Prelude to Christmas -- Part 3

Santa's Lap:

What would Christmas be without a visit to Santa?  Gunnison had a light parade (not that impressive, but a traditional small town event none-the-less) and afterward hot chocolate and Santa at the town park.

 Joshua is a pro at this now.  He had his list all ready and rattled it off without missing a beat.  The best part is he knows the...secret...about Santa, but still loves to buy into the magic of it all.

 Andrew panicked just before his turn because he realized he had no idea what to ask for, and that has never happened in his 5 long years.  He settled on asking for a surprise, and is going on faith that Santa will bring him something totally awesome.  I am trying to decide if that makes things easier and harder. ;)

Caitlin absolutely panicked.  Santa is saying, "Take the picture, take the picture, hurry!"  I guess he didn't see the fabulous humor in it that we did.  Doesn't every kid need a picture of them screaming on Santa's lap?!

Prelude to Christmas -- Part 2

Christmas Carols:

What would Christmas be without Christmas music?!  And my favorite variety is that of the children.

Prelude to Christmas -- Part 1

The Tree:

Mike and I don't see eye to eye on what kind of Christmas tree we should have.  Every year we debate, and every year I end up giving in because his passion for the "experience, tradition, and real pine smell" is so darn cute.  So we loaded up in the ol' truck and headed up the canyon.  There had been a storm the night before so the snow was deep, but our ford handled that just fine.  It ended up being a very fun trip.  The boys both froze their toes off and spent most of the time in the Truck, but only after valiantly wading through waist-deep (for them) snow fields to find "the one with the light shining on it."  After loosing a dog, hiking a mile or so, shaking snow off of dozens of trees, emptying snow out of boots, we finally found THE ONE.  

 Daniel and Duke came along and found a nice tree as well.  After we had our sappy treasures in the truck we took a few more moments to enjoy the gnarly sledding hill.  I love fluffy snow - crashing is just as fun as sliding.

 Once home Mike's inner child really came out.  We realized that if we didn't trim the tree down it would fit perfectly right under our vault.  So we moved the piano and centered the thing in the only spot it would fit.  Amazingly, once the star was on there is only about a half inch of clearance.

 This year I finally got savvy in the Christmas tree debate.  When I folded and agreed to a live tree I made Mike promise that he would put up the lights.  I hate lighting the tree. Ornaments are so much more fun.  So he borrowed a ladder and made a few trips to ACE for extra strands, but lit the thing up beautifully.  The kids and I made a team effort with the rest of the decor, and voila!  A beautiful tree!  I have to admit, it does beat the fake kind....once all the work is over!

What a nice story, eh?  Well the next day I heard a great crash.  We came into the living room, and the whole tree had gone down.  I am so glad I switched out all my glass ornaments for plastic ones a few years back!  Mike put it back up, reinforced the base with 2x4's and secured it to the wall with fishing twine.  I guess we weren't thinking about our tree stand when we decided on a 15' tree!   Timber!

Natural History Museum

       If you know anything about me, you know I am a museum nut.  I have a real thing for them.  Luckily I married someone who feels the same way.  S0 when Mike came home with  a newspaper advertising free tickets to opening day at the new Natural History Museum in SLC, we both jumped on it like kids in a candy shop.  

       We were able to get enough tickets for our family and Grandma and Grandpa Barlow as well.  We took the kids out of school, drove north, caught a drive through lunch, and headed for the University.  The building itself is a marvel to see.  Copper, cool angles, earth elements, etc.  

       We were able to see so many neat things!  Along with all the regular exhibits we were also allowed into some usually restricted areas.  We got to go into the archives and see the filing systems, we were able to go into the paleontology lab and watch people working on specimens.  All the scientists were there for opening day and wanted to talk about  their areas of expertise.  It was so amazing!

         Andrew's favorite part by far was the dinosaur wing.  Joshua loved watching the paleontologists at work, and Mike was astounded by the gems  As for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the Anthro stuff and the Native American exhibit.  Everything was beautifully planned.  There were so many interactive and hands-on exhibits.

         All-in-all, a favorite day for our family.

Odds and Ends

All of us Barlows are unnaturally obsessed with the camera, so I have several pictures that are floating around my files asking to be blogged, but with no real place.  So why not stick them all together and call them odds and ends?

 I love the way Caitlin sleeps.  She has a full sized crib, but she will only sleep in one little corner.  Always on her belly, and more often than not with her rump sticking up in the air.

 The IPad is a special fascination.  We love the front camera feature - it is like looking in a mirror and taking a picture.  It makes for good smiles every time.

 This one I am not proud of, but I am proud of Mike for catching a picture opportunity.  Jeri likes to sneak into bed sometimes.  If she's lucky I don't notice and she gets away with it.  If I do notice it's back to the floor for her!  Nothing worse than dog hair in your sheets.  Spoiled princess of  a mutt.

 Caitlin, like her brothers before her, is in love with books.  She has a little basket of books in her room.  I found her the other day having a reading party all by herself.  She was pretty happy about it.  And so was I.

Give Thanks

 This was the first year that Thanksgiving Dinner was officially held in our home.  It was so nice to have everyone come to our house and enjoy my favorite holiday.  Our floor plan lends to long tables very well.  The kitchen functions really well too.  We had such a great time cooking, talking, watching sports, teasing, and of course, eating!  Thanks to Jon for the marvelous turkey.  I think Daniel may have eaten half of it all by himself!

 Ma had a great time.  Of course she had a little too much fun and pushed herself beyond where her body said to stop, but she has always been stubborn that way (imagine I said that with a smile of contented resignation).  It was so delightful to have her in the kitchen, and playing with the kids.  Joshua shadowed her the whole time.  He wants to be just like Ma.

 I love this picture of Joshua.  He wanted the turkey leg, so dad plopped it on his plate.  He only made it half way through it, but it was a fun 8-year-old moment.

 When will dinner start????

Becky and her world-famous deserts.  I was so glad to assign her all the sweets -- she is soooo good at making goodies!  Maybe its because she is so sweet. ; )

Festival of Trees Gingerbread

Be sure to check out www.gingerbreaddelirium.blogspot.com for our 2011 gingerbread project.