Merry Christmas!

William enjoying his dinosaur playmat from Grandma:
Henry and his Sugar Bowl shirt:

Christmas morning came early for us:

Setting out cookies for Santa:

Clowning around with pillowcases made with love by Mom:

We've hunkered down for the day -it's been snowing all day here in Cache Valley so there will be lots of snow for sledding this weekend. Jay is taking the boys to a Utah Jazz game on Dec. 26th - Santa brought tickets for the Wright boys to enjoy. We are so grateful for family and friends this holiday season and especially for the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Tracking Santa

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html

We love checking this link periodically through the day on Christmas Eve. The kids like to see what country Santa is visiting. They have cute videos and it's a good chance to not only check on Santa's progress but learn about geography as well.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas Eve.

Stream of Conscious

Conversations with 2 year olds are always interesting. This is a very close approximation of a fairly one-sided conversation with Tessa the other day at our house:

"Mama, why you yawn? Do you need a nap? You can't sleep in my bed. You are too big for my bed. You share with Daddy. Daddy at work. Daddy home yet? Daddy need to eat dinner. What's for dinner? Chicken is yucky. Vegetables are yucky. Potatoes are yucky. I love caramel popcorn. Can we make some? I want some candy. Can we have some now? But I want some! Is Henry home yet? I want Henry. Where is Puppy? I go see him. Bye, Mama".

All this was said about 6 inches from my face as I was laying on the couch. It's a good thing she's so cute because she sure can be exhausting, especially now that she doesn't nap anymore. Afternoons can seem really long sometimes.

**Note - she often refers to William as "Puppy" because she had a hard time pronouncing his name when she was learning to talk. She calls him William more these days, but still reverts back to Puppy as well.

Holiday Highlights

The holiday season is in full swing. We've been playing holiday music in the car - the kids seem to favor our Harry Connick Jr. Christmas CD. All of our Family Home Evening lessons this month have focused on Christmas. We have enjoyed giving small gifts to friends, neighbors and teachers. It's been fun to enjoy all the treats and fun activities that go along with the holidays.

Still, sometimes it's hard to remember amidst all the commercialism and craziness that is December that we are celebrating the birth of the Savior. Such a significant and sacred event feels misplaced among all the hoopla that is Christmas in 2008. It feels like a difficult balance to achieve, the balance between the sacred and the secular. We're trying - I guess time will tell if we succeed.

Winter Wonderland

We had our first big snowfall of the season today. Here are a few pictures:

Self Esteem

Overheard last night at our ward Christmas party:

Nice lady: "Henry, you look so handsome in your new glasses."

Henry: "I know."

Sigh.

Note to self - teach Henry that the appropriate response to compliments is generally "thank you", not "I know I'm so smart/handsome/fantastic/fill in the blank."

Brotherly Love

Some days it's nice to get a reminder that our children love each other, despite the bickering, teasing and arguing that occurs on a daily basis.

Today was a sick day for Henry. He was up during the night with what seems to be a 24-hour stomach bug. William had preschool this morning and when I picked him up, he asked me if Henry was still sick. I said, "yes, a little"; William's response was "good". I told William that it wasn't nice to want his brother to be sick and he replied, "I don't want him to be sick, but I like it when he gets to stay home from school so that we can be together."

Of course a few hours later they were whacking each other with pillows and fighting over what show to watch on TV, but it is occasionally nice to get a glimpse of the love they have for each other.

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Glasses

Today Henry got glasses. We knew this day was coming. He had his first opthamologist appointment last summer and his eyes were "borderline". The doctor said that when (not if, but when) he started complaining of not seeing the board at school or headaches to bring him back. Fast forward to the week before Thanksgiving - Henry said he was having to squint to see things at school and he complained of a few headaches at the end of the day. So we took him back to have his eyes checked (they had slightly worsened) and ordered his glasses. He'll only need them for schoolwork and watching TV or movies for now, since he's nearsighted. He probably won't need them to read, but we'll encourage him to wear them most of the time to get used to them and to prevent eyestrain. He won't need them for recess or sports right now.

He seems OK with getting them; I think his eyes are bothering him enough that he knows it will help. I think he is a little worried about what people will say, but his best friend wears glasses and so do some kids at school, so I'm sure once he realizes that it's really not a big deal he'll be more comfortable. I just hope he is careful with them and doesn't lose them!

Happy Birthday, William!

Today is William's 5th birthday. He was born at 1:03 p.m. on December 2, 2003.

He opened his presents this morning and was a happy camper. He got some sports cards from Henry (chosen with care from his personal collection), a dinosaur computer game from Grandma, a dinosaur book with trading cards and a pretend fossil to dig out of clay from Mom and Dad, and tickets to go to the Walking with Dinosaurs Live Show in January with Henry and Mom. He also received a $2 bill from Aunt LeClaire and Uncle Heath, which was a big hit. We're having a dinosaur cake after dinner (are you catching a theme here?) and will celebrate with the Wright Family later in December.

He's a great kid and we love him so much.

Thanksgiving Tidbits

We've had a busy week here. Here are a few highlights:

*Monday - Jay had lunch with Henry at school and played basketball with his buddies during recess.

*Tuesday - To keep things equitable, Tuesday was "Daddy and William Day". They ran errands all morning and had lunch out together.

*Wednesday - We took the kids to get their annual holiday picture made in the morning. Jay made a double batch of rolls for Thanksgiving and I went shopping to get a little jump on Christmas. We watched "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" and had popcorn after dinner.

*Thursday - We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with Jay's family in Ogden. We were missing a few members of the family (Nana was visiting Adam and family in the Czech Republic and Great-Nana spent the holiday with other family members) but we had a nice dinner and a fun afternoon with everyone else.

*Friday - We made several batches of caramel popcorn in the morning - the kids love this activity and we love giving it away at Christmas. We spent the afternoon decorating for Christmas. It's always fun to get the house all spruced up for the holidays.

*Saturday - Jay took the boys to the Utah State/New Mexico State football game and Tessa and I hit the mall for some shopping.

All in all, we had a fun Thanksgiving week. We love having Jay on vacation that week; it always seems like a good week to get alot of things done to prepare for Christmas and to just hang out together.

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well.

The Little Princess

Having a little girl is a new experience for us. When Tessa was born, people would ask if we thought there was a difference between the boys and our new little girl. Then, when all she needed was unlimited access to Mama, there really wasn't - she just seemed like a baby; a demanding one, at that, but a pretty typical baby. As she's growing up, however, the differences become clearer.

She's a bit of a drama queen. She loves to dress up - she has a few pairs of dress up princess shoes that she'll put on just to wear them. She plays with her baby dolls. She actually likes getting her hair cut - probably because she's used to sitting on the counter every morning while she gets it fixed. She'll spend time coloring and playing with stickers and playing with play dough; the boys wouldn't even touch crayons or do anything similar at this age. Some of this is personality, I'm sure, but it does seem to us that girls are different than boys in many ways.

Of course there are lots of ways that she is similar to her brothers. They all pick on each other and love each other and annoy each other, as siblings do. But it's been fun having our little princess around the house, that's for sure.

Catching Up

We've had a fun and busy fall. Henry started 2nd Grade and is doing really well. He enjoys math and reading and science and recess - lots and lots of recess. William is in his second year of preschool and is learning to write his name and is starting to read a little. Tessa is taking a Mom and Me tumbling class that she enjoys. Rhonda enjoys it as well - it's a good opportunity to get out and chat with other moms while the kids run and play. Jay has enjoyed watching the Utes excel at football this year - they just beat BYU to go 12-0 and earn a BCS bowl berth. We probably won't be making the trip this year, but it's been a fun ride.

Halloween came and went with lots of fun activities for the kids. They enjoy decorating the house with lights and pumpkins. It's always fun to hit the Fall Festival at our ward - they do a good job of providing fun activities for the kids. Henry and William both had Halloween parties at school that were a big hit. This year we had a wide range of costumes - Henry was a vampire (but not a scary one, according to Tessa), William was a Majungatholus (a dinosaur from the Cretaceous Era), and Tessa was a bumblebee.

Getting Started

With the holidays approaching and the kids growing faster than they should, we thought now would be a good time to start a blog so that we can share stories and pictures with our family and friends.

We'll try to catch up with a little background here and there, but mostly we'll just try and keep you updated on us. So enjoy!