Jaynie the Scientist

On January 9th Jaynie was the scientist of the day at school. Each of the kids in her class get to preform a science experiment in front of the whole class. We have known about this since October and way back then Whit and her sat down and looked at some experiments and decided that she was going to make a clock run off a potato. They watched a kid do it on the Internet and it looked pretty easy so that was that. Now every once in while Jaynie would say, "Mom when are we going to get the stuff for my science experiment." And my reply would always be the same, "Don't worry honey you don't have to do it until after Christmas, we have time." Well when she went back to school after the break and came home and said, "Mom I have to do my experiment on Thursday," I started to panic a little bit. I put Whit in charge of getting the stuff, which was a little difficult to find and by Wednesday night we still couldn't make the experiment work. So while Whit went to the church that night Jaynie and I searched the Internet again and this time found an experiment that seemed much easier. So I loaded the girls into the car and we went to the store to get carbonated water and raisins to do the Dancing Raisins experiment. Well we got home and our raisins weren't dancing like we thought they should. Back to the computer (thank goodness for the Internet). Our next pick was the Floating Egg. We picked this one because we already had everything and it seemed like a no fail project. Finally at 8:30 we were able to make the egg float in a cup of salt water. I sent Jaynie off to bed and told her I would write something up for her to say and she could practice it in the morning. I felt like such a horrible parent. I have always been such a bad procrastinator, but now I am causing my daughter to be one too!! Well in the end she did a great job and the class loved her experiment. The only thing that would have made it better would have been more time because then her presentation would have been memorized instead of read. I have it on video, bit I took it with the video camera instead of our still and I have no idea how to download from the video camera. Sorry a still picture will have to be enough.

Oh and by the way, Whit did get the potato to light an itty, bitty light bulb when he got home after Jaynie was in bed. So I do have to give him credit for his persistence with the project. At least our kids got to enjoy that experiment. Here is a picture of the remains of the potato clock experiment. I think it was maybe a little too complicated for a first grader.

Weekend in Atlanta

On January 2nd, we decided to head down to Atlanta to visit my Uncle Kevin and Aunt Marcy in Atlanta, Georgia. We have wanted to get down there for so long, but things just kept getting in the way, so Whit took Friday off and we headed down there. It was such a nice trip. We were able to see Marcy and Kevin's new house and enjoy laid back country life for a couple of days. The first morning we woke up to three deer in their back yard and the second morning we woke up to a dozen turkeys. The girls thought they were in heaven being able to see animals right there in the back yard. Whit and I were able to relax while the girls entertained themselves upstairs. The house was really big so we barely saw the girls. Addie was even able to take care of herself. They have a really large stair case that made me nervous at first, but she was able to get up and down it so well that by the end I didn't even think about it.

Saturday morning Marcy took me to this cute little consignment store where I was able to find some great stuff. I got Jaynie two skirts and a shirt, Lillie a shirt, and a LL bean vest all for $20. What a steal. I wish I could have found some jeans, but she inspired me to shop more frequently at our local consignment stores. Then after lunch we headed into town to go bowling. We had a great time. It was disco bowling so the lights were off and they had black lights. The girls loved that everything glowed. I have to admit I am much better at Wii bowling than the real thing. It's pretty sad when 3 year old Eliza beats all the adults. Next time I am getting bumper lanes and the little roller stand, then maybe I will have a chance of winning :)

On Sunday morning we headed back into Atlanta where we stopped by to visit with our friends the Caspers. It was great to see them and the kids were instant friends. Lyric and Jaynie knew each other when they were little, but seeing them together you would have thought they had known each other all their lives. It was pretty cute. We are glad to have them close. We hope to be able to get together more often.

Our last stop on our way home was at my cousin Jarod's house. Jarod and his wife Lindsay live just a few exits up from the Casper's so it was pretty convenient to see them both. I was glad to get to visit for a little while, but next time we need to make it a longer visit. Jarod and Lindsay have such a cute house and it is the perfect size for their someday family. Don't they look perfect with four kids on their laps. :)

Thanks everyone for the great visit and for all your wonderful hospitality. We had a wonderful time and hope to do it again soon, and anytime you want to head up this way we would love to have you.

Happy New Year

Happy New Years everyone!! We had a really fun New Year's this year. It started with our kid friendly New Years Eve party. We got together with some of our friends to celebrate with the kids. We had dinner and then at 8:00p.m. we had our New Year's countdown. The girls all had noisemakers and confetti poppers that they popped. Then they all got kisses and sparkling cider. Then once everyone settled down and went home we put our girls to bed and Whit and I got a babysitter so that we could go run a 5k race in Tanglewood Park. Tanglewood has a great Christmas light display every year and they started having a Race on New Year's Eve called the Running of the Lights. I had six friends running it and I really wanted Whit to do it with me so I convinced him to come even though he had a huge bike race the next morning. I was really glad he did it though. I wouldn't have wanted to do it with out him. They had a big screen TV and the start line where we watched the ball drop and then they shot off the start gun. So I got my New Year's kiss from my man and we took off running in the dark with nothing but Christmas lights to light the way. It was actually really dangerous. There were tons of people on these narrow paths so you were constantly dodging people sometimes going off the path and they had one part that was up and back so the leaders were coming back in a smaller numbers against the mass of people in the middle of the pack. Whit actually saw the second place guy collide with a lady that wasn't paying attention. It probably isn't the safest race in the world, but it sure was the funnest. Whit stayed with me the whole time, so it really helped me to push myself and I finished in a pretty decent time considering it was midnight and I spent the whole time dodging people. At the end of the race they had sparkling cider and hot chocolate. It was fun. I defiantly want to make that a tradition. After the race my friends all got together so I sent Whit home to sleep and I took the babysitters home and then went to hang out with the girls until four in the morning. Good Times!!

Whit got up the next morning to go to his Polar Bear 100 kilometer (which is 60 something miles)bike race. He did really well. He finished with the top ten. The man is a machine. He was pretty excited to finish so well.

This was the aftermath of our late night party and I guess biking for 60 miles will wear you out too.

I hope you all have a great New Year. I am excited to see what lies ahead of us in 2009.

Merry Christmas

I really thought that January would slow down for us, but we seem to still fill up our time just as much as we did during the holidays. We had a wonderful Christmas this year. December was a really hard month for me emotionally, because I was really missing my family. It started with Thanksgiving and didn't let up until Christmas Eve. I blame it on Christmas music. I listened to Christmas music all day everyday just like everyone else, but every time without fail when the song "I'll be home for Christmas" would play the tears would flow and usually that was at least two or three time a day. So we'll just say I cried a lot in the month of December. I was really nervous about Christmas, because I just knew I would be such a basket case that I didn't even think I could enjoy it, but you know something happened on Christmas Eve. Suddenly all was well. I got off the phone with my family on Christmas Eve night and broke down in tears. I cried for a good 5 minutes in Whits arms and then I suddenly had this calm about me and I said that's it-I'm finished. I won't cry anymore this Christmas and I didn't. How could I be sad when I have four beautiful little girls that had that Spirit of Christmas glow about them.

On Christmas Eve we had a candlelight dinner of spaghetti and meatballs (the girls choice of course) on our wedding china. Whit really wanted oyster stew because that is a tradition in his family, but I said the girls would never eat it and they want spaghetti and meatballs, but he was able to find a can of Campbell's oyster stew (who knew you could buy oyster stew in a can-seems a little fishy to me no pun intended) and made all of us try it. Jaynie even liked it. Maybe next year I will be a good wife and make the real stuff. Dinner was fun the girls got all dressed up which I think made it all that more special. Than after dinner we watched Horton Hears a Who and then opened up our Christmas PJ's. I was actually able to make them this year thanks to my new sewing machine. We then read the Christmas story and headed off to bed.

On Christmas morning we started a new tradition. Before heading out to see all of our gifts left by Santa, Whit and I took a present into the girls room for them to open for Jesus. We had wrapped it the Monday before for family home evening. We each wrote down a gift that we would give Jesus this year for His birthday. The girls opened it up and then shared their gift with the rest of us. It was really sweet to see what all they came up with. I thought this was a great way to start the day that we celebrate Jesus' birth. I think it is a tradition that we will continue.

Then of course the girls rushed out into the living room to see what was left by Santa. All of the girls got just what they wanted and were very happy with their stash.

Jaynie got a fun cupcake cooking set and a recipe book for her Easy Bake Oven from Santa.

Lillie got a scooter and real Lego's from Santa

Eliza got the Diamond Castle Barbies that sing together in Harmony when you put their hands together. Thanks Santa!!

Adeline got bowls and spoons and some new shoes. Luckily Santa knew Addie was all about the practical stuff :) Just so Santa doesn't seem like such a scrooge he did get her two little baby dolls that she carried around all day they are just stuffed in the stocking.

Our favorite family gift was our new Wii. I love that it is something we can all do. Even Eliza can bowl and our friends gave us a fake toy controller for Addie to play with and so far it has done a great job of fooling her.

Christmas day some friends invited us over for Dinner which is always a great way to spend a day. We ate lots of good food and had great company. We still missed home and family, but luckily we have each other and we have great friends that feel a lot like family.

December Festivies

Now that the Holidays are over I guess I should update with all the December festivities that went on in the Gifford House. We had a great month. It was very busy and went by way too fast, but we enjoyed it.

On December 11th I was able to take Jaynie and Lillie out of school for the day and go and see the Nutcraker ballet. It was so fun. The girls got all dressed up and everything. They were fascinated by the music and dancers, especially the nutcracker prince. It really was an awesome production. The funnest part was afterwards when we were waiting for the elevator in the parking garage we saw the nutcracker prince. The girls were so cute they got all giddy, but would not say Hi. I wish I would have had my camera so we could get a picture. Thanks Cortney for being a homeschooler and getting us cheap tickets. We need to make it a tradition.

Lillie had a little program at her preschool. They all dressed up like the nativity and sang songs for the parents. It was pretty cute. Lillie made a great Mary.

Our ward had a special nativity night with a wonderful musical program and then people in the ward brought in their nativities for display. In the middle of the display they had a live children's nativity. Jaynie and Lillie were asked to be angels and they did a great job. Whit was asked to build the stable and of course because I have the most talented husband in the world this is what he came up with. Can you believe it?

For FHE one night I bought one of those pre-made gingerbread house kits and we decorated it. It was quite the fiasco. The walls fell twice so everything kind of fell a bit, but in the end it looked pretty cute.

The girls got to see Santa at our ward Christmas Party. I always had issues with having Santa at a church party until I had kids and now I am so glad because I refuse to take my kids to the mall to see Santa, so the church party is really their only chance. Sorry about the horrible pictures. Whit took them not me and of course the kids didn't hold still long enough to take a good picture. Oh well. Addie is reaching for me. I wish we could have captured the look on her face when I put her on his lap. It was one of mortal fear, but as soon as he pulled out a candy cane she was fine.

The Misltoe Half Marathon

On December 6th I ran my first half marathon (13.1 miles) and truthfully I really enjoyed it. The training was really hard for me, mostly because we were so busy with craft shows, so most of my long runs were done after I had been at a craft show all day. It was hard to get home after leaving the kids all day and say oh sorry guys I have to go run for two hours, but I had a goal and I stuck with it. Race day was pretty exciting. I was nervous. I knew I could do it, but I was worried that I would get an adrenaline rush and start off to fast and run our of steam before the end, but luckily I got my adrenaline rush and it stayed with me until the end. I was hoping to finish in 2 hours and 30 minutes and I ended up finishing is 2 hours and 17 minutes. That gave me about a 10:38 mile average which was pretty good for me. We were running 11 minute miles on most of our long training runs, so I was able to shave off some time for the race. I started at my regular pace, but around mile 6 I was feeling so good I decided to pick it up a little and once I got to mile 10 I was able to book it to the end. I am pretty proud of myself and I even said to Whit that I think I will try and do a Marathon in the not so distant future. I wish I could do one soon so I could just continue training, but I don't think I can do the cold early mornings anymore. I think I will wait until the spring and start training again.

I am so grateful to Whit and the girls for their patience and support through this whole thing. Whit is so great. He is truly my biggest fan. He even picked a spot along the race that I would pass by twice so that he could see me twice during the race and then still make it back to the finish line-all with four girls in tow. I wish I had a picture of the sign that he made for me and my running partners it said, "Ridgecrest Moms Rock" It was so cute. Ridgecrest is the name of our neighborhood. Besides me and my two friends that I trained with another woman in our neighborhood ran it and two other mom's ran the 5k part of the race, so Ridgecrest Mom's really do rock!!

I also have to say thanks to my partners in crime, Marcia (our team captain) and Kim, if it weren't for these two I would never have even attempted something like this. Thanks ladies for a great run!!

Oh a Christmas Tree hunting we go

Our all time favorite North Carolina tradition is our Christmas Tree tradition. We have been able to share this fun tradition with several family members in past years and for that we are grateful, but this year we shared it with our local family and we had a great time. The tradition goes like this: On the day after Thanksgiving we head up to the mountains to a Christmas Tree farm where we hunt down the perfect tree.

Once we pick the tree a man with a chainsaw comes and cuts it down for us. I have often wished they would let Whit have the chainsaw and let him cut it down, but when I really think of Whit with a chainsaw I realize we are better off letting these guys do it :)

Then we let the girls haul the tree back to the car.

O.k. not really. We wait for the tractor pulling a trailer to come pick up our tree and give us a ride back to our cars.

While Dad loads the tree onto the top of the van the girls and I enjoy a nice cup of hot cider to warm ourselves back up.

You can't get much better than that!!

Last but not least, we go home and we decorate. We got a much bigger tree than normal this year so our lights and ornaments were a little sparse, but it still looked really pretty.

Yes that is Whitney making Addie sit for the picture. After this shot the camera died so we gave up on a good picture.

Thanksgiving

I am sad that I haven't taken the time to sit down and reflect on how Thankful I am before now. Thanksgiving came and went in a whirlwind of craziness, but this year as a family we tried really hard to express how thankful we are for all of the wonderful things in our lives. We put a paper on the fridge and everyday we were supposed to write something that we were thankful for. We missed lots of days, but the girls really enjoyed the days that we did do. I still have it up and I have added a few things here and there since Thanksgiving and I hope to keep it up for a while as a reminder during these scary economic times of just how much I am blessed with.



Jaynie's Class at school sang some cute Thanksgiving songs and I thought it would be a great way to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all of our loved ones. I know it is way past Thanksgiving, but truthfully shouldn't every day be a day of Thanks. Enjoy!!

Sickness in the Air

I know I still need to post Thanksgiving and our Christmas tree and I will eventually, but today I just needed to post about Eliza. Addie has been sick with a double ear infection so her and I haven't slept really well the last couple of nights. Then last night Eliza decided to get sick in the night so Whit didn't sleep very well either. Eliza is throwing up so I am glad Whit got to take care of that one. The funny thing about Eliza is that she is so stinking cute even when she doesn't feel good. It was 5:00 am this morning when she threw up all over Whitney in our bed so Whit got up and took her to the bathroom to put her in the shower and as he was undressing her she said, "Dad I want breakfast." Which I guess after you empty your stomach of all it's contents the natural response is to fill it again. Right?

Wake Forest Football

Last week we were able to go to the Wake Forest football game. It was so cold. The high was 40 and I am pretty sure it wasn't that high when we were at the game. I did a twelve mile run that afternoon and was sore and tired and really dreading coming home and having to go out in the cold again to go to the game. I was also dreading bundling the girls up and making them sit through it. But in support of my husband I agreed to go, but I did not have a good attitude about it. Then when we were ready to leave Whit couldn't find his new, expensive snowboarding coat so he was mad and I wasn't very compassionate or helpful. Whit finally came out to the car and said, "let's just not go" My response was, "we have already done the hard part. We are going!!" So we went and got there just after half time. People were already leaving, but we didn't care. Once we finally got seated we had a great time and all the trouble we went through to get there was worth it. We had hot chocolate and cheered for the Deacons up until the very end of the game. It was really fun. I was really glad we decided to go. Sorry about the pictures. We forgot the camera so we took pictures with Whit's phone.

By the way I found Whit's coat this week in the coat closet where it belongs and where Whit looked several different times :)