I cannot believe another year has gone by. What a wonderful and full year it has been. I have so much to say and so little time. I even have a million photos to post and a story to go along with each. I will keep this particular post focused on my thoughts that I want to express at this time.
A year ago felt as though it were a million ago. Last Christmas was the worst Christmas of my life. You may recall me posting about feeling like a scrooge. Which by the way I have read the book now and it is absolutely wonderful and I recommend viewing the Christmas Carol starring Alastair Sim. Very moving. Feel free to go back in time and reread my thoughts during that horrible time for me.
This year I wanted nothing more to make up for last year. I read several wonderful Christmas stories to get in the spirit, A Christmas Carol, Christmas Jars - which I highly recommend and will further mention later on, When Christmas Comes Again, and The Quiet Little Woman and other short Christmas stories by Louisa May Alcott. I also started Christmas far earlier than anyone I know. I started just after Halloween. I sewed and sewed and sewed. Which, by the way, is not like me at all. I have rarely sewn anything in my whole life. Boy did I have fun learning and creating. I also completed all my shopping in November, until Grandma sent a check and ruined the NO STORES THE WEAK BEFORE CHRISTMAS goal. I also did paper craft on wooden boxes, 5 to be exact. I made a paper craft I Love You book for my daughter and together she and I made a cute pillow for her sister. Last year my family started a new tradition of drawing names and the name we choose gets a special home made gift, which explains the last two projects I mentioned. Photos of those mentioned projects will appear at a later time.
The weak before Christmas finally arrived and with it came the smells of orange and spices, amongst other yummy smells. Wassail, spiced nuts, Nutmeg melt aways, Cherry Snowballs, Orange truffles, butter mints, toffee bars, cheese cake with a blue berry sauce, pumpkin pie, and banana cream pie are the many delicious things I slaved over for a weak. I didn't even mention the scrumptious dinner...Turkey, made my mother's way - which, by the way, there is no other way in all the world to make a more tender and juicy turkey, a cous cous stuffing that I invented, sweet potato casserole with cranberries and almonds on top, REAL mashed potatoes, gravy, Frog Eye Salad, my sister's recipe because there is no better one out there, and I completely forgot a fancy veggie so we had cold carrots with an avocado dip.
Christmas Eve Kevin and I were up until after midnight putting together my Christmas present, a piano, oh alright it is a family gift. (If I were to have my very own expensive present and not share, it would be a camera.) After the piano was all put together, dusted and a big bow on top, I took the GINORMOUS box out to the dumpster. With snow falling and the wind not so chilly, I took a moment to slide around on the frozen parking lot of our complex. It was the high light of my week. It was so late that there was not a person or sound other than me laughing and sliding around. I cannot recall a more relaxing moment during the past two months.
Unfortunately the girls are at the age now that they know what Christmas morning brings, NO SLEEP for Mom and Dad. They came in to get us at 630! I don't know how long they were out at the tree but when they jumped on me explaining with great detail and enthusiasm all the many things that were under the tree I figured they had to of been out there for a good several minutes.
Phew, did you catch all that? I was so exhausted by the end of Christmas day I collapsed on the floor feeling like I had jet lag. I literally was in bed asleep by 6pm! I was sad I missed out on the evening fun but I couldn't move without feeling like I might vomit! I even took a Dramamine to get the room to stop spinning. I slept until 730 the next day!
Well, now that I have thoroughly updated you on my amazing 2 months I will wrap this up with an expression of gratitude. The greatest gifts I have are my children, my husband, and my life. I ask for nothing more than that and Heavenly Father has seen fit to bless me with more than I could ever imagine or ask for. The piano is such a blessing to me. It has already filled our home with the sounds of music! We have sang around it and played together. Pianos bring the fondest childhood memories for me and I pray that this new piano does the same for my children.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
A whole lot of Stuff
I have failed again as a blogger. I completely forgot to share our thanksgiving holiday with you, amongst other things.
The first slide show is of our trip to visit family in Vegas. We took the scenic route and boy was it amazing! It was faster and we saw many neat things in those desert mountain, like two different herd of deer (which were also different breeds), a coyote, several large birds of prey, bunnies, and also some plant-life I had never seen, like the Joshua Tree. There was always something to look at. We played travel games, that I bought from my Usborne Company, and the 9 hour road trip felt like 5. It was amazing. The girls didn't even start asking if we were there yet until an hour out. They did ask at the beginning so I explained to them that we would be in Vegas by the time the sun was in the right side windows. Kevin and I both decided that this was the best road trip ever and that we much prefer traveling with older children. What a difference older children make in a road trips.
The next is of our visit with family in St George for turkey dinner. I had so much fun visiting and playing that I forgot to take photos of more than just the girls playing in the rain. The other young lady with my girls is their Aunt. The girls had unbelievable fun in the rain. Emily was the last to poop out. She had a ball! But that girl loves anything involving water!
The next slide show is of Lydia's Birthday. I can't believe I have forgotten to post so many different things! Her Bday started on the Saturday before and ended on the actual day, Monday, in Vegas at Grandma's. We don't do a lot of wrapped gifts for birthdays. Our bday celebrations consist of outings and doing whatever the bday kid wants, well, with in reason anyway. Lydia chose to see Bolt, play at Artist for the Day, use her coupon for Monkey Dooz glitter manicure, and eat at TGIFridays.
Well, with Christmas right around the corner I will call this entry to a close and say, until next time, "Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Day!"
The first slide show is of our trip to visit family in Vegas. We took the scenic route and boy was it amazing! It was faster and we saw many neat things in those desert mountain, like two different herd of deer (which were also different breeds), a coyote, several large birds of prey, bunnies, and also some plant-life I had never seen, like the Joshua Tree. There was always something to look at. We played travel games, that I bought from my Usborne Company, and the 9 hour road trip felt like 5. It was amazing. The girls didn't even start asking if we were there yet until an hour out. They did ask at the beginning so I explained to them that we would be in Vegas by the time the sun was in the right side windows. Kevin and I both decided that this was the best road trip ever and that we much prefer traveling with older children. What a difference older children make in a road trips.
The next is of our visit with family in St George for turkey dinner. I had so much fun visiting and playing that I forgot to take photos of more than just the girls playing in the rain. The other young lady with my girls is their Aunt. The girls had unbelievable fun in the rain. Emily was the last to poop out. She had a ball! But that girl loves anything involving water!
The next slide show is of Lydia's Birthday. I can't believe I have forgotten to post so many different things! Her Bday started on the Saturday before and ended on the actual day, Monday, in Vegas at Grandma's. We don't do a lot of wrapped gifts for birthdays. Our bday celebrations consist of outings and doing whatever the bday kid wants, well, with in reason anyway. Lydia chose to see Bolt, play at Artist for the Day, use her coupon for Monkey Dooz glitter manicure, and eat at TGIFridays.
Well, with Christmas right around the corner I will call this entry to a close and say, until next time, "Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Day!"
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
a Funny Narration
A couple nights ago the girls and I were in the car going to Archiver's to get some free prints. For reasons unknown to me the girls and I engage in some of the most interesting conversation while driving in the car. This night in particular was rather hilarious. I just listened, as making my way in the dark, to my sweet girls carry on the oddest conversation known to Mothers. I missed the beginning of the conversation, due to my own day dreaming, so I will just start my narration at the point when I tuned in.
Emily: "I wish I were more flexible like the girl on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Movie so that I can do all the flips and tricks I want without getting hurt or all the practice and hard work."
Lydia: "I am so frustrated that I am not a monkey. I wish that I were so that I could climb onto the top of all the buildings and swing from lights and trees, just like Curious George."
(So, as you can imagine, my ears perked up.)
The seriousness of my daughters' voices continues as their conversation continues.
Lydia: "I am also really worried."
ME: "WHY?" I asked, hoping I didn't cause the conversation to take a turn from serious to silly, because I thought it was too hilarious that my daughters were carrying on such a hilarious conversation without even breaking a smile, they were truly in complete and utter seriousness!
Lydia: "I know I am a really strong and fast girl, but I am worried because I can't learn to fly because I might fall and get hurt and I really really want to be a super hero but I am afraid of getting hurt while flying and doing tricks and stuff."
ME: holding breath, plugging nose, turning blue, just to prevent from cracking up.
Ok, so their conversation continued in this manner and for some reason my questions caused Emily to reprimand me.
Emily: "Mom you are hurting Lydia's feelings. I think she is going to cry. She is really serious Mom."
ME: "I am sorry Lydia, I do not mean to hurt your feelings. Are you really serious?"
Lydia: "Yes, Mommy, I am. I really am scared of not learning to fly because I am scared of falling."
I went on to explain to my girls that they will be able to do anything they want with hard work and focus. I also explained to them that when I was a girl driving in the car with my parents I used to pretend I was a horse and running alongside the car and high speeds and jumping over huge canyons and such. So, imaginations can be wonderful things but to remember what is pretend and what is real.
Since that night, every chance they have had to play together it is spent being monkeys and swinging from tree tops.
Children...AREN'T THEY THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!
Emily: "I wish I were more flexible like the girl on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Movie so that I can do all the flips and tricks I want without getting hurt or all the practice and hard work."
Lydia: "I am so frustrated that I am not a monkey. I wish that I were so that I could climb onto the top of all the buildings and swing from lights and trees, just like Curious George."
(So, as you can imagine, my ears perked up.)
The seriousness of my daughters' voices continues as their conversation continues.
Lydia: "I am also really worried."
ME: "WHY?" I asked, hoping I didn't cause the conversation to take a turn from serious to silly, because I thought it was too hilarious that my daughters were carrying on such a hilarious conversation without even breaking a smile, they were truly in complete and utter seriousness!
Lydia: "I know I am a really strong and fast girl, but I am worried because I can't learn to fly because I might fall and get hurt and I really really want to be a super hero but I am afraid of getting hurt while flying and doing tricks and stuff."
ME: holding breath, plugging nose, turning blue, just to prevent from cracking up.
Ok, so their conversation continued in this manner and for some reason my questions caused Emily to reprimand me.
Emily: "Mom you are hurting Lydia's feelings. I think she is going to cry. She is really serious Mom."
ME: "I am sorry Lydia, I do not mean to hurt your feelings. Are you really serious?"
Lydia: "Yes, Mommy, I am. I really am scared of not learning to fly because I am scared of falling."
I went on to explain to my girls that they will be able to do anything they want with hard work and focus. I also explained to them that when I was a girl driving in the car with my parents I used to pretend I was a horse and running alongside the car and high speeds and jumping over huge canyons and such. So, imaginations can be wonderful things but to remember what is pretend and what is real.
Since that night, every chance they have had to play together it is spent being monkeys and swinging from tree tops.
Children...AREN'T THEY THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
A Silly Girl
Yesterday my youngest and I spent a bit of time just goofing off. It is probably one of my favorite times being a mother, out of the blue have spontaneous nonsensicle fun.
Here's the story... I was sitting at the computer doing some research for an idea I had for our church christmas party. Lydia was tired of me not paying attention to her. She tried every trick in the book to get me off the computer and messing around with her, whether it was good or bad she got my attention. I decided that I had enough of all her tricks and gave in. She started this whole photo shoot with her own self portrait while sitting on my back (that was one of her last tricks she pulled before I gave in). We had some good laughs while being silly. I love Lydia. I love her silliness. I love how she makes me laugh, when I don't want to laugh, when I shouldn't laugh, and when I really really shouldn't laugh because I should be the parent telling her to stop when it is really not the right time, like when she is in trouble or it is a quiet moment at church.
Here's the story... I was sitting at the computer doing some research for an idea I had for our church christmas party. Lydia was tired of me not paying attention to her. She tried every trick in the book to get me off the computer and messing around with her, whether it was good or bad she got my attention. I decided that I had enough of all her tricks and gave in. She started this whole photo shoot with her own self portrait while sitting on my back (that was one of her last tricks she pulled before I gave in). We had some good laughs while being silly. I love Lydia. I love her silliness. I love how she makes me laugh, when I don't want to laugh, when I shouldn't laugh, and when I really really shouldn't laugh because I should be the parent telling her to stop when it is really not the right time, like when she is in trouble or it is a quiet moment at church.
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