McDonalds

We deprive our kids and don't take them out to eat often. Really, would you want to deal with 3 kids under the age of 4 at a restaurant? Well, Grandma Green was nice enough to give us a gift certificate to McDonald's for Christmas and we decided to take advantage of it last night. The kids loved seeing Ronald McDonald in the flesh, er, I mean plastic sitting right there on the bench. This is the friendliest I've seen Corinne with a stranger!



Then I had some strange lady tell me how there are so many germs on the plastic Ronalds and she had heard it from a friend. But how can there be any more germs on him than there are at a playground? If we kept our kids from playing anywhere public would that keep them from getting sick? In my opinion, a little exposure to germs helps to boost their immune system. That is, after all, how our immune system works--the body is exposed to a pathogen and then develops antibodies to fight it and then remember that pathogen to fight it more quickly the next time. So if my kids are healthy then a few small germs aren't going to kill them--just make them stronger!

First smile

Nora just started smiling this week. She's pretty funny about it and will only smile at me if she's a certain distance away from my face. She probably can only focus on things that far away and not closer. The other day she did a nice big mess in her pants and then gave me a huge open-mouthed grin. That must have felt good!

Merry Christmas

We had a nice simple Christmas at home with just our little family. It ended up raining while Santa was visiting so all our snow melted. I still have yet to have a white Christmas--but you won't hear any complaints from me. I've never been one to enjoy the snow or the cold.

Matthew came downstairs and saw the biggest present and had to open that one first.

Matthew got to open up pretty much all the presents this year--again. We tried to get Corinne to open a present but she would start and then put it down to play with a toy already opened.

Corinne shared some wrapping paper with Daddy while he filmed the event on his new phone. We each had early Christmas phones this year.

And, my favorite present--a new house! We bought this 2006 house in Buckeye, AZ this month. We are totally excited to move into it. It was foreclosed on and the previous owners (we suspect) left with not only their stuff but also the entire kitchen, the air conditioner, water heater, garage door opener, the carpet and a few other items here and there. So, we've got some work to do on it, but for $90,000 for a 3300 sq ft 5 bedroom 3 bathroom house, I think we scored! We also have a year and a half to fix it up until we move there. I just keep looking at the weather in AZ with longing for those warm winters and even warmer summers!

The woes of snow

After Jeremy read the last post, he wanted to make sure that everyone knew that snow is not always fun. He said I needed to post some pictures of him shoveling the snow to remind those who live in Arizona, why they want to live there and why we will be moving there in a year and a half (as if we're not counting down--but I'll post more on that later). Corinne wanted to show off her cute little coat. The kids wanted to be outside with Daddy but then had to come back inside when their hands got cold from getting wet in the silly mittens they have for kids. If anyone knows of a place where I can get waterproof kids gloves let me know.

Just one more winter after this one and then we won't have to shovel snow any more! On a side note, it is currently snowing again so Jeremy may have to get out there and shovel some more.

Playing in the snow

For those of you who live in Arizona, there is some cold white stuff that falls from the sky in the wintertime called snow. It is not a fictional occurence only written about in books but it actually happens in places where it gets cold. The last time it snowed was on a Sunday and I didn't have time to let the kids play in it before it melted. So I decided to make it up to them today and took them outside for a little while. At first Matthew was just excited to make footprints in the snow. Can you tell they're not used to the snow?

Then Matthew remembered that you can eat snow and Corinne caught on as well. So they stuffed their faces with snow for awhile. Then I threw a few snowballs at them but they couldn't get the hang of it. It wasn't very sticky snow and so we couldn't make a good snowman.

I was watching the news later and they were saying that we were having a few spots of "thunder snow." I have never heard of that before but apparently it is when there is lightning and thunder along with the snowstorm.

Visiting the Aquarium Again

Since we have season passes, we go to the aquarium frequently. It has been pretty cold recently and the kids are getting cabin fever from being inside too long. So, to reduce further destruction to the house, we went to the aquarium the other day. Matthew loved watching the penguins swimming.

They always like to pose next to the bronze penguins.

I thought this was a cute shot of Corinne posing next to the shark.

We tried to get a shot with daddy and the kids but no one was really cooperating. And, I wanted a shot of Corinne's awesome boots that keep her feet nice and warm!

One month old!

Nora is officially one month old today. So far she has been such a sweet-tempered baby which is a blessing since Corinne was such a handful. Most of the time I can just set her down in the crib and she may cry for a couple of minutes before finally putting herself to sleep. She also is content just to hang out in the swing much of the time so I can get dinner ready or clean the house or get other things done. And when she starts to get fussy, I only have to pick her up and she calms right down. I just hope I don't neglect her too much since she is so good-natured.

And, as you can see, she is taking after her Grandpa Strong as far as hairdos go. It's looking like the makings of a mullet with nothing on top and about a half inch long in the back!

Christmas List

I was talking to Matthew about Santa Claus and his role in Christmas and then asked Matthew what he wanted for Christmas. The conversation went as follows:
Me: What do you want for Christmas?
Matthew: Food.
Me: What kind of food?
Matthew: Broccoli.
Me: What else?
Matthew: Tomatoes.
It looks like I'll just have to go Christmas shopping at the grocery store this year!

Holiday Traditions

Now that Matthew is old enough to understand what Christmas is about and who Santa Claus is, I was trying to think of some fun Christmas traditions to start with the kids to get them excited about Christmas. I want to do something inexpensive, yet memorable but I also don't want it to be too time-consuming since I do have a newborn to attend to, not to mention the Christmas shopping I didn't get to before Nora was born and all the other church activities we need to fit into our schedule, etc. I was hoping that maybe some of you have some great ideas that you could share, if you don't mind me copying your ideas. I just watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and that made me want to start traditions of service and of remembering the Savior. I particularly enjoyed President Eyring's family rendition of a Christmas pageant complete with stone-throwing at Samuel. Feel free to share ideas that you and your children enjoy!