Santa . . . We've Got A Problem.

Yesterday afternoon, during Ava's nap, Brielle and I watched Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. Afterward, we wrote her letter to Santa. She wanted me to "do the abc's" and then she "decorated" the letter. She told me EXACTLY what to tell Santa. She asked for the same toy that she has been asking for for weeks now. It's the only thing she wants for Christmas. The problem is . . . . there is no such thing. It honestly does not exist. She made it up and now that is all she wants for Christmas.

I don't know where it came from. She has seen the Backyardigans maybe a couple of times. She's never seen a Backyardigans kitchen and pool, but she has it all imagined out in her head. I guess the water from the sink sprays into a pool and music plays. We've searched and we can not find anything like this. So, Santa is bringing something different and hopefully our 3 year old is so excited by it that she forgets all about the Backyardigans kitchen and pool.

Oh, she also wants a toy elephant with donkey feet that sings. Hmmmmm????

So Wiggly

So, the other morning I was reading books to Brie and Ava on the couch. We were reading "The Body Book" that shows parts of baby's body like her eyes, mouth, hand, feet, nose, etc. We would show Ava the baby and then she would point to the same thing on herself, then me and Brie. We got to belly button. Ava is obsessed with belly buttons. She thinks they are so so funny. She pointed to hers and then pulled up my shirt a little to point to mine. Then Brie pointed to my belly button and just kept giggling. Through her chuckles she said, "Mommy your belly button is so wiggly."

I need help figuring out how to excersise again. I always ran on the treadmill while Ava took her morning nap, but she doesn't take a morning nap anymore. So, then I got serious about how desperately I wanted a double jogging stroller. I have wanted one so bad (especially while I was running up hill in August pushing my sit 'n stand with both girls in it). So, I'm the luckiest girl ever . . . I found a woman on Craigslist who wanted to trade her double for my single. YAHOO!!!!!!! Here is the new beauty. I am thrilled!!! But, I got it as it turned very cold and snowy outside.

So, I need some suggestions of excersise you have done with your kids awake and playing around you? Like, do you have any good recommendations for excersise DVDs? What type of excersise is good to do along with a DVD? Please help.

Speaking of weight . . . I took Ava for her 15 month appointment yesterday and she gained 2 lbs!! Yipee! All the whole milk and slabs of butter are working. She now weighs 17 lbs. 9 oz. Good job Avers!!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Christmas has begun at our house. In one day we cleared away turkey decorations and Thanksgiving leftovers and went right into Christmas. It came so quick! To bring in the holiday spirit we have . . . .

. . . purchased and set up in the house a BEAUTIFUL Douglas Fir tree. It's over 8 feet tall and smells oh so good. I love a big, real tree.

. . . started playing Christmas music in the car (even though Brie begs for "The Little Mermaid") and all the Christmas CDs at home. We have a lot of dancing to Christmas music going on.

. . . made sugar cookies in the shapes of bells, angels, snowmen, candy canes, etc. They were not all that delicious (I need a different recipe) so we ate them instead of taking them to the new family on our street like we were supposed to. We'll try again.. . . went to our play group's Christmas party. The girls dressed as angels, they sang songs, Santa filled their shoes with candy and mostly they got to run wild with their friends.

. . . started watching all the classic Christmas movies - Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer, The Elf, Charlie Brown's Christmas and of course, Tinker Bell.

. . . taken our family picture for our Christmas cards and for the yearly picture ornament on our tree. The photo shoot went as it usually does . . . awful. Watch out for your card in the mail. . . . shopped and shopped and shopped. I am amazed, but I really think I'm done. I have one present project to work on and then I really think I can be done. Yahoo!

. . . decorated our house and our Christmas tree. I actually have to re-do this every day.

(Ava has started to really cheese it up for pictures. We get out the camera and she arches her back, looks up, smiles really big and says "CHEEEEEEESE!".)

. . . taken Christmas treats and a message about Christ to the women I visit teach.

. . . really enjoyed all of the Christmas candy, hot chocolate and milk and cookies.. . . set up the Little People Nativity set and my "special, glass" nativity set with the girls as I told/tried to teach them the story of baby Jesus being born. Brie plays with this every day, but Mary and the three wise men are all princesses. She hides them from Ava. Ava can't play with them because she's not a princess. She wears pants.

. . . visited Grandma Rama and Papa Fred and played with their Christmas Village and read Christmas stories.

We're lovin' the holidays!

Buchanan Thanksgiving 2008

Yup, we hosted Thanksgiving at our house again this year and, as always, it was GREAT!!! Great enough that it has taken me almost a week to get to posting anything about it. I think we have recovered. My family left and yesterday I mopped and vacuumed all of the floors, cleaned all of the bathrooms, did loads of laundry and got things back in order. Today we finished off the turkey leftovers in a turkey noodle vegetable soup (delicious). So, Thanksgiving is feeling over and now we are moving on to Christmas. It seems so quick.

My family came to town for Thanksgiving. What made it so great was that my brother, Evan, had arrived home from his mission to Seattle the Wednesday before. It was SO WONDERFUL to see him again. I am so glad he was with us. He was awesome with Brie and Ava and just good to have around again. Notice his delightful smile in all of the pictures.

On Thanksgiving day we, of course, started out with the appetizers and football. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, I made homemade stuffing, cranberry sauce, etc. , my mom made the mashed potatoes and Scott made the turkey.We had some special guests with us this year. My grandma came from St. George. My cousin, Melody, and her husband and daughter. And the Chens. The Chens are a family from Taiwan that were in the U.S. dropping one son off at the M.T.C. and picking up their other son who had just finished his mission with Evan. It was really neat to have them.Ava LOVED snuggling with Uncle Evan after her nap. At last, some girl affection for the guy.
That night we all (the girls and Jason) went to see Twilight. Some liked it, some didn't. I was in the "didn't" group. And the next morning was spent shopping, of course. While we shopped, Scott stayed home with the girls and my dad. They had a much better time at home than if they were with us in lines at the stores. They made a fort that the girls had so much fun in and the men loved napping in.The princess found the monster (grandpa) in the fort.
We also went to see the lights at Temple Square and Gallivan Plaza, ate out, visited family, played games and ate leftovers. It was the best. We'll be doing it again in a month when we head to Cali. Can't wait.

Playgroup Thanksgiving Celebration

A little late, but here goes. I forgot my camera this day, so these are all stolen from Jen. Thanks Jen.

My friend Tammy and I were in charge of the Thanksgiving Celebration with our playgroup. It was so fun to plan for and then the day was a blast with all the little kiddos.

We started with all the kids sitting in a circle to sing some turkey songs and read a Thanksgiving story. Then we made pilgrim and native American hats. The girls were all pilgrims and the boy's wore native American head bands.

Shelley and Briggs hard at work.
Me trying to teach how to make the pilgrim hats while Ava falls off of a chair next to me.
We gathered all of the pilgrims and native Americans to act out the Thanksgiving story. They pretended to pack up and say good bye in England and then sail on a boat to America. Then they greeted and made friends with the native Americans. They planted food and celebrated (dance party) when their harvest was so good. This lead us right into our own Thanksgiving feast!I made all the food for the feast and of course, none of it was even touched, but they sure liked when the cupcakes came out. We made turkey cupcakes. So cute, huh?Great fun! Now on to the Christmas party!

A Date With Brie

On Saturday night I took Brielle on a date to see Beauty and The Beast at a local high school. Yes, I accidentally bought the tickets for the same night as the football game and that is why Scott was not with us. I was sad to miss the last quarter of the game, but that turned out to be a very good thing. Brie and I headed out on our date and she was SOOOOOOO excited! She loves Belle, but has never seen Beauty and The Beast.The high school did an absolutely amazing job. The costumes were incredible. The singing was fantastic. I was so impressed. And so was Brie. She sat on my lap for two hours staring at the stage. She was totally mesmerized. She didn't take her eyes off of the stage. She started crying when the lights went on for intermission because she wanted to see more. And the girl was crazy with excitement to see all of the new dresses Belle changed into! A blue one, a pink one, a big puffy yellow one. When we got home, Brie told Scott, and then white bear, every detail of what she remembered. She loved it. What a great date!

A House Divided

When I lived in Argentina there were two immediate questions that every person would ask upon meeting you - Como estas? (How are you?) and De que cuadra sos? (What team are you for?). They were talking soccer, but the same question applies to every person in Utah today. The whole world is dressed in either red or blue. At our house there is both, of course.

Today is the big game day. We all got our game day clothes on and went to a family party (Uncle Bill's 92nd birthday). Everyone was in red, but me, Ava and the birthday boy. It was great. Now Brie, Ava and I are home to watch the game and Scott has continued partying with friends until he heads to the stadium. Lucky guy . . . kind of. I am glad not to be sitting in my BYU blue in the student section of Rice Eccles Stadium. I'm sure more would be coming my way than just beer in my hair in the student section.

The game starts in an hour. Go Cougs!

Doughnuts for breakfast.Brie and Ava ready for the day.

Camping!

We got to "camping" for our last playgroup activity! We each take turns being in charge and they did an amazing job on this one setting up the cultural hall to look like a real campsite. There was a big tent, a pretend fire, sleeping bags, a wooden bridge, fishing and even a jeep to ride in. We all had a great time. Thank you so much to Shelley for this super activity!

We started by climbing in the tent. (Brie and Brady actually climbed in the sleeping bag together and started rolling around to start, but we put a stop to that.) All the kids gathered around in a circle and Shelley read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See". They loved it!
Next was a "sleeping bear" game. Each child pretended to be a sleeping bear in the sleeping bag. There were a few camping supplies laying around and one was taken while the "bear" was asleep. When the bear woke up, it had to guess what was taken.Everyone then got to go fishing and caught some exciting treats.We took everyone on a "bear hunt". They had their flashlights ready and went in search of the bear - climbing the mountain, going through the grass, swimming through the river, etc. They had a blast "bear hunting" in the dark church hallways with their flash lights. They even found a bear and had to run back through everything as fast as they could. Whew!
Then Brady let all the kids take a turn in his jeep. It wasn't working so well, so everyone helped out by pushing the jeep around so everyone could have a ride.So fun. Can't wait for the next one!

Happy Birthday to Scott!

Well, last night marked the end of Scott's birthday celebration. We had his family (parents, Brian, Rachel & kids) over for dinner to end things right. Scott's birthday was a good time for sure! Happy Birthday to him. We love him so much!

I got up super early with him on his big day (he usually leaves with us all still sound asleep) and made him a birthday breakfast. He got to open his first present - a t-shirt to wear with his kilt! Cool, huh?Later, I drove down to meet him at work to go out to lunch. He chose a fancy schmancy restaurant. I've always seen this place and always dreamed of going there. It was everything I had ever dreamed it could be. So . . . . so. . . . so . . . good! We had a beautiful view on a gorgeous day. The food was absolutely amazing (I had macadamia nut encrusted halibut). And it was so nice to be together in a restaurant without wrestling anyone through the meal. This pic is for Randi, our pastry chef. It's called the Beggar's Purse. It was filled with warm apples and caramel. Can you make that?And what could have been a better birthday present than me filling up Scott's car for only $1.94 a gallon? Can you believe it?When Scott got home from work, we had a good birthday dinner and then cake and ice cream. He got lots of help blowing out his candles. Happy Birthday dear Scooty! We hope it was a fun one! Love you!