Merry Christmas!

Christmas came so fast and soon was gone. I couldn't believe how fast Christmas crept up on us. I was so looking forward to the break. My sister would keep asking if we were ready for Christmas and I kept saying, "Nope!" But it came together just like it always does. The first Friday of Christmas break, Blakely and I went shopping for her Christmas presents since she only wanted clothes and didn't think I would pick out very good ones.(What!) It was a nice night, even though by 9:30 I was dragging. We enjoyed IHOP dinner and headed home. We had a whole week to enjoy off before Christmas day. We played and just enjoyed not having to be on the run. Christmas Eve, my Dad came down to spend the night with us. We had the traditional Manwaring dinner of clam chowder and I added in tomato soup(My Dad's). We watched The King was Born and visited about the Savior. The girls and my Dad played a game while I was getting everything ready and finished wrapping. I am sure the kids were dying to get up all night, but the rule is 6am. I am thinking maybe 7am next year. As soon as 6am hit we were woken up by kids. They got to open their stockings, but had to wait for Grandpa to wake up to open presents. Presents seem to be opened in record time, but I think everyone was happy with what everyone given. We enjoyed cinnamon rolls and juice for breakfast. We played with the new toys and new games all morning. We then needed to get ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's Peterson for lunch. We enjoyed seeing cousins and yummy food. We returned home to play on our new Wii and clean up.





Saturday we went back to Grandma Peterson's for more fun. I didn't think we could handle more but we did. We still had a whole another week to play and clean until New Year's. We painted Grandma Peterson's hallway while Blakely and Katelyn watched 8 kids at my house all day. Wednesday we went swimming down to 1000 springs with Chelsea, Brandi, and kids. That was pretty fun. We then went to my Dad's house for hot dogs. It was a pretty long day. Thursday we went bowling in the afternoon and then Chelsea and kids came over for a wild New Year's Eve bash. We played games, ate, and banged on pots and pans. We banged on pots and pans at about 10 pm thinking the party was winding down but the kids kept it going until about 11:30 pm. We love it when cousins come to play. New Year's Day we went to breakfast at the bishop's house. This is a 3 year tradition so far in our ward, but we do have a new bishopric.? We knew it was coming but we had to get ready for school to start. So that starting the taking down of the Christmas tree that day. We had to make sure the house was ready for Mom and kids to head back to school on Monday. This has been a nice relaxing break and I am grateful to have been surrounded by family and friends as we celebrated the birth of our Savior and welcomed in a new year. Thank you for those who helped us do this. We love you all.

Oh, Christmas Tree

Tuesday night we got our tree up. Dad picked up a tree. Yes, it is a little short, but he did a wonderful job and we better not complain or else there might be TROUBLE!Garret has been begging for a tree for a week now, so he was more then ready to go. I actually had to stop him from dragging everything out. We put up sparkling colored lights and all the old decorations. The girls organized where they all went on the tree. So now our house looks a little more like Christmas.

Garret's Six : pick up sticks

Another birthday comes again. Garret turned 6 years old on Dec. 7th. Time flies when you are having fun. Garret has been just a fun little boy to have around. He is all boy and loves to be active. He lately has been into Pokemon which I don't know how that started. He wanted a cinnammon rolls and orange rolls for breakfast.Mom had to get up early to get that done to have breakfast in bed like a king. He wanted a Pokemon cake and spaghetti for dinner. Once again a birthday falls on a school day which makes me run for my money. We quickly came home and the girls baked a second cake for Garret.(i baked one to share at school)I made dinner and Grandpa Manwaring came and brought meatballs, little smokies, ice cream, and lemons(Garret's favorite). We ate birthday dinner without Dad who ended up working late. He showed up just in time to sing to Garret. Grandma and Grandpa Peterson came over to wish him Happy Birthday which was so sweet, even if he had his head buried in a new DS game. He got a Pokemon DS game and a new Pokemon Handbook, because the old one he found at DI and totally fallen apart because he looked at it so much. Garret's due date was on my mom's birthday December 14th. She was really pushing for him to come on that day. She wanted a grandchild to share a birthday with her. Garret decided he wanted to come on Sunday, December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day) instead. Shawn was to teach Elder's quorm that morning and my water broke. So actually Garret got him out of teaching that Sunday. Garret's delivery was the best I ever had. Dr. Jeppsen and Dad were watching football while it was going on. Garret was a beautiful baby and was loved by his sisters. We always were told, "well, you finally did it right." I hope that you continue to enjoy life and stand up with good courage. Be obedient and always know we love you.

Temple Square Weekend

I decided that it was time for our kids to see the lights on Temple Square. So we made plans to go with the Bronsons. We headed down after school and checked into our hotel which was a few blocks away from temple square. I was rushing around Firday after school and at the last minute (which shouldn't have been the last minute) tried to find my winter box, but I could not. So we went without a snowsuit for Brady.(first mistake)We walked over to temple square and looked at the lights. We took pictures, but about 45 minutes into this Brady was done. So we headed back to the hotel to swim. We swam in a chilly pool for about 1 1/2 hours. We actually slept pretty good until about 5:30. I got up and worked out and then took the girls and Brady swimming again. I think it was colder the next morning as we headed to Temple Square again. We went to the Distrubution center and let the kids pick out a poster. We then went to see the Joseph Smith film and enjoyed it. Brady took a nice nap. Yeah.I am glad we got to do this because I think it is very important that we can provide spiritual experiences when ever we can. The kids seemed to enjoy it and I hope it touched their hearts. We did a very quick tour of the conference center. The kids wanted to go to The Gateway Mall, so this where it started to fall apart. 9 kids hungry and cold. Did you know the Gateway mall is an outside mall? Blakely says she did tell us this. We ate at the food court when Katelyn really wanted Golden Corral. Then it started to snow, so the parents decided it was probably time to head for home. We bid the Bronsons farewell and hit the road. It was a little scary on the freeway until Layton. We did pull off and did some quick shopping at Plato's Closet for Blakely and of course grabbed Krispy Kreme doughnuts for the ride home. We enjoyed our quick weekend even if we didn't get everyhting fit in that we wanted. We are glad that we can have these family times together, so the saying Family First stays in our children's hearts and minds.

Who's that sleeping in my closet?

Well, it has now been 3 months since something scared Katelyn enough to prompt her to sleep in our closet. She is there without fail every night. We have hugged, threatened, and bribed until finally we just gave up. I don't know how comfortable it could be sleeping on the floor like that. This week we finally may have broken through because it is now number 5 of 7 nights that she is not in our closet. She has to sleep 7 nights in a row to get the weight room turned into her bedroom.(which we have offered before.)I don't like this plan because I lose my workout room. She has to sleep in there for 7 nights and then we will buy her a bed. So it looks like we might be bed shopping this weekend. We will keep you updated.

Thanksgiving time again

This fall has flown by and as we celebrated Thanksgiving we did it by the seat of our pants. That is just how we do it lately. It started with Brady and Garret's babysitter having her baby the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and my back up babysitting needing to help at the school. So we really had to search for someone to watch the boys. Instead of going right home after school, we played with our friends and then went home working late into the night to finish my assignments for dinner at my Dad's. We lazily drove to Shawn's mom to drop off Frappe and to say hello. We then headed to Buhl. My sister and Dad had everything in good hands as we walked in and got ready to sit down for dinner. As always dinner is wonderful and over way too fast. The kids had fun playing outside and tracking mud in. We made Indian headbands and gave everyone an Indian name. I won't tell you who they named Grumpy Bear. I didn't get pictures of them with all their headbands on. We got to visit with my Dad's lady friend Terri. She was very nice. The boys worked on the retaining wall until dark and then we enjoyed wonderful pies. Blakely and Katelyn stayed down at Grandpa's with the intent that I would pick them up the next morning.
I did not go out early shopping with my friend Jamie this year. But when I went to pick up the girls we went over to the mall and shopped a little. It wasn't too bad except for the 4 kids I dragged along. My sister Kim and her family came and spent the night with us. Kim and Blakely really wanted to go to the movies so off we went. We went and saw New Moon and then Kim said let's go to another movie. So I throw caution to the wind and we did it. We then went to see The Blind Side. We really partied it up. We cleaned and played Ticket to Ride with Kim and Lampee. Katelyn and Brady loves babies, so they took good care of Luke. Hence the picture of Luke and this really is the only picture I took all weekend. Soon enough it was back to reality. Monday started back to school.

Missing: One Leatherman

Brady loves the leatherman tool. When Shawn gets home at night, Brady either takes the leatherman right our of Shawn's belt(most of the time without him knowing) or climbs up to the dryer(where Shawn puts his leatherman) and takes it. He loves to play with the pliers and grab things with it. Shawn now has lost one leatherman due to Brady's obsession. I think I need to go find a play leathermen for Christmas. THis time he had pulled my oven racks out and were playing with them.So like father like son. They both recommend you keep a leatherman on hand all the time

November Hot Dog Roast

The weather has been so nice lately, that Garret thought we needed to have a hot dog roast. He asked Dad and he agreed. So Monday night we had a hot dog roast. THe boys built up the fire and the kids just couldn't wait for the fire to burn down so they could roast hot dogs. It did cool off quickly, but it was relaxing to sit around a fire and eat outdoors. We had our pick between regular hot dogs and polish sausages. I think that it was decided that most everyone liked the polish sausages better. I didn't have big marshmellows so we roasted starbursts for dessert. They were pretty good, but could be hot and sticky. Everyone smelled like fire for the next couple days, but it was fun to have a hot dog roast out of season.

Boys in a Box

We keep looking for a way to contain the boys and this is what we came up with. Actually, the boys had emptyed a toy container and were both sitting in there watching TV and I just couldn't pass up the photo op. Garret and Brady love each other. Most of the time their first thought is of each other. They wake up and need to hug each other. I hope this continues.

Halloween 2009

I know it's been awhile but, we are slow going this fall. Here I am blogging about Halloween where we are only 1 1/2 weeks away from Thanksgiving. Oh well, here we go. The week of Halloween I was still recovering from the SWINE FLU. Just saying the name freaks people out. It was going around the schools rapidly. Anyway, enough said. The poor children of the Shawn Peterson household did not get any regular traditions of Halloween this year. Let's have a moment of silence. No carving pumpkins and no sugar cookies. We did throw together costumes for the ward's trunk or treat. Blakely came up with a girl vampire. Katelyn was Hannah Montana. Garret was a solider. Brady was a Vrrommie otherwise know as a Motorcross dude. We went to the church and enjoyed a wonderful dinner and games. Then the kids walked around gathering candy. The kids of course came home and traded candy, which may or may not be fair. And the questions remains, do you let the kids eat as much candy as they want and get the candy out of your house or let them only have a few pieces a day. Well, we did the first. I don't know if we did it right but oh well.

What Brady loves right now!

Brady loves to color. If someone else is drawing or coloring he has to get in the thick of things. We have had a few drawings on the wall, door, or body. We hope that when he had to scrub the door with his Dad he will not do it again. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

October Snow

We woke up Sunday morning to snow. It was such a heavy and wet snow. It snowed pretty much all day Sunday. The kids were just begging to go out to play in it. Finally, the parents relented and the kids played until they had blue fingers and toes. Katelyn and Eva made a snow dinosaur and Garret and Will made a snow dinosaur.(my camera died before I could take a picture of Garret and Will's) The snow was gone by Tuesday but it was nice to see snow, but it was telling us winter is just around the corner.

Apple Pressing!

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It is that time again, when we get to pull out the apple press and make yummy apple cider. Well, it just so happens that everyone bugged out on us this year, so we recrutied Kim and her family for the adventure. So rude that Grandpa Manwaring went to Kentucky and Blake's family moved to Michigan. We picked apples Saturday morning and then pressed apples all afternoon as we listened to conference. In all we made 41 gallons of apple juice. The morning we went over to pick apples in the freezing cold. All the kids picked apples until we had filled all our containers. We headed home with the kids wanting ice cream after freezing outside, don't quite get that. We got home getting ready to press apples all afternoon. As always the younger kids usually have fun for alittle while and then they lose interest. Katelyn was our babysitter for Luke and the rest of the kids in the house. Blakely stayed outside with us, manning the bottles. I kept reminding her to be careful in pouring the juice into bottles, but soon enough Mom hits the bucket on the table and spills juice out of the bucket. We thought about making applesauce and pie filling, but by 6:30 we decided just to juice everything. I still would like to try pie filling, so maybe next weekend. We have been offered more apples so maybe Shawn and I will juice some more. It is nice to have yummy apple juice in our freezer.

Mom, Can I keep it?

Sunday morning brought excitment around our house before church as Blakely saw that our pack of dogs had a baby rabbit. She and the rest of the kids ran outside and rescued this little bunny. She brought it in the house and had Shawn check it out. We got a shoebox and put the bunny in it. The kids of course couldn't resist touching it and watching it. After church the bunny was still in the box and seemed to be doing okay. Brady even brought out his stuffed animals to watch over the bunny while we were gone to church. When we got back from visiting Grandmas Sunday night the bunny was out of the box. So we moved the bunny to a bigger box and fed it some water and corn husks. By the next night it was getting pretty active so it was decide by the parents that it was time for the bunny to return to its home so Shawn drove out to the field and release the bunny saying, Go, Free!

Girls Day Out

I have been promising the girls a day of shopping for school clothes. So Saturday we headed to Boise just the three girls. Shawn tried to talk them into Utah(More malls), but Blakely wanted to go to Boise. Saturday morning we woke up early and headed out. It made me laugh as the girls walked into the mall. We are country bumpkins for sure. That my girls feel like they have never really been to a mall of that magnitude. They thought the escalators were the funnest. We shopped and looked around that mall for 5 hours.(I meant to get pictures of different outfits)Blakely enjoyed shopping a little too much. Katelyn had to be convinced to shop because all she had eyes for was the Disney Store. When we were looking for shoes, Katelyn wanted high heels and her mother had to keep saying that the shoes she was trying on were not "age appropriate". (She did not appreciate me)We then headed to Red Robin Yum! for lunch/dinner. We hit the outlet mall on the way out of town and headed home getting home about 9pm. They had to show their Dad each outfit. On Sunday we headed to both Grandmas to have another fashion show. What a day!

Back to School 2009-2010

We now have been in school 3 weeks. So I guess it is time to update the blog. Blakely is now in 7th grade, Katelyn in 4th grade, Garret in Kindergarten, and Mom is still in first grade. Blakely of course loves every minute of school. She was bummed that she got a bottom locker again this year, because she is always getting hit by books. She is still in band playing the tenor sax.(Of course Mom is on her about praciticing) She is now 5'4.
Katelyn has Mrs. Osterhout for her teacher. She is enjoying school, but for some reason since school has started to sleep in Shawn and I's closet because she feels safer. She sneaks in every night somehow; Mom and Dad are getting tired of it. Her very best friend Emily is not in her class so that has been a hard thing, but two special girls Rachel and Rebecca are in her class and she has enjoyed being around these special spirits.
Garret has been waiting all summer to go to Kindergarten. He is going to kindergarten in the afternoon and has Mrs. Mendenhall as his teacher. He is enjoys every day so far.
I have a class of 26 kids. My first day was crazy as 5 kids showed up not on my list. I had 29 children the first day and then with a few switches all of us now have 26 kids. I think for some reason Wednesday is our class' best day. I am starting off the school heavily loaded as I am taking a math class every Tuesday until 9pm. Blakely and Shawn pick up the slack. Only 7 more weeks to go until the class is done.
Brady is continued to be watched by Tara, who is a wonderful lady. She is expecting a baby at Thanksgiving, so I am sure he will love being around a baby. (He loves babies.)