"A subtle but significant blessing we receive is the spiritual gift of gratitude that enables our appreciation for what we have to constrain desires for what we want. A grateful person is rich in contentment. An ungrateful person suffers in the poverty of endless discontentment."
It is so sad that Black Friday has to follow thanksgiving. I feel that it cancels out any chance that we have to feel grateful for what we have. Especially since Black Friday is slowly eating away thanksgiving.
friday: "fun place with daddy" as anna calls it. we went to Hollywood Connection. Above is the pic of the carousel. Its a lame indoor theme park with an arcade. julia was terrified of the carousel once it started moving. she liked it before that! funny girl. rich and anna rode this bus, it was a long ride and really lame and weird. we tried roller skating. anna is too little. no bueno. maybe in 5 more years. i never want to go to that place again.
Saturday: i went to the temple with virginia. i went for a long run and it felt good. i haven't been running lately because i've been working out inside in the morning with richard. running is much better, but what im doing inside is keeping me in good shape! I was running fast and it felt good.
sunday: we had a "open house" thanksgiving dinner at grandma Elaine's. Anna and remi are so cute together. they are like best friends and they play together so well. I think we need to make a point to have anna give him a Christmas present. after the t-day open house, we went to Levi and jamie Lloyd's house for dinner. They had a baby in October and we wanted to bring them dinner. Anna has so much fun with Lucy and Hallie. They are the best little pals. Julia plays with them too. I really need to get julia some dress ups for christmas, or at least a purse. this girl can't get enough!
we walked to church today, COLD COLD COLD! that's it! good weekend. christmas is coming! people have their lights up! i've got the christmas card done. we are excited!
Anna's great aunt Annette Dunson (my mom's sister) is the coolest aunt ever. She hand delivered about 100 books to anna! Merry Christmas to us!
Julia really loves the little people barn. I've started leaving them out in the corner of their room and the girls seems to play with them more.
We walk to church every sunday (it's at the end of our street!) cold or warm! It was cold on this morning! Anna has started going to primary adn she does so good. She loves the primary songs and playing the music time games.
I teach the 5 year olds. Here is my darling class. Olivia, Ben and Kate.
We did some shopping for boots for julia today. After having no luck and walmart and kmart, we went to goodwill and BINGO! right size (5) right color (pink) and barely used boots for 4$. Can't beat it! Anna was shopping while I was trying the boots on julia. She found me some awesome shoes! She made me try them on because they are so beautiful and would be sooooo comfortable (she says!). they are sure stunning!
Anna looooooooooves shopping. She's got the wrong ma ma!
After shoe shopping we went to the last ballet class of the year. Julia was trying to do all the moves from the sidelines. Anna is in the rainbow tutu.
I love her "first position" face. so serious. she was telling grandma heiner about ballet on the phone. Grandma didn't know what she was chatting about and said "that is funny" Anna said "no grandma, ballet is never ever funny, it is SERIOUS!"
They did a little performance on the stage in the cafeteria. It was great.
Hugs to sasha the teacher. maybe we'll do another session in january.
at the end of class i let julia pretend she was in class. i ended the video too soon, she went up and stole that girls spot! she stood right on her yellow mark and bumped the girl out of the way!
last time walking like a ballerina. "she'll get there" is what sasha says (;
oh yeah and basketball ended last night. anna wouldn't play she was too sick. she had a high high fever and was up all night coughing and throwing up and having chills. we are better now, thank goodness!
We were supposed to go to a train movie at the imax theater (at the planetarium). Cherie emailed me the wrong time so we just played at the planetarium. Anna was a good sport about it. Mostly because she was just excited for cake.
So then Cherie didn't want to have the rest of the party until 7:00. Which is the girls bed time. So I didn't bring Julia. Anna and I went and had a good time. We met Cherie's cousin and her 6 kids. I think Zach liked his cake. He ate a bunch! So that's always a good sign!
Now he's 3 just like Anna! Until next July, when, she informed everyone at the party, she will be 4.
I love making cakes. It's zacharie's birthday tomorrow so we made him a train cake. Anna helped bake and put the cakes in the oven. I couldn't wait to decorate and really didn't want help so I decorated it tonight. So much fun!
I have had several people tell me today to be sure to enjoy the sun today because it is "the last sunny day for a while". In Utah, there will always be another sunny day. if you've ever lived in Portland, then you would laugh with me at the thought of having a 'last sunny day' in Utah. It is almost guaranteed that At LEAST one day next week will be sunny. It might be cold, but there will always be another sunny day in the near future. When I lived in Portland.....we would take sunny days seriously. Outside, all day, no exceptions. News of a sunny day between the months of oct-may was seriously business. But anyways, we went to the park today since it is "the last sunny day."
Julia is into this pack rat phase. She has to bring toys everywhere. Today we were able to pare it down to one doll. In the car we left a tambourine, a dinosaur, a tinker toy, 3 pieces of chalk and some blocks. I didn't think we could keep track of all that at the park, but I knew I couldn't get her out the door unless she had her 'things' The real question is....when will Julia stop sucking that thumb? If it's genetic, then the 4th grade.
julia with dolly.
I turned away from julia for a second to take some pics of Anna and when i turned back around.... Julia was in this turny thing face first and Spinning around, but not worried or making a noise, even though it looked really dangerous and uncomfortable. I guess she was trying to spin her dolly and when she went in to get her out julia got sucked in. I turned julia around and anna came over to push her. Julia was so dizzy when she got off it that she had to sit down!
anna could do it by herself! she only pretended to be dizzy after.
julia pushing dolly in the swing. she thinks of these things all by herself. she loves her dollies and takes such good care of them. She's a good little mommy. i can't wait until she talks.
anna staring at a mom and kid playing. yup, she stood there for a good 5 minutes staring so i had to get a picture.
after the park we went to a puppet show about a selfish turkey. julia was horrible but anna loved it. julias not old enough for that stuff yet. she's a cutie though! in this picture she is looking at a baby who is crying. it was a thrilling moment as you can see.
anna is a big girl! and she won't let us forget it!
Julia got to hold her cousin sterling last night (also known at tractor, or trac). She loved to play with his feet.
and was concerned about him crying.
richard helped the cousins clean up anna's room. since he didn't help enough he had to wear panties on his head. remi had just removed said panties in this pic. we invited andy and virginia over spur of the moment. i didn't invite mom. But then she called and said "Are you making dinner?" I said yes - which was lucky for sunday night! Then she said "okay, we will be there in 15 minutes" So it was a regular family party. It's wonderful to never be lonely. I didn't think I'd like it, but I do.
here is picture of the packrat.
and these were on my computer, im not sure where they came from. summer evidently, and the treehouse at grandmas house - with ice cream. because as gavin says, grandma's is the ice cream store!
I love the symphony. I love classical music. Sadly I've only been to the symphony like 3 times in my life because I am tight wad and don't like to pay. I noticed that the Utah Symphony was performing (is that the word you use, I dont know) Vivaldi's Four Seasons Saturday night - a good one! I wasn't able to go, but luckily Anna did some ballet to 4 seasons for me at home. As much as I would love to go to the symphony, I really love watching my girls dance. check out julia's tutu. Julia has some real rythm. I love watching her dance. Anna is starting to move to music more, which is fun, and since she started Ballet I've noticed her using some of the moves she learns in class. Thanks for the beautiful dresses paul and joyce. they sure shimmer in the sunshine!
Anna did a second performance of one of her favorite ballet's: (i had to google and copy the name because we call it the funny lady dance, or the clog dance). What cuties.
oh yeah and julia has a new nickname - beyond bopee - she is our pack rat. She likes to carry toys around with her, as many as she can carry. she's doing it in these movies. she's hilarious.
I wanted to go for a hike with my mom. So I called her up and she had Andy's family over. But she still came and brought Remi along. When i told Anna remi was coming she said "oh yes! my best friend!" She loves to play with Remi. They are both 3, but about 6 months apart. We had a good hike.
julia (who had to wear the PRETTY nightgown hand-me-down we got yesterday) is collecting rocks. Yeah, she was trying all afternoon to put that thing on herself. she had her legs through the arms. we were surprised that we could get it off of her after hike! All those rocks made her really dirty.
she had so many rocks she couldn't hold them all! she kept dropping one and picking it up.
anna and remi ran ahead with grandma and julia and i putted along.
they eventually turned around to get us.
they were pretending to be bears for most of the hike. so here are the bears.
this is the serious explorer pose.
after this post, remi gave anna a BIG KISS!
QUEEN of the MOUNTAIN
KING of the MOUNTAIN
ballet on the rocks
a beautiful sunset
when we got out of smiths. anna said "i am so hungry!" but then she didn't eat her dinner. she must have been wanting mcdonalds or something.
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