Happiness is ...

... A family tradition that will totally embarrass my kids some day.

... finally getting to eat the gingerbread house.

... a candlelight christmas breakfast.

It's for the birds

A long, long, time ago we started the tradition of doing a service project, as a family, at Christmas time. Back in the olden days they were big projects. By way of example, one year we framed 40 posters and prints and put together an "art cart" for our local children's hospital. And then there was last year in which we did zip, zero, nada, goose eggs. Which is the way things were heading this year. Until, at the last minute, I remembered that something is better than nothing. (duh! Why do I always forget that?) And so, despite the fact that there are several widows living in our ward and several more families that are out of work right now, we served the birds. Yes, you heard me correctly, we offered service to our fine feathered friends. Laugh, if you must, but believe me when I tell you that this is all we were capable of this year! There seem to be alot of birds around here even though it is very snowy and cold, so we strung together cranberries and hung them on a tree in our yard. Then we took pine cones and covered them in peanut butter and rolled them in bird seed and hung those on the tree too. The big projects are fun and helping someone truly in need is noble, but I wanted my kids to know that the point is to do something. So even though our sevice project was "for the birds", hopefully, hopefully my kids are learning to think of others outside of themselves and to know that they are able to help. And hopefully, hopefully, one day I will learn that better than doing nothing is doing what you can.

Decked it

Well, dear far away family and friends, I would very much like to have all of you over for hot chocolate and cookies. But alas, you are far away so instead here is a virtual hot chocolate and some pics of how we decked it at the Hosac house this year.

Any bets on when the wreath will actually be hanging above the fireplace?? January? Never?

The kids tree ... decorated by kids with kids ornaments and the temporary resting place of presents to and from kids.

The real tree ... as in large gaping holes and leaning 45 degrees to the right but smells UNBELIEVABLY GOOD!!

Are you bored with my Christmas decoration pics yet? Well, good news, I'm done!!
Happy December everybody!!
Have a good day and give yourself a hot chocolate cheers from me!
Heather

Little Miss Talkalot

One thing that I love about my Ava is that she is afraid of neither strangers nor engaging these total strangers in conversation. It is, for the most part, charming. But I am sensitive to the fact that most people have prior plans that do not include a long, deep, probing interview with a four year old - so when I need to I keep her socializing short and sweet. Such was the case this saturday at Joshi's Y-ball game. The lovely woman sitting next to us began chatting with Ava but then wanted to watch her son play the game. I oh-so-suavely handed Ava my camera to keep her busy and told her to take pictures of Josh. I didn't hear a peep out of her as I took care of Sophie. I have so many good mommy tricks - i thought to myself. Then I looked up into the horrified face of the woman sitting next to us. "I don't have any make-up on" she said. Ava had taken 29 pictures of the woman sitting next to her.

Pantry door

What my pantry door has been saying lately:

Song for a winter's night

Well, I don't have to tell you about the power that music has to bring back a memory. But I may have underestimated it's power before. No longer. When sophie was born it was in the middle of a snow storm. All the streets were white, the rooftops were white, the doctor was late because of the snow. While I waited I listened to this song over and over on the ipod. The slow beat of the song kept my breathing slow. In our house we are not allowed to listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. So this year on the day after thanksgiving my husband played this song for me. I couldn't hold back the tears as I remembered that night with perfect clarity. For me and Sophie this will always be our song.

Hooray for December

Hooray for Christmas Children's books!! Here are some that we like at our house.

A creature was stirring by Carter Goodrich

I believe in Santa Claus by Diane Adamson and

Christmas day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck

Also, I am reading this to the boys at night

But we need to hurry because this

comes to a theater near us on Dec. 19th.

Happy reading!!

beady little monster eyes

O.K. I need your help. The house we are in right now is a cute cape cod style. Not my forever house but charming nonetheless. The cape cod windows were crying out for christmas wreaths and, since I had some - patiently waiting in blue bins- I was happy to oblige. But here's the rub. The Christmas wreaths were crying out for little candles on either side of them. You know -so that they could pretend that they really are in cape cod - in the 1800's or something. But since this house is a rental [while we sell our North Salt Lake house (patience, patience)] it didn't make sense to invest in house-specific Christmas decorations. I compromised. I bought super cheap electric candles. I thought that this was such a good idea - until evening turned to night and revealed the true character of my cheap-o candles. They look nothing like candles in the dark - more like two beady little monster eyes peering out all of my cape cod windows. Please advise. The choices are: 1) Take them down! Monster eyes are for another holiday altogether. 2) Leave them up! They look good at dusk and dawn and they make the wreaths happy. 3) Go Shopping! Take the bolt out of your wallet and invest in some candles that look like candles.

I can't wait for the answer!

Hey kids!

Guess what? Santa has a blog! If you want to check out his posts and profile click here.

Say it ain't so

Are these the last smores of the season??
Say it ain't so!!

What it looks like to turn 7!

Happy Birthday Josh -- The first time I saw you I knew that we were going to be great friends.

I would try to grab this if there was a fire.

I believe my Aunt Donna made this for my mom. It was in our house while I was growing up. When my Ava was born I hinted that I really (I mean really) wanted it. My mom reframed it and gave it to me for christmas. This is one of my favorite quotes. If the house is spotless it is a good reminder to keep priorities in order. If the house is a little messy - I grab my baby and rock her for a minute before I start to clean up.

the good that comes with the bad and the ugly truth (part one)

So, you take the good with the bad. Examples abound - today is part one. Infant massage. Infant massage is a practice that I think is cool but let's face it, the first year with a new baby is about survival. Basic neccessities of life are provided for and if there is any emotional energy left I take a few pictures. If anyone is getting a massage - it should be the mom, right? Of course right. Unless, of course, you go to the six-week doctors appointment with your first born son and they tell you he has torticolis. Torticolis. They should not tell first time moms that their kid has anything with a "colis" in it because they will freak out and say something uncharacteristically rude to the physical therapist like -"My son has torticolis and you want me to give him a massage?" But that is what I said and that is what she wanted me to do. Once a day. So, in true first- time -mom fashion I gave my new baby an infant massage, twice a day. Almond oil (in case he put his hands in his mouth), by the fire (so he wouldn't get too cold), Christmas carols (it was December). Then my second son came along and infant massage was the furthest thing from my mind. Diapers, nursing, dinner, preschool. Until, at the six-week doctors appointment, the doctor proclaimed those little dry patches to be eczema and prescribed an $80 a bottle steroid cream. $80. Steroids. Since I was a second time mom, I calmly thanked the doctor and then went to the grocery store and bought... almond oil. I wonder-- I thought. Fire place, primary songs, blue blanket. No more dry patches. When my daughter came along it was officially part of the "after bath" routine. Sunny window, pink blanket, primary songs. Now I am doing it again. Baby oil has replaced almond oil (she'll be fine), her bath towel has replaced any special blanket (I'm in a hurry) but I still sing and we still spend ten minutes together with the power of touch. I have years of memories that I cherish thanks to torticolis. I sort of love torticolis. I'll never forget the first time that I heard my very own baby laugh. I was massaging his neck. Like the idea? Click here for info and here for a how to chart.

The sweetness

If there is something sweeter, I haven't found it yet.

Happy 35th Birthday to My Nate!!

Here on my blog I would like to give you one balloon for each time that you have made me laugh until my stomach hurt.

And also this ... just fyi.

The most famous cluster balloon flight took place in 1982. Larry Walters, with no prior ballooning experience, attached 42 helium weather balloons to a lawnchair, intending to go up a few hundred feet, but instead soaring to 16,000. Surprisingly, Walters survived his flight. However, both before and since Walters' adventure, experienced balloonists have experimented with helium balloon clusters, some rising to even greater heights.

The mother bird who has decided to reside in my front yard (despite the cold) did two things today. She worked on this -
And she reminded me that cleaning the house isn't really just cleaning the house (thank heavens - who wants to do that a million times a day for a million days in a row). Cleaning the house is really a part of building a nest for the little chicks that I love best. I hope that I am lucky enough to do that forever.

Genius! (or gross - I can't decide)

Am I the only one who hasn't heard about this? Did you know that there is such a thing as a recipe for edible playdough? Did you know that it is made out of peanut butter? Are you brave enough to try it?? If so click here. Did you click?

Do you think martha stewart will eat the playdough?

Good things about today

1. A good workout


2. Letting the scouts beat me at checkers because those cute little 8 year olds are just dying to win.



3. Watching this

in my big bed with ava instead of doing the dishes.

4. Finding this

in the boys' bookshelf. This is Hip, Hip, Hooray for Annie McRae by Brad Wilcox. The boys used to love this one and I just found it and read it to the girls for the first time. They love it too which gives me cool nostalgic feelings. If you are looking for new kids books -- you should check this one out. It is hard to decide what makes this book so charming. Call it a three way tie between the spunky pictures, perfect rhymes and cool message.

5. Finishing up the dishes and watching a movie in my big bed with nate.

Why wouldn't you want to brush your teeth?

Let's not talk about it. Let's just say that on my personal list of holidays to love Halloween comes in after Lincoln's birthday. Let's also just say that despite a truly obscene amount of dress up choices (and some truly shameless bribery) this is what my daughter wore trick or treating.

That's right folks, her regular everyday clothes. I won't lie to you people --I considered holding her down and force dressing her in the chinese princess dress that grandma brought back from china. Happily I had a moment of temporary sanity and realized that there is no joy in being that kind of a witch. But seriously, if you dress up in your toy room about twice a week --why wouldn't you dress up on a national holiday dedicated to the past time?? This brings me to brushing teeth. I try to have respect for the fact that my children are separate people from me. I don't force them to do much. But come on. You have got to brush your teeth. I don't understand the pushback about teeth brushing. It's not hard labor. It keeps your mouth from feeling grungy. Why wouldn't you want to brush your teeth?

Apple Pictures (finally)

I'm not sure if it was the schedule full of football practices and cub scouts or if it was the freak cold snap that we had in late September. But one way or the other it became painfully clear that neither childhood nor fall would last forever. So I did what had to be done. I kept my kids home from school (they didn't have a tummy ache - not even a fake one) I kept them home to pick apples. Here is how it went. I decided on my plan the night before so I turned off the boys' alarm clock. When they finally woke up, they came into my bedroom... "What's going on? Dad said you have a surprise." "Go back to bed. We're sleeping in and having pancakes." They slept in (in MY bed - not part of the plan) Then we had a leisurly morning making pumpkin pancakes, sausage and eggs over medium. We had Orange Juice. Sadly with early morning Saturday football games and early morning church and early morning school -- a leisurly pancake breakfast had not been seen in this house in too long. Then we went to the home of a lovely widow in our ward who happens to have the most beautiful apple orchard you have ever seen. And we picked apples. And it was a perfect day. And I'm glad they missed that one day of school. And here are the pictures. Let me apologize in advance for the plethora of pictures but we had so much fun that it was hard to edit -- so I didn't.

The beginning of the day

The middle of the day

Where's Sophie? I'm holding her, of course!

The end of the day.