Santa at the mall!

So we went to the mall after Thanksgiving and ka-boom! There was Santa! Both my kids sat on his lap (which is a first for the 5 year old) as did Emma and Macy. (sorry my camera phone struggles in the dark with movement!)
So suddenly there was snow!! Snow BUBBLES that is!
Thatcher and Emma enjoying free reign of the Santa exhibit.
Gretchen giggling with the snow bubbles!
5 years and finally warmed up to Santa! Who can blame her - isn't it kinda weird thinking of some strange old man fitting down a chimney of all things, coming to your house while your sleeping, who always wants you to sit on his lap? It could easily be kinda creepy. But then I read that book I Believe in Santa Claus and everything is ok.

A Proud Mother . . .

Gretchen's teacher gave her rave reviews of her end of term "testing". Good job, Gretchen! Here are some of her recent masterpieces!


This says, "Santa I want ice skate American Girl if you can Love Gretchen Thatcher"
And this is a picture of them sleeping with Santa downstairs! I'm not sure why it says 'July'!

Temple lights and palm trees!

We visited the Mesa temple to see the lights and the nativity. It was fun, and believe it or not we felt cold! It's funny how you adjust.
This was Gretchen's favorite corner (green is her favorite color!) and she and Thatcher kept pretending to "pick" the berries off of the trees. Thatcher really gets into it, it's hilarious!
It's fun (and a little weird) to see palm trees with Christmas lights!
Of course, they have to teeter on the edge of falling into the water fountain!
Thatcher has learned how to say "star" and I'm quite certain he said Jesus at church last week!

Thatcher was standing next to Grandpa (who came to visit for a couple days) and was copying how he was standing and swaying! It was pretty cute!

What's this?

Growing vegetables in December? Wierd, I know!!



Look! Look! A little cucumber . . .









tomatoes. . .





and two peas! Do you believe it?! TWO whole peas!!

Vinegar rules!

So I had spent hours and hours scrubbing my shower. Yes, my brand new shower, trying to get those stinkin' water spots off. Well, it turns out that if you fill a bottle with white vinegar, spray it on the walls and leave it for 10-15 minutes, that it scrubs right off! I am so excited! Yes, I am excited about vinegar and my shower walls. Kinda sad, huh!

On a curious-er note, I have been pondering a very important question. If you are doing laundry and have a shirt that is half white, half dark blue, do you wash it with whites or with colors? I just can't decide. What do ya'll do?

"Guys" and "Raaar!"

So Thatcher has already started having bad dreams! I went in his room two nights ago because he was freaking out and screaming. He was yelling and saying "Guy! Guy!" So he is afraid of some guy in our house. He has referred to this before - usually when the air kicks on he'll point to the hall where the sound is coming and say, "No guy!" Then he will point outside and say, "Guy!" or "raaar!" and we continually say, "Thatcher there is no guy. There aren't any dinosaurs. No guy, just mommy and daddy." I don't know what else to do at this point. Any thoughts?

Gretchen on the other hand was screaming last night (of course at 5 a.m.) and yelling, "Mommy! Mommy!" (oh why can't it ever be "Daddy! Daddy!"). So I stumble into her room to find that she merely wanted her doll that had fallen on the floor. Honestly. Do they not want me to sleep or what?

On a funnier note, whenever Thatcher runs he either sticks one arm up in the air - like Superman on his jammies - or flaps both arms like a bird or airplane! Oh yeah, and Gretchen was singing the K-I-S-S-I-N-G song last night about her and Porter! Oh geez. I gave that girl a heart to heart, 'cause it turns out she didn't even know what the song meant! Ha ha.

Sunday Thoughts

So I was knee deep in teaching the sunbeams (for a funny sunbeam story search sunbeams in my blog) and they were all quite and listening. This is amazingly remarkable considering the kids! But I thought, "Wow! They are honestly listening! I think I am getting through to them!" and as I paused to take a breath, one of the kids said, "I have two tramps!" Hmmm. I was hoping for a question to my lesson or something! Oh well. At least he has two tramps!

Gretchen did ask me some interesting questions, however. She said, "How will the lions know when Jesus comes?" Um, what? So she repeats, "How will the lions know when Jesus comes?" Hmmm. Not wanting to make asking any questions about Jesus unpleasant, I continued to ask what she was talking about, in my sincerest and kindest mother-voice. Turns out, she was asking how the lions will know to act nice during the second coming, since everyone will be acting nice when Jesus comes again. And how will the lions know that He has come again. Wow. I guess she was listening during primary!

We met with our new bishop on Sunday for tithing settlement. He is very nice. I'm starting to have a realization of all of the work that a bishop has to put in, and that he honestly cares for me and my family. It's kind of embarassing to admit that it's taken me this many years in the church to notice! He is really great, though.