december highlights

here i am wondering where half of january has gone and i still haven't posted about december. we had a busy month and were blessed to spend lots of time together and with extended family and loved ones. here goes the marathon post:

one of our traditions is to bake Christmas goodies to share...

katy and her kids, who sadly moved to kansas right before Christmas, came over for a farewell dinner and we also decorated cookies and opened presents.

koby and magavin with their masterpieces

then we headed up to the mesa temple to see the lights

this is something i've never seen before, so i had to capture it on film. yes, those are oranges (or maybe grapefruit) blooming on the tree covered with lights.

we also got to celebrate koby's birthday with them at amazing jakes, which is a restaurant place with lots of fun rides and stuff like laser tag and go-carts...

calvin and delaney on the train

the carousel with delaney and dad

teacups...i had to laugh because i took this picture just as russell was trying to squeeze in behind the spinning wheel thing in the middle =)
we had a great time! we really miss having katy's family close by, but we're glad that they got to kansas in time to spend Christmas with dan.

our next adventure started the next morning when my sister heather and i left for utah with 3 little boys in the back of the corolla. (heather drove out here with her friend after their husbands were deployed to iraq.) needless to say, it was a long drive, but we thankfully didn't hit any snow and the roads were clear.

max and calvin didn't waste any time getting out the dress up stuff:

ezra is such a smiler for pictures and makes a cute lion!

russell flew up on the 23rd and my grandparents came down for a visit just before the snow started falling on Christmas eve.

calvin with great gramps and gram

that night we performed the traditional perkins family Christmas pageant

2 shepherds and the angel of the Lord

this was one of the best pageants ever, and maybe one of the most sacreligious, and i laughed so hard that i was crying (maybe you just had to be there). max started out as a shepherd, then decided that he wanted to be buzz lightyear. he insisted on accompanying mary (played by hannah) and joseph (my dad) to the stable and he had to carry the baby Jesus. he wouldn't let hannah pick up the baby to swaddle Him and put Him back in the manger, but he did it for her. buzz made an excellent addition to the pageant this year:

we also opened a present from grandma and grandpa and some new jammies

calvin with his power painting set
this was our best shot at this festive picture

new jammies, robe and slippers

our Christmas miracle was that all three little boys slept until about 8! here they are first thing:

calvin got a baseball mitt from santa and we made the mistake of having him open it first. he loved it and wouldn't take it off his hand to open anything else, so he went with the one-handed technique.

it started snowing Christmas eve and came down for about a day. we were glad we didn't have to go anywhere! here's the huge snowdrift in the backyard:
it's sorta hard to play in snow when it's taller than you, but calvin and daddy managed...


in addition to the snow, another unwelcome gift is that we all got sick. calvin got his first ear infection and russell and i got colds, so we did a lot of sitting around the first week and tried to squeeze in everything else the last few days. russell and i saw the movie twilight, which was entertaining, and we went to the temple with heather. we had to get breakfast at kneaders (yum!) and got the traditional chinese food feast for new year's eve. we also got to have lunch with some college friends in provo and went to our good friend's wedding before we left. it was a much-needed break and we are so glad we got to go.

calvin is still asking every day if we can go see grandma and grandpa and go to koby's house to play. how do you explain to a 2 year-old that it takes a day to get to utah or kansas?

holidays

turkey bowl with friends from russell's school

calvin was not content to sit on the sidelines and they graciously allowed him some playtime

this was my only picture from thanksgiving...i made rolls (my first attempt ever) and they turned out pretty well. we had a delish dinner with katy, dan, the cousins, and the missionaries.

we actually started decorating for Christmas on thanksgiving. those of you who know russell should know that he started it even though he usually protests anything Christmasy before turkey day is over. calvin found his stocking, a mitten decoration, and squished his "my first Christmas" hat on his head for a festive outfit...

i came downstairs and found two boys watching the train circle the tree

we've also been to two light parades. we went to this one in tempe with katy and her kiddos:

and, Christmas came early when toys r us delivered a small gift in a huge box (it was a big waste), so we made an airplane out of it. calvin enjoys taking his animals for a spin.

in unrelated news, russell participated in a dodgeball tournament (no fractured fingers this time!) for charity that was hosted by a club at school. here's his team in their goofy costumes. yeah, russell's the one with his underwears showing and the sporty pink headband...

his team won 2nd place!

november in arizona

This month's weather has been beautiful and actually bearable for venturing outside. A few weeks ago, Russell's school hosted the ATSU Founder's Day BBQ at the Big Dreams Little League Park in Gilbert. The park has major league replica fields, a huge indoor soccer field, and a cool indoor eating place that overlooks five of the fields. There was a kickball tournament - our team took 2nd! - and of course Calvin was in heaven. He LOVES baseball and got to hang out in the dugout with our team and play on the field after the game.

learning to run the bases (backwards)

our friends Stan and Samira Brewer (below) and their little Isabella - she was so cute with her face painted!

I took these last pics two days ago - it was 75 degrees and we spent a lot of the day outside. Here's Calvin next to our monstrosity of a tumble weed...it's taller than him. Notice the flowers still blooming!:

I love this grass. I learned that there are actually two kinds of grass in Arizona - summer grass and winter grass. The summer grass is green, but not so soft and it's a type that can withstand the major heat. THIS is winter grass. It's emerald green and thick and luscious and I could probably eat it or at least have a nice nap in it.

I love that Calvin smiles for pictures now.
This is my favorite boy next to my favorite bush in our backyard.

I'm thankful for warm, sunny weather, especially because it's raining today.
Happy Thanksgiving!

quirky tag

My sis-in-law Lyndy tagged me like two months ago...

Here are the rules:
Link the Person who Tagged you.
Mention rules on your blog.
Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.

1. I have to sleep on my side with a pillow between my legs and preferably be facing away from Russell and not touching him at all. I do love my husband, but I can't fall asleep without these conditions.

2. I hate shaving my legs. Before we moved to Arizona, I didn't really own a pair of shorts and seriously shaved probably once a month or so and even less in the winter (sorry if that grosses anyone out). I've only worn shorts since we moved here and regrettably, I've shaved more in the last three months than probably the last 5 years.

3. I'm a compulsive chap-stick user. I always have at least one tube with me and in the event that I can't find it, I'm really uncomfortable until my lips are properly coated again.

4. I always have a song in my head, which sounds sort of cheesy, but it's true. You can often catch me humming parts of it, which is probably annoying. The songs vary, but it's usually one that I've heard a lot lately. Recently, it's been "How Much is that Doggy in the Window?" or something from Aladdin - you can probably guess why.

5. I always squeeze the toothpaste from the middle. I like it. Russell is a bottom of the tube squeezer and regularly pushes the toothpaste back up to the top so it's nice and neat again. That's my favorite time to get a good squeeze right in the middle.

6. If my feet are cold, my whole body is uncomfortable. I usually sleep in socks because of this.

If you feel inclined to share your quirks, consider yourself tagged.

Enough about my issues...let me add some cute pics of Calvin. His latest quirk has to do with his wardrobe. These are all from the same day last week. He started out by insisting that he wear his coon skin cap to breakfast. He had to put it back on every time it fell off and there were fuzz balls in his cereal and stuck to his hands, though he didn't seem to mind.

When he got dressed, he wanted to put on a tie and then raided my "unmentionables" drawer. He put them on all by himself, so I had to capture it on film...
Then he kept the tie and tried on Russell's socks and shoes. Looks like a little old man...

yo ho, yo ho a pirate's life for me...

Our Halloween festivities started with our ward's trunk-or-treat on Tuesday night.
Here's our little pirate all ready to go:

Calvin won a cupcake in the cake walk and got cotton candy and a balloon sword.

Russell's sister Katy let us borrow a crayon costume for me and a knight for Sir Russell...

Here's the boys in front of our trunk.

We carved our pumpkin on Thursday night

Calvin trick-or-treated at Katy & Dan's neighborhood with the cousins and loved it. Surprisingly, he ran up to all the doors, stuck out his bucket, and even waved bye and said "welcome" when Russell or I said "thanks." He scored in the candy department and still talks about "oween."

Russell decided to wear another of Katy's costumes for trick-or-treating - the "warlock" (witch) riding a ghost. Needless to say, he only lasted about a half hour waddling around in the 90 degree heat - yeah, I've never been so hot on Halloween and I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

Here's Uncle Dan, cousins Magavin the jedi, Milo as spiderman, Koby the pirate, and Delaney as Ariel, and Calvin all ready to go.

I had to include a short video (sorry the lighting is bad) of our candy-monger...