also in hopes that some of her awesomeness will perhaps rub off on me!! (Photo courtesy of Chase)

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My birthday was great! Pace took the day off work, which made all the difference. Among other things, we went ice skating in the morning as a family while GG held Caroline. Pace is just so hot when he speed skates with ease and does some of his old hockey tricks, like the hockey stop. I just love it! As for Chase, he is doing really well at ice skating & is almost ready for hockey! He practiced with us wearing hockey skates, which were more slippery, but he did just fine.

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This is my cousin Leann & two of her three girls. Her oldest is 9! She just had twins as a surrogate mother. Surrogacy is a controversial topic, but I was so amazed by her decision to help a couple have their very own children, when they couldn’t do it on their own.

We visited Leann in the hospital when she had the twins a few weeks ago, & I choked back tears to meet the couple and to see them showing off their twins (girl & boy who were 5 & 6 pounds. Healthy & adorable)!

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We haven’t had much snow at all around here so far. But when we do, here is what our front walkway generally looks like. Sometimes I make them clean it up, & sometimes I just do it myself. And when I walk over to put things away, my socks get wet from the snow that has been tracked in the house. Someday I’ll miss this!

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Random photo. I just love reading books with my kids! I get this from my mother. Kids’ books are a lot of fun and I can actually focus through the whole book, unlike adult books! They love that book that Chase is holding, Tikki Tikki Tembo. Weird book. But they love to shout Tikki’s entire name as I read it: “Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sa Rembo Chari Bari Ruchi Pip Peri Pembo!!!” Good times.

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And a funny picture below from a while ago. Just had to post it!

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Categories
Caroline Charlotte Chase Family Fun

The Siblings

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Cute sisters

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Chase is such a great big brother to Caroline! He loves to carry her around & make her smile. (He’s wearing his karate uniform in the photo above. He’s loving those karate lessons!)

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There are some shining moments when Chase & Charlotte get along well & play together these days, but most of the time, they fight! SO MUCH arguing, screaming, & crying lately… At least everyone gets along with Caroline! I’m so thankful that they adore their baby sister.

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Showing us the mints in their mouths! Funny little story about that: They were both sucking on the mints for a long time, so the mints were getting tiny. Chase said, “Mine’s mini.” Charlotte quickly said, “Mine’s Daisy.” Haha! I loved it.

Categories
Family Fun

Thanksgiving in Chilly Idaho

For the Thanksgiving Break, we visited our good friends Bracken & Katie Abrams, who were visiting family in Idaho. It was wonderful to see them. We really, REALLY miss them now that they live all the way over in Arkansas! We had Thanksgiving Dinner at Katie’s grandparents’ cabin out in the middle of nowhere.

Bracken & Katie with (our) baby Caroline.

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The highlight of Charlotte’s life! Getting Glitter Toes!!!

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The Camo Buddies. They got the matching hats at an Army Surplus store there in Idaho.

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They went out on a Man Date to The Museum of Idaho, which had a World War II exhibit going on.

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As a family, we went exploring in Idaho Falls. Not too much to explore, but we enjoyed ourselves! Our kids like to open their mouths wide for photos for some reason. Can’t get a serious picture!

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Idaho Falls Temple

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We stumbled upon a real World War II cannon! Smile

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Categories
Deals Tech

Android Mania

It’s about time we had a techy post on here! And what better time to post than when the Android market starts a ten day sale! For the next ten days some awesome apps will be .10!! Yes that’s ten cents.

“One billion is a pretty big number by any measurement. However, when it’s describing the speed at which something is growing, it’s simply amazing. This past weekend, thanks to Android users around the world, Android Market exceeded 10 billion app downloads—with a growth rate of one billion app downloads per month. We can’t wait to see where this accelerating growth takes us in 2012.

To celebrate this milestone, we partnered with some of the Android developers who contributed to this milestone to make a bunch of great Android apps available at an amazing price. Starting today for the next 10 days, we’ll have a new set of awesome apps available each day for only 10 cents each. Today, we are starting with Asphalt 6 HD, Color & Draw for Kids, Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro, Fieldrunners HD, Great Little War Game, Minecraft, Paper Camera, Sketchbook Mobile, Soundhound Infinity and Swiftkey X.”

If you have an android device, go grab most of these if not all.
-Android Market

Categories
Family Fun

Christmas Time at Temple Square

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Last night, we went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to see the Christmas lights. We loved it!

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We got there a little before 5pm, which was nice because it was just getting dark, & we also found free parking on the street. Then all the lights came on as we were unloading from our car. Perfect!

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I loved that there was NO snow! Almost December and we’ve only had like 3 snow days! Yessss! Keep up the good work, Utah.

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The Salt Lake Temple took 40 years to build (most temples take more like 2-3 years to build). Lots of hard work & sacrifice went into this beautiful building.

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Baby Caroline was present as well, but she was all cozy in the stroller, so I opted not to disturb her just to snap a photo.

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Chase liked leaning back & pretending he was falling in the water. My photos of that were all blurry, so I won’t post them! We were glad he didn’t actually fall in.

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Charlotte loved this Christmas tree in the Visitors’ Center. It had shiny pastel ornaments, including her favorite colors which, of course, are pink & purple.

We also saw the Nativity outside & listened to the story from Luke 2, we saw the beautiful Christus statue in the North Visitors’ Center, we looked at some paintings depicting some Old Testament prophets, and we heard a high school choir perform some Christmas carols. It was a great evening!

Categories
Charlotte

Tea Pah-ty

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Charlotte’s favorite pastime lately is to have tea parties. She asks me to have tea parties with her about 5 times a day (she actually asks, “Do you want to have a tea set?”). Sometimes I’m able to oblige, but sometimes I can’t! So I finally showed her how to have a tea party with her dolls (so that I could be off the hook, at least this time).

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She raises her eyebrows & asks in a high-pitched, feminine voice, “Would you like some teeeeea?” We’ve tried to get her to say “hot chocolate” rather than “tea,” but apparently it doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, because it hasn’t stuck yet!

Side Note: My mom bought Charlotte this tea set a couple months ago when Caroline was born. Charlotte later told me that she wished that the cups, etc. had faces on them, like the ones in her current favorite book, Penny Loves Pink. So I quickly drew some silly little faces on them with a Sharpie. Charlotte was delighted! She calls the teapot “Mrs. Potts,” of course.

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Categories
Chase

I Just Noticed!

Chase is at school. I just realized that he had made Charlotte’s bed & his own before we left to run errands this morning. I hadn’t asked him to do so, but he did it. He can be such a sweet boy.

Note the sheet hanging down from underneath the comforter of Charlotte’s bed. No, I did not fix it, even though the “OCD voice” in my head urged me to.

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Here’s Chase’s bed. I think of it as more of a “loft” because I had to balance up high to take this picture! Chase loves his cozy minky pillowcase & blanket. I had my friend Sarah make them for him for his birthday last April, & he doesn’t sleep with anything else!

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Also, last night at dinner, Chase & Charlotte were following Pace’s lead by thanking me profusely for the “delicious dinner” I’d made. I am thankful to have a thankful family, & I’m also thankful for golden moments like that when you feel like you’re doing something right!

Categories
Caroline

Caroline + Mommy

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Categories
Caroline

Caroline Jean at 2 Months Old

She’s a smiley girl now! We can’t get enough of those huge, “gummy” smiles that brighten her whole face.

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Snuggle bunch. I wrap her up & give her a binky when she’s ready to go to sleep. We both love that warm snuggle time! And of course, I love that sweet baby smell.

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Pace is a great dad. Caroline used to look kind of bewildered when Daddy would nuzzle her and give her raspberries. But now she smiles & coos at him.

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Time with Daddy is the best! He talks to Caroline and imitates her when she excitedly moves her head around like a little bobblehead.

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Look at those chubby cheeks! That’s the #1 comment Caroline hears when people see her at church or anywhere else. We don’t mind it, because it’s true. She’s very chubby! She was 13 lbs. at her 2-month Dr. appointment (95th percentile) and 23” long (75th percentile). She’s a wonderful baby to have around!

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Categories
Family Fun

Back to Halloween

I busted out the ghillie suit again this year and gave a scare to anyone who was willing to come near our house. Somehow, none of the kids expected it with a guy filming them. Here are a few of my favorites, thanks for filming Grandaddy!

Scared the crap out of this girl.
The poor little fireman left without even getting candy, and his parents were laughing so hard.
This whole family came up so I had to wait and come up slowly. I love how they all react to each other.
And finally, I moved across the street to the bushes to get the neighbor girls.