Sledding in New England

This past Saturday we went sledding at Emma's school for the first time.  Some of our friends ended up going that day too and , thankfully, they brought their camera with them so I have stolen some of their fun shots of the kids sledding! 

Wii Wish You A Merry Christmas!

Wii sure had a nice Christmas this year, in fact, wii would really rank this as one of the best wii’ve ever had! With all the fun Christmas presents, the Wii was by far the most asked for. Emma has asked Santa Claus for the Wii for the past two Christmases but he really didn’t think it was necessary or really an investment that s/he wanted to make, given the costs of the games and accessories. But s/he finally caved.
Our Christmas tradition involves coming down the stairs in the morning to see what piles Santa has left for each person. Santa does not feel that wrapping is necessary, perhaps because Santa is going green or perhaps because Santa is lazy (you pick whichever gives you a higher opinion of the big guy). The kids can hardly stand the excitement and I am confident that Santa enjoys planning the displays. This year, the kids were enjoying each of their piles before Emma finally turned around and screamed, “Wii!” because she actually noticed the pile of Wii console/accessories/games. So much fun!

We finally found the letter from Santa, including the message that his reindeer loved the special homemade reindeer food invented by Emma. They even dropped some scraps on the deck, which we inspected. Emma could hardly believe that the reindeer actually ate the tinsel. Yeah, me too.

Some of the highlights of our day included: yummy scones and fake Finnan Haddie (I used liquid hickory smoke flavoring on Haddock instead of the real thing), naps for Mom and Dad, playing with the Wii, exploring the world through Emma's new microscope, racing Dallin's new Lightning McQueen remote control car, a ride in Dallin's new wagon (just for the kids), sword fighting, gorgeous art for the walls, awesome homemade gifts, a DVD player for the van, gift cards (one of which was used to purchase a GPS!), and christmas letters! Whew! I feel tired now.

Aside from the fun, the generous and thoughtful notes and gifts from our loved ones brightened our day. We are always humbled by the great thought, care, and generosity that is shown to our family. Thank you so much to our wonderful families for loving us even when we are a thousand or two miles away. We miss you all so much and can't wait to spend more time with loved ones in 2010!

Greece Lightning!

Steve had the opportunity to go to Greece for business the week before Christmas. He flew to Greece through Amsterdam on Sunday, December 20 and worked about 18 hours a day, Monday through Friday installing an evaporator designed for a company just outside of Athens. He was so fortunate to have time on Saturday to play tourist and visit such sights as the Acropolis, Temple of the Olympian Zeus, Dionysos Theatre, a couple of museums, and shopping through the street vendors. He thoroughly enjoyed seeing the sights and even haggled with the locals for some fun souvenirs, including a hand embroidered shirt for each of us ladies, some necklaces for me, and delicious local olives.

He wasn’t able to call us all week but we did get a daily “hello” via email. The only time I received a phone call from Steve was to tell me that his flight had been re-routed to Maastricht due to poor weather in Amsterdam. Maastricht is in the southernmost part of the Netherlands, near the Belgium border, and forced Steve and his colleague to take a 5 hour bus ride up to Amsterdam. Their flight had been cancelled and they stayed overnight in Amsterdam. They were able to go on a little midnight walk in the snow for dinner. Steve was a little bit worried about finding a flight home since all outgoing flights had been cancelled and not rebooked, but he was able to arrive home the next night.

I love this picture of Steve’s colleague pulling his luggage through the snowy streets of Amsterdam since they had to pull all their luggage about a mile in the snow to get to the train on their way to the airport. Steve actually enjoyed this little walk and I am glad that he made it home safely from Amsterdam just 4 days before the attempted Christmas day bombing on the same airline from Amsterdam.  I wish I could have come along on this international adventure!

A Most Special Day

On December 5, 2009 Emma was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was confirmed on December 6, 2009.  We are so proud of this thoughtful decision that Emma has made!

Emma was baptized and confirmed by her dad, Steve.

Dallin needed a diaper change right before we started, so he missed the first family picture...he also created enough havoc that I realized later that we don't have a grand family picture with Grandma and Grandpa Dallin, Grandma Hunting, and Michael!  They also came to Emma's baptism from Utah, Chicago, and Boston.  Thanks for making the trip for the occasion, it made it truly special!!

Emma was also so fortunate to have her first and second grade teachers come to her baptism.  It was so wonderful of them to take the time to come support Emma, it meant the world to her!!  We also had great friends and neighbors attend, many who do not share our religion, so it was so special to have our New Hampshire family there!  We wish that all of our family could have been there but know that the trip would have been a bit too much for many!

Here's Emma with her teachers and great friend, Ethan.

After the baptism we had some refreshments at our house with our friends and celebrated the day!

Grandpa Dallin presented Emma with a Dallin traditional Baptism gift from a Grandpa Dallin (I got mine from my Grandpa Dallin): a minted coin set purchased the year she was born.  I have one that was purchased the year I was born and presented to me for my baptism and now my dad is continuing the tradition.  What a fun and unique way to celebrate!

Emma's Grandma Hunting also presented Emma with 2 neat baptism books that she is excited to fill with membories of a wonderful day!

Speaking of wonderful gifts, Emma was overwhlemed with special memorabilia, including beautiful necklaces and bracelets, engraved boxes, a journal, cards, and other thoughtful gifts.  She is now working on her thank you cards but wonders how you adequately thank everyone for showing her special love!  We are working on putting up a picture of the special items for your enjoyment but Steve took the camera with him to Greece so we will have to add them later!

Anyway, a couple of days after Emma's baptism another special gift arrived.  Emma's Great-Grandpa Dallin made her this amazing treasure box, complete with certificate of authenticity (which was her favorite part) telling the story of the box's creation.  The box is made of cedar and has a music box.  It also came with special mint coins for Emma, Lauren, and Dallin (of course!  Grandpa Dallin is the supreme coin collector!).  Lauren had to get a special box for her coin to go in, of course!

We also took the opportunity while my parents were here to celebrate my Dad's birthday.  Lauren helped me make some delicious Amish Ginger cookies for him as well as other trinkets for gifts.  Then everyone piled on for a fun picture.

Before Grandma and Grandpa Dallin flew out of Boston, we stopped at Newick's, a fun local seafood restaurant.  Then we dashed up to York beach to drive along the coast before heading down to the airport.  All in all, we crammed a ton of fun into a very short time before they left.

Emma bravely held a Lobster at Newick's!

Before Grandma Hunting headed home on Saturday, we had a nice snowstorm that layered about 10 inches of wet snow on the ground.  JoAnn and I shoveled the driveway and our wonderful neighbor snowblowed where the plow had buried us in.  Soon we should have our newly acquired snowblower up and running so we don't have to do any more heavy lifting!!  Still, the kids had a grand time playing outside and, of course, chowed down on hot chocolate and apple crisp inside.  We had a great time baking, shopping, and relaxing before Grandma had to go home!

And just when we thought that it would be time to relax......back to work, shipping packages, cleaning house, and all of the other life responsibilities seem to be piling on with no mercy!  Oh well, 'Tis the Season, I guess!

Happy Birthday, Emma!

Happy 8th Birthday to our sweet Emma!

We had a great day celebrating Emma's birthday together as a family a couple of weeks ago.  It was a quiet celebration of this lady's entry into this world but just right since we knew we would have another celebration just a week later.  She is just a light in our family and we love her so much!  Emma is a very thoughtful girl, with tons of personality balanced with tenderness.  She cares about people and their feelings, she is very empathetic, a peacemaker, a comedian, a magician, a scientist, an artist, a reader, quite spiritual, and fun-loving.  What a wonderful daughter, sister, grandaughter, great-grandaughter, and friend!  How could we make it through the day without her!!

Emma enjoyed receiving fun packages stuffed with goodies, as well as visits from friends dropping off Littlest Pet Shop toys (LPS to you groupies), which delighted the birthday girl.  Thoughful gifts included clothes, a scientific kitchen set, a savings bond, toys, and a video/MP3 player with several Disney movies to watch on the little screen!  Thank you so much everyone for making her feel so special!  Lauren was so thrilled to be in charge of guarding the gifts on the toy box and received a huge bear hug from Emma for her efforts and LPS gift!

Happy Birthday, Emma!!

Opening the packages was a group effort!

What!? This is the exact one I wanted!!