Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving Day! This was our year to be with the Petersen Clan. One of Steve's sisters and her family had their own get together with their 40 people, so, we were only about 100 at our gathering - whoa! We are so many that we meet in a church cultural hall. Whomever was in charge of decorations did a great job because there were tables all across the gym with different colored tablecloths, pumpkins and other decorations. We served the food from the stage and had a great time talking and catching up with our family. Shannon joined us at the beginning and Rachel joined us at the end (April was in St. George). As soon as the eating was done, the tables were cleared and there were two basketball games going on - one for girls, one for boys. Grandpa was watching closely with pen and paper in hand (there are money prizes for those who sink the most baskets!!!). Reagan and Cole had a great time running all over the church with their cousins. There is a secret passageway from one end of the church to the other, an elevator and a toy room on the back of the stage. We ate, played and chatted and then headed out to my parent's house for some more Thanksgiving fun.

Although we didn't eat with my family, we still had a good time. Reagan and Cole love to ride their bikes at my parents' house - even if it is dark! Grandma had their Christmas presents (really early!) and the cousins gave them some hand me down clothes, including a Spiderman costume that Cole hasn't taken off since :)

We have so much to be thankful for. I love that there is a holiday set aside just for that purpose. I hope that we express our gratitude every day of the year, but with a special day to be with family, it makes it even better. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thanksgiving Feast

At Reagan and Cole's school, they celebrate Thanksgiving with a feast. In Preschool, each child brings an item and they have a little buffet. It isn't turkey or stuffing - it is more like olives, mandarine oranges, bananas, celery and other individual items. They make indian and pilgrim hats and they sit down and feast. One of Cole's teachers actually dressed like a pilgrim. Even though parents aren't officially invited, we make it a point to stop in and see (and take some pics). I actually had to pick up Cole early from school so that he could join us at Reagan's Feast.

The Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast is put on in the big gym and is a catered meal of turkey, stuffing, roll, potatoes, gravy, and pumpkin roll. Reagan loves to have hot lunch (even though she doesn't really eat all of it), so, for all of us to be having hot lunch with her was a treat. We ate, talked to some friends, chatted with her teachers, and took some pics. The best part of the Feast was that we were able to take the kids home with us after the Feast - it was a short day - YEAH!!!!

A Sad Day - A Good Day!

We had a sad day this week as we attended a funeral of John Crawford. He was Steve's Senior Mission Companion's father. Their family has been so nice to us and they have "adopted" us into their family on many occasions. Since Steve's Companion, Tom, is serving as a mission president now, he was unable to attend his father's funeral, which made it all the more important for us to be there.

I guess I didn't realize what an amazing man John was. He was an attorney for Mountain Fuel and later served as the CFO. He was President of the Salt Lake City School Board. He actually was responsible for founding the Crimson Club at the University of Utah and was a Utah Man through and through.

It was a great service and the concluding speaker was President Eyring. He gave a great talk and, although he is related to the Crawfords in an extended way, he talked about the many other ways he is connected to them through the U, through the church, through acquaintances and through friends and family. "We are all connected" he said and I felt it.

At the conclusion of the service, we got up to leave and I just wanted so much for Cole to meet President Eyring (Reagan was still at school). We walked up to the front of the chapel and there was a line of people waiting to shake his hand. We were just about to turn around and head out when his security people cut off the line of visitors and hurried him in our direction. He was kind enough to stop, shake my hand and ask how we knew John. We explained and he asked Steve where he served his mission and whom was his Mission President. After he answered, President Eyring leaned over and shook Cole's hand. He asked his name and I prompted Cole to say "Nice to meet you President Eyring." Then, he smiled and his security urged him out the door. I told Cole how lucky he was that he had just shook the hand of President Eyring. In the car, Steve and I bore him our testimonies that he is an apostle of Jesus and that Cole should try to always remember that he met one of the apostles.

I'm not sure if Cole will remember these events, but what started out to be a very sad day turned into a good day as well.

Disney on Ice 2011

Like last year, we met up with some of our dance class friends to go to Disney on Ice. This year, there was Rapunzel (our current fav princess) as well as Lion King (our fav of all time) and Peter Pan, Little Mermaid and Snow White, Alice in Wonderland and Aladin and a special finale with all of the princesses - yeah!!! Top it off with Mickey and Minnie, Pluto and Goofy and Donald and you have one great show! All the girls dressed up like princesses, so, I didn't want Cole to miss out. I convinced him that he could wear his Halloween cowboy outfit (once again, I must say that we have gotten more than our money's worth from this costume). We had dinner at Gateway before heading to the Arena and we each got an overpriced toy to bring home. What a night!!!!

He Melts My Heart!

Cole is the sweetest boy ever! Yes, sometimes he is rough and tough and crazy, but he has a heart of gold and is so kind and thoughtful. He always tells me that he loves me, he does most things that I ask him to and he is a cuddle bug - he loves to wrap up in his blanket and sit on my lap. He is well behaved too (most of the time). I take an institute class once a week. He comes with me and will seriously play quietly with his crayons and color book or with his "guys" or with the headphones and the iPad for an entire 90 minute class. Some of the ladies in the class comment often that they didn't even know there was a child in the room. Luckily, the instructor is a friend of ours and she wouldn't mind even if he wasn't so quiet. In fact, when Reagan was little, she would toddle around the room during class and sometimes go up to Sally (our instructor), raise her arms, and wait to be picked up. Sally wouldn't miss a beat - she would pick Reagan up, kiss her on the cheek and keep right on teaching. By that point, I had made my way to the front of the room, apologizing all the way, and take Reagan back to our seats. Anyway, my point is that Cole is a great little companion in class.

Well, last week, during class, he needed a restroom break. While we were walking the quiet halls of the church, Cole stopped, looked up at me and said "Mommy, when I was a baby. I mean, before I was a baby - when I was in teaven (heaven), I wished on a star that you would be my mommy..... AND YOU ARE!!!!!" I just broke down. What a sweet thing to say - it just melted my heart. By the time we came back into the classroom, my eyes were watery, my nose was red and I was clutching his hand so tightly. Some of my friends in the class looked at me like "what?". I just smiled and shook my head.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a mom and days like that make it all the more wonderful. I love Reagan and Cole (and Steve) more than anything and the fact that they love me back makes my life pretty great! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to stay home with them and not have to leave them with someone else. It's hard enough to have Reagan gone at school all day - I miss her so much. I'm so blessed to be able to be Reagan and Cole's mom and I'm daunted by the responsibility of needing to teach them all that they have to learn. I hope that we're balancing all the different areas that they need to learn and grow. I guess we'll have to do our best, pray for the Lord to make up the difference and hope that they will become great people. Maybe if I wish on that star that Cole wished on, it will come true. Ya think?

A snowball fight on the deck

We received some snow last night and Reagan and Cole HAD to be out in it. They walked all around the deck, headed down to jump on the snow covered trampoline and came back up for more fun on the deck - well, Cole did. Reagan bounced sideways and fell off the trampoline into the snow. Steve bolted off the deck and down the stairs to rescue his baby girl. We brought her in, warmed her by the fire and she watched the rest of the snowball fight from inside. Cole is crazy warm - probably like Steve. It seems like he never gets cold. He and Steve were having a snowball fight and even Steve's hands were freezing. Steve said "I can't believe his hands aren't too cold." I think they were numb by that point because when he came inside, they were hurting as they warmed up. Oh well - you have to sacrifice your body to be in a good snowball fight, right?

Trick or Treat!

Halloween night brought more fun! Reagan and Cole could barely finish their dinner before they were begging to go trick or treating. As usual, we only hit the VIP crowd's houses. ... just kidding. But, we don't just stroll up and down every street. We visit our friends in the neighborhood and the ward. Some of our friends weren't home, but others were so nice. Again, we received way more than candy. We were given bags of treats, books, toys and the Friend magazines. We have such good friends who are so kind to us. We kept getting caught up with this crowd of neighbor kids that we didn't know. We felt badly "ditching" them, but with a whole group, we weren't able to talk and visit with our friends and neighbors. The weather was perfect and, after a couple of hours out, we headed for home. We loved seeing our friends and showing off our costumes just one more time :)

Another Halloween is in the books..... er on the blog!

School Halloween Parties

What a busy day Halloween was.... WHOA!

I dropped the kids off at school, barely making it on time, and I immediately went to park so that I could go in to their school and help with the festivities. I was almost in the door when the school called to say that Cole had forgotten his bag. Luckily, it was in the car, so, I went back to the car, got the bag and took it to the preschool. Next, I went to Reagan's class and took some pictures of her entire class in costume. (I felt badly that there was one child who wasn't in costume. The teacher said she didn't know why, but talked up how he was dressed as a school kid in uniform, etc.) Shortly after that, Steve met me outside of Reagan's school and we waited (in the freezing cold) for the children to come out and have their Halloween parade. They were all so cute in their costumes. (We tried a headband for Reagan's wig - my nightmare was that she would mess with it all day long and end up not paying attention in school.) Reagan felt she had to personally talk with each girl who was also dressed as Rapunzel. The teachers had taught them the Thriller dance, set to different music???, and it was funny to see all of the kindergarteners try to pull that one off. Lots of pictures and then they paraded back into their classrooms.

Then, we headed back over to the preschool for the Halloween parade over there. Super cute! They walked around and even sang a little "Boo" song for us. Cole was just following directions, doing what he was told :) Luckily, he had his puffy vest on, so, I wasn't too concerned that he would get cold. After the preschool parade, we went to Cole's classroom. The last 2 years, we were able to join the preschoolers for a skit put on by the teachers. However, this year, they said it was only for the kids, not for the parents :(

After leaving the school, Steve went to work and I went to get Reagan's class pictures printed. Her teachers asked me to help with the Halloween party and to do a craft or game. I was stumped until I found these little foam picture frames online. They are a 5 x 7 purple frame with a haunted house on them and they come with a little bag of stickers (bats, moon, pumpkins, stars, 2011, etc.) So, I figured the kids could put those all together and leave school that day with a picture of their class in costume in the cute, magnetic, frames. The teachers also said I could decorate for the party while the children were at recess - fun!!!!

So, after getting the pictures printed, I picked up Cole from preschool. We went home and he had lunch while I packed up most of our Halloween decorations from home. We hauled everything to the classroom where Steve met us again. We had a black, 4 foot, Christmas tree with orange and purple lights, we had orange or black crinkle fabric on every table with luminaries of pumpkins, frankenstein or haunted houses on each table with battery powered candles in each of them and lots of stuffed jack o lanterns. I set up 2 tables for the picture frame craft, Steve was in charge of pumpkin bowling, one other mom came and did Halloween Bingo and one of Reagan's teachers had a "Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin" game at another station. It was so cute! I loved seeing them come filing in from recess and see the room all decorated. We had fun. The picture frames turned out really cute and I had an 8 x 10 printed up with a Halloween border for the classroom - yeah!!!!

After each child (including Cole) had hit each station, one of Reagan's teachers read them a scary story. Steve cuddled up with Reagan on the floor. The party lasted until school was over. Then, we packed up all our gear and went home to relax for a few minutes, have dinner and head out to Trick or Treat!