Package from Grandma Franson

This week we got a great package from Grandma Franson. So fun and well-thought out! Thanks, Grandma, for sending us a party-in-a-box on a week we really needed it! See below for the cute ideas.



1. "The Day the Snowmen Stood Still"--see cute craft with cotton balls, googly eyes, etc.

2. "The Sound of Snowmen"--Sing the song and do the actions to 'Once there was a Snowman'.

3. "Snowman Story"--Read 'A Snowman Just Named Bob'.

4. "Beauty and the Snowmen"--Make snowmen out of carmel popcorn balls. (Mom being the Beauty.)

5. "Robosnowmen"--Build a real snowman outside when it snows. If you want, make him robot-style.

6. "Monty Python's Search for the Snowman"--Take turns hiding a little stuffed snowman somewhere in the house and let the other go find him, like hide and seek. (My boys favorite of them all!)

7. "Snowmen Wars"--Have an indoor snowball fight with giant marshmallows.

Fire and Ice Festival

After spending most of the day "spring cleaning" several closets and our basement. (Maybe it's more like baby "nesting".) We decided to we better get out and have some fun!

Our downtown here (we live just blocks from) puts on free events frequently. This weekend was the "Fire and Ice Festival". The temperatures were in the 'teens'...but we still had a great time.

Attractions included: ice sculptures in front of most main businesses, a "warming station" where people roasted marshmallows over a fire, a toboggan run down one of the steep side streets, a temporary ice skating rink just off of main street, and then at 8 p.m. there were fireworks!

Toboggan run

We have had our eye on a "diner" on main street. So, we stopped in tonight for some hot chocolate. It had old music playing and a long, curvy counter where we all sat on bar stools.


Joshua pretty much put the straw in his mouth and never took it out. While we pushed him around in the stroller he just sipped and sipped. We figured he must have run out by the time we made it to the car...but he managed to have enough to sip all the way home and finish at our kitchen table! Our little ice cube with the warm tummy! He knew better than the rest of us how to do it right!

CARS!!

Because Greg's Dad worked for Chrysler and his Grandpa Franson also worked for a car company, there is nothing that makes me feel more "Franson" than going to the auto show! We had a great day together looking at and sitting in cars and collecting posters and booklets for the boys to study and love for days to come!

Visit from Grandma Rogers

We finished off December in a great way with a visit from Grandma Rogers. I'm trying a new "thing" by posting a slideshow of pictures from the visit under our family's pictures on the sidebar. Thanks for all the great new memories made, Grandma Rogers!

Picture taken at the Chrysler Museum.

More Christmas Catch-Up

Aren't they a loveable pair?!

Nathan's Preschool Christmas Party

Christmas Eve Dinner

Living Life vs. The Documenting

Oh, the catching up to do! It feels like lately we've been to busy living life to get it properly documented! But if I don't catch up soon, it's not going to happen!

Today our high temperature will be in the single digits, and our low will be in the negatives. (This is without factoring in the wind chill!) So, as we hunker in and drink our hot chocolate (and hope to survive a few days of family bonding without getting "out") I'm hoping to get a few things posted from the last little while, in anticipation of some new things to post in the days to come. Stay tuned!

"One Night in Bethlehem"

"Come to enjoy live holiday music and refreshments. Tour the streets of Bethlehem and hear the Christmas story as told by those who were there on that Holy Night."

My calling for the last 6 months has been coordinator of "One Night in Bethlehem"...a 10 year tradition for my ward. Each year more has been added and attendance has increased. This year when I was called, I was asked to find ways to help the Spirit of the occasion remain, while simplifying the process. It has been quite a learning experience for me.

Part of the challenge to the ward has been to invite non-member friends to come with you. Although it is advertised in the newspapers, and other "media outlets", the sweetest part about the attendance this year was that the people really did bring their friends. We had over 600 attend.

I have wanted to wait until I'd scrapbooked these photos, but have decided it's worth posting them before they feel outdated.

"ONB" is a two night event...with live music being performed for 2 hours each night. You sit and listen to the music as you enter and then when you're ready to start on a "tour" of Bethlehem. Starting with the shepherds...

Then the wisemen...(these are two of the three)...

The stop at the inn...where there is "no room", so you stop in the courtyard of the inn and listen to the inn keeper tell his story...

Guests at the inn...sitting in the courtyard...

Then the sweetest part...the manger room...with Mary, Joseph, and a real baby!

Things Don't Always Turn Out as Planned

Tomorrow I hope to continue my blissful documentation of the glowing parts of the Christmas holiday that are turning out "just how I'd hoped".

But, tonight as I tried to re-create the cute craft project I saw on my sister's blog with my own children...I had to acknowledge to myself--if only briefly--that crafts projects...the Christmas holidays...even life in general just doesn't always go as planned. And, that blogging doesn't necessarily paint an accurate picture of the daily realities it claims to record. (At least I can't promise we all smile this big through every life's moment--can you?)


So, for tonight, enjoy the "real project"...where I actually let my 2 and 4 year-old do just what their hearts desired. (Yes that's an alien, a "funny mouse" by Joshua, and a cyclopes.) As you anticipate further more "inspiring" posts in the days ahead. =)