Christmas Morning 2007

Addy learned the truth about Santa Claus this morning. When she woke up she didn't understand why Santa had not eaten the truffles she had left out for him. She didn't understand why he hadn't fed his reindeer the carrots she had left out. She didn't understand why Santa hadn't responded to her Christmas Eve note as he has always done in years' past. The sad truth is that "Santa" took a loritab for her sore back last night and passed out before all "Santa" arrangements had been taken care of. Therefore, "Santa" and her helper decided that Addy was old enough to know the cold, hard truth!

After the truth about Santa-The tears have dried!

Darren looking kind of dorky in his new camp hat from Dave & Christy

Sheri looking even dorkier in her new "Alaska Grown" shirt & full-body thermal underwear with matching "butt-flap"

Addy very excited about a flamingo pen that her friend Minju gave her

Delaney excited beyond words about her new Ipod dock

Christmas Eve 2007

Christmas Eve was spent at Ma & Pa Dean's house up the street. We ate yummy enchilada soup (thanks Catherine) and breadsticks (thanks DeAnn & Ryan). The cousins had great fun playing together. By 8:30 everyone was packing up to go home, as the kids were anxious to open a Christmas Eve gift.

Delaney & Addy ready to open Nana & Papa's gift-

Will it be socks?

Yes-Socks!! (By the way Nana-You have sent Addy the same socks three years in a row-much like the same birthday card you have sent Delaney 3 years in a row. Neither child is ungrateful for any gift----just a little concerned about a Nana that can't keep track of gifts she sends from year to year!)

New PJ's from Mom-The typical Christmas Eve gift!

Hanging out before bedtime

Darren with his new socks (same socks as last year-Nana what is going on?) and Alaska tie tack

We've Been Elfed!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1259100202 We have a new look for Christmas this year. Take a look.

Nana the Scrooge

http://www.scroogeyourself.com/?id=1259468336 Click this link to see Nana as a Scrooge!

Watch Out Hannah Montana!

Addy recently played Ponce de Leon in her 5th grade play The 13 Colonies. Watch the video clip to see her in action.

A "Picture Perfect" Day

Today was a great day! In the morning we put up the Christmas decorations. This year it was Addy's choice as to where to put the Christmas tree. She chose to put it in the front window so it can be seen from the street. From the outside of the house it looks "picture perfect"! The girls and Darren are at peace with the look that was created. I, on the other hand, am having a hard time dealing with furniture that is not in balance, as the Christmas tree has taken up the space where the couches usually go! Delaney says, "Relax mom-it's just furniture!" I am trying to relax, but am secretly counting down the days to December 26th so I can take the decorations down and regain balance in my house!

In the afternoon the girls played outside in the first snow of the year. With Darren's help they built a fort in the front yard. They had hot chocolate and a snowball fight with a couple of boys from the neighborhood. A side note---Delaney asked me to take the word "boys" out of the last sentence and put in "friends". She doesn't want anybody to know that she was playing with boys. Anybody who reads this---please ask Delaney about her boy friends the next time you talk to her!

(I have to say that the last couple of sentences I just wrote scared me, as I reminded myself of my dad. My dad is not scary, but when I was in my teenage years I was always petrified of what my dad might do or say to embarrass me in front of others. Am I becoming that kind of parent??!)

Back to the story---In the evening we made homemade pizzas. Addy put way too much cheese on the girls' pizza. Delaney said it was like cheese with a little dough. The maximum pepperoni she found on any of her pieces of pizza was 2. This was not to her liking, but she ate three pieces anyway. I think Addy ate most of the pepperoni during the pizza-making process.

We are looking forward to the month of December. It usually seems to be a crazy time of year with shopping, baking, and other activities going on. However, this year we are trying to be more relaxed. Our Christmas "postcards" have been sent out and most of the shopping is done. We are looking forward to watching Christmas movies, hanging out with friends and family, and spending time together.

We hope you have some "picture perfect" days during the month of December.

Turkey Too Tall

This blog is for those of you wondering what elementary school principals really do...they have recess each day, they eat school lunch with the kids, and they occasionally dress up as turkeys.

This particular type of job may be appealing to some of you. My brother, Dave, comes to my mind. This may be the perfect job for him, considering that he would rather play than work, he is always up for a good meal, and as the little brother of the family, he has always been good at "ruffling the feathers" of his older sisters!

This is turning into more of a "Dave" blog than a "Darren" blog, so I had better change gears...Each year at Darren's school they have a turkey run for the 4th-6th graders. The students who win get a frozen turkey! The race starts with all of the kids chasing Principal Dean (aka-Turkey Too Tall) around the track.

Unfortunately, Darren was unable to complete the race. During his final lap he tripped over his turkey legs and broke his wishbone!

Halloween-Dean Style

We survived the 5th Annual Dean Pre-Trick-or-Treating Feast! We served about 150 people, hot dogs, chili, chips, doughnuts, and hot chocolate in our driveway before they were off for their trick-or-treating. The weather was beautiful (about 60 degrees and clear skies), and we still had daylight, considering that daylight savings had not yet taken effect. This year we were a little close on running out of food---we had 4 hot dogs and about 2 cups of chili left over!

For those of you wondering what this feast is about or how it got started---When Darren was a kid one of his neighbors always opened up her garage to the neighborhood before trick-or-treating. People would go and have something to eat and then leave for trick-or-treating. Darren always thought this was a cool thing to do, so when we bought our home in Bountiful we decided to establish the tradition. It doesn't take much work, considering we set up everything in the garage and driveway. It does take a little money (we spent about $200 this year), but we really like doing it. It has grown a little each year, and neighbors, friends, and family start asking us about it at the beginning of October. I don't know if they really like us, or if they just want some free food!

Darren dressed up as a king this year. He had one of the teachers at his school make him a costume. He talked about this costume for weeks---about how cool it was going to be. When he brought it home I evidently didn't show the "love" towards the costume that Darren thought I should have shown. I had pictured a full, flowing king's cape. The costume was short (to Darren's waist) and fitted (too tight on Darren's tummy), and it would have fit Addy perfectly as a Little Red Riding Hood costume. Darren's dad said it looked like a Chinese dress of some kind, so I wasn't the only one who thought it was a little weird.

The girls dressed up as rock stars. Delaney had long, pink hair and a "cool" rock star outfit. Her rock star outfit didn't seem really all that cool to me. However, I have to keep reminding myself the rock stars of her generation (i.e.-Hannah Montana) are much different than the rockers of my day! I would have picked out some spandex and leather for her to wear, but that is evidently not cool and probably not appropriate for a 12 year old.

Addy was also a rock star. She had long, blue hair, funky eyelashes, and a pink fur & denim coat compliments of the DI. Her Grandpa Dean said she looked like a monster. I have to admit---the eyelashes were a little scary.

No costume for me this year.

The girls had a fun time trick-or-treating. Delaney went around the neighborhood with her best friend, Shelby. After that, Shelby's mom and dad took them up to the "Temple" area so they could get the good treats. Evidently, if you can afford to buy a million dollar house on the hill you are expected to give out better candy than the rest of us down at the bottom of the hill! Addy went trick-or-treating with her friends Tayven and Minju. Tayven's parents were the designated drivers.

Darren and I stayed behind to tend to things at home. Normally, our neighborhood does a Trunk-or-Treat with the Community Church right behind our house. However, this year they did not do it. In anticipation of hoards of trick-or-treaters I bought $30.00 worth of candy. Much to my disappointment, we only had about 8 groups of kids come by the house. Darren said this is because we fed most of the neighborhood kids before trick-or-treating actually started. He is probably right, but now I have about $25.00 worth of candy in addition to the over 200 pieces that Delaney and Addy collected on their trick-or-treating rounds.

That is a lot of information about a 2-3 hour time period! Let me summarize for you---We served a lot of wienies, we wore weird clothes, and we now have a lot of extra candy. Another successful Halloween!

Do You Know How to Do That????

Kids don't seem to have much faith in their parents. At least my oldest child, Delaney, doesn't have faith in me. When I asked her if she wanted to see the family blog I was making she said, "Do YOU know how to do that?" Yes, Delaney, I know how to that!

I need to give Delaney a little credit. She does have reason to be concerned that her mother is not very adept at operating things. For instance, just today in church I accidentally closed my hand in my case for my glasses, leaving a large blister on the palm of my hand. So, there may be reason for her to be concerned about me operating things.

I wanted to start this blog for two reasons. First, because my friend Liz (who is much more of a technology whiz than I am) told me about her family blog. This got me excited to try my own blog. The sad truth is I really didn't know what a blog was until I read hers!

The second reason I wanted to start a family blog is that my family lives far away (or am I the one who lives far away???), and I want to share with them. I hope they actually look at this. I know the phone is very convenient to use, but I hope that my family can learn how to check out this blog. Delaney thinks that I am technologically unsavvy, but she hasn't seen anything until she sees her Papa hunt and peck his way around the internet. I would say that I am just a little more up-to-date than he is!!! Sorry dad. I still love you.

L8R-(per Delaney and her computer lingo)-Sheri