Last Weekend

We had a fun family-filled weekend last weekend! Friday Shad graduated with his BSN in nursing from Weber State. Jen fixed us a yummy lunch at their house, the girls played with Butterscotch and Oreo, and we headed up to the graduation. The girls actually did pretty well for the first half, and then after we saw Shad walk, we left so they could nap in the car before dinner. The graduation ceremony was really nice, they had a live orchestra which was a nice touch. I was glad we could be there. Congratulations Shad! Afterwords we joined Jen's family for dinner.
Saturday morning was... snowy! The roads were kind of crummy driving to Salt Lake and back, but I guess that's just winter around here. At least we made it into Salt Lake in time to spend time with my Grandma and Grandpa DeGiulio, who were headed up to Blackfoot from California for the holidays. It's always a treat to see them!
The girls went shopping while the little girls slept, and then we all went to The Roof for a delicious dinner. The girls did fairly well there, as to be expected for their ages, and Violet enjoyed her first bite of eclair! Well, just the pudding, but she loved it and thought Kissie was the best relative at the table. We had fun walking around Temple Square after, seeing the Christus, lights, decorations in the JSMB, nativity displays... Temple Square is so fun especially at Christmastime. Thanks for the fun day Kissie and Pata!(I feel really bad that Cora's belly is showing on this picture!! I think I'll blame it on Kevin!)

Piano

A nice side benefit of my parents moving to Salt Lake was that they moved their piano with them.... and then we bought it from them and moved it to our house. It's so fun to see Cora playing the piano I used all growing up, and it'll be nice to practice at home instead of arranging to practice at church. Thanks mom and dad!

Christmas Devotional

We lucked out and got tickets for the First Presidency Christmas Devotional Sunday night. We had great seats, the music was beautiful, the conference center was all Christmasy decorated, and the talks were spiritual and filled with fun Christmas stories. It was such a nice way to begin the Christmas holiday season. Thanks Mom, for watching the girls!

Thanksgiving

We had a fun, fun, fun Thanksgiving holiday up in Boise. We kept busy but still had lots of relaxing time, so it was a great combination. My parents moved to Salt Lake the week after the holiday, so it was super nice of them to still host us all!

We drove up Tuesday afternoon and Violet cried for a good portion of the trip, and Cora had a horrible time getting settled for bed once we got there. So we had to revert to our early morning strategy for the way back. We left at 5:00 am Monday morning coming back and it all went much better! It was nice to be able to spend all day Sunday in Boise too as a side benefit.

Kevin was planning on working from 'home' in Boise on Wednesday, but due to some internet problems, he couldn't, so lucky him, he got to see Twilight with Shad, Jen, and I. My mom and dad were nice enough to stay home and watch the girls. I went in with low expectations for the movie and was pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, the is the SECOND trip to Boise in a row that I have forgotten to bring garments with me! So we made a stop by the distribution center too, luckily they were open... When I forgot in July, they were closed for two weeks! It makes me wonder what I'll forget packing if I'm ever packing in the future for more than 2 kids.

Mom had this photo cubes craft all set for Jen and I to do, which was a lot of fun. I got about half of it done... I need to finish the other half soon! I love the way they are turning out.
It seems like our holiday gatherings in Boise have always had an unofficial theme... one year we watched tons of 24, another year it was almost constant Settlers of Catan... This year, although we had a variety of things going on, I think the theme was Dr. Mario! Yup, we all got addicted and played 'just one more game' a whole bunch of times, on the Wii. I told Kevin we couldn't ever get it at our house because our children would get neglected. Cora did enjoy holding a controller and pretending to play though. It was pretty fun, and although I'm not sure we got good enough to really present a challenge to masters Keyton and Liz in January, hopefully we'll put up a good showing! We also had a lot of fun figuring out a new version of Ticket to Ride. I think I like the original better, but it was a nice variation. AND we saw a great movie that I loved, Amazing Grace. It was unbelievibly good.
Cora and Violet had a fun time hanging out with the doggies, Shad and Jen, and Kissie and Pata. Of course, the trampoline and dress-up clothes are still a big favorite.
Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! Cora took an extra long nap that day and missed it. She did love it when she woke up though. And Violet liked her little mashed potato bites too.
Jen, Mom, and I didn't do the true early morning day after Thanksgiving shopping, but we did visit a few stores that weren't too crazy that afternoon and got some good deals on craft items. I'm up to my elbows in ribbon now making bows for Christmas!
Dad got released for the bishopric on Sunday, so it was nice to be there and hear Mom and him speak in church. We took a family picture right before we left.

What a fun holiday trip! I love Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Swimming

My Thanksgiving post was just getting so long, I decided to do a separate one with all our swim shots. We went to the YMCA to swim and the girls had a ball!
(We took Violet down the slide too, but she wasn't as thrilled)
Look at that smile! Violet loved kicking around in the water and floating on her back.
Cora showing us how she can hold her breath. She's been practicing in the bathtub!

Shh... don't tell!

We picked up this cute kitchen for Cora's Christmas present this weekend, thanks to a good markdown at Costco. Cora actually was with Kevin when they picked it up, so hopefully she'll forget in the next 23 days! She had so much fun playing with the tea set my mom has at her house and loves playing with the kitchen at nursery, I think this will be a big hit.

A Sweet Big Sister

We were all down in our office, when through the baby monitor we hear Violet start crying, signaling that she is done with her nap. Cora quickly ran to the baby monitor picked it up and said:

Don't worry Violet. I'm coming to get you. I promise.

She is a sweet big sister.

Horsey Rides

Horsey rides are a nightly after dinner favorite at our house. Usually it's Cora riding on Kevin's back, but we've discovered Violet's loudest giggles have come when she rides around the family room on Cora's back.

Sisters

We tried doing some photos of the girls yesterday in their matching church dresses. Hit and miss!

Teeth

You can see Violet's top two teeth popping through! One is well established, the other just has a little corner exposed. Hopefully this makes her feel a little better and wake up a little less often at night.

Bowling

We popped out of the house Saturday morning while a real estate agent took some people through to let Cora have her first bowling experience. It was free bowling with a food donation, so a pretty good deal for us, as the cans of tomato soup have multiplied beyond consumption in our food storage.
It was nice that the bowling alley could put bumpers up automatically just for Cora's turn. Cora liked it, I think... but she got tired of it around frame 7 or so. She was much more interested in the arcade games we played while we were waiting for the computer glitches to be fixed, and the plastic bracelets she bought with the tickets from our games. Oh well, maybe next year?

Alter Ego

Kevin was reading "Where the Wild Things Are" tonight to Cora when (according to him) unprompted she said "mommy!"... he said "where?"... she said "right there!" and pointed to this lovely wild thing..
Granted, I did get upset with her when she unscrewed my lip glosses, squirted lotion on the bathroom rug, and drew on her face with lipliner this afternoon during our second home teacher visit in the 3.5 years we've lived here, now that she has mastered pulling the childlock on the bathroom cabinet just right to unlock all the gooey goodies...

At least I think these home teachers are going to come back regularly! I guess we'll have to be better at enticing Cora to stay in the room with us, and fix that childlock.

Pumpkin Bars

Another great fall favorite....

Mix:
4 eggs
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups pumpkin

Add:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 1/4 cup flour

Bake in a jelly roll pan (for flatter bars) or a 9x13 pan (for more cake-like size bars) at 350 degrees for 25-40 minutes (depending on pan used).

Frosting:
3 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
1 cube butter (room temperature)
2 cups powdered sugar

My mom has made these for as long as I can remember, and they are delicious!

Pumpkin Pie Squares

This is a fun twist on traditional pumpkin recipes...

Filling:
1 15 oz can pumpkin
1 12 oz can evaporated milk
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves

Crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened

Topping:
1/2 c chopped pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp butter

Opt: Whipped cream, ice cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13x9 in glass baking dish
2. Crust: Combine ingredients, press into pan, bake 15 minutes or until partially set.
3. Filling: Combine ingredients, pour over crust and bake 30 minutes.
4. Topping: Combine ingredients. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle topping evenly over filling. Bake 15-20 minutes, until filling is set.
5. Cool completely before cutting into squares. Serve with whipped cream or icecream if desired.

Cora's Nursery

Cora has five dollies that she loves to take care of. Today we pulled out the baby blankets I played with when I was little (made by my grandmother and great grandmother) and Cora was delighted to have blankies for her dolls that are just the right size. We made a little makeshift bed out of the tupperware container (Cora is getting a real cradle for Christmas!) and the dolls all took a nap together in Cora's room. The swing was a great find from a second-hand store, that's been a lot of fun too.

Checking on the sleeping baby...

Pround mama...
Nursing the baby (she even covered the baby up with the blanket when she saw I was taking a picture!)
Burping the baby...


One other funny thing... Cora asks about Kevin thoughout the day, usually asks where he is. When I tell her he's at work, she ALWAYS responds 'on the bus'? We've told her Kevin takes the bus to work, but now I think she must think he rides the bus all day long! We need to take a field trip to Kevin's work so she knows he's not a bus driver.

Going to the Dentist

Cora had her first trip to the dentist today. She was so excited to go-- we've been reading "Elmo Goes to the Dentist" for several months now. But, when we got there, she got pretty nervous and I was wondering if my co-pay was a waste of money. Luckily the dental assistants talked her into sitting in the chair and opening her mouth to brush and count her teeth. It didn't hurt that they gave her a bag full of 'presents' too! That was the real turning point. Cora didn't let go of that bag all the rest of the day. No cavities, and hopefully a good prep for the next dental visit.

News

Well, it's a week full of new news for our family.

~Keyton and Liz are moving to England in the Spring! They will be there for 3 years, it's a job transfer with the federal government. We are so excited to save our pennies and visit them once or twice.

~Kissie and Pata are moving to Salt Lake! My dad took a job with the LDS Church that will start in December. They are here in Salt Lake this week looking for a condo/apartment downtown, (they'll be keeping their house in Boise). We are so excited to have them closeby.

~We put our house up for sale... we were going to wait and see how the commute was and wait until Kevin's work location actually changed in the Spring, but there are so many houses on the market now for great prices in the area we are looking, that we thought we should at least give it a try. It's pretty sad, and I have very mixed feelings. I'm just trying not to think about it too much since who knows when it will sell??? But if you know someone who wants to buy a nice rambler with a finished basement 30 minutes west of Salt Lake in a nice quiet community, let me know!

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween day with cousins coming over for crafts, going trick-or-treating, and Kurt and Jen coming over for dinner. Cora loved going door to door, and it was fun to see all our neighbors out and about. Cora also loved eating lots of candy Friday night... she was so wound up from candy and guests that she was running and running and finally crashed in bed. She also got a kick out of opening the door and giving out candy.... she only got spooked by scary costumes a couple of times!

Here's our little caterpillar....

and our big giraffe....