Brock is One!

Can you believe that my baby is 1! I can't either! But I thought I'd take a quick picture trip down memory lane from the last year....


This was the first time I got a good look at Brock. I got a quick kiss before they took him from the delivery room to the SCN. It was really hard to see another baby hooked up to all the tubes and wires again but I was so happy that he was here. And sooooo cute! (Click here for all the details if you want.)This was my second or third hold. Because he needed high oxygen sats we didn't get to take him out of his isolate very often for the first 5 days or so. It was hard to remember that such a healthy looking baby could be so sick...but we knew he would be OK....just took a few extra days!Finally home! He was still pretty jaundiced so we had to sun bake him every day! The big boys would sit on either side of his chair and just stare at him. He just looks soooo small here!One month old....still has the dark hair and still tiny!

2 months old....not so sure about what mom's telling him...



Learning new tricks at 3 months old....enough pillows around means no toppling over while mom folds laundry!Oh so clever at 4 months! Showing off new favorite thing to do!Standing on Grandpa Dooley's hand - youngest one to do it so far at 5 months6 months old and not quite mobile yet...I miss these days!7 months old and insisting on feeding himself yogurt. Not so sure how much actually made it in!8 months old...getting good at pulling himself up on stuff and cruising around9 months old and getting ready for those first steps...if it didn't move he would grab it and use it for cruising!10 months old...fascinated by wheels that spin!11 months old...walking kiddo! Watch out world - here I come!One year old and the shirt says it all!Not so sure about all the "help" from his big brothersWhat good is a toy if it's in a box?Yummy lemon tarts to celebrate with!
He definitely knew what to do with the whip creme!Showing off for mom!

Gottcha mom!



At 1 year old Brock is:

- walking everywhere! He can't get up straight from the floor quite yet but can bend down and pick something up and keep going.
- has 8 teeth
- weighs 23.6 lbs
- is 30.5 inches tall
- LOVES to play hide-and-seek with Rhett
- is constantly moving or being busy
- has thrown his first toy in the toilet and is now banned from the bathroom
- can't wait to get into the bath tub but thinks he should be able to stand up
- has tried to drown himself after falling while standing in the tub and has flipped face first out of the tub because of standing up. I foresee many ER visits with this child
- loves the musical moving car we have

- gives Fives

- says "uh-oh" if you say it first

- is sad that all the kitchen cabinets are now child-locked. He keeps going around and pulling on them to double check

- is always moving around doing something

- didn't really care about he presents

- LOVED the whip cream

- a couple days before his birthday Auntie Kizzy was here and we had cake for her birthday - I gave Brock the beaters with whip cream on them - tried to shove both in his mouth at the same time and then cried when it was all gone.

- will finally hold his own bottle

- doesn't like apple juice

- has had his first bout of the stomach flu

- has big smiles when he hears Grammie S and Grandpa Dooley on the phone

- squirms to get down and go

- loves peanut butter and jam sandwiches

- loves taco soup

- eats pretty much whatever we are now days

- wears mostly 12-18 month clothes

- is so excited when Daddy gets home from work

- is starting to want to hang out with Daddy more often

- brings us joy every day!

10 Things....

I've been working on this on for a couple of weeks now....just haven't had a lot of computer time! And I was thinking that it was only 3 months ago the last time I did this. But as I went back to find the last one I kept going further and further until I finally found it at the beginning of September! OOPS! At least I've blogged lots in between. So.....

10 Things I want to remember about Brock:


1. His sunshiney smile
2. His absolute busy-ness
3. His cuddles
4. He still has that baby smell
5. He ADORES his big brothers
6. He is fascinated whenever we turn the WII on
7. The joy he gets from dumping the bucket of cars...you can just see that he thinks it's the best ever!
8. Everyone just LOVES him
9. He thinks he should get to play the piano whenever someone else is
10. His walking skills improve every day



10 Things I want to remember about Rhett:


1. His imagination! He puts a couple of pieces of Lego together and it's a person, a car, a plane etc and he will play with it like that all day
2. He loves to play BINGO and Old Owl, and games like that and is always asking me to play
3. Sometimes he insists that he's a big boy, and sometimes he prefers to be a little boy
4. Watching him do an entire preschool workbook in Sacrament Meeting. I was so impressed by his attention span and knowledge.
5. He's starting to not let Zane run the show all the time
6. His still refuses to eat "real" food. He survives on peanut butter sandwiches, banana muffins, cheese and crackers, apples and bananas and his new favorite "sticky granola bars" aka Fiber 1 bars. Chicken nuggets and french fries are acceptable and will be eaten as well.
7. We tried to get him to eat a spoonful of rice - he gagged and spit and sputtered and was convinced we had poisoned him.
8. He's such a good helper! I was getting ready to vacuum and he picked up a bunch of toys without me having to ask
9. LOVES to play hide and seek with me. His version goes like this: I count to 10 while he hides in some place - most times I know where he is. Then I start listing off places that he is NOT. (I'm usually doing dishes or folding laundry or something like that when we play) Sometimes the places are silly and sometimes they are not and after about 5 or 6 wrong guesses I figure out where he is. Brock is now in on the game and loves to follow him and find him first. Oh the giggles this game produces!
10. He's starting to sing I Am a Child of God with me at night when I tuck them in. It melts my heart!



10 Things I want to remember about Zane...


1. His appetite for reading - he is doing so well and is moving through the reading levels at school at the top of his class. It's been awesome to see him learn this skill and to LOVE it!
2. His new love of piano - he's really getting it and enjoying it. He begs me for more than a lesson a week and practices without me reminding him to
3. His including Rhett in most of his games
4. He's a control freak in training....as soon as Christmas was over he was ready to move on and start planning his birthday - which isn't until the end of March!!! I told him he could plan all he want but I wasn't talking to him about it until March 1!
5. Watching him figure things out - the other night while the little boys were in the tub and I was folding laundry (I was 5 steps away from the tub) he was quizzing me on how old he would be when Brock was 2. I helped him figure it out and then he ran with it and figured out a bunch of different ages for him and his brothers at different ages.
6. He was sooooo excited for the Olympic Torch to come to Sylvan and was THRILLED that he was able to go. Cliff and I were out of town but he got to go with our friends.
7. He still makes up fabulous games for him and Rhett to play - although it's a little like a director telling an actor how to execute a scene "And Rhett then you say this.....and Rhett then you die - no not like that, like this....And Rhett then you......." Most days it works well for them!
8. Listening to him read a verse of The Book of Mormon every night. He LOVES it.
9. He will talk Grammie's ear off! Seriously, he will call to talk to my mom and talk to her for 1/2 an hour! When he's done he says "So, that's all I have to talk about". Cracks me up every time. And answering machines still throw him off a little. The other day he got mom and dad's and this is the message he left "Um, hi. It's me Zane. I'm at home.....and I'm going to be at home.....so you can find me here. Click. Still makes me giggle.
10.He's soooo anxious for me to get his quilt done - I need more hours in the day!

10 Things I want to remember about Cliff:

1. He put our dog up for sale - for me - even though he doesn't really want to get rid of him.
2. How excited he was to go to an NHL game when the Canucks were in Edmonton. He and a friend went and it was really great - the Canucks won in overtime and he had an awesome time. He hasn't been to one since he was 16 so it was time!
3. He has rescued Brock several times over the last couple of months from a very frustrated mom! Brock doesn't always want to be rescued but he perseveres until mom is a little calmed down.
4. Watching him and the boys wrestle and play at night - he's going to be in trouble when Brock starts joining in!
5. He calls me every day - just to say hi.
6. He always makes sure to call me if he's going to be late or to let me know when he's leaving the church or volley ball or something like that. It means a lot because I worry a lot!
7. He took great care of me when I had the stomach flu - I got to sleep in and everything!
8. He's been very supportive and helpful with Brock as I've been working out in the mornings and I sooooo appreciate it!
9. He makes me laugh every day.
10. He really enjoys his calling - most days at least!

10 Things I want to remember about me!

1. I am making progress towards my weight goal
2. I have made some small progress in my teaching ability - seminary that is
3. I'm trying to read more good things instead of always a novel that I've already read
4. Trying to recognize my limits and stay within them - and accept that my limits are different from others
5. Trying to enjoy my kids more
6. Zane gave me a badge he made that says I'm the coolest mom ever! How great is that!
7. I try to do one thing a day for just me
8. I have said no to some things that I knew I just couldn't handle and it felt really good
9. I am loving how Zane's Spider man quilt is coming together
10. I am looking forward to spring!

10 Things I want to remember about our family:

1. We are really enjoying our new family Book of Mormon. It has words highlighted and definitions, explanations, references and some pictures. It's been a great way to teach and learn together.
2. We have been playing more together and it's been a lot of fun
3. We are so blessed to have the friends that we have - they are like our family here away from our families.
4. We have been in the same ward for 3 years now....with no plans to change that!
5. We are actually thinking about camping this summer.....and I'm OK with it
6. We have had lots of little things happen that remind us that the Lord is mindful of us
7. We continue to improve on FHEs and I consider that an accomplishment
8. We are all looking forward to Brock's birthday party - the boys especially
9. We all LOVE ice cream yum yum yum
10. We were all thrilled to welcome our first nephew/cousin and are anxiously awaiting #2!

Another one for the books....

So I live in a small house. Bigger than some but definitely smaller than others. And I usually like my small house and don't mind it. The big exception is when I'm trying to work on a quilt. With 3 busy little people it's hard to leave a quilt in various stages of doneness left out. So, I've come up with a little compromise. I camp out my sewing stuff on the kitchen table for a couple of days at a time and the boys get to have picnic suppers in the living room on an old sheet. They LOVE it. And this is where my story comes in....

I'm working on Zane's Spider Man quilt - yes still - remember, small house, 3 kids, nowhere to leave it....
And it's out on the table so the last 2 nights we've had picnics. Only problem is I won't let them have liquid in the living room. After the umpteenth request for a beverage I finally put milk into two of the water bottles Zane takes to school. They're stainless steel so you can't see what's in them. When I took them in Zane asked what it was and I said it was a surprise. Rhett took a swig and delightedly announced "Milk!" Later that night he kept asking me for something and after a minute I figured out that he was asking me for surprise milk. I chuckled and didn't think anything of it....until this morning when he almost had a meltdown because I wouldn't make him surprise milk and let him drink it in the living room. He didn't care that I hadn't washed the water bottle yet but finally came around to my way of thinking. And then tonight, when we were discussing what they wanted for supper the first request out of Rhett's mouth was "surprise milk!"
He makes me laugh!

And another quick thought.....
Been thinking lately about who reads my blog. Some I know, some I don't. I write it because I enjoy it, I use it as a journal, and it's an easy way for me to keep family and friends posted on the going ons of our life. And then quite awhile ago someone told me that they really enjoyed reading my blog and I was blown away because I had no idea they read my blog (and now I've probably embarrassed them if they even remember this and they won't read anymore. Sigh. ) But the point is I didn't know they read it because they NEVER commented on anything I wrote. I'm totally guilty of this. I read lots of blogs that I think are spectacular but I don't comment. Why? Sometimes I'm in a hurry, sometimes I don't want the person to know that I'm blog stalking them....but most often I think I'm worried that someone might judge what I have to say. But I've decided that's just silly. And so I'm going to try and comment on the blogs that I read. Maybe not on every post because sometimes I truly have nothing to say - I know - shocking isn't it - but usually there is something I like about every post I read. Everyone likes a comment - whether you admit it or not. So I'm challenging all my blog buddies to be more comment friendly...no one's going to cyber bite you....be brave and tell us (OK, ME) what you're thinking!

I don't know who's paying him....

But they're getting their money's worth!

Brock has been enlisted in the evil "keep mommy fat" conspiracy. It's true. Wanna' know how I know? Because he's slowly killing me with sleep deprivation. I know, I KNOW. Every mom out there is sleep deprived. But he SENSES when I'm going to work out and waits until I'm 10 minutes in and then wakes up screaming!!!!
Take early Monday morning. I teach seminary at 7:15 Monday morning....so if I'm going to work out I need to be up by 5:45...gross I know. He wakes up at 5:00 wanting a bottle...fine, whatever. 10 minutes later, bottle's done and the coughing starts and before I know it I'm wearing the contents of his stomach. So, into the shower we go. Now it's 5:30 and guess who's wide awake and not wanting to go back to sleep. You guessed it... and trying to get a work out in with him underfoot is not fun - newly walking child and a good workout are not conducive. It's 6:30 before I get him back to sleep - in our bed now cuddled in with daddy so I can get ready to go teach. BUT I tell myself no big deal. I'll just wait until he's down for a nap and then I'll work out. Yep. That was the plan. 10:30...down for a nap. Threw a load of laundry in, grabbed my shoes, started up the DVD, got 8 minutes in and then someone is SCREAMING! ARG. Tried to get him to back to sleep but it just wasn't happening so I gave up and did my workout around him. Of course I missed some parts because he wouldn't leave me alone and I had to keep distracting him so he wouldn't he get stepped on/kicked or otherwise maimed.

My point: finding it very difficult to work out which makes it difficult to eat good and makes the task of losing the remaining 40 lbs - yes you heard me right - even harder.

But I'm tyring to focus more on something else.
I'm a fan of the Biggest Loser. I just like it. Maybe because it validates my struggle with weight. At the beginning of this season the contestants went around the room and told their fat stories - why they are the way they are - and the common theme under them all was this:

I DON'T LOVE MYSELF

And I thought, how sad. And then I started thinking about me, and my weight struggles. For those who don't know me a year after my 2nd son was born I was 220 lbs. It was an ugly number. I went to Weight Watchers and lost 65 lbs. And kept it off for awhile. Then we had a miscarriage. Add 10 lbs please. Then we got pregnant with Brock and spotted for 9 weeks - work out? What work out? No work out for me when I might be miscarrying, oh and did I mention that I was an emotional eater? And a few other things cropped up which meant that I did everything in this last pregnancy that I swore I wouldn't and ended up over 200 lbs again. I don't know where I was after having Brock - I didn't want to know. 5 months after having him I decided to try again. I weighed in at 207 lbs. I've lost just over 20 of it. I'm committed and with him getting older it is getting easier. But it's still a daunting number and task. One that I've done before and one that I'll do again.

But I digress. I was thinking about the biggest losers not loving themselves and asked myself, do I love me? All of me? The good, the bad, the nice, the not so nice? And I had to answer no. I do not love all of me. Lots of me, but not all of me.

That was hard to type. Breathe.

OK. So, I've been working on this. A friend of my mom and mine told us something over Christmas

"If we could learn to truly love ourselves, as our Heavenly Father loves us, our weight and issues would just melt away".

I've decided to embark on this. I've prayed a lot, and pondered a lot. I've learned this is something that won't happen over night. And my thoughts have been directed towards some specific actions to help me love all of me. I'm hoping that when I reach my weight goal that I will have reached my love goal as well. That I will be able to look in the mirror and love me not only physically, but everything else as well.

So onwards and upwards until the conspiracy to keep mommy fat is nothing but a myth!

a good memory....

Been meaning to write this one down for a while now...

Last week on the way home from church I pointed out the sunset to the boys (we have 1:00 church and it's mid-winter).

Me: Aren't we so blessed by Heavenly Father. He makes such beautiful sunsets for us to enjoy.
Rhett: That's where Jesus lives.
Me: Jesus lives in the sunset?
Rhett: Yep. Jesus lives in the sunset.

So there you have it. If you were wondering where Heaven really is you now know.

Compromise and Re-Thinking....

I'm a bit of a control freak. Yep. I know...you'd never guess. I like to plan things...when things are going to happen, how they'll happen....

I do like to wing it - sometimes - but not with my daily routine. I like to get my work out done early, get myself ready and move on through the chores etc that need to be done that day.

But now I'm the mom of 3....and I'm learning that to get everything accomplished I have to compromise and re-think some things. My control freak self is still adjusting, and for the most part I'm doing OK with it. I have to re-think things. Example: What can I accomplish while Brock is sleeping and what can I accomplish while he is awake?

Yesterday was a good day. Brock was in a good mood for the most part and would actually play contentedly for short periods of time. I got buns made, a good workout (interrupted by the cable guy - out here they give you all day appointments...so hard to plan ANYTHING around!), dishes done, children fed, piano taught, supper made, cleaned up, children in bed, a trip to WalMart and another workout.

Something new to me is what I read while I steal my lunch moment....sometimes the only time of the day I get to read. And I KNOW you're not supposed to read and eat at the same time.....but I do it for my sanity. Anywho, I am one of those readers who gets totally absorbed into a new book. So usually I read something at lunch that I've already read - that way it's easy to walk away. Otherwise I get NOTHING accomplished! I decided to try something new and have started reading at least one talk a day from the last Conference Ensign. It's really been a great change and it's easy and do-able.

So wish me luck on this journey of compromise. I'm hoping for organized improvising - start with a list and get it done in any order I can!

Promised Pictures....

WARNING: Lots of pictures....some are in order, some are not...



Christmas Eve Morning in Raymond..... Brock and Paxton got matching jammies from Auntie Kizzy.....it's so funny to think that these two were born in the same year. Amazing what 10 months can do to a baby!

Brock liked the boxes and ribbons...not into Christmas this year



Mom put together a quilting box for me with lots of fun material and other treasures....



Opening his snake quilt from Grammie

If you look close you'll see the snake heads with eyes....two are going one way and the rest the other way

Grammie finding her quilt that we made for her. Kizzy pieced it, I put it together and quilted it, and Alisha contributed to some of the materials. Kizzy and I stayed up until 3 am that morning to finish sewing the binding. Worth it!

Christmas Day in Taber.....

Grammie S and Grandpa Dooley each put a baby to sleep....I think this was the night of the 23rd...see I told you they weren't all in order!

How much bun with jam can one little baby shove in his mouth?

Modelling Zane's gift from Uncle Jamie and Amber

Being goofy
Brock on his 11 month birthday!

11 Months

Yep, that's right folks. Another month has FLOWN by and Brockster is 11 months old. Sigh.
So here are some of the things the little man is up to:
- taking more steps....but only when he wants to. He still prefers a finger or if he has to will crawl.
- LOVES to watch the washing machine and dryer
- pulls the wet clothes out of the dryer almost as fast as I put them in. What a great helper!
- is starting to chew his food - so nice that we can give him pieces and not everything has to be mush or dissovable!
- blows his food after I've blown on it. Seriously is one of the cutest things ever
- LOVES little toy cars
- is fascinated with making noise
- has a happy screech, a hungry screech, a I'm-not-happy-and-you're-going-to-know-about-it-screech....you get the picture. Most days he is set on volume 25 and dang if I can find the remote that turns him down!
- is sooooo interested in the bathroom - so far has only got his hands into the toilet once (EWWWWWWW) that I know of!
- gives Daddy 5's but looks at everyone else like they're crazy
- acknowledges the baby in the mirror by putting his hand up in the air like he's saying "hi"
- LOVED to slime Grammie's mirrors and glass door while we were down for Christmas
- is insanely fast on stairs....and we don't have any! The first day we were in Taber at Cliff's parents' house he watched the other boys go up and then just crawled right up after them! He likes to pause half way up and turn around to see where he is. Do all kids do that? My other 2 did as well.....
- likes Stroodles - traditional New Year dish we make - not the fruit kind
- refuses to hold his own bottle. Not sure if he's just lazy or just likes the cuddles with mom.
- Mom is still #1 in his books
- makes us laugh every day
- is around 24 lbs...forgot to weigh him today
- growing out of some 12 month stuff but still wearing 12-18s....
- HATES his winter coat and sitting in the car seat with said coat on
- has learned to arch his back and slide out of car seat, your arms, chair etc where you are trying to put him
- likes banana cream pie -found this out at my birthday party - yep turned 29 on Tuesday - anyways he just gobbled up the bites I gave him
- is very excited whenever Zane and Rhett play the Wii
- is going to be a great friend for Rhett - he loves it when Rhett plays with him

And I've been too busy to get pictures on the computer....maybe in the next day or so. Zane's pretty anxious for his quilt and I've been working nights on it with Mom's help...one more border to sew on and then on to pinning!

Toothfairies and Snowglobes!

We have had such a wonderful Christmas season...filled with lots of family, lots of laughter and lots of joy. Enough spoilage happened throughout the season for us to feel very loved, but not overwhelmed. And the kids of course LOVE having Christmas so many days in a row. (We open here before leaving for Southern Alberta, opened on Christmas Eve with my family, Christmas day with Cliff's family, and had Alisha and Paxton's baby shower on the 27th!) Rhett kept asking if we were opening more presents. He really enjoyed playing the elf this year and helped daddy and Papa - aka Grandpa Dooley - pass out all the gifts.

Baby Paxton is oh so sweet. The boys just loved on him...and Brock was gentle...sort of. Very curious about the new cousin.

Rhett was determined to sleep with Grandma and Papa every night and would sleep plastered right on one of them the whole night. Of course they loved it.

Brock thought he was terribly funny one night when he was cuddling with me and playing with his suckie. He took it out of his mouth, looked at it, looked at me and shoved it straight into my mouth mid-word. He started laughing and kept trying to do it over the next couple of days. Maybe he thinks I talk to much?

Zane looked outside one day while it was snowing and said "Grandpa! It looks like we're in a snow globe! It looks like someone picked us up and shook us!" LOVE it!
He also got brave and let me pull his wiggly tooth. He was all set to cry and carry on and it was out! The shocked look on his face was priceless. And of course he was very excited that the tooth fairy found him at Grandma's house.

Cliff had to leave us on Christmas day to come home and work - boo - and he was very dearly missed by his boys. For Rhett it was a tie between Daddy and Lego Star Wars. But we had a wonderful time with lots of great memories. We are happy to be home and thrilled to have 1:00 church today instead of 9:00 - makes getting the unpacking and settling back in a little easier.

And unfortunately no pictures to display yet. My wonderful hubby surprised me with a great new camera for Christmas and we left before I could install the software to the computer. So, when I get it up and running I'll post some pics. Zane is anxious for me to finish his quilt that I started working on down south so pictures might wait until that is done.

I have a few New Year Resolutions this year :
Be healthier
Be better at prayer and scripture study
and
Learn to parent more from prayer and scriptures

Hope everyone is happy and well and having a great start to the New Year!

Masterpiece

Zane's gingerbread house that we did at school today. He was thrilled for me to be there. Didn't want much to do with building, but definitely into the decorating/sampling the candy. And we were the first ones done. Some moms were doing all the decorating....not sure if their kids even touched it, and some went WAY overboard on decorations, techniques, etc. It's grade one. Seriously, not a competition. Just fun for the kids.

And he took the pictures himself. We had to email pictures to everyone so he could brag. Fun times.

It's so fun to see him in his classroom and interacting with his teacher and friends. How is he already this old?

AND we have a great surprise! Mom and Dad are going to be here late Saturday night and get to stay for church before heading home. They're going to be at a family thing not far from us so are making a quick stop. Not only do we get to see them early, they get to hear me sing on Sunday and have offered to take stuff like presents down for us so it's less to pack around the kidlets. Yeah!!!!

Baby steps

That's what is starting to happen around our house these days. Brock is standing and balancing really well and is even taking a few shaky steps. Yesterday he walked about 4 steps from me to Cliff.

Sniff....

Tear....

But celebrating as well! They change so fast!

Spoken for....

I've been meaning to blog this for a long time but keep forgetting...
A couple of weeks ago while I was out with the girls, my friend Kathleen told me that her daughter Emily (who is a year younger than Zane) has decided that she is going to marry Zane. I guess this is something that she's been thinking about for quite awhile - she wanted to get the decision out of the way so she could move onto other things. And Zane is her choice. Kathleen told her that she liked her choice but wondered what made up her mind. Emily told her that she was sitting in church and looked over at Zane, and decided. Oh, and he sings good too mom.
Now won't it be funny if they actually do get married?

10 months!

After the tree!
One of his classic faces...and check out the teething cheeks!

found a wheel to spin

ready for church

playing some Christmas tunes...

How is he already 10 months old?

I started this post last week....and finally have it finished!

At 10 months he is 23 lbs of BUSY!!!!

-almost walking by himself

- crawling and army crawling

- reaching for everything!

- LOVES to blow raspberries....especially while eating yogurt, mashed potatoes etc, or during sacrament meeting!

- LOVES the Christmas tree and will not leave it alone. I've now moved all the decorations from the bottom of my tree and am seriously considering moving the lights and garland. Arg.

- pushes his little walker truck thing all over the place. Carpet is best but he's pretty good on the wood too.

- loves to make a mess of the DVDs.

- thinks being on Rhett's bed (bottom bunk) is the BEST ever

- has 7 teeth

- still seems to have a laugh quota

- thinks it's very unfair that I won't let him play the piano during piano lessons

- loves to spin wheels

- starting to make strange sometimes

- is very determined but can be distracted

- is determined to see inside Vato's kennel but his mother is more determined that he stays out!

- sticks his tongue out a lot

- still cuddles with mom to go to sleep...and I love it most nights

- still wakes up once or twice a night

- has had all his classic teething signs for the past 2-3 weeks but hasn't popped the last one through yet

- wears mostly 12-18 month clothes

- got his first bloody nose on Sunday and has split his lip 3 times in the last month

- is starting to stand by himself

- is so fun

Thank goodness for Kindness!

So we had a great day yesterday (even with the FRIGID temps) and headed into Red Deer for a little shopping and FHE. We were shopping for a new winter coat for Zane. The one he had he couldn't zip on his own and has a big hole in the liner. I probably could fix the whole and get my mom to help me with the zipper...but right now my time is better spent on other things and if the coat already has those problems I'm not convinced that it won't continue to develop others. Anyways, I digress. We managed to find Zane a coat that he LOVES, and it was 40% off so that made me love it. We grabbed some supper, met up with Cliff, and headed to the north end of town to the Pines Lodge for a FHE with a bunch of families from our ward. We put on a Christmas program for the old people. Lots of carols, a few solo numbers, and of course the nativity song, complete with kids dressed in costume. Rhett was supposed to be a shepherd, but didn't make it through the first song so Zane happily took over. Cliff had to leave early for his volley ball game so Brock hung out with the bishop so I could play. It was a great time and I hope the kids felt the joy of service.
Then came the fun part....gathering 3 kids, all their winter gear, my stuff and making the trek in the frigid cold to the van. Luckily we are blessed with a great ward family who love us and help us! I had more than enough help getting everyone in their gear and then 2 wonderful young men carried all my stuff out to the van for me.
We pulled in just before 8:30 and I had the thought to go and open the door and then come get the kids out of the van. So, I told the kids to wait, ran to the door, shoved my key in....and it only went half way. OK, this isn't good, I thought. I tried again....and again. And then once more as I frantically reminded Heavenly Father that it was below minus 30 and I had 3 of his little ones with me.....and Cliff wouldn't be home for at least an hour....and I was starting to panic. Then I thought of my neighbor Percy Bryant and thought maybe he could help. I started the van again, ran over to his house, explained the situation, and he gave me lock de-icer. Tried it, didn't work. Panic setting in again. Start van again (only had one set of keys with me) and ran back to Percy again. He grabbed some super duper lubricant stuff that they use in the oil field and came to my rescue. Thankfully that worked and we were soon nice and warm in our house.
And as I thought of it later I was thankful to see the Lord's hand in it all.
I love this time of year. We are really trying to teach our kids the meaning of Christmas and to show them examples of kindness and service. Hopefully in the next 6 plus years it will be my boys helping some young mom carry stuff out to her van!

Flashback

Have you ever had one of those moments when some little insignificant thing triggers a memory from deep in the corners of your brain?
I had one tonight....
Zane was sitting at the table during supper (pizza and pop tonight) and was playing with the tab on his pop can when he snapped it off. He was really surprised and thrilled. And instantly I was transported back to Jr. high when my friends and I would see if we could snap the tabs off with certain parts intact. And then we would save them.
Why you ask?
Because somehow, somewhere, someone decreed that if you could get the tab off with the little button part attached as well you could save it for a future kiss.
I had a pretty good collection going at one time.....
And speaking of collecting kisses....we had a good system that involved purdues as well. Oh Jr. High. I DO NOT miss you.
But it is fun to remember and giggle a little.

Season of Giving

So here we are in the middle of the Christmas season....and I'm really loving it. Minus the blizzard that blew in today. As we've pondered on this year's Christmas we have really wanted to focus on teaching our kids about giving, and not just getting. I think this has really been brought into focus with Zane being in school and having "friend" influence. It seems like every other day he comes home with a new idea to add to his Santa gift.
So we've been talking about it as a family and tomorrow after my morning choir/song practice, the kids and I are heading to the dollar store with one of the young women in our ward. (Cliff works Saturdays and I need someone to sit with 2 while one shops). And once there, the two older ones will be able to purchase a few small things to gift to people. We're really hoping that they will get to experience the magic of giving through this and learn a little. We're also planning gifts that they can help mom bake or make for friends and family. Of course, they are still buzzing with excitement for Santa. And we're mixing things up a little there this year as well. Santa is bringing one big family gift and a few small things in the stockings. And they will each get one maybe two gifts from us. Hoping that those are going to be homemade but the days are rapidly slipping away....not sure if that is going to happen.
We already have so much. It's time to step back and teach that to our kids instead of constantly giving them more and more.

I'm an Auntie!

I have been waiting impatiently for 2 days now for Alisha and Jay to get their computer back and announce to all the world that their baby boy was born on Wednesday, Dec 2! And now that they have so can I!

Name: Paxton John Scott Christensen
Time: 12:51 am
Weight: 7lbs 11oz
Length: 21.6 inches

And cute as a button! We are so excited to be an auntie and uncle finally! Oh the spoilage to dole out! So excited to meet him at Christmas.

When I told the kids Zane was very excited to have a cousin and Rhett was crushed " I want a cousin too!" I explained that Paxton was his cousin as well and all was good again.
So, congrats to the new parents! And to you Lish, nice cape!