A MOTHER'S JOY

I LOVE watching my children run and play...
A little football in the park before a picture session.
(thanks EP)
The girls head for a "hail mary"...

And she's down...(Stevie collided with Kaleb)

The day wouldn't be complete without an injury.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS

Only one verse of scripture in the entire King James Version of the New Testament suggests what the Savior did to develop himself from age twelve until he began his formal ministry at age thirty:

“Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man”

(Luke 2:52; see JST, Matt. 3:24–26).

the Savior developed: intellectually (in wisdom and knowledge), physically (in stature), socially (in favor with man), and spiritually (in favor with God).

*****

I am convinced that if we make and keep resolutions in these four areas, we will have a happier and more successful new year this coming year and every year for the rest of our lives. Let’s consider the nature of such resolutions and the benefits that can be ours if our resolve to improve ourselves is firm.

Joe J. Christensen

(you can read more of his talk here)

CHRISTMAS EVE DELIVERS

Our Christmas Eve tradition every year is to deliver presents with the Police Department to needy families all over the city. Our family LOVES this tradition. This year we spent about 6 hours on the truck. Steve is always our driver. It's an adventure when he's behind the wheel. :)

This is Steve unloading one of the MANY boxes.
This is the big paddy wagon that we used.
You can see Santa in the front seat.
Stevie and Kayla stayed behind to wrap
last minute gifts.
I couldn't help sneaking a picture with Mr. Claus.
I also snuck in a few last minute requests. :)
Officer Orton and Santy in front of the truck.
One of the 180 houses that we delivered to...
Santa was a special visitor at each house.
Kaleb with some of our crew...
(both men are his Sensei's at karate)

Most of the Christmas Eve Crew...

It was a blast!!!

We can't wait to do it again next year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

"Our joy at this season is because the Savior Jesus Christ came into the world."

President Gordon B. Hinckley

May we remember the reason for this season.

Merry Christmas...

Love, The Orton Family

GOT HUMILITY?

Being humble...

We try to make sure our kids understand this concept.

Just the other day I was getting Stevie ready for her basketball game.

She needed help putting her hair into a ponytail.

After I was done she was looking through Kayla's hair accessories.

She had some of those athletic headbands

that keep the 'fly-a-ways' out of your face.

Stevie felt she needed to wear one.

There was a variety to choose from, all by "NIKE".

She asked me:

S - "Mom, do you think I should wear

the one that says UNSTOPPABLE or just NIKE?"

M - "I don't know, which one do YOU think you should wear?"

S - "I think I'll wear UNSTOPPABLE because mom,

I AM unstoppable."

(she was totally serious)

It doesn't help that she's the tallest girl on the team

and is the only one that can even reach the basket

never mind MAKE a basket.

But still...

A little chat was in order. :)

SANTA'S ELVES

Every year our family has the privilege of being involved with the local Santa Fund. The Police Department (namely Sgt. Cavanaugh) sponsors around 180 needy families in the Laconia area that can't afford to give their children gifts on Christmas day. We (along with others) spend lots of hours shopping, wrapping, organizing and delivering. It's a great opportunity to give of ourselves, mostly our time and talents. I have to give a lot of credit to Steve and my three older children. They have been down to the local community center to wrap for countless hours. I haven't been able to go as much because of Benjamin. Today we spent 7 hours (after church) wrapping, wrapping and wrapping some more. We had a blast. Here are some pictures from today.

Here is the head elf...we like to call him "Jingles".
"Bubbles" was a wrapping machine.
Oh...did I mention that "Jingles" was also our toy tester? He especially liked turning tricks on these kid bikes.

Here is our sweet elf "Sugarplum".
She's sugar and spice and everything nice.
This is a glimpse of all the boxes full of gifts.
(this is not all...oh no, there are MORE)
They are labled and packaged and ready for delivery.
(which happens Christmas Eve)
Last but not least is "Snowflake"...this little elf probably outwrapped us all. She never even took a break to eat dinner, had me bring it to her instead. Eat and wrap, eat and wrap. It doesn't end here...we'll be delivering all of these gifts to the needy families on Christmas Eve. More pictures and details to come. Stay tuned! :)

THE PHONE CALL

My heart has been heavy.

Not my favorite kind of day.

One that I'll be glad to put behind me.

I was at my Thai Kickboxing class when the phone rang.

It was a teacher from Kaleb's school.

He was informing me that Kaleb was in a fight during recess.

A level 1 offense.

Let me back up a little to give you some background.

Kaleb struggles socially.

He always has.

As he gets older, he uses humor to win friendships.

Not all think he's funny.

Today he pushed someone's button.
This kid apparantely has a 'short fuse'.

(from what I was told)

He took Kaleb to the ground.

The teacher had to pull them apart.

Kaleb's not a physical child.

We have taught him better.

As a result...

Kaleb was emotionally truamatized,

while the other kid just walked away.

I picked him up early.

We spent some alone time together.

We talked...a LOT.

I helped him piece back together his broken little spirit.

It was a hard lesson learned.

KALEB...

Tonight was Gilford's "Holiday Concert"
It's a long night of singing and playing.
Lots of kids are involved.
I think Kaleb was nervous...
that I wouldn't find him.
He was wrong.
I had my handy, dandy camera
with major zoom power.

See?

I'm 500 feet away.

I caught him chewing his nails.

(told you he was nervous)

Here's the full view of the 6th grade band.

Aren't they lovely?

You can't see Kaleb...

he's behind the conductor.

Remember how I told you

he was worried I wouldn't find him?

Well...no worries friends.

The conductor stepped to the side

and this is what I saw...

Yep, there he is. Totally see you Kaleb.

LOUD AND TALL.

(his hat that is)

Um...a little distracting and just a tad embarrassing. I'm crediting THAT one to his dad.

DS

Recently I posted on Benjamin's Blog about the new "Handicap" van we are getting this week. It has been a HUGE blessing for us. You can read more about it HERE. Out of all the kids, Stevie is probably the most excited because she LOVES to help come up with a new name for our cars. It's tradition. They must each have a name - significant to that vehicle. We've had SPOT, PEARL, JANE, SARAH and RUBY. (may they all rest in peace)As we were driving to church yesterday, we talked about how we will be driving down this week to pick up our new van and that we need a name for her. Stevie quickly piped up that the new name should be

DOWN SYNDROME

I looked over at my husband and mouthed, "did she just say that?" I was shocked and totally confused. "Why would you choose THAT name?" I asked her. She confidently replied..."because it's a handicap van." She wasn't trying to be funny. She wasn't trying to be politically incorrect. She was just sharing her honest feelings. How do you say NO to that? We compromised and decided on DS.

Tomorrow, DS will join our cute little family.

MAKE A WISH FUN!

Tonight was the annual

"Make A Wish"

Christmas Party

Ben was the "Guest of Honor"
This is what I spent half the night doing....
eating from the chocolate fountain
that was 5 pillars high! (mmmmm)
This is how I spent the other
half of the night,
kissing my cute boy's cheeks.
There were lots of toys and fun.
This is Ben's special star wand.
It sparkles in a really cool way.
We visited Santa's lap,
and told him how good we've all been.
We even got to visit Minnie and Mickey.
Kayla spent most of her time here.
She was in bead heaven.
Dad and his boys.

This is a video of Steve making a balloon candy cane. Balloon creations are his specialty.

THE MAN HAS SKILLS!

Watch and see. Book him for your next party. Really...he's for hire. :)

*****

Thank you Make A Wish for a most excellent time. We are so grateful for your generosity and always making my family feel so special. We are especially grateful for our wish granters Kim and Maureen. We love you both!!! Words cannot express how much you have touched our lives.