Inverted Jenny

I know you are all wondering what an Inverted Jenny is...Well, a few months ago, Kimball and I read an A to Z Mysteries (chapter book series) book called The Empty Envelope.  It was the first time I had heard about an Inverted Jenny.  I later emailed my mom feeling rather ignorant and asked her why she never told me about these rare, priceless stamps.  I consider my mom fairly knowledgeable about bits of trivia so I felt much better when she didn't know what an Inverted Jenny stamp was either...sorry Mom.  

Kimball and I did some research of our own after we finished reading our book and we were surprised to learn that a collectors Inverted Jenny stamp was being produced at the end of 2013.  When I asked about them at my post office the workers there had no idea what I was talking about even when I pointed to the sign posted in the Post Office.  This week my mom surprised me with a sheet of Jennys.  She said she wanted to see them after I told her about them and wanted me to have a chance to see them too.

Here is a little more history on the Curtiss Jenny stamp error.  This is from the envelope that comes with the stamps:

Ninety five years ago, the United States Post Office Department inadvertently printed a stamp with an upside down image of a Curtiss Jenny biplane.  Just one sheet of these stamps was sold before a customer identified the error.  This printing mistake has made the Inverted Jenny one of the rarest and most valuable stamps in collecting history.  Imagine the excitement of finding such a sheet of stamps. 

This sheet of stamps commemorates the 1918 24-cent Invert Jenny stamp.

The sheet of stamps...you had to buy all 6 stamps and couldn't purchase just one stamp.

Check out those upside down planes!

Find out more on Wikipedia about the Invert Jenny Stamp and keep on the lookout for an original!

Busy Crafting

I haven't blogged in the last month because I have been busy making six of these beauties:

Felt Heart Garland

I started off planning on just making one heart garland for myself, but when it turned out so well I thought it would be fun to make one for each of the sisters I visit for church and for the school teachers...that ended up being 6 excluding the one for myself.  I finally finished the last garland today.  I spent every spare minute   working on them so I could meet my February 14th deadline.  I still need to make the one for me, but I have gotten faster each time I make one so hopefully I can get one made for myself soon, although it will be after   the holiday.                                                                                                                                                

In other news, we went as a family to see Frozen and we LOVED it.  I have been shoveling a fair amount of snow and we have enjoyed 3 days off from school from cold temperatures and 1 day when we got a foot of snow.

Four Years Old!

Rebecah turned 4 this week and she was very excited about her birthday.  For both of my kids, the year they turn 4 they eagerly anticipate their special day.  I think the 3rd birthday the kids realize how fun a birthday is and they remember that fun and excitement well enough to know that when we say their birthday is coming it is something to be excited about.

Rebecah has really blossomed this year.  She has started playing independently a lot better and she has finally found something that really interests her...princesses.  She is a fun girl and we are so glad she is in our family.  We love listening to her sing and play.

Rebecah had few birthday requests, but she did want a "new William doll with volume".  She has a doll with pink pajamas that she named "William" after a boy at church.  This doll no longer made sounds so she wanted a new doll that made sounds.

Birthday breakfast...cheese danish

Showing off her new money.

Hugging her card that gives hugs.

With Mom.

New magiclip Merida from Brave.

Fancy markers.  She loves to color with markers.

Her very own copy of The Little Mermaid.  Now we no longer need to borrow
it from the library.  Rebecah says quite a few quotes from this movie.  Her
favorite being:  "I'm 16 years old, I'm not a child."

Holding her new doll that laughs when it senses movement.

We now have even more princess figurines, but that just adds to the excitement. I'm just glad Rebecah has found what she loves instead of just doing what the nearest person is doing.

Rebecah loves meatball hoagies and that was what she planned on for her birthday until 2 days before and then she wanted Sausage Kale soup.  Good thing both were on the menu for the month so I could easily switch meals. (I love how my kids are such good eaters and that their favorite foods aren't the typical chicken nuggest/pizza/french fries that a lot of kids their age request.) She wanted chocolate cake and chocolate frosting for her cake...tasty, but not too colorful.  I decorated it with chopped snickers.

I think she looks a little like Kimball in this picture.

Christmas 2013

We had a great Christmas this year.  It was probably one of the best Christmases that I remember.  It was full of happiness and joy with little complaining and fighting and it was wonderful.

The kids woke up about 7:00 and that was nice of them.  We went downstairs to see what Santa had brought.  At our house, Santa doesn't wrap the presents he leaves so we explored Santa's presents and then we had a short Devotional to remind ourselves once again about the true meaning of Christmas and the importance of Christ's birth and mission on the earth.  After our devotional we opened the rest of the presents. 

I love how our kids have very modest wants.  Kimball DID ask for an iPod touch, but other than that the things on his lists weren't toys.  It warmed my heart to hear the things he asked for.  He didn't get an iPod, we just don't feel he needs one right now.

Santa brought Kimball and Joseph archery sets so they can learn to shoot together.  

Kimball checking out his stocking.

These next three pictures take some explaining.  Throughout the month Kimball mentioned to Joseph at least 3 times how he wanted a Syracuse scarf for Christmas.  We looked casually for a scarf, but didn't get him one.  Then a week before Christmas, Kimball came home from school with an assignment talking about what items might be in various shaped boxes.  On the page with a long box Kimball mentioned that it might hold a scarf and on the last page of the assignment Kimball wrote that he hoped a box on Christmas morning would contain a scarf for him.  After seeing this assignment I told Joseph that we had to find a Syracuse scarf for Kimball because I didn't want to disappoint him.  Joseph and I spent the next week looking for a Syracuse scarf.  Even living in Orange country, that was easier said than done.  The scarves we saw weren't exactly for use by a 6 year old, but more for decoration so we went to 8 different stores before we found a perfect fleece Syracuse scarf for him.  We wrapped it in a long box and had it waiting for him under the tree Christmas morning.

Kimball wondering what was in this long box.  It wasn't heavy at all!

Opening...

Kimball with his scarf.  He was excited about it, but not as excited about it as Joseph and I were. 

 Even though toys weren't on Kimball's list, we knew he would want some toys.  Kimball got a neat battleship building set and he spent about 4 hours on Christmas getting it put together.

Shipyard...man at work.

I was very impressed that Kimball was able to put this together.  He had just a little bit of help
from Joseph on one part, but he was probably faster at it than I would have been.

Rebecah's list was pretty short...princesses.  She didn't really care what form they took, she just wanted Princesses, preferably Ariel and Rapunzel.

 Santa brought Rebecah a Princess castle.  Mom and Dad were in on the secret so we could get her some princesses to go in the castle.

I recently started painting Rebecah's fingernails.  I personally am not a fan of painted nails and I haven't painted mine in over 25 years.  BUT, Rebecah bites her nails and since we started painting her nails she has stopped biting her nails.  We paint nails once a week and now she can choose between pink and purple. 

A Rapunzel doll.

Hello Kitty puzzle book.

Magiclip Princess set.  Four princesses + 8 dresses=Princess heaven.

Joseph expressing excitement over the Princess.

Happy as can be with her castle and princesses.

I didn't get as many pictures of Joseph opening presents and none of me, but really, Christmas is about the kids and their excitement. 

Joseph thanking Rebecah for a new tie.

Joseph practicing with his archery set.

Awesome gift from Heather.  Heather gave Joseph his Priesthood line of authority nicely presented;  I added the frame.  

After our presents, we enjoyed playing games, playing with new things and eating yummy food.  We also enjoyed talking with family since we didn't have the opportunity to spend the day with family.

Christmas Eve

I'm breaking our Christmas events down into two posts so it isn't too much of an overload.  We had a great Christmas season.  We decorated for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving and it was a wonderful month as we celebrated the birth of Christ.

The last few years we have done a 24 days of Christmas activity where we sing songs, watch video clips and read scriptures dealing with the events that surrounded the Savior's birth.  We did that this year and it was so fun to have most of our nights end singing an array of Christmas songs dealing with Christ.  I was excited this year to have religious Christmas songs be the favorites for the kids instead of just Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph.  Kimball really liked God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Rebecah liked Joy to the World, Angels we have Heard on High and anything with Hosanna in it.

Joseph was lucky to be off Christmas Eve and Christmas this year.  He works New Year's Eve and New Year's Day so he does get his share of holidays to work.  I would much rather have him work the New Year's holidays than the Christmas ones.

We decided to start a new tradition this year and go on a sleigh ride on Christmas Eve.  Unfortunately, there really wasn't any snow for a sleigh ride so we just rode in a wagon.  It was still fun though.  It was chilly, but not so chilly that we couldn't enjoy the 20 minute ride.  Everyone enjoyed it and hopefully next year there will be more snow.  We arrived early so we didn't have to wait for seats which was nice.

The boys enjoying the ride.

Group shot.

The girls enjoying the ride.

                                           

Rebecah really wanted her picture taken with the Grinch.  We read the story at least
15 times this month and watched the movie twice.  It's probably one
of my favorite Christmas stories to read.

After our ride we returned home and the kids watched a movie while I started our Christmas Eve food preparation.  We had our traditional meal around the fireplace and Christmas tree.  The kids seemed extra excited this year for Christmas so for the first time we opened a gift on Christmas Eve.  It was a family gift from my sister called Pass the Pigs.  It is a great game and we have enjoyed playing it many times already.

After our game we had a Devotional where we sang Christmas songs, read the Christmas story from the Bible, again, and used the letters M-E-R-R-Y-C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S to talk about different words that help us reflect on the Christmas season.  We also watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas and then the kids were off to bed.  We have great kids.  They went to bed at normal time and slept all night and got up at their normal time.  

Rebecah and Annette getting ready for our Christmas Eve feast.

Visit from Bill and Karen

My aunt and uncle came for a visit over the weekend.  I haven't seen Bill and Karen since my dad's funeral, almost 15 years ago.  The sad thing about extended family is that at least in my family, we live so far apart that we don't see each other very often so when we get together it is like visiting with strangers even though we are family.  Since I hadn't seen Bill and Karen in 15 years I was apprehensive about the visit not sure how it would be and if I would find things to talk about, etc, but the visit was great.  They were able to stay for lunch and we had nice conversation and we were able to get to know each other better.  I also enjoyed hearing that the house my dad grew up in when he lived in Rochester is still around.  One of these days we will make a trip to Rochester to see the house and I'll take a picture of it.

Joseph and I were both pleasantly surprised how excited Kimball and Rebecah were about the visit.  Usually kids don't care when unfamiliar family visits, but they loved having the company.  Even after Bill and Karen left, Rebecah mentioned multiple times how much she loved having them visit.  I think it helped that Karen is a big Disney fan so she talked with Rebecah about all of the Disney princesses and told Rebecah that she had even met the princesses.

I just wish my own kids had an opportunity to see their aunts, uncles and cousins regularly, but with our family so spread out my kids will probably feel like their extended family are all strangers, too.

Coffey Family with Bill

Bill and Karen with Annette and the kids.

Joseph asked me if Bill looks like my dad and I honestly don't think he does.  The closest similarity I could find was in their eyes but it was a stretch. Sometimes it makes me a little sad that Joseph and my kids won't know my dad in this life or won't know an able-bodied Heather.  Thank goodness families are forever.

Thanksgiving 2013

We had a fun Thanksgiving this year.  It started off by being "white", meaning we had snow for Thanksgiving.  I don't remember ever having a white Thanksgivings, but when I asked my mom she said we had a few when I was really young.  We got 2-3 inches of snow and it was pretty.  The kids and Joseph enjoyed playing out in the snow and working on the snow fort.  I got my exercise in for the day by shoveling the driveway. 

About mid-day we went over to have dinner with friends.  It was a lot of fun.  Kimball and Rebecah really like playing with the boys at this house.  It is their "go to" place when a play date is an option.  We spent all afternoon and into the evening with our friends having a nice time.  All 13 kids played really well together and gave the adults time to visit and play games.

On Friday, Joseph worked for a few hours, but we had our own family Thanksgiving with turkey and other dishes that we didn't have the day before.  We also decorated for Christmas.