Funny Poem
Jan 22nd
Here is a funny poem that makes me laugh every time I read it to the kids. Beatrix Potter had a delightful imagination and talent for illustration.
There once was an amiable guinea-pig,
Who brushed back his hair like a periwig-
He wore a sweet tie, as blue as the sky -
And his whiskers and buttons were very big.
I am planning on getting our pictures of our MLK Day outing up soon. Hope you are having a great day!
Question For The Day
Jan 7th
“Can ye be angry and not sin?” Ephesians 4:26 Joseph Smith Translation.
I saw this as I was flipping through my scriptures and it really made me pause for a moment. I think the answer is, nope, which means I’ve got a lot more repenting to do for these past few days.
The rest of the scripture gives us some good advice.
“…Let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.” Ephesians 4:26-27
What are your thoughts?
First Day In Primary!
Jan 4th
Last Sunday I subbed for the primary chorister and to my surprise they led all the upcoming Sunbeams into singing time. There was my happy smiling Marie, so excited to do something new. Then it really struck me that my baby girl was old enough to be in Primary. That means next year she will be five and before I know it she will be moving out! Ok, so I exaggerate.
On Saturday Marie got to meet her new teacher and see her new classroom. Today she begged me all morning to go to church so she could go to primary and insisted that she only have her Book of Mormon in her Sunday bag so she would have it for Primary. I took a quick snapshot of her and one of her primary friends before I left her. Apparently the sunbeams didn’t sit at all during singing time, instead they danced up front with our chorister. (Yes they are a bunch of little girls.)
Oliver on the other hand wasn’t phased at all by the absence of Marie. He enjoyed his now much smaller and almost all boy nursery class. Peter will be joining the ranks of nursery this year, if you can believe it. Hopefully he will transition well.
Oliver’s Funny Sayings
Dec 29th
My last e-mail update didn’t include some of the very funny things that Oliver has said lately. I was just drawing a blank at the time. So here are some of the funny things that he has said over the past month.
After we got out our Christmas song book and reaqquainted them with our favorite Christmas songs I over heard Oliver singing a new version of Jingle Bells to himself, it goes like this, “Tinker Bell, Tinker Bell, Tinker all the way…” It’s a much better version than the one I heard on the bus going to elementary school.
When we asked Oliver what he thought Jesus would like us to give him this year for his birthday day he promptly replied, “A dinosaur cake” That cake I made him for his birthday has made quite an impression. By the way, I did not make Jesus a dinosaur cake for his birthday.
Uncle Abraham sent the kids some new books for Christmas. One evening as we were reading a new book he surprised me by very accurately counting out how many “pie rats” were attacking the boat. Later on in the book there is a rhinoceros and he astutely pointed out the, “Oceros” to me. He mixes up his words in funny ways a lot like calling Prince Phillip, “Phlilip”.
Lastly as Shane was sitting down next to Oliver to read the kids a bedtime book Oliver declared, “Daddy, you are big and heavy, I am tiny.” Yes Oliver you are “tiny” and sweet and lovable.
Our Anniversary
Dec 29th
This past Saturday was our 6th wedding anniversary. Shane gave me the one thing that I requested, an uninterrupted dinner. Yes, after years of fetching water and salt or any other forgotten dinner necessity as well as carting kids off to change diapers or go to the bathroom in the middle of my meals I decided that was all I wanted. We went to a nice little restaurant with a view of the sound and the ferry in Mulkilteo. We enjoyed a four course meal and I gave Shane the one thing he asked for, some quiet time to chat and be with me. On our way home we both thought of the rowing machine we had ordered for each other as the other part of our anniversary present. Yes, we will soon have something to work out on at home in between our busy schedules. I personally am looking forward to it a great deal since in a few months hopefully I won’t cringe at almost every picture I see of myself in my clothes from before kids. That is the reason why there is no current picture of us together. Look for one in a few months. Heheheh!
Merry Christmas!
Dec 27th
We had a wonderful quiet Christmas at home this year. Christmas Eve we read the story of Christ’s birth from Luke and Matthew and I acted it out with our play nativity. We ate a bit of our gingerbread house and then the kids unwrapped their Christmas jammys. Getting everything ready after the kids were in bed only took us half an hour. Christmas morning we woke up to more snow coming down. The kids enjoyed giving their presents to each other and playing with their new toys.
The highlight of our day was talking on our web cam to our family scattered far and wide. It made up a lot for not being able to travel this year. My brother Jacob, who is on a mission in Las Vegas, was even able to give me a call and chat for a few minutes. That was a real treat.
All in all we have found ourselves a year richer in memories and experiences, which is really what life is all about. Hope you had a joyful Christmas this year as well. To see more pictures of our Christmas click here.
Gingerbread Extravaganza
Dec 22nd
Recently we have been cooped up inside the house because of the excessive snow. At the beginning of the month we planned out some time to try making our first gingerbread house. Since we were planning on making a gingerbread house anyway we kind of went hog wild. Shane looked up a house that he wanted to model and made a mock up. I baked up the gingerbread yesterday and today we decorated it. We had all sorts of fun decorating. I think Shane had the most fun. He drove me crazy with how slow and exact he was being. In retrospect I realized it was just the dentist coming out in him. After all it would be way more fun doing intricate work on a gingerbread house than in someone’s mouth.
I thought we might not have enough icing and we were out of powdered sugar so I went out to shovel the driveway. When my neighbor asked me why I was out he kindly went in and brought out their bag of powdered sugar. I had already decided not to try to drive and it was very kind of him.
The kids probably enjoyed eating the candy more than decorating. We piped on their favorite shapes to fill in with candies and then I attempted to put their names on. Oliver kept on leaning on my arm so it was rather difficult. We have lot more pictures of our masterpiece here. I hope you enjoy! Be sure to check out our other post about our recent unplanned family vacation.
Teething, Frozen Pipes and Falling Snowmen.
Dec 22nd
For all you curious readers I thought we would update you on the goings on in the Klingonsmith household since last Wednesay. Did Shane get another snow day? Why yes. Thursday was filled with more snow and Shane took a picture of our fallen snowmen. It is a perfect visualization of our recent nights rest. Peter is now nine months old and getting his two top teeth. All I want him to get for Christmas is his front teeth so I can get a good nights rest. As Shane put it, when the baby snowman cries all night Daddy falls apart and Mommy looses her head. On Friday Shane ventured out in the snow, which does not get plowed out here, and attended his work Christmas party. When he got home he couldn’t get up our driveway and the snow reached the undercarriage of our car. That evening our congregation Christmas party was canceled and we were left with a thawed out turkey to cook. We invited over some friends Friday evening to come over in the lull between snow storms Saturday. We faithfully left our taps dripping to cope with the record cold temperatures and went to bed Friday night. Saturday morning dawned at 0 degrees in Arlington (a record low) and we discovered that the cold water pipe to the kitchen was frozen because the tap had been dripping on the hot water side. All I can say is AAAAAAAHHHHH! So I got to cook a dinner for 12 without cold water in the kitchen.
We had a fun evening and as our guests were leaving the snow began again. Right as I was falling asleep the hot water from the dishwasher managed to thaw the cold water pipe. Church was cancelled on Sunday because the parking lot was impassable, unplowed and it was still snowing. To see our snow fun click here. Just for a matter of information the average snow fall in December is 1.5 inches and in January is 3.4. We have gotten 20-24 inches from the first storm and 8-10 inches from the second. What can I say, the weather doesn’t like us here.
Snow Day!
Dec 17th
This morning, much to Shane’s disbelief, it was snowing. To top it off the school district closed school due to the weather. The tribe Shane works for closes everything when the school does so we all had big smiles on our faces after he checked the school closures online. I almost felt like an elementary school kid again listening in the early morning hours to the radio for our school to be announced. We had a leisurely morning with pancakes for breakfast and then I looked at the time and realized that I should start some bread if we were going to have some for lunch. We chatted on Skype with Shane’s parents and then bundled the kids up for some outdoor fun with Daddy. They built some large snowmen right outside the window to the sideyard. There was a Momma snowman, a Daddy snowman and a Peter snowman lifting up his arms for Momma to pick him up. Click here for photos.
It still hasn’t finished snowing yet. We had a lull for a few hours but it’s still coming down fast now. Maybe we’ll get another day off… In the meantime Shane and I will continue to laugh about global warming and our “temperate” northwest weather. I looked up some statistics and the number of days you would need air conditioning in the last 30 years was 80. The average high temperature in July and August was 66 degrees. Hmmmmm…
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