Moments That Made Me Smile

I have been looking for little moments to capture this week, moments of happiness.  Every day things that I wanted to remember. It was cool that once I was looking for them, I found them. A lot of moments.  

 

Kid Quotes

Our kids are growing up with technology in ways we never even dreamed of as kids. They expect everything to be a touch screen - every TV or computer screen that isn't a touch screen seems to put them out - ew! Claire got a new game for Christmas, a Bop It. You try to follow it's commands in quick succession to get points - bop it, twist it, pull it, and the newly added "selfie it," "sing it," etc.  Penelope was verbally telling the Bop It "Turn it up Bop It!" She is used to our Amazon Echo that follows our voice commands to play music, tell her jokes, the weather, etc.. Spoiled by technology. 

Penelope says, "Butcept" instead of "except" - as in "butcept we went to that park last time." It's like she has combined the two concepts, and it seems to make sense to me too. 

On the morning of our Hiller Christmas, our second Christmas with the Hillers, I said to the kids, "Merry Hiller Christmas  everyone! Aren't we lucky to get two Christmases?!" Penelope said, "Yeah, and I wish we had two Valentines days!"

When we were in California for Christmas, Beau was excited to show off his dad's muscles and strength to Penelope. Now Erick is pretty strong, winning a bench-pressing contest in college and recently breaking a fire department record for the most pull ups wearing full turnout gear. These two four year olds are weeks apart and are a bit competitive; at least Penelope thinks everything is a contest. Beau kept asking Erick to take his shirt off and show his muscles, which hardly seemed appropriate given the holiday gathering. So finally Erick just flexed his arm and showed his biceps in his short sleeved t-shirt. Penelope shrugged, unimpressed and said, "My dad's muscles are bigger."  Beau then asked Erick to rate his own muscles - "Dad, how many are my muscles?" Unsure of the muscle rating scale, Erick said,  "How many? Um, your muscles are a 10 Beau." Erick said without hesitation, Penelope very casually said, "Mine are 20..." This kid kills me - she is all sass - sometimes she needs to tone it down, but she is so quick-witted that I often laugh when I should  lecture. 

We were recently making breakfast on a lazy Christmas break morning and Matt gave Penelope a piece of bacon. Penelope said, "I want four bacons. That's ONE." Matt started teasing her that she couldn't have any more. She said, "But I'm a bacon girl!" 

Three weeks after Christmas, Penelope is still requesting Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for her bedtime story. She likes doing the echo portion of the song. She made a new addition to the song that makes me laugh every time. There is one part of the song that never had an echo or added phrase, "Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say - Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"  She started saying, "SURE!" after that line. Every other stanza had something, so why not? 

I took the kids to the big Craig Ranch park over Christmas Break and they made up a game with their new walkie talkies called hide and go seek skeleton tag. If you get tagged you turn into a skeleton, apparently. Penelope was trying to find Miles and she started dramatically sniffing the air - Sniff, Sniff sniff! She then announced, I can smell him from here!" Later she was chasing Claire and Claire was getting away. Penelope very angrily yelled, "The jokes on you Claire Bear!!" Something about the combination of her anger and the term of endearment in Claire's nickname made me chuckle. 

These kids!  I wish I could record these quotes to remember their voices and inflections. 

Fun Times

Matt and I went to a show down at the MGM Grand called Jabbawockeez - a dance group that won the first season of America's Got Talent. All the dancers wear the same mask - it's hip hop style, not usually my thing but it was pretty entertaining. Matt had frequently commented that it looked interesting so I got him tickets for Christmas - I guess it was a gift to me too, score!

Back to eating healthy - or trying to. Meal planning is key - but it's been a busy few weeks since the kids went back to school. Gotta get back on track!

This boy loves to play with his trucks and super heroes.

Photo credit: Penelope

Early morning church = afternoon naps.

Christmas Sunday and Hiller Christmas

I loved having Christmas on Sunday this year and celebrating the Savior's birth with beautiful music. All I wanted was to hear some great music and our ward had a piano solo, a piano and cello duet by two young men, and a children's choir. Henry was trying this hardest to get up on the stand for each and every song and I had to chase him down over and over again. It would have been easier to just go out into the foyer and stay there, but I just needed to hear those songs!

We opened presents in the morning, then had Betty, Phil and Leah over for breakfast - sausage, egg and hash brown bake and eggnog french toast casserole with bacon, sausage and Betty's sticky buns. We were stuffed! 

Christmas at the Hillers - December 26th - our second Christmas morning, lucky kids!

Random Holiday Cuteness

Other pics from our visit home to California for Christmas.

Lily and Claire were developing a secret code by flaring their nostrils... but only when they could stop laughing for a minute.

Stephen's Funeral

My 25-year old cousin Stephen, Uncle Grant's six child and first son out of 12 children, was killed by a drunk driver the week before Christmas.  Because of our age difference, I didn't know Stephen very well, and not at all as an adult. He is about 11 years old in my memories, a quirky kid with crazy thick dark hair that was always askew. I was in college and then moving to Las Vegas when he was growing up so I just wasn't around to get to know him when he was older. His funeral was planned for the morning we had planned to drive home, so we of course stayed and I am so glad we could be there with our family.

We went to the grave dedication, where my dad played the bagpipes and my Uncle Grant said the dedicatory prayer. Stephen was buried in the Fair Oaks Cemetary where my grandparents will also be buried someday. It made me realize I have no idea where I would want to be buried or what my parents want to do - so I asked. My mom said she wants to be buried in the Green Valley Cemetery. This may seem weird to talk about but I'd rather know, and I'm mostly writing this down now so I don't forget...

It was good to be with family and to hear about eternal families. I felt weird taking photos at the funeral - is it ok to smile? But I felt happy being with my family and I am always grateful for an opportunity to see my grandparents too.

I picked up this ornament for Matt at the Placerville Hardware store on Main Street for our annual exchange - families are forever!

Trip to Placerville - Christmas 2016

Matty and Alexis were coming to California from Alabama for Christmas Break again this year, and since they would be there the two weeks before Christmas, we decided to go out early too.

We had to wait until after my work Christmas party at the top of the Stratosphere Saturday night - I was the party planner, so there was no way I could miss it.

We left Sunday morning for the 12 hour drive home. Side note - we used to be able to make it in under 10 hours. The more kids we have, the longer and more frequent the stops. Henry was really good on this trip - probably one of our best since he was born.

Monday we went to Apple Hill, though the season is pretty much over and the apples are harvested. A few of the larger orchards stay open until Christmas Eve so we stopped in for some apple doughnuts, a few local food items for gifts, and of course, a caramel apple.

We also went down to Sacramento for Megan's traditional Chinese food dinner -usually she does it on Christmas Eve but we did it early since our family and Matty's would be gone by then. The kids made gingerbread houses and played so well together!

One other Christmas bucket list item - the lights at Dovewood Court down near Sacramento. The cul de sac where everyone has to decorate for Christmas - and they go ALL OUT! I hope they get a break on their power bill somehow because these houses are covered in lights, plus blow ups and snow machines and music!

We also took a stroll down Main Street Placerville after a lunch at Mel's Diner.