Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. Whatever! Katelyn started to get up around 2 am and then around 4 am. I think they stayed up until 6am. We had told them that this was the earliest they could open presents. We all got up and opened up our stockings and looked at our Santa gifts. We then tried to settle down and open other gifts.

opening Santa gifts

I had found a bunch o f "I wonder why" books and gave these to the kids. Not a big hit. The kids each received a DVD. Not a big hit with some of us.

Blakely received a new mp3 player and lots of clothes.

Katelyn received High School Musical things . She was not very excited about it at all.

Garret received transformers and legos. Brady found a remote control truck just for him. It was a very nice Christmas. We made pancakes for breakfast. And of course, it is also MY BIRTHDAY. Shawn brought out a wonderful chocolate cake and sang to me for this special day. We relaxed and built legos, added songs to the mp3 player, and got ready to go over to Grandma Peterson's house. Shawn had scraped out our driveway once in the morning, but by the time we were ready to go it was blown and snowed in again. We only have the van right now, so no four wheel drive. I was ready to turn around by the end of our road. We kept trudging through. Katelyn squealed everytime we hit a drift. We made it to Grandma's house safely. We enjoyed a nice dinner and the kids were spoiled by Grandpa and Grandma. We headed home early enough to get home before almost dark. We watched a Christmas movie and played some more with toys until they fell asleep after their long day. Merry Christmas!!!!

Christmas Eve

The Fearless Trio

Underneath the Christmas tree

The last few years we have gotten together with my brother's family on Christmas Eve. We enjoy wonderful clam chowder and share the Christmas story. The weather looked bad and the forecast was not in favor so we decided we would stay home this year. We enjoyed Cafe Rio shredded pork burritos. We read the Christmas story and then watched the Living Scriptures The King is Born. Garret by that time had fallen asleep. The girls woke him back up to open the much awaited Christmas Eve gift. We quickly opened them and got into our new jammies. We brushed teeth and sent the kids off to bed. Shawn and I then started the real fun ......... Which included tromping out to the barn to bring in Christmas presents that I had hidden outside. The wind and snow detoured us only slightly.

BLESSED!

Garret's Stitches

driver's side

passenger's side

straight on

Well, this post is not a fun post to write about. Coming home from piano lessons Thursday night the kids and I were in a car accident. We were driving down the road heading home when a truck went through a stop sign. There was no way for me to stop in time with the ice and snow. We hit the truck straight on. When we finally stopped we had totally turned around. Kids were crying and in shock. Luckily, everyone was in their seatbelts and carseats. I jumped out and tried to assess what was going on. It was all very surreal. Garret, Katelyn, and I received the worst of the injuries. I had let Garret move to the front with his booster seat when we left piano lessons because it was such a short way home. (Stupid, I know.) So thankfully, the airbags did not deploy or else we would have had much more serious injuries. Garret cut open his chin. Katelyn has some whiplash. I have a sore and bruised knee from hitting the dashboard. Blakely kept her cool so well. She did so well trying to get Brady to calm down and to keep him calm. I had not brought my cell phone with me. So, I first sent her to the nearest house to call 911. The other driver was slow to get out. He was hurt also. The house happened to be a gal in the other ward. She was the first angel. Next, two ladies from the other ward bringing scouts home came right by and jumped right out to help. They helped me calm and cover up Garret. They let me borrow their cell phone to call Shawn and tell him to come. The first responder was also from our ward. He helped us assess everything. We then took all the kids into the house to stay warm. We got through the ordeal with lots of help from these wonderful people. After we had been looked at by the paramedics, I decided to send Shawn into the hospital with Garret. The rest of the kids and I came home. Katelyn was quite weepy and teary all night. We did take her into our doctor the next morning to get her checked out. She is doing fine and seems to be okay and then she starts to feel the soreness in her neck. It kinds of goes in cycles. Garret has been quite sober but is starting to get back to his normal self. We have been blessed by the concern of the members in our ward. We don't know the outcome of our vehicle yet. It sure looks totaled, but we will see. We are all bumped and bruised up, but doing fine. It is quite a thing when an accident happens. It really makes you stop and think.

Anniversary Get Away!

Shawn and I's 14th wedding anniversary is this next week. Since, we finally have a kids that are more self sufficient again I told Shawn that we were going away for the night. Grandma Peterson graciously agreed to watch the kids while we went away. We headed out after work Friday night and went to Odgen. We went out to Olive Garden and then did some holiday shopping until midnight. We found some great deals. The next morning we got up and went to the temple. We then hit the stores again. I felt that we found some deals that morning. We had lunch at the Texas Roadhouse. Good food! We walked around the mall not really finding much but lots of crowds. Shawn was a good sport shopping with me even though I know he hated every minute of it. He kept saying that it was my deal. He was there just for the food. We headed home. It was a such a nice night away. Maybe next time we will need to be gone longer. (I'm sure Grandma would love that!)

Garret's Birthday

Garret turned 5 on December 7th. The night before his birthday Shawn and I were going to go get his present. Garret decided he wanted to come with us. We took him out to dinner and went to Wally World to pick out his gift. He has been wanting a remote control motorcycle, but of course Katelyn was telling him what he wanted. He kept saying that he wanted a webkinz. He also has wanted a Superman cake, but Katelyn had him convinced he really wanted a Webkinz cake. So, we found a remote control motorcycle and a transformer sweatshirt. He kept hiding his eyes telling us not to show him what his present was. The next day we had a wonderful dinner of lasanga and a superman cake. Grandpa Manwaring came and Grandpa and Grandma Peterson came up for the celebration. We have so enjoyed Garret in our home. He is such a fun boy to be around.

No more!!!

Well, I think we have done it! Brady lost his pacifier at the babysitter's house on Wednesday. That was the last one we knew about. We decided to try the night without one. We made it through the night. Brady kept searching the diaper bag and underneath his crib for the pacifier. We haven't see a pacifier so I guess we are done with it. I hope...... He really has done pretty good without it. I was planning on waiting until this summer to break him of the pacifier, but I guess I will not look a gift horse in the mouth.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Things have slowed down a bit now. So, I can blog! We had a half of day of school on Wednesday. We came home to start the traditional frappe and salads. Blakely has a science and social studies teacher who is an avid Star Wars fan. He even puts extra credit questions on the test concerning these movies. So anyway, she decided we needed to have a Star Wars marathon. We borrowed Episodes one through five from Grandma Peterson. Wed. evening we started episode one. I think we enjoyed the movie watching. We finished episode five by the weekend. We will just have to find episode six. Thursday found us at Grandma Peterson's having a wonderful dinner. The kids played hard with their cousins. Katelyn made up a play about the Pilgrims and Indians. The cousins acted it out. It ended in a wrestling match between the Indians and Pilgrims. I will try to load some video of this. My battery died just a few minutes in.
I decided this year to join in the shopping festivities. I went with my good friend Jamie at 4am. Crazy, I know. We stood in line at Walmart for 50 minutes and walked fast with the rest of the them as we tried to find our bargains. We returned home tired. Shawn just shook his head as I pulled in and he pulled out. And no I am not done with my Christmas shopping.
Friday afternoon we went back over to Grandma's to hang with the partying Las Vegas cousins. We went to the firework display in Christmas City (Rupert) with them. Saturday, we cleaned up and then took the kids over to the movie, Bolt. I really enjoyed the movie. Shawn on the other hand got kicked out the the theatre. I know, I know. I tried to tell him to be quiet, but he would not listen. (Really he was asked to leave. Brady was wandering and he was following him. Brady was to wild and the attendant asked them to leave.) Monday brought us back to reality. But JUST FOR THREE MORE WEEKS. We get out Dec. 19th. Hip Hip Hooray!!!!

Funny Face

I have been trying to capture this face of Brady's for the last couple weeks. Everytime you inhale sharply or raise your eyebrows he copies you. He raises his eyebrows and tightens his little face up. So of course when they do something funny we make them do it again and again.

FHE

Katelyn had FHE tonight. She had a lesson on service. She told us a story and then made up her own board game using her High school Musicial game board. She wrote her own questions and scenarios about service. I thought that was pretty creative. We made parfaits for treats using the new jello pudding Turtle flavor. Not bad.....

Vampires,Darth Vader,Hippies, and Lions oh my!

The trunk or treat party was on Wednesday night this year. Katelyn was a scary vampire. We sprayed her hair black. We had black on everything. We did not put black hairspray in her hair for the school party on Friday. Blakely wanted to be a hippie. We went to DI and and to find the perfect outfit but in the end she changed it. Garret really wanted to be green lantern from the justice league, but had to settle for Darth Vader. He was a good sport. Brady was tired and cranky but still let us dress him up as a lion. We enjoyed the ward party but were glad to get home. Halloween night we had a small Halloween get together with another family. We played pass the pumpkin and freeze dance. We ate pizza and iced pumpkin sugar cookies. It was fun but everyone fell asleep before Dad was finished talking. (Geez, Dad) Happy Halloween to all.

Carving Pumpkins

Well, it only took us a week to get our pumpkins carved after we got them. The girls decided to paint theirs at the last minute. Two ruined shirts later..... We have three painted pumpkins and one carved pumpkin. I started carving Brady's and made Shawn finish it because he is much more artistic.

High School Musicial Mania!

High School Musicial 3 came out! Blakely, Katelyn, and myself went down to Twin to see the movie with our cousin Emily. Emily is crazy for High School Musicial also. She wanted to go and see it for her birthday party. It took Katelyn about 20 minutes into the movie to calm down because she was so excited to see it. We enjoyed the music and songs. Now we will just have to wait until it comes out on DVD.

Apple Cider Time Again!

Well, it is that time again for the second annual apple pressing day. The Burley Petersons and the Filer Manwarings and Grandpa Manwaring got together to press apples. We waited longer this year because it was just not getting cold enough to pick apples and then 2 feet of snow later; most of the apples were frozen and mushy. Perfect for applesauce and apple cider. We picked apples Wed. night after school among a gander of geese. (I forgot my camera.) I picked apples with the kids Fri. night (I forgot my camera.) Brady got stung by a bee and Garret fell out of the tree, but we needed more apples. Saturday morning we arrived at Blake and Josie's and they were already going. We forged ahead. The kids hung in there until lunchtime and then they disappeared leaving the adults to finish. Shawn caught his finger in the press and ripped part of his nail out of the nailbed. The hornets buzzed around us. BUT we made almost 50 gallons of apple cider. They are safely tucked away in the freezer. We will love it come February. (I forgot my camera.)

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas....What!!!!!

When they said it was going to snow .....IT SNOWED. We woke up Saturday morning to about 6 inches of snow it continued to snow all day and all night. By Sun. morning we had close to 20 inches of snow. They canceled church for the day. I don't think we can hold out hope for school closing on Monday. Darn! Saturday the kids played and played in the snow. We decided that it was time for the air conditioners to come out of the windows and the bikes to be put away. Later that afternoon we pulled the kids around behind the snowmobile.(Thanks Grandpa) We played until dark outside. Sun. morning we had to hold the kids inside until it warmed up a little, but they still went outside to early. Shawn is still gone helping clean out driveways with the tractor. So we will see what the rest of Sunday brings......... Blakely is posing like a snow mermaid.

Bowling Fun

We got home Friday night from school and decided to go bowling. As we all know this is Shawn's favorite activity in the world and we can only convince him to go maybe once a year. So I was surprised when he said let's go! We jumped at the chance. We had fun and no one cried, so that was a bonus.

You might be a red neck...........

You might be a red neck if you ever have taken a ride in a tractor bucket. I know that qualifies every Manwaring sibling and grandchild. We were out helping Shawn move cows around and the kids wanted a tractor ride. So we threw them in and away they went. Brady loves riding in the tractor with his Dad. He even gets in it without him. We sure love the country life.(most of the time)

FUNKY DAY @ DJHS

Blakey had spirit week at school. There was spirit day,funky day,pajama day, and senior citizen day. This particular day, Blakely wanted 70's clothes. She preceded to my closet looking for them. I quickly told her that I was born in the 70's so none of my clothes would fit that era. I didn't know whether to cry or laugh. This is the combination of clothes we came up with. Pajama day she wore my robe that Grandma Haws made for all the Manwaring girls(Remember that Vicki, Beth , & Kim) She got her picture taken for the yearbook. Mom however did not get that picture taken.

Hip Hip Hooray!!!!!!!!

We have kept trying to Garret to ride his bike without training wheels, but he has liked the safety of the wheels just fine. Well, we were just hangin out talking to Uncle Greg who had come over to ride and I was giving Brady bike rides around and said to Garret I bet you could do it. So he got on the red bike and we started off. He kept going and going and with a few tries he was pretty much riding by himself. We are so excited!!!!! Everyone had to come out and encourage and tell him he was doing awesome. And of course we had to get it on photo and video. He just as to practice how to stop without falling. Now it will be a 50 he'll want, because we have kept telling him," How can you ride a motorcycle, if you can't ride a regular bike without training wheels?" Until I figure out how to turn this it will be sideways..... so all you computer people tell me how to do it.

Containing the Child!

Brady loves to put himself inside Garret's barn. When he did this last night I just had to take a few pictures of him playing inside of it. Most of the time when Garret is playing with the barn, Brady has to be inside of it. Of course, this does not always make Garret happy.

Back to School

Well, Here we go again. This year brings us all to new schools. Mom started to teach first grade atDeclo Elementary. So that brought Blakely and Katelyn over to Declo. Many tears were shed by Katelyn the night before school started, but she was a real trooper mainly thanks to EMily. She is in the 3rd grade with Mrs. Wrigley. Blakely starts the dreaded junior high. After three days of schuedule changes I think we got it right. she has signed up for band. MY CLass consists of 22 students, 15 of them being boys.Wow! I think it will be a good class. Garret and Brady are also being troopers staying with a gal named Tara.She distracts Brady every morning with fish and kittens. One week down, many to go.

Sunday Drive

We went for a Sunday drive a Sunday or two ago. We went to the Oakley Resorivor. I have never been there and was amazed how big it was. We walked down to the water's edge and let the kids wade. We found crawfish. When we started out for this drive Blakely wanted nothing to do with it. You can tell that by the end she was just fine with it. We returned home to well done Barb-que ribs for dinner. All in all a good drive.

Getting Rid of Puppies

Well, we went to Walmart today with three puppies. (We wanted to take four but there was so much weeping and waling, we just took three) Anyhow, within 15 minutes all three puppies were gone. Another family wanting another puppy. We stood in awe that they were gone so quickly and said we should have brought more. Once we got back to the car, the tears started to roll from Katelyn wanting the puppies back. We tried to decide whether it was worth the gas to get the other puppies. All the way home the kids were saying, "No ,you can't take my puppy," but Next Saturday here we come. Grandpa if you want one you better come get it. !!!!!!

Manwaring Family Reunion

We DID IT!!! All the Brothers and Sisters got together in the first time in three years. We had family pictures, we went to the Twin Falls Temple open house, ate good food, swam, slid, dived, climbed, and partied it up. Thanks to all who worked so hard.

Puppies!!!

As you can see our dog, Lucy had 7 puppies. It is now time to give them away. I told Shawn it was all him when it came time, but who gets to do it.....ME! The kids will really miss them. They have had fun playing with them. Everyone has their favorite and of course it is different. No one wants to get rid of their puppy, but we CAN'T have 8 dogs. Because we all know puppies grow up to be dogs.

I'm starting to BLOG!

I am doing it!! Hopefully this works.