Don't Visit Without 4-Wheel Drive

Photo before it started to snow.

The lady in the small car tried four times to get up this road. She followed a snow plow up the road, twice.... and then she slid down. The snow plow was blowing sand, and she still slid back down.

Thanks for the indefinite loan of your beater 1996 Suburban, Dad. I'm really, really, really glad we didn't Cash-for-clunkers it; I'm even more glad we repaired it when it died half way to Canada, because if we didn't have it... we couldn't get up the hill to our driveway (She slid down just slightly mid-center our property). The other cars that can't get up the hill? Yep: they are the mini-vans.

The hill is magnificent for sledding. Two bums on sleds for that.

The Hills are Alive...

Okay, the hills aren't really alive... but they are moving. The neighbors hired a rock moving company because "some day" they want to put a pool in. Before the pool, they definitely want a fence (which is a higher priority for them because they have a walk-out basement, and pretty high for us because we can see directly in to their walk-out basement). For their fence to be straight, they need to move our top tier of rocks. One other impediment to their fence is the property line. No property line in our development follows the rocks. The developer placed the rocks willy-nilly, and they are pretty much... wherever he liked.

So, there's a rock mover in our back yard:

They have started to move the rocks here.
Last week they blue staked the front yard (in the snow, which is kinda funny).

Here's the rock mover.
Here's the big deal about the whole thing: the rock is EIGHT FEET too far into our yard. It's supposed to be 8 feet farther north into the neighbor's yard. They will move it back, and we will get 8 feet more into our yard for the price of moving the rock. Now, that is a tremendous bargain, and because the man who is moving the rock wishes to work, he has lowered the price of moving the rock from what he wanted to charge us in the fall. So, all in all, it's a great deal for the neighbors, and for us. Yay! Everyone is happy. We're happy, too, that he'll let us pay him a bit now, and a bit more in 30 days.

In the end, the wall will be eight feet farther back, the wall will be shorter (and smoother), and it will be in the right place. A much better outcome than what is currently there. It has to be engineered, but we don't have to pay for it. The neighbors do. We surrendered the top rock to them to offset some of their cost, and... we got 8 feet out of it in the deal.

How often can you buy 8 feet in your own back yard?

Bire-Truck

Imagine that the kid in this fire truck is Max... because that's who this gift was for. Grandma Max gave this to Max for Christmas, but Asa has had just as much fun ringing the bell and pushing it around with his feet. Neither one of them pedals the thing (although it DOES have pedals).

It's from R.C. Willey, and it has ladders and a bell, but what it's REALLY good for is running into doors. :o) Sometimes, the boys will drag it backwards by the fire hose. (I'm a bit nervous they'll pull the fire hose off). It had to move to the main floor because I was more nervous they'd drive it off the top floor and it would become airborne down the stairs (that seemed like a bit too much fun and real fire engines might have to be called).

It's much, much cuter in real life than even in pictures. They sit in it almost all of the time. It gets garaged in the pantry (which is pretty cute). When not garaged there, it can be garaged in the mud room. It's a great car for a 2 year old boy. We'll see how much fun it is outside in the spring. I hope they don't actually ride it down our hill... It may have to be carefully taken down to the park and ridden in circles around the water tank so they don't coast it down into traffic (considering there's our hill and then the big, big hill). They will have so much fun with this truck. It's "rated" up to 7 years old. Lots of fun to be had for 2 little boys, and several little boys yet to come in the Phippen & Preston family.

What He Never Complains About...

I adore almost everything about my new house... except the counter space in my kitchen. Our kitchen is huge... but the counter where they put the sink is teeny-tiny. If we have dinner, and the dishes are not immediately done (and I mean between cooking dinner and eating dinner), there isn't enough space to clean up.

If we have breakfast, there isn't enough room to do the dishes. It's kinda strange for a house this large. There isn't enough room for a gourmand such as John to really spread out and cook. There's an enormous counter under the cabinets, but who cooks there? It's a true conundrum.

John never complains that this is the picture that most often meets him as he's finishing up an amazing meal (and they are ALL amazing):

And there's the space dedicated to cooking. Odd little space, isn't it? Lots of oven space. Lots of stove space... where's the stirring space? Where's the counter space? Where's the space for two cooks? Hmmm. Good thing only John knows how to cook, eh? Yeah, this is after breakfast.

You know what the real problem is? It's not the space that's the problem. It's that the lady that's supposed to do the dishes... is me. Hahahaha. I'm off blogging instead of doing the dishes. I'll get right on that. Just as soon as I finish writing.

Those Winter Sundays

I teach a poem called "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden about fatherhood that ends "What did I know, what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices?"
I always teach it at the end of the year, during baseball season, and we watch Field of Dreams and read "Once More to the Lake" by E.B. White, and when we get to the scene Ray's father asks him "Is this heaven?" and he replies, "No, it's Iowa..." and his father replies, "I could have sworn it was heaven" and he says, "Is there a heaven?" and John replies, "Oh, yeah." I weep like a baby (because it's a cornfield because I think of my dad, and of my farmer grandfather, etc).

What do I know about love, and love's lonely offices? I learned an awfully lot this year, this Christmas. You see, I can't buy my dad a Christmas present. I can buy him "stuff." I try every year to get him "stuff." And some years, I try to "do stuff" for him that he wouldn't do for himself. In fact, my family is big into doing stuff for other people. We do crazy stuff for each other, like finishing basements over and over again. We hang out at each other's houses; we move and and help move and move some more (like pioneer children some years).

Still, my father can surprise me. Case in point. One night, before Christmas, he called me up. He said he needed to get something at Costco that was too big for him to pick up. I was certain we were going to pick up a gift for my mother. No. Instead, he was there to make sure my cute children were being fed. He knew my husband has been paid sporadically, and he wanted to make sure we had the basics, and he filled up a cart and sent me on my way, because he's like that. Just a quiet, breathless whirlwind tour through Costco.

I was so caught off guard I didn't even hug him before I drove away. The poem says:
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices? 

On Christmas morning, as he and my mother drove away from my house, I understood a little bit more about Christmas. There's definitely much, much more joy in the giving, and it takes a lot of time to gain parenthood perspective. The older I get, the more I realize that the picture is more incomplete. The more I know I see through the glass darkly. My father quoted "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" and there are miles to go. I can't wait to travel them to see what else there is to see along the journey.

My Grown-Up Christmas Wish

I'm behind in blogging again. Today you'll get several entries to catch up. Before I was a grown-up, I had NO idea why my mom always wanted something we couldn't buy her. I always wanted something quick and painless I could buy her easily at a store, I didn't want something I had to spend endless hours creating or doing that was, honestly, hours upon hours of work.

Now that I'm a mom, I understand why my mom wants a gift like that. It's because I can buy myself my own gift like that. I understand that what  my mom wanted was "one day where none of you fight" or "one day of peace and quiet" or "one day where no one messes anything up" (although, I also understand that those days come when we all move out of the house and live away from home, sometimes very, very far away from home, or as she said when David died, all she wished was one day where there was something more to wash or one more shoe to pick up.) As Trace Adkins said, "You're gonna miss this."

Being married to a Phippen means that I get to ask for the same thing multiple years in a row and I get to be delighted when I receive it many times. Here's the best Phippen gift ever. If you have never been a Phippen, you won't understand. It's OK. It's MY Christmas, and you can not understand from afar.

This is an empty garage with my car inside of it. It's at my house. It's a pretty fine Christmas gift. This same garage holds two cars.

John and Jack emptied the garage for me, and Jack was even more pleased that I had "Facebooked" his Christmas present service project. He told his dad that it must be pretty special if I had told people on Facebook that he had helped. I guess it's really only a gift if you get credit on Facebook. Take note: service in secret must not count.

The Christmas Calendar

I borrowed my best friend's Cricut to cut ANOTHER calendar because I lost the calendar that replaced the calendar from the year before... are you getting the picture? Now it's December the 15th. As I walked down the hallway today at work, I realized: I am not going to get that calendar made. If I didn't make it at Thanksgiving, it is NOT going to happen. SIGH.

Christmas is passing me by this year. It always goes too quickly, but this year quicker than before. I can't believe that it's a week until we're out for the break, and 10 days until Christmas Day. Thanks heavens we have until Epiphany... but then... ACK!

The time passes too quickly. And I need a nap.

I am Batman.

Max likes anything his brothers like, so when Asa fell in love with Batman, Max did, too. Max can correctly identify Batman, Spiderman, The Mouse, Manny, Boots! (Dora), and Star Wars. He can also identify "Christmas" (Santa, Xandri called him "Ho-Ho.")

Today, Max found a snowflake Asa had made at school, and he held it up to his head and said, "Look, Mama! I'm Batman!" Then, he shoved his "baaa" in his mouth, and wandered around with the snowflake on his head. I guess he's Christmas Batman. I hope Santa knows what to bring him. I'm thinking he should have asked for a Batmobile.

The Piano Recital

Jack, Xandri and Asa have been taking piano lessons from Mishalae Ward since October. On Friday night, they had a recital with the rest of the students, and it went well. Asa played first, and his rendition of "Deck the Halls" was very good. He started on the wrong note, but he quickly noticed, found middle C, and played it perfectly. That's an excellent job for only 2 months of lessons.

Here he is sitting at the piano:

Max wanted desperately to play, too. However, we spent most of the time in the hall trying to get him to be quiet.

Xandri played "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." She played it perfectly, and she had great hair. Both very important things.

Jackson played two songs, "Good King Wenceslaus" and "Jingle Bells." He also learned "O, Come All Ye Faithful."

They did well. I guess it's money and time well spent... If you want to hear them play, just show them a piano. They're more than willing to pound you out a tune at any time.

Gingerbread House Pictures

On Monday night we made a gingerbread house and read Jan Brett's Gingerbread Baby. A good time was had by all.

A Phippen Garage

I can tell Christmas is coming because my Honey Do list is starting to be a "Honey Done" list. The best Christmas is a Honey-Done Christmas (don't buy me a gift: clean my bathrooms or fold my laundry. ;o)

Yesterday, I came home to a huge in-progress project: My garage is now *almost* ready for TWO cars and has a long, long line of things ready to go to the basement. Jack has been enlisted to take all he can to the basement (he's earning money for new fashion.) Since our doors in the Corolla have been frozen shut (and the starter in our Avalon is dead), parking in the garage is not a luxury, but more a necessity to keep our vehicles in working order.

Looking forward to parking in the warmth of the garage, I shout my delight from the blog-tops.  Indoor parking, here I come.

Now, on to the mud room...

A Phippen Garage

I can tell Christmas is coming because my Honey Do list is starting to be a "Honey Done" list. The best Christmas is a Honey-Done Christmas (don't buy me a gift: clean my bathrooms or fold my laundry. ;o)

Yesterday, I came home to a huge in-progress project: My garage is now *almost* ready for TWO cars and has a long, long line of things ready to go to the basement. Jack has been enlisted to take all he can to the basement (he's earning money for new fashion.) Since our doors in the Corolla have been frozen shut (and the starter in our Avalon is dead), parking in the garage is not a luxury, but more a necessity to keep our vehicles in working order.

Looking forward to parking in the warmth of the garage, I shout my delight from the blog-tops.  Indoor parking, here I come.

Now, on to the mud room...

A Phippen Garage

I can tell Christmas is coming because my Honey Do list is starting to be a "Honey Done" list. The best Christmas is a Honey-Done Christmas (don't buy me a gift: clean my bathrooms or fold my laundry. ;o)

Yesterday, I came home to a huge in-progress project: My garage is now *almost* ready for TWO cars and has a long, long line of things ready to go to the basement. Jack has been enlisted to take all he can to the basement (he's earning money for new fashion.) Since our doors in the Corolla have been frozen shut (and the starter in our Avalon is dead), parking in the garage is not a luxury, but more a necessity to keep our vehicles in working order.

Looking forward to parking in the warmth of the garage, I shout my delight from the blog-tops.  Indoor parking, here I come.

Now, on to the mud room...

A Phippen Garage

I can tell Christmas is coming because my Honey Do list is starting to be a "Honey Done" list. The best Christmas is a Honey-Done Christmas (don't buy me a gift: clean my bathrooms or fold my laundry. ;o)

Yesterday, I came home to a huge in-progress project: My garage is now *almost* ready for TWO cars and has a long, long line of things ready to go to the basement. Jack has been enlisted to take all he can to the basement (he's earning money for new fashion.) Since our doors in the Corolla have been frozen shut (and the starter in our Avalon is dead), parking in the garage is not a luxury, but more a necessity to keep our vehicles in working order.

Looking forward to parking in the warmth of the garage, I shout my delight from the blog-tops.  Indoor parking, here I come.

Now, on to the mud room...

Trauma Drama over Harry Potter

Tuesday Night Adventures in Mothering: The Morning After Chronicles

Last night, John was at Young Men's/Young Women's and so we were left to our own devices. After much bickering and drama, the children went to their rooms at 7:30. We did baths, we did the advent calendar box, and then we took a break. However, things quickly deteriorated.

First, Asa hadn't eaten his dinner and was hungry. Then, Max, who was in full-blown-melt-down-mode, decided he was also hungry (and he really hadn't eaten ANYTHING for dinner). Xandri had to find her reading book so she could read in bed. Then... TRAGEDY.

Jack had left his Harry Potter, book SIX, at school. He was planning to finish it last night. However, in a cruel, cruel twist of fate (and forgetfulness), he had left the book at school. He wept. He wailed. He gnashed his teeth. He wanted to break into the school to go get it. He determined to NEVER SLEEP until he had his book again, and proceeded to sit on the couch to wait out the long, cold night. After much screaming at his siblings, and throwing two books from his mother that he might be interested in reading , he did settle, weepily into bed. Not strangely, he had a tummy ache and a headache from his hysterics. Such drama over He Who Must Not Be Named, the Half-blood Prince, and lightning boy.

After late-night drinks, assurances that dad would kiss them all goodnight when he got home, the requisite requests for refills on the "BAAAAH" from Max (one is the limit), it was finally mostly quiet. John finally arrived home to only Max's wails...

Any wonder that I find little energy at 9pm. I still have 500+ pages to read and grade, and each day I lose more and more interest in doing it?

The Perfect Hill for Sledding...

We bought the house on the hill, and it turns out, it has a variety of sledding locations. There's the retention basin next to the neighbor's across the street which is where Jack was when I got home from school yesterday. There's the park, which is where the kids were returning as John shot this picture, and there's a hill in the the back yard of the neighbors behind us... where Jack sledded after dinner last night (in the dark!)

The exhausted, frozen sledders returned home last night at twilight and demanded hot chocolate before they could possibly eat the chili their dad had made. They were thrilled with their sledding experience, although Xandri and Asa both had frozen fingers, and Jack misplaced more than one set of gloves.

While they were sledding, Max watched his favorite show, "Boots!" (Dora the Explorer.) I even dug up a VHS Dora episode as there seem to be none On Demand... Max is pointing to Boots on TV in this shot.

After dinner, we had Family Home Evening where we built a gingerbread house. A good time was had by all. I think.

Dear Santa...

On the eve of St. Nicholas' Day (December 5th), our children always write their Christmas letters. Each one is unique, and individually goofy. After they write them, they put out their shoes and put the letters into them. The next morning, the letters have been replaced with candy (usually gold wrapped chocolate coins).

This year, the kids wrote their letters. Jack wants Lego, a light Star Wars light sabre he can actually run and swing (so he can chase the neighbors), and new church pants (amongst other things---like a new Webkins, etc.)

Alyxandria wants "American Girl" stuff, although the actual doll isn't as crucial as it must be the size  of American Girl stuff. She'd like clothes for her dolls, most of all. She's at an age where her likes and dislikes are easily known. Why all children can't always be easy to buy for, I'll never know... but age almost-seven is really great.

Asa is interested in cars, trucks, and Lego. He is much like Max in this respect. Whatever the older brother plays with is what the younger brother likes. Therefore, top of Asa's list is Lego. He can pass on the light sabre.

Max didn't write a letter. He got banished to bed because he was so, so tired. He was perfectly happy with that. Now, if anyone knows what to buy a 2 year old who needs nothing and has all of his older siblings' toys?

Catching Up

I need to do several posts today because I have them half-written in my head, and I have photos for them, but I haven't taken the time to write about them.

On Friday, December 4th, John and I got to go out and celebrate the 16th anniversary of the night we got engaged! The National Honors Society offers a babysitting night for teachers and staff, and the kids went and had a marvelous time!

They colored treat bags, made reindeer hats, had their pictures taken with Santa, and watched the Polar Express. They didn't even want to come home.

Asa, Xandri and Max dislike visiting with Santa. (The idea of Santa freaks Xandri out). They did enjoy the rest. Max did NOT want to have his picture taken...

Here is XanDiva and her brother Mr. Don't Take My Picture. His gorgeous brown eyes are all you can see through his reindeer ears...

A Thursday Update

Today, I went to see the sleep specialist and the neurologist. Both doctors were pleased with what I'm doing, and the neurologist said that I had "graduated" and didn't have to see her anymore (unless I have other issues). I do have to follow up with the sleep specialist, but that's OK. He gave me a whole year before I have to go back.

Tonight, John made special banana trifle with the left-over pound cake. While John was at Roundtable, my sister Jen came to visit with her 3 kids. Everyone had a good time until Asa decided he was tired, grumpy, and four. He told Seth that he didn't "want to be [his] friend anymore." At that point, Asa got to go to bed. Then, while the rest of the kids were finishing up their trifle, Asa put a Lego bucket on his head and tried to strangle himself. He was rescued and sent to bed. The Lego bucket gets to leave the house permanently. I'm not quite sure what he was thinking when he put it over his head and tried to wear it as a hat, but when it slipped off backward, he was in a pickle. Luckily, his cousin Makenna rescued him. All the kids were freaked out. I sure hope he doesn't try something like that again! The problem with being a kid is that what seems safe and fun often gets unsafe and scary in mere moments.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a wonderful day. The kids get to go to the special NHS night at Timpanogos. The National Honors Society is babysitting for the teachers tomorrow night. John and I are headed out for a date night. We're excited...

2, 3, 6, 7 eeeeet

Max has started to count. It's absolutely darling. He likes to do blast-off: "two, three, six, sebben, eeeet." He never does one, four, or five. He's also stumped after "eeeet." His eight is very similar to how he pronounces Asa's name: "eeeesuh."

Here's Eeeeesa at Pack Meeting last night (12/1).

Jack said I HAD to blog about Max and "how cute it is!" Speaking of Jack, he's now finished the Harry Potter books up to book five. He started book six last night, and he borrowed the first five movies from Grandma Phippen. Last night, Jack swept his Pack Meeting earning many awards. Better yet, he adores scouting, as evidenced by his huge grin here:

Max was playing peek a boo before his melt down at Pack Meeting. Here he is being cute (I didn't take photos of his melt down).

Sunday at Home

Today, Asa and Max got the "It's Sunday morning, I'm so sick" illness. Actually, Max might actually have been ill. He was super clingy and whiny.

Unfortunately, I had to work on midterm grades and the dreaded research papers. UGH. I hate them so much because the students insist they "didn't have enough time" and that they "didn't know what to do" despite my directions and samples on my website. (See here for proof)


Anyway, I graded only 60 of them... and about 60 other papers, and now I'm watching "I was pregnant and didn't know it." Man, what a train-wreck that is! Shocking. Almost as shocking as the terrible research papers... Wednesday is Parent/Teacher Conference, by invitation only. Only my students who are not doing well, and that's a lot of them, get to come. We'll see which parents come!

Decking the Halls

     I spent part of today decorating the "mom" Christmas tree. I have never had to decorate a tree 360 degrees. It took every decoration that we had in red, white and green (and silver, as you'll note). We decorated in red downstairs, and upstairs, I bought kid-friendly colors.
     John's mom and dad gave us their "old" tree (they got a pre-lit one!)--and it's the perfect size for this room. The room isn't huge and has a sofa and piano in it. The box with the tree in it was full of goodies. It had 4 strings of lights (that all WORKED) and a surge protector in it! As I was putting the lights on, I told John, "We're going to need an extension cord!" John replied, "Dad sent you a surge protector." Wow. It was a complete tree in a box! Lucky me.

     The kids are MOST excited about the advent calendar (seen here on the console table). Asa is not thrilled he has to wait until December 1st to get his candy!
     Asa helped me decorate the tree today and he helped choose the bags and boxes that went into the windows.
     Next up... John gets to light and the kids get to decorate the family tree. They are fighting over... I mean, enjoying, the experience as I write.

Black Friday at the Phippens

Today, we didn't go shopping (although we did hit some Black Friday specials online). We got ready for Christmas. We broke out the Christmas trees (we got a spare one from John's mom and dad and have that in the living room). Asa and Xandri were thrilled to follow the color coding and put the tree together. John carried up our "umbrella" style tree, and like all other years, it got him. He has a scratch from the extremely sharp bits on the tree. After 10 years, moving, and all, our tree needs a good fluff. I haven't gotten around to that part of Christmas yet. It took most of the day to get them up, get the other stuff in, and find the lights in all of what we have.

For Black Friday, I wanted to have a celebration that didn't have anything to do with "stuff"--so we had a special dinner. I set the table with a black table cloth, and we had "black" food. Black Angus beef, black "Forbidden City" rice, and "Black Forest" brownies (brownies with cream and cherries.

Jack is usually very happy. He enjoyed today playing with his best friend Skyler (who is 9 and lives behind us in the "mirror image" of our house).

Asa, who has stopped eating at home completely (as far as I can tell), puts on a happy face. He's been practicing for "Whiniest Child of the Year," but smiled for the camera (after 3 tries).

For two days in a row, Max has been denied a long enough nap. He was dissolving into a puddle of weepy, but he was thrilled to "help" dad make the "Black Forest" brownies (brownie bites from Costco with cherries and whipping cream). He also hammed it up for the camera...

Yup: that's peek-a-boo.

Here he's showing you his good work. I think everyone had a sigh of relief when they were tucked into bed. It was a long day for the kids. They are also tired of each other. I guess that's the trade-off if you're used to going to day care. The same 2 other kids all day long for 3 days starts to wear on you, and them! I'm a bit worried for Christmas break!

The Thanksgiving Wrap-up

We went to Mark and Kristen's home for Thanksgiving. It was a bit odd to be wandering about their house... when we knew where all the light switches were. The strangest bit was that all the art work was "missing." I also hadn't realized how BIG the bedrooms were.

We divided the feast so that no one had to do TOO much work. I, as expected, did NONE of the cooking. I want people to survive the holidays.

John cooked a gorgeous turkey (he says it got a few degrees overdone, but it was moist and yummy). He also made sweet potato soup, stuffing (with apples and bacon). It was so, so yummy.

Kristen set a gorgeous table, complete with little hands for the kids to write what they were thankful about on each of the fingers.

Mark didn't even complain when we raided his fridge for diet Coke... forgetting to bring our own because that fridge has always "magically" filled with diet Coke for the past 19 years.

It was so nice of Mark and Kristen to invite us to their home. There was lots of room for everyone to sit (the kids love sitting at the counter. They got front row seats to John and Mark carving the bird.

The knives are sharp enough to cut yourself on... right, dear?

This is the traditional list of "Things I am Thankful For." My mother has hung one of these lists on the same door for ... forever, I think. It was really great to read it. My favorite entry is the one for "diet Coke" and the runner up was the "iPhone." Too cute.

Here's a shot of the kids: Kristen is helping them write what they are thankful on the fingers of the hands in their "turkey" name cards.

Jen got an idea for turkey cookies from Family Fun. They were cute.

A really good time was had by all, except Max. He took a face plant in some leaves. Of course, once we got him a bit calmed down, I shot pictures. A good face plant in to a pile of leaves is worth a thousand words, right?

Thanks again, Mark & Kristen!