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.

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.

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!"

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.

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.

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!

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.

...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!

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/

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.

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!

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!

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!

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 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.

Our first time in the house after it became ours!

Our realtor, Sarah, left us this beautiful plant!

Tessa is testing out the floor.

Sarah also left us some fun by the fireplace! Ooo, la, la!

She didn't forget the kiddos either! They loved these fake teeth and other toys she had placed in their bedrooms!

Thanks Sarah! Such an exciting day!

Trenton had his first day of any kind of formal school ever today. We still haven't worked out a carpool, so the entire time driving and filling out the gazillion papers required, I was wondering what I was thinking when I decided to go through with this. But seeing his cute classroom and the way he jumped right in making friends and getting involved made me feel pretty sure that this is where he belongs right now.

Here he is listening while his teacher gives him a lesson on rolling up his mat. While he wasn't sad to say "goodbye" to me in the morning, I was glad to see that he had missed me a bit and gave me a big hug when I came to pick him up. His teacher said that he had a good first day. I had told her that he was ready to be challenged but not to be surprised if he complained about it (lately, anytime we ask him to do a chore, he declines, saying it will hurt his back). Sure enough she told me that he complained, "I don't want to move the yellow hexagon, that's too hard for me."--all the while showing he knew exactly what to do. Silly boy!

I am sorry to report, however, that Trenton was the victim in a bullying incident today, but not on the playground. Here is a picture of his attacker..

The culprit jabbed a finger up his nostril hard enough to give him a serious nose bleed. He has recovered well, but wants to warn others about the perpetrator. She may look innocent enough, but should be considered dangerous!

Tessa is now officially 11 months old! Only one more month until her big milestone celebration. We tried pigtails for the first time today, and I am happy to report, they made it all the way through church, which is more than I can say for all of the clips, and barrettes, I keep trying to use to get that hair out of her eyes.

Of course, we had to include a smiley picture. She is developing her own sense of humor--playing games and even teasing us a little. She also tries to get in on the action when Daddy is wrestling with the kids. Speaking of Daddy, she really is becoming quite the Daddy’s girl. She seems to prefer to be with him, and he is the best at getting her calmed down to go to sleep.

But if we want to give you an accurate view of what Tessa is like now, I think these pictures may be more appropriate, she is BUSY, BUSY, BUSY! (I guess that means her mom is too!)




In other news...

• I am planning to start Trenton at the Montessori Preschool this week. He was on the waiting list and recently got in. So that is great, except that we don’t have anyone to carpool with, and I’m not sure I can make the drive to Downtown PHX twice a day. The school is free, and I know it will be so good for him. I am just hoping we can find someone to carpool with. If anyone knows anyone with a 3-4 year old in the Laveen area who doesn’t already have preschool arrangements, that might be interested in a FREE Montessori school, please let me know, asap. We were told that there was another slot available, but we don’t know how long that will last. Or how long I will last if I have to do all of the driving!
  
• Barry and I are helping to raise money for the Nielson Family, by participating in The Great Cookie Auction today (MONDAY). Please see my other blog (My Insanity), for all of the details! Who’s cookies do you think will raise more money? Barry’s Massive, Mouth-Watering Molasses Cookies, or my Hand-Painted Halloween Butter Cookies???
  

OK. I am almost done with Lake Powell. I promise. Clearly I take too many pictures, but I also become attached to lots of them, so editing them down, doesn't always go so well.

The big kids had a great time at Lake Powell, too!

In this pic, we are getting ready to sail the houseboat away from the dock. This pic made the cut because it documents what Barry's chest looked like in his ultra-tight rashguard thing. Ooh la la!

Bobby and Amber rode the jet skis all the way to our campsite.