Christmas 2008

We had an amazing Christmas! We stayed in our pajamas ALL DAY LONG! We took our time as each child opened their gifts. We made sure they knew who the gift was from and we immediately set each toy up and played with it. It took HOURS to get through everything since we let the kids direct it all, but we had so much fun. We miss all our family a lot today, but thank you to all of them for understanding our need to be together as our own little family today!

Christmas Eve

We decided to spend this Christmas entirely at home in Idaho. This is the first time we have ever done this. So, to offset the dissapointment of not getting to see our family on Christmas this year, we invited our other "family" over to dinner for Christmas Eve. Ben always says that the Hamel family is the family that you get to pick. We love these guys! Thanks to Angie, Chad, Riley and Madeline for making our Christmas Eve wonderful and our life in general so happy!

It's a White Christmas!

Since Ben has been gone practically this whole month, the responsibiltiy of shoveling the snow has fallen to me. (Luckily we don't get as much as our friends and family in Salt Lake!) I let Conner and Kate come outside and play while I shovel. So, each morning the kids hope they can wake up to find snow just so I will have to shovel and they can go out and play. Don't tell them that it is actually possible to go out and play even when I don't need to shovel snow. I am not a good play outside in the snow mom...

My Favorite Things Kate Said In Disneyland

Kate makes me laugh every single day. She just says the greatest things! Here are my favorite things she said on our trip to Disneyland:

1. On our first night in California we went to go to dinner at a restuarant recommended by the hotel. My dad, mom and brother Zak were leading the way in their car and we were following behind. My dad got lost and then we got lost and separated from the other car. We finally made it back together and we were following the other car again in hopes that we could find the restaurant. From the back seat Kate calls, "Aren't there three grown-ups in that car?" Well, she was right...

2. We let the kids each pick out one toy and one t-shirt when in Disneyland. Kate wanted to get something from the Princess store. She carefully looked through the store and made her selection. Ben took her up to the register to pay. She turned to Ben and said, "Princesses don't pay." Right again...

DISNEYLAND

We are so lucky that we had the chance to go to Disneyland last week. Thanks to my mom and dad's generosity we had a great time with the entire Baker crew!

Highlights for me:

1. Spending an afternoon at the Beach. The kids LOVED playing in the sand (Sadie wanted to eat it) and I enjoyed sitting in the sun!

2. Seeing Conner get picked from the audience to be in the Jedi Training Academy show and fight Darth Maul. He has been obsessed with Star Wars ever since and since he got to make his own Light Saber in Disneyland, who can blame him? (Please see the video at the bottom of this post to see Conner fight "The Dark Side"!)

3. Going to the Princess Lunch with Kate, Sadie, Diana and Grandma. Not only was the food really good, but Kate got to meet Ariel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Cinderella and Mulan!

4. Celebrating Conner's 6th birthday! I can't believe he is six!

5. Having Ben around for six days in a row! Since he is gone so much for work I usually only get to see him on the weekends so it was a real treat to have him with us for so long!

The trip was just so much fun! I wish we could have stayed longer. I wish we could go back soon. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Halloween Extravaganza!

We had a great time with our kids this year for Halloween. We realized that last year not only was Ben gone (the lost Indiana months) but I was pregnant and sick. So, we put in a little extra effort to make it special this time around. We started with carving pumpkins. We added a little extra twist- we used power tools! Ben's drill worked great and was fast and easy. Plus, it made pumpkin carving a little more manly for Conner and Ben. Ben decided to carve his pumpkin on its side and make an animal using the stem as the tail. Nice effort. Bad result (sorry!) I actually witnessed people looking closely at the pumpkin trying to figure out what it was (even though Ben wrote with his drill "ZEBRA" across the top. It really didn't look like anything.)

Our next fun even was our spooky dinner. I made Mummies (hot dogs covered in strips of pillsbury crescent rolls) Eyeballs (devilled eggs with olives for the pupils) Witches Brooms (made out of pretzels and fruit by the foot) fingers (carved string cheese with almond slivers for dirty finger nails) and ghots & bat chips (tortillas cut with cookie cutters and broiled in the oven). We even had Witches Blue Brew to drink (Koolaid). We listened to spooky music and had all the lights off with candles on the table.

We also had a great time trick-or-treating. Conner and Kate were great friends and always waited for each other and took turns ringing the door bells. It was such a beautiful night we could have gone on forever. But, alas, Mom and Dad get tired easily. My favorite comment of the night was when we stopped at a house and a nice lady came to the door to apologize for not having candy because they were just moving in. We thanked her and then moved on to the next house. En route to the next jackpot, Kate declared, "Them is upposed to have candy." She got over it fast. Thanks to the neighbors who gave out full-sized candy bars and to the neighbors who create a spook alley in their garage every year.

The highlight of the evening was when Conner was eating a Tootsie Pop and Sadie reached out for it. He let her have a lick... Of course, she loved it!

Check out all the fun in our picture slide show!

The Real Kate?

We talk a lot about Kate being our little "Quandy" because just when you think you have her figured out she will surprise you. Today she got some glow in the dark vampire fangs from a friend at preschool. She loves them! Yes, the girl who also loves pink, playing babies and shoes now also LOVES vampire fangs. She won't take them out. See what I mean by Quandry? So, I think this picture clearly shows the REAL KATE ASHTON!

Laughing Sadie

Sadie has been sick with the flu the past week and a half. She is now finally getting back to normal. The whole time she was sick she didn't cry or fuss. She was just super serious and gave us very few smiles and NO laughs. Well, my sweet Sadie Lady is back and she was laughing up a storm tonight for her big brother.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the Pumpkin Patch at a local farm on Friday for a fieldtrip with my preschool class. Please see my Tiny Hands Preschool Blog to see all the details on that. I just wanted to highlight Kate in this posting. Here are some pictures of her from our fieldtrip.

Not only is she just absolutely gorgeous, but she is growing up so fast these days. She continues to be our little "Quandry" and you never know if you are going to get the sweet Kate or the Kate who just doesn't care. For example, the other day she swept the entire kitchen floor without being asked (did a great job too). But, just last weekend when my parents were here my mom asked her if she could have a hug. Kate's response: "Sorry, I'm all out." She continues to entertain and amaze on a daily basis. But she is also becoming so grown up and becoming a great little friend to me. To a person who never had a sister to grow up with, this is fun for me. I love my little Quandry with all my heart!

When life gives you giant paper...make giant paper airplanes.

When my mom came to visit last weekend, she brought with her about 20 pounds of really large paper. I was thinking it would be perfect for preschool projects, arts and crafts for the kids, scrapbooking, etc. Dads always have better ideas. Ben and the kids made giant paper airplanes out of the paper. They were awesome! They could fly from one end of the house to the other! The kids loved 'em! I think that Ben might even have had more fun than the kids!

So, every few weeks I go and get my hair done. It is a heavenly 2-3 hour period of time where I do not have to worry about anything. Or do I? I came home today to find Sadie playing with her new favorite toy...

I mean, really! At least Ben drank the Mt. Dew and didn't share it with the baby. Hopefully!

Conference Weekend with Grandma & Grandpa Baker

We all had a great time this weekend when Grandma and Grandpa Baker came up from Salt Lake to visit! For Ben and Crystal it was the most relaxing weekend in months. For Conner and Kate, they hadn't seen their grandparents since July so they were SOOO excited! We played Conference Bingo, everyone cuddled on the couch with Grandma, Sadie and Grandpa took a nap, and Grandma was nice enough to let Kate paint her fingernails. The paint may never come off her fingers... Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for everything!

Conner rides a bike, Kate has a BFF and Sadie can sit up!

CONNER RIDES A BIKE
Conner is sometimes a little overly cautious. He gets a little scared of "dangerous" things sometimes. Other times he is a complete dare devil. You never know what he is going to do without out fear or what will leave him in tears. So, Ben and I have been a little slow on teaching him to ride a bike without training wheels. Ban had been working with him, but with Ben out of town for three weeks in a row this month, Conner just wasn't making any progress. So, I am proud to say that I took matters in my own hands and taught Conner to ride a bike! I took those training wheels off (using my own tool set that the kids got me for my birthday) and off we went! I ran up and down the street beside Conner. Luckily this was one of those things that he was fearless at! He is now riding a bike all by himself- even to school (with mom or dad trailing behind). The other day Conner and Ben even rode to a park- about a mile away! Way to go Conner!






KATE HAS A BFF
I happened to be substituting in nursery one day when I witnessed the most interesting thing. Kate and another little girl decided they were best friends. Kate and Alessandra kept holding each other's hands and walking around the class, stopping periodically to hug each other. Now that school is in, they get to see each other every day because they both have older siblings in Kindergarten at the same time. Last week, we invited Alessandra to our house for a play date. It was a first for both of them to have their own friend to play with instead of older brother and sister's friends. They played outside, they played dress ups, they made things out of pink playdough. It was so cute! Kate talks about Alessandra all the time and tells me all the things they are going to do together (make cookies, play babies and go to Disneyland together are this weeks' plans).




SADIE CAN SIT UP
Sadie is just getting so big! By that I mean that at five months she is just getting so active and fun, as well as she is really getting big- what a chub! She is almost rolling over by herself and she can now sit by herself- for short periods of time before her big head gives into the pull of gravity and she topples over!

The Worst Day of Kate's Life

Kate has been on earth 1216 days so far. I think most of them have been pretty great. She has an awesome dad, a mom who tries hard not to be too crazy, a big brother who adores her, and a baby sister who hasn't made up her mind about her yet, but tries hard each day to like her. Her room is painted her favorite color (pink) she has just about the most gorgeous hair I have seen on anyone (adults included) and she has a great personality. She really has a lot going for her, but today rates as the worst day ever in Kate's life. Here's why: Kate is great at going potty as long as she never has to go #2. We have struggled with this for a long time. No incentives or punishments work for her, because she just doesn't care. So, preschool has started. We all know that you can't go to preschool unless you are potty trained. So, even though Kate's teacher is also her mom, and even though Kate's preschool is at our house (for anyone who doesn't know, I started my own preschool this year and we converted a portion of our garage to a preschool. I have 8 darling kids three mornings a week...) you still can't go to preschool if you are not potty trained. We kept telling Kate this before preschool started and she was doing very well. Just an accident here or there. Then, preschool started last week. She started having lots of accidents and basically refusing to go potty. She figured that since she was potty trained so she could start preschool, she didn't have to worry about it once school actually started. Ben and I told her all weekend that she couldn't go to preschool on Monday if she didn't go potty. She still kept having accidents. So, this morning Conner went to Kindergarten, I went to teach preschool, and Kate had to stay with her dad all morning while he worked. She was allowed to either sit in the chair in our bedroom, or sit on the toilet. She cried for two hours, and pouted for an additional 45 minutes. While I was outside with my preschoolers she gazed down at us from my bedroom window with big puppy dog eyes. She was absolutely crushed! It didn't help that our beautiful, but very clumsy, Kate fell on her way back from dropping Conner off at Kindergarten and banged up her face and knee. But, on the bright side she only had one accident all day. Hopefully she will do even better tomorrow so that she can go to preschool on Wednesday. So, the moral of the story is that sometimes you have to be a mean parent... even if it hurts you even more than it hurts them. Advice anyone?

Soccer Season Is Here!

So, soccer has begun! By some strange coincidence both the kids have the exact same uniform. Kate wanted pink. Conner thought Superhero red would be great. We settled for green. Conner has practice TWICE a week now, and both Conner and Kate have games on Saturdays. It just so happens that most of them are at the SAME time. Sure is great that we bought that minivan so I can totally be a soccer mom now!

Kate, in her first soccer game EVER scored a goal. When talking to Dad all about it later said, "I scored a goal so cute that Mom clapped for me!" Only Kate could turn scoring a goal into a totally "cutsie" girl activity...

Conner, on the other hand, is ALL BOY! He scored FOUR goals in his first game of the season. We were told by another parent at the game that he is a great runner and should play football next year. Am I ready for that? Ben, on the other hand, says he is ready for a youth wrestling league. Am I ready for THAT?

(Check out the Conner video at the end of this post.)











Although Sadie can't play soccer, this week she at least learned that she had feet. When you lay her down on the floor it is like a reflex action that she must grab her feet and pull them toward her mouth. It is really an unexplained feat of nature that babies can actually do that! (Sadie especially) If an adult had the same size proportions as Sadie (so chubby I stopped counting thigh rolls at 6 each leg...) they wouldn't be able to move, let alone lay on the floor and put their feet in their mouth. Not to mention, chub rolls are super cute when you are a baby...not so cute years later...

Wedding Cake Diva

So, I had another wedding cake this past weekend (Yay!). The colors for the wedding were red, yellow and orange. To tell the honest truth, I spent a couple of sleepless nights worried about if the cake would turn out OK with those colors. It actually turned out to be one of my favorite cakes ever. I had so much fun and I think it turned out awesome! What think you?

Bad Blogger/First Day of School

So, I have not blogged in a long time. Sorry to all 3 of my fans. So, I will attempt to catch up.

Conner started Kindergarten! I can't believe he is in school every day. When asked what his favorite thing about kindergarten is, Conner said "I love everything!" He has already met a best friend- Austin- who also loves Star Wars, Superheroes and climbing on things.

Check out how cute Conner was on his first day at school...

The World From Kate's Point of View

I must say that most people would look at Kate and assume that she is the sweetest little girl around. It must be the blue eyes and blonde, curly hair. Don't get me wrong, Kate is sweet about 50% of the time. However, you have to spend a lot of time with her to really start to understand her true personality. She is very PRACTICAL and has a tendency to call-it-as-she-sees-it. She also has quite an attitude. These charming personality traits lead me to believe in the power of genetics. Although she looks a lot like her dad physically, her mind and spirit bear the imprints of my genetic heritage.

As evidence, I would like to document a recent conversation she and I shared:

Kate: "Does Jesus have a Mom?"

Me: "Yes he does. Her name is Mary."

Kate: "Does Jesus have friends?"

Me: "Yes, Jesus has friends. Jesus loves everyone."

Kate: "Even mean people?"

Me: "Yes, Jesus even loves mean people."

Kate: "I guess that's OK if Jesus loves mean people, but I DON'T!"


And, there you have it. Kate in a nutshell...

She does make me laugh every single day of my life. I guess that is an important part of her personality as well. Even at the age of three, she understands humor and sarcasm. Man, I love her!

Sadie's Smile

Don't you just love a baby's smile? Sadie makes us all happy when she smiles at us. No pretenses. She doesn't want anything in return. I wish I could be more like that...

Family Reunion or Utter Chaos???

One of the main reasons for our trip to Salt Lake in the heat of the summer was to have the first (hopefully of many) Family Reunions with Ben's parents and siblings. The plan was to spend three days working in Ben's parent's back yard. There was an old and non-functioning swimming pool that Ben's parents wanted filled in so that they could finally have a beautiful and useable backyard. We had a few roadblocks in our way, however. Some literal, some figurative.

Roadblock #1- (This one is a figurative roadblock)

Ben's Dad went in for emergency back surgery on Monday. Work was scheduled to begin on Thursday. Work still went on. I mean Ben and his brothers really like to play in the dirt and everything, but it still didn't help that the leader of the Ashton crew was on heavy narcotics and kept saying crazy things that he doesn't remember saying, but that we can never forget.

Roadblock #2- (This one is also figurative)

How do you keep 10 grandkids and a dog out of the dirt? We never did actually figure that one out, by the way.

Roadblock # 3- (This one is a literal roadblock. Seriously)

Ben's grandfather (who originally built the house that Ben's parents now live in) was a stone mason. I have never met him, only heard many great and marvelous things about him. However, based on the 20+ large boulders and concrete up to 12" thick that was EVERYWHERE, I now believe that he was completely in love with stone of all kinds. Good thing the project on the agenda was filling in an old swimming pool or where in the heck would we have put all of that rock and concrete?

The Ashton men accomplished the following:

1. Cutting a hole in the side of the garage to gain access to the back yard- knocking down two un-wanted walls in the process.
2. Moving a dozen "pretty" boulders to be used later in landscaping.
3. Dumping dozens more boulders in the pool.
4. Jackhammering all unwanted concrete.






5. Ripping out yards and yards and yards and yards of concrete and dumping it in the pool.
6. Knocking down a sandstone wall
7. Digging a trench all the way around the pool.
8. Driving a bobcat and excavator for about 30 hours.

The Ashton women accomplished the following:

1. Caring for 10 grandkids.

You decide who had the hardest job.

Well, all in all it was a successful weekend. The demolition of the backyard is well under way. The grandkids had fun with our own little fireworks show and a visit to Thanksgiving Point. Hopefully next year for our Ashton Family Reunion we can just have a BBQ in the completed backyard...