Jingle Bells

birthday fun

I had another happy birthday.  Devin amazed me again with his creations.  I had a craving for banana cream pie, so ... WHALA!  He made individual sized pie crusts and the delicious filling with all the toppings.  MMM mmm. . . Tasty.

 

Delicious pie crusts! The super yummy, flaky kind and the graham cracker kind.

 Super fun!  . . . Yummy . . .

Finally Crawling!

Hooray for Myra!  Today I baited her to see if I could get her to crawl.  It worked!  She started off slowly, sliding across the floor, with her head down.  Near the end she was starting to do it for real.  Whahoo!!

Hurricane Clean Up

(So Devin didn't want to try out blogging.  Here is my summary of what I've been told...) 

     President Calderwood, the current mission president of the NY South Mission, and previously our Stake President, arranged for help to come through the Oakton Stake, where we live.  This resulted in five large moving trucks filled full of 2,500 boxes containing coats and warm clothing.  Five hundred missionary care boxes (filled mostly of food, arrived the day before Thanksgiving) and $45,000 in $25 gift cards were donated for the missionaries who have depleted their own savings by not being able to return home for meals, and instead, eating out because of their constant labor to help the Sandy victims.  Lastly a group of 180 people, 35 from our ward, rode down in vans, left Thursday night after our Thanksgiving meal, and did not return home until late Sunday night.

Rockaway Beach

Once a very expensive car.

      Devin was part of that group. He worked in a group of 10, to provide the man power needed to clean up the mess left over from Hurricane Sandy.  Gutting basements that were already beginning to mold. . . They tore off Sheetrock and ripped out carpet, busted apart large furniture and pianos, and carried everything out on sleds. They were able to give assistance to the people who desperately needed it.

       Devin said one home owner tried to hire a few guys to help him clean out his basement. They came, took one look at the mess, and left. Then this group of "Mormon Helping Hands", wearing yellow vests, came willingly, and took care of it, for free.

hauling garbage out

Devin's group

Devin said this was the smallest pile they made.

     Devin was super worn out when he made it home finally, but I think, because he saw how grateful the people were for his help, he enjoyed doing the service.

      They slept in a Stake Center and showered at a YMCA.  They worked in Queens, NY all day Friday and Saturday (in the cold and wind). Sunday they had a short sacrament service and went back to work all day until dark.
       One night they were able to have some fun and went downtown. . .

Devin found a nice place to sleep

 

News video (link)

Mormon Helping Hands (video)

Thanksgiving

      Hooray for Thanksgiving!  I love that the holidays are here and its legal to listen to Christmas music!  I love it!  Christmas music might be similar to my dinner in a pumpkin... the reason I love it so much being that I only get it once a year.  Nevertheless, I love it!  It is so cheerful!
      The season started with looking through all the ads.

And some intense pie making. . .

Devin's Apple Pie

My Raspberry Chiffon Pie

      I've had a lot of good pies in my days, but I don't think I've ever tasted a better crust than Devin makes.  His apple pie just can't be beat.  There is no use in going up against Devin when it comes to pies, so I go for a different variety.  I like the easy, no fuss, press-in dough.  Devin does the fancy, meticulous and exact, traditional, pie crust.  Does that say something about our personalities?  I'm not sure.  What I do know... my innards were yummy and Devin's crust top notch, and they were both delicious!

      Tradition has it, that every Thanksgiving spent in Virginia, we get together with the Tanner's and invite over all the other lonely families without places to go from our ward.  Thus we did and we were very successful at socializing and filling ourselves full!

No one went hungry in our group!

The Pie Spread

       I look forward to someday having a relaxing Thanksgiving like I remember.  Our Thanksgivings are fun, no doubt. . . but relaxing, no.  I blame it on these crazy kids. 

       We made turkey headbands and played pin the feathers on the turkey and then the kids ran amok the rest of the evening.  It was a great day. 

This picture is a little out of place, but I didn't take a picture of our pin-the-feathers
game at Nicolina's.  This was at my Tornado Toddler class with cute little Cloey.

      For Devin, the party ended early, as he left with a group of people from our ward to New York.  He had the opportunity to be part of the Mormon Helping Hands relief crew.  He left just before five o'clock Thursday, spent all weekend saving the world, then made it home late Sunday night.  Maybe I can get him to write a post about his experience.
      We are so thankful to be back together as a family.  Thankful that we are an eternal family.  So blessed to have the gospel.  Blessed to have good friends.  Blessed to have all the comforts we need and much more.  We love our Savior and are excited to celebrate his birth this coming Christmas season.

My kids are the greatest!

      I discovered why I like blogging so much.  I think my kids are stinking cute and probably the smartest kids out there and every little thing they do, I think, is amazing.  I get really excited about my kids.  I also like talking about my kids.  I've realized however, that when I talk to my friends this way, it turns into a "my dad is stronger than your dad" conversation.  They think their kids are the best and I think my kids are the best, and no one is convincing anyone otherwise.  So when I blog, I can tell all the cute things and get my little thrill and those who are also invested in my kids get a kick out of it, and others can skip it.
       So here is one of those things that probably only I and our grandma's will even care about...

       Today Myra was reaching for the piano so I set her on the bench and she spent probably a good ten minutes whacking the keys.  She thought it was great fun.

      Yep, I'll probably enroll her in piano when she's older.  I know talent when I see it!

      Oh, and Bridger, he is very creative. 
      I came downstairs this afternoon and found Bridger playing with both hands in the flour and he was covered.  He said "Want to make a tower Mom?"  Such a good imagination!  Has your kid ever made a tower out of flour?  I didn't think so.  :)

I Ran a Marathon

      I've had this goal for a really long time.  Running a marathon has always been on the top of my "someday" list.  Something that I felt like I needed to accomplish if I wanted to be a REAL runner.  This summer I decided there is no time like the present.  So at the end of July I started my training.
      Early mornings always work best for my workouts, and now I have to beat my kids up, . . .that sounds very wrong, but you know what I mean. . . get my run in before Devin had to leave for work and before they woke up. 
      My alarm clock set at 4:38AM.  I made good use of a headlamp.  In the beginning I would start in the dark and about half way through my runs the sky would start to lighten.  Only a couple weeks into my training, the days became shorter and my runs were always in the dark. 

Why I Run

Why do I run? Those who don’t can’t understand. The pain is

real every day. Is it easier now? Not really—its the same pain I felt

the first day I began, only easier to cover greater distances in

shorter periods of time. The pain is the same, and I understand

it always will be. I dread it, and in a sense I crave it.

Why do I run? To stay in shape, to keep my health, to feel

better—all partial reasons, I suppose. The reason is confirmation

—confirmation that I am in control. Every day I must make a

choice—a choice to experience pain and discomfort in order to

achieve a higher goal or give in to the body’s urging to do

something else more comforting and pleasurable.

Who is in control? My body or me? Every time I run, I

verify to me that I am in control and that I can

be the master of my own destiny. That is ultimately

why I run. I feel guilty when I don’t run—when

the body wins. Running is a test of my strength—not just

physical—but mental. Running is a challenge of my

“will”—of my mind over matter, of me against myself.

Running is a mental conditioning as well as physical.

It’s the therapy of the “will”for me. Each run is success—the

richest and most deeply satisfying. Strangely but

unmistakably tied to self-discipline, self-denial, and

self-control. In a world where I often feel helpless,

victimized, and controlled, running helps me receive feelings

of hope, strength, and conviction that I can make a difference

and I can be responsible for me. Why do I run? I run for

success, success in the ultimate contest.

The contest of me against myself.

. . . This quote used to hang in the high school locker room.  It pretty much sums it up for me.

Too Cool Not to Share

This was way back forever ago... April 19.  I just got these pictures from a friend and remembered how cool this was.  This is the newly retired Space Shuttle Discovery on its way to the Dulles Air and Space Museum.  It did a couple fly bys around DC and past the park we were at. 

Isn't that a neat picture?

Cute friends

Pumpkinville

      We did a fun outing to Pumpkinville in Leesburg.  They have a zoo section, bouncy toys, slides, hay rides, free apple cider and pumpkins.  It was a freezing day, but we still had lots of fun.  My friend Lindsay and her kids came with us too!

Gobble, gobble! Happy Thanksgiving!

These slides were actually really fun.  Devin and I went down a few times as well!

Hay ride!

Peek-a-boo!

The Pirate Ship

This slide is for little kids.. tight squeeze!

Hay Maze