S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y morning

Another day of craziness has come and gone at the Emmertson house. Our ward is doing this 12 days of Christmas thing for the missionaries and we signed up for last Saturday. I only signed up to have one set over, though. I'm just trying to minimize the chaos. We invited them over for breakfast and had the works. They hung out and played dreidel and lincoln logs and colored with the girls while I made sugar cookies for everyone to frost. As you can tell from the pictures, everyone was having a good time. Their names are Elder Cornwell and Elder Wilson. Hayden has a not so secret crush on Elder Cornwell. And she said last time they were over that Daddy embarrassed her. So we tried to keep the silly comments about how much she loves him to a minimum. So here are the pictures with a little commentary.

Taylor's masterpieces

Payton striking a pose, as usual

These cookies have reached maximum sprinkle capacity

These girls worked hard and only ate a little frosting in the process.

She is just getting started.

Elder Wilson and his perfect tree. He said his mom makes hundreds of cookies every year to give to the neighbors.

Elder Cornwell

I just wanted one picture of them all together. But this is the silly one. I'm pretty sure the missionaries are thinking, "Please, stop inviting us over."

We wanted to get them a little Christmas present to remember us by. So, this was the obvious choice.

We had to include the missionaries in our new favorite tradition. Elder Wilson is quite the competitive dreidel player.

Bryan made the frosting for the cookies. It is the butter frosting recipe out of the red checkered cookbook. Anyway, it was delicious.

I did come to the realization, again, the making sugar cookies is not really a skill that I have. So I have added it to the list of things I am not good at. Have you seen my list? It is a piece of paper with lincoln logs and sugar cookies written on it.

Boycott over

Well, the boycott was effective. It only needed to last one day. Both mom and Lynne posted less than 24 hours after I started the boycott.

Yeah, now I can post more pics!

THe official blog boycott

The time has come. I know I have been threatening this for a while. So, now I must keep my word. I will not post anything (of value) on my blog until someone else in the family updates their blog. I mean, Lynne hasn't blogged since December 6th and her stuff is WEAK. You can't have a post be about the post right before it. She is going on 8 days now with nothing! And Stacey, if you are reading this then you are at your computer..so blog, baby, blog. Aren't you the one that started this whole thing, anyway. "Life is Good?" Then blog about how good, fantabulous, wonderful, etc. that it is. And Mom. The Mominator. Mommarino. Mommalommadingdong. I don't know what kind of "adventures" you and dad are having, but I'm sure they don't include being too far from your computer. You are about 6 days behind on your posting. Get with it. The rant is now over.
Au revoir, Auf Wiedersehen, Ciao, Arrivederci, Sayounara, Adios, do svidánja, goodbye.
Emmertson out.

What more does a 2nd grader need to know?

Well, it has been all Christmas, all the time for the past week or so. But not at ER Dickson. They are equal opportunity holiday people. Rabbi Silberman gave all the kids in the downstairs 2nd grade classes some chocolate geld in their goodie bags yesterday. And today, Taylor came home with a dreidel and the instructions on how to play the game. They played it at school today and Taylor is now hooked. (As a side note: I had no idea this game involved an ante and someone taking home all the winnings. I wonder if there are electronic dreidel games at the casinos.) So she came home and begged me to play with her. We had this heated game of dreidel going. There is quite a pile of candy in the center up for grabs. I spin that bad boy and start yelling for a gimel (that means I get everything in the pot.) I tell Taylor she is going down and I am going to win. She then informs me that I should not do that because the rabbi said not to. So.....
...the lesson for the day from second grade is...
Don't trash talk the dreidel game!

I love not being a room mom!

The girls had their class Christmas parties today. And it confirmed how glad I was that I did not sign up to be either of their room moms this year. This was the first time that I got to enjoy a class party with the girls without running around like a maniac and sweating like only a fat girl does. Being a room mom is a thankless job. I am just glad it is not my thankless job this year. Taylor class made visors and ornaments, played holiday bingo, and ate ice cream sundaes. Paytons class snacked on chips, fruit, and cookies, read a story and sang some songs. I did alternate between both classes. And when I went back to Ms. Baker's room to pick Payton up, the were playing "Doggy, Doggy, Where's your Bone?" I got some cute pics of the girls with all of their loot. Hayden scored big time because she made a visor and had an ice cream sunday in Taylor's classroom then had all the snacks in Payton's classroom. Cheesepuffs and ice cream count for lunch, right?

Sassafrass makeovers

Yesterday was the finale for the weeklong birthday extravaganza. I took the girls to Sassafrass after school for makeovers. We were the only people there so they got all of the attention. They all got their hair, make-up and nails done. They each changed outfits several times, walked the runway and sang kareoke with Hannah Montano and the High School Musical soundtracks. We really had a great time and stayed for about an hour and a half. They all got to pick their hairdos, the color of the spray and the color of the makeup. But they were each doing their individual "thing." You might notice that Taylor has her uniform shirt on under her costume. It was too itchy for her. She was the last one to get dressed because she couldn't find one that wasn't too itchy. Payton changed several times and tried on every shoe in the place. When I got my camera out, she had all of her poses ready. She didn't want her hair fixed though. She just wanted to wear it down because I never let her wear it down. Hayden ran around like she owned the place. When she was singing, she was cracking me up because she was staring at the screen the whole time acting like she was reading the words. It was pretty funny. Hayden is already planning to have her birthday there. We had a great time. They can't wait to go back.

Happy Birthday, dear Payton!

Payton's birthday is turning into a week long birthday extravaganza. On Friday, she brought birthday treats to school. We decided on Jello cups because sweets like cupcakes and cookies are not allowed. I sure would hate for some kid to become obese because he/she ate a cupcake to celebrate Payton's birthday. I was sure to get the sugar-free cups. You know I am a healthy eating advocate. (just a hint of sarcasm) Saturday started with a breakfast date with Bryan. After attending a wedding reception and taking pictures for the Christmas card we went to LibbyLu's to make body spray and lip gloss. Then, we had dinner at Sonny's with Aiti and Grandpa and came back to the house for cake and ice cream. Payton wanted a death by chocolate cake from Brunos and neopolitan ice cream. And what the birthday girl wants, the birthday girl gets. Who am I to enforce my healthy eating standards on a poor girl on her birthday? Of course today is the actual birthday so we had more cake and ice cream. I can't think of a better after-church binge.
Tomorrow we are taking the girls and Nathan and Noah (friends from school) to the movies to see Mr. Magoriums blah blah blah. And Wednesday all the girls will be getting makeovers at Sassafrass. I will post pictures of those, too.

Death by chocolate cake with a side of lip gloss and body spray.

A elf costume for Caroline (a build-a-bear pony) from Aiti and Grandpa.

Fancy Nancy book from Mimi and Opa that accompanied Payton to the bathroom after too much cake and ice cream.

Coordinating sweater, gloves, hat, doll and tights from Mom and Dad. Payton accessorized the outfit with her hot pink skirt and some of Taylor's much envied black velvet shoes.

The ever popular Hannah Montana t-shirt. And yes, she is sleeping in it tonight.

The happy birthday girl and her doll.

Coming soon to a Christmas card near you!

You will not be getting this one, though.

Gingerbread fun

We had Aiti, Jill and Addilyn stop by for a visit this evening. I figured this would be a good opportunity to decorate our gingerbread house. I also bought the little gingerbread man kit. While Bryan and Jill tried to build the house (using runny icing and a hair dryer,) Aiti and the girls decorated gingerbread people. I think they all wound up being girls with some pretty sophisticated hair-dos and clothes. We had a good time and as you can see I got a couple of cute pictures. And I get to check something else off my list of Christmas traditions that we have completed for this year.

St. Nick and a little decor

I finally got the tree decorated and the rest of the Christmas stuff put out. I was trying a little experiment with the tree decorating. Out of necessity, I decorated the tree while the kids were at school. I was thinking that it would be a fun surprise for them to come home from school and have everything all done. You know, a little makeover of the living room. I knew they would either love it or whine about not getting to help. Guess which reaction they had? Yup, they whined. I think there was even a tear or two. Needless to say, they will be putting the ornaments on the tree next year. Who cares if only the bottom half of the tree gets decorated. To add insult to injury, Hayden kept telling them that it was okay because she had set aside some ornaments for them to put on the tree. I didn't know anything about this and I thought that the little pile of ornaments sitting on the dining room table was just part of the mess and I had already hung them several hours prior to the girls getting home. So in the matter of 5 seconds, I successfully upset all three of the girls. Wasn't the first time and it certainly won't be the last, I'm sure. So here are the pics of the tree, mantle, fisher-price nativity, and the book basket. I couldn't take a picture of my Willow Tree nativity because it is in the china cabinet and the flash kept washing everything out. But, I LOVE my little display.






Oh, and we had a little visitor last night. But that wasn't without drama. The girls couldn't agree on which shoes to put out. Payton wanted all left shoes. Hayden wanted Taylor to use her school shoes but Taylor didn't want to take them off her feet. So Hayden went and got one of Taylor's other shoes. Taylor didn't like that shoe. Payton put a croc out. Hayden didn't like that shoe. Blah, Blah, Blah.

Christmas quotes

Here are a couple of my favorite Christmas quotes. One has been slightly altered to fit the situation. Try to match the quote with the person that said it.

1. "Christmas is ruined!"
2. "You smell like beef and cheese. You don't smell like Santa."
3. "We are pulling the plug."
4. "Hey I'm from Alabama. Do ya'll celebrate Christmas around here?"
5. "I know that's not the real Santa because he is not very jolly and I can see his real clothes under is costume."

A. Ricky, after one of the kids looked in the garage.
B. Taylor, after the Santa pictures at school
C. Mobile's deputy mayor about to light the Christmas tree
D. Loosely based on something Jake said
E. Buddy the Elf

Feel free to add your own.

Funny stuff

I read about this video on another blog and thought it was pretty funny. So I wanted to post it here. I can't figure our how to put the video directly on here, so here it the linK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anSpBUxsgAU
YOu have to copy and paste it into your browser.
I hope you like it.

Just trying to stay ahead.

Its only December 4th and our Christmas season is already in full swing. Here is a quick rundown. On the 1st, we went and picked up our Christmas tree, stopped by Guitar Center for the girls to show us the drums, guitars, keyboards, tamborines, etc. that they want Santa to bring them, then hurried home to set the tree up and get ready for the Luau. Allie Singleton stayed with on Saturday night so that I could help Bryan with the 4-part paper on Sunday morning. On the 2nd, we went to church then came home and tried to decorate the tree. Only to discover that we didn't have any lights. We spent the afternoon making advent chains then went to church for the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. We left early, because the girls apparently still thought they were dancing at the luau. (I was not happy.) On Monday, the 3rd, we had all four missionaries over for dinner and FHE. Jill and Addy also came into town to visit. During the day Monday, I set out to return some things, find a tree skirt, buy some Christmas lights, etc. After dinner with the missionaries, FHE, and a couple of songs from the elders, we were, once again, going to try to decorate the tree. It was then that Bryan realized I have bought lights that were on a white string instead of green. I was so mad at myself but, I packed up all the lights and vowed to get the right kind the next day. So today, Jill and I got the right kind of lights and brought them home where she, Hayden, and I finally got the tree decorated. Why the rush? Becuase I am the last house for the Relief Society Progressive Dinner tonight. So later I will be frantically cleaning. But for now, I have to go find a ham, some rolls, and something to put hot chocolate in.
I am singing in church on Sunday, too. Any suggestions?

Better late than never

I am finally taking the time to post some pics of Thanksgiving. We spent it with Bryan's parents and Granny and Paw-Paw. This is probably the smallest group of people that we have celebrated Thanksgiving with in a long time. But, we still had a really nice time. I think the best part was Grandpa taking Taylor, Payton, and Hayden into the kitchen and they helped dry the dishes after he washed them. I could get used to that. I also loved everyone just hanging out after the meal. Grandpa and Bryan went upstairs to nap/watch football. Aiti watched some Christmas movies with the girls and played Uno. I got to sit and play the piano for a while. The good part about it being Thanksgiving is that I could play Christmas music and not feel bad about it.

The morning of Thanksgiving was pretty relaxing too. The kids sat around watching the Macy's parade on the television that spontaneously kept getting louder. And Lynne and I went through every single peice of the 100lb newspaper ( we had previously spent about 5 hours delivering 500 of them) to plan our course of action for Black Friday. That was definately time well spent.

The countdown has begun

We spent the afternoon making "advent" chains. It is amazing what you can do with a little saran wrap and ribbon.

On a side note: We had a multi-ward luau last night at church. It was AWESOME! Way better than I anticpated. The food was great. They cooked two pigs and showed a video of how it was done. It was buried in the ground under banana leaves, burlap, and canvas. The place was PACKED. I am sure we were breaking some sort of fire code. We were greeted at the door by a Hawaiian girl dressed in her native clothing and we were all given a shell necklace and a kiss on the cheek. The gym was totally decorated. While everyone ate, several of the missionaries who are from Hawaii, entertained us with music as the played the ukelele and sang. After dinner, there was a show. I am guessing it was patterned after the ones done at the Polynecian Cultural Center. I was told that one of the elders in our ward, Elder Tovo, has performed there before. Anyway, they had dancing from all the different islands including Hawaii, Tonga, and Somoa. There are members of our stake from all of these areas, and they all took part in the dancing. The also did some drumming and had few dances that some of the youth and non-islander missionaries participated in. We had to leave early though, because we get an early start on Sundays. And apparently we left right before the fire dance.

When we got there, we almost left because of how crowded it was. But I am SO glad we stayed. It was something we had never experienced before and I am glad we were a part of it. The best part was seeing how hard the people worked to put it together and the pride on their faces, especially the missionaries. You could tell they are proud of their heritage and loved sharing part of their culture with us. It was an awesome night.

Too funny!

I got this in my e-mail and it was too funny not to pass on. I especially love that you can hear the lady that is video taping, laughing.

Hayden said another funny thing the other day and I promised mom that I would post it. We were talking about a new book that Payton got at the book fair called "Poor Puppy." I mentioned that it was by the same author as "Bad Kitty" (a family favorite.) So Hayden says, " I think the dog is the cat's nemesis." I asked her what she thought a nemesis was and she told me that it is when a good guy and a bad guy are fighting. It is the bad guy. Then she proceeds into this long dialogue about whether or not the cat is the bad guy or the dog is the bad guy. Or that maybe they were both the nemesis to each other. Deep thoughts, for sure.

pics for following post

I am grateful!

Having the Benhams leave was harder than I expected it to be. I have tried to put on a happy face for the girls but it is hard. Especially when I know how sad they are and that I can't do anything about it. Well, I read Lisa Bearnson's blog today and she had a quote on there from a talk given at conference about gratitude. I remember enjoying the talk at the time, but it seems even more meaningful now. I really don't have to look too far for things that I am grateful for. And today, I am grateful for an awesome 2 weeks that we got to spend with the Benhams. We are still sad that they are gone. But for today, I am grateful they were here at all!

So here is a little slide show from their visit with a few other pictures thrown in of our times together over the past 2 years. I don't know how to add music to the slide show itself , so my first song on my playlist for the blog goes along with the slide show. So turn up your speakers.

A taste of her own medicine?!?

Where do they come up with this stuff?

So I am sitting here surfing the internet. (Passing time until it is time to pick up the Benhams at the airport.) Anyway, I overhear an interesting exchange between Payton and Hayden. They are playing with the dollhouse. Payton is the mom and the daughter. Hayden is the dad and the son. Here it is:

Son: She punched me. (refering to daughter)

Dad: Go to the corner. (to the daughter)

Son: I am kicking you out of this family!!

Payton: Um, Hayden, kids can't kick each other out of the family. Only parents can do that.

Hayden: OK

Dad: Go see your mother. (to the daughter)

Payton: Hayden, the dad can't tell the daughter to go see the mom. The mom has to call her.

Hayden: OK

Mom: Come here. (to daughter)
Mom: Don't hit your brother.

Mom: (to dad) You have to give her a taste of her own medicine.

Dad: OK (Hayden makes dad pretend to give daughter some medicine.)

Payton: No Hayden. A taste of her own medicine means that you have to punch her so that she knows how it feels.

I don't know where they hear this stuff or why they interpret it the way they do. My best guess is the cultural refinement classes they take via TV from Cartoon Network and Nick Jr. Hey, if nothing else, it increases their vocabulary.
Now, its been five minutes since this little exchange. So now they are arguing over whether or not to play Thundercats.

As a side note-Hayden spends a great deal of her day making observations about the world around her. Her recent musings include:
*Gabriella sings better than Sharpay.
*She really likes a missionary at church. Not the one that plays the ukelele. Not the one with the glasses. And not the one with the light peach skin. The other one. He is handsome and she really likes him but I am not allowed to tell him.
*Hayden does not think she is beautiful unless she is wearing her dress-up Ariel wedding dress.
*We shouldn't go in any boys bathrooms because they are GROSS!

That's all for today. I am sure she will have many more enlightening things to say tomorrow.

October recap

October was a busy month for us. Here is quick rundown of our month:


Taylor had her 8th birthday which included getting a package from the Benhams that had her scriptures in it.


Taylor found her birthday presents throughout the house from a scavenger hunt that Payton and Hayden made for her. The only place they could find large enough to hide the chair, was the bathtub.On October 2nd, Taylor was baptized. It was better than we ever expected it to be. So many family members and ward members were there. Taylor, Payton, and Hayden sang. And the Benhams even sang via video. We put the house back on the market with a different realtor. This meant that we had to purchase a few things to replace what was taken when the other realtor took back the things she had put in our home for the "staging." Our best purchase was the daybed on the back porch. We have already gotten alot of enjoyment out of it. Payton and I went on a field trip with the first grade to the corn field maze. It was entirely too hot but the kids had a good time.

We had our ward trunk or treat party where Taylor won for best girl costume and Dylan Parkes won for best boy costume. We were glad that Aiti, Grandpa, the Nowell cousins, and the Courtneys (friends from school) could come with us.

Taylor was the All-star for the month of October from her class. Her wearing that non-uniform shirt means that she (and Payton) had perfect attendance for the month. This was the second month in a row. This doesn't mean just being at school everyday. This means being ONTIME everyday. High fivc to me! We were able to go to the fair with the whole Emmertson family (including the Nowells) thanks to Grandpa.

And of course, we did the required trip to the pumpkin patch. As usual, we had to squeeze it in between everything else in our busy schedule. We went on Saturday evening after being at the fiar all day. We rushed home, threw on the cute little halloween shirts, and raced to the pumpkin patch to take a few quick pictures right as the sun was setting. I think this is the first year that we bought a full size pumpkin there. Normally we just get the tiny ones. Mostly out of obligation for using their pumpkins for pictures.

Bryan and the girls had fun getting the pumpkin carved. That is not my idea of fun so they had some fun daddy-daughter time doing that. Bryan sketched out several designs and the girls picked out which one they wanted him to carve. The pumpkin looked great when it was done. But it started to droop over the next couple of days. I think we learned that you need to leave more pumpkin attached than you cut away.

The caramel apple making was fun. But I am glad it is only a once a year deal. We ended this eventful month with trick or treating with the Nowell cousins in Spanish Fort/Daphne. We vowed for the second time not to trick-or-treat in Aitis neighborhood anymore. The houses are too far apart and too far from the road. Once we made it to the church for the party they were more excited. And we ended this long night with a little more door-to-door action in a neighborhood close to the Daphne ward building.

I was actually a little sad for Halloween to end. The kids all were so cute in their costumes and have really enjoyed all the festivities of the past couple of weeks. I eased my sadness by going to Target on November 1st and buying Halloween stuff on sale for next year.

As you can tell from some of the pictures. We were lucky to see a lot of Daylyn, Jill, and Adylynn and Nakeysha and her kids over that past month. We were sad to say goodbye to the Nowells on Halloween. That was the last time for us to see them before they went off to Hawaii for 3 years.

We are excited, though, to be counting down the days to see our Benham cousins. ONE WEEK!!!!!!!! We can't wait!