Christmas Fun

Every year, Jim and the kids build a gingerbread house. Here is this year's creation. You can't tell from this picture, but Jim installed lights inside the house. He used his Dremmel and cut out the windows, then used parchment paper for iridescent window coverings. Then, he wired tiny flickering lights inside the house. With the magic push of a button, the lights turn on and off!

Every year we visit Yankee Candle Company's flagship store in Deerfield Mass. It's a gigantic Christmas paradise! The kids love all of the displays and they love visiting with Santa in his little workshop. He was a very real, a very nice and a very thorough Santa. He literally spent 10 minutes with every family. Thank goodness we visited on a Monday night when there were only four or five families in front of us in line! :) On the way home, we stopped in Springfield Mass. to visit the Bright Nights light display (another fun tradition).

Dressed up in our Christmas attire for church on Sunday!

Christmas crafts

It's so terribly cold outside today, that I figured it would be a great day to stay home and get some crafts done. I bought some adorable Christmas fabric in Utah and I really wanted to sew some pillowcases for the kids. My dear friend came over this morning to help me out. They turned out soo cute! I feel very crafty! :)

Leaf Peeping Pics

I realize that it's now December, and Christmas is just around the corner.....I'm just a bit behind on my blogging. I know no one likes excuses, but seriously, I had swine flu for the first 2 and a half weeks of November, and now I'm finally better and still playing catch up! So, here are a few of our family leaf peeping pics from October! (Where has the time gone!)

I absolutely LOVE fall in Connecticut! It's totally worth living in New England, just to experience the gorgeous fall colors and fall events each year. Leaf peeping, pumpkin putches, fall carnivals, apple picking etc. Oh, the simple beauties of Connecticut!

Halloween

Clara wore her super cute Halloween dress to school this week. She looked adorable and was a big hit in her class!

Clara as Snow White - marching in the Kindergarten Halloween parade!

Family pumpkin time - carving our jack-o-lantern. The only requirement was that everyone had to put their hand in the pumpkin to touch the goo. James loved it!

This pic is turned side ways (and I don't know how to fix it). Anyway, we hosted a little Halloween party on Halloween night, complete with spooky food. Here are the "mummy dogs".

This was probably the favorite..."Bones and Blood". The kids thought it was great!

Our last spooky main dish was "Mummy pizza's".

All the kids ready to go trick-or-treating! What a cute group!

The morning after trick-or-treating! Clara put her candy in piles and then pretended to open a candy store, selling each piece for $3......what a business women!


Emi organized and counted all of her candy. The winner candy was 15 packages of whoppers!

James put his candy into rows (like a parking lot). Gee, playing with all of this candy is soo much fun!

Super!

"Super Girl" and "Super Boy" to the resue!

Conference!

About mid August, I recieved a phone call from my Mom. She informed me that she had just been asked to speak in the October General Conference! Of course I couldn't miss it! Jim and I talked it over and decided that just I should go, since our entire family had attended the previous two conferences. He graciously volunteered to man the home front while I went off to Utah for the weekend.


Now here's where things get interesting! Just two days before I was to leave for UT, my Grandpa called and informed me that he had business in the east the following weekend....so why don't I just stay in Utah for an extra couple of days after conference and then return to the east coast with he and my grandma? "What a fabulous idea!" said I. And a glorious nine day trip was born! Poor Jim was now tied into being Mr. Mom for a much longer time. Nine days of tending the kids is at least six months in what he and his friend termed "Dad years".

This pic is out of order....for some reason I can't get it to move to the bottom of the page! Whenever my Grandpa comes to CT to visit us, he stays in a specific Marriott hotel. He stays there because he knows how much my kids LOVE to go swimming at the pool when he comes! He is an amazing Grandpa!

My Grandpa had church business in Nauvoo, Kirtland and in New England. This was our first stop, the Nauvoo temple. Absolutely beautiful! I have never seen such exquisite beauty! It was such a privilage and blessing to tour the temple. I absolutely loved it! To think of the extreme sacrifices of the pioneers who built and left this beautiful temple is truly humbling. I am grateful for the legacy and example they left for us!

Outside the Nauvoo temple. It was cold and clear...a beautiful autumn evening in Nauvoo. We attended several missionary meetings and then a cultural performance that night. It was great!

The next morning it was on to Kirtland. We toured the Kirtland temple, the Whitney store, the school of the prophets and other various sites. Then a meeting with the missionaries. Next, on to CT. We spent the evening at the hotel enjoying swimming (see above pic) and being with Grandpa and Grandma.

At home after church, posing with Grandma Ann. Grandma and Grandpa could only stay in CT for less than a day because Grandpa had a funeral to speak at and more scouting meetings to attend! But we gladly took advantage of every minute we were together!

James and Grandpa! The kids love their grandpa so much! Grandpa brought the kids our favorite treat.....Cummings chocolates. They loved talking with him, singing with him and looking at Chicken Calendars with him! What a wonderful visit!

Bosotn

A couple of weeks ago we enjoyed a great Saturday in Boston. It was ward temple day, and the youth of the ward volunteered to babysit younger children at a nearby stake center so that parents could attend a session. What a wonderful act of service! It was neat to have Emi, Clara and James prepare and drive the two hours to the temple with us. Usually they're home with a babysitter, so this was a welcome change. They had a great time....and so did Jim and I! After our session, we enjoyed walking around the temple grounds and admiring the temple.

After spending the morning at the temple, we took the kids to the Boston American Girl store!

Emi and Clara were sooo excited! They dressed their dolls special, just for the occasion. They loved everything in the store (it was really neat!). Every girl's and mom's dream store! Even Jim and James enjoyed it!

Emi and Clara were thrilled with their purchases. Glasses for their dolls and trading cards for themselves.....plus they enjoyed making their Christmas lists! :)

After shopping, on to the Cheesecake factory! Jim and I have a tradition of always going out to eat at the Cheesecake factory after we attend the temple. The kids loved eating out and Emi and Clara thought it was extra special to bring their American Girl dolls to the restaurant!

"Big Boy"

The other day, James said to me "Yesterday I was small, but today I am a big boy!"

Another James moment this week:

We had just gotten back from a bike ride, and I said to James "Good job riding your bike, James!" and he replied:

"Yes, I exercise. I am getting BIG muscles!"

Sometimes they say the cutest things!

Back to School

The kids have actually been back in school for two weeks....but quite honestly it's been a very difficult two weeks! So, now I'm finally getting around to posting about school.

Clara absolutely LOVES Kindergarten! She has a wonderful teacher and has already made some new friends in her class. She is thrilled with her Princess backpack and loves to choose her outfit and accessories before school each day. She goes in the afternoon and James is really sad when the bus comes and picks her up for school. Every day I have to explain that he cannot ride the bus until he is five!

Emi coming off the bus on the first day of school. It is hard to believe that she's in third grade! She loves it!

At the bus stop after the first day of school. Everyone has a happy face.....that's a good sign for a great school year!

North Carolina

The best vacation of our summer was definitely Outer Banks. We spent nine glorious days in luxury and relaxation. My parents, Jeff, and Mark/Kimmie flew out from SLC to North Carolina. Alan and Lindsay already live in NC, and we drove down from CT. (Even the drive was great.) The entire family spent a fabulous week together!

Below are a few pics of some of the fun things we did while in the Outer Banks:

Four-wheeling on the beach was one of my favorite activities. Only 4x4 vehicles are allowed on certain beaches, and we could drive/bounce around for miles! The kids had a blast, I laughed for hours, and Jim loved driving thru the sand and surf!

I have to include a pic of "our" beautiful beach house. It was incredible! Whenever we weren't at the beach or out on some fun activity, we were relaxing at the house or swimming in the pool in the backyard. James keeps asking when we can go to "Grandpa's house with the pool". He doesn't realize that the house was a rental.....but we all wish it belonged to my Dad :)

Every day we went to the beach. The water was warm, the sand was soft, the waves were perfect, there were tons of shells to collect, and the beaches were very family friendly. Emi was in the surf continually, Clara collected hundreds of shells, and James loved running back and forth from the waves to the beach. The beach is awesome, the kids just entertain themselves for hours. My brother Alan brought lots of fun kites and also encouraged some serious sand castle building throughout the week!

We spent one afternoon visiting Kitty Hawk (the first flight, the Wright brothers etc.) Neat!

We visited one of the lighthouses on the Outer Banks. The kids all enjoyed climbing to the top...I on the other hand was a bit nervous. Heights aren't my favorite thing in the world. I was just worried that James was going slip through the railing or something! Paranoid I know :)

Other favorite things we did that aren't pictured (I need to get some more pics from Mark and Kimmie) - I loved going crab hunting on the beach at night. You go around 10 pm and there are hundreds of crabs roaming the beach. Kinda creepy, yes.....but very fun to scream and run around trying to catch them (the boys caught them.....the girls just screamed). I loved playing tennis, riding bikes, attempting to play beach volleyball (us Dibb's are not athletically gifted.....Jim was the only one of the bunch that could actually do some damage to the volleyball :). Oh, and enjoying lots and lots of homemade gourmet meals! Fabulous!

Aspen Grove

One of our vacations this summer was spent at Aspen Grove. Aspen Grove is a BYU run family camp located near Sundance ski resort at the base of Mount Timpanogus. It's a week of fun, adventure and excitement for the entire family. I grew up going to Aspen Grove each summer, so it was really neat to take my family! The kids had an incredible time....and so did the adults! Jim's parents and two of his siblings and their families also came up for a fun filled week.

"The adults"
Grandma and Grandpa Steele and the cousins.


Lots of face painting this week: Here is James as a pirate and Emi as a cat

Clara loved 'panning for gold' and James enjoyed 'horse back riding' - just a couple of the super fun activities at frontier night.

Emi fishing at the fish pond and Clara getting ready to climb the climbing wall:
Aspen Grove is located right at the base of Mount Timpanogus. (Jim and Brent were able to hike it.....and the rest of the fam took several shorter day hikes throughout the week). It's such a beautiful location, and just a great place to spend a week with family.