have I ever mentioned my kids are cute?

I just love listening to them talk and pray because they often say the most interesting, cute things. A couple cute anecdotes from the last week or so.

Yesterday, Alfredo had to work so the girls only got to open their stockings, two gifts from friends and their Santa gift (which wasn't wrapped) in the morning. (About noon we went to my aunt's house and opened a couple gifts from them. But all of the gifts from Alfredo and I didn't get opened until about 5 PM last night. I'll post pictures of Christmas later.) Anyway, when Michelle saw that Santa had brought her a telescope and that she had some little things in her stocking, (mostly toothpaste, toothbrushes, and a couple small toys) she said, "Wow, Santa was so nice to us."

Last week, we were in the car and a song came on the radio that wasn't very good. Before I even had a chance to change the channel, Ella said, "That song is bad for Jesus." Michelle agreed and they told me that we can't listen to songs that "are bad for Jesus." Now sometimes they'll ask, "Is this song bad for Jesus or good for Jesus?" when a song comes on that they don't know.

Ella suddenly thinks lots of words are bad words. (She picked up the word "stupid" from some other kids and we've been trying to teach her not to say it. Now, when she gets mad she says, "You're meaner, meaner, macarener.") Last week we saw my dad and stepmom. My stepmom, Monica, said, "Oh my gosh." Ella said, "Ooh, Grandma said a bad word. I want to say that bad word like grandma. .... Oh my gosh." She also thinks heaven is a bad word (I'm guessing that both of these stem from talks we have had about how to use the Lord's name properly.) Also dumb, stupid, and probably others that are slipping my mind at the moment (which I agree... although I've realized that I often call inanimate objects stupid... such as my car when it broke down.)

And now my favorite story. Last week, Michelle wanted to wear one of my skirts and a pair of high heel shoes. She said, "I need them because I"m getting married." I asked who she was marrying and named some of her friends' names. She said, "No, I'm marrying Ella. But (and she puts up her index finger for emphasis), it's just for pretend. If I was getting married for real, I'd have to marry a boy. But I'm just pretending, so I can marry Ella."

Where do kids come up with these things? A couple days later, Alfredo asked her, "Why are you so beautiful?" She said, "Because I"m a girl. You're handsome because you're a boy. If you weren't a boy, you couldn't be married to mommy." My girls crack me up!

catchin up

I haven't posted for over a week. I've been on my Christmas break, so I have no excuses other than that I've been tired and just haven't done it.

Last Friday (Dec. 14) my car broke down. We had to have it towed from Provo to Salt Lake and then taken to a transmission repair shop. It required a new transmission and apparently the radiator was ruined as well. The ruined radiator might have led to the ruined transmission, although no one is sure. So, altogether, we paid nearly $3000 to have my car repaired. Not fun. The (only) upside is that since I was off work, I didn't need a vehicle. The downside was that I had several fun outings planned for the girls and I that we didn't go on. Fortunately, my friend Janene was kind enough to chauffeur us to several places during the week. Thanks, Nene! And my car was finished on Friday evening, so I have a working vehicle again.

My girls are darling as ever and I'll post again soon a couple of funny things they've said and done.

As for other news, we went to dinner with my dad and Monica last night at Buca di Beppo. It as yummy and drove around Temple Square admiring the lights.

photos

Here are just a couple photos of my girls in their Christmas dresses. Ella isn't much into cooperating when it comes to photo shoots lately, so they aren't great pictures of her. Ah well. She's beautiful regardless of her pose.

Top ten list

Top Ten Things I LIKE About Winter:

• Christmas: trees, decorations, gifts, lights, music, treats, and every thing else


• Building snowmen


• Seeing my children play in the snow


• Drinking hot chocolate


• Thanksgiving


• Christmas books/stories


• Curling up with a blanket and a good book (but I love this year round)


• Two weeks off for winter/Christmas break


• Holiday parties


• Did I mention Christmas? I love Christmas!!! It could make up it's own top ten list!

Top Ten Things I DISLIKE About Winter:

• The cold weather


• Driving in the snow


• Having cold hands, ears, toes, etc.


• Chapped lips


• Dry hands/skin


• Driving in the snow


• Big gas bills


• Scraping snow/ice off my car and car windows


• Huge coats, scratchy sweaters (soft sweaters are fine... and I am grateful to have warm clothes, but I'd rather wear sandals than shoes any day.)


• Did I mention driving in the snow?

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

and feel like Christmas too! This is my favorite time of year. This past week has been so much fun (but very busy). This week we had our December Enrichment, a Young Women's planning meeting, our Young Women in Excellence program, our annual Woodstep Avenue Christmas party, and our friends' Dan and Heather's annual Christmas party. Busy. But wonderfully fun. I laughed so hard at our street party that my sides hurt and my head ached. We always have a white elephant gift exchange and it is hilarious every year. It's so fun that so many of the neighbors get together and have fun with each other. I love where I live.

It's also always fun to go to Dan and Heather's party and spend time with friends. We did a lot of laughing and joking there too. I've probably laughed more this week than I do in a normal month.

Last night/this morning, it snowed A LOT. (Many areas got 8 or more inches; I'd guess we got about six, but I'm not good at estimations like that.) So today, after Alfredo, the girls and I went to see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (which was okay but not fabulous in my opinion), Michelle and I made a snowman. (Ella was taking a nap.) Above are some pics of the snowman.

more snow pics

As you can see in the pics, my girls like to use the snow shovel. They also tried, (with little success) to ride their trikes in the snow.

snow fall

Here are some fun photos from our playing in the huge snow fall yesterday morning.