Christmas Eve/Morning

Warning: A lot of words+no pictures=possibly a boring post!

After spending four days with us, my mom and dad traveled on to visit my sister, Sara, in Bloomington, IN. Well, actually, my mom left here, arrived in Bloomington and checked herself into the hospital. It was not a fun few days for them. My mom handled it all like the trooper that she is. She only got one full day with my sister and her family until they had to head back here in preparation for their departure Christmas morning.

In preparing for Christmas, we asked Matt if there were any traditions he had while growing up. The one he mentioned that the kids latched onto was the "Grandma bought pizza on Christmas Eve." So, the kids told Nana she HAD to buy pizza for us on Christmas Eve cuz Matt said :)

Nana and Papa arrived back in Franklin around 5 pm on Christmas Eve. We had a great evening. We ate the required pizza, read Luke 2 and Christmas stories, we watched some great BYU short animation movies (over and over and over they were that good!) and opened presents from Nana and Papa. As usual, they spoiled us!

We got a toaster oven, which we all love and adore. I also got a cookbook and Matt got a wallet and some glass dishes. I have to tell you. I think the glass dishes are his new favorite thing. I have been sending his lunch in just plastic bowls and I guess the other boys have glass bowls. Well, now he is the "same as the other boys" and is feeling much better about himself! Among other things....Ali got a backpack, Kat got an iTunes card and Luke got Lincoln Logs.

Poor Nana and Papa were falling asleep where they sat so we tried to hustle them off to bed. Did I mention their flight was for 6 AM Christmas morning? 'Of coarse you got a good deal on the tickets, Nana, who else wants to fly at 6 AM Christmas morning?!?!?' After we got Nana settled, my men and I wrapped the remaining gifts. I hope the best part of Matt's Christmas was getting it all ready for the kids. He seemed to have a great time. He was there for almost every gift purchase and wrapping. Sans his own, of coarse! Matt, Papa and I were up till well past 11 pm, but we had a good time talking and laughing. Some of the laughing I didn't get filled in on until the next day.

Side-note: As I have mentioned before in this blog, Matt has know my parents for years, even decades. He loves them. He has loved them independent of me for almost ever. And they have loved him. It is so easy for all of us to be together. There was no adjustment period. Maybe a brief period of redefining roles from very good friends to parents and son, but nothing that was difficult or uncomfortable. Ok, back to the story. At least I warned you this was going to be a boring post!

Christmas morning we got up at 3:30 AM and got ready to head to Nashville airport. The roads were dead and so was the airport. Dead, I tell you, dead. Telling my parents goodbye is always very difficult. I love them so much. So very, very much. My mom said it was easier to leave me this time because she saw my life and saw how much Matt loves the kids and myself. She knows we are being well taken care of.

When Matt and I got back home, we climbed in bed for a little while. A very, little while!

There are good and bad things about the kids getting older. They sleep in a little more, but they are getting "bigger" gifts and so they get fewer items to open. And in the case of our teenager, she already knew what was in every single present. Please tell me we aren't the only parents who let their teenager pick all their gifts! There is really much less gift returning that way.

Ali got a pink camera with a pink case from Santa. We also gave her the book The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas and a purple pea coat. Ali also got a card and money from Grandma and Grandpa Paine who are serving a mission in Scotland and some PJ's from Grandma and Grandpa Olson.

Kat got a iTouch from Santa. She also got some shoes (that have been retuned and no replacement found) and the book Peak. Kat also got a card and money from Grandma and Grandpa Paine and a dress from Grandma and Grandpa Olson.

Luke got a "real" remote control car from Santa. It should last until adulthood! He also got PJs (that have been given to a friend cause the tags were removed before he tried them on and found them to be far too small) and a paper airplane book. Luke also got a card and money from Grandma and Grandpa Paine and a Lego's car from Grandma and Grandpa Olson.

We gave Matt an "elephant art" picture. He has always wanted one. Kind of crazy, I know. Who came up with putting a paint brush in an elephant's mouth and letting them paint? I was going to put a paint brush in the kid's mouth and let them paint, but the kids told me it HAD to be elephant art!

I got a thesaurus from Matt and the pink snow leopard Webkinz from the children. This is where part of the laughing came from the night before during the present wrapping time with Papa and Matthew. Ever since we moved here, I have been moaning about my dictionary. It is falling apart and actually was when I bought it from a used book store. So, Matt decided he was going to buy me a new dictionary for Christmas. When he took it out of the bag to wrap it on Christmas Eve, he realized he had accidentally picked up the thesaurus that had been laying right next to it! Matt was so sad he had bought the wrong item, that when I opened the Webkinz right after the mistakenly given thesaurus, I promptly named the Webkinz Dictionary! And, yes, I now have my own Webkinz account and everything! Her legal name is Dictionary :)

Each year, my siblings trade names. As there are only three of us, it is easy to remember who to give to each year! Sara had us this year. She gave us an adorable Yahtzee game with our faces on the dice. Way too cute! She also gave us Enchanted which is one of my all time favorite movies! Matt's sister, Sarah (yes, we both have Sara-hs!) gave us girls homemade bracelets and the boys a 007 model. Aunt Stacy sent our very favorite sweet and sour sauce.

Thank you!!!!

We love family!!!!!

The rest of the day was spent very quietly. We played with our presents, talked to family near and far and had a delicious dinner of smoked turkey. It is the ONLY way to eat turkey my friends! Yummy!

The next day we went hung out with our Paine cousins. We L*O*V*E going over there and being with them. Family is a huge part of our lives.

We are a very blessed little family in a very blessed country. I am thankful for the Christmas season to take some time to slow down a bit and spend more time in our pajamas. There are always problems and challenges in our lives. Those make our blessings and good times that much better. With the help of our families and our Savior, we can become better and stronger people. It was a difficult and wonderful year. Thank you to everyone in my life who has been there for me. I love you all.

And as Luke says...

Peace-out to 2009!!!

Merry Christmas "Unwrap-up"

The reason/reasons I have not blogged recently:

1. We have been crazy busy.
2. We are switching over to a new photo editing/storage program.
3. We have had some special visitors.
4. I am lazy.
5. All of the above.

If you chose #5, all of the above, you would have been correct! The most recent reason is that I am being lazy. Plus, if I blog about it, it is over. And who wants Christmas to be O*V*E*R?

To begin with, the semester is over. Let me repeat. The semester is over. We are all still alive. Everyone ended with respectable grades. We survived our first semester of marriage, a new community, high school and early morning seminary. I am so proud of all of us!

During finals week, my parents came to visit from Provo, Utah. They, however, forgot to bring the snow with them! We had a great time while they were here. We studied (Papa did pretty well on his Freshman English final) ate, shopped, laughed, talked, wrapped presents, slept and repeated it all over about 6 times!

While they were here, Kat unfortunately mentioned that she had a school project to work on. It was a project regarding Greek columns. Thanx to Papa we all know WAY more about columns than we ever wanted to! But, we were able to complete the the project four weeks before it was due. We had to take pictures, at three separate locations, of the three different types of columns.Not only did we complete the project for Kat, we also completed it for her friend from school. Please note, only two pictures were taken at the same time and the same place. We took sixteen pictures at different times! Here is an example of one of the columns.

On the Friday after finals competed, we took a quick tour of downtown Nashville and went to Opry Mills Mall and Opryland Hotel.

Here is another pop quiz. Is our family tree #1 or #2?

#1

#2

Yes, our family tree is #2. Opryland Hotel has some beautiful decorations and some fun shops. Here are some pictures from when we were walking around the hotel.

The girls told Luke to be a little freaked out by Santa. He did pretty well!

"Singing in the Rain" inside the hotel.

Our favorite thing to do while Papa was here was line up all our Apple computers and "work." Papa was the only one who worked. The rest of us just played while he worked.

Merry Christmas from Thrice Blessed

Mid-State Auditions

For what seems like years (really? only a few months?), Ali has been preparing for mid-state auditions. They bring together the best band students from Mid-Tennesse area. I can't tell you exactly what area that is for I am clueless. The actual mid-state experience takes place in the beginning of January. They bus the kids to Chattanooga for a weekend and work with them. It culminates Sunday evening with a concert.

We got up at a leisurely pace and left the house by 9:00 am. We arrived at McGavin Comprehensive High School at 10:00 am. Ali signed in and was assigned flute #132. In my mind I am thinking, "Great, they have been at the audition process for a little over an hour, we should be nearing #50." While thinking this in my mind, I hear the processor say, "We are currently on flute 16." At this point in time I did the fastest math of my life when I erupted with, "They are only averaging 15.5 flute auditions an hour?!?!?" Followed by me pulling my phone out and accessing my calculator. At this rate she wouldn't be auditioning until 4:30 pm.
Ali wanted to walk around, look for friends and warm-up. Warm-up? I scoffed at her. What do you call warming-up when the event is 7.5 hours away? The warm-up room was for all band students. They even let the snare drums in there. I was contemplating my ability to do damage with their drum sticks. So, so loud.
By 11:30 am we decided to hit Opryland mall. I could barely enjoy the time there I was stressing about the auditions taking place. After we walked around, bought a few items and had a Cinnabon we headed back.
When we got back around 1:30 pm, I quickly realized we had gone from 19.5 flutist an hour to about 24. More walking, or more aptly described as pacing, chatting, warming-up, tears, pep talks, loudness. I heard, countless times, the "This is good experience. You did great. You will do better next year" pep talk. Why do we tell our children this? Is it helpful?

It was pretty funny to watch parents with their ear to the door; other competitors weighing out if they are better or worse than the current candidate playing. No matter who was currently listening at the door, when the parent of the current student playing came to the door, room was made for them to be the closest.

At 6:00 pm flute #132 was called into the prepared room. I seriously laughed out loud when they called FLUTE #132. We were the ONLY instruments left to play. Other instrument's results were already trickling in. Txts were flying.

The audition was broken down into two parts. The prepared part room and the scales and sight reading room. They would play their two prepared songs first, return to the hallway and then head into the second room when their number is called again. They were asked to play random scales. Ali has know all her scales since 7th grade. I now realize not all flutists have that knowledge. After the scales they are asked to sight read up to three pieces. After the first piece, they are either asked to leave the room or proceed to the next piece. As I listened at the door to the scales/sight reading room I silently counted her sight reading pieces. One. Two. Three. Hurray Ali!

Ali is an amazing musician. I could tell she was nervous as she played. But, Ali brought one student to tears and caused another to rant up and down the hallway that she blown her audition after hearing Ali play.

140 flutes auditioned for Mid-State 2009. Ali found out she was seated 5 chair even before we got home. What followed was hours of texts, phone calls, emails and facebook messages reliving the day, celebrating and making plans for the actual Mid-state weekend in January. I celebrated by throwing everything I had on in the washer, hot water. Who knows what I could have gotten at a high school in downtown Nashville? I also got a hot shower and foot rub from my fabulously amazing husband.

Matthew, Luke and Kat had their own adventures this day. But, that post will have to wait a while. I have a house to clean for my guests tomorrow!!

**Photo credits in this post belong to Ali with the exception of the fountain.

Lazy Zebra

My Mommy

My Daddy