Off to Neverland!

In December we went to see "Peter Pan" in Orange County. It is a brand new show from London, in a special 360 degree theater, with amazing special effects. They had a movie screen above the whole theater which changed with the scenery. My favorite part was when they flew to Neverland. The screen moved with them and flew all over London. You really felt like you were flying with them. The flying looked so amazing I almost cried. I really felt like a kid again during that part.

We took Great-Grandma Darlene with us. Joseph and Rebecca wore Captain Hook and Tiger Lilly costumes. I think they stole the show. We had a great time!

Men are from Mars, kids are out of this world!

We were looking at a book about space last night and so today we started practicing the names of the planets. Joseph would repeat after me.

Me: "Uranus."

Joseph: "Is that where the rain comes from?"

----------------------------------------

M: "What planet do we live on?"

Joseph: "World!"

M: "Well, we call it earth."

J: "What's world?"

M: "Another name for our earth."

J: "Like it's last name?"

M: "Well, no, not really..."

J: "It's middle name?"

A new Sunbeam

Hard to believe, but my little Joseph started sunbeams yesterday. I was worried about the transition since he was very attached to his nursery leader, but he did fine and came out of his classroom singing "do as I'm doing" and "once there was a snowman" all the way home. He brought our famous "sunbeam hat" to church and wore it walking all the way from the chapel to the primary room and kept it on for singing time. Whatever it takes to make the transition smooth, right?

He proudly announced to Great-grandma Darlene that he is not in nursery anymore. We sang "Jesus wants me for a 'sunbean' " over and over last night. I think it's going to be a good year.

Happy New Year! 1-1-11

We welcome this new year with many hopes and great anticipation for positive changes in the future. We are grateful for our many blessings and the things we learned from 2010.

We have been busy enjoying family and celebrating Christmas and staying dry (it's been the wettest December on record in over a century).

May you find joy and peace this new year!

Christmas Greetings 2010

JOY TO THE WORLD!

Rebecca (7) rejoices in being a big sister. She is a huge help to me with the baby and is a great friend to Joseph. 7 year olds are great. She has just taken off in every area of life, including reading, writing and piano. When she reads a story out loud she is the most animated reader I've ever heard (like sighing when it says the character sighed). You could hire her to entertain kids with her stories! Rebecca is eagerly anticipating 2011 when she will finally get baptized!

Joseph (3) finds joy in Star Wars, Buzz Lightyear, pirates, and his Sunday nusery leader (whom he will sorely miss when he starts "Sunbeams" in January). He loves being a big brother and can make Theo giggle uncontrollably, including during Sacrament Meeting at church. Joseph loves using big words like: actually and similar.

Theodore (8 months) enjoys life. Period. He is the happiest baby you've ever met. People comment on how happy he is and his chunky cheeks and light blue eyes. At the rate he's going around holding onto the furniture I bet he'll be like his older siblings and be walking before he's one. We're so happy he joined our family this year.

Dorothea's biggest joys are her husband and children. Other joys include chocolate chip cookies, skype, sleep, hearing from friends and family, and any precious time she gets to spend with her husband.

Warren still enjoys being bishop even though it can be tricky juggling all of life's obligations (he does a great job at it though!). If he had any free time he would enjoy playing guitar, singing, reading and watching good movies.

As a family we rejoice in the knowledge we have of Jesus Christ, his life and mission and his role as our Savior. We look forward with hope to the many joys 2011 will bring.

May you have a wonderful Christmas this week and feel of our love for you and gratitude for your friendship.

Love,

Warren, Dorothea

Rebecca, Joseph and Theo

Joseph-isms

Mommy: "Before Theo came to our family he was in heaven."

Joseph: "Theo didn't like it in heaven."

M: "Why?"

J: "It was too dusty."

M: "What kind of dust?"

J: "Cloud dust."

----------------------

Definitions according to a 3 year old:

I was handing Buzz Lightyear to Joseph and I said: "Here's Buzz."

He must not have liked how I pronounced Buzz because he said:

"His name is not Bus. It's BUZZ. A BUS is a BUS and BUZZ is BUZZ."

And the winners are...

Nighttime wakings:

Rebecca: 1
Joseph: 2
Theo: 3
Mommy: 6
Daddy: unknown

Number of beds slept in during the night:

Rebecca, Joseph, Theo: 1
Mommy: 1 bed, 1 rocking chair
Daddy: 3