while brennan is away...

while brennan is at school, max gets the train all to herself.

and chase gets to watch.

WIN/WIN:)

he squawks and squeals when it goes by.

and i smile from ear to ear.

{they're related}

how chase does a break

when chase gets tired on his tummy,

he lays his head to one side and rests his head on the ground.

i want to lay on the floor with him every time.

looking so cozy and relaxed.

after a few seconds,

he's up and at it again,

but he's always back for a little break in no time.

i love him.

A LOT.

earthquake and fire drills

i've been thinking about these kids all weekend.

my very first 3rd grade class that i taught out of college.

they were my entire life.

i remember all of their names,

and all of their faces.

how i read books to them when they came in from recess 

and worked on their free time packets with the lights off.

passed out graham crackers as snacks.

classroom parties with homemade goodies,

and charlie brown movies.

a drawer full of confiscated items

{pokemon cards, littlest pet shop creatures, digital animals on a keychain, box cars, and bouncy balls}

the pledge of allegiance,

and singing the first verse of the national anthem before the morning announcements.

AR reading tests...and treats.
our classroom beta fish named chuck norris,

sticky notes,

attendance,

earning marbles for movie parties,

practicing for the christmas program in the freezing cold lunch room.

field trips.

OH field trips!!!:):):)

{glove factory, electric plant, byu-idaho campus, parks}

dressing up as fairies with the teachers in my hall {even the men}.

halloween box contests,

parties for the good worker's club and the 100% clubs 

in my room on fridays with my students.

i still love those kids!

and think about them often.

i have the best of memories from that year.

i just can't shake the thought that we didn't have any closets in our classroom.

and how i just want the world to go back to a place where facebook was 

only a place where you completed the sentence "Emily Gibson is _____________."

where cell phones only had room for numbers on a keypad.

and we only did drills for earthquakes and fires at 9:30 in the morning on the first thursday of the month.

but especially, i want to go back to when practicing for the lock down code red drills 

seemed like something that would never happen in an elementary school. 

with the building doors unlocked and propped open for the breeze to come down through the halls.

gone are the days.

and that is what i've been thinking about.

except now i'm thinking about it as a mother.

with children of my own that are about to start elementary school.

and it has my heart all up in knots.

b/c again the world has changed.

i've changed.

but i will not let my fears keep me from living.

i will not lack the courage to live.

and i will always remember.

she chops off their feet.

it has come to our attention that max has become a habitual double amputee de-foot-i-tater.

i'll be gorilla gluing them back into place this morning.

except for one of the Irish ballerina's feet,

which is still missing.

watch out,

she might attack you next!

poor chaps.

a slab of gingerbread house {FHE: feasts}

do not let this house fool you.

for tonight,

we gibson's learned,

we are NOT architects.

we are eaters.

no shame in that.

.....

builder: sean

froster: emily

decorators: max & brennan

manager: chase ray

while we built our annual gingerbread houses tonight,

sean led our family in a discussion about feasts.

brennan wanted "everything" for his feast.

max copied his answer.

typical.

i said rolls.

i have to have my rolls.

chase played with kix on his tray.

grandma carol wanted steaks.

and

sean wanted grandma max's sweet potatoes.

we talked about how at a feast we indulge a plenty.

feast ourselves upon the grandeur of the meal.

then sean asked the kids how they can feast on the words of the savior 

during this christmas season and all year round.

it was a beautiful talk we had with our kids while we built a candy house.

i am so grateful for this beautiful time of year.

where i feel the joy of giving more than ever before.

and care less about the receiving.

when for the first time i find myself saying merry christmas instead of goodbye before i close my front door.

and it leaves a smile on my face,

no matter what else is going on.

at first there was a small gap in the roof.

then more of a gaping hole.

then we lost an entire section.

and then we decided we might as well just go with it.

so brennan yanked off the falling piece,

and served himself a slab of gingerbread house.

my favorite are the red gum drops.

but only on the first night.

b/c hard gum drops the next day are just not my thing.

this can't possibly be user error.

it must be a faulty house.

whichever.

....

P.S.

it should be ILLEGAL to rain in december the week before christmas.

all of the pretty snow is melting away.

sob!

AMOX.

when 20 pound chase ray wouldn't eat his breakfast yesterday morning,

i knew it had to be an ear infection.

or teething.

but i was hoping it was an ear infection.

b/c

5 days of not sleeping,

and a fever on and off

meant none of us were in a good mood.

{i was halfway to crazy.}

and i knew some amoxicillin could put us all in a good mood fast.

the garlic drops weren't working fast enough,

so we sent the family off to church,

and chase and i went to the doc.

it wasn't just one,

but TWO

ear infections.

i clapped for joy, and the doctor on call looked at me funny,

but good grief,

i was just so excited it was something and not nothing.

he spent the rest of his day catching up on his sleep.

and i spent the rest of the day feeling grateful that i am only dealing with lost sleep and ear infections.

i still can't turn on the news.

i backed out of my garage with the door closed last friday night.

i love where i live.

i love being alive.

i can't imagine heaven being any better,

but i know it is going to be.

WOW.

hard.to.believe.

i hope there are snowy days in heaven.

................

soooo, 

last weekend i backed out of my garage.

with

the

garage

door

closed.

yep, i'm awesome.

there was no saving the door.

the car did not have a scratch.

can't say i was too disappointed though,

b/c i've had my eye on a silent door for two years.

when sean came out to see what in the heck the loud crash was a week ago friday night,

i leaned my head out of the window and was all,

"well, that's one way to get what i wanted!"

really cute, with a great big smile.

both of our mouths were dropped open to the floor,

eyes REALLY big,

and then we burst out laughing.

b/c in situations like these you can either laugh or cry,

and we usually try to just laugh.

cry later if you must.

sean couldn't even give me a hard time b/c he did the same thing last year.

but his was so minor that we just pushed it back into place with our bums and big arm muscles.

mine pushed the entire bottom half of the door out into our front lawn.

and we couldn't even get it up or down at first.

but then muscle man sean managed to wrestle the door like a crocodile hunter up so i could get out, and then down again when i got back, but that baby wasn't going back into its track.

so clark and john 

{not the car guy john, another john} 

came over to build me a new garage door this morning.

clark has been doing garage doors with john and my uncle for over twenty years.

my uncle has a garage door business in st. george, 

and doesn't have all of his fingers b/c so many doors have chopped them off.

i'm not kidding.

he's a hard core garage door guy like that.

so if you need a guy,

I KNOW A GUY!!!

my uncle bob's guy.

like a REALLY good one.

clark steffes.

801-870-6484

{with Martin Garage Doors-the safest AND most quiet doors you can buy}.

so call him,

if you ever back out of your garage with the garage door closed.

or if your husband does.

or if your spring breaks.

or if you just want a silent door that doesn't shake your entire house when you open and close the garage.

heaven

on

earth.

HEAVEN ON EARTH!!!

while clark and john built us a new garage,

with fancy etching and antique hinges,

we all played in the freshly fallen 6" of snow.

chase ray was mesmerized.

brennan built a jenny craig snowman with our neighbor brad.

max ate about a gallon of snow.

sean shoveled the walks.

and i enjoyed the snowflakes falling on my nose and eyelashes holding chase.

the most beautiful, quiet sound,

are snowflakes falling.

ALMOST 

as quiet as my garage door.

GLORY BE!!!

i'm so sad i backed into my old garage door.

wait..........

maybe not.

i love his blonde eye lashes.

swooooooooon!!!

his bright blue eyes.

and his little button nose.

i AM certainly glad it snowed the entire day.

:):):)

HAPPY

HAPPY

snowy day:)

and no matter how hard any day gets.

no matter what catastrophe happens that i think is a big deal.

or however much i think my troubles are tough,

everything is ok,

as long as i am with my family at the end of the day.

i weap for the families in Connecticut.

and the mothers and fathers who don't get to take care of their babies tonight.

it's not the 11th day of christmas today afterall.

i'm with camillia.

way more fun to lead up to it.

although,

it might not be such a bad idea to continue giving christmas presents for 12 days after christmas,

except for the part where you will go completely broke doing it.

so that would make the 12th day of christmas on...

January the 5th.

so we get presents until then???

ok,

i've decided that if you would like to give me presents from christmas day-january 5th,

i would accept them.

you're welcome.

ha!

the 12 days of christmas {i'm confused}

"on the 12th day of christmas my grandma gave to meeeeeee,

neeeeeeeew pajaaaaaammmmmmmaaaaaas!"

so if there's 12 days of christmas,

does that mean that today is the 12th day of christmas?

so we can start giving a gift every 12 days for the next 12 days?

like 3 french hens,

2 turtle doves,

and a partridge and a pear tree?

but if it's the 13th of december and the 12th day of christmas that sounds wrong.

and then when you think of the song you start on the 1st day of christmas,

when your true love gives to you,

a partridge and a pear tree.

but if it's the 1st day of christmas wouldn't that be december 1st?

but then you'd be done with christmas by the 12th?

i'm confused, are you?

so is today the 1st day of christmas?

or the 12th?

ok, i think i've got it.

the 13th day of december is the 1st day of christmas,

and the 12th day of christmas is...

the 24th or the 25th?

i really need to count a calendar now...

ok, i'm getting somewhere,

SO,

the 1st day of christmas is the 13th of december

and the 12th day of christmas is the 24th of december,

so then what does that make christmas?

the last day of christmas, but the 25th day of december?

but it's really the 1st day of christmas b/c you don't actually hit christmas technically until the 25th anyway...

that's just what i was thinking about driving home from my mom's house tonight.

you see my point...

or not.

whichever.

i think i just need a nap.

and to stop listening to the 12 days of christmas song.

just sayin...

this is what happens when i'm not getting good sleep.

watch out cats!

just a little spilled milk

max spilled her milk.

while i went for a towel,

they started slurping it up with their tongues.

and then they had the genius idea of using their straws.

and then brennan dumped his cup of milk onto the table so there would be more to slurp up.

glutton for punishment,

bahahahahaha!!!

{and then i took away their straws and threw over two towels.}

funny brennan.