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One day during the Christmas break Clara and I were home alone working on Christmas presents. We let our turtle Oscar out of his cage to wander the room for a little exercise. Both of us had forgotten about the turtle when we heard paper crunching. When we looked under our tree there was Oscar climbing over the presents. I guess he was trying to see if his name was written on any of the gift tags. Sorry Oscar!
Christmas programs are going on all over town.
Olivia and her cousin Ellie performed in the school orchestra Tuesday. It was a fun program and I'm always amazed that they can get that number of music students to play together. Love the music!
A couple of family favorites during the month of December:
1- Waking up to a glorious sunrise when snow covers the mountains
2- Making & eating homemade marshmallows.
Nothing tops a delicious cup of hot chocolate like a light and fluffy marshmallow rolled in crushed peppermint.
HOMEMADE MARSHMELLOWS:
3 envelopes of Knox gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups sugar
2/3 cups light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbl. vanilla
Line 9x9 pan with plastic wrap and lightly oil it. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Soak for 10 min. Meanwhile, combine sugar, corn syrup and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a rapid boil and boil hard for 1 minute.
Pour the boiling syrup into soaked gelatin and turn on the mixer, using the whisk attachment, to high speed. Add the salt and beat for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, add vanilla and beat to incorporate.
Scrape marshmallows into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Take another piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap and press lightly on top of the marshmallow, creating a seal. Let mixture sit for a few hours, until cooled and firmly set.
Remove marshmallows from pan and cut into equal pieces with scissors or a chef's knife. Dredge each piece of marshmallow in finely crushed peppermint. Eat alone or put in hot chocolate. Enjoy!
Yesterday Lilly and her best buddy Ryan were trying to think of something to do.
Lilly: "What do you want to do Ryan?"
Ryan: "Don't know".
Lilly: "How about we write down numbers from the phone book!"
Ryan: "Awesome!"
A few minutes later this is what they looked like sprawled out on the kitchen floor. Isn't the life of a kindergartner exciting!
It was an extreme decorating party last Saturday night when the Wilson family came over to make gingerbread cookies. The poor little gingerbread boys were probably dying to run away! Imagine 4 teenage boys gettin' a little crazy with the frosting. They were eating their masterpieces as fast as they could frost them. With a family of 3 girls and 1 boy Spencer often feels inundated with "girl activities". It's always a blast when the Wilsons and their 3 boys join us for fun. Needless to say I was wiping up frosting from the floor, cabinets and ceiling the next day. Pure enjoyment!
Amidst the holiday pleasures we have tried very hard to remember those whose struggles are greater than the general population. A few years ago my brothers and sisters decided to stop the gift exchange between our families. We really have all we need and the gifts were simply tokens of love, but hey, we KNOW we love each other so why a gift? Instead we put the money we would have spent on gifts and pool it together for charity. This year each family provided the needs for a child sponsored by PJ's Forgotten Children. These "forgotten children" live below the poverty level AND their parent suffers from mental illness (bi-polar, schitzophenia, depression, etc.). Quite often their parents are unable to sign-up for programs that could otherwise assist and help these helpless children. This organization is incredible. The needs included things like hygeine items, winter coats, socks, shoes and food. Together my brothers, sisters and mom provided for 5 kids. We delivered the items last Friday and I was so touched as I walked around the room and saw the donations from hundreds of people. Working together, bit by bit we can make a difference and help those "forgotten" feel remembered.
With all of the activities yesterday I broke Lilly's heart. On her way out the door to kindergarten she asked, "will you please be the one to pick me up from school today?" I told her I would do my best, but I wasn't sure if I could. She only heard the "I will do my best" part. Virginie and I had gone to the store to try and finish the shopping for our sub-for-santa project. I lost track of time and missed my chance to pick up Lilly. Spencer called & with a crying Lilly in the background he explained that she walked in the door, threw her backpack & coat on the floor and then flung herself on the couch and proceeded to bawl. She hadn't stopped since walking in the house. You can only imagine how awful I felt. It's not that she didn't have any one to walk home with. After all she does have 2 big sisters who pick her up every day and walk home with her. It's jut that she wanted ME and I was too pre-occupied to recognize her little 5 year old heart. I drove home as fast as I could and appologized with hugs and kisses. She snuggled into my lap and fell asleep for over 2 hours! Luckily for my sake this broken heart was cured by sleep and a little a little love. If only all our problems could be solved this easily.
We really packed it all in today. Virginie & I went to the temple at 5:30am this morning. We had to get home in time to get the kids off to school. After everyone left for the day we drove up to Park City so I could show her the famous ski slopes of the 2002 Winter Olympics. It was a gorgeous day and I wish we had had the chance to go skiing. They were doing practice runs at the Olympic Park. We watched the aerial skiers go off their huge jumps - it was awesome. The bobsled was also going. Even with our big snow storm last week they are having to make snow at the resorts to keep the skiers happy. Downtown main-street Park City is all decorated for Christmas and it looks so quaint and fun. We shared a tasty artichoke/chicken pizza lunch at the Pizza & Pasta place and then headed down to watch Clara's performance at the school pioneer assembly.
4th graders in Utah study Utah history. Clara has really loved this unit...actually she's loved everything except for having to learn to square dance with a partner. I think she had fun dancing today. Reminds me of when I was in the 6th grade and we did square dancing. We had to have a partner. One day after school Steve Bain called and asked me if I wanted to be his square dance partner. I was so taken back that a boy had actually called my house that when he asked the question I responded, "What?!" He meekly asked the question again. With my wits a little more together this time I said, "Oh yea, sure, thanks, bye." click. That was it. In the end we had a great time learning to square dance and it wasn't really all that bad having to dance with a boy!
Spencer was in heaven for a bit of the afternoon. His new soccer coach has decided to hold practice for any interested players...practice come rain, shine or SNOW! We showed up as the coach was shoveling the pitch. I'm thinking this guy is pretty cool to even consider such a thing. Only 4 players showed up but they had a blast. Lots of running which means well conditioned athletes. Tonight Spencer is tired, but happy and a happy boy means a happy mom!
It's December 8th and FINALLY it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Today the big light fluffy snowflakes came tumbling from the sky. It was a real "winter wonderland". Last week we had about a 45 second teaser (and I'm not kidding). I was volunteering at the elementary school and a white out blew past the window. All of the kids squealed with delight and immediately jumped up to look outside. Just as they turned their backs to sit down the snowing stopped and it was a clear day once again. The snow lasted today. We even got to pull out the shovel. The kids came home cold and wet after school. I fixed a big pot of hot chocolate and we devoured many slices of warm buttered toast with our cocoa. For a brief moment the kitchen was cozy with my four babes sipping from their mugs and concentrating on homework...in hopes that they could soon run outside and enjoy the SNOW!
I hardly know where to start after falling off the blogging sphere. Today is December 1st and so I will start here. This morning Clara woke up all smiles after she found a crisp dollar bill under her pillow. Last night while brushing her teeth her very loose tooth (a baby molar) fell out. She wrote a little "thank you" note and placed it beside her tooth hoping for a visit from the "Tooth Fairy". I must admit I was a little sad that no one lost a tooth last year while we were living in France. It would have been fun to get some euros via the "Little Mouse" or "Le Petit Souris" - the French version of the tooth fairy. Needless to say it doesn't really matter whether the ka-ching comes from a fairy or a mouse. It's just a blessed miracle that those little teeth can fall out and before you know it the real grown up version grows right into place.
Lilly also has a loose tooth...her very first. She is wriggling and jiggling just hoping that it falls out sooner than later. When she saw Clara's cash prize she asked, "how much do you think the "Tooth Fairy" brings for your FIRST loose tooth?" I said I had no idea, but that when I was a kid we only got a quarter for a lost tooth. Lilly's response..."Well that was in the "middle days". There was a long pause as she looked at me with a crooked smile..."cause you weren't born in the "olden days", but they are kind of like "middle days"." Pretty astute comment from a 5 year old wouldn't you say?!
I grew up in a house that was always "cooking". My mother and father owned a catering business which served to bring in needed extra income. I have fond memories of my mother baking French Lace Christmas breads and making the most delicious candy you could taste. It's taken me years to learn how to make the most favorite candy of all...chocolate covered caramel turtles. I've been married for 19 years now and I think this is the first year I've had a near perfect batch. 
