Getting to Know You...The Christmas Edition

I recieved this by email and thought it would be fun to post on my blog...

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends.
Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy (not forward) this entire email and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you......'Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial...I'm all for easy, but if we lived in Wyoming it would probably be real.
3. When do you put up the tree? It's been pretty late the last couple of years. Like within 5 days of Christmas. Hey, better late than never. And I've had good excuses. :-)
4. When do you take the tree down? A week or so later.
5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, but not too much at once.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Legos, Magic Nursery Baby
7. Hardest person to buy for? The extended family
8. Easiest person to buy for? Aaron and the kids.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, when we get to them. But we do love to recieve them in any form.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't know that I've ever recieved a really bad gift. Besides, it's the thought that counts.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I've always liked the Legend of Santa Clause
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Year round, with an increase after September.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? yes.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Chocolate...but of course that's my favorite year-round.
16. Lights on the tree? Yes
17. Favorite Christmas song? Do You Hear What I Hear and Little Drummer Boy
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? It depends. This year it is at home.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Wanting to do something for everyone, but knowing it is impossible.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I love the blue and white Christmas tree decor.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Mashed potatoes and gravy
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? For my van to make it to the New Year.
26. Who is most likely to respond to this? Whoever has time.

Hubby Tag

My friend, Gina, tagged me with this one...

1. Where did you meet your husband? At the first institute activity of the year.

2. How long did you date? Officially? 7 months.

3. How long have you been married? 8 years, 2 months

4. What does he do that surprises you? When he does something especially sweet or romantic, because he really isn't a romantic person.

5. What is your favorite feature of his? His eyes and his smile!

6. What is his best quality? He is very smart and helpful.

7. Does he have a nick name for you? No, I don't think so. Unless "Cass" counts.

8. What is his favorite food? Cantaloupe

9. What is his favorite sport? Soccer or football.

10. When and where was your first kiss? Sometime around the time we started dating. And I can't remember for sure where, but probably in the hallway outside my dorm room.

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? We like to play computer and board games and leave the kids with a sitter so we can have a date. (Especially when we can leave the kids with the grandparents for an overnight getaway.)

12. Do you have children? 4 boys and 1 girl, and yes, we will eventually have more.

13. Does he have hidden talents? I always get surprised when he does car and house repairs.

14. How old is he? 27

15. Who said I love you first? I honestly can't remember.

16. His favorite music? Alternative

17. What do you admire most about him? Doesn't this fall under the same category as best quality? Anyway, I think I like how he is willing to help out around the house and doesn't act like he's above helping me out. He is always willing to give me time to myself.

18. What is his favorite color? Green

19. Will he read this? Yes, he helped me answer some of the questions even.

20. Who do you tag? Amanda, Michelle, Danielle, Tiffany, Kristy, Erika (if you read this)

Sorry for the Delay

Ok, I know it has been forever since I have blogged and I apologize. I have been so busy with school that I haven't had any time for anything else.

Anyway, the last couple of weeks have been fun and fulfilling. Jacob went to a birthday party on the 5th with Aaron while I went to a program for the preschool/kindergarten I am "working" at. It was fun and I enjoyed introducing the kids to everyone there. One teacher held Joseph alot and I wasn't sure I'd get him back. :-)

Also some time in the last couple of weeks, David decided that he was really going to ride his bike without training wheels, well, Aaron convinced him to at least. Anyway, here is a video of his triumph. It's a little rough, but he'll get there with more practice.

The weather here has been really nuts lately. I have heard other people say they are tired of crazy weather, but, well, here's last week... Sunday night we had thunderstorms in the Dallas metroplex, including some tornado action. The next day (Monday) we were outside without jackets for recess. Overnight a cold front came in and we were watching the snow fall down that night. It was pretty cold the rest of the week, and then today the house got hot enough I actually ran the air conditioner...

Last week Joseph decided to start taking steps! Aaron was on the couch and I was sitting on the floor. He walked along the couch and then turned and held on with just one hand. Now he's been doing this for quite some time, and we've been trying to get him to finish the process, let go, and walk. He just hasn't wanted to. He usually drops to his knees and crawls. But that night when I held out my arms he actually walked! Hooray! And he walked back to Aaron! Of course, that was it. He's walked some since, usually only a handful of steps at a time, but they are steps. My baby isn't a baby anymore.

He's also been climbing. I guess that the other night at the Relief Society Christmas program he was climbing on top of the dollhouse in the nursery, giving everyone a heart attack. He gave one of my friends a good laugh when, while he was crawling on the floor, he happened upon some spilled cheesecake. He didn't even hesitate; just stuck his hand in it, scooped it up, and into his mouth it went. He sure loves his table foods.

I will try to post a video of him "walking" when he is more cooperative.

Last time I posted I was really excited about the price of gas...well, i knew it would go back up, and it did. Then it dropped again to this....

Carissa and I went to a birthday party on Saturday. They had a fun train that the kids got to ride in. You know, alot of people say that school will be good for her, and maybe it will. But I thinkit's just her personality...she prefers to play alone and isn't outgoing enough to keep up with the other kids. Even at this party where it was just a few other girls, whom she knew from church, she still stuck to herself and was quite content with that. Maybe it's just some genetic trait I've passed down. Who knows.

We have a very awesome and creative Primary Presidency. We had our teacher's inservice today and they gave us these really great bags to use. They were all so individual, it was hard to choose one. Here is Carissa modeling mine. Thank you Primary Presidency!

And lastly, we discovered another milestone for one of our kids...Isaiah is writing his name! He has a couple of the letters mixed up, but they are all there and you can tell it is his name. Six months ago he was just scribbling, and then by the end of the summer he was actually drawing, pretty good too, and now in the last week or two he has learned his name. I am proud of him.

We have a meeting tomorrow with the school district special ed people to go over his speech and language development. We will find out then if he qualifies for the preschool. I hope he does. I worry about his speech and I am sure he has some other learning disability, but can't diagnose it myself. I just hope we can get the services we are entitled to.

Well, I think that's it for now. This is my last week of teaching and it should be a fun one. I will miss the kids, but am glad it will be done. Just one semester left and I get to walk across that stage in Laramie. Hooray!

I guess you know you're really in school when the school pictures start coming out...Well, here they do pictures at daycares as well. I'm not going to scan the pictures, but I will show you the cute little canvas bags they gave us...

So when I started my student teaching we were paying more to gas up one of our vehicles, one time, than we were paying for our monthly water bill. Here is what I paid for gas when I filled up the van today...

In just a few months what we were paying for gas has been cut in more than half. Perhaps these lowered gas prices is just the boost the economy needs. (Or maybe not...I'm not a business/economics person. I just know it's a good day when that's all I pay for gas.)

We recently cut the boys' hair. They needed it badly. We (mostly Aaron) decided that instead of going to the hair salon, we would just shave it all off. I didn't think to get pictures of the older boys, but since it was Joseph's first hair cut, here are the before and after shots of him.

All that hair, gone! It makes me more sad than him. But he is cute. You can see his face better. It brings out his eyes and smile and makes him look like he has a round face, and maybe not quite so big a head.

Sorry that there is not a lot of news. I'm very busy now that I am in the head teacher position for my internship/student teaching. I have to plan out everything for the kids...yikes! It's not hard, just new and it keeps my mind going. Today we are having a wedding between "Q" and "U". I hope the kids get a kick out of it. And guess what...less than three weeks left! (See my countdown at the bottom of the blog.)