Where has the time gone?

As we begin December I find myself, as usual, behind on everything and wondering where all my time is going?

Madeline turned 9 years old in November. We had a fun birthday lunch celebration and she had a great day. Favorite gifts include: a CTR ring from Grandparents, a mini Rebecca doll from Grandparents, and her bitty baby dolls got a visit to the hospital and came back just like new! Madeline is a wonderful girl who is in such a growth spurt it's frustrating for me to try to keep her in clothes that fit! Shoes, pants, dresses that all fit 2 months ago and still have A LOT of wear left in them are TOO SMALL! WHAT? I know Savanna and Emma will get some wear out of them but it will be years before that happens. Oh well. Madeline's greatest challenge continues to be controlling her anger and staying at a good even pace. We sure love her.

Clark is now one year old. We had a little party for Clark as well that was great fun. He loves to eat and went right at the cake and was extremely messy just like a one year old should be! He is adorable and we are all smitten with him. He is ridiculously attached to his mother which can sometimes make her crazy but hey, we have been through a lot together so I understand. I think.

Thanksgiving was fun, packed with family and many activities including dinner, christmas tree cutting, games, a movie and football. My mom put on this wonderful dinner for 30 people or something like that. It was all delicious! My dad set up the go-go gadget table which extended out into two rooms, it was great!

We all had fun hunting for the perfect trees this year and the kids loved being in the mountains.

Thanksgiving is a great holiday and I have really tried to keep it with me. Yet I find that one day I have this huge list of things I am thankful for and the next all of those things are masked by the screaming children and the realities of my daily life. Sad to admit, but true indeed. This sunday listening to the First Presidency Christmas devotional I found myself being described and realized that too often I have life all coordinated and working and don't always stop to feel it. Good reminders.

After Thanksgiving we were on to the School broadway music show and piano recital. We made it through all of that in flying colors and now await the return of any temperature above zero. Seriously. I feel like I am in Rexburg ID again in the dead of winter and it's NOT very fun! This makes the carpool pickup line at the school take over an hour. There are no words for how that makes me feel. yea.

On the bright side, Apple Computers has heard my plea for help with a constantly crashing computer and will be shipping me a replacement soon. So all my photos of above mentioned performances will have to wait the arrival of the new computer. I hope I can smoothly get all info off my backup hard drive and find any other photos I may have lost in recent crashes and get them all restored to the new computer. Whew! I just know I will love it when all this is over.

Stay warm, snuggle up with a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy December!