Jackson's Holiday Party

Okay, this first picture was snapped on my phone (actually, all these were, I guess, my phone or Mike's) because it is so funny. Madie's preschool had these cute little snowmen out in the hallway where the top circle was filled in with the face of the child. All of the faces were either cute smiles or blank stares, except for one of the teachers, who made a silly face that Madie had noticed on our way into the classroom (this was before she had her picture out there). When I went to pick her up, I stood there looking and looking for Madie's picture. Where was it? Where could it be? There aren't that many on the board, so why can't I....Oh...

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I see. I just couldn't recognize my daughter's face. This whole thing is so Madie to me. All the rest of them also had big puffy white cotton balls all over them. I can just picture how this whole thing went down:

Teacher: "Madie, don't you want to take a fun picture for your snowman?" 

Madie: Looks away.

Teacher: "Here, smile!"

Madie: Turns with THE FACE.

~~~~~Later~~~~~

Teacher: "Okay! Let's decorate!"

Madie: "I wanna do the glue."

Teacher: "Okay, go for it! And look, we've got buttons, and cotton and, this is just so cool!"

Madie: Loads on the glue, sticks on a ball. "I'm done."

On Thursday we went to Mike's work for a family Christmas party. It was so fun! Well, there was kind of a lame comic magician, but the music was fun, and Santa came, and there was ice cream and cookies and presents and Christmas mice drawings on the wall--so fun!

Watching the magician...kind of pathetic.

Madie really wanted to sit on Santa's lap, which surprised me. She's so shy about things like this, but I had showed her a picture of a friend's daughter (that's you, Kristen!) at the mall with Santa and she was sure she wanted to do the same thing. But then when her name was called and I took her up she just stared at him and made no move to get on his lap or hug him or anything.

Santa?! He was really friendly.

He did say, "Would you like to sit on my lap?" and she nodded. It was so cute.

Mrs. Clause was handing out the presents. Madie was so happy afterward and just kept talking about her present from Santa!

What's this?!

A Dora doll?! YESSS! 

And she came with a soft fleecy blanket! Oh, and dream come true!

There was also a great clown doing face painting. Madie really wanted to do that--as did every other kid in the place. We stood in line forever and were one of the last, but that was okay. I actually didn't mind waiting, we got to chat with some of the other mother-kid duos there while Mike cared for Finnegan. Then they came and joined us and Mike took picture while Madie sat so still as she painted these pretty flowers on her wrist.

Christmas Joy

On Friday, the day before Christmas Eve, we decided to go ice skating. My work let everyone out two hours early, so we decided to make the most of it. Luckily there is a rink 15 minutes away. One thing about introducing new things to Madie is you have to break her in slowly. She wasn't immediately sold on the idea of putting on these weird 'special boots' (as we called them) and walking around on the ice. So, we started out slow. I took her out and held her as I took a few laps. She was watching some of the other girls wearing pink while ice-skating (very impressionable). After two minutes, she was willing to let me put her down so she could walk next to me while I skated slowly. She took a couple of laps around, was still watching the girls in pink with 'special boots', and then pronounced "Otay, special boots Dadda?" YES! So we went back to the changing area, put on her special boots, and headed out on the ice. The rest is history, she was sold on it. Mal and I took turns holding her hand or arms, letting her get a sense of balance and how the skates work. She cried when we had to leave.

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house...Poor Madie was sick with a stomach aroused. She had a 24-hour flu bug, for lack of a better rhyming word. She actually woke up on Christmas Eve morning with it. I'll spare you the details, but we did wash her pillow case and sleeping bag two times that day. It lasted through the night of Christmas Eve. I ended up camping out with her in the living room, and she actually ended up sleeping very well the rest of the night. Thankfully, it was gone by the morning. 

We were going to open presents after our 9:00 am, one-hour church meeting, but at about 5:15 am Madie whispered to me "Dadda, water." She repeated it a few times in a really soft voice until I fell out of my coma and got her a water bottle. After that, we were up! I figured, why not just open them now? I mean, Santa obviously came! So we got Mal up and had a lot of fun opening presents with Madie. Christmas is so much more fun with kids. Madie has been so obsessed with Frosty the Snowman, Santa Clause, reindeer, etc. It's been a really fun season. Madie got some rain boots, ornaments, coloring books, princess attire, a new doll...needless to say she was very pleased. She loved opening presents. She did almost refuse to open her other presents once she pulled the doll out of her stocking though. Mal got a Martha Stewart encyclopedia, fleece, and some jewelry. I got a camera for Christmas, which I am having a lot of fun with! I wish I could have had it for December though, especially with the fun things we did leading up to Christmas. Grateful for it either way.

Christmas Celebrations

Ah, the traditional Christmas Eve candel-light dinner which consisted of corn chowder (for those who can't handle shell fish), and oyster stew. We were amazingly able to fit everyone (20 people) in about a 20 sq foot kitchen, it was quite the feat.

Oh look! They have a Tupperware cabinet too!

Madie was a lot more interested in the ornaments than the presents under the tree. Probably because we bought some bell ornaments for her to play with on our tree.

The pavlova looked as good as it tasted. Another Conner tradition.

Madie was enamored with this petit rocking chair.

Another battery operated toy!

And some arm wrestling.

"Bring in the bottled lightning, a clean tumbler, and a corkscrew!"

For those of you who don't know her, this is Bethany.

Image A

Bethany and I landed some sweet tickets to go to the Charles Dickens Christmas Fair in San Francisco last weekend. It was held in the Cow Palace--don't ask--and as soon as you walked in it was honestly like another world. All the workers spoke in British accents--even a bum sitting on a keg outside a store gave me a look and said, "'Ello, luv." It was awesome.

One of the first stops we made was at a bonnet-makers. (See "image a" above.) There's something you should know about Bethany: I didn't think I'd ever get her into a bonnet. That's just not the type of girl she is. She's more this type of girl:

ARRR! Ye lass in back o' me'll be walkin' ye plank afore long!

I, however, was DEFINITELY going to try on a bonnet! Check this Christmas beaut out!

There were tons of shops. Tons. Wand-makers, a couple of haberdashers, a harp shop, lots and lots of roasted nut stands, a couple of candle shops and candy shops, dress-makers and corset shops, Fezziwig's was right as you walk in, where you could learn to dance, they had three other stages and a whole separate theatre, there was even a scientific demonstration for all those interested by Phileas Fogg and his associates. I wasn't as good about taking pictures as I should have been, but I did get a couple more. For instance, the mask-maker shop. This place was AWESOME! Man, if I had a couple hundred bucks to blow on something I would use bi-annually at the most, these masks would be it! Check out my crow! It was my favorite one.

And Bethany's bear was pretty cool too. They had smaller ones--just to cover the eyes--and even bigger ones! They had a wolf mask that was just enormous!

All in all, it was a very fun time, even if we didn't find a third person to go with us (we had three tickets) and despite not being able to blow a ton of money on frivolous but really cool things I would have loved to have and used occasionally despite their being out of fashion. I did spend $14 in an antique bookstore, but you can't blame me for that. I saw a little book called "Песни о Мире" ("Songs of the World") all in Russian for $4 and a hardcover, 1910 printing of Shakespeare's complete works for $10! A piece of my heart stayed at the bookstore though when I couldn't purchase a small collection of children's stories with illuminated illustrations throughout because it was $95. :( Someday...

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Madie's First Christmas

Sorry this is a little late, we have been having some issues posting pictures and can't figure out the problem. Anyways, Madie had a successful first Christmas despite the upsetting start. I woke up at about 5:30 am to the sound of Madie fussing around in the room she was staying in at Grandma Clark's home. I started to get dressed to go and assist her when all of the sudden I hear her potent shrieking voice! It was out of the ordinary for her to go full volume when she is just waking up, so I darted for her room to find out what her deal was. It was dark mind you, so I reached down to where her shoulders should have been and was shocked to feel her flailing feet sticking up in the air. I felt for her body, which she pushed OFF the head of the mattress (New mattress for her new crib, except the crib wasn't set up. We just put the mattress on the floor and called it good.) Luckily it was only 5 inches off the floor! She had a small indentation on the top of her head from the push-off, but nothing major. Needless to say, she was happy to be saved.

Opening her first present!

Happy camper.

Another angle of her first present. After opening presents at 6:00 am and having German Pancakes, we called it good and fell asleep until 9:00 am. Thanks Grandma, Nana, and Papa for letting us get extra sleep! Great Christmas Present.

We had a small get-together with the Clark side of the family for nice lunch that included our traditional ham, potatoes, fresh rolls, and Grandma's famous layered jello salad (I believe 7 layers?). These are all the great-grand children that live in the local area. Prior to opening presents with everyone, Grandma gave all the kids these elf hats to distribute presents to those present. If you look carefully, you can see Madie.

This is sometime during the break...can't remember when. Madie supports herself on her own strength. She is just so top-heavy that she can't balance very well yet.

She can even take a few baby steps here and there!

Sunday following Christmas, we decided to go to Temple Square in Salt Lake to view the temple lights. This is Madie with Nana and Papa in the North Visitors center, which featured some cool displays on the church welfare system, and scriptures/prophets.

There's our group. The lights were amazing.

On Sunday evenings, they allow 30 minute musical sets to local musicians. This was a family of 5 1/2 (baby on the way). Mom, six year old, and four year old on the violins. Two year old on a mini-cello (looks like she was learning the fingering). Husband on the piano. They were amazing! The six year-old was really good! She was keeping up with her Mom really well.

And of course the reflection pond on the east side of the temple featuring the nativity.

Christmas 2008

This year we had Christmas in Arizona with my side of the family. We figured this could be our last chance for a while due to our fuzzy future. Since we graduate this year, we have absolutely no idea where we will be the next five or so years. We have aspirations to move back east, but have also toyed with visiting Saipan for a few months or living in Salt Lake after we graduate. Lots of possibilities! Anyways, we had a great time in Arizona. Thanks again family for partying with us while we were there. These pictures are all from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 

  

Our Niece Lexi acting goofy, Christmas Eve. 

So this is a funny story. We decided to go Christmas Caroling to some of my parent's neighbors. We had this pineapple we wanted to give away to someone, the question is, will anyone open up their door and accept the fruit? We went to four different doors, I think two weren't home, but the other two blatantly rejected us! I'm not just talking about neglecting the sound of Christmas Carolers on your doorstep, I'm talking about coming to the door and seeing us through the window and closing the blinds, turning off the lights, and leaving us hanging! Yes, this truly happened. We had a good laugh. We just wanted to give someone this blasted pineapple!

Kylie and Lexi were pretty scared of this illuminated bear. I think they are paranoid of bears because everyone reminds them that there are wild bears up at my parent's cabin. 

Mallory, Tiff holding Said, and Shannon, having a good laugh caroling.

Sam, a little unsure about the illuminated bear.

Sadie playing with toys at my parent's house. I used to play with those very toys!

Mal playing piano with Sadie. 

Christmas morning and matching pajamas. 

Christmas morning. 

Mal explaining something.