Merry Christmas

Trent and I received a flip video camera for Christmas. It is really fun and easy to take around and takes good video. For an initial installment of Christmas fun, I thought I would try and upload a few short videos from Christmas.


For the last few years, I have told the kids that they can't come down until 6:00. This is the first year it mattered. In the past, they have gone to bed tired enough that they slept until closer to 7:00. This year, I looked at the clock when I heard someone come into our room. It said 5:58. I heard Ashley say, "why does my clock say it is after 6:00 and your clock says it isn't 6:00 yet?" Good morning and Merry Christmas. Ashley was really excited about everything this year and was thrilled that Santa brought her a Nintendo DS. I think you can see that in the video.






Trent tried waking up Jon and Sammy a little before 7:00 to no avail. The second time he went up at 7:15, Jon joined us. Of course, Ashley gets right in the middle of everyone else's discovery process, but it is still fun. (side note: I tried for two days now to upload the whole video clip of Jon. It spins for hours with no luck. I trimmed it down so that it would upload. You miss his complete excitement over a webkinz snake but not much else)




The last video is Trent waking up Sammy the second time. It is really cute to see her reaction this time.

And Yet Another

Knock knock.......

Who's there?

Yeta.

Yeta who?

Yeta another top tooth is missing from Jon's mouth. He not only wants his two front teeth for Christmas, he wants his four front teeth. He was actually quite happy with the situation. He wiggled that last loose top tooth all day until it came out. Now we really do wonder how he eats.

Deck the .... Doors

Trent's office was involved in a door decorating contest for the holidays. His office, the office of Ocean and Polar Affairs, cleverly renamed themselves the Office of Ocean and Polar Express. They had both poles featured and a train. Trent volunteered to take pictures of everyone in the office and turn them into elves. In that past, I have asked my dad for so much help with this kind of stuff. We decided to finally get a home edition of Photoshop. We certainly do enough to make use of it. After some much needed and helpful tutorials from my dad, Trent was able to make 20 elves for the door. In the end, they took second place. The door that one was a take on Starry Night. Still, Trent's work was fun, and it really helped make their door. Here a few pictures.

That little elf in on the bottom right is particularly cute if you ask me. :)

The door that won. Notice the star fish in place of the stars, the kelp forest, the sea monkeys.

A White Christmas

If you have watched any news in the last 36 hours, you know that the East Coast received a significant snow storm Friday evening and all through Saturday. I grew up around a lot of snow, but this (2 feet in about 24 hours) is a lot of snow and not common for this area.

We knew it was coming, so we had everything we needed at home already. Saturday morning was delightful. I stayed in bed and pretended to still be asleep. I heard footsteps come down the stairs and then a big gasp. The fact that I then heard footsteps go back up the stairs was proof that it was Jon. His sisters would have made much more noise. He returned shortly with both sisters in tow, and Trent and I heard many exclamations about how deep the snow was. Little did they know what was coming! There were several rounds of shoveling, and by the time the walk was finished, it was dusted over again. By the time the driveway was clear, it had a good covering where we started. I did most of the last of the shoveling this morning, and I am SO SORE. I will leave my commentary here, however, because Trent is off right now digging out some of our ward members, and he will be far more sore than I've any claim to. Now the sun is shining, and save the fact that we still can't see the road at all, it is gorgeous. It will definitely still be with us for Christmas, which is just wonderful. Save traveling home to Utah at Christmas, we haven't had a white Christmas in 7 years.

The kids are having an absolutely joyous time, and they haven't even dented the back yard yet. Everyone who has lived here for more than a few months tells me that they will likely call school tomorrow because though the main roads are clean, the side roads haven't been touched. That makes it difficult for buses and the children that must ride them. I can already imagine the raucous joy of three children with nothing to do tomorrow but play in all of that snow. I love it. I just hope we are back on track Tuesday as it is Ashley's winter strings concert, and I would hate for her to miss that.

Trent doing the first round of shoveling Saturday morning.

Sammy playing in the snow. (A side note: I love that that hat coat and gloves all used to belong to Ashley. I think I could dig up similar pictures of Ashley if I looked)

Jon. He is near the street not that you can tell the difference at that point.
Ashley who spent hours outside. I can't believe she didn't end up just freezing.

Check out the accumulation of snow on Trent's hat following an hour of shoveling Saturday evening. Trent took Jon to a birthday party that afternoon as I get nervous driving in significant amounts of snow. He did the finishing shovel until this morning when he got back.

We have a sky light in our living room. Our kids call it the Harry Potter ceiling because they can see the sky from inside. Right now, it looks like we are buried in snow.

Ashley doing a face plant in the snow to show off her cardboard snow shoes her dad made for her.

A final look at all the snow. This is the view from the front porch.

And Another One

Friday night while eating dinner, I noticed the front gap in Jon's grin looked bigger. I asked if he lost another tooth. He proudly pulled the plastic treasure box from his pocket and shook it so that we could hear that that there was a tooth inside. That makes 3 upper teeth and one bottom tooth all missing at the moment. He only has 2 more than will be going anywhere in the next little while, but I am still getting nervous about his ability to eat. He seems unaffected, however, and looks adorable if I do say it myself.

All Jon wants for Christmas..........

Jon now has both front teeth missing. He decided to lose these teeth with one of his bottom ones as well. In addition to looking a bit like a jack-o-lantern, he may need to stop loosing teeth until some new ones come in. He has lost three teeth since Thanksgiving. I think it is a cute time though.

A Visit with Santa

We went to our Ward Christmas party this weekend. No dinner (boo) just desserts. Santa made a little visit, which was the main attraction for the Warner children even considering they sang in a primary number during the program. When Santa came in and told the children to come and see him in the Primary room, I had to race to keep up with Samantha who zoomed across the room and out the door to follow him. They had the children fill out lists that had lines for 10 items. The children were then to circle the top 2 items they wanted, and that is what they could share with Santa. Although this was perhaps cute in conception, it lead to some chaos. Sammy has fewer things not on her list than on her list and doesn't really write yet, so she and other like-minded small children, made an immediate bee line for Santa. They knew the one or two things they were going to ask him for anyhow. The older kids all started filling out lists but lost patience with the whole process at some point and recreated a line. Ashley only had two items in the first place so felt put out to have to come up with more. Jon doesn't spell well but insists on writing things correctly so gave up after it took too long to write Star Wars. All in all, they were just happy to finally get to see Santa. Ashley wants to sleep in the living room this year. She is hoping to see Santa come down the chimney. Didn't the tooth fairy episode teach her anything?

Pumpkin Pecan Cookies

This past Saturday I went to a cookie exchange. We each brought 6 dozen cookies (either 6 of one type or 3 each of 2 types). We pulled 4 out and cut them up for sampling and then chatted and had a great time. We voted on our favorite and then divided up all the cookies. Therefore, we baked one or two types of cookies but brought home 12 different types of cookies and the recipes to make said cookies. One of the two types I brought were pumpkin pecan cookies with brown sugar butter frosting. I got the recipe from the cookie recipe collection Trent's Aunt Dee gave me. I have discovered many a yummy recipe there. They are a little bit different than the usual Christmas cookie, but they are really yummy. No, I didn't win, but these were well received. If you are looking for something a little different that definitely falls in the fall/winter flavors department, give these a try.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup chopped toasted pecans

1. Preheat oven to 375. In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and allspice. Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Beat in the sugar. Add the egg; beat well. Stir pumpkin and flour mixture into egg mixture. Stir in the chopped pecans.

3. Drop the dough by rounded teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Transfer to wire rack. When completely cool, frost with Brown Sugar Butter Frosting.

Brown Sugar Butter Frosting

In a medium saucepan heat 6 Tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup packed brown sugar over medium heat until butter melts. Remove mixture from heat. Stir in 2 cups sifted powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add enough hot water (2 to 3 teaspoons) to make a smooth spreadable frosting. Frost cooled cookies immediately after preparing frosting (I put a decorative blob in the middle more than I frost the entire thing). If frosting becomes too grainy, add more drops of hot water and stir until smooth. (I have to do that last part at least twice before I am finished).

There are Games Afoot

Jon lost another tooth at school on Friday. I should take a picture and post it. He now has one top front tooth gone and one bottom side tooth gone. It is adorable really. That is not really the point though.

He brought his tooth home in a little treasure chest the school nurse supplied. Being Friday, we had movie night, and Jon, as he nearly always does on a Friday night, asked to have a sleepover with his sisters. He either sleeps on the floor between their beds or on the bottom of one of their beds. Last night was the later on Ashley's bed. We made sure he put his tooth under his pillow. After that, Jon and Ashley were talking quietly, and it seemed they were plotting something.

I set my alarm for 11:30 when I went to bed. They should be out by then. When I crept upstairs and peeked in the door, Ashley sat up and started looking around. I went downstairs and set the alarm for another hour and a half later. On the second trip, I was extra quiet but the same thing happened. Needless to say, the tooth fairy did not make a visit last night. Jon is trying for another shot tonight in his own bed. I told Jon that I thought Ashley and I created too much noise for the tooth fairy and that we would have to try again tonight. I also talked to them about trying to catch the tooth fairy, which I suspect is what was going on (you see, the toothfairy can fly you to the North Pole). Jon confessed that Ashley had devised just such a plan. Ashley insists that Jon is just saying that. After the plotting I saw and the uncharacteristic jumpiness last night coupled with the fact that I know Jon regularly tattles on himself, I think they were indeed trying to catch the tooth fairy. I can't say for certain though, because Jon has given a false confession in the past.

We had a good snow fall today, and they played in it this afternoon. That coupled with a long day of fun and all children in their own beds should mean they are all fast asleep and we can try again in another half hour. The games are afoot!

Warner Spooks

Well, November is almost over, so I am finally getting around to posting Halloween pictures.

This was our first Halloween in Crofton, and what a great time we had (well except for the Trent being not quite well part). Friday before Halloween, the kids wore their costumes to school and had a traditional Halloween parade. I wasn't sure I would make it back in time after dropping Sammy off at preschool for her own party, but I did. Alas, I did so without camera. Perhaps that is a good thing. All the kids were adorable. Some of my favorites were one kid dressed as the Planters peanut and one dressed as a lego figure. The school counselor, the art teacher, the janitor and the music teacher dressed up as the scooby doo gang. It was hilarious and fun. It was a good thing it was an early release day full of mostly parties. Just seeing all the costumes as we walked to school had Jon geeking out.

Indiana Jon(es). I wouldn't let him take his whip to school as they weren't supposed to take any weapons with costumes. Better safe than sorry.

Jo-Jo the clown.

Our wood sprite
Ashley insisted on striking a Spiderwick Field Guide pose rather than smiling. She claimed wood sprites (or sprites in general) don't like to be photographed.

because she wasn't exactly being cooperative, I am glad I snapped this picture of Ashley earlier while she was busy gathering up papers etc.

the whole walk to school gang in their costumes.

On Saturday morning, we braved the drizzle for the Kiwanis sponsored Halloween parade. The kids wait at the church and register. When the parade, which starts at Crofton Woods Elementary, gets to them, they join in the back and walk up the Parkway to Crofton Elementary (about a half mile I think). I thought it was just a little fun community thing. I had no idea it was a small but full on parade complete with the local government and the two local High School bands. They even threw a bit of candy at the kids.

The pre-requisite old car

South River High playing Thriller

Arundel High with the more traditional band thing going on

Ashley and her friend Eowyn. Two pretty little sprites.

This kid's little brother goes to pre-school with Sammy. His mom made this costume. I thought it was incredible, and yes, he definitely won a prize.

ready for trick-or-treaters

It ended with a short party at the school with prizes for costumes. Color this mom shocked when Ashley won second place in the prettiest/cutest category. Ashley told me in September that she wanted to be a wood sprite from the Spiderwick Chronicles. Since this is a fantastical creature that does not exist and is not a popular for sale type of costume, I got as creative as I could which amounted to making her a fairy costume and using fall wood colors and decorations. During the time I should have been making this costume, everyone in the family decided to get sick. By the time I got out to get the fabric and pattern and such, I left myself too little time to get it done and therefore spent a couple of late nights making sure her costume was ready for Friday at school. After she won, my friend April leaned over and told me that is what I stayed up until 1:00 a.m. for. It really wasn't, but I was happy for Ashley all the same.


The night ended with trick or treating of course. The kids talked me into dressing up with them (see picture at top). We went with friends, which ended up being a mob of 21 that narrowed down to 5 by the end. What a great time it was. Trent was right in his early assessment of our new neighborhood; it was great for trick or treating.

one of our new friends and his "scary" costume.

And Ashley Too

Almost two weeks ago, Ashley had her turn to go to the archery range with her dad. Actually, it was quite the whirl wind of a day. We started out the morning at the Native American festival at the local 4-H club where the kids made crafts, shot bows, and went canoeing. I forgot my camera, but when April takes pity on me and sends pictures, I am sure I will post them. Afterward, we went to a birthday party and then Ashley went to the range with her dad, one of her very best friends (Leonora) and Leonora's dad and sister. For having little experience so far, Ashley is a decent shot I have to say. This past weekend, this same group headed up to Lancaster to an archery store. Ashley shot on Trent's old re curve at the range there and nearly got a bull's eye. She was pretty excited.

This was just two days after her birthday. Our Ashley is now 9. When did that happen? She seems the same to me until I pull older pictures out. What a tall, leggy, imaginative fun girl she is. We, of course, love her immensely. We are not sure we love the alarm clock she received for her birthday though she absolutely does. She insists on setting it every school day, and it sounds like R2-D2 on a major caffeine kick. It rolls away after the first snooze, and I think it is hilarious that she will deliberately wait for it to go off again and roll off of her nightstand. The bottom picture shows the boots she just had to have. I guess she really is getting older. Sigh.

A Little Archer

I need to post about Halloween, but that will take more time than I have right now.

After some chatting with friends last weekend, Trent got out his compound bow and went and got some arrows etc. for it this past Saturday. It was nice to see him so excited about getting it out. At the same time, he tried to restring his old re curve, but they couldn't restring it anymore. Sooooooo, Trent bought a children's basic re curve for the kids to use.

After coming home, Trent headed out with Jon for the archery range not far from here. It is free (so cool) and very close. Ashley really wanted to go with her dad, but she was still recovering from the 3rd grade plague. Next time. Jon is still a little young for the whole thing, so he needed a lot of help. He is starting to get it though, and, according to Trent, he got at least one arrow off. He had a great time and wants to go again.

I guess we could argue we should have spent last Saturday raking leaves etc. as the weather was so spectacular. I am glad the boys got out to the archery range though. The picture above is the Japanese maple tree in our front yard. It is a late turner. While most trees are dropping their leaves copiously right now, it has just now fully turned and started dropping. I love the colors. When we are done with our time on the East Coast, I will always remember how much I love the fall here. It is a longer season than I remember fall being growing up, and it is just beautiful.

The Great Pumpkin?

Friday the 23rd, we had Sammy's preschool field trip to the pumpkin patch. The trip was originally scheduled for the 16th, which is a teacher work day for Anne Arundel County. As a result, older siblings could come along. That day turned out to be very cold and very wet. In our case, we wouldn't have been able to attend anyhow, because Sammy was sick at the time. So, though it was a bummer for Ashley and Jon, the trip was rescheduled for the following Friday, and off we went to the Pumpkin Patch.

It was a great little place to visit. They aren't open to the public until the afternoon and evening on weekdays, so it was just the 4year old class and the 3 year old class and their parents etc. It wasn't huge, but it was plenty big, and the kids had such a great time picking out pumpkins and going through the corn maze and just playing around. The prices were good actually, and I picked up some decorations for the porch.

Later that day, we brought Ashley and Jon back to pick out their pumpkins and to run through the corn maze a few times before the farm closed. What a fun place. It is only about 5 miles from where we live, and it was a great time for the kids. I think I know where we are getting pumpkins next October.

We arrived a bit early since the farm is only about 5 miles from our house, so Sammy decided to have an early story time on top of the stack of straw bales

Time for a few songs before picking pumpkins

Time to choose a pumpkin. This looks like a sincere pumpkin patch to me. What do you think?

She found the pumpkin she wanted

Sammy and her friend Claire inside one of the corn stalk teepees

Time to go inside the corn maze

Inside the maze. Sammy and her friend Claire must have gone through this maze at least 4 different ways in about 15 minutes. Ironically, when we brought Ashley and Jon back after 4-H that afternoon, we had a harder time navigating though.

May the Force Be With You

Our kids have been on a Star Wars kick recently. They've been re watching all the old movies and playing lego Star Wars on the wii as their game of preference. I am proud that their favorites are episodes 4, 5 and 6.

Last Friday, there was no school. It was a district work day of some kind. Samantha was home from pre-school anyhow as she was still ill. On this particular day, she seemed to be improving, but still being ill coupled with a cold rainy day in the middle of a nor'easter meant staying home and inside. There were, however, no Cat in the Hat scenarios on this cold cold wet day. Imaginations prevailed, and the kids turned our small family room (also called the kids room) into a Star Wars extravaganza. They set up a tent at one point and watched one of the movies inside. I don't have a picture of that, but I enjoy their imaginations and how well they entertain themselves and each other.

The young Jedi, Master Jon Warner

Princess Leia and one of her cute cuddly Ewok friends.

The evil slug looking villain, Jabba the Hut.

Here is Master Yoda. His body is drawn on the box, though that is hard to see.

If you look out into the blackness of space that is this chalk board, you will see the Death Star floating ominously. You will also notice that Ashley can't spell Death. She can spell binoculars and suburban and temperature and camouflage but not death. Go figure.