Welcome 2009

We had a quiet evening tonight as a family. The girls are in bed after watching The Man From Snowy River. The boys are finishing off the chocolate fondue and Rex has gone to the office to run the reports for the month and year end.

We debated about whether or not to join the crowds and go out to dinner. On a total whim, I decided that it would be fun to have fondue instead of eating out. I ran to Target and bought all the fixins - including four kinds of cheese for the cheese fondue. The results were fabulous! It just might become a family tradition.

Cheese Fondue with steamed brocolli and cauliflower, carrots, zuchini, mushrooms, crusty bread, chicken, steak and shrimp.

Chocoloate Fondue with pretzels, marshmellow, cookies, oranges, bananas, teddy grahams and apples to dip.

Michael

Jacob

Dad and girls enjoy the sweets.

Don't Forget Grandma and Grandma

Our Public Affairs Committee visit to the Care Center on Saturday was a blessing I'll never forget. Our Ward members went above and beyond donating more than enough gifts for the residents who attended our program - the rest of the gifts went to another Care Center in a neighboring town.

I arrived with the kids about 30 minutes early to set up and bring in the gifts. The Activities Director quickly approached me with a concerned look on her face. One of the secretaries had taken a call from one of the committee members (asking for directions) and was under the impression that we coming to have a "service". She let me know very nicely that they didn't have any Mormons in the Center and she had to let the residents know what they would be attending and many might choose not to attend. I told her that we weren't planning a "service," but would it be okay for some children to portray the Nativity? She said that would be fine. I told her that we'd have four other musical numbers and then a sing along. The worried look was replaced with relief and they quickly gathered nearly 40 residents for the program.

Several children from the ward portrayed that Nativity including Brooke as a shepherd and Erin as a wiseman. After the Nativity a sweet five year old from our ward sang Silent Night. It was beautiful and the Activity Director leaned over in awe asking how old she was. Michael and Jacob then played a piano duet, "Do You Hear What I Hear." They did fabulous! Then we heard a vocal solo (can't remember the name of the song), a flute/piano duet and then finally a lady from the ward played her guitar and sang, "Away in the Manager." INCREDIBLE! Then we opened it up for requests for the sing along. I thought afterward how interesting the every request was a religious Christmas song.



Each resident received a jingle bell necklace, Santa Hat, wrapped present, goody bag, cookies and punch. They all seemed so genuinely happy and thankful. I felt the Spirit so strongly as we talked with each of them.

After it was all over the Activities Director was visibly touched. She thanked us and then mentioned one man who choose not to open his gift as the others opened theirs. She told me that she knew why he had chosen not to open his. She knew that he wouldn't be receiving anything this year and she knew that he would be saving it for Christmas Day. Tears welled in my eyes as I thought about how something so small as purchasing and wrapping a gift could change the month for a man. I was blessed to be the one who was able to help deliver the gifts - if only each one who had donated could have been there!

Christmas Giving (a five year old perspective)

In order for you to fully understand the couple of sentences that I will quote at the end of this post I have to give a little bit of history.

I've been serving as the ward representative for the Stake Public Affairs committee for several months. One of our activities this month is called "Don't Forget Grandma and Grandpa at Christmastime". Within our Stake boundaries we have "adopted" three elderly care centers. Each ward rep was asked to gather at least 25 gifts from their ward members. We asked that the gifts be wrapped and on the outside of each package we also asked that they identify the gift as "male" or "female". I guess last year one elderly man was disappointed to open a pair of women's slippers. I would have been, too. :)

So I've been busy gathering gifts. I counted last night and our ward has donated 48 - way to go Ward! I went to the meeting last night and we have nearly 200 gifts to give out tomorrow night and Saturday.

So now the funny part. A friend of mine Darby asked if I would pick up her daughter from school today. When M. got in the car she exclaimed, "Look at the presents!" I had left one plastic tote of gifts on my backseat. Brooke very matter-of-factly said, "those aren't for us." Pause. "Those are for the females." Pause. "Because they are poor." Pause. "They don't have enough money to buy presents." It made sense to M. because she replied simply, "oh."

The only thing I told Brooke about gifts was that we were going to deliver them to some people like Great-Grandpa E. who live together in a building. Somewhere she picked up on the male/female thing and also that Christmas is a time to give to those that are in need.

I love my little girl - I just have to be careful what I say around her.

Tie Dye Anyone?

I participated in a small craft show with some gal friends this past Saturday. For two weeks I went crazy tie dying shirts. I sold almost 20 shirts, but I still have a lot more. Are you looking for a unique gift for anyone? I've got sizes from 6 months to men's XL. The picture shows only about 1/2 of all the shirts I did.

infant sizes (up to 24 months) - 7.00
toddler sizes (up to 5T) - 8.00
youth sizes - 10.00
adult sizes - 12.00

Most of the shirts are dyed using Old Navy cotton shirts so the quality is great. I do have some boys shirts that I did with Hanes brand and the Men's shirts are Kirkland brand.

Twilight Movie Premiere

I don't remember anticipating a movie's debut like I have the Twilight movie. We bought our tickets online last week and planned a girls night out. The theater was packed - pretty sure it was sold out. Luckily, no one sat behind me and talked (it usually always happens to me), but there were plenty of squeals throughout the movie which didn't bother me at all.

Was the movie as great at the books? No. Did I have a good time? Yes!

Afterwards we went to Chili's and had way too much dessert and plenty of laughs.

Turkey Trot

We've lived here for nearly 10 years and this is the first Turkey Trot that the kids and I have run - Rex ran it for the first time two years ago. Unfortunately, Rex had a funeral to attend so we missed him at the race. Rex signed myself and the girls up for the "walkers" category, but the first mile Brooke ran quite a bit. I told her that she should maybe save some energy for the end, but she didn't want to listen. By the end periodically she would sit on the curb to take a rest. In order to get her to keep going I would pick her up and carry her for a few feet. Erin had too much energy and at times she was doing cartwheels down the street. I thought it would be great if we could break an hour (3.1 mile race) and we did, coming in just over 56 minutes. Michael and Jacob ran really well coming in 4th and 5th in their age group with a time just over 21 minutes.

During the awards they do some drawings for Turkeys and Dicks gift certificates. They seemed to be calling lots of numbers in the 400's, but when they called "507," Erin yelled, "that's Brooke's number!" Sure enough. Brooke won us a 16 pound turkey! She was so pleased because she really wanted a medal and I was pretty sure that she wouldn't receive one. The awards were taking forever, so we decided to leave early. On our way out we peeked at the standings for the "walkers" and much to our surprise all three of us placed in the top three of our age group - Bekki, 3rd in the 35-39 category, Brooke, 3rd in the under 9 category and Erin, 2nd in the under 9 category. What fun - we'll be sure to "run" again next year. If nothing else we'll hope that Brooke brings us home another turkey!

Basement - End of Week Six

I haven't posted pics for awhile, but so much has been going on in the basement - paint, shelves, tile, trim, countertop and the railing started yesterday. It's so exciting to see it all come together. They have the carpet scheduled for next Tuesday and then I think the only thing left will be the shower door and a piece of granite for the bench in the shower. Come visit - you have your own bedroom now! :)

Which Cullen are you?

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Wowza!

Does this seem like a very intense math program for KINDERGARTNERS? Brooke brought home a sheet from her math book that said the following:

"Dear Family, We are starting a new unit called Geometry, Fractions, and Probability. In Chapter 5, we will identify plane shapes, equal parts, and symmetry. We will explore probability. In chapter 6, we will learn about solid shapes."

So much for 1 + 1 = 2

Spoiled Bat

So that is how Brooke's costume was described on the packaging. I had to make a page about it. :)

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween this year! Thursday night we went to the annual Ward Trunk-or-Treat at the church. As usual the activity was well attended and the kids received plenty of candy. Our family theme this year was split with half of us going as vampires (I told M and J that they should put a sticker on their shirts that said, "Hello, my name is Edward." It would have been perfect right, Naomi?) The rest of us were Disco/Hippies. Rex's staff bought him the beautiful white polyester outfit and wow, it did look NICE, as long as he didn't sit down. :) Last night we went to a few houses around the neighborhood until Erin said she felt sick. She came home and threw up. I thought we were in for a long night, but she slept all night and feels good this morning - too much candy maybe?

Basement Weeks 3 & 4

So not much happened during week three because we were waiting for the City to get their act together regarding the electrician we used. During week four the drywall was hung and we had that inspected on Friday. This week the finishers will be here mudding and prepping the wall for paint next week. Yea! We're moving right along!

bags, bags and more bags

In September I was contemplating what to get my good friend Michelle for her birthday. I remembered visiting my SIL, Rebecca, and seeing a cute bag her sister had made her and I decided to copy the idea. This is what I came up with:







Then I couldn't stop. I made some more. I love trying the color combinations! I've had a couple people ask me to make them one. What would you charge? Opinions?

Dimensions: 10" x 10" with 19" straps

Dimensions: 8" x 8" with 10" straps

Dimensions: 10" x 10" with 24" straps

Call me weird - Call me quirky

Seven Weird or Quirkly things about me....

Okay, Darcy tagged me who knows how long ago and I'm finally posting about my quirkiness.

1. I love amusement park rides. A great day for me would be to take my boys and ride rollercoasters until the park closes.

2. I'm a diet coke connoisseur. I know where to get the best fountain diet coke and I choose what restaurant to eat at by whether or not they serve Coke or Pepsi. When someone asks if Diet Pepsi is okay, I say NO!

3. While reading the Twilight series I spent several nights reading on the floor of my closet. I didn't want to keep Rex up and I wanted to be close to my bed when I got tired. The couch would have been more comfy, I know.

4. I have a hard time eating shrimp. We had a LDS ward activity when I was a teenager and they served shrimp for dinner. I spent the entire afternoon with my dad de-veining shrimp. It ruined my desire to ever eat shrimp again.

5. For the Utahns. My Laurel advisor was Michelle King the former news anchor from Channel 2 News. She was AWESOME and I owe so much to her.

6. I really enjoy reality T.V. My favorite reality show is Survivor and I haven't missed a single season. Thank goodness for DVR!

7. I have ugly toes. Ask anyone who knows me well. They're short and fat. I know it's hard to imagine, but they are fat.

Whew, that was tough! I'm now supposed to tag seven more people. Here we go...

Maryanne
Julie
Darby
Lucy
Stephanie
Kelly
Molly

Until next time....

Lil' Kickers Soccer

Our six week season of Lil' Kickers soccer flew by! Rex volunteered to be the coach and was bragging yesterday that his team was undefeated - never mind the fact that you're not supposed to keep score and it's all "just for fun."

Okay now my turn to brag. We did have a good team and what fun that all of the kids go to church together. At the age of five Brooke is perfecting her "slide tackle" and we're looking forward to her long soccer career. LOL Last week she did do a slide tackle (probably not on purpose) and the rest of the game had such a hard time staying on her feet. She loved all of the attention.

Here's a digi-page I did for her tonight.

Downstairs - Week Two

Wow, look how much they accomplished in a week. We chose our realtor's husband who is a builder and we are very impressed so far! All the framing is done and the electrician was here all day yesterday. This morning the carpet guy arrived, so we're moving right along.

View from the top of the stairs - notice the wall has been knocked out - we'll add a banister.

Food Storage closets

Playroom

Bathroom - bench in the shower

Guest Bedroom - yes! now you won't have to sleep on the couch when you come to visit

Family Room