Somewhat Random

I finally took some pictures this month....I've really been slacking in the camera department....too much quilting I guess!

I have FINISHED my quilt!!! And I love it. And it's been cuddle approved by Zane. I'm posting pics on my quilt blog.

I hit 36 weeks on Wednesday....doc checked to see if I'm dilating at all...NOPE! Most of me is really glad - he needs to stay in there a little longer - small part of me is sick and tired of being prego and just wants this kid out. I'm trying to stay focused on the staying in there part.

I have no idea what size this kid is going to be. The other two were always measuring slightly big and were 7-1 and 7-8. This one is measuring right on or slightly small according to my doc. So I'm curious. Any guesses out there?

I did a lot of baking today. And laundry. And now I'm really tired. I was going to plan my next quilt....but I think I'm going to curl up on the couch under my new quilt and veg out for awhile.

My boys

I was thinking last night about my boys who are already here and the one that is almost here. The one that is almost here was the reason for my very sleepless night - not the last he's going to cause I'm sure. And I was thinking of some of the fun/cute/endearing things they have been doing lately.

Zane is very proficient at prayers - meals, morning, bedtime....and almost every time it has been his turn to pray lately he has included the following "and please bless mommy to do good on her quilt...". Could he be any cuter? He's also beginning to read so he's always asking me how to spell/write words or arranging the magnets into 'words' and asking me to read them to him. I love him to pieces! He asked me the other day what day the baby was going to be here and I told him I didn't know - only the baby and Heavenly Father know that. He's so excited for his new brother to get here and is always telling me random things that he's going to teach him or do for him. He's going to be a great help! And he loves to wrestle with his daddy. In fact they were just having a 'session' while I sit here....Cliff retreated back to the couch, Zane got his shirt back on - don't ask - and then Zane looks at Cliff and goes - you're asking for it!

Rhett is my little tornado that never stops! He loves everything that Zane loves, wants to do everything that Zane is doing and does a pretty good job of being 5 when he's only 2.5. He's always learning new words and phrases. He has a blue light saber and our friend Parker also has a blue light saber. To nix any fighting over which one belongs to who I wrote an 'R' on Rhett's and showed it to him. He now brings me the light saber at least 3 times a day to show me his R - R for Rhett he says and then "Parker has blue too" to which I have to respond "yes, Parker has a blue one to". He's so pleased with himself. He loves finding books...Waldo, eye spy, Usborne 1001 Pirate and 1001 Wizard Things are probably his favorites right now. He's into counting and being his turn to pick the movie. And computer....he's learning to handle the mouse. This is taking a lot of patience on my part. He knows where our baby is....in my tummy and wants to give him kisses. I'm not sure that he's going to be quite as excited when the babe is actually here. A good friend came over yesterday with her little guy - 6.5 weeks old and oh so cute - Zane was enthralled with watching him and Rhett wanted nothing to do with him. Wouldn't even come over for a closer look. But I'm not worried. He'll figure it out soon enough and your own baby is different than a friend's.

I'm so blessed to be the mommy of these boys and to have another one almost here. Lots of cramps and contractions and more downward movement of this one has me thinking it won't be much longer....but I could be wrong. Stay tuned and I'll keep you posted!

ps - I had to change my bakcground because when I posted this I had something completely different splashed across my whole blog that wouldn't go away. Grrr. I'm not techie enough to fix it up really cute right now. Oh well.

My 2 year old....

May or may not survive to see his baby brother born. He probably will because his cuteness out weighs his stubborn orneriness that has been overly abundant these last couple of days. But we have had some serious moments in the last couple of days. For instance, he has inherited a pair of Incredibles jammies that used to be Zane's....but he calls them his Spider Man jammies. The other day I was trying to get him dressed to go run some errands and had the audacity to take off his shirt and put a truck shirt on him. Oh. My. Goodness!!!!! The tantrum he threw lasted at least a half an hour. Now, really is is that big of a deal for him to wear his jammie shirt out? Nope, but I'd already told him no before he launched into his huge tirade. I hate it when I get myself into that situation - you know, the one where you say no without really thinking about it and then can't take it back because they're throwing a huge fit? Can't give in because then they think every time you say no and they throw a fit they'll get their own way. Finally he picked a different shirt and we carried on with the day. Later in the day at Walmart he threw another fit because I wouldn't buy him smarties. So Zane pushed our cart and I carried Rhett to the door kicking and screaming the whole way. I'm such a mean mom. He was asleep before we made it home...and we only live 5 minutes from Walmart!
But then he does really cute things like cart around this teeny teddy bear and call it his baby, or pick out the funniest combinations of clothes, or come for kisses. The other day he would come up to me and say "mom, I 'prise (surprise) you"- and then pull out his toy hammer and shoot me with it! Yep, he's a keeper. Hopefully he'll realize soon that tantrums do not get you your own way!
And I realize that I haven't posted any pictures lately....I apologize. I haven't taken any since Christmas. How is that possible? I'm the picture queen usually. I'll blame it on days that fly by and nesting. But I promise to try and remember to take some pictures soon and post them!

Testing my blood annoys me because....

I can't eat whenever I want to. I have to test 2 hours after each meal....which means when I've had supper and I'm wanting something sweet an hour later I have to wait an hour so it doesn't mess up my stupid blood sugar. Grrr. Really, it's a good thing to get back into the habit of eating really good again....but I think it's annoying me mostly because I 'have' to, and not because I'm 'choosing' to. I was banking on the last few weeks to still eat whatever and whenever I wanted before going back to my good ways and getting back in shape and all that stuff. I know. When you think about it, it's really a dumb thing. Why cause myself all that extra work? It's not because I'm going to enjoy the extra workouts or anything. Nope. It's all about the psychology of being pregnant. Not a good defense, but the one I'm going with. And I'm so looking forward to chocolate fondue Saturday night. Yum Yum Yum. I'm going to eat as much as I want and not even care about what my morning reading will be. Watch - it'll be the lowest one yet.
Did you know that I got flagged for this fun time because my fasting sugar was .6 higher than what it should have been? POINT 6!!!!! I'm shaking my head and counting the days. And yes, I'm a whiner. And I shouldn't be because I have wonderful friends who have to do this every day of their lives and take insulin. Yep, I'm shutting up now.

Nesting....

It's what I'm doing. I have no desire to go anywhere or do anything that I can't do at home. I read to the kids, quilt, minimal housework and cooking.....yep, that's pretty much it. Oh, and test my blood sugar level 4 times a day. We have recently discovered that I am INSULIN IMPAIRED. Seriously, who comes up with these names? Anyways, I had to go for a tolerance test because I had glucose and ketones show up in my urine the last time I saw the doc and 1 out of 3 levels came up slightly elevated. Hence, the IMPAIRED part and now I get to test my sugars 4 times a day. I was even a good girl and went to the class and you'll be so proud to know that I even paid attention! And I've been applying what they told us and so far I've only had one high reading. We'll see what the diabetes people say on Monday.
On a quilt note....I'm almost 1/2 way done quilting my current project. And I'm loving it. It's really coming together the way I envisioned it. I'll post pics on my quilt blog when I'm finished.
So, I'm really just hanging out, counting down the days.....hoping for another 3 1/2 weeks...nothing more nothing less!

Remember Me?

Hi. It's me...you know, the author of this little blog. The one who's nesting has kicked in pretty badly and I've pretty much been ignoring everything outside the walls of my own home that didn't have anything to do with quilting, getting Zane to school, quilting, and making sure we had food to eat? Yeah, I know, pretty lame excuse but it's the only one I have. And did I mention that I'm going into mom with drawl? Yep, pretty sad. 28 years old and I miss my mommy. But in my defense she is one of my absolute best friends in the whole entire world and we got to spend almost 3 whole weeks together!!!! And it was so much fun and the kids loved every minute of it and the only thing rotten about living in Central Alberta is that our families live in Southern Alberta. OK, I'm done whining. I think.
Seriously though, I have loved every minuted of the last couple of weeks being with my mom and dad in Raymond and then having mom here for the week and dad able to join us for the weekend. It was hard to see them leave...even though we have separate lives and things to get done and responsibilities etc etc, I count it as precious moments every time we get to visit them or they get to visit us - especially when it's for an extended period of time.
Mom and I spent a whirlwind couple of days de-junking all the toys, closets and drawers of the boys. Then we tackled the baby clothes and got those all sorted out....minus the ones I forgot I had stored in Raymond which turned out to be the newborn to 6 month stuff (thanks dad for bringing them up this weekend!) And now those are all sorted out to. And then we moved onto the fun stuff. We quilted, we played with the boys, we quilted some more, and we cooked a little bit. But mostly we quilted. Mom got her baby quilt done, and another quilt cut and started sewing the blocks together. I got a queen sized quilt top sewn together and today I finally finished pinning it all together so tomorrow I can start quilting it. It's the biggest quilt I've undertaken so far and I'm LOVING it. I can't wait to see it all done. BUT, I won't ever try to pin another quilt of this size together when I'm prego. Yep, 8 1/2 months prego and I'm on my hands and knees pinning about 750 safety pins into my quilt! Oh to have a table like mom's table in her sewing room. One day, one day.
We have had some fun family adventures....Saturday the boys and I travelled to Rocky to attend Lindsay's birthday party. They both had a great time and it was fun to see friends we haven't seen in a long time! We went to church with Grandma and Grandpa and the kids chose to sit with them rather than Cliff and I....not enough room on a bench for all of us. This caused some minor panic in a couple of our friends as they saw the kids and grandparents but not us. They assumed that I had had the baby and were very relieved to find me still hugely prego. And yesterday for family home evening we went to the lake for skating with friends. Cliff and Zane skated and Rhett and I sat on the bench. We tried to get Rhett to go for a ride on the sled but he wasn't having any of it. When they were done skating Cliff took the boys over to check out the ice castle on the lake - so cool by the way - and then they ended up having a snowball fight with some friends. It was fun times. And next time I'll take my camera and take pictures of the castle. I wasn't sure it they had it lit up enough for the pics to turn out good but I think they do.
So, I really haven't been smothered by a pile of fabric or kidnapped by aliens or anything like that. I'm just nesting and loving it.

Holiday Train....

I had a great ride on my holiday train and have been busy busy busy since getting back! So here's our holiday re-capped!

23rd:

- we opened our family gifts early in the morning...the kids had a blast playing with their new stuff all morning while I packed for our trip and Cliff went to work

- we left for Raymond and made the trip uneventfully

- We arrived in time for STRUDELS!!!! Oh yum.

- Alisha worked some of her fabulous computer magic and transformed one of our old family Christmas traditions onto DVD and we all really enjoyed it

- The kidlets went to bed, we all stayed up WAY too late and then Kizzy and Cliff headed to Lethbridge at MIDNIGHT to do some last minute shopping....silly people

24th:

-I woke Cliff up and told him we needed to go to the hospital because the baby hadn't been moving for almost 24 hours

- We got to the hospital for a stress test and the stinker started moving as soon as they strapped me in....we were much relieved!

-Back to the house for breakfast and then present opening!

-Rhett was Grandpa's elf and was just running every present to whoever it was....except for Auntie Lishie. Every time Auntie Lishie was supposed to get a present Rhett headed straight for Auntie Kizzy and had to be re-directed. It was really funny to watch and we all had a good laugh

-Presents opened...we all got spoiled spoiled spoiled

-Yummy turkey dinner

-Zane coaxed Uncle Jay to play laser tag guns with him (thank you Grandpa Dooley) and really stomped him in the first couple of games

-Naps for some, cards for others and a really good day all around

-Arrived in Barnwell around 9:00....forgot the stockings in Raymond. Thank goodness mom J had extras!

-got to Grandma Great Johnson's in time for the yearly nativity production. This year it was complete with written script, choir section and costumes. We got drafted and costumed and had a good time.

-Kids opened pjs and finally hit the mattress while we stayed up WAY to late with the sibs and watched a really STUPID movie. Oh well

25th:

-Up and moving just after 7:00....and Santa came through with the LIGHT SABERS! Even Daddy got one to join in on the fun

-Again, Rhett got to be the elf and had lots of fun passing out the gifts

-And again we all got really really really spoiled

-The day was kind of lazy...just playing with all the new stuff and enjoying each other's company

-Mom J put on a great supper and we got to see Grandma and Grandpa Great Jackson and Uncle Brian and Aunt Judy

-Uncle Jamie got in on the Light Saber action and the boys had a blast chasing him around and around...what a great uncle!

26th:

-We hung out for most of the day. It was nice to be lazy and not need to do anything for most of the day

- I got packed again....decided what to send to Sylvan with Cliff, what to take back to Raymond with me

-Went to Great Grandma Johnson's for lunch and games and white elephant gifts. Fun but long and warm in the basement

-Said goodbye to Cliff as he headed home to Sylvan and we headed to Raymond

27th:

-Spent good part of the morning shopping for ice skates for Zane with Auntie Kizzy before heading to Bow Island to skate and hang out with the Robinson side of the family. It was Zane's first time on the ice and thanks to a great apparatus at the rink and Auntie's Kizzy and Lishie and Uncle Jay and a spare pair of hockey pants from the cousins, he did really great and had a blast. We enjoyed lots of good company and visiting before heading back to Raymond

We quilted as much as we could for the whole rest of the week. You can check it out here. Even New Year's Eve was spent quilting! It was so much fun to be up in mom's sewing room with the boys up and down and playing with Grandpa! They played, watched movies, played more....the days just flew by!

And now we're home. We got home Sunday evening and mom came with us! She gets to stay until next Monday! My WONDERFUL hubby had put up the boys new bunk beds, took down Rhett's loft bed, AND put up the crib! I was really surprised by the crib but very grateful. I was worried how Rhett would take the change but so far so good. We got all unpacked, kids in bed and then attacked the Christmas decorations. Got everything down and packed up and puttered a bit before calling it quits for the night.

Today is my birthday! 28 and not feeling any different than yesterday. Had a doc's appointment and had glucose and ketones show up in my urine so that may mean I've developed gestational diabetes again....doing a test on Wednesday and will know the results when doc does. Until then, I'm not stressing. Good news is that babe is head down...thank goodness because he's starting to drop and I'm definitely waddling!

After getting home mom and I de-junked ALL the toys, books and movies. We're trying to get everything re-organized and ready for adding number 3 to this household. We brought in all the baby stuff from the shed and went through it all. Funny thing though.....we got almost all the way through it before we realized that we didn't have ANY of the newborn, 3 or 6 month stuff. Sigh. After much thinking we realized it must be in Raymond and dad confirmed this. Thank goodness Alisha is going to be up here on the 18th and 19th and can bring it to me. Oops!

Cliff came home with a yummy ice cream cake for my birthday and the boys were just ecstatic! They blew out my 2 candles...all we had in the house....and really enjoyed their cake.

Mom and I plan on doing some rearranging of the kids' rooms and furniture and a little more de-junking and then we can start quilting again! Mom has a baby quilt she wants to finish and I have a full size one cut out ready to sew for a cuddly couch quilt! I'll keep you posted!

And I really tried this year to cut down my Christmas pictures significantly....not because I don't enjoy them but because I wanted to focus on the fun and the memories, not on all the presents we all got.

Looking Up!

OK, so I think I have an inkling of how to help Zane's stomach thing. After some reading and research I think he needs more soluble fiber in his diet. Well not necessarily more, just making sure he gets some everyday. I think that's the connection. Things like starches, bananas, apple sauce, oatmeal. We've been trying this for 2 days and so far it is working marvellously. No tummy pain and last night was the first night he slept through the night since Wednesday without waking up in agony because of all the gas in his gut. Christmas will be a challenge with all the sweets and stuff but luckily he's old enough to 'get' it when I tell him that this will help his stomach and that won't. I'll keep you posted.
Saturday was interesting....went for an oil change and found out that my back driver side tire was pretty much flat - the guy looked at me like I was insane for not noticing. To which I think - I'm sorry- I'm almost 8 months pregnant and have a toddler with me in MINUS 30 weather. I don't think to check my tires. I think get in the van and get the stupid car seat done up before i get frost bite on my fingers! But I digress. He suggested that I might have a slow leak and should get it looked at. So what did I do? I called Cliff. I drive the van, I fill it up with gas, and go to the drive-thru oil change place. As far as I'm concerned everything else falls in Cliff's department. Long story short I ended up at Walmart with both kids while they hoisted my van, took the tire off and found a pin-size piece of metal in my tire. They fixed it and we were back on the road. As I was driving home I thought about what a pain the whole thing had been and then I thought, yes, but what a blessing it was too. We leave for Raymond tomorrow...what if we had been driving on the hi way and it had blown? What if I was driving with the kids alone in this weather and it went flat? I really felt that it was a true testament and answer to the prayer that Zane had said that morning before we all left for the day "please bless that we will travel in safety". It's something that seems automatic and somewhat routine as we say those morning prayers but I know that every morning I fervently wish for us all to travel in safety.
Yesterday was our Christmas program in Sacrament meeting and it went FABULOUSLY!!!! Really, the Spirit there was so strong, the music was awesome and the closing number was unbelievable. If we were a clapping church the whole congregation would have been on it's feet. We were so blessed to have a plethora of music people available this year - the last number consisted of the organ, the piano, a violin, a soloist and for the last verse the congregation. And I was blessed to be part of the congregation and could just focus on the spirit. I couldn't sing because I was crying, but it was well worth it!
And today has been busy busy busy. Into Red Deer so Walmart could re-tork my wheel - thank goodness they weren't busy when I showed up and we were in and out in 15 minutes, picked up Cliff's last Christmas present - had to wait for it to be done - and dropped off all the books at the library. Laundry, baking for Cliff when we're not here, clean the bathroom and try to referee and keep the boys from killing each other. AND Zane has been doing such a great job of earning stars for XBOX time! He's earned 20 stars 4 times now. And has learned some new skills along the way. His newest skills are folding towels (and I have resisted re-folding them...harder than I thought!) drying dishes and matching and folding socks. It's harder than I thought to help him earn the 20 stars because it takes planning on my part to have chores for him to do. A lot of the things would be done better and faster if I did them myself but I'm also learning a lot from it. And it's fun to give him stars for things the doesn't realize like being extra kind to Rhett or something like that.
And it's time to make supper. FHE tonight is going to be cuddles and a Christmas movie. We're opening our family gifts tomorrow morning before Cliff heads to work and then I'll be busy with the kids getting everything packed up, organized and ready to go to Raymond. We're hoping that Cliff is able to get off early and that we'll be in Raymond by 8:00 but we'll see what happens. I can't believe that it's here and we're all looking forward to spending this wonderful time of year with our family and friends!
I'll try not to board the holiday train and get lost....but no promises! Merry Christmas to everyone!

Some Days....

I need more than one of me. Today is one of those days. I need one of me to stay in bed and catch up on sleep and let my sciatic nerves calm down, one of me to do the baking and house work I had planned to do, and one of me to take care of sick child. Is that really too much to ask for? Poor Zane is having another stomach attack thing today and it's a bad one. But I'm not taking him back to the emerg because I know we'll sit there for a couple of hours, finally see a doctor who will order x-rays and pronounce him full of gas. Instead I'm trying to do all the things the last emerg doc told me to try and it seems to be helping a little. This attack isn't as bad as the last one where they finally gave him a shot of morphine! And I'm trying to keep track of all his symptoms and exactly what he's eaten the day of and day before these attacks. He's had a few little ones since the last big one but I'm not seeing any correlation between anything. Frustrating.
On the upside of things...I got a good start on wrapping last night and I finished the quilt top I was working on for this baby. And I LOVE it. I think it's my favorite quilt yet and I'm actually keeping it. I was thinking about when the last time was I made a quilt and kept it.....it's been a very long time. If you want to check it out you can go here. I'm stuck on the binding at the moment because I changed the border and what I had planned to use won't work now. Maybe a trip to the fabric store tomorrow will solve the problem!

Where I've been....

Nothing too earth shattering has been happening in our household in the past few days. But I do have a few noteworthy events that have been tumbling around in my mind today as I did other tasks, all the while thinking...I should blog this now or I'll forget it. Hopefully my memory holds out, and if it doesn't you won't know the difference!
Tuesday Zane vibrated almost all morning. It was Christmas program day in school and they were putting on 2 performances. He was sooooo excited and couldn't wait for us to see it. Rhett and I attended both performances and Cliff joined us for the evening production. And Zane was 100% right - it was FANTASTIC! I didn't really know what to expect - all Zane had told me was that it was about Mary and Joseph, which frankly surprised me since he's in the public school system and most schools are so worried about political correctness yada yada yada. Basically the grade 3 class put on a 30 minute nativity production from the shepherd and sheep's point of view. It had humor, great music provided by the K through 2's, and Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. I was really impressed by the script and the message that Christ is the reason for Christmas and overjoyed that this is the school that my child is in. After both performances the school principal got up and told us all that this school believed in celebrating the real meaning behind Christmas, had been doing so for at least the last 8 years, and have no intentions of changing that. I felt very grateful and blessed especially as I have talked to a few friends who have children in other schools in town here and their children's programs focused entirely on Santa and the commercial side of Christmas. Not one mention of the Savior or even a traditional Christmas song. But back to Zane. He was really nervous and pretty scared because both performances had really big crowds but he stood up there with the rest of his class, sang the songs, and did the actions (his actions were very small and close to his body but he did them) and I was so proud of him for doing it. He really doesn't like to be the center of attention and has a hard time being in front of a crowd like that. He was THRILLED this morning when I pointed out a picture in the newspaper of his performance - you could just make him out at the back of the bleachers - if you knew where to look. It made his whole day. And of course, being the wonderful mother that I am, I threw the newspaper out 10 minutes later. Really, you had to know where to look to realize that Zane was in the picture. Not really a scrap book keepsake. Thankfully he wasn't too upset when he asked to look at it later in the morning. Oops.
Wednesday Keri Pratt came over and I helped her put a quilt together and gave her some tips on machine quilting. (I am in NO way an expert - just passed on the little bit of knowledge I have). And this resulted in my quilting bug awakening in me...
Yesterday I volunteered at our ward's Creche display. The school across the street from our church brought pre-k through grade 5 through - minus the grade one's because apparently their teacher didn't think they needed permission slips to leave the school. Glad my kid isn't in her class. Anyways, it was pretty steady but they had things well organized - the gym had the creches, the chapel had a short video of the nativity, and the Relief Society room had chairs and cookies and hot chocolate and your truly reading Christmas stories to the kids. The ladies in charge had decided before I got there that since I am so round and prego that I didn't need to be on my feet for 3.5 hours, and decreed that I got a cushy chair, fun stories to read and all the cookies and hot chocolate I wanted. It was really fun and time really flew by.
After a quick stop at home I was headed back into town to brave the storm, get groceries, hit Old Navy (which was having a fabulous sale - I actually spent money on me and although I still feel as big as a house at least now I feel like an attractive house!) I also made a stop at the fabric store and got some flannel and fabric for this baby. Yes, I'm finally starting a quilt for him. Better late than never. I actually got it all cut out tonight so be proud of me!
We shared pizza and a movie night with our great friends the Allred's and got our munchkins to bed much to late. Oh well. Them's the breaks.
Did I mention that Cliff came home Thursday night with an XBOX 360. If you don't already know, ours has been out of commission for about 6 weeks. I wasn't terribly sad about that but alas the males in my household did not share my viewpoint. At least he got it for 1/2 price, right? Anyways, knowing that replacing the silly thing was inevitable, Cliff and I have been discussing how to deal with Zane and his obsession with his Lego Star Wars game. And after stealing an idea from my terribly clever friend Leslie, we came up with a strategy that seems to be working well. We tried giving him a set amount of time per day before and it was a constant battle between him and me because he always wanted more and more and more. So, this time around he has to EARN his time with the game. We decided to do a star system - 10 stars = 15 minutes of playing time and 20 = 30 minutes of playing time. He can earn stars by doing extra chores, doing regular chores on the first asking, playing nice with Rhett, etc. Basically mom and dad's discretion. BUT he can also lose stars for excessive whining, tantrums, etc. He is LOVING this system. Yesterday he just about drove me nuts asking for extra chores or if I had thought of something that he could do. Arg. It was great in some ways, but exasperating in others. Today was a lot better...and he managed to earn 20 stars and get his 1/2 hour playing time. He was so thrilled and proud of himself. It was fun too because during the day he would come to count his stars and sometimes I had added 1 or 2 he didn't know about - noticed him helping Rhett or something along those lines. He would ask what he had done to get that star and I would just tell him it was for me to know....I don't want him to think every time he says something nice he gets a star! But Rhett was a real crank all day and Zane was incredibly patient and helpful with him so yeah, I kicked in a few extra stars to make sure he got his reward.
Speaking of rewards....that made me remember another reward he got this week. We finally got his second bottom tooth out! The adult was already coming in but that baby tooth just wanted to hang on. Knowing that it wouldn't be long I had stashed a loonie sometime last week in anticipation of the tooth fairy event. However, Wednesday night when I went to retrieve said loonie to play tooth fairy it was not where I put it. And I had ZERO change in the house. Ok, so don't panic right? I sent a text to Cliff who was at a meeting and told him to bring one home. No problem. I was asleep when Cliff got home, but when I was up at 3:00 am (don't ask) it dawned on me to shake my hubby awake and ask if he had remembered to play tooth fairy. Umm, no. And he didn't bring the loonie home either. Great. 3 in the morning, no loonie, no change. What did I do? Climbed back in bed and went to sleep, only to bolt upright at 4:30 to jump out of bed, right a rushed note from the TF and slip it under Zane's pillow. He woke up at 5:15, shouted for me to come quick, and demanded I read the note. The note explained that the TF had fallen in the snow and lost his special prize. Asked him to put his tooth under his pillow again and the TF would bring him something extra special. After the 2nd read he seemed OK with the turn of events and went back to sleep. Me back to bed. 7:15 I wake up to him sobbing...me thinking he's puking or something - and he's DEVASTATED that the TF didn't take his tooth. Umm, honey, don't you remember the note? Note? More tears and 3 readings later Zane is finally reconciled to the waiting another night but thinks it might be a fun thing to show his tooth to Grandpa who got to spend all Thursday afternoon with us. As for the TF he made sure to bring home a TOONIE from his desk at work and Zane is now the proud owner of a toonie which he is saving for a Transformer watch.
We had fun Thursday afternoon with Grandpa Dooley and he did us a great favor and put plastic on the kid's windows and our back door window. Cliff and I had attempted it earlier in the day but didn't have big enough plastic. But Grandpa got it done for us just in time for the cold weather to hit. It's made a big difference in the temp in the back of the house and when we thaw out a bit we're planning on doing a couple of other windows in the house too.
Well, for not having much to say I sure seem to have found a lot! Keep watch for some pics of the babe's quilt soon. I'm hoping to have it mostly together before heading south and that is rapidly approaching!

Some Christmas Memories....

I'm sure that Cliff and I aren't alone in trying to take traditions from each of our families and add new ones of our own to our Christmas season celebrations. We also get the added bonus of travelling to each family every year and participating in whatever traditions are happening on the days we are together. It makes for a very full and fun season! As I've been thinking about this over the past couple of days I started thinking about things that we did when I was a kid...some are still traditions, some have changed a little, and some we've outgrown or forgotten. And I decided that I wanted to write down some of my memories - mostly for my enjoyment and to share with my kids - but if you want to read them I hope you enjoy! And as a warning I'm not sure how long this post might end up and I'm definitely not going to try to do them in chronological order or anything like that. Just going to write them as they come to me. And maybe add a few here or there as I remember them!

- One Christmas Eve we went over to Holt's house and I don't really remember what we did but I do remember listening to the radio as they "reported" sighting Rudolph and Santa's sleigh. All of us little kids were so excited as we rushed to the window to look at the sky to see if we could see a red blinking light moving across the sky.
- Mom always made tons of homemade yummy fondant chocolates and carmels. It was quite the process of making the fondant, adding the flavor, hand whipping it, rolling it, chilling it, dipping it and chilling it again. She made so many so she could sell them and use the money for Christmas presents. Of course when we were little we didn't realize that's what she was doing it for. I'm sure that we were quite the nuisances....what a lot of work with 3 little girls underfoot! As we got a little older we were able to help mom roll the centers which helped a little but she still did the majority of the work by herself. Thanks mom!
- Mom used to make rosettes every Christmas. My memory is that it was a tradition from her family and came from the Ukraine or something like that. Basically she had long metal sticks that attached to different metal shapes - I remember the butterflies very well - and she would dip the shape into a batter and then fry it in oil. When the batter was crispy it would come off the mold and then she'd start over again. I remember ice cream buckets full of these and they were yummy treats.
- When we were little mom would make up goodie plates for friends in the ward and we would go caroling and drop off the plates. It was fun and sometimes a little scary because we would visit the "old" people in our ward.
- Decorating the tree - when I was little we still had the colored lights that you unscrewed and put the reflector on and then screwed the light back in. And we had a real tree for a long time. Dad would bring it in and let it warm up in the basement before bringing it up and screwing it into the stand. After the lights came the garland and then the ornaments. We had a few "special" ornaments that we all wanted to put on the tree but eventually we just had Miffy Mouse - a little mouse in a walnut. And we would take turns every year finding the perfect spot for her. Until my Grandma Knibb made mom a porcelain angel we had a star that lit up for our tree topper and it was always the last thing to go on. We couldn't wait for dad to put it on and plug it in.
- Hanging our stockings up was always the last thing we did on Christmas Eve and always required a picture
- We got new jammies every year. We got to open them on Christmas Eve and when we were really little it was a surprise every year that that's what was in the box. As we got older we knew what to expect but the excitement was still there. They were the only presents under the tree until Christmas morning and sometimes they were matching and sometimes they weren't.
- We spent quite a few Christmas Eve's out at Grandma and Grandpa Robinson's farm with all of the cousins. Lots of food and little space. There always seemed to be someone somewhere and we had lots of fun and lots of TV trays to eat off of.
- Christmas morning dad always got up extra early and went to the feedlot to get the cows fed. We were usually up and waiting for him when he got home. I think it added to the anticipation of seeing everything under the tree and the stockings and having to wait for dad to get home.
- As long as I can remember we would all do our stockings - kids first and then mom and dad - then have a special breakfast before opening presents. Some years it was fun cereal like Captain Crunch, some years it was sweet bread and other yummies. As we've gotten older it's morphed into quite the breakfast spread that we all pitch in and help with.
- Before my Grandma Knibb died we would usually finish opening presents, get ready and then head to Taber for dinner and presents there. Grandma and Grandpa had the tree downstairs and it just killed all of us kids that we had to wait until after dinner AND dishes before we could start on the presents. Mom and her sisters did all the dishes and now me and my sisters do the dishes. After dishes were finally done and the kitchen declared clean we would go downstairs and dad would hand out all the presents. Then the grandkids took turns one at a time opening our gifts. Then on to mom and dad and her sisters, and finally grandma and grandpa. It was fun to take turns and see what everyone gave and received.
-One year mom and dad and her sisters gave grandma a family ring and hid it in an mandarin orange box. Grandma was so confused when she opened the box but loved the ring when she found it.
- Another year dad got really sick with the flu Christmas eve and by morning the rest of us were all sick to. Grandma and Grandpa Knibb packed up Christmas - turkey included - and brought it to us. I don't think we ate much of anything but we didn't miss Christmas.
- The first Christmas I was accomplished enough on the piano I played every Christmas song I could out of the Reader's Digest book while my family sang along
- Mom was a Relief Society teacher one year and put together a slide presentation that went along with one of our Christmas tapes - A Children's Christmas - it tells the story of Christmas with songs, scriptures and a great script. Every year since we have watched that presentation on Christmas Eve and we can still sing all the words to the songs.
- The goody table - always loaded with soooo many good things to eat
- Christmas advent calenders with the gross chocolates. I would always gobble mine right up - Alisha would hoard hers and it always made me so mad that she had all these chocolates left over.
- Our first Christmas in our 'new' house we spent the whole afternoon downstairs under blankets with tons of yummy treats and watched movies together. I think we probably watched 3 or 4...it was a lot of fun.
- Going to look at all the beautiful lights around the town. We didn't do it every year but I loved it when we did.
- The Rotary Carol Festival. When we got older one or more of us were usually involved in some way or another - singing with choirs, me accompanying a choir....and although we did our fair share of grumbling I was always glad that we had gone
- Colored popcorn from Piersons. Oh so yummy.
- Dad always passed out all the gifts under the tree before we started opening them. We would take turns oldest to youngest between us girls and then mom and dad would open theirs. We still do this when we're all together - grandkids, then kids, then mom and dad. And Zane has been dad's elf for the past couple of years. I think he'll have 2 helpers this year!
- We've never been allowed into the living room where the tree is until dad has gone and plugged in the lights and started Christmas music - I think it enhances the magic of the moment! When we got a little older mom and dad thought we might cheat so dad would rig a sheet across the doorway that would fall if you touched it. I never tried to peak because I liked the surprise and anticipation of everything....I don't know if Lish or Kizzy ever tried to snoop.
- I've always woke up early on Christmas Eve and I still do. I just LOVE the magic of the whole day and I'm usually awake by 5:30. When we were little we had to stay in bed until 7:00 and it just killed me to wait. The 3 of us girls used to camp out in one room or another Christmas Eve night and giggle away until late and then start again early in the morning as we waited for the clock to move!
- The last Christmas I had at home before Cliff and I got married the 3 of us girls decided to sleep upstairs together which involved dragging a mattress up the stairs -if you've been in my parent's house you'll understand how difficult this might be for 3 giggly girls as we tried to get the mattress to bend around the landing corner and up the stairs. I ended up getting smushed between the wall and the mattress and all 3 of us were laughing so hard that dad eventually had to take over and get the mattress up stairs.
- Mom reminded me of one - our Christmas dresses! When we were all little mom would make us a new dress every Christmas. I'm not sure how many years that lasted before changing into new Christmas dresses from the store...and of course they had to have crinolins! We loved to spin and have our dresses twirl out around us. We used to "dress up" in our crinolins and pretend we were ballerinas with tu-tus. I think the tradition lasted until I was a teenager...

I have been so blessed to have such great memories of Christmas and every new one brings even more. I'm sure as the season continues I'll remember more and I'll try to add them. I think I'll do them in a different color so you'll know if there's new ones or not. Feel free to check if you want or not. Like I said earlier, this post was for me and my kids and their kids....

Our 4th Annual House!

For FHE last night we decorated our annual gingerbread house. I cheated a little bit this year and pulled out the glue gun and glued it together about 4 hours BEFORE we were ready to decorate it. Last year we had a little too much candy, icing that wasn't quite dry and a collapsed house. Go here to see last year before the collapse. This equalled one sad little boy. And if you'll notice...I'm not in any of these pictures! I just completed the journalling of last years pictures a couple of weeks ago and noticed that we only had ONE picture of Cliff for the whole holiday funness and celebrations. So, after raising that issue Cliff bravely volunteered to be the icing piper for our fun project! The boys had a hard time waiting for enough icing to get on the house before they started decorating but all in all I think it turned out great! Rhett LOVED eating all the candy and icing and Zane and I ate our fair share too. Zane had fun putting candy anywhere there was bare icing and Rhett put a few things on....but decided eating it was way more fun then wasting it on the house. This is the first year that we've done the house in the evening....and next year I think we'll do it Sunday afternoon! They were just vibrating by the time we got them into the tub around 8 and it was almost 9 before we got them settled into bed. Still it was lots of fun and thanks to my fabulous gluing job we were able to move it to a safe spot for display. I had a few spots in mind but decided the top of the fridge because I reasoned that Rhett wouldn't be able to get to it and pull the candy off! So enjoy the pictures and the countdown to Christmas!

Action Packed!

We had so much fun tonight! Sylvan Lake had their annual Santa Claus parade and we had fun watching it with some friends in our ward. We didn't attend last year because it was -20 plus the windchill...but this year it was the PERFECT weather!! AND one of our friends is a volunteer fire fighter here in Sylvan and offered to let Zane and Rhett ride in the one of the fire trucks at in the parade! Zane was soooo excited! Rhett bailed but Zane went and had a great time. The parade started about a block away from the fire station where we were all sitting so he got to watch all of the parade pass by and then the trucks joined in. I wish I would have taken my camera! Cliff got a shot on his phone but it's not a great one. He was seriously vibrating by the time the route was done and he met back up with us at our friend's house. It's so fun to see him experience things like this and for him to big enough to do things like this without one of us there....other adults supervising, of course, but not necessarily us. A couple of years ago I would have laughed in your face if you had told me Zane would do something like this. He's grown up so much!
After the parade - which was great by the way....good floats, lots of lights, Santa Claus and candy galore....we headed down to the lake to watch fireworks. We got there just in time to back in and sit in our nice warm van and watch the fireworks over the lake. So pretty and fun! They didn't last very long but they were fun to watch and the kids thought it was fantastic!
With fireworks done we all headed to the Tim Hortons for hot chocolate and donuts! Yum Yum Yum. Rhett didn't want anything to do with the Tim Bits or milk we got him - he just wanted a sucker. Luckily Cliff still had parade candy in his pockets and had a sucker. He sat there the whole time just licking away at it and was happy as could be! Zane's whole face was shining and I'm pretty sure this is one night he won't be forgetting for awhile!
In other happenings in our world....Rhett has discovered some of our Christmas books....one is a "Can you See What I See...the Night Before Christmas" - which is basically a bunch of Christmas pictures based on the popular story and you have to find certain things within the picture. In this book there is a little wooden puppet who appears in each picture and one of the challenges is to find him....Rhett calls him his robot and can find him on every page. There's some pages that have stuffed pandas on them and he knows where they all are as well. And he LOVES to sit there and do this book with you. As soon as he's done he's ready to do it again. We also have 2 books that we borrowed from Auntie Lishie...a find Frosty and a find Santa. These are his next favorite books and he enjoys finding things in them....they have pictures on the side of the pages of stuff to find and he was amazing me last night with how many he was finding without help. Did I mention that he was up until 11:00 last night? He fell asleep at 4:30 and we couldn't wake him up. He woke up are around 7:30 and that explains the 11:00 bedtime.
Zane had a great day at school today...he got hot lunch which was pizza and milk (I forgot that it was today and packed him a lunch - silly mom), he got to do show and tell and took his Kung Fu Panda action figure, AND he got to watch a movie and eat popcorn in the gym with the rest of the kindergartens, grade 1 and 2s. It's part of the a reward program the school has started in order to emphasize and teach the kids polite and courteous behaviors. The movie was Alvin and the Chipmunks which he hasn't seen before and he was just brimming with the excitement when he got home. He also informed me that he thinks we should name our baby Jarrin. I told him that I really like the name Brock, and he just shook his head and said he thought it should be Jarrin and would I please add it to the list. I agreed and told him we would see what the baby looks like when he gets here. I'm really hoping he's not going to remember in 10 weeks or so when this babe arrives because he's NOT going to be named Jarrin. Brock is the front runner right now and we'll see what happens!
And we are finally healthy in our house again. We all got a some sort of flu, starting with Zane Saturday night....but Cliff and I got it the worse. And got it at the same time. He came home early on Wednesday with the intentions of taking care of me and the kids and instead went straight to bed and basically stayed there or the couch or the chair for the past 2 days. But at least we're good now!

10 Things....

Yesterday I took the time to move pictures and my blog onto memory sticks again. It's something that I have been meaning to do for a while and just decided to do it. As I was moving blogs into word I came across my last 10 Things blog and realized that it's been a little over 3 months since I last did it. So....here we go!

10 Things I want to Remember about.....

RHETT:
1. He loves to imitate Zane in everything but he still keeps his own independence and is starting to exert it more and more in their play
2. He thinks it's hilarious to pretend to be a cat or a dog - licking and mewing included. I sternly tell him he's not a cat or a dog and ask him what he is. He giggles as he says "I'm a Rhett...a little boy!" And then laughs and giggles like it's the funniest thing ever.
3. His love of everything Christmas! Everywhere we drive he points out decorations with the exclamation: Christmas!
4. He's learning to recognize numbers and letters...and points them out quite often
5. He made his very first pattern out of blocks today all by himself. 2 reds, a green, 2 reds, a green and 2 reds. I was watching him really close without him knowing because I was curious if he was consciously doing it or just by chance....but he was taking them out of Lego that was pushed together and actually arranging them to make that pattern. Wow. It's so fun to see them do something for the very first time
6. His love and enthusiasm for life! This kid loves to live everything to the fullest and is always up for "going" somewhere and "doing" something
7. His vocab has just exploded lately. It's so fun to listen to him try new words and the see the pride on his face when he gets it right
8. He is so excited every day when Daddy gets home. Runs to the door for a quick hug, a chatter of something and then is off again
9. As soon as Zane gets out of his classroom he almost tackles him with a hug and Zane just wraps him up and plants a kiss on his head. Seriously soooo sweet!
10. He's been going to nursery consistently now for almost 3 months....and Zane drops him off almost every Sunday. As soon as Sacrament meeting is over Zane grabs his hand, I get a quick kiss and he's off like every other big kid...he's in heaven and it's so fun to watch this new "big" kid that has entered our world. Every day he gets further and further from the baby he was.

ZANE....
1. His LOVE for school. His favorites are of course recess and gym class but he loves computer, library and everything he does. He's not very forth coming with details which drives me bonkers sometimes but he learns so many fun things that manifest themselves through life here at home
2. His incredible LOVE for his brother. Although Rhett is probably one of the biggest frustrations in his life he is also one of the most important people in his life as well. He is kind, thoughtful and inclusive to Rhett. Truly a fabulous role model for Rhett of what a big brother should be and I couldn't be prouder of him
3. His new favorite phrase "Oh, by the way...." and then continues on with a story or comment or even a question. He hasn't really quite got the logistics of how and when to use it but it's just so stinkin' cute to hear such a grown up phrase come out of his mouth
4. His creativity. He is constantly making something out of something else. Lego into complex ships or guns, guitars out of hockey sticks, ships out of cards....everything can be used for something other than it's real purpose. And he usually makes sure that he finds something for Rhett to be included in the re-purposing or building of the latest creation
5. His growing independence. It's amazing to watch the things that he can do and wants to do for himself....washing his own hair, pouring his own drinks, changing movies, plugging in the Christmas lights, winding the music box on the snow globe....lots of things that show just how grown up he's really getting
6. He LOVES to talk on the phone and if in the right mood will talk your ear off. As soon as he hears "Grandma's" ring he is demanding to talk to her. And if it's been a couple of days he's asking to call her. He seems to enjoy talking to both grandmas and aunties alike. He just rambles and pulls out odd facts and things going on in his life. He'll finish a thought and then stalls with "so..." while he gets his thoughts in order and then moves on. It's a lot of fun to listen to but can drive me nuts when I'm actually trying to talk to mom or someone and he's there demanding his own time.
7. His new appreciation for fashion. For the past 3 years he has shunned any shirt with a collar or buttons. Every Sunday was a struggle to get him dressed....he is actually ASKING to wear his church shirts or a polo shirt....and conceded to letting us gel his hair. He still prefers sweats to jeans...but who doesn't?
8. His imagination is unbelievable! The games and schemes he comes up with for him and Rhett and their friends are just awe inspiring sometimes. I hope he never loses that. In fact, the other day he asked me "mom, do you know what my imagination is?" "What is it?" I asked. "It's in my mind where things come to me and then I know what to do". "I'm glad you have such a good imagination" "Yeah, me too"
9. His music talent! yeah!!! I know I'm biased because I am his mom and his piano teacher and I really shouldn't compare him to anyone else....but out of all my beginners he is the one who is 'getting' it the best and most naturally. Hopefully we'll be able to keep nurturing it!
10. His general curiosity about things in life. He is always trying to figure something new out - time, how the weeks and months work, time in relation to other things - like Christmas, birthdays, when the baby comes in relation to everything else in his world. I just know that his mind is always going from the questions he comes up with!

CLIFF.....
1. His excitement to see his boys as soon as he gets in the door
2. The wrestling/tickling matches that occur on an almost nightly basis between him and the boys
3. His quiet leadership in our home...I really appreciate it!
4. His thought fullness towards me...especially as this baby gets bigger and bigger and I get slower and more awkward
5. His fun and teasing....always keeps me on my toes and makes me laugh. We've been married for 7.5 years and he still makes me laugh every day!
6. How HARD he works so I can stay home with the boys. I think I write this down every time but it really is true and I hope it never changes. I try to let him know how much I appreciate him and his time and effort.
7. His love for sports. He is passing it on to our boys and its fun to watch him pass on the love and knowledge that I'm sure he learned from his dad and uncles and grandpas. A great family tradition
8. Watching him play with the kids. Lately I've caught them playing hockey and soccer in the hallway, shooting jedi guns and having sword fights. All little boys could count themselves lucky to have a daddy like Cliff
9. I got a phone call last night on my home from a baby shower...Rhett was sleeping with Zane and Zane had woken up and puked all over the bed, himself and Rhett....he wanted to know how long I would be. When I got home both boys were bathed, new jammies, new bedding and back in bed sleeping. AND everything that was covered in puke was already in the washer. That right there made me fall in love with him all over again.
10. His indulgence of my love/obsession of all things Christmas and his willingness to help me create memories for our boys through traditions that we've borrowed from our families and also the ones that we have started. Point in fact: Festival of Trees with 2 hyper kids, huge crowds and fun had by all of us.
I love you hon!

ME.....
1. I'm very anxious for this pregnancy to be over but as the weeks go by I remember more and more how this has to end and how much it hurts.
2. I'm stressed about not having any snow yet. I know, I know. Am I mental? I don't LIKE snow. BUT I'm stressed that it is all going to come in February and it's going to be hard to get to the hospital or something stupid like that. Sigh. I know, I stress too much
3. I feel as huge as a whale. (Are you sensing a theme here...so far all pregnancy related...)
4. I am trying really hard to enjoy my kids every day and not get caught up in everyday life
5. I LOVE to read to the boys...one cuddled up on each side and sharing my love of a good book with them. Sometimes we only get a couple of stories in but other days we do marathon reading and get almost an hour in. love it
6. You are going to laugh at this next one but I don't care. I miss my small boobs. (Sorry kids if you're reading this!) I have forgotten what it's like to have a chest this size and I'm really not enjoying it
7. I'm stressed over a name for this kiddo. Cliff doesn't like my favorite - Quaid - and although I like others I'm just not in love with any
8. I am really looking forward to Christmas although the decorating part is the only thing that is completed!
9. I feel like I have a lot of projects planned and on the go that I want to get done before this baby gets here....and I'm not sure if they're all going to get done
10. I miss my mom and my sisters a lot...thank goodness for phones and Internet!

OUR FAMILY...
1. We are all looking forward to the arrival of baby #3
2. I feel like we are making headway in traditions and habits - good things like prayers, scriptures, FHE, Christmas fun, fall traditions....
3. Is excited to go home for Christmas
4. love to laugh together
5. love to snuggle together
6. love to bake together...well daddy supervises and enjoys the fruits of our labors
7. really likes living in Sylvan Lake
8. is blessed with some of the best friends anyone could ask for
9. is NOT perfect...but we're working on it
10. LOVE each other

Oh the Busy-ness of the day!

Wow. We got a lot done in one day today! And with very minimal fighting! Always a plus in my book.
We headed into Red Deer before 10:30, did some banking and headed to the church so I could meet up with one of my VT gals. The boys and daddy hung out in the van and watched a movie while I did a quick visit and then it was off to the mall to see Santa. We had to stand in line for about 15 minutes before we got to see him but both kids did great with the wait. Zane went right over to Santa and gave him the list he's been working on since July. This is what it looked like: Zane's Christmas List
1. Light Saber
2. Lego Indiana Jones Toy
3. Transformer - Megatron
4. Darth Vader Costume
Rhett was interested in the candy canes and we bribed him with one to sit with Zane and Santa for a picture. He was not impressed and the picture shows him sliding off Santa's lap as fast as he can! We got a couple of just Zane and Santa but the one we chose was the with the 2 of them. It was just too cute!
After lunch we headed to the Festival Of Trees and it was a lot of fun. It's a big charity event for the DTHR where they fill the pavilion in town with hundreds of decorated trees set up, decorations, items for auction and a winter carnival for the kids. It's all indoors but they have all these different booths set up with carnival games, crafts and fun stuff for the kids to do. You buy a bunch of tokens and away you go. The kids a blast, got lots of prizes, and I even got to linger at a few trees. Not as many as I would like, but I did get to oooh and awww over a few. A stop at Old Navy and one at Costco and we were finally headed home.
I have to go back into town for a choir practice tonight....and I'm already tired!

Some stuff....

Just some fun stories and things my kids have done lately that I want to remember...and of course if I want to do that I need to write it down. So if you enjoy it to - great! But there's nothing earth shattering in this blog :)

- Zane has been trying to help Rhett learn to say his words properly. He breaks them up into small parts and gets Rhett to repeat after him then put the whole word together. It's really cute. Last night they were in the tub and Zane was teaching him how to say Cannon Ball. Their game was involving cannon balls for some reason. It just makes me smile to listen to them interact. I'm very blessed that Zane is such a great big brother!

- Rhett is convinced that snow = Christmas. Surprisingly we haven't had a lot of snow yet...but every time we do get a little skiff of snow Rhett just bounces at the window saying "Christmas, Christmas!" Yesterday when we left to go get Zane from school he walked outside and went "oh, no! Christmas!" The snow was melting and his little heart was just broken! He kept saying oh no, oh no for a few minutes before something else distracted him. He is so excited for Christmas. He doesn't really get the whole Santa thing but every time he sees any decorations, trees, lights etc he's very quick to exclaim "Christmas!"

- Zane is LOVING the Magic Tree House books. Mary Pope Osborne is the author and they are about a brother and sister and a magic tree house. They go different places, solve problems, and learn things. They all seem to be 10 chapters and we've been averaging about 3 days per book! It's great that he'll sit there and listen for that long at a time and I really hope that I'm passing on my love of reading to him and Rhett.

- Zane has started "reading" to Rhett. They made a book in school that he had memorized and the 2 of them would sit and Zane would "read" it to him. There's also some fun library books that he knows the general gist of the story and will sit and "read" it to Rhett. It's fun to see him develop this new skill. I hope it becomes a love for him!

- I can't remember if I've blogged about this next one or not and I'm too lazy to go back and see. Rhett has started pretending that he is a kitty or a puppy quite frequently during the day. He does the whiny pant, the licking, the rubbing his head against your leg...the whole bit. The problem is he doesn't know when to stop. So lately I've been telling him he's not a kitty or a puppy, but a Rhett. He agrees that he is a Rhett and usually goes on his merry way. The other night he climbed up on my lap and started in on the kitty thing and we again had the conversation. He agreed that he was Rhett and then reached for my face with his 2 little hands and pulled me in for what I thought was a kiss. Nope. A big 'ole lick right across my mouth! Eww Gross! I was so surprised that I burst out laughing and couldn't stop as I tried to tell him that was gross and not to do it again. Discipline just doesn't come across very good when you're laughing.

And I forgot, I wanted to ask everyone a favor! This pregnancy is clipping along and we're having quite the time coming up with a final name list. Normally we're able to narrow it down to 2 quite easily. Right now we have 8....and I like them all...I'm just not sure that we've got the RIGHT one on the list. So, I was wondering if you would send me some ideas? We're looking for something that is one syllable like Zane and Rhett, and something that's not too common but not completely out there. His middle name is going to be Dooley for my Grandpa and for my dad - my kids know my dad as Grandpa Dooley and everyone knew my Grandpa as Dooley even though that wasn't his actual name. (And if you're family reading this I am aware that Jeff and Kathy's Tyson is Tyson Dooley...but we're using it again anyways). The other 2 boys have Johnson family names for middle names and this one is getting a Robinson middle name. So that's my favor. If you have any great names and would like to share them please feel free. Thanks!

"Tis the Season!

I am thrilled to be decorated for Christmas! I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get everything out that I wanted to because I've added to my collection by quite a bit and I have one less shelf in the house this year than last. So I sacrificed one of my nativities and it's creche. It's really big and I was worried that it would fall off the top of my piano if I set it up there - no wall to lean against just in case. But I discovered a few new places this year that weren't an option last year...mostly because Rhett is a year older this time around!

The kids helped me put out the house decorations on Thursday and last night after supper we set the tree up. I mean, Cliff set the tree up. Zane got to help with the light this year and he was THRILLED beyond belief. We bought all new LED light this year so Rhett and I were in charge of taking them out of the box, untangling them, and plugging them in to make sure they worked. As soon as I got a string plugged in he would pick up the nearest light and put it right up to his eye - better to examine it I guess? At least it wasn't up his nose - that's where he's been putting everything lately - fingers, walkie talkie antennas, Lego guns (thank goodness we only have big Lego). Anyways, back to Christmas. Letting the kids help decorate the tree is always really hard for me because I am fussy and want it just so. And most of my decorations are glass. So, the deal is that mom gets to do the really really breakable glass stuff and the boys are supposed to be gentle and slow. Right. Zane did a pretty good job of placing balls on the tree while Rhett's main objective was to see how many balls he could carry at once and hand to me and then be back with the next batch. We got it done though and I'm really happy with how it turned out!

And now of course, the pictures. I promised Leslie that I would post them today so she could show everyone how Christmas crazy I am and get her own Christmas fix without having to pull her stuff out!

Rhett and Zane's Christmas crafts we did last Saturday. We painted the cardboard pieces and then they picked out the foam pieces they wanted and I glue gunned them on. Then I glued the four pieces together into a box and glued the yarn on. And there you have it. Zane was very impressed and Rhett had fun when he wanted to help.

I LOVE my magnet board and am so glad that I bought it last Christmas. I leave it up all year round and it was the perfect place for all of these little things that mom gave me last year!

I couldn't leave this plate in the store...the words were just so appropriate!
And for some reason I can't write under this picture....but I bought the BELIEVE this year and the rest is all wonderful stuff my mom has made for me. I'm so lucky to have such a talented mom!

My hutch is full of different trinkets and stuff...the JINGLE is one of the crafts I did at Super Saturday. It's hard to tell in the picture but it has wire wrapped around each letter with bells attached. And the snow globe is the definite favorite with the boys. It's also a music box and they love to take turns holding it and listening to it play Silent Night.
I thought my new sign went well with some of my nativity scenes. I LOVE my Willow Tree Nativity. I cranked the Christmas music and cried as I put it out. I do every time I put the nativity out. It just is so nice to have the physical reminder of what Christmas really is. And I try to teach the kids about it too - not sure how much sunk in this year.
And my tree! The picture really doesn't do it justice but it's hard to get a good picture with it all lit up!

Our recent happenings....

It feels like we have been running all week long...even with Cliff home an extra day on Remembrance day.

Monday I accomplished laundry and taking a really long nap with Rhett. I was just beat all day long. Zane was home from school as well because it was a PD day. So really we didn't do much.

Tuesday I spent the majority of the day working on a quilt. I put the pictures here on my quilt blog.

Wednesday Zane had school (hurray!) and Rhett and I got a lot done around the house, read some books and generally had a great day.

Yesterday my wonderful hubby brought in all the Christmas stuff minus the tree and the kids had a lot of fun helping me decorate. I had a few panic moments as they were "helping" to unpack....I have some breakables that made me nervous but we all survived and the house looks great! Zane also finally finally let me pull his loose tooth! It just popped right out and after a moment of freaking out he thought it was pretty cool! The tooth fairy brought him a loony and he was so excited to buy a "Wonka Bar" (his term for chocolate bars since reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" I didn't take a picture with him and his tooth, but I did take a picture of him this morning with his prize and his toothier grin! And we noticed in the picture that you can already see the other tooth coming in!

Today we have been busy busy. Grocery shopping took a big portion of the morning and some of the afternoon. Everywhere is just getting crazy busy with Christmas and I just don't move very quickly at the moment! And this afternoon we've just been busy getting things settled - Cliff did a bunch of little honey-do things around the house, I got the groceries all put away and after we're done supper tonight we are putting up the tree! Yeah! Then I'll be all done decorating. I've already promised Leslie a blog with pictures of my Christmas house so that may or may not happen later tonight. We'll see how frazzled I am after letting the kids "help" and how long it takes me to re-decorate the tree the way I want it. I know, I know. I have kids. But I still want my tree to look the way I want it to look. They get to help, and I just do some adjusting later. I think I'll probably save my really breakable stuff for after they're in bed!

And Whitney and Tisha have a FABULOUS link to a very worthwhile cause. I finally figured out the whole link thing so go there and click on the quilt give away for Baby Mia if you are interested!

Some Stuff

• I asked Zane yesterday why he had to wear Red to school...."Mrs. Cocks didn't tell us" is the answer I got. So, the mystery will remain
• Zane was literally bouncing out of his classroom yesterday. He was quivering with excitement as he proclaimed to me and the rest of the hallway "MOM! I have 2 loose tooths!"
• And indeed, his bottom front 2 teeth are loose. One more than the other. He is wiggling ferociously and keeps insisting that I check to see if it's ready. He's just dying to take it for show and tell on Friday...we'll see
• Cliff felt our little nudger kick last night. And it was a pretty good one - moved his hand and everything. This is always one of my very favorite firsts. Of course he only did it once and wouldn't kick again until he moved his hand
• I had a fabulous check up with Dr Mark yesterday - I DON'T HAVE DIABETES THIS TIME! and it looks like my heart is A-OK. It is beating a couple of extra beats occasionally but nothing to be overly concerned about
• And he told me that I'm actually 3 days further along than I thought. That helped make my day even though most people just think big deal
• Friday we get another peak at this babe and I'm excited for that
• I am in the mood to bake today and so far have made muffins and cookies and plans for cinnamon buns and waffles for supper. Yum Yum Yummy!

Halloween

The boys ready for trunk or treat Tuesday night...so much fun doing all the fun games and getting TONS of candy. Rhett was right into it this year. I didn't take my camera to the church because I knew I'd end up carrying the basketball and the bags for all the centers....which I did. Cliff got roped into running one of the centers so I was on my own. But the weather was gorgeous and we had lots of fun.Zane ready to go to school dressed as Sinbad.....he decided that morning that he didn't want to be a pirate or the basketball player...so I pulled a long piece of material out, wrapped it around him, pinned it in a couple of places, gave him a sword and Presto - he's Sinbad! I tried to convince him to let me do a beard and moustache but he wouldn't go for it. Oh well, he was thrilled!Ready to go trick or treating...the boys had lots of fun minus the jerky guy who wore the creepy mask and laughed when Zane was scared to death of him! The momma bear in me was ready to punch the guy. I mean, seriously, you scared my kid - do you really need to come out of your house, stand on the porch, and laugh while I try to convince him to open his eyes so he can walk down your stairs without breaking his neck? It took us a couple of houses to get Zane calmed down and after that he was done....his tummy hurt, his feet hurt, he had to pee....you get the picture. Rhett was hilarious to watch this year. He really 'got' the whole trick-or-treating thing and just vibrated the whole time we were out. So it was fun even though Zane didn't really enjoy the whole night.

And showing off their spoils...both of their buckets were this full plus a grocery bag full of chips! Wow. They can each pick a few things to keep tomorrow and the rest is going to work with Daddy!

Yesterday was our ward's super Saturday. Lots of fun and I finished both of my crafts. I was very impressed with myself and with all the super organization that went into make it such a great day for all of us. And I forgot to re-set my clocks last night. I thought about it yesterday morning....but then it kinda didn't stick in my head. Oops. The result meant that I was ready to go to choir a whole hour earlier today then I needed to be. At least Jennie was too! She called me 'cause she was supposed to be picking me up and asked if I made the same mistake. We had a good laugh at ourselves!

Tomorrow Zane is supposed to wear red to school...and we don't know why. He's just DYING to find out. Any guesses? Oh, and anyone want to guess what day my Christmas stuff is going up? The day is set and Zane and I are on the count down!