How can you tell if you live in the boonies? And what exactly is meant by that? Since I have moved to Emmett we have several new traffic lights, a McDonalds, several modern gas stations and the prerequisite Albertsons. Yet somehow I get this feeling that since I have to drive to Ontario, Or or Meridian or Nampa,ID to find a Walmart that I am not living in an industrialized hub of activity.

Or maybe because when I round a curve in the highway and see someone standing in the road with their dog I do not just blaze by them at 55mph but stop and ask if they need help. And that person then answers "oh no hon, we just got some cows up in the road ahead". So I round the next corner and stop behind all the other cars patiently waiting.

And maybe it is the boonies because this is not an unusual sight here in Emmett. Cows, sheep, or horses - someone is always moving something up and down the highway. Although I must admit the sheep and their dogs are quite an impressive sight to see.

Some more party pics.

Who had a party and where was I? (hint: sleeping).

Callista and Nathan do some of their own partying after the whole napping during the bday party scene.

Grandma scores the bestest shoes a girl could ever want for Callista.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you -- whoops I better not finish that or I will owe an estate somewhere some royalties. At any rate Happy 11th birthday Callista! She is still not completely sure about being the center of attention (especially when it comes to having her picture taken) but she sure does love the presents!

Princess cake! All of her favorities. Sarita reminded me that she had the same cake for her 8th birthday!

Princess for a day. The tiara actually lights up.

Presents, yes I get this. She had so much fun opening them. There were t wo boys at the party but I think that Nathan was asleep and Shane was in hiding.

Loves her dresses! Callista is a very girly girl!

Sarita reads the cards!

More Christmas pictures. After the mass hysteria and chaos of present opening.

The boys hang out around the food - oops I mean computer.

Callista with grandma.

Callista with Tia Vida. I had to get special permission to publish this picture :).

What happens when you allow Marc access to toys - er, I mean my camera.

I would also like to point out that after driving back and forth to grnadma's I then went home, cooked an entire turkey dinner (yes, including the turkey), fed and watered horses, took care of dogs, allowed more gift opening at home only and presided over a complete Christmas dinner at 7:30 pm.

I then went into a stupor for the rest of the evening.

The Christmas Post! Yes, finally I get around to talking about the big event of the year. Callista's first Christmas, Nathan's first time understanding it, and all the kids are older (boo hoo).

Once again to grandma's house we went. After a couple days of slippy slidey snow and slush it was beautiful and clear. I like doing the brunch thing because it is much more relaxing then a formal huge dinner and I can still move well enough to drive home with excited kids and numerous new presents. Callista likes this "christmas" thing but I am sure in the future that she will be a little miffed that her birthday falls just two days later. I got the girls these little MP3 players and they scored many many clothes. Just what they needed. Nathan still likes unwrapping best and seems to get stuck on that first present. He wants to start playing with that and just leaves the pile of other presents for someone else to deal with. Ahhh to be so young again. And could someone please explain how he gets his pants off and why?

OK from left to right: Shane, Dakota holding pants-less Nathan, Callista (Still trying to figure out this family picture thing we do), Sarita, Dallas, and Katelynn

OMG - Callista spots the pink hoola hoop. Yep, that was what she wanted and got courtesy of Tia Vida.

Nathan is like - ok start here and tear right? Oh this is so much fun - Sanctioned destruction!

Hmmm, Dallas and Katelynn already absorbed.

Mom's (or grandma's) tapestry hanging behind her couch. It is a picture of a Tuscan street in Italy. She decided to add Christmas decorations.

Oh and then there are the Jazz pictures. It takes a village or at least a troupe of dancers to help get Sarita ready for her big jazz debut. That would be because her mother is a hippy that does not have any makeup and because Sarita (and I am sure Callista helps) manages to lose all the thousands of hair bands, pins, barettes, etc etc that I have gotten the girls.

December - the month for christmas, school vacations, Callista's birthday, and, oh yes - dance recitals! Not a busy month at all. Sometimes I wonder how I ever get around to finding the kids presents. I do know that wrapping them is my new Xmas eve pastime.

But first - the dance recital! Sarita is on her second year of ballet and her first of Jazz. After 3 years she had to choose between clogging and going into Jazz. Thank god she chose jazz. Now only one dance recital in December - not me doing more running all over the place forgetting which shoes and costumes I am supposed to have when.

But the final result - isn't she just the cutest little ballerina!




Oh and Nathan has fun when we go to these things as well. Too bad my 4yo is finally acting like a 3yo and ALL over the place at top speed. Dallas and Katelynn showed up to take up some of the slack with him so I could watch Sarita.