A Little Slice

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tadadadadadadadda.....
Themes for our blank canvas project!
Junior: Cars and Sports, it isn't just nuture...it really seems his nature.
Senior and Chocho:  Throwback to young and in love days...which are still around.
Giada:  Her name spelled from veggies on a cutting board...she loves to cook.
Queen Bubs:  Adores yummy things...any kind of yummy things.
Slick:  Her name surrounded by lots of blond ringlets...she has been going a little curly,occasionally, lately.
Bernina: Pianos and notes...whenever she has got a little free time, you will find her at the piano (if she isn't at the sewing machine).

Blank Canvas

Typically, one of our Christmas traditions is our homemade gift exchange.  Usually in October the kiddos draw names and then set out to make a "homemade" gift.  We aren't talking just paper and sticks glued together.  Each kid makes their plan and their list of needed supplies and I take them shopping and then they get it put all together.  We have had everything from flannel board stories to bath salts to jumping roping song book to car ramps made out of wood scrap and lots in between.  It is pretty cool to see what they come up with and it is usually the present they all want to save to the very last to open.  This year instead of presents under the tree we opted to furnish our empty basement family room with a couch and T.V (the beanbag and ping-pong table were definitely feeling lonely).  I persistently checked out the Craig's list and the local classifieds daily and it paid off when we tracked down a cool red sectional that was the right size and fit the budget so we could get a new TV instead of used.  So, I suggested to the kids, it might be cool to keep our basement theme with Christmas going and we should figure out wall art as our sibling gifts.  They were all on board and since we had already drawn names they decided that we should each get a blank canvas and paint it in honor of their person.  The only criteria is that it had to have the person's name who it was representing on it (sorry, on my photo I blurred the names so I didn't give anything away).  To give balance to the arrangement, I did one for Senior.  They loved doing it and they turned out pretty fantastic.  Now, when ever anyone is bored they ask me if they can paint a canvas (I had a few left over).  I haven't given in yet but one of these days maybe we will break out the paints again!

Wall Art Christmas 2011 Can you guess each theme? Check "A Little Slice" tomorrow for the answers!
From Top Left Counterclockwise: Junior by Giada, Senior and Chocho by Chocho, Giada by Bernina, Queen Bubs by Slick, Slick by Junior with help from Bernina (Junior did paint the yellow and the dots), Bernina by Queen Bubs

Blustery Tuesday

Since when did Wind=Tuesdays?  I don't remember seeing that on anyone's math homework lately.  But apparently around these parts it has become an accurate equation or should I say, "It's a problem!"  Why? 'Cause is it Garbage Day around here.  Last week, made two frantic calls to Senior and the kids (it was an unusual morning...I left earlier than them) begging them NOT to put out the garbage after dodging cans and flying garbage as I drove up the hill.  They listened and we survived with barely enough room to take one more bag out yesterday (the recycle can was completely full as of last Tuesday...did not do good on our footprint this week).  All night last night, I kept dreaming that the garbage truck was coming down the street and we didn't have our cans out (guess it was probably the snow plows I was hearing)....woke this morning to more wind that last week!  I am talking major gusts coming off that mountain. Guess my morning will be spent upstairs listening for the truck and hopefully catching him as he comes down the street...can't skip another week else we might end up looking like a Shel Silverstein poem... but definitely not willing to risk cleaning up the street if my cans get blown over...they are over-the-top full!

Queen Bubs Always Has A Good Line...

Good Line #1:  Trying to take their minds off their hungry bellies on the morn of February's Fast Sunday, Slick and Giada started a round of SkipBo while Junior and Queen Bubs ate their breakfast of Cheerios and peaches.  Noticing the game and not one to miss out on any fun, Queen Bubs deserted her breakfast and planted herself in the middle of the game.  Noticing this I told her that she needed to go finish her breakfast.  Always one with a good line she replied (with a mouthful of crunchy Cheerios), "I need to let my cereal sog down a little.  It is still a little chompy."  Must note:  The day before she told me that her cereal was too soggy to eat and she needed a new bowl full.  Hmmmmmmmm...so which is it sis?

Good Line #2:  Driving home from Superbowl Party #2 (yep, we do two superbowl parties every year...it is pretty great) the older kids were discussing what they all had going on this week as far as schedules, homework, etc...(you know that informal Sunday night planning session that is a pretty important part of keeping a large family sane) and Queen Bubs pipes up in a very serious and grown-up voice, "I don't have a whole lot going on this week except for preschool."  Oh to be four again!

Post that was supposed to happen February First!

January 2011's Top Ten

(as usual with my lists...there is no relevance to the order of the items in the list...that would require too much thinking and decision-making...must save that energy for other things)

10.  Visit to Hardware Ranch...500 elk and a horse-drawn sleigh...can you beat that?  Miles and Siena don't answer...you can beat that!

9.    Giada winning a top spot at the school Science Fair...she is off to District...and did you know that drinking lukewarm water before singing is much better than drinking cold water before singing?

8.    Bernina singing for nearly 48 hours straight (a little exaggeration I guess) with the State Junior High Honors Choir...glad she didn't pass out (at least 5 or 6 did)...maybe its 'cause Giada reminded her to drink lukewarm water!

7.    Slick's trip down south with her cousins (and without her family, what a big girl...Slick how about a post on your trip?) to warm and toasty St. George.

6.    Queen Bubs and Junior finally deciding that they can sleep in their own beds ALL night long...if they get a piece of gum in the AM...my kids will do just about anything for gum!

5.    Senior's parents celebrating 45 years of marriage...Wahoo!

4.    Slick's and Giada's costume fittings for CDT's Spring Concert "Alice in the Looking Glass"...that costume shop is amazing! We've been had LOTS of fabulous CDT costumes over the last 8 years and at least two more fabulous ones this year...We haven't seen Bernina's yet...

3.     Daddy/Mommy/Junior date to Chuck-A-Rama while the rest of the yahoos were partying it up on a Friday night...that little guy can pack it away plus he is free...I think Chuck-A-Rama lost money on that night!

2.     Celebrating Grandma Hansen and Grandma Elyse's 83rd birthday days!  My kiddos are so lucky that they have been able to get to know some of their great-grandparents so well.

1.  We survived one half of the school year with good grades, happy teachers and happy children!  Less than half to go...let the count down begin!  We love summer around here...Chocho's new year's resolution...more time on the lake...although Senior's church calling does get in the way of that just a little, I am still determined to make it happen... ( Just ask Bernina if you need help with the countdown...she can give you the number of actual calendar days and the number of actual school days...I think her count down is actually a" no more junior high" count down...she claims is ready for the big leagues...or so she thinks..haha)

Possessed Snowmobile--Flashback Friday

All this cold weather...and I mean really cold weather has got me thinking about growing up in Cache Valley were it always seemed really cold in the winter.  But with the cold came some pretty fun times.  One time after a day of snowmobiling up at the Sinks in Logan Canyon we were finally home and unloading the machines from the trailer.  The elevation of our home was down from the street a little so we had so our driveway sloped down towards the house and then flattened up by the garage.  Directly east of our home on the other side of the street was a large lot that was covered with grass (and snow that time of year).  Towards the back of the lot (that was quite deep) was a big swing set and behind that was a "retaining wall" of sorts built from railroad ties stacked 3 high.  Beyond that was a giant orchard that stretched for acres and acres between our neighborhood and the subdivision beyond.  We were down by the garage unloading the sleds.  It was still light but nearly dusk.  I remember my Dad taking the first machine down and suddenly it took off by itself up our driveway, across the street, over the curb, over the very large lot, through the swing set and bam! right into the railroad ties.  Luckily, it had begun to slow before it hit the railroad ties...I don't remember a lot of damage but I do remember a lot of yelling and laughing!  I still can see that lone snowmobile cruising a long in the late afternoon sun all alone, swings flying through the air as it pushed them out of the way and my dad chasing after it! Thank goodness for the railroad ties...there was a lot of open road beyond!  Back then, I was certain it was a possessed snowmobile...but now I am pretty sure now it was a frozen throttle!

A Little Slice

Disclaimer:  In the interest of actually completing a post as well as everything else on my list there will be no links today...not that any of you would be disappointed just my own sense of doing it the right way...

On everybody's nightstand (or in other words what they are currently reading in addition to the Book of Mormon):

Senior:  New Testament, Conference Talks, Getting Things Done by David Allen 

ChoCho: Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriett Beecher Stowe, Delivered from Distraction by Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey, Getting Things Done by David Allen 

Bernina: And Then There Were None (formerly known as Ten Little Indians) by Agatha Christie

Giada: Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Slick: Rebecca and the Movies (an American Girl book) by Jacqueline Dembar Greene 

Queen Bubs:  Tea for Ruby by Sarah Ferguson

Junior: Max Cleans Up by Rosemary Wells