Christmas Fun

Did you know that for as long as I can remember I have been afraid of ice on lakes and rivers? I remember being furious with my mom once for letting Kinsey go ice fishing with a friend and of forcing myself to go skating on a pond once for mutual. I was telling my dad about this fear the other day and he said that my Grandpa Robinson used to tell us about one of his sisters falling through the ice and them almost losing her. I have no recollection of this but maybe that's where the fear originated? Anyways, I do have a point, I promise!

On Sunday we got invited to a Christmas party being held on Monday night here in Sylvan Lake down at the lake. The town has erected a huge Christmas tree out on the lake and has flooded the lake and ploughed it into different skating areas. The tree is all lit up and they have benches and picnic tables and stuff set up so you can get skates on and all that. I didn't realize that the party was being held on the ice so we readily accepted and headed out Monday night to join a bunch of friends. As we pulled up and saw all the vehicles parked on the ice I started having a mild panic attack. I tried to convince Cliff that we could just park at the top of the bank and walk down but that didn't work. My thinking was that we really didn't need to add the weight of our van to the ice with the rest of the vehicles and Cliff's was that it would be fine since there were already so many vehicles out there. To make a long story short we didn't crash through the ice and I actually was able to enjoy myself despite my fear of the ice. There were several different families from our ward who live in Sylvan out there that night and it was like being surrounded by family. I never had to worry where the boys were...Zane had a couple of 12-13 year old girls who mother henned him and another one who would take Zane and Rhett for rides in a sled out on the ice. They had so much fun. There was hot chocolate, yummy treats, and a feeling of love and friendship. I am learning to love being here in Sylvan more and more. I am so thankful for the invitation...I find that sometimes I get into my own little bubble of what is going on in our lives and I forget that there is life outside of my bubble. It was fun to step out of our bubble for awhile and feel of the love and friendship that is in our ward family. We stayed out on the ice for about an hour and then Rhett had had enough. We came home and cuddled under a big quilt to warm everyone up and watched some old Christmas movies on CBC...Rhett fell asleep and Zane soon followed in his bed. It was a lot of fun and hopefully something that we'll be able to make into a new family tradition.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately as I've made lots of changes in my life in order to achieve my weight and health goals. I'm almost there and have had to add a few extra work outs in to keep my metabolism up and not just maintaining. Because of this I've had to say no to some things and activities that I normally would say yes to and it has caused me to think long and hard about the choices I have made. And this is what I have concluded : Emily Watts made a statement that says something to this effect, "If you add something into your life you have to take something out of it" . This is how I feel about the things that I have said no to in the last months instead of saying yes so that I could achieve my personal goals. I have decided to be selfish in certain aspects of my life right now in order to be a better wife, mother, daughter, sister and person all around. I have not only added exercise and a different diet but I have also been adding things in my life to try and increase my spirituality and the spirit in my home. It is hard sometimes to not feel as though I am being judged by others who do not know the whole story - only the part that shows me not going to an enrichment activity, or saying no when asked if I can accompany someone for something else, or hoping that my visiting teaching beat stays with three sisters and does not have any more added to it. However, I have a wonderful mom and friends who remind me of the things that I am doing in my family and in my home and that there is a time and a season for all things. I am so thankful that I don't have to do it all at once!
So Christmas is almost here. We are having our own little Christmas tomorrow night and then it's pack up and leave for Barnwell early Friday morning. We get to spend the weekend in Barnwell and head for Raymond Christmas Eve afternoon. Cliff gets to stay with us until Boxing Day but has to be back for work on the 27th. The kids and I are staying in Raymond until the 30th and then Grammie is coming home with us. We're making strudels (only the yummiest and most fattening thing in the entire world - it's not a pastry like most of you think. Some ethnic dish my Grandma used to make...oh the calories but it's worth it once or twice a year.)
I love this time of year...it's so full of family and fun and the spirit of Christmas and love and giving. We took the boys to see Santa yesterday - Rhett wanted nothing to do with him but Zane bravely marched over and sat on his lap and chatted somewhat nervously with him. After Monday's party he has decided that he needs ice skates and asked Santa to bring him a pair. Sigh. As I know what Santa is bringing him I've been trying to prepare him by telling him that it's fine to ask Santa for gifts but we don't always get what we ask for. However, Santa always makes sure it's something fun and something we'll like. I did have the fleeting moment when I thought about scrapping the Santa gift we got him and rushing out to buy skates...but I figure he's going to have to learn sooner or later that he's not always going to get what's on his Santa list.
So for those of you who read this before we leave please say a prayer for us that the boys will be healthy and that I will be healthy. Zane still is coughing and hacking, Rhett puked 4 times in an hour today and I am starting to cough. Grrr. We can't wait to see all our family and friends!
Merry Christmas!

Sometimes Time Flies...and Sometimes It Crawls

Eating chocolate pudding for FHE...it was a big hit! Also take note of the length of hair on these boys....especially Rhett. He got his first haircut with real clippers on Friday...and did really good! He just giggled through it and Zane did really good too. He's been deathly afraid of hair cuts for 2 years now and he hardly cried at all this time. Yeah for us!

The boys have been fighting colds for awhile and it finally hit full force this week...making the weekend a very long one full of coughing, puking and low-grade fevers. For the most part Zane has been in good spirits...just less energy and such. Rhett on the other hand has been absolutely miserable. Pick me up, put me down, cuddle me, don't cuddle me. Sigh. Like I said...a very long weekend. Cliff went to church and I stayed home with the boys today and then tonight he stayed home and I went into our Stake's Christmas fireside. I had a piano solo to perform and was second on the program. I like that because it lets me enjoy the rest of the program instead of nervously waiting for my turn. I was really pleased with how it went and really enjoyed the rest of the program. One of my favorite pianists in the stake performed a beautiful solo...I just closed my eyes and enjoyed every note. It was a medley of two songs and in the transition section there was a fabulous right hand run that just took my breathe away. I love music...uplifting and edifying music feeds my soul.

So that's all that we've been up to. I feel like my house is a disaster because I haven't really done anything in it all weekend...just loading and unloading the dishwasher. Tomorrow starts a new week and I'm hoping to get my house really deep cleaned this week so that there's not so much to do before we leave for Christmas. Wish me luck!

Construction or Destruction?

Wow, that's a lot of pictures...but we've been busy in our household lately. Zane is so into "making" Christmas stuff and begs me every day to do a new and different craft. I bought this set of Christmas cards from Usborne books that gives you a ton of fun ideas for easy crafts to do with kids and he is loving them. So far we've made snowflakes and a couple of versions of snowmen including our bouncing snowman as modeled above by Zane.

And of course a day would not be complete if my living room wasn't turned from nice, quiet, cozy room to full out fight arena. The boys and Cliff love to wrestle and get tickled, and chased and tackled. Daddy is definitely the preferred playmate...mom just doesn't do it right. Rhett is right in there trying to get his own two bits in.

Today we tried to construct a gingerbread house. It has become a tradition here in the Johnson household...I buy one of those nice kits and we put it together. The last two years "we" has been Grammie S and Zane doing the building and decorating and mom being delegated by Zane to Supervisor - from across the table. This year we had to build without Grammie's expertise....and we did really great until I had to move it off the table. We should have just had a picnic for supper. Sigh. But me, being who I am, figured I could move it over to the counter with no harm done. Wrong. The hole frame shifted and we lost our roof. Zane was absolutely devastated. So I have promised him that tomorrow we will make more icing and attempt to re-glue our roof back on the house now that the walls are dry. On the upside me and the boys had a great time decorating it and eating way too much candy and icing. Rhett's favorite thing to do was dip his finger in the icing bowl and feed it to mom! They both loved the fact that I was letting them eat the icing with their fingers out of the bowl and it was one of those warm, fuzzy mom moments when you just know that you've done something right and hopefully made a great memory that they will look back on when they're older and say something like : " mom was so great that day" or something else that's just as flattering.

We also watched some of the video we've taken of the kids in the last year. We got to watch Rhett crawl and walk and Zane be a great big brother. We also realized just how far I have come in my weight struggle. It was a real eye opener and I'm so thankful to everyone who has given me the support on this journey and continues to support me as I approach my goal.

It is FREEZING here and snowing and feeling very much like Christmas. I've been trying really hard to teach and remind the boys that the reason we celebrate is because of Christ's birth and gift and sacrifice for us. I think I'm making progress.

And the frustration of the day was playing organ in church today. Rhett was absolutely devastated that he couldn't come with me and screamed and screamed and screamed. Poor Cliff had to take him out. He would get him calmed down and come back in with him and Rhett would take one look at the podium and burst into tears again. Our bishop's shoulders were just shaking because he found this soooo amusing. We find it frustrating but know that he will outgrow this....hopefully sooner than later.