In my "Things that make a mom proud" post I mentioned Ellie's state report and the practice video that I wanted to share - drum roll please.....
Red Rock Canyon
15 years ago
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
The Win. Seriously?
So this is Ellie, after winning a game of Trouble. Seriously?
This is back on 12/29/2009, but we still watch it and giggle all the time.
This is back on 12/29/2009, but we still watch it and giggle all the time.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
CHRISTMAS TIME, CHRISTMAS TIME
I am one of those people who won't listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving, I won't decorate the house, I will do minimal shopping (c'mon people, shopping is a year-round activity) and I won't turn any Christmas lights on. Yet the day after Thanksgiving...oh...it's on.
On the Friday after Christmas, in preparation for decorating and new "stuff" we cleaned out the toy room. I helped Ellie (persuaded, used my mom influence, whatever it's called) find toys she doesn't play with much anymore to donate. She had two big items that she wasn't too excited to give up so I told her we could post them on KSL and she could buy something new with the money. Within 15 minutes the kitchen sold and by the evening the camera had sold. Ellie had over $50 for two toys she wasn't playing with much. I think it helped ease her pain. :D
That night we did one of Ellie's favorite Christmas activities - we went to the mall to get a name from the Angel Tree. We did this last year and Ellie has been looking forward to it ever since. She wanted to pick a girl around her age so we spent several minutes looking for just the right one and then we went to get everything on the list for her. You are recommended to get the "needed" item - but we like to get the "need" and all of the "wants." It is fun for us to think about how happy the other person will be opening our gifts on Christmas.
We decided that some of Ellie's money should go towards the Angel tree gifts - and the other would go towards her very own Christmas tree. I remember having one in my room as a kid. I loved it. It was white (I loved a flocked tree) with colorful lights. I had it for quite a number of years and remember how excited I was for it each year. Ellie picked hers out and started shaping it so the next day we could decorate. I hope she enjoys hers as much as I did mine.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving is my traditional day to get what is by far my favorite Christmas decoration - the tree. It's funny to me how many of our activities are the same year to year - this was noted in my fall blog - and if you read the blog year after year it's not hard to pick up on - but I love it. It's like we have traditional things we do almost year round and they are so wonderful we keep doing them year after year. So - after the football game (because that is a Saturday tradition) we loaded into the car and went to the tree lot and found our perfect tree. Again as a kid I remember how glorious this event was. I loved it. I enjoyed the time with my family. I always pushed for the flocked tree - which they don't even do anymore.
Back to this year though - it was quite cold and Ellie picked the tree almost first thing so we didn't linger. We got the tree on top of the car and headed home for our traditional evening of Kevin putting he lights on the tree, Ellie dressing up in the tree skirt, and arranging the chocolate tray, and me filling the house with the other decorations. About four hours after we start - the lights are on the tree and we all decorate the tree together. By the end of the day the house is beautiful and chock full of Christmas cheer.
Two new things we added to the day. One was Ellie's tree - she decorated the entire thing herself, putting the white snowmen around the top because they looked like angels. The second was we were the proud new hosts of an Elf on the Shelf. Santa delivered him to our house a couple of weeks in advance. We registered him to our house and named him Chip. Throughout the entire Christmas season Chip brought us joy and suspense as he moved around the house and we had to find him each day.
One morning before school Ellie sat down by Chip and said, "Chippy - I want THESE skinny jeans and THIS shirt" as she showed him the exact items (we had bough them for her cousin). We had fun with Chip and hope he comes back next year.
The Nutcracker was always something my mom and I went to when I was a child. The last two years, Ellie's dance group has performed the Nutcracker. It has been fun to see her dance to one of my favorite childhood memories. This year she did the performance four times! Two day performances for different school groups and two night performances for parents and friends. It was fun - but she was exhausted after those two days!
The weeks in December went by so fast with work, school, shopping and anxiety for Christmas and family to arrive. The second weekend in December we went to the zoo to see the zoo lights. This was my first time in Utah to see the zoo lights and Ellie's second. She was excited to show us the 12 days of Christmas light show that she remembered from last year. I was excited to just be there. I loved being outside and walking around. I thought the display was excellent and can't wait to go again next year. I think several times I plan things for Ellie and us to do that I probably enjoy more than she does.
There were a couple of surprises at the zoo that WERE super exciting to Ellie though. Two of Santa's reindeer were there waiting for the big night. And a baby Colobus monkey was born the day before; we got to see it with the mom. At first I thought the monkey had a doll and then we saw it move. It was so super cute - Ellie and I both did the 'awwws' and the 'so cutes' multiple times.
Can you see any new passengers on the train?
The Heath family Christmas party is a tradition older than I am. When I was younger it was a night with family coupled by a large cousin sleep over and then a family breakfast. We have lost our traditional venue and the sleep over and breakfast went away with it, but the family time and party still happen every year. Ellie seems to enjoy it as much as I do. She looks forward to seeing her cousins and told me this year - "The Santas in the mall and other places are just helpers, but the REAL Santa comes to our party." And he does. This year Ellie's gift was the first Santa pulled out of his bag, but it had lost the name tag - so he put it to the side and gave out present by present. In the end he knew it was Ellie's. I was impressed by how patient all of the kids were as they had to wait to open their present until every kid had one. I just wonder what was going through Ellie's mind gift after gift until the bag was empty.
Mid-December, Ellie's school does their winter program. The programs are so amazing as they get to display their talents as a class. After the program Ellie gave us an ornament she had made (she put it on her own tree) and a few other crafts she had made in school. I love school programs and sitting there as proud as any parent watching my child perform.
The week before Christmas I was feeling like work had really been a lot this December and since school was out and there was no night routine we needed to stick to I would try to plan something fun for us to do each night.
Grandma took care of Sunday with the annual gingerbread houses. Mine started as a reindeer stable, but ended up a candy dish. Kevin's started out looking like a couple of single-wides but ended up awesome. Ellie did a sleigh with grandma but then also did a house where Santa hides his bag of treats and toys. Jed has found that hot glue works much faster than frosting. They always end up so cute and we always end up sugar loaded. Titus and Logan did a good job eating them after they arrived.
Monday afternoon Ellie received a letter from Santa. I don't know how to write about it other than it was magical and Santa knew about Ellie and it was the perfect letter. I caught her reading it on video - which she didn't know I was doing and I think just watching it describes it all perfectly.
That night we went to see the reindeer at Thanksgiving Point and took the horse-drawn wagon ride through the lights. It was so simple and fun to be together, to look at lights and to laugh about how stinky the horse was when he would toot. Whoa Rusty.
Tuesday was a snow day. Ellie played in the snow while Kevin shoveled. We usually have a lot of snow for Christmas and a lot of playing in it as a family at least one time. But that day was the only snow we got for Christmas - and it was gone before the actual day.
On Wednesday cousins Mason, Logan and Titus arrived. Do I need to say anything more? It's always sooo great when they get here. We had fun eating, playing games and decorating a fort. Of course - we had a sleepover as well.
Thursday Mason and Ellie woke up and found Chip on top of the Christmas tree! We have no idea how he got up so high, but it was a fun last place for him to be in our house before he went back to be with Santa.
I had to work on Thursday so Mason and Ellie spent the day playing but then in the late afternoon we got ready for what was one of my all time favorite events of the season. Wednesday I made and gave the girls invitations to a tea party. The excitement built up overnight and by Thursday afternoon we were all pretty anxious.
I had the girls get in their fancy dresses, I curled their hair and put it up in fancy clips and then we went to the Grand America hotel where our car was valet parked and we treated ourselves to a fancy tea party. Again it's one of those events I have a hard time writing about. It was beautiful, fun, exciting, adorable, magical and wonderful. I think Mason described it best. "This is like the best time of my life, being a kid."
Christmas Eve - we loaded all the presents in the car, drove to grandma's and had a traditional Heath Christmas Eve. A huge fancy dinner that grandma stresses over making perfect, a reading of the birth of Christ -this year we included a family reenactment, sprinkling the lawn with reindeer dust, baking cookies, writing letters, taking a bath, getting new pajamas, a family prayer, a little bit of family wrestling and then everyone tucked in bed. I honestly cherish the huge family sleepover and love that everyone else does too.
Christmas morning was chaotic and fun as the kids ran around with excitement. One might think with all of the build up to one event, the event might not live up to the expectation. But I can honestly say it always does. It really doesn't matter what presents were there, the most wonderful part of Christmas time is all of the time we have together as a family and how blessed we are to have each other and to know that we have been blessed with the gift of Christ in our lives.
We spent the rest of the week with family and friends and tried to get every last bit of fun in before we had to let it go.
On the Friday after Christmas, in preparation for decorating and new "stuff" we cleaned out the toy room. I helped Ellie (persuaded, used my mom influence, whatever it's called) find toys she doesn't play with much anymore to donate. She had two big items that she wasn't too excited to give up so I told her we could post them on KSL and she could buy something new with the money. Within 15 minutes the kitchen sold and by the evening the camera had sold. Ellie had over $50 for two toys she wasn't playing with much. I think it helped ease her pain. :D
That night we did one of Ellie's favorite Christmas activities - we went to the mall to get a name from the Angel Tree. We did this last year and Ellie has been looking forward to it ever since. She wanted to pick a girl around her age so we spent several minutes looking for just the right one and then we went to get everything on the list for her. You are recommended to get the "needed" item - but we like to get the "need" and all of the "wants." It is fun for us to think about how happy the other person will be opening our gifts on Christmas.
We decided that some of Ellie's money should go towards the Angel tree gifts - and the other would go towards her very own Christmas tree. I remember having one in my room as a kid. I loved it. It was white (I loved a flocked tree) with colorful lights. I had it for quite a number of years and remember how excited I was for it each year. Ellie picked hers out and started shaping it so the next day we could decorate. I hope she enjoys hers as much as I did mine.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving is my traditional day to get what is by far my favorite Christmas decoration - the tree. It's funny to me how many of our activities are the same year to year - this was noted in my fall blog - and if you read the blog year after year it's not hard to pick up on - but I love it. It's like we have traditional things we do almost year round and they are so wonderful we keep doing them year after year. So - after the football game (because that is a Saturday tradition) we loaded into the car and went to the tree lot and found our perfect tree. Again as a kid I remember how glorious this event was. I loved it. I enjoyed the time with my family. I always pushed for the flocked tree - which they don't even do anymore.
Back to this year though - it was quite cold and Ellie picked the tree almost first thing so we didn't linger. We got the tree on top of the car and headed home for our traditional evening of Kevin putting he lights on the tree, Ellie dressing up in the tree skirt, and arranging the chocolate tray, and me filling the house with the other decorations. About four hours after we start - the lights are on the tree and we all decorate the tree together. By the end of the day the house is beautiful and chock full of Christmas cheer.
Two new things we added to the day. One was Ellie's tree - she decorated the entire thing herself, putting the white snowmen around the top because they looked like angels. The second was we were the proud new hosts of an Elf on the Shelf. Santa delivered him to our house a couple of weeks in advance. We registered him to our house and named him Chip. Throughout the entire Christmas season Chip brought us joy and suspense as he moved around the house and we had to find him each day.
One morning before school Ellie sat down by Chip and said, "Chippy - I want THESE skinny jeans and THIS shirt" as she showed him the exact items (we had bough them for her cousin). We had fun with Chip and hope he comes back next year.
The Nutcracker was always something my mom and I went to when I was a child. The last two years, Ellie's dance group has performed the Nutcracker. It has been fun to see her dance to one of my favorite childhood memories. This year she did the performance four times! Two day performances for different school groups and two night performances for parents and friends. It was fun - but she was exhausted after those two days!
The weeks in December went by so fast with work, school, shopping and anxiety for Christmas and family to arrive. The second weekend in December we went to the zoo to see the zoo lights. This was my first time in Utah to see the zoo lights and Ellie's second. She was excited to show us the 12 days of Christmas light show that she remembered from last year. I was excited to just be there. I loved being outside and walking around. I thought the display was excellent and can't wait to go again next year. I think several times I plan things for Ellie and us to do that I probably enjoy more than she does.
There were a couple of surprises at the zoo that WERE super exciting to Ellie though. Two of Santa's reindeer were there waiting for the big night. And a baby Colobus monkey was born the day before; we got to see it with the mom. At first I thought the monkey had a doll and then we saw it move. It was so super cute - Ellie and I both did the 'awwws' and the 'so cutes' multiple times.
Can you see any new passengers on the train?
The Heath family Christmas party is a tradition older than I am. When I was younger it was a night with family coupled by a large cousin sleep over and then a family breakfast. We have lost our traditional venue and the sleep over and breakfast went away with it, but the family time and party still happen every year. Ellie seems to enjoy it as much as I do. She looks forward to seeing her cousins and told me this year - "The Santas in the mall and other places are just helpers, but the REAL Santa comes to our party." And he does. This year Ellie's gift was the first Santa pulled out of his bag, but it had lost the name tag - so he put it to the side and gave out present by present. In the end he knew it was Ellie's. I was impressed by how patient all of the kids were as they had to wait to open their present until every kid had one. I just wonder what was going through Ellie's mind gift after gift until the bag was empty.
Mid-December, Ellie's school does their winter program. The programs are so amazing as they get to display their talents as a class. After the program Ellie gave us an ornament she had made (she put it on her own tree) and a few other crafts she had made in school. I love school programs and sitting there as proud as any parent watching my child perform.
The week before Christmas I was feeling like work had really been a lot this December and since school was out and there was no night routine we needed to stick to I would try to plan something fun for us to do each night.
Grandma took care of Sunday with the annual gingerbread houses. Mine started as a reindeer stable, but ended up a candy dish. Kevin's started out looking like a couple of single-wides but ended up awesome. Ellie did a sleigh with grandma but then also did a house where Santa hides his bag of treats and toys. Jed has found that hot glue works much faster than frosting. They always end up so cute and we always end up sugar loaded. Titus and Logan did a good job eating them after they arrived.
Monday afternoon Ellie received a letter from Santa. I don't know how to write about it other than it was magical and Santa knew about Ellie and it was the perfect letter. I caught her reading it on video - which she didn't know I was doing and I think just watching it describes it all perfectly.
That night we went to see the reindeer at Thanksgiving Point and took the horse-drawn wagon ride through the lights. It was so simple and fun to be together, to look at lights and to laugh about how stinky the horse was when he would toot. Whoa Rusty.
Tuesday was a snow day. Ellie played in the snow while Kevin shoveled. We usually have a lot of snow for Christmas and a lot of playing in it as a family at least one time. But that day was the only snow we got for Christmas - and it was gone before the actual day.
On Wednesday cousins Mason, Logan and Titus arrived. Do I need to say anything more? It's always sooo great when they get here. We had fun eating, playing games and decorating a fort. Of course - we had a sleepover as well.
Thursday Mason and Ellie woke up and found Chip on top of the Christmas tree! We have no idea how he got up so high, but it was a fun last place for him to be in our house before he went back to be with Santa.
I had to work on Thursday so Mason and Ellie spent the day playing but then in the late afternoon we got ready for what was one of my all time favorite events of the season. Wednesday I made and gave the girls invitations to a tea party. The excitement built up overnight and by Thursday afternoon we were all pretty anxious.
I had the girls get in their fancy dresses, I curled their hair and put it up in fancy clips and then we went to the Grand America hotel where our car was valet parked and we treated ourselves to a fancy tea party. Again it's one of those events I have a hard time writing about. It was beautiful, fun, exciting, adorable, magical and wonderful. I think Mason described it best. "This is like the best time of my life, being a kid."
Christmas Eve - we loaded all the presents in the car, drove to grandma's and had a traditional Heath Christmas Eve. A huge fancy dinner that grandma stresses over making perfect, a reading of the birth of Christ -this year we included a family reenactment, sprinkling the lawn with reindeer dust, baking cookies, writing letters, taking a bath, getting new pajamas, a family prayer, a little bit of family wrestling and then everyone tucked in bed. I honestly cherish the huge family sleepover and love that everyone else does too.
Christmas morning was chaotic and fun as the kids ran around with excitement. One might think with all of the build up to one event, the event might not live up to the expectation. But I can honestly say it always does. It really doesn't matter what presents were there, the most wonderful part of Christmas time is all of the time we have together as a family and how blessed we are to have each other and to know that we have been blessed with the gift of Christ in our lives.
We spent the rest of the week with family and friends and tried to get every last bit of fun in before we had to let it go.
And finally, this post is over. :D I am exhausted writing it, but I wouldn't have Christmas time any other way. (And if you made it through the entire thing - well done.)
Two bonus Ellie lines during our Christmas music listening:
"Natalie Cole - I bet she gets coal for Christmas."
"Elvis Presley - Is he really an elf?" Why would you say that? "Because Elf-us Presley!"
Two bonus Ellie lines during our Christmas music listening:
"Natalie Cole - I bet she gets coal for Christmas."
"Elvis Presley - Is he really an elf?" Why would you say that? "Because Elf-us Presley!"
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