Gaudete "Joyful" Sunday ( The Third Week of Advent)

The third Week of Advent we light the Bethlehem Candle. It is the pink candle. It serves as a reminder that our waiting will soon be over. This week as a family we choose a gift tag from the "Jesse Tree" at St. Vincent's Church. The gift is for someone less fortunate than us. The kids each choose one and we choose one too. They earned money doing odd jobs around the house and bought their gift with their own money.

Here is Nicholas wrapping the 6 month pajama that he bought.Here is Anastasia wrapping the size 10 shirt that she bought for the "Jesse tree" donation. This really conveys the message of Christmas by donating a gift to someone else in our community.

Don't they look proud of themselves!

Santa Visit at The Grand America Hotel

We went to the Grand America Hotel to have Breakfast with Santa on 12/13/08. That was sooo nice you cannot even imagine. We have in the past gone to Wheeler Farm and it was so crowded and the food was awful. Then we tried Hogle Zoo for Breakfast with Santa and that was the same, crowded and the food mediocre at best. I heard from a friend of ours that they always have Breakfast with Santa at the Grand America and to try it out. Well we did and just fell in love with the Hotel and the food was delicious and it was not crowded. I admit it was a bit more expensive than Wheeler Farm and Hogle Zoo but well worth the price for the service that we received. Let us just say that this will be a holiday tradition that will keep year after year. Plus aren't those the most authentic looking Mr. and Mrs. Clause that you have ever seen?

Secret Angels (The Second Week of Advent)

On the second week of Advent we light The Angel Candle. This week we practice being "an angel" to others. As a family, we pick one name from a box, then we do anonymous good deeds for that person and leave an angel card so that person knows they were touched by an angel.

Anastasia was my angel.

Nicholas was Tony's angel.

I was Nicholas' angel.

Tony was Anstasia's angel.

We also try to send our Christmas cards out this week and explain to the kids that the cards and their message are like the greetings the angels gave Mary and Joseph. We blow a kiss before we seal each card and send it to all our loved ones.

Christmas in Murray (The First Week of Advent)

Christmas Season is finally here! We love Christmas in our house. We have so many traditions. On the first week of Advent we light the Advent Wreath and light the first candle of the wreath. For those that do not know the Advent Wreath is a popular family devotion for this season. It is usually a circle of evergreen branches surrounding four candles, one for each of the Sundays of Advent. Frequently, three of the candles are purple and one is pink. The pink colored candle is lit during the third week of Advent, beginning on Gaudete Sunday (gaudete means "joyful") as a reminder that our waiting will soon be over. Above is our Advent Wreath. The first week of Advent, The Promise Candle is lit. As parents we make a promise to the kids that we keep sometime during the week, similar to how God never makes a promise He doesn't keep. This helps the kids experience the anticipation and joy of fulfillment.

Our promise every year is to take a pajama drive around the neighborhood looking at the lights and looking for symbols that bring out the true meaning of Christmas. The kids are all geared up with hot cocoa in hand to look at the lights in our neighborhood.

Molly Mouse Ballet

We spent from Dec. 2-5, 2008 at Rose Wagner watching our "Baby Girl" dance as Molly Mouse's Ballet Friend. Our little girl is the 3rd mouse from the left.

Here she is without her mouse head.It is such a great joy that she brings to our hearts when she preforms. We also had the Days come and see her perform on 12/2/08. They are such great friends!PoPo also spent from the Dec. 1-7, 2008 to help us make practices and performances since Tony and I had to work. Ah-Goon was able to get the day off on Friday to see his favorite grand-daughter perform on stage. Such proud grand-parents!

Lucas David Bello

The brand new member of the family has arrived. His birthday was 11-27-08. One day before Tony's birthday that way Carlos will not forget Tony's birthday. Lucas weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and measured 20.5 inches. He was the same height as Nicholas but not the same weight. No wonder poor Mary had such a hard time with the pregnancy. And I thought giving birth naturally to Anastasia at 8 pounds was hard enough I cannot imaging adding an additional 7 ounces. Mommy and baby are doing fine. He is a cutie though, we cannot wait to see him.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Our festivities began early this morning when the kids made apple-pumpkin muffins. They were yummy! This whole feast was a joint effort that took all day. I guess when the kids are older we can share the responsibilities of the dishes but until that day arrives, which I am in no hurry, Tony and I have to do all the Thanksgiving traditions.

This is the first year that I have been able to take a bird to the table. As many of you know I am allergic to turkey and have always eaten ham for Thanksgiving. This year I got to eat a Turken (a chicken made turkey style). Tony put the chicken in a brine the night before and cooked it the next day. It was the best chicken that I have ever tasted. It was so moist and very flavorful.

I made the pumpkin pie since the kids and Tony love it so much. I usually make it from scratch but this year I took a shortcut and bought a pre-made uncooked pie shell. I only eat pumpkin pie once a year which is a great dessert for me since I do not over-eat it.

Nicholas set the table and we are oh so proud of him. As you can see from the above picture he did a beautiful job.

Anastasia made the biscuits for our meal. Well it is more like she opened a can and put the biscuits on the baking sheet. We placed it in the oven and waited 10 minutes then we removed it from the oven and she placed it in the bread basket. But she feels she contributed to the meal and that is what counts. As seen from this picture she was really proud.

To finish our night we were giving a great performance in Spanish of The First Thanksgiving Feast from the kids. We had Anastasia as the pilgrim girl and Nicholas as a Native American boy.

By the way thank you to all who sent their feathers to add to our turkey. It was nice to be able to read all your feathers on thanksgiving day.

Bible Ceremony

On November 21 we went to St.Vincent's School to see our daughter recieve her Bible. It was such a special ceremony. She got to do the introduction to the Mass. Afterwards the school had a reception for the parents. Anastasia and Nicholas go to such a great school it is worth all the money we pay.

Happy Halloween

Part of our Halloween traditions is to carve pumpkins. The kids are carving the pumpkins we picked. They were so proud since this was their first year that they got to carve their own pumpkin. In the past we have just chosen one pumpkin for the family.

Tony carved the pumpkin design that I choose. My hero...that was a hard design. But isn't it cute!

Our pumpkins all a glow. The happy face was Nicholas' design, Anastasia was the cat, and the ghost was Tony's. By the way I helped everyone carve a little bit of theirs, since I did not want to be left out yet I did not want to carve my own.

Nicholas is a car's mechanic and Anastasia was inspired by our trip to Walt Disney World to be Alice in Wonderland. We stayed at the Grand Floridian and the kids went to the Wonderland Tea Party. The kids at that event went dressed as Alice or the Mad Hatter and thus her costume.

Happy Halloween and by the way I love that Daylight Savings Time has not ended and the sun does not go down until later. We got to leave at 6:00 and there was still some light out.

It's in the Bag

This week Anastasia and Nicholas were interviewed by The Salt Lake Tribune. Here is a link to the web page and there is a video of the interview at the bottom. They are adorable!

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10849701?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com

Corn Maze

We went to the "Crazy Corn Maze" in West Jordan tonight, such a Utah thing to do. This was our first time that we have ever went to the corn maze at night. It was different to say the least. So many teenagers...it was a teaching moment...and being a teacher my kids get plenty of those. I kept stating how silly they were acting or dressing and what was expected of them in the future when they brought home a boyfriend or girlfriend. I know they are young but Anastasia in a couple of years will not be listening to me anymore and hopefully this will stick in her sub-conscience as a voice of reason.

In the past we have used the method of always going in the same direction; always turn right for instance, and have never been able to follow the markers that are there. But this year WOW we did it! We made all the markers in order and completed the maze in 1 1/2 hours. And more importantly from a friend of ours BLOG (Sarita) we knew to carry cash to get into the maze.

The kids loved it so much! They were exhausted when we finished they even fell asleep in the car on the way home. Which is rare for Anastasia since she is my all-nighter child. But as our normal tradition goes Nicholas had to once again pee in the corn. It does not fail every year he has marked his territory in that maze. Well maybe that is why the corn grows so well there year after year?

Twins?

Our beautiful Paulina is on the right and cute Mary is on the left. Well we now know where she gets her looks from...wow they can pass off as twins. I cannot believe that she is already 15 months.

Pumpkin Pickin'

We went to Engh Gardens to pick some pumpkins this afternoon. It was so much fun! First it was free, which how many things are free in this country anymore. Plus they had so many things to do, like a straw maze, a cool pirate ship, and a fun train to see.

The kids had a blast figuring out which pumpkin under $8.00 they were going to choice for their jack-o'-lantern. Later we looked for some lavender for our garden at home since it smells so nice and looks so pretty. What a great fall day to spend together as a family!

Jessie's 8th B-Day

We went over the Deppe's house to celebrate our oldest God-Daughter's 8th B-Day. I am still in awe that she is 8. I remember when we went to the hospital to see her 8 years ago. My how time truly flies.

Isn't she the cutest oldest God-Daughter in the whole wide world. Well at least we think so and that is all that counts. She liked her Li'l Luvables gift. It was even a hit with Nicole and that says a lot. If you have her approval then you know your family...because she "loves" everything from her family. LOL!!!

We also got to met the newest addition to the Deppe Family. Tracy (purple collar) and Duke (red collar). Even my kids who are a bit hesitant when it comes to dogs actually said this morning that they liked them a lot and Nicholas stated that he wanted one for his birthday.

Good-Bye PoPo and Ah-Goon

The kids said good-bye to PoPo and Ah-Goon. They are off to California to see if they have a house to come home to since those wildfires are close to their home in Sylmar. Hopefully we will see them soon since we have so much fun when they visit.

Caramel Apples

Tony inserted the wooden pop sticks into the stems of the apples. The picture is worth a dozen words.

The kids unwrapped the caramels and placed water into the pot. Wow such helpers! I remember a couple of years ago most of the caramels ended up in their mouth or on the floor as opposed to the pot.

We dipped all the apples in the caramels and no catastrophes occurred. What a great day at the Gonzalezes! You'd think that we are natural chefs but in all reality it is the easiest thing in the world and it makes me feel like a marvelous "Martha Stewart" type of cook.