an early Christmas present

I would like to thank Grandma and Grandpa Oregon for the fantastic Christmas presents they sent us. I know it is no yet Christmas, but we did open the boxes and the kids love them.

A Tucson way of celebrating

As this is my last year living in Tucson I have made it a point to celebrate the Tucson way.

My first step was to visit Winterhaven. This is a neighborhood that goes all out with their outdoor Christmas lights. One even had a dancing light and water canon display! It was fun to walk around with the family...so glad that it is warm here.


The next trip we made was to La Encentada for their "enchanted snowfall." You can't get more Tucson than this: We stood on fake grass while fake snow fell on us. Wow. I found this particularly humorous.

Here is Ella enjoying the "snow"

Here's a picture of the so called snow.

Yes, I had fun. Yes I would still chose the seventy degree weather and fake snow over twenty degree weather and real snow. I just won't be seeking out this fake snow anymore.

Merry December

I would like to begin this post with a picture of my youngest:

Rhys at six weeks.

And now for our Christmas happenings:

On November 23rd we bought and trimmed our Christmas tree.

Look! A picture with me in it.

December 4th was the ward Christmas party and my older kids got to ride a train to see Santa!

Ella asked Santa for a "stuffed bear that is purple" and a barbie.

Eli asked for a robot.

I like to plan ahead. And with a new baby in the family I've been planning Christmas presents way in advance. The purple bear and robot requests were way off the radar. Santa, if you read this blog, please help me!

Experiments

Halloween is over. I waited a full week. Now is the time to throw out the candy so I can bake cookies and pies. But how does one convince the kids that this is necessary? Oh, I know! A Special Saturday Family Home Evening.

How would a Family Home Evening get rid of candy without putting the kids in a sugar coma? Easy. You discus the creation followed by the fact that there are rules (like gravity) that everything is subject to. Then you bring up that some things react differently like how vegetables rot when they are picked but fruit continues to ripen. Next (and this is key) you mention how some things sink and some things float. Then you ask, "Which candies do you think will sink and which will float?"

I know, you are thinking that I am a genius. Well, I am. But I must admit that the idea of experimenting with the candy was given to me by someone else.

Want to know the results? We had a fun evening destroying the Halloween candy. We tasted a few. Eli caught on to the fact that the candy was being ruined and decided that he should eat more and destroy less. Ella just wanted to throw more candy into the water.


Oh, and the scientific results: Only chocolate candy floats. And then only a few of them do...

Whoppers
Kit-Kats
3 Musketeers

While Ella unwrapped more candy to throw into the bowl I really got into the experimenting mood and decided to microwave M&Ms. Everyone knows the candy shell protects them so they "melt in your mouth, not in your hand," but how long do those shells protect the chocolate when they are microwaved? It turns out that the last one minute before they crack open and the melted chocolate escapes.

But what about Skittles?

They only last thirty seconds:

Conclusion: M&Ms are better suited for the hot desert than Skittles

Yes, I am a nerd. But also I got rid of three bags of Halloween candy without upsetting my children. When the bowl of water was full of candy and the experiments were complete I sorted through the remaining candy, selecting a few to keep for rewards, and threw everything into the garbage.

Two weeks ago...

Two weeks ago I had a very busy day planned. Ella, Eli and I left the house early to make it to the follow up dr appointment with Eli's surgeon. That appointment was at 8:30. Immediately after Eli's doctor told us that Eli was just fine we had to "run" to the pediatrician's office for flu shots. The flu shots were scheduled for 9:30. Next door to the pediatrician is my ob/gyn where I had a 10:00 check up.

Happily we made it to each of our appointments on time. And while Ella was proud that she didn't cry when she got her flu shot, the more exciting news came during my appointment. When my doctor asked me if there was anything he could do for me I replied that I would like to be induced as soon as possible since my husband was leaving town on Monday.

He was surprisingly accommodating. He stepped out of the exam room to make a phone call to the delivery center. Ten minutes later I left the Doctor's office knowing that I would be induced in less than two hours. !!!

I am very lucky to have such good friends here that are willing to watch my children on such short notice. I am also lucky that Chris happened to have that day and the following day off from work. Talk about amazing timing.

Well, I was induced. And we had a baby boy. Rhys Riley Willliams was born on 10-20-2010 at 18:18. He weighed 9lbs 3oz and was 21 inches long.

Here he is on his two week birthday:

Ella and Eli love baby Rhys.

Mother and baby are doing great. And now I have three kids!

Happy Halloween

Halloween in Arizona involves shorts and flip flops. This is very different than what I grew up with in Utah. I remember completely covering my costume with a big winter coat-every year. In Tucson you can actually see the costumes the children are wearing. Here are my kids in their costumes:

ready to go trick-or-treating

Watching the Labyrinth.

Ella loved handing candy out to the trick-or-treaters. Eli loved that people gave him candy when he went trick-or-treating. Happy Halloween.

Announcing...

We recently welcomed a new member to our family.

Rhys Riley Williams was born on Wednesday (10-20-2010).

Chris sent out an email announcement to our families and I thought I would share it with you too. I will make my own post later...now I think I will sleep.

-Mal

Rhys is a Welsh name. It means "enthusiastic". It also sounds similar to the Latin word for laugh (risi or risum) which we thought especially fitting as Malinda literally laughed him out. Honest to goodness, no pushing, she simply couldn't stop laughing because the epidural made her legs feel all tingly and weird (everyone who knows Mal is nodding their heads right now). The OB actually told her to stop laughing because he wasn't quite ready yet. Three seconds later a baby boy popped out.

It just seemed that given the happy, rapid nature of this child's entry into this world he required a suitable name.

Malinda performed wonderfully and so far everyone is very happy and healthy and resting.

Our love to y'all,

Chris

Here are some videos:

Laughing Mal

Baby Rhys