Christmas 2011

For some reason Christmas morning pictures are few and far between.

But I think we all remember this as the Christmas of the 12 foot caterpillar.

Seriously how did Santa get that thing down the chimney.

Noah was excited about his legos and wii games

Ella Joy loved her pink unicorn and heart shaped ear muffs.

JuJu put on her Snow White dress and wore it for a wee straight.

Georgia got a new baby.

David got a new pair of jeans, finally. He has been wearing old school Old Navy jeans for a decade and I got him a nice pair of Eddie Bauer jeans that fit nicely in all the right places. Why did I wait so long! I'll try to snap a picture of that cuteness another time.

And I received some oh so beautiful jewelry picked out by Ella Joy, let's just say when it comes to her taste the bigger, the sparklier, the better.

It was a very Merry Christmas!

Young Women

I recently got called to be president of the Young Womens organization in our ward.
Here we at our Christmas party at my house.
We had a Miss Merry Christmas Contest, white elephant gift exchange, and drank frothy hot cocoa from my new cocoa machine. I figure it is a necessary kitchen item living in ND.

Happy Belated Birthday JuJu!

JuJu arrived home from her adventures in SC.

She came back talking, counting, knowing her colors and with a better attitude.

Grandma Christie's private school education was well worth the expensive plane ticket.

We are so happy to have her home.

We celebrated her belated birthday with a pink cake at her request.

Everyone is so happy to have her home.

Thanks to Genean who brought her back on the 3 planes it takes to get from Columbia to Minot.

We were so glad to have you visit.

Yoga

In September I started teaching yoga at the Y.
I love it!
I teach on Tuesday and Thursday from 9-10.
I love doing yoga but I think the best part is how calm and relaxed I feel afterwards.
My body feels good and mind is really at peace.
I feel that I am a better mom and wife.
On yoga days I deal better with whatever comes my way with added measure of patience.
Very nice!
So glad to be back teaching!

Washington Elementary School

I love the kids school.
They love it too.
Everyone is friendly, happy, and enthusiastic about being there.
This morning I went to drop off gifts for the teacher and there was someone playing Christmas songs on the piano in the middle of the cafeteria. The kids were gathered around singing then the bell rang and they all ran to class. It really put me in the Christmas spirit!

Friends

Grateful for good friends.
Who moved to Minot for the same reason we did.
To work for Trinity.
They too have lots of kids and lots of loans and are just finishing training.
With not too many places to go in our little town, it is good to have fun friends!
Here we are all dressed up for the Trinity Christmas Party.

Close and Quick

Everything is close here.
The school is 2 minutes by car.
The grocery store is 5 minutes by car.
The YMCA/mall/ Target is 8 minutes.
The Church is 10 minutes up the hill.
I can run my errands quick--in and out.
Love it!

Church and lots of Children

We love our new ward here--the Minot 2nd Ward.
This summer our ward almost doubled in size.
There are over 100 kids in Primary.
Sacrament meeting kind of reminds me of Winston-Salem days.
You hear the speaker over the sounds of many children.
Kind of nice because you don't worry as when your own children make noise..

Bismark Temple

The Bismark Temple is less than 2 hours from our house.
It is an easy drive.
Turn left out of our neighborhood and drive 100 or so miles.
Simple.
We had a great day visiting the temple.
It was beautiful with all the snow around it.
Afterwards we met up with Lindsey and Matt, friends from residency, who are looking at a job in Bismark. I hope they move there!

Santa's find of the day: Giant stuffed caterpillar at Sam's. Talk about having to be creative in hiding a 12 foot long stuffed animal from EJ after our super duper Sam's trip. I stuffed it into 2 large black trashbags and pushed it behind her seat then covered it with all my food from Sam's. Ohh how I love Christmas surprises!
Managed to get it home without anyone discovering it.

Winter Wardrobe

I love winter clothes.

I love the boots!

Ohh how fun to slip in giant comfy boots.

I also love all my new fleece and puffy down coats.

While I am inside I just wear jeans and a long sleeve t. And then I put on my ultra warm boots and my -30 degree coat and I can take on the winter weather.

I have to say I really think a lot less about what I don't like about my body.

How freeing!

I just get dressed and feel cozy and warm, instead of ohh poochy tummy or hello teeny and tiny.

Silly I know but it is definitely a perk to just be happy with my body and feel cozy and warm.

Kind People

Okay I know I posted yesterday about nice neighbors and maybe after being in Miami where people will run you over and not look back I am overwhelmed with the kind people here but let me tell you what happened tonight that would never happen in Miami and maybe not even in the sweet old south.

My friends son had double ear infections.

Dr. called in prescriptions to CVS which closes at 10 pm.

We arrive at 10:05.

Drive thru window is shut.

Door is locked.

Lights are dim.

She runs to the door. The kind lady unlocks the automatic door.

My friend pleas her cause.

The lady lets her in.

5 minutes later she comes out with her prescription.

Just kind, considerate people.

If only the rest of the world could have a little bit of this, right.

Nice Neighbors

Minot is abundant with nice neighbors.

Last night our neighbor Steve called David over to school him on the varieties of snowblowers. He also told him about the different kinds of snow. Evidently our recent snow was a light 6 inch snow. There is 12 inch wet snow that is much more difficult to shovel. I guess David and Noah will both be getting buff out on our driveway.

Our other neighbor David lent me his sprinklers because he wanted to make sure our sod got watered well.

I am so grateful for a cul de sac full of nice neighbors who look out for us. I think they are all worried that the new folk from Miami could freeze and they feel it is their responsibility to help us get through our first winter.

In general there is just a feeling of people looking out for each other.

Georgia is 1!

Happy Birthday to the most precious girl around.

I love this little sweetie!

She is such a good baby.

Not walking quite yet but close. She finds her way around. She recently learned how to crawl up and down the stairs. She loves to go find the kids downstairs. I will tell Noah to call her name and then she goes and looks for him. After she finds them she crawls back up the stairs so proud of herself.

I love her happy noises.

She is such a joy to have in our family. I can always count on her to get any of the kids out of a funk. Whenever they see her she smiles then they smile and everyone is happy!

Happy First Birthday Georgia May! Not her real name but what we all call her.

Hardy North Dakotians

When I told people I was moving to ND most gave me a look of complete disbelief.

Why would anyone in their right mind move to ND.

I must admit before visiting last January for the first time I had a hard time imagining how people lived here. I thought perhaps we would stay in doors all the time curled around the fire and never leave the house. I was happily surprised to see how active the people are here. Life continues as usual during the winter months--just with added clothing. I thought some of my family and friends in warmer climates would appreciate this memo I got from the kids school:

"Now that snow has arrived, please send your child to school with a warm coat, mittens, cap, snow boots, etc...We go outside two times a day unless the temperature is -5 F or colder or the windchill is -15 F or colder."

So just know if you here that the weather is -4 or higher in Minot, little 34 pound Ella Joy will be outside at recess.

Happy Birthday Pat!!

Snow, Beautiful Snow

Cozy by the Fire

Nothing like getting cozy by the fire with some hot cocoa.

Why l love Minot:

In the spirit of the season I thought I would post each day something I love about our new town.

It is a wonderful quirky little town.

A town that used to be small but is growing rapidly because of oil.

It is a unique place and we love it.

We definitely feel we are where we are supposed to be at this time.

Like everywhere there is good and not so good.

But I would like to focus on the good so here we go....

Things I love about our Life in Minot:

Papa can come home for lunch.

So nice.

I love seeing David in the middle of the day.

His office is 5 minutes away, so is just about everything else.

And its wonderful. If he only has 30 minutes he can home for a quick bite and we can chat with only 2 interruptions instead of 4. And if he has an hour he can come eat and have a little siesta.

Wonderful!

JuJu is 3!

Here is Juju right before leaving on her trip to Christie's house.

She has been awaiting her trip to go to SC since my mom came to visit in August.

Every time we go to the airport she wants to get out and go on a plane.

She finally got her turn.

Happy Birthday to my little wild one who makes us laugh everyday!

We love you!!

A few of her favorite things:

Changing outfits

Puzzles

The rockwall

Going to the Y

Chocolate milk

Hide and seek

Homemade granola