Snow, Snow, Snow

With the exception of a few weeks of bitter cold and filthy air outside, the outdoor time this month for the boys has been a blast.  They love the snow!

Getting them each their own snow shovels last year has become one of my favorite purchases for them. They don't actually help remove that much snow from the driveway, but they sure love to dig through the piles making holes and walkways, and rooms, and Timmy was even making what he called "drawers" the other day.

I gladly welcome the snow storms!  Each one brings clean air, beauty all around and so much fun for the kids!

Brian - Student of the Month

Brian was chosen as Student of the Month for November from his class at school.  He was so excited!  He got to eat pizza and donuts with the school Principal, and his picture is hung in the hallway with a little paragraph his teacher wrote about him.

Thanksgiving

 This year we talked a lot about being thankful in Primary and in our November Family Home Evenings. I like listening to the boys name things they are thankful for.  My favorite was when Timmy was at preschool, on a day that I happened to be helping, and his teacher had each child name something they are thankful for and wrote it down on the turkeys each child made.  When he was asked what he was thankful for, Timmy said, "Ummm, I'm thankful for God."  It was a melt my heart moment.  I too am thankful for God and all that he has given us and I'm grateful I have the opportunity to teach Brian and Timmy about Heavenly Father, our Savior Jesus Christ, and the Gospel.  We are so blessed in so many ways!

Just before Thanksgiving, Mark found a great deal (probably because not very many people are buying bikes right now), on a beautiful Cannondale Synapse road bike for me.  I have never owned a road bike, but I've been thinking it might be a good hobby/skill to learn.  I am so lucky to have Mark who is willing to find the best bike for me, to get me all set up with it, to help me learn how to ride it, and to fix things on it and improve it. He could definitely own his own bike shop. I love it!  I am a total rookie when it comes to road biking and like any new physical skill for me it will probably take me a long time to figure it out, if I ever really do.  But, I really really enjoy riding this thing.  It is so comfortable, and smooth, and fast, and way more fun than running.  I seriously cannot wipe the smile from my face when I am riding it.  Having the right bike really does make a difference in the enjoyment of a bike ride!  I could go on and on about how happy I am with my early Christmas present!  I was not expecting to love it so much!

I took it out on the road for the first time early on Thanksgiving morning.  I went by myself early while Mark watched the kids.  I just did a nine mile familiar route to test it out. We had planned on a family bike ride on the Jordan River Parkway with some of Mark's family Thanksgiving morning, but Brian was having a hard time the night before listening and going to bed and after lots of warnings we decided he needed to stay home from the family ride.  So I went on my own ride first thing in the morning and then I stayed home with Brian while Mark took Timmy to the Jordan River Parkway for the Hsiao bike ride. It did really help Brian to think deeply about pushing our buttons, and it gave me extra time to make the dinner rolls for Thanksgiving dinner.


After the bike ride, the boys had a nice little nap, and then we headed over to Mark's parent's for the Thanksgiving feast and a sleepover! We loved having great weather to burn off some energy (and calories) outside.

 Don't these cousins look so excited for Thanksgiving?

The food was delicious. . .

 and the company even better!

After dinner we had a few epic Ping-Pong battles.  Watching Mark and Jake play each other is always entertaining and difficult to capture in pictures because they and the ball move so fast!

I love how far away from the table they get while playing each other.  They make Ping-Pong look so cool and I would pick watching them play it over watching football on Thanksgiving every year!

The next generation of Hsiao Ping-Pong stars is up and coming!  Watching Brian and his cousin play each other was a very sweet Thanksgiving moment. We also played some rounds of pool, seen in the background.


The kids built apple turkeys and drew pictures together. The whole day was a fun family time for us.

We stayed overnight and enjoyed talking with Mark's parents during the calm before the adults went to sleep.  The next morning for me was one of the best times I had this Thanksgiving holiday.  Mark's parents watched Brian and Timmy, while Mark and I went on the perfect bike ride together.  Mark gave me tips on biking with other riders and demonstrated how to ride safely in traffic.  He pushed me hard, which is what I needed and we ended up riding over twelve miles in under an hour.  For Mark that wasn't fast or long at all, but for me it was perfect for my second time out on my bike.  It was so fun and I am glad I got a really good ride in with him before the snow came!  After that we went home and Mark finished selling the Rialta RV while the kids played in the backyard one of the last times without it covered in snow.

 To celebrate the final sale of the RV and a fabulous holiday, we went to Outback where the boys consumed unbelievable amounts of bread and cheese fries and Mark and I had our favorite steaks.  And that sums up our delightful Thanksgiving holiday!

November in a Nutshell

Here is what happened at the Hsiao House in November.  Well, those things I can remember at least.

Seasonal Activities

We bagged our annual 30-40 bags of leaves.  Having these cute helpers and watching them enjoy their "work", makes all that leaf cleaning worth it.  The following are pictures of the leaves from only half of one of the many many trees in and around our yard!  We have lots and lots of leaf pickup every year.

Because we had our first little snow of the season, Mark also built our first fire of the season.  He tells the boys there has to be snow to have a fire!  They get so excited about both these things.

 Visit With Mandy and Brian

We went up to South Weber one Saturday to visit Mandy and Brian.  Well, Mark was going up there to go on a long bike ride with Big Brian and I decided to tag along to visit with Mandy and see Ellie and the updates on their cute house.  Mark and Brian ended up riding 37 miles on their road bikes, while I talked to Mandy and let the kids play.  Then when Mark and Brian returned, we went out to lunch and then to the Hill Aerospace Museum.  It was such a fun day! 

The boys, especially Brian, loved the museum!  There were so many neat planes to see and I am so glad Mark was there to tell them all about everything!  I can't believe that place is free!  It's amazing.

Brian was so into learning everything and I learned that Mark has a lot of knowledge about military aircraft (I don't know why I was surprised) but I was certainly grateful he was there, because I couldn't answer any of Brian's questions.

I was excited so find an airplane named after me.  Its name is Jenny.

Here Mark and Brian are admiring something spectacular and Timmy is pretending to be a plane.  For some reason I really like this picture.

This is the only picture I got of Ellie.  She has the cutest and most expressive face!

Meniere's Attacks

So for those who don't know, we think I have what is called Meniere's Disease.  It is an unpredictable inner ear problem that, for me, causes random attacks of extreme vertigo, in which I get these sudden sensations of spinning and whirling that bring on extreme nausea, vomiting, sweating, tremors, and even seizure like symptoms.  Basically I am totally fine one minute and the next I am down and out for at least a day (usually several days) with each attack.  Any movement of my head makes everything worse and standing up during those attacks is often impossible for me. I didn't have any problems for two years and then out of nowhere I had three bad attacks during November in the course of two weeks.  It was not fun for me or everyone who had to step in and help take care of me and the kids.  Mark took days off of work to take over and his mom and my mom helped out as well.  I'm so grateful for all of the help and especially Mark's ability to suddenly act as both the mom and the dad.  While I was recovering, but at least able to be at home alone, the boys spent a little extra time on the couch or in the bed with me.  I'm seeing doctors and having more tests just to rule out these problems being anything other that Meniere's, but I'm pretty sure it is Meniere's Disease.  We'll see I guess.  I just hope those attacks stay away for another two years at least!

Between Meniere's attacks we were able to make it to Scheels as a family to use a gift card Mark had.  The boys loved the bowling game!

RV Adventure

Mark flew to Oregon during November in order to buy this beautiful Rialta RV for an extremely good deal.  He drove it home and we excitedly started making grand plans for our first trip in it and I even started packing it up!  He fixed a few things on it and we drove it around and played in it for a few days.  Then one night as Mark and I were having a simple conversation about the RV, we came to the conclusion that this baby was just way too nice for us.  We do not need something this nice or this expensive, so the next day he posted it online and ended up selling it for a nice profit.  It was fun to own it for a little while at least!

The RV was pretty cool.  These captain chairs, which are behind the driver and passenger seats, turn into a bed for the boys and the dinette seats in the back turn into a bed as well.  It drives like a van and can seat eight with seat belts and sleeps four.  It has a sink, stove, microwave, fridge, toilet, shower, bathroom sink, air conditioner and heater all designed to fit into a small space.  It is pretty cool, but in the end, not for us.  We sold the tent trailer after our last camping trip to Moab, so we are back to square one on the camping/trailer/ RV front with a little extra money in our pockets thanks to Mark's buying and selling finesse. He sold the tent trailer for more than we bought it for as well.  He really amazes me when it comes to this kind of stuff.  He know the value of items and can fix them up easily to increase that value with little cost to him. I bet he knows more about Volkswagen Rialtas now than most RV dealers out there. We'll see what he comes up with next!  Stay tuned!

Gymnastics

Brian and Timmy finished up a session of gymnastics in November.  They really enjoyed it and I think it was great for them too!  We'll take a little break and maybe start up again in the Spring.

Thanksgiving was the last thing that happened in November.  I'll record those happenings in a post to come!

Timmy Rides A Bike

I am very happy to say that Timmy is riding his pedal bike without training wheels!  I am actually quite amazed that he is only 3 1/2 and he's got it down!  I think we can attribute it to the time riding his balance bike, and the fact that Mark got him a really nice Specialized Hotrock pedal bike that is light and easy to control.  Also, he watched Brian learn just a few months ago and he thinks he can do everything Brain does. Timmy has been riding the pedal bike for the last few months with training wheels on, and last week I thought I would just try taking them off to see what happens.  We spent ten minutes out on the street with me holding onto him trying it, and then he was done.  The next day I took him to the church parking lot and he told me he wanted to do it all by himself.  I said, "Okay go ahead," and to my surprise he just kept trying all by himself until he figured it out.  The second time ever riding without training wheels and he taught himself to start and stop and ride super fast.  When he crashes he just hops back on and keeps riding.  I am so proud of him.  I also think that it is one of the cutest things ever to watch him ride around on that tiny bike like he's a teenager.  Congratulations Timmy! You can ride a bike! Now we just need to get you fully potty trained.