Chillingly Wicked

Do you recognize this icy queen? She looks pretty frightening, doesn't she? Kira and Trenton had the opportunity of posing for this talented photographer in their Halloween costumes, for a fairy tale series she is working on. I finally got a glimpse of this picture she took of Kira here, and here. I'm still hoping to see some of Trenton in his knight costume. This is just the initial phase of the series. I can't wait to see what she comes up with. She'd like to put these pictures in a book or calendar. Go here for more of her magical pictures.

A Years Supply---of Toys?

So I made what was supposed to be a quick stop (ha,ha!) at Target, to look at prizes for my Blogoversary Party Party today (What's that? Glad you asked. Go here to find out!), when I found a friend with a shopping cart full of toys. It turns out that a good chunk of their toys are 75% off right now. So I followed her lead and came home with all kinds of toys and games that I'm hoping will give us birthday presents for the whole year (maybe longer). Is this considered emergency preparedness?

Joy In the Journey

I posted about our family's theme for 2009, JOY IN THE JOURNEY on my other blog. Hence some of the elements of the blog redesign. Does your family have a theme, motto, or word for 2009?

Kira's Big Heart & Short Hair

Some time back, Kira and I discussed growing her hair out and donating it to Locks of Love. Then when it started getting really long, I really started liking it. We said that someday she would do it, but hadn't talked about it in sometime. When she was in Prescott staying with her Grandma, after the holidays, for some reason they started talking about it, and she decided she wanted to do it to surprise me!

Then everyone got sick, so when they rejoined us for New Years' she still had long hair, and immediately told me that on Friday, she and Grandma were going shopping BY THEMSELVES--or in other words with out me!

Well, instead of shopping they went to Lolly Locks, where Kira had her hair cut and donated. Fortunately Aunt Mikelle went along with my camera and took lots of pictures, and since I wasn't there, I'm going to have to let the pictures tell most of the story.

Jackson's hair was too short to get cut, but he had a great time, anyway!

I'm told her braid was a good 14 inches long!

Look at her fun hairdo!

Kira is joining the ranks of the other generous children on the wall behind her--each of which donated their hair to Locks of Love.

And here she is after surprising everyone at church on Sunday.

I loved that long hair, but the short do is awfully cute on her, too!

I probably don't say it enough, but my Kira really has a big heart! Her 6th birthday she agreed to ask all of her friends to bring presents to give to children at the Children's Hospital, instead of to her. She is growing up into such a neat young lady, and I am very proud of her!

Putting the "Happy" in the Holidays

We had a great trip to Utah and a fun time in Prescott on the way back. And I'm sure I'll have lots of "happy family" pictures to share soon, but this photo made me laugh out loud, so I thought I would share it right away. I was attempting to get a family photo the Sunday before Christmas. The girls are actually wearing dresses that I made (I know, *gasp*!). It took several tries before I could get much cooperation. This picture pretty much says it all. Yes, I caught Kira mid-eyeroll--annoyed with her father, who is apparently a big goof! Trenton is distracted, as usual, and I think I should have a contest to see who has the best caption for what Tessa is thinking. My vote would be something like, "Did I really choose to come to this family?"

We hope your Christmas was as "happy" as ours!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas! (Just like Tessa!) If you have received our Christmas greeting in the mail, welcome! Most of the side bar information is from last year, so come back soon, and I will try and get everything updated. I have kind of neglected our family blog, since I have been putting so much time and energy into My Insanity blog. But I plan to repent, soon! If you haven't received our card yet, don't worry, most of them haven't made it into the mail, yet. I still need to collect a lot of updated addresses (and finish assembly). If you think your address might be one that needs to be updated, I would love an email with your current mailing address (the only surefire way to make sure you don't miss out on one of our coveted Christmas--er, New Years--Cards! :-)). You can write me at bnkhalterman@gmail.com.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with some festive pictures of our family at the temple lights in Mesa last week.

We pray that you've had the chance to feel the spirit of this season!

Love, the Haltermans

Letters to Santa, and mean elves, and a toothbrush

Trenton: "Mom, does Santa have cameras everwhere to know if you are bad or good?"
Me: "I don't know. Maybe he sends his elves to spy on you."
Trenton: "It's not nice to spy on boys and girls!"

We have some version of this conversation everyday in the car on the way home from school. Today he told me it is a lie that Santa knows if you are bad or good. Maybe that is his wishful thinking!


Kira helped Trenton write his letter to Santa. The funniest part was that she wouldn't write "I've been a good boy this year," at first. She would only write that he was trying to be a good boy. She insisted that the first sentence would be a lie, and refused to write it, until I insisted that he could say whatever he wanted in his letter.

Incase you can't read it, here is a transcription:
Dear Santa,
I want a new niga (ninja) turtle. I would also like mini legos, and a lego bionicle. I have been good this year.

Love,

*(mostly erased scribbles)*

(with lots of help from his big sister, Kira)

But you have to read Kira's letter! It will make you laugh. It will make you cry!:

Dear Santa,

I don't need a lot for Christmas. A few things I need are a toothbrush, and a pair of tennis shoes. You gave me a toothbrush the year before last year. I also have another toothbrush, except for it is a grown-up toothbrush. The one you gave me the year before last year is worn out. And I would like lace-up (with ties, I mean) tennis shoes. I wear size two. You can give me whatever other things you want. I didn't ask for a lot for Christmas, because I know times for other families are very hard. They need a lot more than I do.

Sincerely,
Kira Brynne Halterman
age, 7 in 2nd grade.

Mary's Gentlemen??? (A Christmas Trentonism)

I'm singing this very cool arrangement of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (first on my playlist) at a Christmas party tomorrow night. Apparently the children think it is cool, too. Because they bee-bop when we listen and sing it around the house. Today I finally listened closely enough to get Trenton's version of the lyrics:

"We gotta rescue Mary's gentlement, let nothing you dismay!"

My Human Thesaurus

Kira (making up a story and telling it to Trenton):

"...and when I woke up, I was astonished! I was flabbergasted! I was dumbfounded!"

(She might have kept going if her mother hadn't broken into laughter).

Anyone need to borrow my human thesaurus? She isn't very heavy.

Tessa @ One Year Old

Here is Tessa after her birthday party last month, with all of her fun presents.

She had her one-year-old check-up today. I thought I should share the stats:
weight: 24 lbs. 4 oz. (without diaper) - 90%
height: 31 1/2 inches - 100%

So she is still growing strong!

And strong minded! And strong willed! She is climbing on everything, tackling her siblings and dad, and flirting with old men at restaurants (I'm going to have to watch this one closely when she gets a little older) coming up with new stuff every day.

She says:
Ball (all the time)
Bottle (sounds a lot like Ball)
Bye ("")
Dad
Hi
Mom
*barks like a dog*

She signs:
nurse/milk
I want
more
bye

And she has gone from hating anything on her feet to having a major shoe fettish, fueled by these adorable purple ones given her by her aunts for her birthday. She always wants them on and proceeds to tap dance around.

Even if she isn't wearing anything else!

Election Day Trentonism

I had to take Tessa and Trenton in for some shots today (more on Tessa's stats later). Trenton was prattling on (like he often does) about school and Halloween etc. Out of the blue he says to the nurse, "my dad is afraid of 'Brock Obama.'" She started laughing! I turned a little red in the face. When the doctor came in, he repeated it (pronouncing Barak a little more clearly). She said she was a little afraid, too. (She must not like his Health Care Plan.)

You never know what they are going to pick up on.

Happy Election Day!

Attitude of Gratitude Month

So this blog has gotten a bit mixed up lately. Every summer I get thrown off-track by traveling, getting out of my routine, and taking lots of pictures. I always intend to get caught up by Christmas but it rarely happens this busy time of year. This year I have been focusing on building my other blog, and moving in, and keeping Tessa from destroying our new home, etc., so I am especially behind.

Regardless, I have been witnessing the power of gratitude lately, and I want to use this blog to help our family have an "Attitude of Gratitude" throughout the month of November. We are going to keep track of things that we are grateful for EVERY day, and I will periodically post them on our side bar.

I know this is a time of upheaval and turmoil in the world, but we have been greatly blessed, and I think it's always time to remember that--but especially in this month of Thanksgiving!

And look for random postings from current events, or summer, or whatever, and hopefully I will get it all sorted out some day when I print my blog book.

You'd better have a Happy Halloween...

...or Kira will turn you to stone! I was going to wait until I had the group picture that the Thatchers took back to post our Halloween costumes, but my mom requested pictures, and since she is responsible for creating all of these cool costumes, the least I could do is oblige her.

We did a Narnia theme, this year. Kira is the white witch and really looked cool! (In more ways than one. :-))

Trenton borrowed a really neat knight costume from his cousin Caleb (that my mom had made the year before), but when it came time for the party had a hard time finding all of the parts to the costume, and wanted to wear his astronaut costume from last year. I made it clear that there were no astronauts in Narnia but he kept complaining, until I told him that all the girls would be dressed as princesses and would be so happy to have him be their knight.

It worked. He also got to have a sword fight with the grim reaper, so I think he ended up having a great night!

Every picture I have of Tessa (Queen Lucy) looks like this, because she was on the go the entire night. She loved the freedom to explore and especially loved sticking her hand in the monster box and getting treats!

So we got one of her face, when she stole this cowboy hat from her buddy, Luke, and had to try it on. Too bad I couldn't get her to keep her crown on.

More Halloween fun tonight, so I'm sure lots more pictures to come!

Is it time to Blurb?

For everyone out there that is planning to slurp your blog to blurb to have it printed, now may be a good time.

Read this article for the coupon code for $10off. Yea!
http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/content/view/11701/

Kolob Reservoir***July 2008***

After breaking camp from the reunion, we stopped at Kolob Reservoir to canoe and have a picnic lunch, we were there quite a while as the men tried to fix the lights on Mom and Dad's trailer, but the kids had a great time, exploring and enjoying nature.

Nielson Family Reunion--Finally! (JULY '08)

This has been a long time coming, but I finally got through all of the pictures I took at our family reunion this summer (I was kind of the family photographer) and narrowed it down to 60 favs. for the slide show. I gave my mom a disk with all of the photos she will be sharing with her family and I am planning to get everything posted on the family reunion blog. But for now, here are some fun pictures of our camping reunion on Kolob mountain this past Fourth of July!

Happy, Happy, Birthday Tessa Dear!

My baby's not really a baby anymore. Tessa turned 1-year-old today! We had a big party for her yesterday. I will post more about that, and I will be posting all of the details on My Insanity blog, soon. But I wanted to take a minute and record how grateful I am for my sweet girl and what a delight she is in our home. That doesn't mean that she doesn't make life difficult with her independence and curiosity. But her smiles and snuggles and giggles make it so worthwhile! Her vocabulary has been exploding with her Papa & Lita here to talk with. Her most favorite word is "BALL" which she says loudly and with a deep voice, making me wonder if she has a future as an umpire, if only she can learn the word "STRIKE" as well.

For the party, I put up pictures of her from each month (any of you who read this blog often, should recognize most of these), to show how she has grown through the year. Click the picture for a larger image.

She had a great time at her party and should feel thoroughly loved and celebrated...because she is!

Little Miss Monkey

Tessa is developing quite the personality and penchant for mischief. She is also a total Daddy's girl! Dad was making his world famous molasses cookies and she wanted to be by him so she found herself a special spot. She also likes to climb on the door to the dishwasher. And tumbled down the stairs last week (she's fine). So needless to say, she's keeping me busy!

Conference Highlights

Saturday AM

Live simply
Have hope
Faith is a choice

Saturday PM

Laugh through trials.
Law of compensation--we will be compensated for every sorrow in this life.
Angels are real, still today.
Heavenly Father loves little children so much!
Pray always--expressing gratitude more than asking for blessings.

Sunday
We are not asked to die a martyr's death, but to live a disciple's life.
I can do hard things!
I can do all things in the strength of the Lord.
Find joy in the journey--NOW!
Make memories for tomorrow
Focus on abundance and gratitude.
Christian courage means responding to criticism as Christ would.

Kira's Capsule

Kira has updated her blog again. You might want to check it out. She is becoming quite the writer. She actually has a lot she wants to add, but school gets in the way. I bet she will do lots of posts next week with fall break.