Top Ten Best Holiday Moments

Whew, we had a busy and wonderful holiday season! We're still in the process of uploading and organizing our pictures, but for now we'll share some of the highlights of this year's festivities. . .(UPDATE 11/22/08--pictures!)

10. A modern take on classic lyrics
Elizabeth had been singing the chorus to "Jingle Bells" for weeks, but we didn't realize she even knew the rest of the words until Christmas morning. . .We received a good amount of snow over Christmas Eve, and on Christmas morning the roads were still pretty snowy as we drove to the grandparents' house. Ever observant, Elizabeth noticed the snow being thrown to the side of the car as we drove through it and asked, "Mommy, are we 'dashing through the snow'?"

9. A very Kiwi Christmas
We got to talk to Jared's little sis Sarah when she called from New Zealand on Christmas Eve. It's hard to believe that her mission is already halfway over! She got to spend her holidays serving at the temple and sent us pictures of the Christmas lights. It was a little surprising to see the palm trees wrapped in lights, with people milling around in short sleeves; sometimes we forget that NZ is *literally* on the other side of the world. (Holly keeps meaning to ask Sarah if water going down the drain actually spins clockwise, too.)


8. "We sure got a good crop of cheeks this year!"
So says Aunt Lisa, upon seeing all three of the June* babies together for the first time:
I think we decided Henry is the official winner of fattest cheeks--but Anna has him beat for fattest thighs, and Emmett wins for fattest arms. . .gotta love those elbow dimples! (*Emmett is technically a May baby--he surprised everyone by coming 5 weeks early!--but I'm still sticking with the original "June babies".)

7. The best Christmas pageant ever

Sinead, our Christmas Star
We decided it was high time the Olson family pick up the tradition of dressing all the kids in bathrobes and towels to act out the Christmas story. Elizabeth was a "wise woman", complete with tinfoil-filled jewelry box. The highlight of the event came when our beautiful angel Madi burst into tears when it time to bring "good tidings of great joy" to the shepherds.

6. "I wish they did EASTER lights instead."
We made a trek around Temple Square with the girls to see the Christmas lights this year. They were dazzling, as usual, but every year we somehow forget just how COLD it is walking around downtown in December. On the way back to our car Holly seriously started thinking of moving to the Southern Hemisphere so she could enjoy Christmas lights in short sleeves, like the aforementioned Kiwis.

5. Cheese-dipped marshmallows
We had a party at our house on New Year's Eve--with both a cheese and chocolate fondue and over dozen "dippables", the whole spread was a bit overwhelming. Sarah's honey Seamus, ever the engineer, tackled the problem quite logically: he took 2 of each item and dipped one in each fondue. (Thus proving that the most logical solution doesn't always make the most sense.) Holly's just glad she didn't put out any gherkins after all--she's sure Seamus wouldn't have hesitated to try a chocolate-covered pickle.

4. Dressing up with Pixie Pants
After Christmas Holly's brother and his family arrived for a visit. Elizabeth and Brooklyn (aka Pixie Pants) spent a good portion of the evening playing dress-ups, with Aaron taking WAY too many pictures with his--I mean Amy's--new camera.

3. British guys in tuxedos
The King's Singers came into town to perform with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and we were able to attend one of their concerts. It was so heavenly to take an evening during the busy holiday season to just *sit down* and listen to such a masterful performance.

2. Our new addition
Santa came a little early this year, when Jared won a tractor on eBay. Yes, a tractor. No, really. A real tractor with big ol' wheels and a digging thing on the front and that charming aroma of eau de diesel. Holly is still trying to figure out how he managed to talk her into letting him buy it. On the plus side, now she's got some serious leverage when she's ready to buy a serger.

1. Family
More than any specific moment, the best part of the holiday season was simply getting to spend time with our families in general. We are so grateful to have you guys in our life. We hope you all had an enjoyable holiday season, and we wish you blessings beyond measure for this new year!

(Olson Clan: The Next Generation)

It's Not Your Birthday. . .

. . .but it was Elizabeth's. Hard to believe our little Bug is three whole years old already! We celebrated with a family party at our house; a party of which we have no pictures, as Holly was so busy with her "hostess duties" that she forgot to even pick up the camera. She did get a few pictures *before* the festivities, though:



Elizabeth had a fabulous time partying with her cousins. . .As much as she adores our little baby Anna, she also loves playing with her BIG cousins! The day after the party was her actual birthday. . .here she is showing us how old she is now:


The Monday following her birthday, Elizabeth and Anna both went in for checkups. It looks like Anna is following in her Amazon sister's footsteps; both girls are in the top percentiles for height and weight. . .Aside from the typical childhood ills, the girls are quite healthy and doing all the usual kid/baby stuff. Elizabeth is starting to ask us some really interesting questions; last week she was helping Dad shovel the sidewalks and asked him, "Does snow come from Christmas, Daddy?" Anna's vocabulary is still limited to an albeit charming repertoire of babbles, growls, and shrieks. She's cutting her third tooth and trying VERY hard to crawl. Here she is demonstrating her "old man" face. . .Holly says this face reminds her a bit of President Hinckley, in particular:


We started giving Anna some tastes of food. . .so far we've struck out with pears, peaches, and bananas. She'd much rather suck on a washcloth, it seems.


It's amazing how quickly our little girls are growing up. Elizabeth is such a bright and spunky little critter, and Anna is just so darned happy. They truly light up our lives. . .What a privilege it's been to have them in our little family. Happy 3rd birthday, Elizabeth. . .and happy half-birthday, Anna! We love you both!

Happy Halfway-to-Mother's-Day

The Mom Song

Happy Halloween!

Anna has officially been usurped as the new girl on the block--on both sides of the family. Dan and Clare welcomed Astrid Anna into their brood last month; and just this Monday Amy and Aaron celebrated the arrival of their own benevolent dictator, Hailey Elizabeth. Congrats and best wishes to both families!

We've had a grand week--carving pumpkins, getting all dressed up in costumes, eating way too much candy. Elizabeth and Anna had some fun, too.


We picked up our pumpkins at the local garden center. The previous weekend they'd had a pumpkin contest, and the winners were still on display--the grand prize went to some guy in Kaysville who grew a pumpkin that weighed more than Holly's college car (granted, it was a Geo . . .but still!)


So last year Elizabeth got pretty freaked out when we started to carve her pumpkin. . .this year she was doing just fine--until Jared whipped out the lighter.


Elizabeth was a "tang-a-VROO" for Halloween.


Anna, our chubby tiger cubby

October

Our apologies that we haven't posted much recently. . .Between a potty-training toddler and a baby who manages to spit up 80% of what she's eaten and *still* have enough to overspill her Huggies, it's a small feat just to keep the family laundry under control. But overall life is good here at La Casa del Olson. Anna is growing like a weed and learning all sorts of adorable new things. She's gotten adept at rolling over--check out the pic, doesn't she look so proud? She also likes to try and get Mom or Dad to play with her at 3 AM some nights. . .even in the wee hours it's hard not to smile back when she flashes us that big grin of hers!

Elizabeth is being her usual self--running Mom and Dad ragged, doting on her little sister, and saying hilarious stuff. The other day I was cutting out a set of flannelboard pictures, and Elizabeth spotted a picture of baby Jesus. She asked who it was and I said, "That's Jesus when he was a baby." She looked thoughtful for a minute, then pointed to a picture of a girl and asked, "Is that Jesus when he was a mommy?" She's getting excited for her birthday, though she still doesn't totally get the concept of a birthday party. . .she does know that there's cake involved, though, and she's already put in a request that hers be a pink Elmo cake.

Jared has been working in the yard, getting the decrepit old deathtrap-of-a-garage in our backyard torn down so we can start anew on the Man Lair come spring. Holly is busy "stashbusting" (i.e. using up some of the fabric she's got squirreled away, bought years ago for some purpose that has long since been forgotten) and keeping Elizabeth from smothering Anna with "loves".

We're looking forward to Halloween this year--tonight we told Elizabeth about trick-or-treating and she is SO excited to get to give candy to all the kids who come to our house. (Just imagine how excited she'll be when she figures out that *she* can put on her costume and go to the other kids' houses to get her own candy!)

The Olllllsooooons. . .

(courtesy of Simpsonize Me!)

Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime?