Job and Lona participated in a soccer camp over the break.  It was everyday, one hour of conditioning and then somedays they played soccer and some days they didn't.  Because Job and Lona are different ages they had different time slots.  Some days Lona would be at the sportsplex from 2 to 4 and Job would be there from 3 to 5 or vice versa or Job would be there from 2 to 4 and Lona would be there from 3 to 4.  I thought that it was going to be only three days a week but it was three days the first week and then everyday the following.  I made it through that.  The day after Christmas Lona had a tournamnet in the morning.  Then the next day Job had a tournment in the morning and John that evening.  Unfortunately I don't have photos of Job playing soccer.  I would just stand up and yell.  He did good and had some assists and gives and gos (passing the ball to another player then run up the field to take the pass back).
Isaac on the other hand has been going to a chess meeting everyday.  He's been the only one out of his group to make it and so has had an hour a day of one on one coaching.  He spent the mornings reading his chess books, and moving pieces on a chess board then was coached and then spent the afternoons playing online chess games and working on tactics.  His friend would come over and Isaac would try out the moves on the chess board with him.  It was a varied Christmas break.

 

I always have in my mind how I want Christmas day to unfold.  I have these visions of perfectly dressed children who are kind and laughing and excited.  I have an expectation that when I rise from bed the house will be clean and after the presents are opened we'll pick up the mess and be ready to get on with the day in a clean house and maybe even have some people over to play games with.  That is my idea.  Reality:  The kids are up way to early and into their stockings.  I figure that's what stockings are for, to entertain the kids until there is nice light to open presents.  I awake with a rat's nest in my hair and puffy eyes from not enough sleep.  I barely drag myself downstairs and bumble into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. Then with coffee in hand I hunt for my camera.  I have to say that I'm glad I'm the one with the camera because I know how I look Christmas morning.  The kids can pull off pjs and hair sticking up but I don't look that good.  Traditionally John reads about Jesus' birth from the Bible complete with his voices for the different people.  We love it.  Then the kids open their presents.  I have to say that it was hard to shop for Isaac this year.  He's at the age where he doesn't want toys except for electronics.   He received my old touch and a new diabetes pump.  I think he was more excited about the touch.  He uses it, not the same way I do.  Job wore his rollerblade backpack all day.  He kept bumping into things with it.  I finally made him take it off.  Lona is obsessed with Doctor Who this year and her favorite was a sonic screwdriver pen and her Dr Who shirt.  Reality about the house, we don't have places for some of the gifts so the house stays a mess.  Someday I'll get that figured out, but not this year.  I spent the day reading books and putting together a puzzle while the kids enjoyed their stuff.  John has been cooking ever since he's been home on vacation.  When he's ready to eat he just jumps into the kitchen and starts cooking.  I haven't done much in the kitchen except to clean up and Christmas day was that way as well.

This is our third year in this production.  I didn't realize it but Dancing for Joy has done this production for 10 years.  I have to say that it has totally replaced the Nutcracker for me.  I like the story of the nutcracker but I think that this story has a power that the Nutcracker doesn't.  It is so moving and emotional.  We've seen it three times now and each and every time John and I cry.  It gets to the core of us.  Oh we love watching Lona dance and we get excited to see her but it's the story that holds us.  I can't imagine Christmas with out this ballet production.
Lona was an Angel again this year but this time she was one of the older girls.  There were two of them and they had some special parts.  The dance was essentially the same as last year.  Lona and Grace knew the dance already so Grace came out and danced with the Angel Gabrielle before the other Angels.  She did a fantastic job!  Then the rest of the Angels came out and did their part which was so graceful.  Then there was another time that Lona and Grace danced with Gabrielle before their dance ended.  It is fun to watch her perform and I think that her Dad is a wee bit proud of her.
We attended the Sunday performance and unfortunately the Seahawks were playing at the same time.   Isaac needed John's phone. As soon as the curtain came down, he would grab John's phone to check the game. I think there were many dads doing the same thing. John said that at intermission the talk in the bathroom was how the Hawks were doing.







I helped out backstage Saturday night and the sheep and donkeys were my undoing.  It's been 7 years since I had a three year old.  Getting the donkeys to stay out from under the mirrors was nearly impossible.  They were in their "stables".  I was waiting for a mirror to break.  Then we were told that the donkeys were on one side and two of the took off, one was still getting her ballet slipper on and the boy looked at me while we were chasing down the two and said, "I peed my diaper."  The grand finale was about to happen and the donkeys were on the loose.  We catch up to the other two, and the boy decides to head out on stage.  Luckily the shepherds came by and I asked them to grab that donkey.  We get lined up, I catch a glimpse of the last donkey to arrive backstage when I'm told we were on the wrong side.  So we "herd" the donkeys back to the other side of the stage when they decide it's time to go out.  I tell you, keeping sheep and donkeys together is a huge job.  I hear just then the boy say he's done, he wants to go home.  Finally it's their turn and they go out on stage but the boy heads to his mom and dad instead.  But it was almost over and the sheep and donkeys give it a light hearted touch to an emotional heart wrenching rendition of the true Christmas story.

I love how these "stars" where watching the older girls - the shepherds and angels, like one day they might get to do that.  Passing the torch.

When I was 9 or 10 years old and we were living in the Salt Lake City Valley my Mom decided to make a gingerbread house with one of her friends at Christmas time.  They built these beautiful houses after rolling out the dough and baking.  Then they decorated the houses with all sorts of candies.  At least that is what I remember.  After Christmas my brother and I tore into the house and ate it all up.  I think that I was told later, much later that my Mom glued it together with elmer's glue because the frosting wouldn't hold.  I'm not sure if that was true or not.  We ate it anyway and I don't remember it tasting funny.  We've tried the ginger bread house here at home with my kids.  My gingerbread doesn't work all that great and to get the kids to roll out the dough and wait for it to be cooked and cooled and have it fit together doesn't work so great.  My friend Marie has mentioned one year that Costco sells a gingerbread kit.  It comes put together - all you have to do is decorate it.  It comes with frosting and candies and even a pure sugar snowman.  So we've done that the last few years.  This year I bought the kit from Costco and then found one at Trader Joes so picked that up too.  When we opened the advent card about the gingerbread house Lona was so excited.  The boys not so much.  I figured the boys could work on one together since they don't stay focused on it too long.  Lona picked out the Costco house because it was preassembled and the Trader Joe one wasn't.  She looked at the box and came up with a plan and worked on it and worked on it and worked on it.  The boys are in the middle of construction.  They mixed up the frosting and put the pieces together.  Finally after the frosting because a thick pile of glue they were coherced into finishing their house. 

busted!

I love Reach Out.  It's an event put on by the employees of BP.  BP doesn't sponsor it, it is employee driven.  The group collects names of families in need in the county which are suggested by the employees.  Then they contact the families and find out what they need and who are all part of their family.  The employees donate items and or money.  The items not donated are purchased from a store, food items are picked up and delivered to a gym.  Volunteers come in and wrap and sort presents.  Once the presents are wrapped and sorted according to family, then the packages are double checked to make sure everything matches up to the master list.  Another night, families come in and sort food into boxes for each family.  Usually families receive 6 large boxes of food items as well as items needed to run a house such as soap, laundry detergent, deodorant, toilet paper.  The amount given to each family is determined by the number of people in the family.  After the food is sorted and the presents are placed with the boxes then they are loaded into people's trucks along with perishables such as turkeys to be delivered. Sometimes we make it to the present wrapping, sometimes to the food sorting.  Last year we just couldn't go.  The year before I took my Dad and he was amazed.  This year it was just Job, Lona and I who could help wrap presents.  I really think that it is important to learn that others are not as fortunate as us and we can help out.  It started as just one lady placing a large tub outside a building asking for donations for one family and it grew into a reach out to the community.  One person can make a difference.  What else can we do?


The boxes in the background are food that is waiting to be sorted.

It's that time of year. I have no idea where the year went. It seems like I was typing Christmas posts from last year just yesterday. It's coming to a close fast and I just want it to slow down.  Having two kids in school doesn't help. Not only do I have to keep track of activity schedules but there are school schedules too. Job has come home for the afternoons because he needs a challenge in math.  He's just ready for much more. He has been going to the Math Olympiad after school and that's good for him.  He had to figure something out in base 6 so we skipped ahead and learned base 2 and from there any other base number just follows along the same rules. Anyhow, Lona went to her piano lessons and was reminded of the recital that was scheduled way back in September. I think I read the letter and just didn't write down the recital I don't know why. Well then she was put on the spot about not being there and I didn't have my calendar with me and knew that we had dance that night so we just weren't going to make it. I thought about and thought about it and decided that it was picture night at dance and I don't buy pictures anyway so why not skip it and just do the piano recital. I'm glad we did. It was great to see all the kids play and there were so many variations of jingle bells. I marked music that I like and am hoping that Lona likes some of that music too. After all, it's so much harder to play music if you don't like it. She was so nervous. 





Today wasn't that great as far as parenting goes. One got up early to finish homework after working on it for almost 6 hours. He did about 4 hours last night and then another 2 this morning, missed the bus because I told him that he had to finish it. Turns out that he had to work on science too.  Well, I looked at what he did, it was due almost a week ago. I kept asking him about his science and he'd tell me that his teacher had it. Then I looked at the grade and he got a zero! Really, why? Well his teacher had it and he just got it back. That's what I was told. His teacher had it from November 30th to now?  Yep. So we worked on it and finished it and then I drove him to school yelling at him the whole way. Wrote a note to the teacher about him getting a zero and not understanding it. Told him he wasn't going to school that day but had to turn everything in.  He came home and worked on two math assignments and then read a whole book because I told him he couldn't play computer until Tuesday.  While we were at soccer training camp, his science teacher called. Turns out Job did have his science before the due date and he turned in nothing. Then the teacher had him go to study hall to work on it.  What I saw in the morning that I had him erase was the effort he put in during study hall. Now I need to apologize to the teacher. We are trying to stay on top of this but I needed to handle the situation better.  I needed to keep my cool. I needed not to lose it because I felt horrible the rest of the day and then lost it with my husband. We are switching from a paper calendar to a electronic calendar but I'm having a hard time with that. I keep trying but it is so much easier to write it down than to type it in.  I like being able to see a week at a time rather than just dots under the day of the month. John is able to see what's going on during the day instead of calling me and asking but I'm just not in the habit of looking at the touch. I go downstairs and look at the calendar and then mentally go through my day. It's just not there anymore. 

A couple times a year I set up the "studio" work with a flash which I'm starting to have aha moments with and make my family pose.  I became the first victum I mean subject.  Armed with my tripod, one studio light, my on-camera flash and my remote I snapped some photos, repositioned, snapped some more, read an article, snap even more photos, turn the flash, made plans and read some more.  Then I started editing them.  I decided that I liked the black and white versions of most of them better than the color.  They seem more moody and emotional.  I've always been drawn to black and white photos.  There's a richness and depth to them that is enhanced without the color.  I'm still working on the conversion aspect of it.  To quote on of my favorite contemporary photographers "Make your blacks black and your whites white."  David DuChemin.  I think he might have been quoting someone else.  So one of my goals is to not have muddy black and whites but to have that contrast.  It is a work in progress.  Most of the photos are of me.  I sat the longest and work the hardest for the photos and well I'm not in many of the other photos so this was my chance.  Isaac's little friend photo bombing our photo.  This was really the only photo of Isaac that I got.  He's get "too" old to pose for me.  Just wait for his senior photos.  We'll have some years to make up.

doesn't he look excited?

I really wonder how much longer I can get Isaac to participate in some of our advent activities.  The activities so far have been decorate the tree, make cookies, ornaments and treats, read Christmas stories, send Christmas cards and others.  For the ornaments this year, I ordered these really cool snowglobe type things from the internet.  It came in a package of three which meant one for each child.  I also picked up an easy paper ornament kit from Micheals.  I thought we'd start with the easy ornament and work up to the snowglobe stuff.  Yeah the easy wasn't so easy. The buttons were too small and the baker's twine started to unravel but we perservered.  We had about 45 minutes to complete all of it as a group before we went our seperate ways to different activities.  We had Christmas carols playing in the background and in my mind it would be a Currier and Ives type of moment.  Who am I kidding.  We are so not that.  There was a whole lot of teasing and laughing at my expense I might add.  By the time I got everything ready and started helping kiddos with their stuff we had about 10 minutes.  I snapped a few photos and then it was a whirlwind getting out the door.  Sometimes I think that we are more of a Caddy Shack "You're going to take what you get Spalding and like it" kind of family than a sweet Sound of Music family.  Hmm I better adjust my ideals to match reality more.  I wonder what my kids are going to remember about Christmas. 

Hot cocoa is a must for decorating

missed him by that much

This year we had just our family for decorating the tree and everyone was home for it.  It's an advent activity.  Isaac was more interested in the hot cocoa than in the decorating (I'm thinking manager - Dilbert style), Job and Lona got into it and John does the most important job; putting the star on the tree.  We only had one casuality and the dog didn't even move. I place the tree on a small table so that it looks bigger someday I'm getting a slim unlit 9ft tree.  I don't want a lit one because if one light goes then you have a problem. Last year after Christmas I purchased a artificial tree bucket to hold the tree.  I was so tired of fighting with the red metal one.  This one is sturdy and I love the rustic look.  You just can't see it in the photo.   After the tree is up, I rearrange the ornaments so they aren't clustered or in a position to fall and break and then I spend about 30 minutes photographing the tree.  I prop up the camera or place it on a tripod and then use an aperature value of 18 or so, an ISO of 100 and then a long shutter speed so that I can get the starbursts of the lights.  It just makes it seem to twinkle for me.  I like the bokeh effect of using a wide open aperture and the blobs of light too but for a different effect.