Our Merry Lazy Christmas

...the best kind!
We had a quiet Christmas eve and day. It was very pleasant.

'Twas the night before Christmas and the Thatchers had a plan
Homemade pizza they'd make as best as they can
They rolled and they stretched and twirled them up high
But it still didn't look much like round pizza pie!That's ok, they still tasted great
We ate and we ate 'til we emptied our plates.

The kids got in jammies like they were told to do
Then back downstairs for a reading from Luke 2.
The Christmas story we read so the children could hear
All about the real reason behind Christmas cheer.Then on to the presents, each child got just one
Slippers for all, they thought they were fun!We snuggled up tight and turned on a movie
So far our Eve has been pretty groovy!

Then kids off to bed so Santa's helpers could prepare
Wrapping and stuffing, homemade cinnamon rolls if we dare!Miracle of miracles, we were done by 10 o'clock
Look under the tree, you'll find it well stocked!Now time for Mom and Dad to settle in for a rest
Morning will be here soon and Christmas morn' is the best.

Okay...enough with the rhyming, my brain hurts!!
Christmas morning was really fun and relaxing. The kids opened their presents, enjoying each one. Then we had a yummy breakfast. The cinnamon rolls were my first try (thanks Shay for the recipe!) and they turned out really good...well at least the parts that were all the way cooked, the middles were a little gooey. But, Jess declares that I make the best cinnamon rolls ever. They're still pretty easy to impress at this age...I know the time is coming when I will not be so lucky.
As we were eating breakfast, I observed that this was the first Christmas since we have been married that we have eaten breakfast in our own home and without rushing to be at several locations throughout the day. It was definitely a relaxing, lazy day. The kids played with their toys, Danny watched the Lakers and I didn't have to change into jammies for bed...I was still in them. It was a good day. Here are some pics:I hope you had a wonderful day, too!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Number of years she has been alive
60

Number of siblings
2

Amount of drugs she used when I was born
0

Number of children
4

How many years she's been a mom
37+

Number of grandchildren
10 (and counting!)

How many years she's been a grandma
14 1/2

Number of miles she will have to travel to visit her favorite daughter and grandchildren ;)
815

How many generations Californian
3

Number of years that she has owned her landscaping company
25 +/-

Number of people blessed by her undying generosity
Too many

Number of people that love her
numberless

Amount of fun that we have had together
infinite

Number of reasons why I love her
countless

The opportunity to have the best, most loving, most fun, caring Mom in the whole world!
PRICELESS

I wish I could be with you on your big 6-0! I love you, Mom and hope that you have a great day!

Quick baby update

I just went for my 5th ultrasound and found out that the baby's kidney is back within normal range...no more extra fluid and no more ultrasounds for this little guy. I was given the all clear and everything else looks great. Yeah! I wasn't too worried, but it's always nice to have it validated.

Merry Christmas

I had the best of intentions to get Christmas cards sent out this year, but alas, I have failed yet again...so this will have to suffice. I will get my act together next year (hopefully!)Here are the Thatcher ABC's of 2008 (in no particular order!):
A - After 2 years of work, work, work...
B - Danny graduated from BYU in April with his MBA. We were (and still are) very proud of him. Way to go!
C - Chicken nuggets have become extinct at our house as we are trying to develop some better eating habits among our offspring. It makes for quite an interesting dinner hour!
D - Dylan turned 2 in August. The terrible two's hit seemingly overnight. Although he can be a little destructive and such, he is so funny and fun to watch. He learns a lot everyday and is growing up so quickly.
E - In June, we learned that we were Expecting our 4th little one...a boy!
F - Got a job with Ford...lost a job with Ford!
G - Over the summer I lost two loved ones, my dear Grandma that we affectionately called GG and my dear friend, Ginger. At those times we were especially Grateful for the Gospel that gives us hope in a joyful reunion to come. (Many G's this year!)
H - Hot air balloons grace our skies daily and the kids never tire of pointing them out. They have become a little less frequent with the colder weather, but we still see them a couple of times a week.
I - After a scary turn of events, Danny was given a job at Intel...we were definitely blessed and looked out for in what otherwise could have been a very difficult time.
J - Jesse will be 7 next month...he's so grown up, I've already rounded him up! He is doing really well in the first grade and his teacher has nothing but good things to say.
K - He is also loving his Karate class.
L - Our new home abounds with Lots of rocks, dirt and overall brown-ness and very Little trees and grass...we Love it anyway!
M - We made a Move to...
N - New Mexico. And we actually love it...who knew?!
O - The kids are looking forward to Opening their presents on Christmas morning.
P - Poppy enjoys her little family and is looking forward to her new addition (and wishes that it wasn't still two months away!)
Q - Danny and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary in September and were amazed at how Quickly the time has flown. Time flies when you're having fun...at least that's what they say!
R - Rio Rancho is our new city.
S - Grace just turned 5 in September and missed the cut off for School by a few weeks, so to keep her occupied and socialized we started our Sugar and Spice club that meets once a week. So far, we have baked, made crafts and had a pajama party. Grace loves it. She loves learning to read and has a habit of Spelling out all the words she knows in regular conversation. She also loves her gymnastics class.
T - The kids love their Trampoline (with net, for those of you that were concerned!)
U - Many, many Ultrasounds for this little guy because of my Advanced Maternal Age status and the baby having fluid around his kidneys...what a blessing that he is all right.
V - We feel Very, Very blessed with how everything has fallen into place for us.
W - We love the Weather here in New Mexico although it can get pretty Windy at times. (we're told that we haven't seen nothing yet...apparently it gets crazy Windy in the spring time.)
X - We are eXcited to see what 2009 has in store for us! (I know...cheater, cheater!)
Y - Another Year down and many more to go!
Z - We enjoy our Zoo pass. The zoo here is a lot of fun and it also includes the botanical gardens and aquarium.

OK so that was way harder than I thought it would be and didn't turn out as cute and I wanted it to be...but it's late and it's what you get!

On a more serious note...
We are so grateful for this time of year that helps us to focus on the Savior and reminds us of the great love that He has for us. It is a time to reflect on our blessings and how we can better bless those around us. It is a joyous time and we are thankful to have this time to share the Christmas story with our children and help them to remember the true meaning of CHRISTmas. I love their innocence and their ease of believing. I pray that we can all have that child-like joy that Christmas brings in all its goodness.
Here's hoping that you all have a wonderful and blessed Christmas and a happy, happy new year.

Love,
The Thatchers

Random Saturday

We had our ward Christmas party/talent show last week. It was nice. Our family sang Santa Claus is coming to town and I sang What Child is This? Danny bowed out of Kermit this year, we didn't have enough time to get prepared and he claimed he had a "frog in his throat!" (haha!)
Here are a couple of pics (sorry, no videos of the award-winning performances-really not our best work!)We had our first snow-ish day. It's funny how excited the weather people get about the Big Storm that is headed our way. Here's the height of the storm:Doesn't that look intimidating?...the "drifts" were gone in minutes. But the kids had fun and I guess that's what it's all about. We are hoping to get a little bit of snow built up in our yard, we have a fun little hill in the backyard that the kids are looking forward to sledding on. I am told not to hold my breath, it's rare that they get a good snow pack here in the valley. Oh well, I'll take it!
Here's a funny pic of Grace and Dylan. Dyl got a little scared on a part of Scooby Doo (one that he has seen a hundred times) and grabbed onto his big sis. I wanted to get a picture before they realized what I was doing, but Grace saw me and posed quite effectively, it was better before I snapped!Here's how Grace fell asleep last night. She's my little night owl, she "reads", colors or does puzzles after we put her to bed at night...sometimes for a long time. We don't mind as long as she stays in her bed.Finally, just this morning: "Mom, take a picture of dis"Cute boy.
Hope all your Christmas plans and projects are getting done and you are able to enjoy this time of year. Except for a few stocking stuffers, we are all done with our shopping. We just finished last night...Yeah!

Conversations with Grace

Yesterday in the car (and recapped tonight at dinner):
Grace: I wish that I could be a kid forever and that you could be a mommy forever, too.
Me: But I will be your mommy forever
G: Not when your a grandma
m: When I'm a grandma, I will still be your mommy.
G: But I wish you could stay just like that. You're gonna get older and older and older....Next year I hope that you can get the first wish bone so you can wish to be a mommy forever and I will get the next wish bone so that I can be a kid forever.
I don't know where the fear of growing up has come from lately, but she often expresses a desire to be a kid forever. I want to, too!
Today, again in the car:
G: Do you know that they have phones that have a GPS?
M: yeah...
G: I wish I could get one of those, that would be really cool.
M: oh, yeah...
I don't know where she thinks she will be going that she needs her own cell phone with a GPS...I tell you, those advertisers know how to get their message across. Jesse has also said that he wants a cell phone for Christmas...nope, sorry, you can have one when you can pay for it yourself!

Thanksgiving down....On to Christmas plus a Family Fun Day

We had a fun Thanksgiving. It was the first time that I hosted it at my house. We had a family in our ward over for dinner, The Hatches, because they were family-less, as well. The food was great and we have been eating it everyday since. I made some yummy sweet potatoes that ended up being my favorite! The pies were great, too, I just wish I had made a couple more! These are the only pictures that I took. I was too busy eating, serving and visiting to remember to be the photographer, too!The day after, we stuck to tradition and decorated for Christmas. Only one ornament was broken. It was a snow globe type that broke on the couch with water, glitter and glass. Luckily, it cleaned up a lot better than was expected! This year we bought a fake tree with the lights already strung....best way to go! I have pine-scented candles that will be just fine. We've had bad luck with trees dying before Christmas was even over. We also have a little tree that the kids got to decorate all by themselves, that way I was able to do mine without too much help! it's fun to finally have a house to be able to decorate. We had fun.Dyl lately looks like he is in pain when we try to take pictures...it's his best "Cheese" face!
On Saturday, we took the kids to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science...it was a free day! The kids had fun exploring the universe and taking a trip through the ages.This one is my favorite, Dyl would close his eyes to "look" into the microscope and say "dark"! But he's really good at sports!Wow, take a look at that belly...and I'm not talking about the triceratops!
So, that was our holiday weekend. Nice and relaxing, for the most part...now bring on Christmas, I'm almost ready!