Gingerbread Village

Every year Kenneth asks me to not get carried away with the gingerbread house building. I try to do something every year that is cool and I always do something that falls in the category of "carried away". This year instead of a giant cathedral I divided the dough into four pieces and gave a size limit, and 2 kids per lump of dough. Seeing as we only have 7 kids, I counted Kenneth as a kid. He and nate made a great gingerbread Outhouse. Kenneth's comment this year was "It's fun to let the kids make the gingerbread houses like that." I would have to agree! They did have fun and the village is cute.

A picture is worth a thousand words

I am really happy when I see this expression in my children's faces, the pleasure, the excitement, the anticipation. I am really enjoying this Christmas season. I have been the recipient of many kind acts. My family is bustling with excitement about the gifts they plan to give. My projects will get done when they get done and I am ok with it. (even though I am thinking about not sleeping tomorrow night)
I am especially grateful for the easyness of my life. My husband takes good care of me, my children love and respect me, my home is nice, and I have food in my cupboards. What more could I ask for!

Feliz Navidad

Hazel's Preschool program was very cute this year. They did a little nativity play, Hazel was the Inn keeper's wife. She was supposed to say "if you don't mind some mice and sheep, we have a place where you can sleep." We were all helping her practice at home. During rehearsal she would skip the part about the mice and sheep. So one day while we were driving home from preschool I asked her to say her part, and reminded her to start at the beginning. I was suprised by her response, she proceded to recite the play in it's entirety. She knew everyones part even the narrator and included stage notes, like then the angels sneak in the back door by the choir seats. My favorite part was "then the wise men are supposed to say 'let's follow the star' but Fred doesn't say that, he says 'grr garrer ga gar'.

After the Nativity, each class sang 3 songs. (I apologize for the filming, Abby did it because I was helping keep another class quiet and Kenneth was at Sydney's concert.) The best one was Feliz Navidad with choreography.

Abby's Birthday

Abigail wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up. She was born on December 21st. Most people don't want to bring their kids to a birthday party that close to Christmas. Abby doesn't know what she wants for Christmas let alone her birthday. All these factors let us to December 5th...
Abby invited all her friends to come to the zoo and in lieu of gifts to bring $10 to help sponsor an animal. We had a great time at the zoo and the kids decided to sponsor the wallaby. (She also got a donation from her siblings and my parents. She ended up with $111.) Instead of cake, she requested a picnic lunch with Oreo cookies.

We got to feet the stingrays.


We saw the new Komodo Dragon exhibit.

The weather was beautiful. The kids were happy...

And we found a hairy pig!

We brushed the goats at the petting zoo. Even a cream colored one named "mini muffin".

And rode the Carousel

Santa Puppy

As we have already said DeJay has gone back to Guide Dogs for the Blind for the rest of his training. Raising DeJay was a great experience for our whole family, we had a lot of fun and learned a lot about dog training. I think that the greatest thing we got out of it was the blessing that comes from selfless service. I think that the kids understand that we will miss him, but that we will have changed someone's life. That feels good.

Rebekah's Birthday

Better late thank never... I don't remember what day we celebrated Rebekah's birthday. I do remember that her birthday was Nov 21st, and we did have the party so that is the important things! Right?

We had this rainbow of cupcakes with ice cream.

The girls played this game that is a favorite of Bekah's. Everyone ties a balloon to their ankle and then everyone runs around and tries to stomp on the balloons and pop them. They also played pin the tail on the donkey and musical chairs. Everyone had a great time. When it was all over Kenneth took Rebekah to the mall and let her get her ears pierced.

Sydney Saxophone Recital

Sydney had her saxophone recital tonight. She is a diligent practicer and is progressing very fast. She got to play in the ensemble numbers with the high school kids and held her own really well. She even got to play the lead part (doubled with one of the senior boys) in Frosty the Snowman, Truman played the piano for the group. Sydney's solo was We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and Christian was her accompanist. The quartet played What child is this.

Sydney relaxing between numbers, forgot that everyone could see her while she went cross-eyed.

DeJay in Boring, Oregon

Last night, we got another update on DeJay:

Hi Megan,

Today we arrived on the Oregon campus with 18 puppies and 12 big dogs at about 2:30pm. Once again DeJay rode shotgun with us up front, we had a full truck and we knew we could count on him to ride on a tie down up front without any problems. I've attached one photo of him looking out of the puppy truck door when we stopped to deliver a puppy in Roseburg, OR. The other photo is of him in front of the kennel on campus. I just wanted to let you know he is doing great and you should be very proud of him. He is a wonderful dog and the best co-pilot we have had. He gave both Lee and I our "dog fix" all the way to Oregon, we are both amazed at how well he traveled being so young. Good luck and hopefully you will get to see him at a graduation,

Joseph Aguirre

Puppy College

Well the day we worked so hard for but hoped wouldn't really come, came. Friday we returned Dejay to Guide Dogs for the Blind. Today has been a quieter without or puppy. Sydney went with me to drop him off and on the way home we were feeling a little guilty that we weren't more upset and weepy. We decided that the predominant emotion was pride. Our family worked really hard to train Dejay and he was a great experience for all of us. We are proud of him and excited to see what he can do.

I will admit to being lonely today for my constant companion, and I haven't had the heart to put away all his things yet. So tonight when I got and email from the Puppy truck drivers, we were all excited to hear how Dejay's first day away went. Here is the message we got: (FYI the kids all tied a piece of ribbon on his collar as they said good-bye... The principal at the elementary school gave him a new bone as a going away gift, and he took it with him on the puppy truck)

Hello Megan and family,

Thought I would drop you a note to let you know DeJay and his seven canine partners arrived on the San Rafael campus with us safe and sound at about 4:30pm today. About a half an hour after we left the pickup spot in Goodyear all the dogs were asleep, except for DeJay. He seemed a little "antsy" so we brought him up front on a tie down and he immediately settled down, allowed us to pet him, and took turns falling asleep with his head on either my or Lee's lap.

We read DeJay's paperwork and we realized that with seven children in the house he probably wasn't used to being alone. He became our "co-pilot" for most of the trip to California and back up to campus. He sure loves his ring bone and would grab it to bring with him each time we took him out for a walk or to be a co-pilot. We are saving his bone for the trip Tuesday to Oregon. His collar with the seven ribbons is one of the most festive ones we have seen and he wears it proudly. He truly is a nice dog and we enjoyed transporting him and look forward to seeing him again next week. Thank you for doing such a good job raising him.

Puppy Truck Drivers Joe and Lee

Expect the Unexpected

Life has been really chaotic around here lately, and today is no exception. Our experience at Costco was great today.
Hazel and I went to Costco at noon today. It was so busy that even the tire technicians were running checkstands. Hazel had to go to the bathroom. After visiting the bathroom we were trying to cut across the surge of customers leaving the checkstands and stay out of the way of the food court line, suddenly Hazel stopped. I stop with DeJay in tow, and try to drag Hazel out of the traffic. Everyone is stopped around us and she declares loudly "something is wrong with my pants". I look down at her in disbelief as she pulls a pair of flowered panties out of her pant leg. "Oh, here's the problem!"

Fish Tank Stand

Kenneth and I have finally finished our Fish tank collaboration project. He made the stand and I made the stained glass panels for the doors. It is hard to tell but there is a light inside the cabinet which illuminates the glass in the doors and also makes it easy to see the music books inside. Each kid has their own slot to keep their piano and instrument music in.

Here is me and the door.

Here is a shot of just the glowing doors.

The stand without the lights on...

The stand and doors in all it's glory.

Veteran's Day

Today was a busy day. Christian and Truman and I went out at dawn to put out flags (our boy scout fundraiser, for $35 a year the scouts in our ward will post a flag in your yard on all major holidays). The van started steaming profusely (unfortunately not the first time this week), I opened the hood and finally caught a glimpse of the offending hose. I dropped the boys off at home and drove over to Auto Zone and opened the hood. I showed the girl the hose spraying coolant all over and told her I would like a new one. We looked for a long time for the right part and finally discovered that I just needed a 6 inch piece of 3/4 inch hose. They didn't even charge me for it! I came home and spent 2 hours replacing the hose. Our neighbor came by and helped me tighten the last clamp and put the air filter back on. I washed up and the kids and I went up to watch the Veteran's Day Parade. Christian and the Marching band were in the parade. It is always fun to see my kids perform. We came home and had lunch. Then we headed to the pool for an hour. THen everyone got to work practicing and cleaning (my in-laws are coming tomorrow.)

The Fat Man Game (and a lady)

When Christian and Truman were little they made up a game where they wad up all the newspaper that needs to be recycled and carry it to the recycle bin inside their shirts. I asked Christian and nate to take out the news paper and the next thing I knew... Christian and Truman were teaching Nate and Hazel to play the "Fat Man Game". I love those moments when there is peace and happiness (and recycling)!

Finally

Our HOA decided to remodel our pool this summer and it closed the week after school got out and just opened again last week. Today was warm weather (90s) and so Kenneth and the Kids went to play at the pool. The splash Pad toys are a new addition.

Time is a funny thing

Last night Christian and Truman had their first band concert of the year. I hope that they did good. Kenneth and I were absent from this event because we were on a "Hot Date". We went to a nice Japanese restaurant and the over to the U2 concert. It was a fun concert!

I did have a good laugh at myself, because I spent more time than usual deciding what to wear. I just don't know what people wear to concerts these days. In the end I decided that I can only wear things I own and opted for a good mix of cute and comfortable. As we were walking into the stadium I looked around to see how everyone dresses for concerts these days and saw a lot of 30ish and 40ish people who were wearing a good mix of cute and comfortable. I also was surprised to see that U2 is not still in their 30s.