Cords and Chords

 

As part of our Christmas gift my parents got us a half a cord of firewood.  The kids were so excited to see the big truck pull up and dump all of the wood on our driveway.  Then they got all of their winter gear on and went outside to help stack it.  We've already been enjoying a fire blazing in our fireplace the last two days.

 

 

I had to include this youtube video that Allan found the other day.  It's a group of young men in a stake in Utah singing "That's what makes you beautiful" by One Direction, a very popular boy's group apparently, for the young women in their stake.  It is so hilarious.  I couldn't help but think of how thrilled the girls from the stake would have been to watch it.

Christmas Celebrations

I had great intentions of posting pictures of Christmas concerts and baking and parties but once it was all said and done I just never could get around to it.  So, instead of making a 30 page all inclusive post I am just going to cover the most important stuff.

One night the kids and I drove downtown to pick Allan up from work and then made the quick trip down to the Legislature building to look at the lights.  It has become a tradition and as long as it is not too cold I really look forward to it.

 

 

 

We were able to take the kids out to Spruce Grove this year to see the live Nativity that they put on each Christmas.  It was 28 degrees below with the wind chill but the kids couldn't have cared less.  They were completely taken by the beautiful scene set out in the snow.  I was overcome by the peaceful spirit there and felt my tears freeze to my eyelashes and cheeks as we watched and listened to the sweet story of Christ's birth.

 

Afterwards the kids got to pet the live animals that they had there, 2 goats, a llama, a donkey and a miniature pony.  They would have stayed there all night but their wimp of a mom cut the night short when I couldn't get any pictures in focus because I was shaking too hard.

 

 When we got home I asked Walker what his favorite part was.  He said "I liked it when that Wise man came with the big beard, that one named Myrrh".  Pretty cute!!

 

Playing Santa

 

 

 

 The kids and their cousins opted for a puppet nativity at Grandma and Grandpa Larsen's house this year.  It was very entertaining.

 

 

 Christmas morning FINALLY arrives!!

 

 

 

Merry Christmas Bridgee!!

Lillian is having difficulty containing her excitement.

 

Remember how agonizing it was to wait around in your parent's bedroom Christmas morning while they got everything ready downstairs?  By the time I was done getting our new tradition of Christmas cinnamon buns in the oven, making juice to drink out of our traditional mugs, and Allan had started a roaring fire in the fireplace the kids were ready to lose their minds.  As a side note I didn't make the cinnamon buns Christmas morning, I made them the night before and let them rise in the fridge overnight.  I'm not that cruel or crazy.

 

Some of our favorite Christmas morning moments

 

Lillian was a little dumbstruck while we opened gifts.  She didn't quite understand why we kept taking away her latest favorite gift only to hand her another wrapped present that she was supposed to open.  She took a particular liking to this Eeyore from Santa that plays "Rockin' Robin", lights up and dances.  "Ee-yo" is her most beloved Winnie the Pooh character. 

 

Walker asked Santa for Transformers and Power Rangers.  Smart Santa gave him 2 in 1... a Power Ranger Transformer.

He was pretty excited about it.

In fact this picture is a couple of presents later.  I giggle every time I look at this

 

Our sweet, sensible Emma only asked Santa for things that she knew she would use.  Among those things (pencil crayons, craft books and early readers) was a purple sweater.

I couldn't believe how thrilled she was to get this thing.  She's so pretty in it too.

 

Daddy opening his gifts from the kids that didn't quite make it here by Christmas.  I printed pictures of them and gave them to him in envelopes instead.

One of our favorite traditions is letting the kids get gifts for each other.  Here they are looking at their gifts.

 

And Lillian opening her cookie monster bath toy from Emma.

 

I had to include this picture just to document how much I truly love children's books.  Look at how excited I am about this Dr. Seuss book Walker got from Grandma Reay.

 

Matching jammies for the girls from Grandma as well.

 

 We spent several more fun filled hours at my parent's home opening gifts, playing games and eating a delicious Christmas dinner but unfortunately we ran out of space on our camera and I didn't have time to switch pictures over to the computer before we left our house.

 

Every year once the busyness of the Christmas season comes to an end and we take the decorations down and make room for the new toys and clothes I go through a little mini Christmas withdrawal.  I worry that we didn't pack every little thing into our celebrating, that I didn't give them enough opportunities to serve, that we didn't focus enough on the Savior and his birth.  But that quickly passes and I can look forward to a New Year with new goals and challenges and achievements.  Which for me includes 72 hour kits and scrapbooking.

 

A December Weekend

As mentioned in my last post, my weekend would begin with a date with Walker on Friday. 

 

 

 He decided on Red Robin as his restaurant of choice and had his meal (pepperoni pizza) picked out long before we left that evening. It was so much fun to drive there and listen to his little voice chattering on and on behind me about what we were going to do and asking one question after another...after another. He was especially excited about the milkshake that I promised him he could get in place of the usual juice or milk. When his brownie mint milkshake finally arrived he couldn't believe the size of it. The next sequence of pictures is Walker explaining to me that they didn't have any kids' cups left so they had to give him a "Mommy sized" one.

 

After dinner it was on to Christmas shopping for his sisters.  This was my favorite part!  It was heart warming to see him carefully select a gift for each of the girls that he knew they would love.  It was fun to see how well he knew each of them and wanted so much to surprise them with something special just from him.  And when I say surprise I mean tell them what their gift was the second he got in the door.  Luckily Allan managed to intercept him and get the gifts hidden where he will hopefully forget about them until Christmas morning.  All in all my evening with my handsome boy was wonderful and so rewarding.  I hope that we will continue to make our one-on-one time with each of the kids a priority as there is so much we learn from them when they are on their own without anyone or anything to compete for our attention.

 

Saturday we were off to the mall where Allan and I split the kids, the older two with him and baby with me, and got some more Christmas shopping done.  They were all so good that we took them to watch the sea lion show....sort of.  We went to the upper level and let them sit and watch it from above.  They didn't seem to know the difference though and were thoroughly entertained either way.

 

Lillian was far more entertaining than the sea lions though as she screamed and clapped her hands every time the sea lion so much as shook his head.

 

Several months ago Allan and I decided to make a more concerted effort towards setting Sundays apart from any other day of the week.  We decided that we would not allow television or video games or iPad games etc. on Sundays, except for America's Funniest Home Videos that we watch together as a family before bed and the Book of Mormon cartoons that we have.  I quickly learned that if given the choice the kids would watch those Book of Mormon videos all day so we had to revise our rule a little further.  I expect the kids to find productive things to do and I spend as much time as I can reading, baking, and writing letters with them to help keep their mornings full as we wait for 1:00pm church to roll around.  On many, MANY Sunday mornings I feel like I am fighting a losing battle, particularly the mornings that Allan is at meetings.  By the time we are finally ready to head out the door all three of them are often in tears and I am quickly on the way there myself.  There are so many moments that I want to give in and turn on the TV for just an hour so that I can shower or do my make up or get dinner in the crock pot.  I have to keep reminding myself that I am trying to teach them an important and valuable lesson about the Sabbath day and that my commitment and consistency will make the difference.  But then there are days like today where it all comes together and I can see the rewards of my efforts and feel hopeful that maybe I can win the battle for Sundays after all. 

 

This morning the kids found one productive and imaginative thing to do after another without my pleading.  They got along beautifully, taking turns and using their manners and involving their baby sister when needed.  Their sweet voices and laughter mingled with Christmas carols and followed me around the house while I prepared dinner and primary lessons and my heart leapt with the possibility that this could be our Sundays more often as we continue to persevere.  I had to get a few pictures so that I could look back later, on the more difficult days, and take strength in knowing that the good days are so very good.

 

 

 

Some day my hope is that Sundays will no longer just be "church day" or "the day without TV" but will be a day that they look forward to because of the uninterrupted peace and quiet that they can enjoy on those days.

 

Catching Up

 I ran out of memory space on here and it took me weeks before I found the time to figure out how  to get more.  This post may be a little lengthy.

 

This is Lillian's favorite hiding place, whether it is from her older siblings, her Daddy, or the Lillian sized Winnie the Pooh characters I found in the basement the other day.  I thought she would love them, given that "Pooh" and "Eeyore" were two of her first words, but she was terrified.

She finally came out to take a closer look...

 

 

 and decided that they weren't so bad after all.

And speaking of our goofy girl...I went into her room to cover her with her blankets after she had gone down for her nap one afternoon and found her like this.

 

 

Walker managed to avoid the worst of the cold that knocked the rest of us on our behinds but then he caught the stomach flu a couple of Fridays ago.  He got sick once and then was fine for hours so I assumed that it was acid reflux or something.  He kept saying "Mommy, my heart is getting closer and closer."  I had no idea what that meant until he said "I told you I was still sick!" and proceeded to throw up all over both of us.  Then it made sense.

 

Notice the bucket and Lysol close by.

 

That same evening Allan and I were supposed to go on a date and so decided that a Daddy-daughter date would be better. 

Emma insisted that I curl her hair and that she wear perfume and lip gloss.  Can you tell she's been watching me primp for my dates with Allan?

They had such a good time and Emma felt so special and has talked non-stop about her ``date with Daddy``.  We are definitely going to make this a habit.  Tomorrow night I get to take my sweet boy out for pizza and ``Christmas shopping for his sisters``.