Our Christmas Project

(Can you tell I've stayed home from church with a sick little girl?? I finally have time to update my blog...)

Santa required a little help pulling off one of Mary's presents this year. She's been wanting a bed for her dolls. We've considered stealing my sister's old one that is still at my parents' house, but then granddaughters couldn't play with it when they visit. We've seen a few in Target before, but either they look really cheap or they're like $40, which seems extremely outrageous for a doll bed.

So one day in like October or November I decided to go to a nearby thrift store. I certainly didn't have a doll bed in mind. I was looking for some good, cheap clothes for the kids and maybe a crockpot for me. (Mine is falling apart and is frankly on the big side for my family.) As I was wandering around with Adam I noticed this little toy cradle thing for $3.43. It was plain white with these huge primary colored balloons on each end. (Sorry, I didn't think about a before picture until about 2 seconds ago.)

So since I've never repainted anything I got advice from my friend Katie who's quite experienced and this sort of thing. So we knew we had to sand, prime, and then paint this thing to make it fancy enough for my girl.

It takes a bit of trickery really when your 5-year-old only has morning kindergarten. Obviously you can't let your 5-year-old see it and then not be confused or figure out the Santa secret if he sees you painting a bed that his sister gets from Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. So we'd take Alex to school in the morning and hurry and sand it or prime it or paint it with one coat or so at a time then let it dry and then bag it up before he was picked up. It took at least 2 weeks to get it done, but it turned out pretty good.

Then I found these stickers at Dollar Tree that are actually designed for decorating walls and such, but they work well on doll cradles too. So I bought a couple sets, and Santa let her make her own design.

Here's what we have now...

She put stickers all over that bed, but she still had a bunch left that she used to decorate her room.

We also hung some little lights from her ceiling.

So instead of getting doing one project for Mary for Christmas, we actually got two done. She really wanted something more than plain white walls, but I've got no time to paint (and very little desire frankly) so now she's happy with her new room. She's even moved the butterflies around a few times. Plus Dollar Tree has several more styles of stickers so if she gets bored with this I'll just take her there and spend a few bucks and give her a whole new room again. Talk about decorating made easy, huh??? That's right up my alley. Too bad I can't get a cute living room out of it...

Christmas

Yes, that's the best picture I took of our tree... I apparently shouldn't be allowed around a camera...

We had a great time this year for Christmas.

The day before Christmas vacation started Alex got to decorate gingerbread cookies at school. He had a great time, though he didn't want to actually use any of the red hots we donated to the decoration project. I'm not shocked I confess. The only reason we sent red hots is because that's the only item on the list I found at Dollar Tree.

I do believe the little one's head has already been eaten...

Mary's class had a Roman Festival the day before vacation. They'd been studying about Rome for a while. The kids got to dress up with togas if they wanted. They each got to pick three activities to do. Doug went to  help out and helped kids (mostly boys) make shields. Mary made jewelry and pottery and a mosaic. Here's the only picture Doug had time to take of her.

We tried to do some fun crafty type things here at home too. Some turned out better than others...

First, we decided to try to make candy cane cookies instead of sugar cookies. I think we'll go back to sugar cookies next year. They taste better... These were fun though.

Doug's is the great looking one in the top right corner... I don't think any of mine made it into the picture, but they probably don't look much better than the kids. I'm hopeless...

We also tried making candy cane reindeer ornaments. It was something I threw together at the last minute when I came across some pipe cleaners, fuzzy balls, and googly eyes. My pictures turned out horrible, but maybe you can figure it out. (In my defense, my 10 megapixel camera somehow reset itself to take 3 megapixel pictures. Like who'd want 3 when they could have 10. Seriously, Vivitar? You could totally take that function out. Oh and while we're at it, make it easy to figure out how to set the date.)

Doug and the kids found other interesting things to do with the googly eyes...

Christmas Eve involved a little bit of trauma in our house. That afternoon Mary and Alex were out playing with the neighbors. Mary came in crying about 4:00 or so, but I was busy making rolls and then fudge and she's a bit of a drama queen at times so I didn't really think she was hurt or anything.

90 minutes or so later while Doug was monitoring dinner prep I was reading to her on the couch and I noticed her collarbone seemed to be bulging out a bit. So I did a little internet research and realized she'd probably broken it. Dinner was ready so we decided to just go ahead and eat. (Mary was on board with that decision, don't worry.) Then we skipped the nativity acting out portion of the evening and let the kids open a present per our tradition. Mary even tried her gift on first.

Then Mary and I headed out the door to Children's Hospital. Doug sent along his laptop so we could watch some movies during what we figured would be a long, long wait. Fortunately, Children's was fairly empty when we got there (unlike this summer when I took Adam in about his hernia). We still spent a couple hours there by the time the nurse checked her in, the doctor came to talk to us, we went to get x-rays, the doctor came back with the x-rays (definite break), and then a different nurse came back with a sling and to talk Mary into actually taking medication... Mary has major issues with actually swallowing medicine. She'd rather have a shot. The nurse was pretty good though and brought her a popsicle to eat after. I did come home and made a bunch of ice cube tray popsicles and she did pretty good taking medicine once she realized how much it helps the pain.

Anyway, we survived the trauma and had a great time the next morning.

Alex loved his Dollar Tree FBI set from Mary. I'm pretty sure it's mostly broken or lost now.

Everyone got curly straws from Santa.

That's Toy Story 3 in that fuzzy 3 megapixel picture... It was actually Adam's present, but he refused to open any of his presents so Alex happily volunteered to help.

Adam's sporting the dart gun and I'm sporting one of the Palisade Bulldogs shirt Aunt Dani sent us.

Dad's great for helping with new video games. Mom, not so much.

I was even brave enough to put out my nativity set on the mantle this year. It's too high for Adam to reach. It was a great reminder this year of what Christmas is all about.

Hope you all had a great Christmas too!

She'll Be Missed

Wednesday after I picked Alex up from kindergarten, fed the boys lunch, read with Alex for 20 minutes, and finally put Adam down for his nap I realized I had a message on the phone waiting for me. It was from my mom.  She just asked me to call her back, but her message didn't sound bright and cheery so I was worried. I immediately tried to call her at home but didn't get an answer. I finally got in touch with her once it dawned on me to call her cellphone.

Unfortunately, it was bad news. One of my good friends from home passed away Tuesday afternoon. It was completely unexpected. I think it honestly took me a full day or so before it really processed in my head.

I knew Tia for most of my growing up years, but I didn't know her very well. She was a year behind me in school so we never had classes together or anything. I do remember the double date we had to Prom my junior year though. We had a good time. We weren't in love with either of the boys so it was just a fun time with friends.

I got to know Tia better when we went to college together at Adams State College. Most of my friends from high school had gone to college somewhere else, gotten  married, moved away, etc. Tia became my closest friend. We had a blast going to church activities together and just hanging out with the rest of our circle of friends. I'm sure we gave our parents a few gray hairs that year and a half or so. Seeing as how we were over 18 during that time we saw no reason for a curfew or even alerting our parents to where we were late at night. We never did anything dangerous or stupid. We never broke the law. We never got drunk, did drugs, etc. We were just enjoying life. Now as a parent I realize why our parents at least wanted to know where we were...

I left to serve a mission after a while and then before I got back she left on hers. After my mission I transferred to BYU. Since then we've rarely lived in the same city at the same time except for a brief few months when I was finishing up at BYU and she came out there as well. Then I graduated and moved to Denver and I've been here ever since while she has remained in various areas of Utah. We haven't been able to stay in touch as well as I might have liked, but she's someone you can't help thinking about often. She was an important part of my life and was a wonderful person.

I stole her obituary from someone else's blog because I'd never see it here in  Denver. (Thanks, Ammy.) Whoever wrote it did an excellent job at capturing Tia, better than my feeble attempts could do it.

Tia will be missed by many here, though I'm sure she's still hard at work making others happy on the other side...

Tia Lee King Murtaugh, 35

Posted: Friday, Jan 28th, 2011


HERRIMAN, Utah — Tia Lee King Murtaugh, 35, passed away unexpectedly in her home on January 25, 2011. She was born April 22, 1975, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

She married Michael Matthew Murtaugh on June 26, 2010. They were extremely happy and excited about their new life together.

Tia was a very compassionate and loving person who often thought of others needs before her own. Hard work never intimidated her and she tackled every task whole-heartedly. Tia loved being with her family and enjoyed spending time outdoor in the mountains. Some of her hobbies included camping, 4-wheeling, going to the beach, spending time in California with the family of her husband, and learning and trying new things.

Tia had a great love for children, especially her nieces and nephews. She volunteered time working in elementary classrooms in high school and throughout college.

Tia graduated from Centauri High School in 1993. She continued her education at Adams State College, earned a degree in marketing, and worked as an operations manager at Home Depot. Tia had recently finished her student teaching at North Point Elementary as one of the last phases in completing her Master’s Degree in Education.

Tia was a dedicated member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in many callings. She loved the Gospel of Jesus Christ and served in the Alabama Birmingham Mission.

Tia is survived by her husband Mike of Herriman, Utah; her parents Gregory and Terri King of Manassa, Colo., in-laws Rick and Kathy Nelson of Westminister, Calif.; grandparents Harley and Janice Gilleland of Manassa, Colo., Coreda Adams of Santa Ana, Calif., James Murtaugh of Mesa, Ariz., and Mary Nelson of Huntington Beach, Calif.; siblings April (Patrick) Galan of Lehi, Utah, Kile (Nate) Carling of Lehi, Utah, Keith (Jamie) King of Manassa, Colo., Ashley (Andrew) Gray of Orem, Utah, Jordan (Kella) King of Hereford, Texas, Bryce (Brooke) King of Orem, Utah, Elder Tate King Philippines Olongapo Mission, Mike’s sister, Michelle (Brett) Beale of Corona, Calif., and numerous other relatives She was preceded in death by her grandparents Horace and Lavern King.

A viewing will be held on Monday, January 31, 2011, at the Manassa LDS Church beginning at 5 p.m. and again on Tuesday, February 1, 2011, from 9:30-10:30 a.m. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, February 1, 2011, at the Manassa LDS Church beginning at 11 a.m. Interment will be at Manassa Cemetery.

White New Year

So I put in my order for snow for Christmas this year, but my order came in about a week late. Truth be told it was probably a blessing since I'm glad the roads were clean and dry when I had to take Mary to the ER on Christmas Eve and were snowy and icy for New Year's Eve when I stayed home because I'm old and boring. (I'm comfortable with old and boring. Don't feel too bad for me.)

This technically might be from snow last year, but who cares. It looks kind of cool.

Here's Adam coming in from playing in the snow. Can't lose him in a snowstorm! He went in the backyard and was eating snow off our little picket fence there. When I went to get the camera to take a picture of it he decided he was frozen and came back in. Not surprising since it was probably 15 degrees at the best at 7:00 that night when he begged to go out in the snow.

The next day Alex was raring to go play in the snow. Then he wouldn't move away from the door so I could take a picture of him playing. He just kept standing there looking at me with the camera. Good thing he's so cute.

Finally he made a snow angel for me. Sorry there's no picture of the actual angel. I was only wearing socks after all.

Yes, maybe I'll get around to Christmas pictures eventually... I'm just trying to string you along here. Or maybe I'm just too embarrassed to show you my bad picture taking skills.

Happy (Late) Birthday!!!

New Year's Eve was my wonderful mother's birthday. I've discovered I'm a horrible picture taker and really need to get more pictures of her. (Ignore the dates... I haven't discovered that setting on my new camera yet. The manual's pretty much useless.)

My mom was on her way home from visiting my sister Melissa in Maryland for Christmas (not that she lives too close to me anyway), but we celebrated without her anyway and made her a birthday cake.

I baked the cake in a bowl, so it's not a double layer cake that went horrendously awry...

We had 3 candles left so we used them for her, one for each kid to blow out. I think Alex had the fastest reaction and got them all though.

Here are the boys licking off the candles. Alex even stuck his back in for some more goo... Nice, huh?

Yes, that's a huge carrot in front of Adam. He insisted on eating it for dinner, although all he did was lick it a couple times I think. He wouldn't touch the carrots in the lo mein I made either.

Here's Adam getting messy. He looked way worse in person. I guess my camera photoshopped him cleaner... Too bad it didn't photoshop out all the mess behind Mary in her picture!

Adam savored all of his cake. I went to check on Alex in the bath for about 30 seconds. When I came back Adam was standing up leaning over the cake and said, "I licked it!!!" This appears to be the spot. He got that piece the next day.

I hope my mom had a fabulous birthday and has many more to come. We'll miss her next year too since she'll be a missionary in Mexico then. Her Spanish should be extra fluent then so we'll have to wish her Feliz Cumpleanos! (Too bad I don't know how to make the upside down ! for the beginning of that. One right side up one just doesn't convey the true excitement.)

Halloween

Finally here are some Halloween pictures. We had a fun time this year.

Here's Doug putting up our cobwebs... I'm not sure he was happy with the job, but that's what he gets for being over 6 feet tall and for marrying a wife who's a lot shorter.

Here's my favorite ghost house. I had to actually have a candle party several years ago to get it, but I love it. There's a ghost up top that spins around when you have a candle burning in it.

I actually made this pumpkin at Super Saturday this year. I'm not sure it turned out all that great, but the material is cute.

We made sugar cookies. Don't be alarmed. The colors on your computer are working just fine. The cookies are actually yellow. That's what happens when you convince yourself that it was the blue food coloring that the kids used up a few weeks ago when in fact it was the red. Then when you want to make orange frosting you can't do it so you have to settle for yellow.

This is Adam eating his cookie... Well technically he's licking the frosting off of his cookie. He also eats peanut butter sandwiches this way. He insists on having them open so he can lick off a bunch of peanut butter before eating the bread too.

Here's our little Bob the builder, fairy queen, and knight. I know Mary does look more like a princess than a fairy, but she insists that she's Queen Titania, the queen of the fairies in some books she loves to read. Queen Titania doesn't actually have wings in any of the pictures. Don't ask me how she flies.

All in all we had a good time.

Flashcards

So I finally have a few minutes to update the blog a bit. I'll get to Christmas later some day, though probably not today.

Mary's been learning multiplication this year in school. She started just a bit at the end of 2nd grade so we worked on them during the summer as well. Her math teachers this year had them all make flashcards to work on the stuff at home. Of course they were plain and boring because they were just written in pencil on plain index cards. (I certainly don't blame her teachers. They have enough to do without making fancy flashcards for everyone.) It was torture to get her to do them several times every day. So I had to come up with an alternate plan.

I looked all over the internet for some fancy flash card ideas, but I couldn't find anything I really liked. So here's what I came up with.

I cut up sheets of different colors of construction paper and wrote the problem on the front in different colors of marker and the answer on the back and then I laminated them.

Then I stick them to the wall with blue painter's tape. Then as she does each one she pulls it off the wall and throws it on the floor. Sometimes I make patterns on the first set, but on the other sets I usually just put them back however I happen to pick them up. Frequently I time her to keep her on task.

The first part of the year they worked on 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, and 10s. Then they went worked on fractions and geometry stuff for a while. She got pretty good at this and could do a whole set of all of them in 2 minutes.

After Christmas break they're moving on to the rest of them.

Apparently she made them look so fun Alex wanted to get in on the action. Since he's in kindergarten and learning to read we decided to go with word flashcards for him. Mary made a lot of them for him.

He loves rhyming words so we usually make them up in sets.