Tis The Season

Christmas is always such a fun time of year.  Here are just a few pictures from the season.

Emma discovered one day that if she combines some socks, pajama bottoms,
and a shirt of hers, that she can become one giant stripe.  A little difficult to look at.  

The three of us decorated this gingerbread house.  Emma did most of it really. 

Just about ready for Christmas morning! 

Quickly took the annual Christmas stuff picture (including the Ford Thunderbird
pajama's I made for her)  so she could get onto the fun of building and playing.

And this is how the remainder of Christmas day was spent: building her new Lego sets.

Car Accident

Eric was in a car accident a couple days ago.  It wasn't his fault.  Someone coming the opposite direction decided to turn right in front of him, and Eric hit the side of their vehicle full on.  His front and side airbags went off - a first for him.  It happened just a couple minutes from home, so Emma and I were there very quickly after it happened.  As Eric was being checked out in the ambulance, I took some photos and emptied his car (it would have to be towed).  Wanting to be sure he was alright, they wanted Eric to go to the hospital for a few more elaborate tests.  Joy.  We of course went with him.  We were there for a couple hours as they ran some tests and took some x-rays.  They wanted to make sure he didn't have a neck injury.  He didn't.  He just got banged up a bit.  He'll be sore (very sore!) for a few days, and then the pain will start to diminish.  He'll get some bruising too.  They gave him some super powerful drugs to help with the pain and with sleeping.  It could have been much worse though, and I am very grateful that he's alright.  Emma was a little shaken up when I told her (even though I assured her he was alright) about the accident on our way out the door.

Before the x-rays, as a precaution they had him in a neck brace.

We needed something else from his car, so the next day we went to the lot where it had been towed. While there I took a few more photos since it was now daylight.  The car will have to be totaled.  Just what you want to hear 4 days before Christmas.  Yay.  Such an inconvenience.  And so frustrating because he did NOTHING wrong.  I'll just need to keep reminding myself how fortunate we are that Eric didn't get hurt even worse.  GRRRRR.

Misc. Primary

Just a few things I wanted to share from my current days in Primary.  The chorister wanted to have some fun one Sunday.  As an incentive for the kids to sing really well, and as an award if they did, the presidency and the secretary had to risk getting whipped cream in the face.  Based on how well they did, we each had to turn the crank that number of times.  Each turn put us at further risk to be creamed.  If you've never played the game before, you put cream on the purple hand, stick your face in the hole, and turn the crank on the side.  And just like russian roulette, each crank might send the hand flying towards your face along with the cream.  The kids just loved it.  For the final round, we each had to turn the crank as many times as needed until we were each creamed.

In preparation for next year, I've been working on several things.  We wanted to have chair covers for each class as well as our talk and scripture etc.  It was a little challenging without having a pattern, but I think they turned out well.  We wanted primary colors, but not super bold or bright hues.  I knew I wanted to find patterned material too.  We also decided we wanted a pocket in them where we could either put the name of the class or something else, such as a class list.

In our ongoing efforts to encourage reverence, we're having the kids earn rewards as a class, rather than the entire junior or senior primary group together.  Each week each class, based on their reverence in opening exercises, sharing time, and singing time, will be able to earn one "cookie".  Once they've filled their jar with six "cookies", we'll bring in an actual treat.  Some classes will earn this faster and more frequently than others.  And just to keep things fresh, at the end of each quarter, we'll wipe the slate clean.  So if they haven't earned a reward by then they'll need to start over.  Just a little extra encouragement.  Who knows how well this will work.  I didn't come up with this particular idea, I was just asked to create the charts.  Below is the chart for junior primary.  The cookies themselves are laminated to make them easier to reuse.  The jars and class names are glued to the poster board.

I also made part of the birthday treat we'll give each child when we sing to them.  They'll each get a bookmark with this year's theme on it (I know the scriptures are true) and they'll get one of these chocolatey treats I put together with this year's scripture on it.  I think they go along with the theme very nicely.

Holiday Train

I guess the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train comes through Wisconsin every year.  We've never gone to see it, but this year Emma's friend asked us to come with them, so we bundled up and went.  It wasn't far from home, but it was super crowded.  I can't believe how many people came out to see this thing.  As far as I'm concerned, it wasn't worth it.  But Emma had fun with her friend and seemed to enjoy the general sense of excitement in the air.  Due to the crowds and the fact that the train was moving part of the time, pictures were a little hard to get.  After the train stopped, one side of one of the train cars opened up to become a stage where a band performed.  After awhile the girls wanted to go up onto a bridge to see what the view was like from up there.  Then we quickly tried to grab a shot before the train left.  It's has to keep on schedule after all.