Our Life

The View From My Front Windows. Can you beat that? If you can, I'd love to see. Gingerbread House Time. I'm not sure where more candy ended up - in the tummies, on the floor, or on the house. It still remains one of my favorite Christmas time traditions. Thanks to the convenient kits, it's easy to do with 4 kids. BTW, the tinkerbell there is a daily thing.

1985 versionLove this picture of Amelia at dance. She's a great little dancer, and follows instructions the best her little body knows how. She LOVES to dance and do gymnastics.

Is it really possible that my boy Sam is old enough to have his own pellet gun? Hunter's Safety starts at age 9! I would love not to be that nervous mom, but I'm not really quite sure how. I know that guns are only as dangerous as the people who carry them, so it is my hope and insistence that Sam be educated and careful. I know Nate will have nothing less than that as well.

9 candles on that cake!?!?!?!?!?! Isn't he getting so handsome? Where does the time go? Just today, while we were playing "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader," Sam knew that the Andes were the highest mountain range in South America. Are 3rd graders supposed to know that already? He's such a smart, charming, and busy young man.

What I Love About Christmas

The First Presidency Christmas Devotional

Lights on the Christmas Tree

Setting up the Nativities

I got this one this weekend. An early Christmas present because I'm spoiled. It is absolutely breathtaking. The expressiveness of the gestures of protection and love inspire me. It is an amazing work of art.

This one is made from the lava/ash from Mt St Helens. Nate got it when he went to Washington to be with his brother when their baby was born very prematurely.

This one is from Guatemala. Nate got it when he went with Hirsche Smiles a couple years ago.

This is the one I started collecting for the girls to add a touch of Christmas to their room.

And then my very first Nativity is at Nate's office. The Boyd's Bears just fit the theme there.

Buying Presents

Christmas Parties

Getting together with Family

Christmas Cards in the Mail

Holiday Colored M&M's

The Magic and Goodness that Springs from Every Soul all month long

Baby Jesus

Lights Everywhere

Christmas Music

Baking cookies, breads, and other treats

Wrapping presents with pretty bows

The Messiah

Most of all, I love Christmas because I love my Savior. I love to celebrate His Life, His Mission, and the Light, Love, and Happiness available to all of us because of Him.

Snow

OK, I'm back. No excuses.

We've really been waiting for some snow here. When we hadn't had much by Halloween, we were a little concerned, although not too sad. The girls and I have been loving our "recess" out on the tramp, and walks at the state park. But, this good thing (the warm weather) was destined to come to an end. And an end it has with 6 inches of snow overnight. But with every change in the weather there are new adventures waiting. It wasn't even 8:30 am when the kids were all tracking down their snow clothes to go play in the snow. And of course, it took longer to get Emma dressed than she lasted outside. But, a few cute pictures later, and a picture of Nate's unsuccessful attempt at taking the car to go help at the wrestling tournament this weekend (love the truck), Emma and I went inside while Mia and the boys fought over who got what shovel, I mean, worked on a snow fort.Next time we have two truck loads of gravel dumped in our driveway we'll check the forecast :) They didn't quite leave enough room for us to get by.

The Things Kids Say

I am so in love with my kids. Thay say the most innocent, darling, and funny things.

Emma, when she cut her toe at her cousin's house "I have a bloody nose on my toe."

Amelia, when we were playing with her horses on the trampoline, decided that they all had to lie down to take a nap. "Let's sing them a night-night song. How about I Am A Child Of God?"

And then Amelia wanted to take a handfull of dolls to the store the other day, and I told her she needed to leave them home. My usual answer to her why is that we can't take naked babies anywhere, and they are always unclothed. But not that day, so Amelia promptly replied, "but mommy, they're dressed."

And today, we dropped the boys off at school because they missed the bus, and so we were going to run our errands before dance class. Amelia decided to pitch a royal fit when we got to the store, so I buckled the girls back in their seats and said we would just go home, and not come back to town for dance class. Now, little Emma is quite enamored with "dance class," even though she is not a participant, and pretty much every day will dress up in her tinkerbell costume or another little tulle skirt she has because she is going to "dance class." And Emma was not about to let Amelia miss that class. After my threats of "you will stop or you will not go to dance" as we pulled out of the parking lot, Emma, in her little pleading voice, said, "Mia, stop. you have dance class. Mia, stop, you go to dance." And Amelia stopped and said, "I'm done crying." So we went to the store and then to dance class.

Wonderful!

And the boys. Since Sam played flag football this year, they have been playing non-stop. In fact, the other day they came inside for a piece of paper. They had made up about 15 plays and were writing them down on this piece of paper. Then, they created a front and back cover and made a play book by attaching these three pages with brads. (so that they could add pages if they wanted to. if they had used staples, they couldn't have added to the book. according to Sam) Then they found old blue tshirts, and wrote their names and numbers on them. They have practiced these plays tirelessly. I absolutely loved watching them create their "team." Their enthusiasm and excitement were tangible. One night I took the camera out to catch them in their practice.

Pumpkin Princesses & Hunters

Sam, the hunter, with a bear. (Representing the true story of being chased by a bear when he went hunting with Nate last month.)

Clay, the elk hunter, with the HUGE antlers on his backpack. (Because we couldn't figure out how to attach them to his head to be an elk)

Amelia, the pumpkin princess, who really does not look very well in orange, and who couldn't keep the wig on for more than about 5 minutes at a time. But, man, she's cute!!!

Emma, hated the hat, which had to be contrived to make it stay, but loved it that people were just dumping candy into her bucket.

Look at these darling Trick-or-Treaters. We had such a fun day! We started the day at the elementary school parade. We stopped at Rips to see Ron & Kathy, and the girls each got a candy bar. They thought that was pretty cool, and were ready right then to go Trick-or Treating. We had to pass some time before a meeting I had, so I took the girls to a puppet show at the library. Fun Fun Fun. We have fun story time ladies.
We started our evening when I picked the boys up from school. I tried to feed them to fill their bellies with "good" food before the candy excitement kicked in. It was partially successful. We walked to the courthouse, where they are always dressed up awesome, and then we hit the road to make our regular visits. Great-Grandpa, Aunt Sherrie, Uncle Burton and Aunt Evelyn, our old neighbors, and Grandma&Grandpa. I'm still not sure how so few visits translated into two shoe boxes full of candy?!?! (And that's after they've been eating candy for 3 days)

we love halloween

Emma's Birthday

My baby girl Emma turned two today. What a day. She spent half of the day in her "dancing dress" twirling and spinning to Brandenburg Concertos 2,4 and 6 in the living room. (didn't get a picture) She wanted hot dogs or macaroni and cheese for lunch, but we settled on chicken nuggets. She was patient, though, waiting for her cousins to come before she could open her presents. What a girl! What a day!

The Prognosis

We're all pretty tired here in the Lester household. But we're happy and extremely grateful for such great friend, neighbors, and family who have taken such good care of us as Nate recovers much more slowly than he would like to. (Although it's right on track with what the Dr. said!)
So, we have the pathology report. (Confession: it came last week, but I just haven't got around to the blog thing here) The report indicated that Nate has a rare intestinal disorder known as primary pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis. Translation: pockets of gas in the mucosa or intestinal walls. This appears identical to cancer when it begins to ulcerate, so it is clear why the Dr. felt an urgency to remedy the situation. There are complications that can occur with this disorder, and the suggested remedy is to do just as they did with Nate and remove the offending section. It will not recurr, and after recovery, Nate will be as good as new. We're happy! No Cancer! YEAH!!!!!