sNOOOOOOOOOOw!

Winter wonderland? Phooey!

We dodged it long enough, and I'm fighting it, but winter is finally upon us. And yes, those are our garden pumpkins under all that snow.

The bishop is MISSING!

Brynn got a little worried in church today when it was announced that the bishop was missing today and a member of the high council was there. She thought he was missing in the "No one knows where he is" kind of missing, when really, he was just out of town. Her panic and worry for him was kind of sweet, actually, but made the people all around us laugh.
Not much new here since Thanksgiving. We've just been relaxing around the house and avoiding the crowds. Brynn has been very interested in building with blocks lately.

Tonight we had a fun family night (I'm teaching on Mondays right now) where Brynn taught us a lesson about why we have to go to church. She included as part of her lesson a new game she learned in Primary today: Hangman! Or more accurately, Hangturkey! After the leson, we played hangturkey a few more times (only once did the turkey get hung, when Kyra picked the word "Brouhaha") and then had a treat of truffles made by Callie.

This was a really easy recipe she found online and she was able to make them without much help at all. 3 cups good quality real chocolate chips and 1 small can sweetened condensed milk, melted together in the microwave and stirred smooth. Then add 1 tablespoon vanilla and stir until smooth. Chill 2 hours, then form into small balls and roll into toppings. We used powdered sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder and wheat germ. We would have done coconut if I'd had any. Finely chopped nuts might have been good, too.
Callie still loves to cook and has specifically asked for "more recipes" for Christmas so if you have any to send me that are kid friendly and not too hard to make, I'd love to have them!
This week should be fun, with the Festival of Trees and decorating our own house for Christmas. I'll keep you all posted.

Thanksgiving!

We had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving Day. We had Charlie come over because the rest of the Lythgoes were off galivanting all over the country without us.






Our funny of the day:
After dinner was over, Darrin was handling cleanup and was taking the rest of the meat off the turkey bones. Brynn was watching intently and finally asked:
Dad, is that a REAL turkey, like the bird kind?
Darrin: Yes.
Brynn: (Incredulous) Then how did it get to be food?
Darrin: Someone killed it.
Brynn: By cutting its head off?
Darrin: Probably. The head is not on it when we buy it at the store.
Brynn: That's wierd!

Hope you all had a nice day as well. I leave you now with my favorite fall picture, one I took in our backyard about a week ago:

Kyra's school play

I don't know what part Kyra got. You see, the play is an original, written by the class. And Kyra tells me that the character's name would give away an important plot point, so she won't tell me what the character's name is. But Kyra says it is one of the leads and a very funny role, so I'm looking forward to seeing the play in January even if it is a bit of a puzzle.

She got it!

Kyra got the part she wanted! The play will be sometime in January - apparently the drama teacher, the band teacher, the dance teacher & the choir teacher are all still negotiating who gets the auditorium which nights, so we don't know the exact date yet. But YAY! She got the part!

Buffy! Buffy! Buffy!

This is Buffy:

Buffy is a stuffed buffalo we bought for Brynn on our trip to Island Park/Yellowstone this summer. He (and despite the effeminate name, Buffy is a HE!) is Brynn's best buddy ever since the trip. Last night at bedtime, Buffy was nowhere to be found. There was much weeping and wailing and dumping out of toyboxes, but to no avail, he was gone. Brynn did not sleep well without him.
We searched and searched and searched some more today, but still no Buffy. More weeping and wailing on Brynn's part. Every single family member had searched everywhere we could think of, including looking through the recyclable things Brynn had taken out to the garage yesterday and digging through the sandbox!
And then, finally, I found Buffy hiding among the piles of junk in Callie's room. And tonight Brynn is sleeping with Buffy safely tucked under her chin.
And that is the most exciting thing that has happened at our house this week.
Tune in tomorrow for the news about Kyra's drama tryouts - she'll find out if she gets the part she wanted....

Just experimenting

with Blogger's video uploading. This is Brynn jumping in a pile of leaves. It took her 15 minutes to make that pile. I don't think she wanted to destroy it.

In other news, I almost forgot to mention that Brynn has a new imaginary friend named Lillian. Not to be outdone, Kyra decided she has one, too. His name is Bob Casper. Today was Lillian's birthday! Brynn decided to make her a birthday cake. She asked me of she could use real dishes to bake her a cake. I said she could, as long as she used only IMAGINARY ingredients. Can you guess what happened?? Yup - she used REAL flour, butter & water. And I sat here at the computer, grading papers, listening to her doing it. It wasn't until I heard her turn on the water that I went to check and found a mess! Unfortunately, I completely forgot Sarah's motto "Don't get mad, get PICTURES!" and instead I got mad and made her clean up the mess all over the stove, counter & floor. And I have no pictures to post here, either!

What's that on your head?

A WIG!!!!!!!!!
Today was wierd hair day at Kyra's school, but since she doesn't have wierd hair, she wore this wig. Way back in 2004, it was part of Darrin's Johnny Damon costume:

So let's see...... I have some catching up to do! On Nov. 4, we had an all day retreat for the Utah Doula Association. Here I am at the dinner with my two backup doulas, Laura on the left and Angie on the right:

I did a great birth last week, a home birth up in Heber City. We spent earlyish labor soaking together in some hot springs near Midway and went out to see the stars during the night. Beautiful baby boy came with the sun in the morning. Took me a couple days to get past missing an entire night's sleep!
It's been lovely and warm here. One day last week when there was no school (parent-teacher conferences) Callie & Brynn had a picnic int he backyard and played out there for 4 hours straight!

No coats, either!
So that's what's been happening around here!

Um, no thanks!

Please, noone get me this for Christmas.
That will be all.

Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween, if a bit crazy busy. We had a ward activity, trick or treating, and a visit from Darrin's parents, in addition to the usual homework, dinner, etc.
Kyra was Sally from the movie "Nightmare Before Christmas"

Callie was a genie:

And Brynn was an ENCHANTED fairy princess. The "enchanted" part is crucial.

All in all, the costumes turned out pretty well!

Darrin took Callie & Brynn out trick-or-treating and I stayed home with Kyra and her friend Kristen. They decorated the front of the house, played spooky music, and handed out candy to everyone that came by.

And guess who carved this pumpkin?? You only get one chance.

Funday, Funday....

Monday we had a great time! We went downtown, because a year ago, Callie & Brynn were asked to come model for a new display at the church office building downtown. The display has been up at least 6 months, but we had not had a chance to see it yet.
This picture:

Is all kids in our ward. Brynn is in the front row on the right, Callie is singing in the back row.
In another area of the display, Brynn has her own picture:

The little old ladies working down there were just tickled to see Brynn and wanted to know her name, etc. They acted like she was a celebrity!
Then we went up to meet my mom & dad and they treated us to a corn maze up there. It was great being there in late afternoon & evening. Here are some pictures: