Cade Skywalker

Wow, it's Cade's birthday, and you know what that means? I have been blogging for a year now, and I would like to print out a copy for a scrapbook. Anybody had any luck doing that?

This birthday means a lot to Cade, I think because he feels like he will be so grown up at 8 years old. He's very anxious to be baptized, because he says all his sins will be washed away, and I'm pretty sure he's thinking he'll be a whole new person who doesn't make mistakes. I tried to clear that up for him. He says he would rather be baptized than go to Disneyland. (Has he forgotten how FUN Disneyland is?!?)

He's such a funny kid, and I love to spend time with him. I love to go on dates with him, just the two of us. He really knows how to charm a girl, and I know his wife someday will be one lucky girl. He makes ME feel like a million bucks. If you give him your heart he will give you the world.

He is a really sensitive and perceptive guy, very in tune with his feelings. I love to hear him explain the complexities of the relationships he has with his friends, teachers, and sisters. He is a good judge of character and can see through your words and responds more to feelings.


I laughed really hard when he was mimicking a certain teacher at school, first how she acts when there's no other adults around (mean), and then how she changes as soon as another adult enters the room (sweet). He keeps me on my toes, because he scrutinizes every word and tone I use. But I love his candid-ness. We have some really great conversations, because he is curious about everything. Like his Dad, he has the ability to find the humor in everything. I look at a situation in a very pragmatic, serious way, and then my boys will come along and look at the same situation and suddenly it's hilarious. That's what I love about them.

I love his sensitivity too, although not when it comes to fabrics. That's a whole different story. . . . But he has a real soft spot for all animals, real or stuffed. One day we counted and he had over 60 stuffed animals, and has an attachment to all of them.! They are his best friends, and sleeps with a whole bed full. Do NOT mention this to him, he would kill me!!

And I love how concerned he gets if he thinks he's hurt someone's feelings. You wouldn't know it by some of the things he does, but deep down, he really worries about that and wants to do right. I can tell it frustrates him because he wants to do what's right, but sometimes his impulses get the better of him. Hey, it still happens to the adults too!

And I love his enthusiasm about life. He brings so much energy and excitement into our lives. He wants to learn everything and be good at everything. He insists he is big enough to drive the car, and constantly begs me to let him try. He insists on cooking his own eggs, pancakes, etc, and says he wants to be a chef when he grows up and own a 5-star restaurant where he will let me eat for free.

I could go on and on about the things I love about Cade, but many of you probably stopped reading a long time ago. So I'll get on with the pictures.

Cade is frosting his cake. I love birthdays, and I love making a fun cake. Cade's put a lot of thought into what he wanted his cake to be, and he decided on a scene from one of the Star Wars movies where somebody is fighting somebody else next to a river of hot lava.

When Cade found out his birthday was on Sunday, he was bummed. But if it has to be on a Sunday, the SuperBowl Sunday is a pretty good one! We always have a SuperBowl party with our friends the Woodruffs and Andersons, and our kids play together so much they consider themselves cousins. When Cade found out his "cousin-friends" were coming, he thought that sounded like a great birthday.

We let him choose what to do on Saturday, and he chose ICE SKATING!

My mom and sister joined us, and I was pretty impressed with my 60+ mother skating around like a pro! Speaking of pro's, Avery insisted on skating by herself and has become quite the little ice skater.

We followed up with dinner at the Glorious Golden Corral (the best restaurant EVER according to Cade!) That place gives me a gut ache, but hey, it's your day.

Then he opened his presents: the Clone Wars Wii game and light saber controllers, Darth Vader's Death Star, (from Nessa), a clone trooper's gun (from Grandma Packer), Lego Star Wars (from Ty), remote control tarantula and cool yo-yo (from Tyler & Kaden), some jungle animals, a sled, and guitar stuff.

Sunday consisted of this:

Hours of light saber dueling,

some horse jumping,

a little football game, and some cake. Here's the masterpiece. It's General Grievous fighting Obi-Wan (cause we couldn't find Anakin) next to a river of hot lava spewing out of the volcano. Cade says this might be my finest cake ever.

Bailey had the great idea to put broken Oreo's on top of the lava to make it look molten hot, and I thought it was brilliant! The lava is pudding dyed red, and we sprinkled it all with red sugar crystals. By the way, all you star wars fans, did you know there is a character named "Cade Skywalker"? We found a figurine with that name and Cade was pretty excited about that.

Thanks to all our friends and family who made this weekend so special for Cade!

Happy Birthday, my little Jedi!

Team'>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2199.Team_of_Rivals_The_Political_Genius_of_Abraham_Lincoln?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

My'>http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45518668?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">

My

reviewI'm a little obsessed with Lincoln right now. Maybe I'll even have a cake for his birthday next week, ha ha. I'm really enjoying learning about his life. He is amazing in his ability to transcend personal vendetta and appoint people to his cabinet whom he might have had reason to hold a grudge against.

View'>http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/779321-Chanelle?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.

Swallows'>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123615.Swallows_of_Kabul?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Swallows of Kabul by http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/71181.Yasmina_Khadra">Yasmina Khadra

My'>http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/43887369?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I had just finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns (and was fascinated with it), so I wanted to read more about women in Afgahnistan. This is another telling of life behind the burqa, and the degrading of women. I just shake my head in disbelief that there is STILL so much slavery today. This is a quick read, with a slightly disturbing ending, fitting for the disturbing every day realities they deal with being under terrorists' rule.

View'>http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/779321?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.

Nesting

It's January, and I can tell because I always get this nesting urge where I just want to stay home and clean my house, and then sit in my nice clean house with a book by the fire.

And I want to eat comfort food. But I really don't like to cook, so it's a problem . . .

When my kitchen is clean, I can't stand the thought of messing it all up. So here's my solution, I spent one day making a whole bunch of meals that our family likes that could be frozen. Call it my version of Dream Dinners. Now I have 15 meals ready to go, like Angel Chicken Pasta, Portabella Mushroom Chicken with Bacon, Rosemary Chicken Linguini, Chicken Mirabella, Chicken Pot Pie, and BBQ Chicken tenders. (Can you tell Albertson's had a great deal on Chicken?)
I can't even begin to tell you how happy this makes me to look at. I feel giddy just knowing I have all these meals ready to put in the crock pot or oven, without any mess!!! It's like money in the bank to me.

This gives me the ability to do something more fun all day long, say like, sit and watch Obama's Inauguration ceremony for 5 hours! I was glued to my TV, and the energy that the entire country is feeling is so contagious. I am optimistic, excited, hopeful, and eager to be part of this historic period of time. I truly believe that the potential of America is unlimited if we can collectively come together with a positive change in mind, and I admire Obama for his ability to ignite that hope across the WORLD. It was so touching to see other nations celebrating along with us. Everyone needs a major attitude adjustment instead of talking doom and gloom all the time. That alone would get the economy moving again, and would really help out the local cabinet guy. So whether you voted for him or not, do your country a favor and please please please jump aboard the bandwagon of positive thinking!

Christmas

Can't sleep, so I'm blogging. I'll pay for this tomorrow.

But I must write about Christmas. It's now Jan 6th, and I haven't taken ANY of my Christmas stuff down. I guess I'm kinda sad it's over and don't want to go back to the real world. I might dare say, this is the best Christmas we've ever had. And not because we did anything spectacular, or because anyone got the perfect gift. In fact, because of our fears of the economy right now, we scaled waaaay back this year and only spent a fraction of what we usually spend on our kids. This year their lists only had a couple of things on them, largely due to the fact that we cut out the cable back in October, so they haven't seen all those major marketing techniques on TV the last couple of months. The only thing Cade had on his list was something for our horse, and some Webkins. This made me so happy, since last year his list was two pieces of college ruled paper taped together, and he was still adding on Christmas Eve!

And although I admit, I was looking at their meager piles and wondering (Is it enough?) when Christmas Day came, my heart was so full because they were so happy and appreciative of the couple of things they received, and they didn't even know the difference. It just confirmed to me that if you have everything, you value nothing. For the first time in a long time, I didn't have that let-down feeling that I usually get on Christmas night, resulting from the kids getting too much and not playing with most of it. It was just right, and I'm happy that the bar has been lowered, because I've felt like the amount of gifts we have loaded them up with has been getting out of hand, and pulling us further and further away from what it should be about.


Bailey said at least once a day during December "I LOVE Christmas!" And I said what do you love about it, the presents or all the fun things we do together? and she said "Both." But I know it's the traditions. And the funny things that will forever stand out in your minds.


This Christmas was the best, but it wasn't without some hiccups. On Christmas Eve, Dave and I have always taken the kids on a sleigh ride at Hardware Ranch, and we were especially excited for Avery to experience the Clydsedale horses pulling the sleigh this year. We have done this for about the last nine years, but for some reason, this year we got up there and they were CLOSED.

Yup.

No sign, no explanation, just a whole lot of other disappointed families like ours, standing around, wondering "Now what do we do?!?!?" Well we were all bundled up and no place to go, so we went home, grabbed some sleds, and went sledding on the Golf Course with a bunch of deer as our audience. This was a first for Avery, and she squealed with fear and adrenaline. Now it was getting dark, so we sat on the hill and looked for signs of Santa.

Then we headed home to get ready for him. First we read and acted out the Nativity with our figurines. (Of course, Avery had to add a horse to the mix, so Mary rode a horse.) This was followed by an impromtu talent show on the piano and guitar. Then we had to open just ONE present.

OK, maybe two.

Pajama bottoms from me- Yes, I MADE them with my sewing machine! A round of applause, please!

Then they were dying to open their siblings' gift, because they knew it would be good.
Bailey got a CRITTER CRUISER car for her gerbil!

I don't care who you are, that's funny stuff to see a car being powered by a gerbil! Unfortunately, Oreo only got to joy ride for one day, because she escaped her cage on Christmas Day and hasn't been seen since then. Still no sign of her. (Or smell . . . . . . .ugh!) So now we have this hot rod cruiser and no gerbil.


One of my favorite things about Christmas morning is the looks of my confused /bewildered /excited /not quite awake yet/kids with serious bedhead. Like this one:

And once Avery really woke up, she kept saying "Santa came! Santa came!"

Cade said the teepee wasn't even on his list, but it was his favorite thing! How did Santa know?!

And sweet Bailey, just wanted a hedgehog Webkin (I know, a hedgehog?!) and some Breyer horses.

And WE got a nice little Christmas surprise: Dave chipped his front tooth off! Merry Christmas to us, that will be $2000.00 to fix! Just try and find a dentist working between Christmas and New Years . . . .

So Dave spent the entire break carrying a tube of superglue in his pocket and continually glueing his tooth back on like a redneck hillbilly. I did take a picture of it, but he said "You are NOT putting this on the blog!" So just use your imagination.

(All he wants for Christmas is his front tooth fixed. . . .)

Then it was over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go! We had a wonderful ham dinner, then had fun playing with Bailey's gift from G&G Lund: Twister Dance DVD. Oh, this was funny. Not one of us has a rythmic bone in our bodies!

After the fun, we had to drive home in the blizzard, and I mean BLIZZARD! Our windshield wipers kept getting ice chunks on them so we had to reach out and flick them to get the ice off so we could see. We could only see about a foot in front of us, so Dave had to "use the force" as he likes to say. It was a white-knuckle drive all the way home, and Dave and I were getting increasingly irritated with our hyped up, wild, downright annoying kids who were laughing and screaming and totally oblivious to the fearful situation we were in. (Hayley can attest to the danger of this drive!) When we FINALLY made it to our neighborhood, Dave and I were a ball of nerves, and after asking our kids repeatedly to SETTLE DOWN and BE QUIET SO DAD CAN CONCENTRATE SO WE DON'T DIE for Pete's sake, we told them they had each lost a toy from Santa for their behavior. (Yes, we are the big fat mean parents who take their kids toys away from them on Christmas Day!) Hopefully they don't remember that part of the day.

But just before we get home, we notice our neighbor is stuck in their van, spinning their bald tires and can't make it up the street to their house. She is behind the van pushing, wearing nylons and church shoes, with snow up to her knees! Long story short, we drop our (crying) kids off at home and tell them to get their teeth brushed and PJ's on while we help our neighbor. Dave and I spent the next hour and 15 min. getting our neighbors up the street and into their driveway. It took four guys pushing and me driving, and a whole lot of shoveling to get them unstuck. We looked like eskimos by the time we were done, and by this time, I just had the giggles about this whole "Perfect Christmas Evening" It really was funny. (Notice Dave is trying not to show his tooth when he smiles)

We shoveled off our deck so we could soak in the hot tub and calm our nerves -We needed it!

And what to our wondering eyes should appear when we came home? Three innocent looking children all snug in their bed, just reading Avery a bedtime story after getting PJ's on and their teeth brushed, just like we asked.

Now before you say Awwwww, look how sweet, let's not forget their devilish behavior on the ride home, that caused them to have a toy taken away. Now they are nothing but angels who did everything we asked the first time!

But really, how can you stay mad at this?

The week following Christmas is nothing but a fun blur. The kids had 16 days off from school, and I was fortunate enough to have Dave home for 13 of those days. We just enjoyed hanging out as a family. We had a great time with no schedule, no cell phones, no to-do lists. I think December 26th is the best day of the year. Not a thing to do!!!!

We played with our new toys, went to see "Bedtime Stories", went to the condo in Bear Lake and went swimming, went sledding, played games, and visited friends. We spent New Years with our good friends Kami, Bryon, Dan, and Janette, and had a big sleepover in Kami's brand new giant house. It was just like the good old college days of hanging out, except a little louder now, since we've added 9 kids (holy cow!) to the mix. We are so grateful for such fun friends.

That's all. I'm going to bed.