Christmas -- finally!

Christmas Eve we read the Nativity story and Tyler and Adeline acted it out as best they could. Then we watched the Church's Nativity movie -- you know the 5 minute one? Then, Tyler insisted that they try again. So, we acted it out again.

Ornaments. Every year Grandma Ensign (my mother) gives the grand kids a new ornament. It's the only present they are allowed to open before Christmas. In fact, they can open them as soon as we get them.

Tyler's

Addie's

And my Mom also got us this ornament.

Christmas morning's loot. The quilt on the couch is one I made for Tyler for Christmas. It didn't get wrapped because it wasn't 100% finished. But it is now!

The stockings and the Santa gifts -- the kids got slippers & a nice letter from Santa.

In my family we always had to wait until everyone was awake before we could go open presents. We've decided to keep that tradition with our own family. We made sure Tyler knew that rule the night before -- and even made him repeat it to us many times! So, at 6:00 a.m. Tyler came into our room and asked if we could go open presents. Addie was still sleeping, so I made Tyler wait an entire 30 minutes (oh, the horror) just so Addie would get a little bit more sleep! Here are the kids lining up in the hallway. Addie is looking at the floor because she literally woke up just minutes before we took this picture, and her eyes are still adjusting to the light!

Notice Dallin's hand on Tyler's shoulder. Dallin had to keep holding Tyler back so he wouldn't bulldoze over Addie.

Checking out the Santa stuff.

Opening the stockings and the presents.

santa, sundogs, and christmas clothes

Here are some pictures from this weekend.

I love when I capture moments like this!

These are obviously pictures of the kids with Santa. Tyler was very excited, and told Santa that he wants a Polar Express train. Sadly, I'm afraid he'll be slightly disappointed this year. Santa's budget does not allow for a $140 train set! I think he'll get a nice note explaining that Santa and Mommy and Daddy talked and we decided he needed to be a little bit older, and more responsible with the toys he already has before he gets his Polar Express train.

Addie was not so sure about this. At least she didn't cry.

We saw this on the way to church yesterday morning. They're called sun dogs. Here's some info on them with some other pictures. We didn't know what they were until someone at church told us. Pretty cool, huh?

And here's a picture of the view we saw as we came out of church yesterday. Pretty bleak, huh?

Here we are heading down the road on our way home from church.

Edited to add:

I totally forgot the Christmas clothes! Neither child cooperated too much. I guess that's what happens when you've been at church from 8:45am until 1:15pm. Maybe we'll try again next week when Mom doesn't have meetings all day.

Tyler took this picture. He's getting pretty good, isn't he?

kid stories

I've had these stories to share for awhile but just haven't taken the time to get them posted. I need to, though, because I'm starting to forget them!

Tyler and I were watching a show on the Disney Channel, and I asked him if he thought the teen-aged actress was pretty. He said, "I think you're pretty."

The weekend before Thanksgiving our doorbell rang and Dallin found our mailman on the front stoop with our mail and our daughter. Apparently when Tyler had come in from playing outside he left the garage door and the door to the house wide open. The mailman found her on the side of our house. At least she had both her shoes -- but only one was on & she was without socks. She also didn't have a jacket on, and it was about 50 degrees outside that day.

Tyler told Dallin he wanted to listen to track #3 on his Polar Express CD. Dallin asked, "What's number 3?" Without missing a beat Tyler replied, "It comes after 2."

I mentioned to Tyler during our dinner conversation on the topic of dating & girlfriends that he was not to date until he was 16, and that girlfriends were off limits until after his mission. He said, "I already have a girlfriend." Dallin and I both gasped, "WHAT!?!?!?" "Whose your girlfriend?" And I was ready for the name of some girl in his preschool class. His response was, "Mom. You're my girlfriend." Good answer.

an idea for the NSA

So, I've been thinking recently that with the military doing away with water boarding, they might try some of these forms of torture instead:

1. being in a room with Adeline for one hour while she screams.

2. standing in line at Wal-Mart at 4:00pm on a Saturday afternoon during the Christmas season (we did it for 30 min.) with a hungry and tired 18 month old in the cart, and a cashier who doesn't seem to realize that chatting with everyone and going at a snail speed is not going to make her line any shorter any time soon.

3. after telling Tyler he may not do something, having him then ask you to do that thing every 5 minutes for 5 hours straight.

Well, that's all I have right now. I'm sure I will think of more later, and I will be sure to share them with you. Maybe I'll send my list to the NSA. What do you think?

week in photos

The kids trying out our new free treadmill.

I just can't get enough of this girl!

Off to school.

Our future model with Tyler as photographer.

Love that PB&J.

Here's a close-up of her PB&J facial. At least she didn't shampoo her hair in it this time.

Dallin brought this home yesterday. It was also free. Needs a little dusting and tuning, but sooo worth it when it's free!

In front of the Christmas tree.

Oh, the fun we have with our wood floor.

hilary weeks

I am a huge fan of Hilary Weeks! For those who don't know who she is, she is an LDS musician. I saw her perform these two songs when I went to Time Out For Women in Minneapolis in 2007. I'm so excited that Deseret Book has posted these videos. Now I can share them with everyone! Enjoy.

a week in review

Here are some pictures and video from the last week.

Thanksgiving

We went to my parents' home in Dubuque for Thanksgiving. It was so weird being back. Both Dallin and I both made the comment that we felt like we were coming home as we pulled off of 151. Dubuque, we miss you!

Before dinner:
The spread: turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, cranberry sauce, cranberry jelly, green beans, sweet potatoes, layered salad, stuffing cooked in the bird, stuffing cooked outside the bird, and rolls. And not pictured are our pies, strawberry rhubarb (YUM!), pumpkin, and pecan.


After dinner:

And here's a video because the picture just does not do justice to my daughter's art work.

Playing around at Grandma's.

I took these last night. Addie was playing hide and seek with me while....

Tyler cooked our hamburger for tacos last night. Which is ironic since he doesn't even like the taco meat! He was a big helper last night!

Adeline can now take off and put on her own pants. She found a pair of Tyler's shorts and his dress shoes and put them on. Then she put on her coat -- again by herself. Here she is waving good-bye as she heads "out the door."

Just a normal evening at the Eggett's! And yes, Addie's pants are inside out. I did mention she takes them off and puts them back on on her own, right? Yeah. She does that a lot during the day.

new callings

We've been in our new callings for about 3 weeks now, so I guess the Bishopric is not going to change their minds after all. Anyway. Some of you know already because you know my mother, but for those of you who don't know, Dallin is the 1st Counselor in the Elder's Quorum Presidency, and I am the Primary President. Yup. And we're off and running! The thing about being in a small ward is that you don't have many people under your stewardship -- however, in our ward, while the numbers may be small, the area we cover is massively HUGE! We have the largest geographical area of any ward in our stake. It's big! And we also have a large number of inactive members. Well, I can understand how someone would feel discouraged about going to church every Sunday when it's a 100 mile round trip! Anyway. We are both excited for the chance to serve in the Kingdom, and the challenges that come with it.

Christmas tree

Since we're going out of town for Thanksgiving, and we usually do the Christmas decorations the day after, we put up our tree Monday night for FHE. I just don't want to have to put it up after we get back in town this weekend.

train tracks

Dallin & Tyler made this awesome track the other day while Addie & I napped. Very cool.

snow much fun!

It snowed on Saturday, and the kids could hardly wait to go play in it!

tree branch of death

When we moved into our home this branch was dangling right over the deck -- still attached to the tree, but not by much. It was too high for us to get up and take it down ourselves. We called it our tree branch of death. A week or so ago we had a storm roll through during the night that brought high winds. The next morning we found this on our deck:

whose kids are these?

I have no idea who these kids belong to, but judging from these pictures they must a little off their rockers!

glenn beck

I love Glenn Beck. I started listening to him because he's LDS, and I've kept listening to him because I like what he has to say. Here's something he shared with his listening audience last week. It's a sound bite of LDS President Ezra Taft Benson -- then the Secretary of Agriculture under President Eisenhower. And here is the entire talk that President Benson gave to BYU:

http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=85

sunday morning

Here is Addie "all pretty." She actually let me put barrettes in her hair! And of course she had to have a little blush on her cheeks. Any time I say she is pretty, this is the face she gives. Daddy captured it yesterday before church.

halloween

Halloween night Tyler and Dallin went out with a family from our ward who live a block or so away from us. Addie and I went to a few homes right around our house and then went home to hand out candy. She was unsure going up to the first house, but caught on quickly to the concept!

Here are Tyler, J, & K.

The loot:

fall fun

Tyler and I raked some leaves this week, and he had some fun jumping and playing the pile before Dad mowed them all up.