The Knotwell Family Blog

Most everyone knows that I have a "thing" for Ben Franklin Crafts. It has become an almost monthly visit for me and my friend Alli. We plan a night and it takes us an hour to get there and we shop for over and hour then we trek back home. I LOVE this store. They have the best ideas and the cutest crafts. When we went 2 weeks ago we saw these yarn trees. It was one of those moments where you fall in love instantly and you can't stop thinking about them until they are in your cart on your way to the register. We made them last night and had a blast doing it. All you do is buy your styrofoam cones in different sizes, your glittered (everything is better glittered) yarn and E6000 glue. Wrap and glue as you go and voila you have the cutest trees in the neighborhood! I didn't wrap the yarn as tight so you can see the styrofoam, but you can wrap the yarn tight and it looks really cute too.

This weekend we decided that it would be fun to go downtown and stay overnight as a family. We started the festivites at Kneaders, and had their All You Can Eat french toast. You can see from the pics that we rolled out of bed and got in car without a care in the world.

Pics from our adventure will follow shortly.

Today we painted stocking ornaments for our tree. I did put restrictions on the colors to red, green and white. I know Charlotte would do a pink, purple, blue, green, etc stocking and I really wanted Christmas colors. The kids all painted their own then I put "fur" on the top to give it that little extra touch. When Charlotte was done with her stocking it turned out to be a dark green on the verge of brown from changing her mind so many times. To fix this dilema and to make her happy we put glitter on it. Doesn't glitter fix everything?

Even Iron Man paints.

It's going to be rough teaching him that "there's more to life than being really, really, really, really ridiculously good looking." (Name the movie in the comment section for additional bonus points).

We're excited for little Hewstie to have his first Christmas. We've decided to just give him a box, a bow and some peppermint ice cream. That ought to about do him in for the season. We've been trying to predict what sizes he will wear during the really cold parts of our winter here and we've decided that since he's 95% in ever category, we're advancing his clothes size to 12 months! Hope you're all having as much fun this holiday season as the Utah Knotwell's are!

We got together tonight for a little pizza party and merriment. All the kids played like crazies and we enjoyed each other's company. Sorry for the picture quality, but you get the idea.

Larry is an important Elf. You see, his job is to let Santa know which one of us has been naughty and nice. The kids are frequently hearing, "Do you want Larry to tell Santa that you've been naughty today?" "You know what happens to kids who are on the naughty list, right? Yep, you get rocks in your stocking."

We're really excited to see where he will end up tomorrow morning. We hope each of you are being "nice" this Christmas season because Larry and his friends might be hiding in your house without you even knowing!

Each year I do a Cookie Party for my friends and for those who come to my crafters group. Since Emily is out of school for the month we decided to do one for her friends in her class. She invited 8 friends and asked them to bring a new piece of jewelry wrapped for an exchange and then 2 dozen cookies to exchange as well. The girls ate dinner and giggled, then they did the jewelry exchange and giggled before 2 of her friends left for an hour. All the girls got what they wanted and got to go home with something new from a friend. While her 2 friends were gone they went caroling to some of our neighbors. I think the whole neighborhood heard them they were so loud. I'm sure you can imagine 9 10 year olds singing and yelling while going from house to house. Once they finished that, they came back and played in the dark basement hiding from one another. Their friends came back and that's when the cookie exchange started. The girls brought some really yummy treats like dipped pretzel rods, sugar cookies with jam and glaze, chocolate chip, peanut butter, and even gluten free cookies that were super yummy. Once the cookies were gone the girls sat at the table and ate their treats while they waited for their moms to come pick them up. I think the party was a success, no hurt feelings or fights and they all left with smiles.

Every year for the Holt family Christmas Party we go swimming at my Aunt's Sister-in-law's house. We swim and eat and then swim and still eat. The kids look forward to it every year. This is a good chance for the family to catch up since we only see most of each other every 6 months. My cousin decided that Hewston needed to get into the pool and since I was unprepared she put him in anyways. He LOVED it! He sat on my cousins lap and couldn't have been happier.

Today we went to South Towne Mall to see Peter Breinholt and David Tolk. We had some lunch at the yummiest Hotdog on a Stick and listened to the beautiful music. Its so fun to do things like this with my kids during the month because doing this with just William and Hewston wouldn't have been the same.

We love going to the book store to get our new Christmas book for the season. Each child gets to pick out their own book and then we go home and read them together. William and Charlotte both wanted the same Grinch book so there was a little scuffle in the store, but all is well.

Tonight the kids wanted to get our Gingerbread House decorated for the season. We had so much fun doing this as a family. We have been wanting to do something fun each day the kids are out of school for the month. Today is the first day of the "official" Christmas break. I have been inspired by my SIL to post the happenings in the Knotwell house during the season. Lets hope and pray that I can keep up and take pics of each thing we do.

I haven't posted any pictures of Hewston, so you go! He is 6 months and weighed in at 20 lbs at his appt. He is in the 95% of his weight and we LOVE it! He is the best baby we have had yet. He is sitting up now, but won't roll over either way. He has 2 teeth and I think he is trying to get a few more. We love having him in our family and feel so blessed to have a healthy and happy baby.

We gave Hewston a piece from the Candyland game to play with and he started to suck on it. He probably would have left it in his mouth all day if we would have let him.

President's Day was a very good day for shooting these little ones. Taking pictures of these three kids is one of my most favorite past times. The clouds and rain made this shot for me. They were so good too, which always makes it more enjoyable. William looks like a young man in his close up, Charlotte has that glimmer in her eye and Emily is a woman but grown.

October is here and now the snow I'm sure is going to start flying soon. Before it did, we spent a weekend at the cabin with the family. Char got a fishing pole for her birthday and had waited all summer to go fishing with Papa. He finally took her and she is hooked. They walked up the street where our cabin is and started fishing behind one of the other cabins in the creek. I think this next summer, she will be begging my Dad to take her every day.

October is Knotwell Family Vacation Month. We always take our big trip this month with it being "off seaon" for the vacationing folks. We decided to go East and take the family to Hilton Head, SC. WE LOVED IT! We thought it would be a good idea to fly the red eye to Atlanta then switch planes at 6am to fly off to Hilton Head. Don't think we will do that again. I had no idea about this but, Char was up all night keeping John company. She helped him order his drink, and get his snacks. I slept like a baby and so did the rest of the family.

John's parents drove from Missouri and met us there to partake in the beauty of SC. The thing to do there is rent bikes and ride them all over the island. Everyone does it and it is worth it! The kids had a blast and the scenery was amazing. We would come along lakes and see Alligator eyes or see them sun bathing on the grass. Now when the kids see green water it has Alligators in it.

At the Marriott Vacation Clubs, most of them have a Kids Zone where the kids can do activities and make things. This day they did turtle races and let the kids pick them up and hold them. On other days they made sour powder sticks, frames, and they had movies and game nights as well.

September was a full month like every other one. I volunteered on the PTA for our school and was on the Reflections committee. I, of course, strongly encouraged Emily to enter in the contest. The theme was "Beauty is.." and when asking her what she thought she said, "Freedom". She and John then headed up to the Capitol Building and took some snap shots of the flag, the grounds, and of the building. After judging took place, she was a finalist. She was so excited and we were so proud of her. She didn't make it to District level, but it was such a great memory for her.

Labor Day is ALWAYS a favorite of mine. Growing up we went to Swiss Days in Midway every year, and now my family goes every year as well. It is the best tradition and each year it ends, I start counting down to the next. On Labor Day this year we headed up to Deer Creek and did some boating with my sister and her family and some dear friends. The kids enjoyed the beach and some time on the boat, while the adults enjoyed the sun and either knee boarding or skiing. It was windy as usual, but a fabulous day!