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Buzz Buzz Buzz

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Wether wore costumes more often then clothes during the month of October.  He told me for weeks that he wanted to be Buzz Lightyear.  I borrowed a costume from a friend, which he wore for a couple of days, but in the end he chose to be an astronaut (Buzz Aldrin).  He also buzzed around in his bee costume for a few days.  Any way you look at it, Wetherill loves Halloween! Holden originally wanted to be Woody but changed his mind to Harry Potter like his brother Marcus.  He would say, "I'm Harry Potter, Marcus is Ron Weasley, and you're the girl."  Sometime during the month he decided that he wanted to be Ron Weasley, which wasn't a very exciting costume, but made my focused Holden happy.  Marcus and Holden watched the first 2 Harry Potter movies several times during October.   As usual, we crammed in as many Fall activities as possible.  My mom even remarked, "Wether would live at Cornbelly's if he could."  She visited for a few days before heading down to my cousin's memorial service in Florida.  Mom missed Sandy's wrath in Connecticut, which left my dad without power for almost a week.  She was a big help during this hectic time of year.  Here is what we did:

Friday: Mom arrived the night before.  We went to D.I. during the day and our ward Fall Party at the church that night.  We had a lot of fun dressing Port up as a pirate.
Saturday: Kjell watched the kids in the morning while mom and I shopped, stopped by a few garage sales,  and went out to lunch.  Later in the afternoon we went to 3 Halloween activities in our area, although the best by far was at Riverwoods.  A headless horseman greeted us.  There was a petting zoo, a horse-drawn carriage ride, games, dancing, and several bounce houses.  It was hard to go home!
Sunday:  We went to church and a get-together at a neighbor's house that night.  Mom spent some time with Pam and Rachel. 
Monday: We took the kids to Cornbelly's and carved pumpkins for Family Home Evening when we got home.
Tuesday:  Another trip to D.I., followed by a short program at Wether's preschool. Grandma babysat that evening while Kjell and I played volleyball.
Wednesday:  Wether went to Zach's house to decorate cookies and Port stayed home with Grandma while I went to the Halloween parade at the school and ran Marcus' class party.  First we had a mummy-making contest with toilet paper (Marcus's group won!), followed by 4 different activities run by other moms.  The kids made haunted houses, played bingo, made spiders out of donuts, pretzels, and M&Ms, and listened to Halloween stories.  When Kjell got home from work, we headed out to trick-or-treat and it immediately became clear that we'd have to split up.  Marcus and Holden were running from house to house and Wether and Port just couldn't keep up.  I joined up with the Schauers and Kjell took the older boys on a 2-hour quest for as much candy as possible.  Grandma stayed home and handed out candy.  She left for Florida early the next morning. A fun time was had by all but I was definitely Halloweened-out!




A pirate at the ward Fall Party
Wether and his buddy Zach

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione, and...a wizard?  Holden begged me all day to be Hermione.  Since I didn't have to do my hair or makeup, it was easy!

Dancing at the Riverbottoms.  Wether is the bee.


Kjell and I are "pros" at last-minute costumes.  Here we have a tennis player, 2 astronauts, 2 wizards, and a cowgirl.

Cornbelly's


Cow Train


What's Port searching for?


A pumpkin to throw into the air!





Wether and grandma carved this pumpkin

I worked with Holden.  He wanted a gingerbread man.  Easy!
Excited boys.  At this point Marcus was still busy with his pumpkin. He took so long that I didn't get a picture (it was a ghost).

Decorating cookies at Zach's house.
Wether's Halloween program at preschool.  He's the one rubbing his eyes. 

Ron Weasley

Harry Potter



Get out your candy.  Here we come!





Port and Grandma

Here Ethan, have some candy

Bailey, Wether, Ethan, and Port


Florida or Bust

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Although I was certainly sad for Per and Julie and family to be moving all the way to south Florida (from Washington), the silver lining is that they are minutes away from my aunt and uncle who we try to visit every 2 or 3 years.  Enroute to Florida, the Washington-soon-to-be Florida McCords stayed with us for a few days.  Uncle Kye flew in from Oregon on Saturday afternoon to help Per drive the moving truck and car the rest of the way to Florida.  Julie and the other 4 children flew to Florida from Utah.  Per and Julie arrived with the kids late Saturday night.  On Sunday, they traveled down to Mt. Pleasant to visit with Grandma Nordmark.  That evening, we hosted a large gathering of Julie's family and several of the McCord brothers (Shawn, Kye, Joshua, Per & Kjell) for Swedish pancakes.  Marcus and Ansel (best buds) and all the other cousins played inside and outside enjoying the warm weather.  Early Monday morning, Kye, Per, and Ansel departed for Florida.  That day, Julie had a chance to rest and I got a chance to have some one-on-one time with my nieces and nephews.  Tuesday we walked to the park (we all couldn't fit in my van!) and enjoyed pizza outside before I drove Julie and her kiddos to her mom's house in Sandy.  Normally, Julie and I have our cameras on us at all times, but we got surprisingly few pictures this trip.  We were too busy!  Here are a few:
Uncle Shawn and Autumn.  This picture is for you Ruby!

My friend Susan watched Wether and Marcus was at school so we could fit everyone into the van!

Julie & Olivia at Alice's house

Couples' Getaway

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After finding a great deal on KSL for a 3-bedroom condo in Park City, we coordinated with the Schauers and Fraziers to get babysistters and enjoyed 21 hours (not that I was counting...) kid-free. We all agreed that this was not long enough!  The Schauers picked us up on the Friday before Thanksgiving and we were able to check-in, frost Heather's birthday cake, and get out the cheese tray before the Fraziers arrived.  We went out to dinner that night at Bistro 412 on Main Street.  We enjoyed the hot tub at the clubhouse before heading back to our condo to paint our nails, eat birthday cake, and play games.
The next morning, Heather fried up some bacon while Kjell whipped up pancakes.  We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before heading to the outlets for some shopping!  We all found some treasures and before we knew it, it was noon and time to head back to Orem.  We caught a ride home with the Fraziers and effusively thanking Pam for watching the kids.   
Those Schauers.


Olivia frosting Heather's cake.  Kjell getting the cheese out.

Three Amigas.  Heather, Shawna, & Olivia.

Shane.

The men.

At Bistro 412.

Happy Birthday Heather (1 week early)

Heather frying up some bacon from the 1/2 pig she bought.

The cooks.

Are we boring you Shane?

Me and my honey.

One Little Indian

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Wetherill looks forward to preschool every Tuesday and Thursday at "Busy Little Learners."  Here are pictures from his Thanksgiving program.  Each child stood on a stool at the end and said what they are thankful for.  Wether said "food." 


Turkey Bowl

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The men in our neighborhood typically play football at the park on Thanksgiving morning.  I was hoping to watch for a bit, but since Port could absolutely positively NOT be distracted from his goal of running on the field, I didn't stay for very long.  The other boys were very good and played at the park or watched the game.
Wetherill


Bjorn, Justin, Kjell, Andy

Bjorn, Kjell, Justin.  I did see Bjorn kick the ball the entire length of the field.

Fan club.  Holden, Dallas, Marcus, and Port

Huddling

Kjell, Bjorn, and Joshua.

Port


Marcus & Dallas
After the Turkey Bowl, we prepared for our Thanksgiving feast.  Actually, we did most of the preparation the day before including setting the table, so it was a nice relaxing day.  Pam, Shawn & Autumn, Ruby, and Bjorn (who was staying with us) joined us for dinner.  We went for a post-feast walk to work up a little appetite for pie.  Following dessert, I went to Pam's house with the boys to help her get her Christmas decorations out.  Kjell, Joshua, and Bjorn got our decorations down from the attic while I was gone.

On Black Friday, we went to the mall parking lot to see Santa arrive by helicopter (Bjorn slept in) and we even ventured inside the mall this year to find all sorts of fun kid's activities.  Holden has been asking for months to put up the Christmas tree, so that was next on our list.  With Kjell and Bjorn's help, we finished decorating for Christmas and had the house clean in time for a few friends to come over that night to play pool and eat leftover pie by the fire.  Bjorn took the 3 older boys to see Brave at the Dollar Theatre and eat ice cream earlier in the afternoon, which was a huge help (and very Brave of him;-).

On Saturday morning, Kjell, Joshua, Bjorn, and Justin went shooting for a few hours.  We spent the afternoon catching up on some house projects.  Bjorn kindly agreed to babysit that night while Kjell and I went on a date and visited with some friends afterward.  Bjorn and Kjell saw a movie later and Shawna and I watched a movie at our house. 

Don't Leave the Leaves

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Wether and his best friend Zach had a great time playing in the leaves this fall.  Photos taken by Zach's mom Ashley - thank you!



Christmas Card 2012

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Photo by Julie McCord August 2012 Prosser, Washington

Dear Friends and Family,

I was tempted to commission a Christmas Letter Template App (insert child’s name here, list activity #1, vacation destination A, etc.).  We Christmas-Letter-Writers could knock ‘em out in 5 minutes!  From our phones!  Some day…

Some things this year were very much the same as last year (like birthdays and awesome trips to Oregon and Connecticut), but we did have some interesting bits.  We got a trampoline (okay, not earth-shaking news, but what a parent’s summer lifesaver).  We borrowed some friends’ camping trailer and went on a few fun overnighters.  Come to think of it, we camped quite a bit this year.  Looks like it’s our “thing.”

Marcus is now 7 and busier than I was when I was 12.  He’s still in Chinese Immersion and in addition to daily homework has started piano lessons and wrestling.  Soccer keeps him busy in the sunny months as well as baseball (which I think is his favorite).  It’s fun to watch him grow and discuss increasingly mature topics with him...although there are still some mature topics I’m holding out on J

Holden is 5 (that was a happy day for him) and is loving Kindergarten.  He was noticeably more interested in soccer this year, but wasn’t too fond of T-ball (we’ll give it another shot).  He’s also in little-kid “wrestling” and begs Olivia to start piano lessons.  Both he and Marcus are pretty arts-and-crafty, plus he’s a prodigy with Legos and puzzles.  He still says some pretty funny stuff, see Olivia’s blog for more details.

Wether is 3 and an always-without-pants, always-running hooligan.  He’s now potty-trained and loves preschool, although I don’t know if preschool loves him.  His days are filled with dirt, tractors, excavators, trucks, teasing, wrestling brothers, and somehow still managing to be adorable.  A fun note on Wether; in October, he dressed up every day until Halloween.

Port is almost 2 and-though certifiably the cutest- gives Olivia no peace.  He makes a mess-a-minute, dances, talks, loves “Higga fights” (Christmas lights), starts most fights, and loves his uncles.  He’s a daddy’s boy, and it makes my day to see how excited he gets when I come home.

Olivia attended all of the aforementioned soccer matches, baseball games, piano lessons, etc. and still kept up with her church calling, rental management, and making me feel special.  She was able to go to Maui in February with Port for a mini Love Family Reunion.  She dreams of hobbies, but is still an avid decorator, garage sailor, and urban adventurer.

I also dream of hobbies and such and am dabbling with a few (I caught my first fish this year!).  I’m working in mortgages again as well as my marketing company and our rentals, so it can get a little hairy, but I can testify of the joys of family life…with breaks.

I/we have been very blessed this year, as we hope you have been.  Merry Christmas to all!
Kjell McCord Family

Gal Pal

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Marcus and Jane have been friends since summer camp around kindergarten. They've been in the same Chinese Immersion class for 1st and 2nd grade.  Here's one of many overheard conversations during our carpool: Marcus: "Jane, do you know when I started being funny?" Jane: "No." Marcus: "When I met you. At camp."  Jane has always been Marcus' favorite "friend that's a girl", so he was excited to have her come over and play one day after school.  I took this picture, printed off two copies, and they each made a Christmas tree ornament.
Silly Wether with a sticker on his forehead

Brotherly Love


Night in Bethlehem

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Wether is always game for any sort of dress up.
Our Ward Christmas Party was a "Night in Bethlehem."  We dressed up the little boys and ourselves (costumes were provided for the big boys) and headed over to the chapel to pay taxes and get our bag of shekels (pennies).  We paid for our food at different booths (Marcus loved this) and ate together as a family on a blanket. After dinner there was a beautiful program put on by the primary.  What a neat experience!
The little boys ate before the party


Holden was feeling quite ill that night

Bethlehem


Schauers

Sims

Marcus made 3 "Bethlehem" signs

Port had a hard time keeping his robe on!  He liked riding his "horsey."

Marcus singing in the program

Beautiful Heather Frazier


Bishop Abbott
Gines and Sister Clark manning the bread booth



Holden, Bailey, Vivian, and Angel

Faith and Steele Nixon (Mary and Jesus)


Amanda Nixon leading the Primary Program

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Holden is the only boy in his primary class. Here he is with Jesse Norris, Emma Jolley, Bailey Schauers, Vivian Frazier, Angel Nixon, and Bethany Gines. Holden wants to marry Emma.



Annual Santa Picture

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How do you feel, Port?
For our annual Santa photo, we went to the Orem Fitness Center this year.  Wetherill, Holden, and Marcus each took a turn sitting on Santa's lap and telling him what they want for Christmas.  When Kjell arrived with Port (he had been parking the car), we put them together for a group shot.  The photographer took about twenty pictures, and this is the one she chose to email me.  She must have a sense of humor!  We visited a different Santa a few weeks later and although Port was uneasy, he did much better!

Away in a Manger

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Wether got to act as Joseph while singing "Away in a Manger"
Wether ringing the bells
Wether sometimes has a hard time staying in his seat during the programs, but Mrs. Wood is good about having them move around a lot.

Christmas Break Bash

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Marcus has been acting a little shy at school during recess and he's always looking for new friends to play with, so we decided to host a party for his entire class the day school got out for Christmas Break.  Almost all the students came (about 25!) and we began the evening with pizza and clementines.  Next we attempted a white elephant gift exchange, but there was such excitement (aka chaos) that after a couple of attempts I just yelled "everyone pick a gift and open it!  You can trade if you want!"  Following the gift exchange, we played a couple of games involving teams throwing marshmallows in buckets.  Fortunately I had a couple of moms there to help me (Amy Beisinger and Katie Hall - thank you!).  Dessert was a giant plate of rice krispie treats shaped like a Christmas tree.  "Home Alone" didn't hold the kids interest for too long.  Most of them were much more interested in playing in the basement.  Still, at the end of the movie when the burglars were being outsmarted by the boy, everyone came upstairs and the laughter was uproarious.  Marcus enjoyed his party and hopefully it helped give him a little more confidence at recess.

Christmas Break Bash

Wednesday, December 19, 6-8:30


 
Marcus’ House 1140 E. 120 S. in Orem
 
Dinner and gift exchange 6-7
Christmas movie at 7
Please bring a white elephant gift ($5 or less) and a pillow for the movie


FIrst Piano Recital

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Marcus' first piano recital was held in December.  He played "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" and "Come Ye Children".  Marcus had both pieces memorized, although he didn't need to for this recital.  He was definitely nervous to play in front of fifty people, but he did very well.  Holden will begin piano lessons in January.

 
Marcus and his piano teacher Megan Sackett

Christmas Eve

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Marcus (Joseph), Holden & Wether (Shepherds)
Our good friend Rachel Gonzalez (my former teaching colleague at Lakeridge ) has kindly invited us to her family Christmas Eve party the last two years.  This year, we had delicious Mexican food (we sat with Pam and Tracie), the kids had an arts and crafts project, and we got to enjoy a Christmas pageant put on by the children.  The latter was very entertaining, especially when Wether kept crawling under the table in the middle of the pageant to sneak some chips.  Santa Claus came at the end, much to the delight of the boys (even Port!) 

Ringing bells

Joseph and Mary

Wether kept sneaking under the table for some chips during the pageant

Pammies

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Holden woke up at 2am on Christmas morning, ran downstairs to see the presents and then woke us up.  We sent him back to bed.  We skyped with mom, dad, and Uncle Tom in Connecticut while the boys opened their gifts, which included an arsenal of nerf guns from Uncle Tom and daddy.  Uncle Tom also sent a 6 foot tall inflatable bear to use for target practice!  Other gifts included a giant remote-controlled inflatable shark that "swims" through our house, legos, lots of arts and crafts, a remote-control helicopter, trains, tractors, and an iPad and Kindle Fire from Grandma and Grandpa.  Lucky boys!  Kjell took the older boys to see "The Guardians" while I made Christmas dinner.

Pam makes Christmas pajamas for the boys each year.  I call them "Pammies." Pam and Tracie joined us for Christmas dinner and we played games afterward.  They also took the kids to see "Zoo Lights" at Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City later in the week.  The boys were talking about the animals they saw for days. 


Snowshoeing

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We had a gorgeous white Christmas this year...in fact an entire white Christmas break!  We went on a hike in the beautifully falling snow to Bridal Veil Falls on Christmas Eve followed by lunch at Denny's.  Our neighbor Brian Nixon took Marcus, Holden and Wether on sled rides pulled by his four-wheeler a few days in a row sometimes more than once a day (I seriously owe Brian some cookies!)  Still, I spent a couple of days cooped up inside after Christmas and I was ready to enjoy Utah's famous snow!  First, Kjell and I went cross-country skiing under the full moon at Sundance.  It was serene and beautiful...and cold!  Still, cross-country skiing is such a good work-out that we stayed warm. Kjell somehow broke his rented pole in half (ha ha!) but we still had a great time.  The next morning we went snowshoeing with the Gines up to Big Springs.  It was refreshing to be surrounded by such beauty and spend time with friends.  Later that day we went sledding! 




Sledding

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Holden
We've gone sledding several times at Rock Canyon Park by Provo Temple.  The kids LOVE it!  Even Port can't get enough going down the hill, although it makes me nervous every time.  All the sleds I've been collecting at garage sales and D.I. have really come in handy this winter.  Come borrow them anytime!
Man-made bowl


We've mostly used this sled for hikes up the canyon or walks around the neighborhood but it was ideal for Port and Wether to go down the hill.  Nice and stable.

Marcus

Holden about to receive a push from daddy




Kjell and Wether

Holden

Wether




Here comes Port

Port

"No big deal mom"

A Great-Grandma

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Kjell, Great-Grandma Nordmark, Port, Marcus, Holden, & Wether (with the iPad)
Great-Grandma Nordmark stayed with us one night enroute to her Great-Granddaughter's baptism in South Jordan.  We enjoyed spending time with her and she even babysat for me while I ran a quick errand.  Grandma rode the new Frontrunner to South Jordan and would have stayed with us another night if Port and Wether weren't very sick.  Still, we loved what little time we had.  It was wonderful to spend some time with Uncle Ivan and Aunt Ramona as well.  Thanks for organizing Grandma's visit!
Port and Grandma had lots of fun together

I Two

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Port turned 2 this week.  We celebrated on Friday night with Port's two best buddies Ethan Schauers and April Henderson and their families.
At Port's 2-year check-up, he was 75th percentile for weight and 65th percentile for height.  His vocabulary continues to amaze us.  Port's a little parrot but his favorite phrases are "I want iPad", "Agin", "I want (insert any food you can think of here)", "thank you", "good night" and the songs Old McDonald, I Am a Child of God, Happy Birthday, and the Alphabet. Port can also request about 20 shows on Netflix ("Yo Gabba Gabba! Bob the Builder! Thomas! The Lorax!") Port will play with any ball day or night.  Like his brothers, trains continue to be a big hit at our house.  He is enthusiastic and loves to dance.  We are thrilled to have this little guy in our family.  His brothers feel the same way.  Earlier this week, Holden got Port out of crib and a bowl of goldfish.  He was so excited to "babysit" Port.  
Port LOVES balloons.  He wore these around his wrist for much of the evening, so I could always see him coming!

Birthday boy!

Spinning around in circles is a tradition with Uncle Joshua

Wether is always very excited to see his Uncle Joshie

Put the cake there

He had a big smile on his face as we sang and brought him his cake


Marcus helped blow out the candle

Mmmmm

Port's crown says "Kings and Queens Rock" made by Marcus at church


Port and his buddies Ethan and April

Gifts!

A present from Pam

Port, April and Ethan played with this toy for quite a while

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

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 Shawna and I got crafty one morning.  We each had cheap Walmart mirrors that needed to be re-framed.  Using a step-by-step tutorial on Pinterest, we got to work.  Since I had everything we needed except the lumber, total cost = $4.40.  Not bad!
Mirrors before

Holden & Shawna
My mirror after.  It's hanging in Marcus and Holden's room. 
I can't take a picture without this little guy posing!

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