Turkey Crafts

One of the best parts of my children going to school, are the adorable crafts that they bring home to me.  I especially enjoyed all the turkeys made from little hands, colorful corn on the cobs with tissue paper and finger paint turkeys.  

Maddie brought a handful of fun items home, but the one that struck me the deepest was this sweet little turkey shown below that depicts what she is thankful for.  

I am thankful for...."my friends, my God, my family, and my Church" were the four noteworthy items that she thought important enough to list on this paper.  The first thought that floated through my mind was "Wow, I have taught her at least a few things right".  I am thankful for a daughter that recognizes the power of God in her life, that recognizes the importance of her family and our Church.  I am also thankful for what a good friend Maddie is to everyone around her.  For the most part, she always takes the time to welcome other children into her circle.  She is sweet and loving to the younger kids and she loves to dote on them.  In turn, she has many pre-school age children in our neighborhood that idolize her.  I am grateful that she is a good example to them in turn.

My favorite picture that Robby brought home was this finger painted apple tree (sort of completely unrelated to the Holiday?).  I love how hard he tried to capture the leaves on the trees and even added apples in the trees and a few falling out.  He has really taken off this year with his creativity and love of art work.  It was a long time coming, and I am so grateful that he is finally there.  I also enjoy seeing any writing that he does (such as his name written within the tree).  

Uncle Ben

It was a sad morning today when my children had to say goodbye to my brother.

He was the perfect guest/buddy/friend/brother/visitor this weekend.

*He was perfectly nice to my kids after driving all night to get to our house and then being woken up after only TWO hours of sleep on Thanksgiving morning.
*He hung out with us for 3+ days and went along with whatever plans we made without a complaint.
*He came with us to our huge friend Thanksgiving.
*He went ice skating with us and helped my kids nearly the entire time.
*He spent loads of time letting my kids wrestle with him.
*He watched the ASU football game with us after kids went to bed.
*He played game after game of Rummicub and Memory with the kids.
*He played Xbox games with Robby and helped him with his Kindle games.
*He went on a hike to Boston Lake and then around it's perimeter with us.
*He put up with kids walking into his room and announcing it was morning and time to get up (Miss M)
*He complimented all of my cooking.....bonus points!!!
*He went for a walk with us up to the Dartmouth Green with Starbucks Hot chocolate to see the Xmas tree.
*He got to see it snow on the walk back to the car and then the drive home.
*He was willing to stay up a bit later and played a game of Skipbo with me....my hubby is NOT a game person so we rarely play any adult ones at our house.  I love games and grew up playing many at my house as a child so this was a fun little treat for me.

 Ben with Eli, Robby and Maddie saying their goodbyes

We love you Uncle Ben and can't wait to see you again next summer!!!!

--update, I found this adorable journal entry in a notebook that Maddie was throwing away.  It says:

"We will be having Thanksgiving dinner not just our family but my Mom's brother is coming over too.  Thanksgiving is going to be even more fun because he is coming over. I can't wait until Uncle Ben comes! Uncle Ben cut his hair 2 years ago.  I miss his puffy hair all curled up.  I really miss it. But I am still happy someone from either my dad's family or my mom's family is coming.  My Uncle Ben brings games every time." 

A few of my favorite things

1. Reminders such as this one to NOT freak out when things don't happen the way I envisioned them to within our country, or specifically the White House.  The most important thing is to focus on my family and what I do as a parent with my children.  Our apostles seriously know what is going on and what needs to be said. End of story.

2. Little boys that eat themselves into a candy stupor and fall asleep like this.  Thank heavens this was the official last bit of candy and now we are on a Halloween candy detox program around here.  The antidote is..............PUMPKIN PIE and WHIPPED CREAM! YUMMY

3. Having a little girl that wears a crown on her head ALL DAY without a care in the world.  This is on the way to the movie theater where she proceeded to wear her crown all through the movie, to the grocery store afterwards and then back home :)

4. Hikes to Boston Lot Lake with my crew and the simple pleasures of a little boy.  I am always amazed at how much entertainment is provided by rocks and water.

5. Watching my children color together without ANY fighting whatsoever.  I love how they are all at the age where they finally enjoy doing this.

6. My PERFECT place to store all of the lovely art projects that come home from school.  I specifically love the hand print turkey that Eli made in preschool last week.  It is genius.  I was also impressed by the cob of corn that Robby made in art class.

7. My family.  I have missed them so much since moving to New Hampshire and specifically miss them during the Thanksgiving holiday.  I feel like I am never more like myself then when I spend a hefty dose of time around them.  My family brings out the crazy silliness in me, my most outgoing self, my dorky humor, and my "fashionista" fancy self.  I love them so much and I wouldn't be who I am without them.  I cannot wait until the next reunion together {unfortunately our last time together in August was under sad circumstances} 

8. My "little" brother Ben.  He was so sweet and drove all the way over from Michigan to spend this Thanksgiving break with our little family.  The kids were so excited to have him come and have loved spending lots of time with him.  He has been so patient and kind with each of them and I know they will always cherish the memories we have made.  

The Green

While Ben was visiting, we decided to take a walk up to the Big Green at Dartmouth with Starbucks hot cocoa.  He was a trooper and donned his winter finest.  The reward?  Snow began to come down as we walked back to the car and there was a small patch covering the ground by the time we returned home.  For a practically native Arizonan, this year is his first living in Snow (or rather going to be living in the snow of Michigan when it starts to fall).

Maddie, Tiffany, Eli, Uncle Ben and Robby

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was truly wonderful and a new experience to me.

Although this is our second year away from family on the holiday, last year didn't really count because I worked the entire holiday.  I was beyond thrilled to find out that I got the entire holiday and weekend off work and even more excited when my little brother announced he wanted to come to our house for Thanksgiving.  Double bonus!

Thanks to some really amazing friends, festivities were planned far in advance and we even had a fancy Google Doc set up to sign up for food.  It was so nice to get a large variety of dishes for the feast and not have to be in charge of preparing all of them!  I signed up for mashed potatoes, Turkey, gravy, apple yams, and corn.  This was my second year making a Turkey and I felt like it really turned out well this year.  I brined it several days before hand and then roasted it in the oven with basic spices and covered with a tinfoil tent. I felt bad when we arrived at the club house and found out these same amazing friends had decorated the place so cute with fun centerpieces and place settings.  Thanks girls! 

All in all, it was a success that included: fun times, lots of laughs, crazy kids, boys men watching football, kids watching movies in one of the study rooms, yummy food, DESSERT, and some really good memories made.

I feel so lucky to have my Tuck Family out here in New Hampshire.

**thanks a million Stephanie for taking all of these pics, I have 100% "stolen" them from you** 

 I loved all the decorations at the feast!

 The spread: jello, apple yams, Mare's salad in a trifle dish, Candace's amazing homemade Mac&Cheese

 The women: Steph, Candace, Tiff, Maren, Michelle, and Andrea

*there are really no words to describe how much these ladies mean to me.  They have been there for me through my ups and downs.  They have seem me at my very best and also my very worse; and somehow they still love me for who I am.**

Candace was dead set on getting a "candid" photo of all of us. She had all of us laughing so hard.  I am not sure I am loving how "candid" I look but I definitely won't forget this :)

---Oh those men and there football

Turkey Trot

One of the things I am most grateful in New Hampshire, is the gift of friends.

I have some really talented, amazing, creative women that I get the pleasure of calling friends and many of them live in my own neighborhood.  A few of them decided that since we didn't have a Thanksgiving morning run in our general area that they would organize one of their own. Two days before Thanksgiving they mapped out a 5K route, invited a group of us to join in on the fun, and Maren even went the extra mile and made an "official" results poster and turned her hubby into the time keeper. 

8:30 am, Thursday morning I bundled up in my long running pants, jacket, gloves, tennis shoes and ear warmers and headed over to the Layton's house.  When we started our race the temperature was in the 20's.....brrrrrrrrr. What a reminder for why I typically NEVER run outside come winter time.

Fast forward 30 minutes and I was finished feeling somewhat winded but had a big smile on my face.  I had so much fun running with six other awesome ladies and was so glad that I had friends to plan and put together something like this.  We even had some yummy hot cocoa and apple cider in Maren's house post-race.  

Then it was off to my house to start cooking up a storm in preps for our Thanksgiving dinner later on that afternoon. 

 In case you didn't notice, I was the ONLY one of our group that didn't wear pink?! 

I don't think I own one shred of pink workout attire....my excuse for all of my black workout clothes is that it is a slimming color {or maybe just a reflection of boring taste}

Guess who managed to snag first place?

*Maren was right behind me the entire race and probably could have passed me at the end if she had wanted to*

When the kids are at school.....

My children begged and begged this fall to let them ride scooters over to the bus stop. I finally relented and found a good way to get home.  M, M and I would take turns riding them back home.  It was surprisingly fun, and I think we all got quite good at it!  Now if only the kids could see us.....

Sneak Peek

In October, our dear friend and neighbor Natalia took family pictures for us.  I am so grateful for her patience, kindness, enthusiasm, joy, and bribes offered to my children during our photo shoot.  It is amazing how demonic my children can become when it is time for family pictures, but somehow Natalia managed to snap some very nice pictures of each child separately as well as in a group.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for your hard work and "quick fingers"

Here is a sneak peek of our pictures

*these are my outtakes that were NOT used for the annual Christmas cards.....for anyone who cares, I will post the other pictures after our cards are mailed off in order to keep them a surprise*

Tuck Tripod

Guess what? 

I did something incredibly adventurous, new, and slightly dangerous this fall.

I joined a real, bonafide hockey team. {okay maybe just tripod but still}

Crazy right?! 

The best part was that it was one of the best selfish decisions I have made.  Normally when I come up with a selfish thing that I want to do, the guilt always takes over and I end up making the choice that puts myself on the backburner.  Whether it is doing a girls night/trip, buying a coveted clothing item at the store or simply choosing a fun activity just for myself; I will normally plan on doing one of these things only to let guilt intrude my mind and I eventually choose to stay home and not buy/do the wanted thing.  Why you ask?  Well, I always feel the pressure to buy the needed and not wanted items, and the compulsion to just stay home because I am already gone three nights a week at work as it is.  It seems as though I am letting my family down if I leave them.

When I first heard about Tuck Hockey last year I said I didn't think I would ever want to play Hockey.  It was so far out of my comfort zone that I didn't really think twice.  Jesse played on the men's league and I went to a few games; that was it.  Then this year I had a good friend mention that she was thinking about playing.  I started to debate doing it and eventually asked Jesse's opinion.  He immediately discouraged from it, saying that I wouldn't like getting pushed and shoved around.  Plus I would have to buy new equipment which is fairly expensive and I would have to pay to play in the league.  I felt guilt big time and gave up on participating until I found out that another friend was going to play as well.  

After debating back and forth for awhile I finally decided literally the last minute to play.  Several days before the games started I headed over to the local sporting goods store and picked up my equipment and then I was ready to play. 

The first game was a little overwhelming as I really didn't know the rules to the game and I had never worn all the heavy padding, hockey skates, or skated around with a stick in my hand.  Not to mention that fact that I have never stopped on skates before {my normal stop is a grab at the wall or a spinning stop}.  Thankfully there were several other girls on my team in the same boat as me. 

Now a few months later I can confidently say that I understand part of the rules of Hockey and manage to follow most of those, I am slightly more accustomed to wearing heavy padding and skating with a stick, and I still don't know how to stop. Nevertheless, I feel braver and proud of myself for putting myself out there and trying something I didn't already know how to do.  It makes me feel like I can try other things that are hard and new.

And I confident that whatever team I am on during second semester of Hockey we will improve from this year.  After all we were 0-8 so you can only go up from there.

Our last game of the regular season toast of champagne {sparkling cider for us Mormons/non-drinkers}

GO MOTHER PUCKERS!!

*this picture was taken after our playoff game where we {once again} lost.  I couldn't make it because of a work conflict

Taken by my good friend right before my first ever game

"Give me your meanest, toughest hockey faces"

*my cute friend that helped jump start this entire adventure for me #loveherforhelpingmebebrave

Hmmmmm

I'm not really sure how my three-year-old managed to be the ONLY child that took a normal school picture.

I've got my fingers crossed that our retakes will turn out better today for the other two.  

Death threats were issued of course :)

Sick Little Miss

DISLIKE DISLIKE DISLIKE

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate when my kiddos are sick? 

Poor little Miss was home sick with a fever, cough, NFW type day.  It always breaks my heart to see my normally crazy, active children laying on the cough dead asleep in the middle of the day.

Thank heavens she was in much better spirits by the next day.

Conversations

I am always intrigued by the conversations that my children have in the back seat while we drive to our various recreational activities.  Sometimes it is a discussion between two three year olds, namely our good neighbor buddy Brixton and Eli, other times it is my older two "deep thinking".  

Last week Eli and Brixton had a very lively conversation on the way to preschool about which color of power ranger was the best fighter.....they seriously crack me up.  Eli was sure that the "rainbow colored" power ranger was the best.  Brixton wasn't really sure but told Eli there wasn't a ranger that color.

Then a few days later I overhead this jewel of a discussion between Maddie and Robby:

Robby: "Grandma and Grandpa must be rich because they had a pool in Arizona"

Maddie: "Yeah, cuz pools cost THOUSANDS of dollars"

Robby: "I have a five dollar bill, so I have almost a thousand"

As much as my children drive me crazy on a daily basis, when I listen to these innocent discussions they have with each other it makes me ever so grateful to have them in my life.  They remind me about the simplicity of life, they remind me to take a breath and enjoy what I already have, they remind me to appreciate their ages, they remind me to not worry so much about the future.  I love my little nuggets and wouldn't trade them for the world.

*these pics were taken up in the White Mountains on a very cold hike....Robby and Maddie were showing us their "I am freezing cold faces"