Favorite things

One of the bloggers I read often suggested taking a photo [or 10] of the things that make me happy today. Well, some of my kids are in school, so I'm posting a pic from a few weeks ago instead.

Maybe it's because I am consciously choosing to smile instead of snap when they're being hooligans. Maybe it's because I am focusing on their good behavior rather than their naughty tricks. But, lately, I have felt *joy* when I think of them. And I love my children dearly, but I'd be the first to acknowlege that they are less than perfect. They're full of energy, quite creative, loud, mischevious, and altogether annoying sometimes. LOL, but they're also helpful, motivated, charming, full of love, and each one of them holds a piece of my heart.

For so long, I've felt like a spring, coiled too tightly, about to snap from the pressure of parenthood. Lately that feeling has eased, the tense coil has loosened. I've found a peaceful place- a happy place- and I never want to lose this.

j

resoved

So many resolutions, so little willpower...
This year, I'm resolving on a few things:

1. to exercise [if I don't make it a resolution, I find excuses.] Because I like fitting into my jeans ;)
2. daily meditations- reading the scriptures. Somehow this brings peace into my chaotic life.
3. develop patience- has been a resolution ever since I discovered mine was missing... And Jared mentioned the other day he's noticed that I'm better at this. ;) he got major brownie points for saying something, too.
4. budget- we've had one for awhile, I just need to focus on sticking to it. Hard to do when there are things I *want* and the money's there. ...must save it, must save it...
5. scrapbook- well, mostly this is to keep me motivated and recording our family's history. I'm resolving to DO the project ideas I have saved in my idea folder. One a week, that's all I'm asking of myself.
6. DO- this is to remind me that along with making lists of things to do, I need to take action on them.

Saturday, we [meaning all the kids and myself- Jared had drill] drove down to St George to attend a christening. Our nice roomy SUV is currently getting its transmission rebuilt, so we took the teeny little Ford Focus. It fit everybody, but was a bit cramped. Anyway, M rode up front with me for a lot of the drive, and she loves to talk. She told me all sorts of things, but one was quite funny and solemn all at the same time. Apparently, her teacher was talking about New Year's Resolutions, and everyone in the class wrote down something they wanted to do differently this year, complete with a colored picture of said thing. M's resolutions: to listen to my teacher, to listen to my parents. [she brought home the paper with the picture on it yesterday, which showed her sitting and large people with balloon sayings standing next to her] And I almost laughed at her- she's six and already making resolutions? Then I thought for a moment, and was rather humbled. She's six, and already she wants to become more like Jesus. And I'm supposed to parent this child! wow.

**totally random thing I love today: portable paper towels. They're enclosed in a nickel-sized plastic pill that you pop open when you need something to wipe up a spill. Have NO idea how well they work, but I'm totally in love with the compactness of this idea.
[they're available at www.compactimpact.com]

no pics yet...

but I'm sure I'll inundate this site w/them once I have that little USB cable back...

Still at the in-laws. Have spent a bunch of time just hanging out and playing games with everybody. Melinda's boyfriend Jon is great w/my kids- he's always up for playing with them, and teasing them, and he has such patience with them. They watch for him every day. "Is Jon coming over with Melinda? When will he be done with work?" I think he's trying out for favorite uncle status, to go along with Melinda's title of favorite aunt ;).

Got word a few days ago that #5 boy is here- hooray for Sloan! Josh and Brooks' baby was the #5 grandson born *this year* to my in-laws. That brings their grandchildren up to 10, 8 of which are boys! LOL, we're going to have some wild family reunions in about 3 years.

And I have to write a 'hooray for M' at this point. She's a wonderful girl, so full of energy and creativity. She has to be tough, to get on with all her brothers, but she's still so sweet and kind to Myles. Every time she's near him, she's asking to hold him. And he'll look up at her and grin for a few minutes. She'd hold him forever, I think, but he fusses because he likes to be able to move and kick now. I'm so proud of her.

j

Christmas toys

Okay, so Christmas was laid back and fun this year. I love that part the best- the relaxing after it's over part LOL. Jared made pull-apart bread Christmas Eve, then got up Christmas morning and put it in to bake. We eat breakfast before we open presents [tradition we borrowed from Jared's family], so the kids are full of something healthy. They'll be snacking on candy, and fudge, and wassail, and cookies, -- all the lovely holiday treats that are mandatory for celebrating this season-- for the rest of the day. While it was baking, he took a nap under the tree, and that's where the kids found him when they snuck up the stairs. Thank goodness they slept in 'till 7:30am! That was my favorite present this year...

Opened presents- Frosty the Reindeer brought 7-up for the kids [tradition we borrowed from my family ;)]. Frosty is our 'white-elephant' gift giver. My grandpa always got presents from Cousin R, who supposedly lived out in the Uintah Mountains somewhere. One year Cousin R sent him a tiger suit; another year he got a box full of cans with the labels removed. And when we were little, Frosty the Reindeer came to our house with funny presents for us kids. Since we've grown up, there are a lot of funny present-givers: the tricky gnome came one year, Frosty the Reindeer shows up at my house every year, and some of the other reindeer got into the game this year [with some help from Alyson]: Comet, Dancer, Blitzen, and Dasher were all givers of fun presents. Dasher gave me some partially used sticker sheets. ;) This is another favorite tradition [although in my mind, only the favorite activities get repeated and become traditions, so technically *all* our traditions are my favorites LOL]. I love how creative people are, and how there isn't a rule about how many presents we can give/get this way, and also how much fun it is to open these and see what inexpensive little jokes we can come up with. Many times they're things already on hand, like those sticker sheets, or something that already belongs to that person that was 'borrowed' without asking LOL, or an item found at the Salvation Army. Never anything that costs a lot of money, and always funny in a nice way.

So after lunch, we headed over to my parents' house. Joy and my dad were sick, and stayed in their rooms the whole time we were there :(, but we got to visit with my mom, and Burke's family, Kyle, and Alyson. H and my nephew Tyler are the same age, and both are tough little boys. They wrestled and fought [mostly play-fighting], and behaved a lot like little puppies do. And W & M played with Alyson and Kyle, and for a little while, with the grown-ups. Burke has a game called "Settlers of Catan" which requires strategy- these kinds of games are always big in my family. And I fed Myles about 800 times yesterday. Didn't have a place I could lay him down, and the kids kept waking him up when he did fall asleep, so he ate and ate and ate... But he slept all night last night, and took a great nap this morning, too. It's all good!

M lost one of her Christmas presents this morning- she got nail polish from Santa, with my caveat: only use it in the bathroom. Yeah. Already on her walls, and so I confiscated it. And she was pouting and yelling how awful and not fair her life is [which is funny now, but wasn't then]. I finally sat down with her and asked her this: "If your friend came over and painted fingernail polish on the bedroom walls, would you EVER ask your friend to come over again?" she answered "NO." "So," says I, "when you do this to our house, you lose your nail polish. And you get to stay in your room. " arrrrgh. Definitely a blessing to find enough calm to discuss this without yelling or losing my temper.

Gametime- we scored a few games this year. Burke's family got ours to give presents to, and they gave us Clue jr and Scrabble jr. I think that the clue jr is more complicated than the regular Clue, but it's different, and kind of fun. Scrabble jr we're playing tonight [H has to take his nap, and wanted us to wait for him]. Oh, then W got Mousetrap from Santa. It's fun, but long, so we may end up tweaking the rules so it moves faster. ;)

and I'm hiding in the craft room with small and hungry baby for a bit of quiet time
j

one more happy event

He's never been all that impressed with binkies. He'd take the soothie [given at the hospital] if he was desperate for something to suck on, but spit out any other binkies we offered him. Now that he's found his thumb, however, he has completely lost interest in his binky. But he's pretty good, especially for an almost 3 month old, at finding that thumb. Reminds me of Shel Silverstein's poem, "Thumbs."
Oh the thumb-sucker's thumb
May look wrinkled and wet
And withered, and white as the snow,
But the taste of a thumb
Is the sweetest taste yet
[As only we thumb-suckers know].

j

I'm a caribbean!

Went to Temple Square in SLC on Thursday. Love the lights, and watching my kids run. They tried to get lost a few times, but we found them anyway...

Learned some new things about Santa this week: H told me he has a purple beard that shoots out cotton candy. While we were talking about the North Pole, W informed our family that Santa lives in a castle. Otherwise, he says, where would the elves stay?

And this is my 'Caribbean.' As in "Pirates of the..." H came in to see me, demanding that I take a picture of him dressed [in his words] as a caribbean. The eyepatch is a sticker, and the snotty nose is courtesy of this week's cold.

Last random bit of info today: Lunch. I had grilled cheese, an apple, and some hot cocoa. H had a toasted PB&J sandwich [apparently this melts the PB], pickles, some of my apple, and a taste of my hot cocoa. Luckily Jared was home, as getting pickles out of the jar is NOT my job! Hate the smell, hate the taste, only buy them because everybody else in this house thinks they *must* have them. blech!!!

Happy Christmakwanzaahanakkuh!

or for the less politically correct, Merry Christmas ;)

O Christmas tree

Monday we went and picked out a tree. W and M were running and slipping through the lot, crying "I found the PERFECT one!" But we settled on one, and got it into the car, and home in one piece.

Myles was less than thrilled with the whole car thing- he loves being outside, but detests his carseat. He screamed all the way to the tree lot, quietly looked around while we searched for that elusive 'perfect tree', then screamed the whole ride back. He wore himself out, and missed watching the kids decorate the tree.

It looks lovely, doesn't it? LOL, the kids put ornaments on the front, but the sides and back are quite bare! And that's okay. I'm learning to let go of perfection here ;). But I still have a small box of ornaments, and I think I'll fill in some of the blank spots while they're at school today.

Last, just a cute pic of the sleeping baby. He's quite happy to sit in the high chair now, which allows him to be with everybody. I'm always afraid if I set him down on the floor that somebody will step on him. He'd rather I hold him all the time, but he'll settle for the chair, which is next to the tree right now. The little twinkly lights fascinate him.

We're supposed to be visiting Temple Square up in SLC tonight. My brother and his family are in town for Christmas, and arranged for tickets to a movie up there, and we'll be taking in the lights beforehand.

This is our gingerbread house. Remember the sunday school song about the wise man and the foolish man? [the wise man built his house upon a rock, the foolish man built upon the sand] We didn't build on a solid foundation [table's a bit wobbly], and there was an earthquake [someone bumped the table]. But it tasted pretty good!
And the kids ate all the "extra" candy, just to help us out with cleaning up after ;)
I knew ahead of time, though, that I'd want the kids to do it my way, and not make a mess, so I asked Jared if he would supervise. Then, Myles was hungry [he's ALWAYS hungry], so I ended up feeding him while they were making this lovely and unique residence. I figured if I came in after they finished, I could admire it and not be all anal about the mess they made. Jared laughed at me- said I'll never overcome my "problem" with messes if I avoid messy situations. *I* told him this IS my way of overcoming LOL. Plus I kind of like being sensitive to messes- I enjoy having a nice orderly home. But I don't want the kids missing out on the fun of gingerbread house making [or other messy activities] because I can't stand chaos. Okay enough angst ;)
and on a completely unrelated note, I’ve been enjoying a bit of holiday cheer. I just uploaded a bunch of Christmas CDs to my ipod, and I’m enjoying the constant stream of music. *humming*
j

baby of record

Yesterday we christened Myles- he's now a "baby of record." Meaning, he's officially on the records of our church. But it was neat to have so much family here for that. Jared spoke the prayer over him, and both his father and mine assisted. My grandfather also stood with them- we gave him my grandfather's name as his middle name- and I wasn't expecting him to come. He's doing all right, but doesn't travel well, and so it was extra special to have him present to hear us name Myles after him. After the service, we headed home for a feast and some family time. And thankfully the roads were clear for everybody to drive home. We did get an inch or so late last night.

This year I made up an advent calendar, of activities centered around Christmas, for us to do each day. And I have to say we've not done everything on the days I'd planned, but that's okay. I'm being flexible! Plus, since moving to Utah, I've discovered a few things unique to this area for us to participate in. The Festival of Trees: people decorate wreaths or Christmas trees, then donate them to the Festival, and other people buy them; the money goes to Primary Children's Hospital to cover care for children without insurance. This was awesome- I didn't take pictures, but it was a great experience for the kids. Another experience I've yet to have elsewhere is visiting Temple Square in SLC. Every year they light the entire grounds of the temple with lights. There are also creches all over, and they pipe music [Mormon Tabernacle Choir, of course!] so the whole experience is centered around Jesus Christ and his birth. I love the special calmness we feel there. Even with so many people around us, it is quiet and solemn. Also up in SLC, they put on free concerts in a building next to the temple.

Another Christmas activity that I started this year focused on gift-giving. I have a stash of presents for birthday parties, etc. that I stock whenever I run across a good sale. And this year, I decided I would have my kids shop for each other in this stash, and anything they picked out would be a dollar. [of course, most of the stuff in the stash is a little more expensive than that, but not by much] A few advantages: no trip to the mall/store with 4 kids in tow, limited selection, no worries about siblings peeking at their purchases. And their shopping is done- no fussing, or fighting, or picking out an extravagantly expensive toy. I know this won't last, but I'm enjoying every minute while it does!

Oooh, better go- I have two screaming kids. Well, H is screaming because he was sent to his room. He was caught raiding the chocolate Advent calendar. But Myles just woke up screaming hungry. Yeah, we never feed him LOL.

Merry Christmas
j

chubby babies

Went to the doctor's office last Wed [29 Nov] for Myles' 2 month checkup. He's a whopping 11 pounds 6 oz. Looks like he might be catching up to his cousins! He was pretty happy until the nurse gave him his shots. I'm glad to report his lungs are quite healthy and strong... Of course, by the time we got home he was sleeping soundly LOL.
And we all went to the Festival of the trees Friday. Well, all but Jared, who was playing with the Logan First Responders in [of all places] Logan. It was good, though. We walked up and down a few of the aisles, saw the Hello Christmas tree [decorated w/5-inch tall Hello Kitty dolls], the tree decorated with felt gingerbread men that were sewn to look like cookies, the tree with tied flies [for fly fishing] suspended in little glass jars... it was all cool. We watched some groovy tap dancers, and got pretzels and popcorn for the drive home. Myles, bless his pointy little chin, slept the entire time we were there, waking up as I put him back into his carseat. I wish I'd brought my camera, but I'll remember next year!
Stopped at my parents' house Saturday- Dad's looking pretty good, and his incision is healing great. But the bandage is off now, and I can see how big it is- about 6 inches long. He had surgery to insert a teflon pad between one of the nerves in his jaw and a vein that had wrapped around the nerve. Every time blood pumped through that vein, it would push against the nerve, and the pain got bad enough it hurt to even brush his teeth. whew. I'm grateful he made it through the surgery okay, and that it seems to be helping.
We also had a work Christmas party on Saturday night. They had pinatas for the kids, wonderful food, and a gingerbread house kit and Advent calendar for each family to take home. My kids had a blast running around, playing tag, and hide-and-seek. And they scored big on the candy- it's like Halloween again ;)