Christmas!!!

Santa found us...

Birthday and Christmas Eve...all rolled into one

We celebrated Jennah's "official" birthday at my mom and dad's in Snowflake. It's always so much fun when everyone gets together! For anyone who didn't already know this, Jennah does NOT like sweets (didn't get that from Steve or me!), so instead of your typical birthday cake she requested cheesecake. I was more than happy to oblige! After the birthday festivities, the kids got dressed up to act out the nativity, with grandpa reading from the scriptures. Jennah was Mary, Stevie was Joseph and Kirstie wanted to be an angel. Stevie was probably not the best choice for Joseph, but he was the only one willing to do it. He kept showing off by doing "Kung Fu Panda" moves the entire time! (it's a good thing he's so darn cute!)

After that, it was time to open up the Christmas Eve jammies! The kids started off doing a little pajama parade, nice and slow, and as you can see by the pictures, it turned a little raucous.

...Worked like a charm...they were so tired and worn out, that they actually slept in until 6 AM! To those of you who think that sounds early, it's much better that the typical 4 0r 5 AM time!!

Birthday party!

We had a little party for Jennah's 9th birthday on the 20th of December. I'm not a big fan of the whole idea of giving gift bags to all the party-goers, so Jennah thought it would be fun for everyone to decorate their own mini cake to take home. The girls had a blast letting their creative juices flow!

Who knew little girls could be pyros too?!? After we sang happy birthday, the girls thought it would be fun to put the candles on their cakes and roast marshmallows. Good thing Steve and I were there to supervise!

Jennah's best friend wasn't able to come to the party, so we saved a cake for her to decorate later. She stayed the rest of the afternoon, and they made little goodbye notes and pictures for each other. It was so sweet, and so hard to watch without getting teary-eyed. These two have become such great friends. I'm sure this is a friendship that will last many, MANY years!

Saying goodbye

These pictures are of the girls last day of school in St. David. They have been so lucky in the teacher department. Every one of the teachers they've had have been amazing! This is Jennah with her 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Williams. She told me she was so sad to hear that we were leaving, that she's really going to miss Jennah in her class and that students like Jennah are the reason she became a teacher. (I'm sure Jennah will miss her too)

This is Kirstie's 1st grade class, with her in the front center. Kirstie's teacher Mrs. Homerski is an amazing teacher, especially considering the fact that this is her first year of teaching!

Grateful...

I know it's not Thanksgiving anymore, but my heart is so full of gratitude today, that I feel that I need to put it down in writing. I am sure that many of the people I am writing this for never read my blog, so I'm hoping they will feel a gentle "tug" telling them to check in (because they all have access!) As many of you know, Our family is in the process of moving to Snowflake. So, I'm sitting here on my parents computer, waiting for another load of our stuff to arrive. What started me thinking, was a book that I finished reading this morning. It got me to realize that I am terrible at sharing my feelings and expressing my gratitude. I need to change a lot of things about myself, so, I'll start with this.

First of all, I need to thank my "long distance" friends that have offered me so much moral support through e-mail and phone calls these past few months. You know who you are, so I'm not going to name names. Just know that I am forever in your debt and will do anything I can to return the favor if it's ever needed.

Next, I never got the chance to properly thank all the MANY friends that helped us with our move to St. David. To the young women of our ward that came and helped clean the house and made little going away presents for me, thank you so much...I think of all of you almost daily. There were so many people at our house in Camp Verde to help us load up, that I felt that all I did was direct traffic. And then, to top it off some of those families drove several hours pulling trailers to St. David, and then helped unload...that's what I call "going the second mile"! Again, there were so many people there to help us, that all I really did was tell them were to put the boxes. Thank you, thank you, thank you, a million times, THANK YOU!!!!!!!

Now to our most recent move. My parents are angels right here on earth! I will never be able to do enough for them to repay them for all the help they have given to us, especially this year. I don't know what I ever did to deserve such amazing parents, I just know I am truly blessed!

I have so many mixed feeling about this last move. I am so excited to be moving back to Snowflake, but again, so heartbroken about all the friends we're leaving behind. I'm so grateful for our friends that came to help with the packing and loading. It's no small task, as Steve and I are both "pack-rats". I am so thankful for family that traveled long distances to help us out. Steve and I would have been at it for weeks if it weren't for them! Then yesterday, as my brother-in-law, nephews, and dad and I were unloading, friends just showed up and started helping. My mom even made the comment "It's not often that you see a land-lord help move in the new tenants."

There are some amazing people in the world, and I am so blessed to know many of them!

Our daughter, the tortured genius...

This picture is of Jennah at a school concert. When all the other kids were talking and having a good time, there was Jennah, doing her favorite thing...reading! Before I start, I need to tell you a few things. First of all, I'm going to be bragging on my daughter, so if you don't like it, don't read this. Second, I need to make it very clear, that Steve and I, in no way, put any pressure on our girls to get straight A's in school. We just encourage them to do their very best.

That being said, yesterday, when Jennah got home from school, she was looking over her schoolwork that she brought home and started crying when she saw the grade she got on her book report. When I asked her what was wrong, she just got mad at me and said "I told you to correct my book report!". After calmly telling her not to talk to her mother that way, I asked her to let me look at it again (because I did look over it before she turned it in). After seeing what she was upset about, I almost started laughing. She missed only 5 points, out of a possible 200! It took Steve and I a good 5 minutes to get her calmed down, and for those of you who have heard my kids high-pitched cries, you know it was a LONG 5 minutes! What finally calmed her down, was when we informed her that she would still get an "A" on her book report.

On her last report card, Jennah got 100% in math, and most of her other grades were in the 96%, with nothing under 92%. All of her teachers so far have made comments about her academic achievements. We got the greatest comment from her 1st grade teacher (who was BY FAR the best teacher I've seen) when she told us she wanted to be there for all of Jennah's graduations, because, in her words, "I can't wait to see what she does, in all my years of teaching, I can't remember such a gifted student" We're not sure where she gets it from, because Steve and I struggled in school...especially math, where Jennah is strongest. If I didn't know better, I'd think she was switched at birth.

Steve and I have been really blessed when it comes to our kids "smarts". All three are doing so well. Kirstie does great in school also, but she doesn't obsess over grades as much as Jennah (thank heaven!), and Stevie, well, I have a feeling he's going to be a bit more like his oldest sister. He already knows (without the help of pre-school or mom) the sounds of the letters, and is starting to teach himself to read...only two letter words, but still, he's only 4 and won't start school for another year and a half.

Okay...bragging's done!

Going home...

For those of you who didn't hear yet, we're moving to Snowflake the first of the year. As with any move, we have mixed feelings. We're excited about being back home, but once again, we have to leave our great friends that we have made while here.

Things were going great the first 7-8 months while we were here in St. David, but lately work was not going so good for Steve. We tried to tough it out, but funds were getting low, and the bills continued to keep coming in. We considered all our options, moving back into our home in Camp Verde that still hasn't sold, trying to find new work in St. David, or trying to find work in Snowflake while Steve gets his teaching degree. We had no answers. Then last week while Steve was helping my parents, things just fell into place...one of those moments when you just know...THIS is what we are supposed to do!

Trying to be "crafty"

I got this idea from my oldest sister Laurie, so I can't take full credit. In all the MANY places we've lived, we've usually had an obvious place to hang our Christmas stockings (knit by my amazing grandma "Pete"). Well, our new house has some complications that necessitated me making this...

...not bad for a budget of $0!

Mad-Hatter BEWARE... the Self's are in town!

Next to my dad, Steve is the biggest pack-rat I know. The other day, Stevie found a box of Steve's old hats. He, of course, only wore one at a time, but his sisters....that's a whole other story! Keep in mind that most of these hats Steve had BEFORE I married him!

This could be the next fashion trend don't you think?