Christmas fun

Derek and Emily received a bunch of play silks for Christmas. They are big pieces of colored silk used for dress up or for anything else the imagination can think of. Emily loves having them tied on and sitting among them. Today Derek was a wizard and Emily a princess. I hope they enjoy them. I learned about them at a class on young children and the importance of play.

On Christmas Eve at the Lamb Family home we had a nativity play. Derek was Joseph and Emily was a little angel. It was fun and Derek really like asking if there was room in the inn...he took his part very seriously and seemed so grown up:) Emily just wanted to hold the baby.

Aprons

Darrell's mom Sarah Brimhall collected over 120 vintage aprons for a display in Snowflake. All of the girl folk visiting this past weekend went to see the display and then we made aprons using some of the vintage aprons as patterns. I made Emily's and was sewn out after that, so Sarah so kindly finished mine:) Emily loves all the pockets on her apron:) It was sooo much fun, and I was amazed how many different styles of aprons there were.

Not every hole needs to be filled...

So, yesterday morning at Grandma Brimhall's house Emily discovered a hole she wanted to fill. Unfortunately that hole would be the one in her nose...yes, her left nostril to be exact:) She stuck a nice little orange lego into her nose...just for fun I suppose. After several attempts to extract the lego, it was decided since she wasn't having difficulty breathing it would be left in there until she swallowed it or it came out on it's own. After returning home yesterday evening Darrell and I decided we wanted to get it out because it hadn't budged in either direction. Darrell has these nifty little plastic ear wax removal things in all different shapes...some like itty bitty little spoons. After several attempts to hold her down we belted her to the piano bench. While I held her head tight, Darrell scooped out the lego while Emily turned red in the face with screaming and crying. It was over quickly and Emily quickly forgave us for the torture:) Hopefully she will not fill any more holes:)

Ridem Cowboys...

Don't be fooled...you are not looking at two kids in a wheelbarrow you are looking at two kids on a horse. At least that's what Derek tells me. Of course I had told Derek a million times not to put Emily in the wheelbarrow, but then when he calls me out to see, it was just too darn cute that I had to take a picture and then warn him again not to put Emily in the wheelbarrow.

Grandpa and Great-Grandpa

Grandpa Brimhall and Great-Grandpa Brimhall visited on Tuesday after their excursion to Saba's to buy boots. This picture looks like it was casually taken...but actually only occurred after Derek threw a tantrum for 10 minutes because he didn't want a picture. Granpa Brimhall then tricked him into setting on his lap and we took the picture. It would have been fun to get one of the tantrum:) As for Emily's hair...not much to say, except it is in an awkward stage especially right after naps:)

The New Additions

We added 8 new creatures to our family today...yes...chickens:) Darrell's friend Scott is getting chickens and it got Darrell excited and so now here they are. Right now they are living in a plastic container, but will soon have a nice new home that Darrell is going to build in his spare time to put in our ever shrinking back yard.

Derek and Emily both love them of course...me, well maybe someday:) Above is a picture of Emily giving one a kiss. It is hard to keep Derek from holding them all the time. I'm afraid he'll squish them if we let him hold them too much. So, we'll see how this adventure goes when we have eggs coming out our ears.

A Weekend in Snowflake

We went up to Snowflake after Thanksgiving dinner at my parent's house and spent the weekend. Darrell was itching to get out of the valley. It was a fun time and the kids had a great time. I got my Mexican pizza from Eva's and that was all I wanted. I hardly see Derek when we visit Snowflake because he just plays and plays and plays...I wish he would do that here at home too:) Funny story about Derek... The boys went shooting Saturday afternoon and took Derek with them. Derek comes walking over to them with a clay pigeon full of water. The boys asked him where we got the water and Derek said "the lake." Well the lake is over a mile away and so very unlikely...so they asked him again and this time he replied "it's pee water." Hee Hee. I got a kick out of that. Emily loved Jade and got so excited EVERY time she caught a glimpse of her or another dog. She had one tumble down the stairs which scared me half to death but she survived with just a small bruise on her forehead...just another one to add to the growing collection of bruises on her head:)

Peaceful Ending...

I have to admit this is my favorite part of the day...the end:) I love seeing my children sleeping peacefully and QUIETLY. I snapped this picture because of Emily's legs...I don't know how she can sleep in such odd positions. I love going into their room before I go to bed to see how they fell asleep. Of course note the fact they both have their blankets, they wouldn't be sleeping so peacefully without them:)

Definetly a fluke

Well...unfortunately yesterday was a fluke. My great feeling lasted until a whopping 10am and then that was it. Atleast I have hope that I can feel normal again someday:)

A light at the end...

I actually exercised today!!! That might not seem that exciting to some, but I was doing it routinely up until 5 weeks ago when this pregnancy interfered. I've been feeling horrible and unable to motivate myself to do anything beyond what had to be done and this morning I actually felt good. I chose an "easy" step video...wow am I deconditioned, but oh well I know I can work up to it again. Hopefully today is the beginning of the great part of pregnancy and not just a fluke and hopefully the baby is still okay...since having my first miscarriage, I always worry about miscarriage until I hear the heartbeat. Of course, if I really am on the mend I have a lot of bad habits to break...movies everyday for me and the kids, staying at home, neglecting chores...but all in good time:)

Veteran's Day Fun

Darrell had no school on Veteran's day and he really felt the need to do something to celebrate, so we ventured to the parade in Phoenix. We were there 1 hour early and 1 1/2 hours into the parade we were all ready to go. There was still probably atleast another 1 1/2 hours and so we walked quickly through crowds and escaped:) It was fun watching Derek wave his flags at the passing floats, but enough was enough. It is only fun for so long with 2 little kids. But, it was something different to do.

Halloween Fun

This year for Halloween Derek was an army guy...costume made by Grandma Brimhall because Mom was too tired:) Emily was a very cute spider purchased at Wal-mart. She loves putting the spider costume on and showing off to anyone who will ooooo and ahhh at her. Derek's favorite part about Halloween was trick-or-treating and candy and playing toys (at a Halloween party). Derek also really likes Emily's spider web. This was my first year taking Derek trick-or-treating, as Darrell did it last year. It was a lot of fun watching him. He was shy the first house and then he was off. Derek even dragged Emily to one house so she could get a lolly pop...then she just walked around sucking on that and was happy. Well that's all for now.