Other news

In other news lately, Annie won her class spelling bee and got to go on to compete in the school-wide bee.

 She was pretty nervous the night before, but Rachel told her how it all worked from her experience in 1st grade, and that helped.

 Annie made it through several rounds and ended up getting 2nd place in kindergarten after she missed the word love. She spelled it L-U-V-E. Just like it sounds, plus the silent E she knew was at the end. :)

 We were glad we got to go see her do so great.

 And yes, Megan is wearing socks with her sandals. and pants and a skirt under her skirt. That girl is definitely 2 and has a very clear opinion about every piece of clothing she wants to wear. And it's not worth fighting over. I'm just glad she's dressed. :)

Ryan earned a trip to Trail Dust Town for good listening (though since we've gone his listening skills have dropped off dramatically). The carousel is always a favorite.

 We all took a ride around the place on the train, and stopped at the sweet shop right where the train departs from.

 Most pictures we tried failed due to poor lighting and a mediocre phone camera. But Annie Oakley's portrait turned out:

 It was a fun night as always at Trail Dust Town, though the kids were sad we didn't stay for the stunt show. Maybe when their cousins are here for Christmas...

Christmas is Coming!

Once the house guests were on their way back home after Thanksgiving we decided it was time to move on to Christmas, and Jacob went out and started packing in the Christmas decorations from the garage.

 The kids were happy to see their long-lost toys that only come out at Christmas time.

 Rachel and Annie had a fun time looking through their Christmas ornaments before hanging them on the tree.

 Megan had the honor of placing her first star ever on top of the tree.

 Rachel got to put the star on the tree in the family room. (The kids take pleasure in counting our many Christmas trees of all sizes inside and outside--15, I think, if you count the 9 small ones lining the sidewalk.)

The following Saturday Santa came to visit Rita Ranch. He even brought his Elf on the Shelf.

The kids logged their requests. Annie: a conch shell, gems, gold, silver, Shopkins. This girl aims high.

 Ryan: A carrier truck with a car on it like one he saw at Fry's.

 Megan: wouldn't go near Santa, but didn't mind Mrs. Claus.

 Rachel: Heely's. Even though Santa warned her of their dangers and how the wheels are banned at school.

 All in all, a successful trip to seen Santa. We always like when he comes to LONG Realty because there's no long lines like at the mall and the pictures are free. All in all a winner. :)

In other Christmas preparations we got our Christmas cards mailed out and even managed to write a Christmas letter this year. If anyone wants one that didn't get one,  just email/PM me, it's probably just because I don't have your address. Unless you live in my ward, in which case I haven't gotten around to those yet. In the meantime, here's the letter we sent out: 

Thanksgiving 2016

Thanksgiving last year with all of Jacob's and my family (minus 1) was such a success that Jacob's family decided to do it again. And since that meant we could see everyone without driving 12+ hours, we were happy to host. (Thanks to you who did drive 12+ hours to come see us!)

Grandma and Grandpa Campbell got here on Tuesday night. Wednesday the kids were off of school, and enjoyed some special time with the grandparents before the other cousins got there. Grandma took the kids to the 99 Cent Only store which was a highlight for them. Wednesday night Andrew's family rolled in, followed by Mark's family a while later.

Thursday we got up and I got to work cooking and the kids got to work cramming in as much fun as they could while their cousins were in town. There was lots of outside play and some crafting going on inside, along with some card games that Grandma had picked up at the store the day before.

 Grandma Campbell took care of the vegetarian turkey for us:

 When the kids were getting hungry, we pulled out some Thanksgiving placemats for them to color. Only half of them cared to stop running around outside to participate. :)

 The menfolk enjoyed some visiting/relaxation time:

 When dinner was finally ready the kids gathered round, put on their turkey hats they had made that morning or the day before, and ate REALLY SLOWLY.

 Last year we had the kids eat first, then adults enjoy their meal. This year we realized too late that the adults should have sat down and eaten while the kids were happily engaged playing outside, then they could come eat after we had enjoyed our meal. :) Maybe next year.

 Friday was much the same, though with a trip to the park thrown in for variety. In general, though, there was a lot of outside play and running around.

 When some fighting started I enlisted everyone's help to make some decorations for Christmas. They took their jobs very seriously and whipped out some good decorations.

 Friday night was BBQ night. Yay!

 

 Cutie Christian is just a happy little guy.

 The girls enjoyed Go Fish quite a bit.

 Megan and Matthew had some fun together, and had some fights over toys, too. But apparently the plan to make tunnels for the tractor and Matthew to go through was quite fun for all involved.

 More card games.

 Movie time:

 Jacob's mom brought a big stack of pictures from her grandpa, so Jacob helped scan them and attache them to the right people on FamilySearch.org.

 One last game before Grandma and Grandpa had to head out:

 Everyone left Saturday morning for their long drives back home. We were glad they were willing to drive all that way just for 2 or 3 days. Much fun was had by all!

Rachel turns 9

Rachel's birthday this year was an exciting one. She's been asking for her own room for a while now. She's doesn't like having to pick up Annie's messes when they have to clean their room, and Annie is a much slower cleaner than she is, which bugs her, and Rachel gets to stay up a half hour past Annie's bedtime, so her reading light sometimes keeps Annie awake. We had told her that when Megan was sleeping well, not waking up too early, Annie and Megan could share a room and Rachel could take Megan's room. A few months ago Rachel pointed out that Megan was sleeping well and maybe they could switch rooms at Christmas time. I had already decided that Rachel should get her own room for her birthday, so I just said, "That sounds like it might work."

With Rachel's birthday on a Sunday, we decided to surprise her with it the Friday before her birthday. One of my visiting teachers came over that morning to help me move the big furniture around, then we went to the school for a Thanksgiving feast in Annie's class for a while before coming back to really buckle down and get to work. My mom came out to help, and Annie helped a lot, too and we got everything done with time to spare. Annie was having fun helping until she started to get a little jealous of Rachel, so I asked her if she wanted her name painted on her door, which she jumped at. She also chose to have hearts painted around her and Megan's name. We pained Rachel's and Ryan's names on their doors as well, and finished just in time for Rachel's bus to be pulling up, dropping her off.

She came up the stairs, paused when she saw the doors with the names painted on them, and when it clicked she ran over to her new room, opened the door, and Ryan and Annie jumped out from under the bed saying, "Surprise!" And she was surprised and so excited. 

 

 The shelf over her bed that holds her stuffed animals is one we made at a Relief Society activity recently from a pallet that Annie and I painted. She got a couple more wall decorations for her actual birthday a couple days later, as well.

That night Rachel had some friends over for a movie night to celebrate her birthday. She wanted an emoji birthday cake, so I suggested cupcakes so we could do multiple designs instead of just one. It was kind of fun and they mostly turned out cute.

 We did pizza, presents, cake, then the movie.

 Those girls were crazy for the short time we had unstructured. I'm glad it was movie night and not a regular party because harnessing the crazy to play games or do crafts would have driven me crazy. :)

We do love our projector and screen. It sure makes for an easy and fun night for everyone.

Sunday we did our family party at Grandma and Grandpa's house since everyone would be at our house for Thanksgiving a few days later.

We're happy to have Rachel around. It is fun to have her be maturing and becoming like a "real person" sometimes. :) She's got a good sense of humor and is doing better at taking responsibility and getting her stuff done. She is super helpful with Megan, and Megan totally loves her and is so excited when she gets home from school. Rachel is a great student. She is doing great in advanced math, is loving ELP (the once a week gifted pull-out program at school), and is a great friend and student all around. She's a great piano player, though practicing is not her favorite thing. She likes crafts, especially involving yarn lately, though she prefers to do it her own way, rather than use a crochet hook or a loom. She likes to do a lot of things her own way. Luckily she's creative and can make her own way work most of the time. We're happy to have her in our family.