It's been a good year

It's hard to believe that this year has already (just about) come to an end. We have had an eventful year. Some highlights from our year, in no particular order are:

• Finally finding and buying our home after waiting to move. Yeah!
• Finding several new friends for all of us. It's been a great neighborhood. Some of these friends will most likely move this next year which is so sad but we are happy that we got to know them this year.
• Jacob finishing 1st grade and going onto 2nd. He seems so old to me this year. He has changed so much. I am missing my sweet little happy go lucky guy and enjoying watching him learn. It's always bittersweet.
• Mia starting Preschool and loving it. She's always singing songs from class but she won't tell us one thing that they do in school. When I pick Mia and Lauren up and ask her about it, she always says that she doesn't want to talk about it. It's kind of sad, but I usually can get something out of her. If she just won't talk, I ask Lauren who is more than happy to tell me about the day.
• Sam's first year. His first head lift, first rolling, first tooth, first crawling, first birthday. You get the idea. So many changes during his first year.
• Ryan changing stores, again, but this time, the move was actually in our favor.
• Finishing working at the Gap after 7 years. It still feels strange to me to not have a Gap to go to, even just to shop. It's been six months and I still have withdrawals when I need to get something for the kids to wear. And I haven't bought much for myself either. I really miss that discount. I got it at Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic. It was fabulous!

I am sure that there are many more things, I just can't think of them now. It's been a year full of blessings that out weighed any trials we have had. Tonight, we get to go to my sisters house for a New Years party. I am very excited because we haven't been able to go for a few years now. The party actually got cancelled because the Rigdon family decided to have their own party. Fortunately for us, Teryn decided to stay home and invite us over. Yeah! I was bummed that we had nothing to do and it's always fun at Teryn's house!

Hope that you all have had a good year and are having a good night! See you in 2008.

Allergic

The past few days have been hard here. When I got home from work on Friday night, Sam's back and tummy were covered in a rash. I called the doctor and concluded that Sam was most likely having an allergic reaction to Amoxicillian that he had been taking for the past nine days. Apparently, an allergic reaction can happen anytime during the duration of the medication. We gave him a dose of Benadryl and when he woke the next morning, he was covered head to toe and miserable. Another dose and he had a nice long nap but when he woke up, he was so grumpy and miserable and wouldn't let anybody out of his sight and it hasn't stopped. I don't have any digital pictures of Sammy and his spots. Just try to imagine this little unhappy guy spotty or polka-dotted as Mia has been calling him.

Saturday night, he got his dose of Benadryl and put to bed finally around 11pm. He immediately woke and started crying. Around midnight, I got up and tried to comfort him. I thought I got him to go back to sleep, but he didn't. Ryan got up at 1am and played with him until 2am. Finally asleep, so we thought. 3am he is screaming. We snuggled and loved and tried to get him to sleep, but it was worthless. At 4:30am, I took him downstairs and just let him be on the floor. He would cry and play on and off until 7am when he finally went to sleep. Today has pretty much been the same. Grumpy, miserable, not letting anyone put him down, unconsolable when you are holding him. I know he is miserable, but the rest of us need sleep.

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas is so fun for our kids. They were so excited to open their Christmas pj's and to get to bed. Jake was awake for quite a while but he was not going to get out of bed. We thought for sure this year Jake would wake up early, but he didn't. Again, it was about 8am when we all finally got up for the day.

Santa did well this year. Mia got the Baby Alive that she has been dreaming about. She's actually a lot cuter than I thought she would be. Mia is loving feeding her, changing her diaper, playing and putting her to bed. Baby Alive says little things like "I love you Mommy!" and "Mommy, I'm thristy." to which Mia was very attentive too. It's darling to watch her snuggle and talk to her.

Jake got a fun Star Wars battle of Hoth playset that he played with all day. He is such a Star Wars boy thourgh and through. I wonder if he will ever grow out of it.

Sammy got a playtable just like the one Jake had when he was his age. Sam likes it very much and it's very good for him to have toys that are 1-2 feet off the floor. It encourages him to crawl and to get up on his knees or stand up.

After our little Christmas, we went to our in-laws for our 2nd Christmas. The kids had tons of presents to open and were very excited to come home with Star Wars lego sets, princess dress-ups and Fisher Price plane just to name a few. We enjoyed breakfast and watching the kids play. Sammy was so cute playing in all the wrapping paper and ribbons and pushed around a big present of sister-in-law Megan's like it was a push toy.

This evening, Mia and I went to my parents house and visited with them and my sister Teryn's family. We enjoyed ham and potatoes and then went to sister VaLynn's house for a quick visit. We even got to play with the new Wii that Chris got. It's quite fun!

I wanted to share this video with you. It cracks me up! I think that you will enjoy. Chris, I am sure that you will enjoy it! Be sure to watch the whole thing.



Hope you all had a good Christmas!

Christmas Eve....

The snow is falling, the turkey is roasting, the tree is twinkling and the presents are wrapped. It's been a nice Christmas Eve day so far and hoping for a pleasant evening. I am looking forward to having Grandparents over for a good dinner, reading about the birth of Christ, and finishing up two little projects. I am sure the kids will be overly excited tonight, but it is all good fun. Can't believe that Christmas is almost here.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

He's gonna be good some day.

What does Ryan do with Sam while I am gone at work? He teaches him how to blow a duck call, that's what. Then he videos it on his phone, like the proud papa he is, and sends it out for all to enjoy.

Preschool Program

We had the preschool program today. It's funny to watch those little kids singing and doing their parts. Mia said her part pretty well. Too bad that I recorded it and somehow promptly lost it. When they sang Rudolph, they all put on their antlers, red noses, and tails. They thought that they was fun because they were all giggling

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School is now officially out for the holidays. I am so looking forward to not having to get Jake dressed and out the door. It will be nice to have the break and nice to go back.

Don't ya just hate that when that happens?

Mia, Sam and I are standing at the pharmacy desk getting Sam's prescription filled. Mia is fidgeting around and talking to me while the pharmacist is talking. Nothing really unusual for her so I am pretty good at tuning her out. Suddenly she grabs my attention not because she just sat down on the dirty supermarket floor, but because she had just said "Uh-oh....my panties fell off." I don't know what to say or do other than watch her as she pulls a pair of princess panties out from the front of her pants causally flinging them across the floor. No big deal to her. Like everyone flings princess panties out of their pants in public places. Laughing, I scooped the panties and quickly checked to see if she was indeed going commando. Everything checked out fine. She just had an extra pair stuck in her pants after they came out of the dryer. Don't ya just hate that when it happens??

Attempting.....

These past few weeks, Sam has seemed to have grown ten fold. Six weeks ago, he was rolling everywhere. Then started army crawling a week after that. Next thing I know, he is sitting himself up and hopping up onto his knees. He's improved so much already. We have our first appointment with the physical therapist tomorrow and I am looking forward to seeing Sam grow even more.

Until then, here is a tiny snippet of Sam eating cake. I didn't clear out the card, so I didn't have much memory left to take it. He's being very tame here but I just love the excited squeeze he does over how unbelievably tasty his snowman cake is.

My baby is one year old today!

It's hard to believe that one year ago today, Sam was born. A very round 9 lbs 2 oz, 21 inches long healthy baby boy. You were exactly one miserable week late. I thought for sure that you would come early. I thought December 3rd was going to be your day. I had contractions for weeks. I walked and ran and jumped up and down the stairs. I couldn't sleep and was more upset as everyday past and you didn't come. I had three friends that were all due after me and each one had their baby before you. It just didn't seem fair and it felt like you were never going to be born. I just couldn't bring myself to be induced until that day sitting in the doctors office, the day after my due date, waiting for the doctor to get back from delivering a baby. I didn't like waiting. When the doctor came in, I announced that I wanted to be induced TOMORROW! I am sure I said it before he even fully entered the room. He turned and went to schedule the induction and was not able to get me in for three more days. I took it thinking that you would come on your own sometime in between. Thursday night came and you still weren't born. The hospital called to confirm and it was the wrong hospital. I was so upset! Ryan and I talked and figured if I had waited this long, I might as well give it a few more days to come on your own. I wasn't happy. That is probably the biggest understatement of my life. VaLynn was inspired and she came to my rescue. She had the kids play at her house while I talked to her and took a very long, much needed nap. The day before you born, still having regular contractions, I decided to make the most of the Christmas holiday and had fun with the kids. We went to a Christmas open house and had our faces painted, saw Santa, ate good food and played games. It was a very good day. Late that night, I called and scheduled an induction for early the next morning.

When we arrived at the hospital that morning, I was already dilated to a five and having regular contractions every 2-3 minutes. They started the pitocin and the contractions increased coming every minute. I had them turn off the pitocin after an hour and the doctor broke my water. Wow! Did that really speed things up. All of the sudden, those contractions were hard and fast they were right on top of each other. I wasn't able to get an epidural for almost an hour after that. I was thankful when it got there, but I almost missed the window for it. I was dilated to an 8 when I got it and ready to push 15 minutes later. Again, I had to wait for the doctor while he delivered another baby, but when it was my turn, it went quickly. One good contraction and push and you were born. Your sweet round face and wrinkled nose. You were frowning and had a soft baby cry. Finally here, born that cold winter morning, my easy going, content, fat little Samuel. We are so happy to have you in our family. I just can't imagine life without you.

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Oh Sammy boy-boy. You have been so happy today. It's knew it was a special day and you loved it. We celebrated your birthday twice. Once last night with Gram and Gramps, Dee-Dee and Matt and tonight with Papa and Grandma. Jake and Mia have been so excited for your birthday. They helped make a snowman cake for you and wow! You loved that cake! You dove right in and devoured that silly snowman cake causing everyone to laugh at your excitement.

We sang "Happy Birthday" to you often because it made you so happy. You beamed at us and would clap when we finished. You made us laugh at your enthusiastic dance and giggle. How could we not sing to you?

As I have watched you these past few weeks, you have grown so much. You have started to crawl and try to crawl up the stairs, you will pull yourself up to stand and have received quite a few battle wounds in the process. For your birthday, Grandma Sharon gave you a walker toy that you seem to like. Once I stood you up to it, you wanted to walk with it everywhere. It quickly became your favorite of the night.

You seem to understand what is being said to you and want to be involved. Tonight you played ball with Jake and giggled and laughed and threw the ball as much and as fast as you could. Watching my loving Jacob playing with you just because it brought you so much joy just melts my heart. I hate to see you grow up. I want to keep you just the way that you are.

Love, Mama

The best kind of friend.

The best kind of friends help you with your homework so you can play sooner.

Still feeling grateful.

We got handed down a kitchen table and chairs from my brother James and lovely sister-in-law Debbie. I am so excited about it especially since our kitchen chairs were on their last legs. Literally. Just about lost the 3rd chair out of the four that we bought. Jake broke the first and I broke the 2nd. I was standing on it fixing something while talking on the phone when it all of the sudden tipped over. I crushed it with my massive behind. Mia was extremely distraught over the chair. Never mind my bruised body. I took a picture to prove it. Who would of thought that Shopko chairs just wouldn't last??

Not only did I kill the chair but the poor, tortured ficus tree too. You can see it's leaves strewn about in this picture. I moved the tree constantly because I thought it wasn't getting enough light, too much light, not enough water, too much water.....ahh! Why aren't you happy tree?!?! I didn't know that the tree was in shock from all that movement.

Where was I? Oh yes, the table and chairs. It's a nice pedestal table with six Windsor back chairs. It has a large leaf that when put in, I can sit 8 easily. Our kitchen eating area is small so I don't think that we will be putting the leaf in any time soon, but still, it's nice to know that we have it. And the best part about the whole deal was that my brother James and his son brought the table over to our house, set it up in the kitchen and took the old table and chairs downstairs. I didn't have to do anything but gush over how generous they were and how grateful that they were setting it up for us. They were happy to do it too! It almost feels foreign to me when I am helped without asking and is happy to do it too. I am afraid that I am getting pretty spoiled. First my Dad helping with the painting and fixing the tree and pulling the carpet. Then my mom decorating and taking care of the Christmas tree for me. I feel like I am on a pedestal with somebody hand feeding me grapes and fanning me with big leaves. Ahhh......it's a wonderful feeling.

Checked

Let see.....

• two flute rehearsals -check
• four flute gigs - check
• three Christmas parties - one at my house - check
• painted my hallway - check
• helped rip out the blasted carpet in the bathroom (yuck and yeah!) - check
• decorated the house - check
• go to work in between - check
• Do all of these events BEFORE the 10th of December - check

I haven't been home for an evening until last night when we had our family Christmas party at my house. It's always nice to get together but my house is too small to accommodate that many people! We still had a good time crammed together.

I was most definitely stressed that the family party was going to be at my house this year. I cleaned just about every chance that I got and it still wasn't enough time. My sweet parents helped me out a ton. Papa came and helped me finish painting the hallway and ripped out that stinky bathroom carpet. He fixed the Christmas tree when the lights went out somewhere between strand one and strand ten. He helped watch my kids while I was at rehearsals. Mom came and helped decorate my house. She single handily decorated the tree, oh the tree!! Since I have been gone so long, I haven't mentioned that we got a fake tree given to us! It was such a blessing to not have to worry about the expense of a real tree this year. I truly have some sweet friends. The tree is gigantic and full. Much bigger than any Charlie Brown tree that we have gotten in the past. I didn't have enough ornaments to fill the tree, but fortunately in the box with the tree were several lengths of ribbon that they didn't want either. Mom filled the tree in with it and it looks very festive. This means that I have an excuse to get more ornaments this year during the Christmas clearance. That is always fun! I love these ornaments and these snowflakes from Restoration Hardware, to mention a few. There are a lot of ornaments that I like at RH. They are on sale now too. So very tempting. I would love to do blue and brown and glittery goodness Christmas tree.

Now my crazy schedule is done and I just need to pull myself together for Sam's 1st birthday next week. Can't believe that it's already been a year! Then onto Christmas.........

Only two more major events spaced out over two weeks. I think that I can handle that.

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My good friend Dawn has finally started her own blog. Head on over to see what life in Texas brings during the month of December. Dawn's blog found here.

Salt Dough Ornaments

It was such a nice, lazy Sunday afternoon yesterday. Perfect for a quick and easy Christmas craft. My kids LOVE to paint so they were especially thrilled to paint these salt dough ornaments from Montessori by Hand. It's funny that I have never made salt dough because it seemed like it was a big messy hassle. Not so. So very simple. I doubled the recipe she had listed and it made 14 ornaments. We could of made 20 more. While Mia enjoyed smearing on all of the colors onto her ornaments, Jake carefully painted a snowflake, Santa hat, reindeer, and two striped ornaments.

It was fun for me to paint too. I particularly enjoy the snowman I made. All in all, this was a quick and easy and cheap project. We will probably make these again soon. I think that I will double the batch yet again and get out the cookie cutters to make fun shapes. I am thinking about using these as decorations for our gifts we are making, which are coming along quite nicely I might add.

This project fit nicely into my theme for this holiday. Simplified, using what I have focusing on faith, family and feelings. Oh yes, speaking of faith and family, I do have a list of scriptures to read daily about the Savior. Feel free to follow along!

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Thirty minutes to find to find all the snow clothes, twenty minutes to get them bundled up, ten minutes playing in the snow. The first big snowfall of the season...priceless.


This big storm put me in the mood for Christmas. It was December 1st and no desire to drive in the storm so I pulled out all of the Christmas decorations, put on some Christmas music and spent most the day decorating.

Sam's Tests and surviving NaBloPoMo

I took Sam to get an evaluation since he has yet to learn to crawl. I am worried about his lack of development. Three weeks ago, he wasn't army crawling or sitting himself up from a laying position on the floor. Something he should be doing by now so I took him into the doctor and he gave me a referral for the State's Early Intervention program. Since that visit, Sam has improved and will now army crawl and can get himself sitting up. An improvement that we are excited about, but not enough.

It was interesting for me to watch them test him. the nurse sat on the floor with him and played. She had a big bag of fun things for him to do. Squishy balls and sticks, blocks and containers to put them in, beads tied to a string, a little mirror and a bell glued to the end of stick. He really enjoyed playing with her and I got some good ideas for toys for him. He enjoyed turning the pages while reading the book. I never thought to let him turn the pages. And he colored! I never thought to hand him a crayon and paper at his age. Sam thoroughly enjoyed himself. The nurse went out to finish her paperwork and when she came back, Sam excitedly sat at her feet and waited to see what he was going to play next. He waited for a few minutes while she went through the results of his test with me before he realized that she wasn't going to play with him anymore. He was a bit irritated.

Sam was tested for all the skills of a 12 month old. He tested 8 months for his gross motor skills as I expected. I didn't expect that he would test 10 months for his cognitive skills, 9 months for his social skills and 9 months for his language skills and fail his hearing test. The nurse said that if he had fluid in his ears that it would fail the test. Something that he will have checked out at his next appointment. She expects that his language skills have suffered because of it. If it's fluid, then we put tubes in. I pray it's as simple as that. We will be anxiously waiting to find out. Now to wait for the physical therapist to call. I am interested to watch that process too. It will be good for Sam. I am sure that he is going to be fine. He's just taking his time. Just like when he didn't want to be born and came late. Too late. Way too late........but that's another story.

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On another note, today's the last day for NaBloPoMo! A whole month of posting the most random, mundane things. Thanks for sticking it out. I am looking forward to posting when I want to post. Hallelujah! We made it through! Thanks for sticking it out with me.

I wanna play!

Jessica was playing this game last night. Do you think that mine are right? I don't. I think that they all look more like Ryan!

the morning light

I love how bright the light is the morning after a snow storm. My house is lit up with the sparkling light this morning and that makes me happy even after several hard nights without much sleep. I wish that I could say that the sparkling light was making my clean house sparkle, but I am not a liar.

Wait a second?

What? It's almost December? This Friday will be December 1st? Huh? When did this happen? Where did the month go? This Thursday kicks off the busiest weeks of the year for me. Four flute concerts, work schedules, three Christmas parties - one that I am hosting, something every night until December 12th. Just in time to get ready for Sam's first birthday and then blink and it will be Christmas. Sheesh. Something tells me that these next few weeks are going to be a blur.

Thanks for the candy Mom

I thought I was clever giving Sam the box of Nerds. It made a nice rattling sound and was keeping him busy. Little did I know it was because he was busy opening the package. I looked up to see him enthusiastically shaking the Nerds out onto his highchair and eating them as fast as he could. Mmmmm....thanks for the candy mom! At least it kept him busy long enough for me to finish a Christmas present today!! One down and three more to go.

Jake blogs

Jake's lego battle

the new big battle has arrived starwars v.s.regular legos in battle. commdercody v.s. blue leader.and starwars lego lose.

i love legos so much!! by the way they are sosososo fun!!!!!!!!!!!
yo it's from jake.

Not for cleaning anymore.

Saturdays used to be the day that everyone worked and worked to get the house clean. We had lots of chores that had to be done before we could play. There were never ending projects and Dad's lists that were longer than the rest of ours. He always worked all day long into the wee hours of the morning. Then we had a sparkly clean house with many new projects finished and the sense of accomplishment mixed with exhaustion. That's how Saturdays used to be. Fast forward to today. There was no cleaning done today. I really want it all clean, but there is just no time. This is what my Saturdays are like now.

• Wake up with baby before 7am. Nurse baby and feed kids.
• Run early to the craft store to get the crafts that I need for Christmas presents on sale. 40% discount is definitely worth it.
• Then went oh so late to my 8:30am rehearsal.
• Back home after 10:30am.
• Take care of baby that couldn't wait to see me again and negotiate play time for Mia.
• Wash, dry and style Mom's hair. She's my babysitter on Saturday mornings. It's wonderful! She comes to ME so I can go to rehearsals.
• Send home the extra four children that had migrated to my house so I can take Mom to run errands.
• Go to Rod Works for Mom where she buys a really fun Santa. Jessica, you would love it!
• Run into Target so I can see if they have any sale toys left that we wanted. Get one rain check, a bag of carrots, a free box of brownies and chocolate icing. The samples sold me.
• Drop Mom off at home where she loads me up with Thanksgiving leftovers and homemade fudge. I am the favorite you know. :)
• Hurry home to bathe everyone and finally get a shower. It's after 1:30pm by now.
• Dry my hair and Mia's new do and get some make-up on.
• Put baby down for nap.
• Talk Mia out of playing outside in her best church dress and put on something warm. We settle on cowboy boots, a long sleeve dress, coat, Jake's gloves and a pretty bow. The bow part was crucial.
• Finally get a chance to eat some lunch but realize that something spilled in the fridge, the dishes are still on the table, the stove has dried soup on it and there are 180 million crayons all over the floor.
• Remember that I heated up soup 15 minutes ago and force myself to stop so I can eat. Hearty Hodgepodge soup with whole wheat bread and butter and a glass of Gingerale. Mmmm....comfort food.
• Negotiate more playtime.
• Find clean clothes for kids for tonight's concert.
• Realize that I need to leave to pick up Mom in just 20 minutes and I am blogging about my day while my house is not cleaning itself.

Still need to figure out my concert clothes for the flute concert tonight in just over an hour. Guess I don't have time to practice. And I haven't started my Primary lesson. Don't forget that! I think that I will go and eat another piece of homemade fudge and then go squeeze myself into my concert black and hustle out to get Mom.

The Holiday Season Has Begun

I suppose it's now officially Christmas season. It's about the time that I forgive the stores and start really looking at the Christmas hoopla that they have going on. Time to buckle down and get this Christmas gift giving underway. I am not a big black Friday shopper. Not that I wouldn't love to go out and do it, because I would, but because Ryan is always working that day. It's not possible to get kids Christmas presents when I have all three kids in tow, but I do go later in the morning and get a few presents for other members of the family. It could be fun to shopped till I dropped, but I am sure the novelty would wear off.
The Christmas gift crafting has begun and it involves lots of spray paint and glue. I should add glitter and then I will really feel like a school girl making something "special" for her family. I have found the scriptures that I want to read with the kids in the effort of bringing Faith back into the season and I found a really sweet little Nativity count down that I am going to do also. I have all that I need to craft my projects, now I need the motivation to get it done!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Baking with Mia

Every time I cook anything in the kitchen, Mia is right there by my side. She loves to cook and bake. She needs to taste everything, especially the sugar. She measures and pours in and mixes and stirs. Then she helps with the timer and washing the dishes. She's going to be quite handy to have around as she gets bigger. Tonight, we made VaLynn's Sweet Potato Pie. Mmmmm.....yum-o! It's a Thanksgiving favorite on my side of the family. That and Lemon-Pear Jello, Mom's turkey gravy, yummy fancy salads that my sister Teryn makes, turkey, mashed potatoes and green beans. Hmmm? Did I leave anything out? Oh, the pies. Debbie's pies, VaLynn's pies, Teryn's lemon meringue pie, Dad's favorite Banana Cream pie. They are all so good, we end up taking little slivers of each pie even though we are still stuffed full from all that good food. This year is the in-laws year, so we will be celebrating with Ry's family. A much smaller get together, but good nevertheless. I am looking forward to lots of good eating and family time tomorrow. Hope you are too!

Nutcracker

As I briefly mentioned Saturday, I was able to get last minute tickets to the Nutcracker for the kids and I. The local ballet company puts on the Nutcracker early every year and the tickets are cheap. They hire professional dancers for the big parts and then have all those cute kids doing the rest. They do a pretty good job and for only $6 a ticket,
it's most definitely worth it.
I was more than excited to announce that we were going. It was a first for both kids. Mia immediately hugged me declaring me the best mother ever! We had an extremely busy Saturday, so nighttime came quickly. We dressed in our best clothes and off we went to the theater. The hustle and bustle was very exciting and both kids were awed by two-story high Nutcracker in the entry way. Hands held tight, we found our way to our seats that were surprisingly good. Middle of the balcony, just a few rows back. We could see into the orchestra pit and the stage perfectly. It was so fun for me to see members of the orchestra that I knew and went to college with. The overture started and I was so happy to share with my children this experience. They both did really well. Mia was thrilled with everything and was the first one to clap after each dance. She oohed and awed over every sparkly costume. My favorite comment of hers was when the orchestra swelled and she gasped and said "Oooo.....that tickled my tummy." Her favorite part of the ballet was sighed "everyffing." She was so darling and fun to take.
Jacob did well too. It's not surprising to me. He enjoys a good performance. Even cheesy stuff not that this was cheesy. He, of course, loved the battle between the Rat King and the Nutcracker. Those of you that know Jake I am sure can imagine the constant commentary going on during that scene. Still, he was at least half-way quiet and whispered mostly. Amazing for him. The battle was wonderful for him, but his favorite part was the snow dancers that danced with the Sugar Plum Fairy. His tumbling teacher was one of them and he was soooooo excited to see her. She danced wonderfully and it really was fun to see her. Both kids were losing interest during the waltz so I told them to find the instruments in the orchestra that they could hear playing. Mia really enjoyed the the timpani and imitated to him. Jake did well finding the different instruments. After the ballet, he wanted to wait for her to tell her that she did well and he was excited to see her. We waited for about ten minutes, but there was no telling if she had already made it out or not. We decided to leave, but he plans on telling her in class next week. I thanked them for letting me take them on a date and Jake, true to his nature, said that he actually kind of liked it and hoped that we could go again next year. It was a very good experience and plan on going next year. It's a tradition now. And, I must admit, I now have the tiniest bit of Christmas excitement started because of it.

Quite the salesman

I came home to these signs on the door on Saturday morning. Turns out that Jake opened up little store to sell his handmade bookmarks. He put on his Sunday best so that he would "look good for his customers" and yelled for customers. Actually, he sold quite a few of them. The pricing was a little interesting. Some were 1 cent, others 32 cents or even free as the sign says. I support the handmade arts so of course I bought a few. I admire his inventiveness. He has opened quite a few stores now. Car wash, yard sales and lemonade stands. Remember the very successful lemonade stand?

Remember the fund raisers that the elementary schools did. I remember being so excited after the assembly they had telling us all the really cool stuff that we could earn if we sold impossible amounts of wrapping paper. Wrapping paper that I couldn't even sell to my parents. Well, Jake's' school is selling cookie dough and so far, Jake has sold 10 orders all by himself!! He is hilarious to listen to! He has quite the sales pitch. He left looooong messages to those who weren't home about all the gourmet (pronounced "gor-met") and premium flavors and how they can use a check. When they called back, his customers said that he was just too cute not to buy from. I haven't helped him with one thing. This is all his thing.

Looks like my little guy has the knack for sales like his Dad!

Eleven months

Hello blue eyes!

This past month, your personality has exploded. We think that you are pretty stinkin' cute! Some of the new little tricks you do are pointing at Dad with your fat little hand and grunting when he comes home. It's like you are saying "Hey you! I see you!" You clap and sing and babble a lot saying dada and mmmmmmama.

Dad likes to give you jobs to do. It makes us laugh. You really enjoy taking Daddy's duck calls out of the box one by one. Examining them as you go looking for the perfect duck call. When it's found, you put it in your mouth and toot it. Sometimes, it surprises even you! It's fun to see you work on your job.

You really like to eat. Eat, eat, eat! You will eat as much as Jake and Mia, often more than the combined. You really must be growing or you have a hollow leg.

We have had the computer on the family room floor for the past two weeks or so and you will work hard army crawling and rolling to get to it so you can tap the keyboard and hold that blinky mouse. Ryan and I like to say that we are going to get you your own computer with a blinky mouse as a Christmas present. We know that you love it.

We have an appointment next week to check out your motor skills delay. It's worries me a lot and at the same time, it doesn't. It seems that you do what you are going to do in your own time. It will be interesting to see what they say. I am looking forward to finding out how to help you learn. Maybe you are just content to not learn. Maybe you need something to encourage you. We could always strap a blinky mouse to your head like a carrot. That might get you started.

You are still a delight and a joy. Everyone loves you very much. Your fat checks and baby smell and gap toothy grin makes me so happy. I can't believe that you are growing so fast! Eleven months already? Where has the time gone?

Love, Mama

Phew!

It's been another one of those days where there is one thing after another, after another, after another........you get the picture. It's Sam's 11 month birthday today but there is just no time to do his monthly letter today. We have tickets to the Nutcracker tonight. It's the first time that I have taken the kids and I am excited to see their reactions.

A new look!

Mia's got a new look and it's so stinkin' cute!

Random Thoughts Thursday

My Mom is my best movie buddy. Ryan is really not into movies. Well, not into any movies that aren't battles of historic nature of some sort of war or something manly like that. This is something that I didn't know when I married him. He used to take me to the movies all of the time. Feel good movies, girly movies. funny movies. Not a spec of war movies in the mix. Little did I know, he was just wooing me. Blast. Anyway, back to my mom, my best movie buddy. She's the kind of gal that I can call up at 9pm and she will meet me at the 9:15pm movie with a large popcorn in hand to share. So we headed out to the finest little dollar theater in town last night and saw Stardust . It was fabulous! I thoroughly enjoyed it! I highly recommend that you see it. I haven't read the book, so I didn't know what I was in for and I do realize that I am extremely easy to entertain since I am a bit hard up for entertainment. All that aside, seriously consider seeing this movie!

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Other news, WE HAVE NEW CARPET!! Hooorrrayyy!! It's so nice to know that we will have our basement back. It was completely out of commission after I pulled out the carpet only to find out that the plush, new, free carpet didn't fit the space. It's like the basement was dead to me. And we suffered because I never washed any laundry. I have spent the last two weeks looking high and low for the best deal on decent carpet. It's not the highest quality out there, but it will do for our needs. The carpet guy told me that our lovely multi-color shag carpet from the spare room needed to be put in a museum. Apparently it's from the 60's and it's made from acrylic. The turquoise stuff is from the early 70's. I think that it's safe to say that the carpet has lived it's life and then some.

Our lovely basement has had quite the transformation. It's gone from turquoise carpet with paneling and pretty country basket wallpaper and pink trim to finding three different kinds of paneling and adding lots and lots of primer to make the retro chic look to a neutral city with brand spankin' new carpet. I can't wait to get in there and rearrange it all!

*(Oh stress-o-matic! I just was looking for a picture of my mom and I apparently am missing my pictures from August to November!!! Ahhh!! I hope that they are findable!)

Simplifying the Holidays - Family

Christmas is really on my mind lately. I don't want to think about it because it seems too early. I know that I will be burned out before the holiday comes if I start before Thanksgiving. I am one that hates that there is a row of holiday lights coming out in October and shudder when I hear the holiday music playing in the stores before Halloween. Really, it IS too early! Still, it is mid-November and since I don't have a huge part in Thanksgiving, my thoughts start to wander to getting organized for Christmas.
This year, the funds are tighter than usual. I would love to go out and buy fabulous presents for everyone and not worry about the money part. Who wouldn't? But, instead, I worry and fret about the gift giving and then compromise trying to the best that I can for the budget that I have. We have a large extended family and a small Christmas budget so the money is stretched thin. Often, Ryan and I forgo giving each other presents in favor of better gifts for the kids. I am sure there are a lot of people that do this.
Anyway, in my effort to simplify the holidays even further this year, I have been thinking of the feeling of Christmas. What does it mean to me and my family? The important parts for me are faith, family, friends and traditions. Starting with family, I wrote a list of what Christmas meant to me and then interviewed my kids. Jake said that he thought of snow, Santa, presents and giving presents and being good for presents (OK - presents are VERY important to him), playing in the snow and having hot chocolate. Mia was a little less verbal. She said Santa bringing her Baby Alive ( or Baby A-lie as she calls it), making cookies, seeing Santa at the mall, baby kittens (huh?), and gooey (double huh?).
Asking them this, I can see what is important to them and the glaring fact that faith is missing from their list. Granted, they are young and LOVE presents. This year, in effort to bring the spirit and faith back into the holiday, I am going to do a scripture countdown so that we might learn a bit more about the Savior. Reading and talking about the Savior on a daily basis will be good. So that's the first task for me. Make the countdown. I love a good advent calendar. I have got some ideas and there are tons of cute, crafty ideas on the Internet to make it cute. The cute part is mostly for me.

to be continued....

Outakes

Because they are my children, I love all their photos but I especially love the ones that their personality shines through.

Sam's seriousness.

The funny squint Sam does when you blow on his face.


Mia kept striking poses.

Attacking the photographer with leaves. Look at Mia's hair! I can hear them. Mostly, I hear Jake 'cause he is kind of loud.


My Jake who is suddenly looking so grown up to me.

Sweet looks on all of their faces. They all look a like.