... It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas ...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! What makes it feel like Christmas at the Blackham house 2011?  We always decorate the front porch with alpine trees and greenery and poinsettia plants, with wreaths under the lights on the garage and on the front door ... this year Grayson put up the outdoor lights! Yea, it's been years since we've had them as part of our holiday decor :)

 The stockings hung by the fireplace ...

A variety of holiday nesting dolls

our little elf slide toy

The Winter Wonderland Skating Pond ... this was given to us LONG ago and we've really enjoyed getting it out each year! It's on it's last legs, having been beaten up through the years. A fond memory with this was little Landon taking his dinosaurs and placing them in the scene, with one poor skater in the mouth of a T-rex, with the other skaters looking up in terror ... *Ü*

The kinetic pyramid ...
 the heat from the candles causes the inner scenes to rotate. 

A funny memory not with THIS pyramid, but Maga's.

 ... it caught fire and went up in flame!

A Christmas memory those there will never forget!

... and then there is the Santa head filled with M&M candies. Christmas just is not complete until he is out and filled up (and then of course emptied out) ... the "clank" of the candy jar being opened and closed is a common sound throughout the holidays. 

Cooper's Counseling

I posted a while back about Cooper's weather worries. They started in the summer and really started causing problems when school started. One day after I had been called to the school, the principal suggested we check out the services offered by the district at the Jordan Family Education Center. 

We went in for an "intake" and were approved for some short term counseling. Every week, we'd go meet with Dr. D to try and get Cooper to come to terms with his feelings and learn coping techniques.

The weather continued to plague Cooper. Cloudy skies, rain ... there were times Cooper wouldn't even come out of his bedroom (too many windows in the kitchen). After reading and recommendations from the therapist, I ended up taking Cooper to the pediatrician and got him on some medication to help counter the flight or flight effects. It took some time, but between the counseling sessions and pills, Cooper does seem to be doing better. He no longer checks the weather forecast several times a day. He goes to school without as many issues (and really excels there!) Weather still comes up in conversation very often, but it's not the issue it was. It's a little hard to tell, because snow doesn't seem to bother Cooper the way rain and wind do. I dread Spring and the storms ahead, but I'm hoping for rainbows ...

Wild Winds!

 The topic of the day yesterday was the WIND ... it didn't really hit us bad here in West Jordan (it was garbage day, but the bins didn't tip over) ... Davis County is where it got hit hard. Maga's fenced in backyard is no longer fenced in (the picture above). It looks like a tornado hit. The news reports said it was hurricane force winds.  The freeways weren't safe for semis or other high-profile trucks (there was a huge line of trucks at the stops and along the edge of the road). Some that didn't stop blew over. Trees were uprooted all over. Power was out and schools were cancelled in the area.

Once when some big winds hit before, one of Grayson's homes going up had some property damage, but no Havenhill Homes were in the fragile framing stages this time so they escaped without incident . This apartment complex near Grandma's house wasn't so lucky. Gray drove by this and his heart just bled for them...

I didn't mention the wind to my little weather worrier Cooper ...

Off-Track Activities

Off-track time ... in the past, we've always done bowling, but enough schools have gone back to the traditional schedule that there just wasn't enough demand this year. Bowling was not even offered. I worried that the kids might go stir-crazy, but then I realized this off-track time was different ... no Callahan! Callahan was the one who needed scheduled activities. With him still in school, the other three boys were pretty content to stay home and relax.

A month or so ago, Groupon offered a deal for Chuck-E-Cheese, so we did go there one day. We had the place almost to ourselves (one of the few benefits of being out of school during the school year) and the boys had a blast.

They played lots of games,

got lots of tickets,

redeemed them for prizes ...

Got pizza and drinks and had a great time!

We also redeemed a Groupon for a month pass at Jump N' Bounce, and although we went a few times, we didn't make use of it as much as we did during the summer months (we were regulars then!). We also had some doctor and dentist appointments ...

and then it's Back to School again ...

School Success!

Good job Blackham Boys! Landon is pretty good about coming home and getting on assignments and homework. I do get the email updates from the school and check in on his progress on Skyward, and I do have to nag him occasionally. Very happy he made the honor roll, and the school mailed out this nice certificate.

I was always a very studious worker when I was in school, but the elusive 4.0 seemed always just out of my grasp (until my senior year in high school anyway). Callahan achieved it his first quarter in middle school! He was also honored at the school with the TripleCrown award (4.0, Perfect attendance:no absences, no tardies, and all Honors in citizenship) ... just 32 kids in the whole school could claim that (yet several of the others earning the award are his good friends, glad he has good, smart friends!).

Great first quarter in your new schools Blackham Boys!

Keep up the good work!

Birthday Bashes

During November, we had TWO birthday bashes ... one on the Westra side, one on the Blackham side. There are a LOT of birthdays. On the Westra side, it was for Adria, Grandma, me, Gray and Rick. Alicia had her new little baby boy just a couple weeks after the party (on Grayson's birthday), so there's one more!

On the Blackham side, it was for a little more than just November birthdays ... Rex, Will and Olivia actually fell in the end of October. November birthdays were me, Gray, Addie and Ana ... and Maga even put Colton's name on the cake, figuring that his birthday would probably get overlooked in the Christmas celebrations come December ...

Another year older and wiser too, right?

Scout Stuff

We missed Pack Meeting in September (Gray had a derby and Keaton was helping him) and the one for October got cancelled ... so Keaton finally got his Arrow of Light award at the November pack meeting. Good job Keaton! Cooper was also officially welcomed into the pack ... as one Blackham Boy moves on, another moves in ...

Ping Pong Players

A few months ago, we took down the small basketball hoop in the basement (it had gotten pretty trashed). This opened the room up quite a bit ... enough for a ping pong table? During our dating days, Gray and I played quite a bit of ping pong. When moved into our first house, we bought a table and played almost daily. Lots of fond ping pong memories ... and I got to thinking it was time to make some more.

While I was still pondering the possibility, one of my boys challenged me to a ping pong game while at my parents house. I was surprised that all three of the older boys were worthy opponents! This increased my desire for a ping pong table, as I would have plenty of partners and I figured it would get used.

It took a bit of cleaning and rearranging to make room, but I did it ... and my birthday was coming up. Usually, I never have much to say when I'm asked what I want for my birthday. I'm spoiled, I have pretty much everything I want, much less need. But this year ... I wanted a ping pong table. I got a ping pong table. Happy birthday to me!

It has gotten a lot of use. With enough practice, maybe the boys can even beat Grandpa one day!

Fall Ball 2011

So the Fall season of basketball has come to an end. There were a few changes to Callahan's team ... playing in the 7th/8th grade division, Mason and Tyler (two now 9th graders) who had played with us during the summer were now too old. We also lost Mason (and Rowland) to a different team (we really missed them ... especially when we had to play AGAINST them, that game being our only loss of the season). We gained Brighton, Haydon and Luis. Tanner started the season but then decided to leave the team, so we played with nine for the remaining games.

Keaton enjoyed playing on Steve's team again, his third season with Max, Jonathon and Tanner. There were other familiar faces and a couple new friends he hadn't played with before. They had a good season, 5 wins and 3 losses.

I made videos of all the games, you can see them on the Basketball Blog. I also took all of just Keaton's Clips and compiled them into one video recap ... here are his highlights.

Junior Jazz starts in December .... it will be busy! Landon will be reffing, and all four younger boys are signed up to play. I hope we don't have too many scheduling conflicts. Not sure what we'll do if we happen to have FOUR games scheduled at one time! For the past two years, Callahan has played on a Superleague team (another game and a couple practices a week) but that fell through this year ... but then the local high school (CopperHills, where Callahan is planning on attending) held tryouts, creating three 7th grade teams to play in a high school prep league ... Callahan was thrilled to make the top team. We'll keep you updated as basketball begins *Ü*

Chicken Pillows

I'd never heard of Chicken Pillows prior to becoming a Blackham .... but they are a staple in the Blackham home (Pam's,  and now ours). They are one of Grayson's favorites, and the boys eat them too (I don't, but I do MAKE them). 

2 Cups Chicken (cooked and cubed)
4 T Soft Butter
6oz Cream Cheese
4oz Mushrooms (Drained)
2 Cans Crescent Rolls

Butter or Egg
Breadcrumbs
Cream of Chicken Soup

Mix butter and cream cheese.  Add mushrooms and meat.  Open rolls.  Place 1/4 cup mixture on each roll. Roll each pillow in melted butter, then roll in bread crumbs.  Bake on cookie sheet at 375 for 20 minutes.  Lightly dilute cream of chicken soup in saucepan, heat serve over pillows.