Our ward didn’t have an official Trunk-or-Treat this year, but some people planned one anyway, along with a potluck dinner. We ended up having a huge turnout of families and a lot of fun! Austin was a Zombie Soldier, Logan was a Skeleton, Carson a Mummy, Jackson (aka Jack-Jack) was a “Jack-Jack O’Lantern”, and it was so fun to have a girl this year. Hailey was the prettiest Ballerina around!
On November 5th, my friend Maggie (MaggieMeiPhotography.com) took our family pictures. It was an overcast day, but the pictures turned out great anyway. Now we have a picture of our entire family, complete with our little princess!
Rhett has been diligently selling life insurance, and enjoying it. He loves his baby girl!!!
Maren
As for me, I think I’ve been busier these last couple months than in the last couple of years put together. I’m the Secretary in our Relief Society (women’s organization in our church), and it definitely keeps me busy. So busy in fact, that we recently called an assistant Secretary….so now I have a Secretary too! On November 10th I hosted a Relief Society Board Meeting/Dinner at our house. Our Relief Society was asked to plan and carry out our ward’s largest event of the year, our Annual Thanksgiving Dinner on November 18th. That involved a lot of food planning, prep work and cleanup. Then after that was over we started planning our Relief Society Christmas Dinner, which was held last night. I sang in 2 of the musical numbers (1 being a solo). Now, it’s on to the planning committee for our Ward Christmas Breakfast we’re having on December 17th. Busy, busy, busy!!! I also had a wonderful opportunity to sing in Handel’s “Messiah”, which the San Antonio West Stake was doing. At our first rehearsal I found an old program in my Messiah score from the last time I sang it…..1995 when I was at Ricks College. We had a total of 3 performances over the weekend of December 2-3rd. It was a wonderful experience and so uplifting to sing about our Savior. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed singing the Messiah! I did recently get a chance to relax a bit, when I joined a group of my friends for the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn. We have a big group that always does the midnight showings and we have so much fun. We are already planning ahead for the “Hunger Games” movie!
Austin
Austin has been keeping busy also. It’s amazing how just one year can change so much. Now that he’s in middle school, he has UIL (University Interscholastic League) 3 days a week before or after school, has helped with concessions at volleyball & basketball games, and attended choir and orchestra concerts. He recently had the opportunity with his Music Appreciation class to attend “The Nutcracker” on a field trip. He also attended one of my performances of the Messiah with Rhett, since he’s been learning about Handel this year. His class is currently acting out “West Side Story”. He loves his Music class!!! His main goal for next year is to be in Art and on both the Basketball and Football teams in 7th grade. It sounds like life is going to be busier next year! On November 13th the Bishopric and Primary Presidency had the Priesthood Preview for all boys turning 12 in 2012. I can’t believe Austin will be turning 12, advancing into Young Men’s, and receiving the Priesthood. July 2012 will be a great month!
Logan
Logan was recently given some upsetting news from our Dentist. He needs early Orthodontics to fix his Anterior cross bite (technical term for an underbite). This will avoid problems later with his permanent teeth having the same problem and causing problems with his jaw, possibly resulting in jaw surgery. So, 3 Orthodontists later we found one that will work on a 7 year old. Dr. Kalakech said that he definitely needs the work done, but she wants to wait 6 months until Logan’s front 4 top teeth are permanent and his molars have come in a little more. This will require attaching a spacer to the roof of his mouth and a mask of some sort that he’ll have to wear at night to slowly pull his top teeth and jaw into the correct position. Fun, fun, fun!!! Logan ended up with Strep Throat last week, so he missed 3 days of school. This boy just doesn’t get a break! We recently realized that next year Logan will be turning 8 , then will be baptized on Austin’s 12th birthday, then Austin will receive the Aaronic Priesthood the following day at church. What an amazing weekend that will be! Everyone is invited to come and spend those marvelous events with us.
Carson
Carson continues to be a fun-loving boy who has A LOT of energy!…and a big appetite. He will usually eat more than the other 3 boys combined…although when they are all teenagers I’m sure I won’t be able to feed them enough! Carson loves to ride his bike and play basketball with Austin. He loves playing games on the computer, most recently math games and timed United States matching games. His reading is progressing quickly and we laugh when he prompts Logan on a word when we are reading scriptures in the morning. Kindergarten is doing him good!
Jackson
Jackson is so fun to hang out with! I just love sitting back & listening to or watching him. You can see his little mind thinking, and he’s so stinkin’ cute!!! He is a smarty pants too. He knows so much (letters, numbers, sounds, colors, shapes, etc) and talks so well for his age. If only we could get him potty trained! He has no desire…yet. His favorite thing in the whole wide world to do is play on the computer. He has math games and puzzles, coloring and matching games on his desktop. He would play on it all day if we’d let him. That’s why we recently had to password-protect our computer. We couldn’t get him away from it! Now if he’s logged out he can’t do anything about it.
Hailey
Hailey is growing up too fast!!! She is almost 5 ½ months old and is rolling and scooting all over the place. She’ll end up across the room from where you laid her down just a minute or two later. She is also getting up on her hands and knees…it’s just a matter of days until she figures out how to move her arms and will be crawling! She has been teething for a couple of months, and has the drool to show for it. Well, on Monday, December 5th her 2 bottom front teeth decided to make their debut. “All she wants for Christmas is her……two front teeth!” Hailey loves her binky, but when she can’t find it her thumb will do just fine! It’s nice for me, because I don’t have to get up in the night if she can’t find it. She just pops her thumb in and goes back to sleep. I’m getting ready to start feeding her rice cereal & introduce veggies. Her brothers love her sooooo much! They can't get enough of her.
It actually got cold enough here for Hailey to wear her cute sweater dress that my cousin sent for her...and the cute sripey tights from my Sis-in-law. Love it!
I found my thumb!
As for the holidays, we spent Thanksgiving Day with our best friends the Clayton’s. A couple of other families joined us and we had a marvelous feast! None of them had ever tried a deep-fried turkey before, and were excited to try it. Rhett fried the turkey and it was a hit! After dinner, a game of “Ticket to Ride” ended a wonderful day.
We are looking forward to Christmas and my Mom coming to visit for almost a month! She hasn’t seen Hailey since she was 1 ½ weeks old, and she’s so excited to come cuddle with baby and hang out with the boys. Mom comes on December 19th and will be here until January 16th. We have some fun things planned for when she’s here, including her and I seeing “Les Miserables” on January 5th. We bought the tickets in June and got a smokin’ hot deal on floor seats…way less than half the current price! We are going with a huge group of friends from our ward. Then, on January 14th we will be plugging our ears and heading to “Monster Jam”. We’ve been two years in a row and it’s the highlight of the year for our boys. Mom is so excited to go with us…so much that she bought the tickets for us!!!
Well, that sums up the last couple of months. We rejoice this time of year in celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It’s such a wonderful time to spend with family and friends, and we feel blessed to have such amazing ones in our life! Happy Holidays to all!
Love,
Rhett, Maren, Austin, Logan, Carson, Jackson & Hailey Zimmerman
