The race against time begins...

Can David finish his dissertation before August?

That's the big question here. Graduate school has been part of our life for nearly 6 years. Classes and comprehensive exams are done, research is done, qualifying paper and prospectus are done. "All" he has left to do is to finish his dissertation. He is really ready to be done with it.

Now he has another motivation to finish as soon as possible:

Last week, David was offered a principal job at Scera Park Elementary in Orem! We're really excited. The school is just three miles from our house. Nathan will be going to kindergarten there. Anyway, David is really hoping things move quickly with his dissertation this spring and summer so he can get it out of his hair before he loses it all, (his hair, I mean), AND before this new job starts.

Here's some of the other news from our neck of the woods:

Nathan has started being genuinely helpful around the house. He can feed a crying baby, set the table, wash a few dishes, make sandwiches for anyone who wants one, and help his younger siblings when I am not available. I can't even express how nice it is to have him cheerfully go around being helpful for an hour, rather than pestering the other kids during that time.

Grandma Manwill gave Nathan two little wooden model kits to build a bulldozer and a ship. I was intending to help him put them together, but he couldn't wait. Next thing I knew he had pulled out the instructions and partially assembled the bulldozer himself. He also did most of the ship unassisted. He was impatient for the glue to dry, so he pulled out the blowdryer to speed up the process.

If we end up moving to a bigger house, we're looking for one with space for a workshop. Nathan has turned our laundry room into a workshop, but we're running out of space for things like, well, laundry.

Christian REALLLLLY wants to crawl.


This picture is to prove that Clara is slowly emerging from her "raggamuffin" phase. She has actually been allowing me to brush her hair every morning. Sometimes she even lets me put something in it. It helps that I made her morning snack contingent on having her hair done.

Goliath the Snowman

It snowed 4-5 inches last Friday morning and luckily daddy had school off that day. We decided to build a Goliath snowman. Once he was built, we made snowballs and tried to hit him. While we did hit him, we were not successful in knocking him down. The warm weather later in the day managed to do that. It's getting harder and harder to pull the kids around the yard on the sled. It's almost impossible to pull both of them at the same time. Either they're getting bigger or daddy is getting older and fatter, or both. We love the snow, but we are also super excited for spring!

Mice Beware!

Nathan made a mouse trap out of paper clips and wood. He baited it with peanut butter, honey, and Nutella, confident that within a short time some poor unsuspecting mouse would be tempted to have a taste (in the same way I am tempted by Nutella), only to find itself hopelessly entangled in the trap. Nathan put it in the cupboard and checked it every couple minutes. So far, no mice have been caught, but the trap may be effective at attracting bugs.

On Wednesday, my mom came down and watched Christian and Clara, while Nathan and I spent several hours together at dentist and eye appointments. No cavities for either of us.(hooray!) Nathan got bored and kept trying to press buttons and take apart the medical equipment. He couldn't understand why I did not want him to do this. "But mom, I want to figure out how it works!" I was sure the eye doctor was going to kick us out of the room, but he didn't. My mom referred us to this Dilbert video clip on Youtube, called "The Knack." It suits Nathan to a "T." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmYDgncMhXw
I just had to put this cute picture in. This is Christian and his cousin, Sarah. It's from two weeks ago, when David's family visited for Melani's show.

Blue eyes

I can't get enough of this boy! He charms my socks off.

Christian has such a sweet little personality. Nathan and Clara just adore him to pieces.
I'm so glad we have him. He has been just what our family needed.

We found all these huge pinecones outside the Bean Museum at BYU.

David loves taking the kids sledding at the park near our house.

The kids fell asleep this afternoon while counting down the minutes until snack time.

Opportunity Knocks!

Have you ever been glad when the kids have broken something in your house? Yesterday, the kids ripped a HUGE hole in the shower curtain, and I had a hard time being disappointed.. Here's why it made me happy:
When Nathan was a baby, David's sister, Jessica, gave us a subscription to the Family Fun magazine. Over the past few years, I've collected a binder full of clippings of crafts and activities that look like fun. I'm not as good as Jessica is at doing fun projects with the kids, but I do enjoy it. (Not that we don't have fun, but we mostly do the unpremeditated kind.) So, every few months, I look through my binder and actually do one of the ideas. One of the first clippings I saved was a cute idea for decorating a shower curtain. I always stopped to look at it while I was perusing the binder and envisioned it in our own bathroom, but of course, we didn't NEED a new shower curtain. (Yes, I'm ALMOST as cheap as David is.)
So, the first thing I thought yesterday after I heard that huge ripping noise in the bathroom was, "Awesome! I hope they ruined it beyond repair!" And they did!

Christmas in Sandpoint

Now that we're into January, it's time to write about Christmas!

The roads and the kids were almost perfect for our drive up to Sandpoint. Christian didn't cry at all until the last 30 seconds of the trip. (really!) The trip home wasn't quite as easy, but we all survived.
Christian got to be the Baby Jesus in our nativity play, with Aunt Dianna as Mary.

Clara and Nathan helped distribute presents on Christmas morning.

Clara helped Aunt Mel make the traditional chocolate-covered peanut butter balls. She actually did a pretty good job rolling them. Clara had lovely hair during our visit, because Grandma, Aunt Mel, and Aunt Di all took turns trying fancy hairdos on her.

Nathan spent lots of time helping Grandpa work on the little apartment he is building next to his studio. Nathan was insistent on bringing his toolbox to Sandpoint because Grandpa might need some of his tools. Nathan helped Grandpa build two beds!

There was not much snow in Sandpoint this year, but it was just right for the kids.

Clara was brave enough to sled down the hill by herself this year.

The kids enjoyed "sledding" across the frozen pond. It was really slick and they went pretty fast when pushed.

David, Nathan, Grandpa, and Uncle Michael went ice fishing.

Aunt Dianna and Uncle Matt had a beautiful wedding reception a few days after Christmas. David and I hit the thrift stores. (The thrift stores in Sandpoint put the ones here to shame. Lots of nice kids clothes in fabulous condition for just a dollar or two.) We got some really nice school clothes for Nathan, including several pairs of pants in perfect condition...a rare and exciting find! Christian started waking up two or three times a night during our visit, and was grumpy a lot during the day. He still managed to melt Grandma's heart when he decided to smile.

We really loved our visit to Sandpoint. We always do. David's parents are so gracious and kind. I love the experiences our kids have up there that we can't give them at home. They will always have those memories. We are so grateful for all the Lord has blessed us with this past year, and we're excited see what this year brings!

birthday girl and precious boy

Christian joined us at the table this week. He is sure excited to eat with the rest of the family.

Christian smiles for the camera! I had to make sure he wore his little Christmas suit at least once in December before it got too tight. He has started giving us kisses lately. I didn't realize a 4-month-old could copy behaviors in this way. He is sure a sweet boy.

Our little princess is now three. This birthday was kind of anticlimatic for me, since I have already been thinking of her as a three-year-old for several months now. A wonderful lady in our ward made her a princess birthday cake.

Nathan was in charge of this party. He made sure we turned out the lights, sang "Happy Birthday," blew out the candles, and opened presents properly and in the correct order. We had to re-do the birthday song at his birthday party in October because apparently we did the lights and candles wrong.