sweet, sweety, and turkeys

Jaden went to a friend's house for dinner last night. Since Joshua gets home so late we don't eat until later so Jaden was actually back home before we ate. He asked if he could have dinner again with us, I said yes and his reaction was, "Double dinner, SWEET! Isn't that SWEET Colten? I get double dinner! That is just the SWEETest thing." It must be a his new term that his picked up from friends. It made me laugh, and at least it was a term I knew not something I sat there puzzling over. I'm sure those days are coming.

I overheard Colten's conversation with his best friend.
"I call Ashtyn sweety sometimes."
"Why" asks his friend
"Because she's my sister and I have to love her."

Jaden saw on TV a Thanksgiving craft that he's been begging to do. So last night we started it (note to self-don't start a project late at night with the kids when you already feel tired and overwhelmed). We made sugar cookies, then traced their handprints onto the cookies to cut out their hand shape. We then baked the cookies. Today we'll ice our "turkeys" and put candy corn beaks on them. I'll have to get a picture of them all finished. It is actually pretty cute seeing the different sized "turkeys" from their handprints. When did Jaden's hands get so big?

Santa

Yesterday we took the kids to see Santa (yes, I know it's early but this way we don't fight crowds as Joshua refuses to ever stand in any line, but that's another story). They had planned out exactly what they were going to ask him for and were just so excited to go see him. When we got there they went running up to the edge of the area, waved to him, and were just jumping up and down with eagerness. But when I tried to actually walk them up there I all of a sudden had one kid attached to each leg so that I couldn't move, and only Jaden was confident enough to go right up to Santa and sit on his lap. Jaden quickly explained to Santa that he wanted a hotwheels track and very specifically described just which one it was that he wanted. This seemed to warm Colten up a little bit and he finally moved closer to Santa (still standing just out of arms reach) to announce that he wants the Lego batman video game. Ashtyn was still glued to me at this point just taking peaks at Santa and little smiles. She finally had me tell Santa that she wants a Cinderella dress for Christmas as she just smiled and nodded.
Joshua prodded Colten into asking his question to Santa that he's been preparing all week, "Where are your reindeer?" I was amazed at what a great answer he got. Santa patiently explained that all but two of the reindeer were up at the north pole getting lots of food, extra rest, and some training so that they would have the stamina to fly him around the world on Christmas eve. But he said that two of his reindeer had flown him down that day to the mall-Prancer and Vixen and were waiting for him to finish to fly him back home to the north pole. He told Colten to listen really carefully as he walked through the mall as Prancer especially likes to run around on the roof and sometimes you can hear his hoofs on the mall of the roof. Colten listened closely with big eyes as he kept looking furtively up at the ceiling and then back at Santa. Then Santa pulled out Prancers harness bells and offered to let Ashtyn hold them, this finally convinced her to come close enough to Santa to take a picture with him (notice the bells in the picture, and that we had been talking to Santa for a good 10 minutes by this point).As we then walked back through the mall the kids all kept saying that they thought they heard Prancer running around on the roof (I think Ashtyn's boots were clomping in just the right way to sound like reindeer hoofs). And as we drove home they were all craning their necks to see if they might catch a glimpse of reindeer antlers on the roof of the mall. Jaden thinks he saw some for just a second. It was a fun trip to see Santa. . .

Names. . .

Ok, I'm giving up on the whole using aliases for my family. So from now on I'll be using their real names. It's just getting way too confusing. 80) So from now on Skye will be known by his real name Jaden, Isaac is actually Colten, and Nicole is actually Ashtyn. Oh, and David will be Joshua again.

White Christmas

It's been a nice evening. I talked David into putting on my favorite Christmas movie "White Christmas." I figured that the kids would make it through only about 5 minutes before begging for something different. But to my shock and pleasure they LOVED the movie- well at least the younger two did. Skye thought it was OK since at least it started with a war scene. Nicole was the fun one to watch. With every musical number that came on she would stand up and do a dance along with the dancers, complete with spins and a final pose at the end of the dance number. It was just too cute to watch. I must say it was so fun to have them enjoy the movie with me and to know that hopefully I wont have to sit and watch it by myself each year.

David finished with the Christmas Light Extravaganza 2008 today. See the pictures below to see the house all decked out for the season. . . ok I know we are really early but at least the snow started falling this evening and made it not seem so insane. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Wedding Eve Sharing. . .

The night before the wedding there was a dinner for friends and family after which people were sharing their memories, thoughts, encouragements, etc. of Carrie and Greg. Every time I decided that I'd share next, I'd end up all teary eyed and just couldn't bring myself to talk, let alone break into tears in front of everyone. Later that night as I lay awake berating myself for not sharing I decided that I would do a delayed bit of sharing with Carrie and Greg through the blog, so here goes. It's nothing beautifully done, but just some thoughts and memories I wanted to share with them.

I started praying for a little sister around the age of 2. I figured that my parents had someone to share a room with, my brothers had each other, and that I really needed a little sister to share a room with, play with, etc. I prayed each night for 3 years before Carrie arrived, my personal answer to prayer. During my mom's pregnancy with Carrie my brothers had tried to convince me the baby would be a boy, I think my parents tried to prepare me for the possibility as well, but I would not be swayed, I just knew this was the little sister that I had prayed for. Carrie was all that I had dreamed of for a little sister. I helped take care of her, finally had someone to share a room with, play with etc. Carrie put up with a lot from me. I used to make worksheets that she'd have to complete when she came to the "school" where I was a teacher, I'd dress her up in funny outfits and pose for pictures to be used for ads for the magazine I was creating.When we moved back to the states it was driving her to and from gymnastics, walking the dog, and such that dominated our interactions, and later taking Russian lessons together. Then before I knew it she had moved to Russia with my folks and I didn't get to see much of my little sister for a period of time. Even through her difficult years there was a spark in Carrie that made our times together feel treasured, she always seemed wise beyond her years, was such a great listener, and asked the best questions to take conversations even deeper.
It has been so fun to watch Carrie blossom in the past couple of years during her relationship with Greg. Her spark has returned full force, and the treasure of her heart has grown. They both have a strong sense of adventure, but also take the time to proceed with thought and wisdom (well at least they use wisdom when it doesn't involve hiking in the middle of the night). They have handled their relationship so well I have no doubt that they will not be shattered by the storms of life, but will grow into a stronger unit when troubles arise. I'm so excited to see my baby sister all grown up and getting married. Looking at the woman that Carrie has become makes me admire and look up to my little sister. Take good care of her Greg!

Trick or Treat

As everywhere across the nation we went trick or treating last night with the kids. Aunt Carrie's wedding can wait-the kids wanted something fun! I'll have to post the pictures once I get back home, but they were very cute and very excited about their costumes. Skye was a pirate, Isaac was Anakin Skywalker, and Nicole was a ballerina. We had the pleasure of getting to trick or treat with the cousins this year which the kids were just thrilled with and Vanessa and I took full advantage of to get lots of pictures of the kids together.
As we started out the evening we walked to a nearby prominent neighborhood that we were assured was the "place" to trick or treat. It was a little bit of a walk from their house, and the kids couldn't figure out why we were just walking past all these homes that they knew held candy for them. We reassured them that we were going to a better place to wear themselves out at, saying that they were sure to get more candy where we were headed. As our little ballerina hurried to try to match the pace set by her older brothers and cousins I was reminded of the story of the "Little Engine That Could", but instead of chanting "I think I can" over and over again she was chanting "LOTS MORE CANDY, LOTS MORE CANDY!" as she ran along. Now that's a girl who takes after her mommy when lots more candy can motivate her to run a distance down the street.
I did notice last night that Halloween isn't the same as when I was a child. Maybe it was just the homes we went to, but they were handing out full size candy bars by the handful to the kids. Several homes had haunted houses set up in their garages for the kids to walk through. And the carved pumpkins had some skilled carving going on. It definitely wasn't a count how many smarties you received kind of night. The kids got back to the house exhausted and thrilled and quickly fell asleep on the drive back to Mormor and Papa's house.
Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Our Tax System. . .

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. ‘Since you are all such good customers, he said, ‘I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. What happens to the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’ They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

‘I only got a dollar out of the $20,’ declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, ‘But he got $10!’

‘Yeah, that’s right,’ exclaimed the fifth man. ‘I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!’

‘That’s true!!’ shouted the seventh man. ‘Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!’

‘Wait a minute,’ yelled the first four men in unison. ‘We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!’

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important.

They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.