Happy Thoughts from the Past Week

Happy Thoughts from the Past Week:

• stitches can fix just about everything
• kids who love to play with each other
• A Thanksgiving to be thankful for
• turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, RHODES rolls, corn, fruit, salad, cheesecake, and lots and lots of gravy
• the gratitude chain
• the Whiting Christmas tree
• Ian the basketball star
• leading the music in primary (I didn't have to go to RS after all!)
• a nice musical number by my boys and the Stigers girls that went off without a hitch!
• a 4 1/2 day weekend -- we should do that every week!
• running with James
• Busy Lizzie
• Christmas music
• Christmas lights
• so far Lizzie hasn't opened any of the Christmas presents
• nobody got killed at our Walmart. I have never seen anything like it! You could barely walk through the aisles, there were so many people packed into our Walmart at 5 a.m. It was a good thing I was standing right next to what Jamey wanted because once it was 5 a.m. and people started grabbing items, the entire pallet was gone in less than a minute. The crowds were absolutely crazy, but after I ran to Kmart and then came back to Walmart to get my groceries, there were employees standing in the aisles looking bored. All of the specials were gone so the crowds must have gone to other stores.
• hard-working Ian and Jamey who sanded the entire deck and picnic table and then helped stain it. Ethan helped a little too, but especially Ian was out there for basically the entire long weekend.
• Cameron working very independently on his Eagle project
• Micah's science project -- Ewwww! Gross!!! More about that later...
• Walmart honors Kmart's ads
• Cameron wrote "I love you" in the bottom of the mac & cheese pan while waiting for the water to boil. He loves me. He is so good about showing it, too.
• Cameron makes the best mac & cheese I have ever tasted
  
• a fun concert and girls' night out with Rebecca, even though she got bored. It made me excited for years to come!
• Lizzie brought a jug of koolaid down the stairs. She was very thirsty. James thinks she somehow got it out of the fridge herself!
• Rebecca & Lizzie doing "situps" with me
  

Classic Quotes from the Past Week:

• Teancum: Mom: "What is Christmas about, Teancum?" pause... "Uhh... Jesus or presents, I forgot which one." I will continue to hope that he was only kidding!
• Teancum: On Saturday I took Teancum to Pizza Hut to redeem his free pizza coupon from school. On the way home we were driving down Main Street when he said, "Is lick-wars really a restaurant?" Mom: "Actually that says "liquors," and it's not a restaurant, it's a place where people get alcohol." Teancum: "Oh, what a funny name!"
• Teancum: "Do earwigs grow babies in their ears?"
• Teancum: Micah & Ian were decorating the Christmas tree and mentioned that our tree had quite a bit of sap in it. Teancum said, "Hey! That means we have medicine in the house!"
• Cameron: "We're not being loud, we're being musical."
• Rebecca: "Lizzie's angry like an angry monster!"
• Ethan: "Sometimes work is play." James and the boys went to help move wood for someone in our ward. When the owner complimented the boys on their hard work, Ethan quoted a line from one of our favorite family Christmas carols, "Santa's Elves." We sing that song a lot. Yes, Ethan, sometimes work is play.
• Rebecca: "One day when Lizzie is three I will tell her her name and I will show her how to be a very good girl."
• Micah: The kids asked me what my Christmas wish was. I said, "I wish for peace on earth." Micah said, "you didn't get your wish, did you?"
• Micah: Micah wanted to make a photo slideshow to go with his science project (he's VERY into his science project -- he wants to go to district and state competitions). My computer was being slow, as happens quite often, and I was moving my mouse quickly around in frustration. Micah looked at me like he thought it was funny that I was so frustrated and said, "you're not very patient, are you?" No, I'm not patient at all.
  

Uh-oh, she already knows how to use the phone!

Ian helps get the tree ready to come inside.

Lizzie is stuck in the gratitude chain!

Family Home Evening opening song