Sarah's Preschool

A friend of mine started a little once-a-week neighborhood preschool group for the kids Sarah's age and today it was at my house. I know this photo is dark, but they were so adorable clapping and marching to the music I had going. We did potato stamp painting and decorated Valentine cookies and talked about all things red. I can't believe Sarah is already 2 1/2.

Eliza is 7, Fruitus

Eliza turned 7 almost a month ago. I can't quite get my mind around that; it feels so old. Here are some fun things about her at this age:
Eliza is the family comedian. She loves to call her dad Fruitus, who knows why. I was giving Ash the silent eyeball b/c he wasn't setting the example for the kids by eating his vegetables, and El picked up a piece and did the airplane-swoosh maneuver to him like you would with a 1 yr old.
Eliza still loves art and making books, cards, paintings, etc. She still loves to read and just finished, "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe". She is really into jokes and loves writing in her journal. She loves to wear her swimsuit at home when it's 34 degrees outside. She is becoming a great helper at home with chores and such and is really close with Micah and Sarah--they love to have campouts in the living room together. She is really excited for Luke to be born and has already volunteered to handle all the pee diapers, yay for me!
So on her birthday, Eliza was (surprise!) sick, a nasty 48 hour bug. She was a good sport about it; I just felt awful for her. Can't she catch a break? She missed box seats at a Utah Jazz game with Ash that night, but we made up for it just last week (see below). So we had a quiet day at home and read a lot of books together.

Her dear friends Paige and Taylor came to the rescue by decorating her bedroom with drawings and paper snowflakes while I took her for drive-thru ice cream. She was so surprised and felt really special.

We had a party with a bunch of her friends later on in the week--they had a blast. My ears are still ringing from all the screaming.

For El's birthday, Grammy sent us all to Color Me Mine, this neat place where the kids can paint pottery and come get it after it has been glazed. They were in heaven. Sarah was adamant about painting "an ice cream bowl."

When Eliza was feeling better, I took Micah, Sarah, and a couple of El's friends to have lunch with her at her school. Then another day I went on my own to lunch with her.

Ash and Eliza at the Jazz game; we never knew she was such a sports fan but Ash said she was really into it the entire time. Happy birthday, Liza! We love you to bits.

Locks of Love

Eliza donated her hair to Locks of Love while the Buchanan fam was here for Christmas. I took a video, but it's in a weird format and I'll have to put it up later. Ash's sister Kali did the honors. Ash's sweet aunt Sheree passed away from cancer, so Eliza knew a little about losing your hair from cancer and wigs and such, and then a couple girls in our neighborhood had donated their hair as well. So she really wanted to do it, kind of in memory of Sheree, and it was special to have her aunt cut it for her.
Before:

After:

The Staycation

I'm way behind on blogging/family journaling. The first week of December Ash stayed home from work for some quality time with us and a couple hrs a day of working on the basement (which is now done, way to go, hon!)
It was a great week. We made gingerbread houses and big breakfasts every morning. We visited the aquarium and Ash and I went to a Jazz game. We took the kids to Candlelight Christmas at This is the Place Heritage Park, where Eliza asked Santa for a whoopee cushion (he was a little stunned and gave me a look) so of course her siblings wanted the same. He brought her one. Why did I even spend money on other things? It's by far her favorite. :) Here are some other highlights of the week:

Micah gave Sarah some new layers in her hair; her bangs had almost grown out (sigh). Thank you, Amber, for coming to the rescue.


Temple Square lights w/ friends. I love all the different Nativities.

We took the kids to see some speed-skating trials in anticipation of Vancouver; really cool. Micah liked all the different flags.


Ice-skating, or in my case, hobbling around in tennis shoes. Sarah had no fear, even after falling.



Some good ol' sibling love when we went sledding (good thing there's no audio to this photo).



The Dinosaur Museum. This place never gets old.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was really fun. Roger came into town about a week early, after a month-long rafting trip through the Grand Canyon. Rough life, I know. Ash was sweet enough to send us out for an evening of sibling bonding. We ate at Eva, my new favorite restaurant downtown. Seriously, check it out, that means you, Erin!



My parents and Kevin showed up a little later; Mom taught the kids to make crescent rolls on the big day. Sarah ate a lot of raw dough.



Sarah and Ash--she loves bowling, aside from the occasional finger smash.



Ash, Rog, and Kev went to a Utah Jazz/Portland Trailblazer game on Saturday. My brothers were, of course, rooting for Portland, but the Jazz whipped them. Later on in the weekend, Israel and Blind Pilot came to play at the Urban Lounge (that makes 3 Salt Lake shows this year!) so I went with my brothers. Here's Israel, Rog, and Kev shortly before the show. It was fantastic. The band stayed over w/ us and we all had a big breakfast the next morning before they had to hit the road.



Rog could tell I was wiped from all the visitors, so he cooked for us Monday: steak w/ grilled onions, sauteed mushrooms, spinach salad w/ candied walnuts, pesto tomatoes, and rosemary/garlic potatoes. I was in heaven. Ash even more so, because I have never fixed steak. After watching Rog, I think I could do it. Anyway, it was a great, busy week. But I am ready for a little break before the madness of Christmas.

Consumer Debt

I thought this skit was so funny. As my kids would say, "Duh!"

http://consumerist.com/252491/snl-skit-dont-buy-stuff-you-cant-afford

I Hope You Like the Pie

Eliza stayed home from school today because she wasn't feeling well. I thought maybe I had gone too easy on her, but sure enough, her fever spiked to 102 this afternoon. Well, for Family Home Evening we talked about being thankful, specifically for our home teachers, and we made them pumpkin pies. Eliza wrote a card, and I couldn't get a good photo of it, it kept looking overexposed, so here is the text of the card. Anyone who knows Eliza will attach the right voice to this letter.

Dear Home Teacher,

You are lucky you get the pie! I am sick but I still want to do this. I threw up wile (while) reading a book but I still want to do it. So you're relly relly lucky. I hope you like the pie. Love, Eliza

We laughed like crazy at her letter. She drew a temple, Book of Mormon, and Bible for good measure. And just for the record, we didn't let her help with the baking, since she is sick. She is such a crack-up! Also, the above photo is just one I found online. I am not that artsy a baker.