It's the Most Wonderful time of the year!

I firmly believe that traditions are vital to bonding a family. Happily we've already checked some off of our list for the year, and even though there are some that I know we won't get around to doing this holiday season, we'll try again next year. One of the most comforting things I heard at a Relief Society holiday celebration was a sister sharing that even if you miss doing a tradition one year, it's still a tradition -- just try again! I love that and took it to heart.

Tradition #1 - Getting the Christmas tree as early as possible

Having company for Thanksgiving meant going tree shopping the first family night after. It was great. We bundled up and strangely enough found the best deal at one of those stands that are usually more expensive than the hardware stores. Bonus: they gave each of the kids a candy cane. Those were duly polished off before we could settle on a tree and then they went around terrorizing the place on their sugar highs. And we ended up with the tree that Hannah & I thought was a winner when we pulled up in the car. It is very pretty. It stayed undecorated for most of the week until Tyler and I had a HOT DATE in the middle of the night watching After the Thin Man while he strung lights and I made a wreath from the leftover boughs. Here's a tender mercy: all three of our white light strings were ready for retirement. We were afraid we'd have to wait even longer for the children to hang ornaments (they were slightly anxious) when I pulled THREE unopened strings of white lights from the bottom of a rubbermaid box of Christmas supplies; I bought them a few years ago on sale. Hooray!!! Six days after bringing the tree home we decorated it, and now it is in the process of being undecorated. First it was Drew, now it's the tree as it slowly wilts and drops ornaments. Tradition!

Tradition #2 - Gingerbread Houses


It takes a village... of houses to keep our family happy these days. Jacob was a fantastic helper as we cut crackers and built 6 houses during the day so that this could be the family night activity for this week. Tyler wins the prize for greatest house. He finished his after the children were in bed. He used licorice to make it Tudor-style and food coloring to put coal on his snowman's face. Guess from whence our children's artistic abilities come? Not I, said the mom. The train is also a tradition I have brought back. My Mom made one every year that I can remember. I just wish I knew how she cut her graham crackers. I only remember how to correctly build the freight cars -- probably because that's where I would snitch candies from during the holidays. Drew went crazy over this creation. To remember for next year: one hour is not long enough to decorate. Better to try for a Saturday afternoon. The pretty house is one that a friend brought over for Hannah. I was so grateful since I used that as my house template. Thanks, Torie! Her house is gorgeous.


Tradition #3 - Service

This has by far been the most wonderful part of my season this year. And the most beautiful opportunities came from a surprising source: freecycle.org! Through posting one offer myself and reading another wanted offer, I was able to help some families that were truly in need. I involved the girls as they looked through their used but nicer toys to find some to give to a 2 year old girl for Christmas, and another new family got some Serving With Smiles surplus for their new baby. I have been so touched with the true spirit of the season as these grateful people come to my house. They say they are grateful and wish me the merriest of Christmases, but it's me that has been so touched. The Spirit of Christmas is the Spirit of Christ. May it's peace, love, and happiness envelope us all this season and always.

So sweet

It started when Jacob climbed up onto my lap, wrapped his arms around my neck, and said, "Mom, I want to tell you a story." My heart began to melt.

"Once upon a time, there was a little momma" (I'm like butter at this point) "who was thirty-... no, who was twenty plus twenty plus twenty plus twenty..."

Classic example of the majority of our children. Sweet as can be, with a generous pinch of ridiculous thrown in. In one or two cases, they got a handful. Thank goodness for the sweet part!















My A-1 laundry assistant

Thanksgiving Week

What a fun week we had. It started off with a great snow storm. The flakes piled up fast and furious on the windows (Tyler tried to document that in this picture) and made for such a cozy feeling. Enough snow stuck around in our shady backyard for the Californians to get a little excited when they came for the holiday.

We keep trying to catch the little one's plentiful smiles on camera. He loves to chat with any willing body and can't keep from smiling about it. The fact that he's getting good at chewing on his fist makes it hard to see the smiles. We love our fat & happy boy.

It was time to break out the exersaucer. This was (one of) my fantastic yard sale deals from this summer. Two days to recover the house from 4 cases of the swine flu, get ready for 6 overnight guests, and prepare a Thanksgiving dinner for 14 called for drastic measures. Camden is technically a little young, but he loves his new toy! He's strong and chunky for 3 1/2 months and loves the new entertainment. So do his brothers. We love that he can be happy for short spurts without being held, and we love the cheeks & chins on our chunky monkey.

All the company wore our little guy out. He amazingly fell asleep in his Daddy's arms and they had some quiet time before the feast on turkey day.

Here's our great group -- I promise I didn't cut your face off on purpose, Nate. The thankful letter of the year was "G", thanks to Mandi. Some of the things we were grateful for: grapes, good food (I think Nate was grateful for that about four times), Greek Gods, gardening, gender, "gluls", gyros, gorillas, grass, gravity, gingerbread, gratitude, and there was a cute two-year-old that always sang "Jingle Bells" when it was his turn.

I was most especially grateful for what each member of our group contributed. There were lots of helping hands. Tyler kept the fire going and the house was toasty warm even though "the heater never went off once all day long!" It was a proud time for my pyromaniac. He was also the masterful tucker-inner at naptimes. Elise made the stuffing, set the table, and filled in all the cracks, Mandi made the yummy mashed potatoes (oh yeah, and the cheese ball and the sweet potatoes the day before while she babysat my children because she was super kind and came to rescue me instead of going to work!!!). Kudos also to Mandi for bringing friend Bob. He is offically invited to every single Thanksgiving dinner we ever have. As his shirt implies, he is truly incredible. He served as the human jungle gym for my boys, lounge chair when Jacob got worn out and just wanted to watch the Brady Bunch marathon, baby care giver extraordinaire (he kept Camden happy even when he'd gone over four hours without eating!!!), he kept us all laughing, and he singlehandedly did all the dinner dishes. ALL of them. He washed my pile of dirty bottles, too. Somehow I didn't think his doggy bag was a sufficient thanks.

Thanks to the cute engaged couple who drove a long way to be with us. More fun company, and more help with childcare. I was so thankful when Camden was crying in his exersaucer and not many people were around. Denver immediately went to him and picked him up, keeping him happy until I was free. Last night when I was feeding the baby at 1am and Drew woke up screaming, Camilla got up and helped. Two of the many times their hands were full with my bundles of energy. They also made the most fabulous pies of the holiday: two incredibly delicious versions of French Silk Pie. Yum!


Hooray for cute cousins that essentially met for the first time and are instant buddies. We even discovered they share the same unique middle name! Hooray also that they are not the "fire & gasoline" combo that their fathers still are.








Thank you family for being good sports and letting our potentially germy girl, Callie, join the festivities for dinner. Thank you Callie for being such a good sport and camping out in your room for the remainder of the weekend! We really like the hairdo she gave to Drew when he visited her one day. Yes, it is time for a haircut.

I love that many hands working together can make for a fantastic holiday and that everyone made it a fun hosting opportunity. We're so grateful that we had so many wonderful guests to keep us company for the holiday.

Camden's smile is no longer elusive for the camera. Thanks for smiling for the camera, buddy!

Hannah's World

Might this help some struggling moms to hang in there just a while longer. Or maybe just myself as I deal with my current "exciting" children. (Aside: when Hannah was little and excited she would exclaim to Tyler and I, "I'm so exciting!!!" to which we would reply, "Yes, you are!" She was very exciting to parent.)

I saw a picture pop up on our screen saver the other day of my Hannah from 4 or 5 years ago. My first impression was "what an adorable little girl!" which was immediately followed by a gut-wrenching feeling that I was in no way prepared to re-do the year represented by that picture. I love my Hannah dearly, and this post is about how fantastic I think she is. However, when I was wrestling a sweet little baby that wouldn't hold still, or watching the toddler run circles around me as I lay in an exhausted heap week after week on the couch (undiagnosed asthma), or when she repeatedly used her body as a coloring surface (see exhibits A & B -- one doesn't show the lipstick well, and the other one shows the marker well but her hair & expression are so tame and normal it hardly represents her at that age), I had no idea that one day my life would be so enriched and so much happier by the presence and talents of my wonderful girl. She amazes me more every day. I admire her artistic creations. I love to hear her expanding vocabulary ("absorbed" is a new favorite). I smile when I read her stories, comics, and most recently her collection of poems. And now I just get to enjoy her instead of losing my sanity! I'm glad I held in there through the worst of it because she is absolutely delightful now.

This little gal had a busy month of October. Her 3-D entry for her school's Reflections contest won & advanced to the district competition, and for her school's pumpkin carving contest she won the prize for "Best Overall". It's time I posted some pictures showing some of her achievements. Of course, at home we just love her for the funny and fun sister/daughter that she is. As a babysitter noted one time when Hannah wasn't at home while she tended, "everything is more fun with Hannah." We're glad that the zesty "Hannah spice" is a part of our family stew!

"Best Overall" pumpkin

3-D art entry for "Beauty is..."
Her vision included a road winding through the snowy mountains. She made it while I was gone one afternoon and it is truly an original work of art. She even glued sugar to the white paint to make the snow sparkle. Of course, the picture doesn't do it justice.

Following is a poem written for Jacob.

To Jacob: Jacob's Birthday

Today was Jacob's birthday.
I hope he had some fun.
Giving him presents pleased everyone.
He got a CD player.
He got a hot wheels' track,
(but he bent down so much he accidentally broke his back).
So we ran him to the car and then we laid him down.
We went to the nearest hospital, but there wasn't one in town!
We went to Pizza Hut, and there we found a mutt.
We liked him so so much, we brought him home for "King Tut".

Love this girl!!!

Yum!

This is what my sweetheart set in front of me after dinner tonight. It was warm, fresh, made from scratch, and delicious, too. Thanks, Tyler!

Whose birthday was it, anyway?

The dad bought & assembled the hot wheels race track.
The girls find it challenging to do morning chores before touching it. Drew hoards the car that came along with the track. And yes, the actual birthday boy thought it was pretty sweet, too. He was just happy to have his choice of dinner. The most anticipated item on the menu? Cooked carrots & broccoli. Evidence that I did indeed contribute something besides blonde hair & blue eyes to the gene pool at our house.

Halloween 2009

We had some cute Halloweeners at our house. Speaking of which, if you haven't read Dav Pilkey's picture book, The Hallo-wiener, you need to check it out from the library. It's hilarious!

This was a strange Halloween because our children split up into three groups and since Aunt Mandi took the boys around that left Tyler & I at home with the little one, a dirty kitchen, and answering the door. Callie's friend joined us for a good bit of the day. Let me introduce our line-up:

Here we have our cute little dinosaur. He tuckered out pretty fast and sometimes burst into tears when his proud daddy answered the door with him in his arms.












Drew's beloved puppy dog costume was still his first pick for this year. Aunt Mandi added the cute spots on his face and he was a happy little doggy. Mandi said that lots of people commented on the cute little girl. I guess if you can only see his eyes you may get confused.







This is one serious Batman. As I gave him his goodnight hug he said to me "Mom, I'm so thankful that I filled my Halloween bag all the way up to the top."











Is there anything funnier than a dancing banana? If you enlarge the photo you'll notice the personalized "hannah banana" banana sticker. All her idea, down to the white cartoon-like gloves. This was the only costume that I made this year.






The fact that I bought black hairspray for Callie's Cleopatra costume weeks ago, and the second fact that I have no idea where I put it is a good representation of the disorder and insanity of our household lately. Thanks to our sweet neighbors that loaned us a can for Halloween night. Maybe Callie will forgive her mother for not having it on hand for her class Egyptian party on Friday. I did spray paint her shoes for her when I would rather have been in bed so they would be ready on time. This girl thinks out every detail of her costume and wants it just so. Her trick-or-treating nights are numbered and she wants to make the most of it! She & friend Cheryl got quite a stash.

Camden's blessing

Today our Camden was blessed by his daddy. We're glad that Grandma & Grandpa could join us for this special occasion. We now have a family picture with our newest member!

How to Share Germs

The wisdom of an almost-five-year old: Jacob proudly told me during lunch today, "I know how you share germs, Mom -- you touch someone's face who isn't sick." Yes, you are right. Can you tell that the pink eye fairy visited our house this week?

And then, a lightbulb lit up in his little head. "I know another way!"

"You do?"

"Yeah! If you throw up on someone, that will share your germs, too."

Boys. Their comments keep me in stitches. And I hope the vomiting fairy stays away, because we also had the fever fairy visit again this week.

Laundry x 2

I love my washer and dryer. I realized recently that I don't actually do any laundry; my washing machine does!!! Hooray for technology!

You know when you can hardly step a foot into your walk-in laundry room for the piles of dirty clothes that it is time to do some serious laundry. This is one of the many tasks that is made more exciting with the help of a two-year-old. I love twos! Love them!

This morning as I attempted to empty the hampers full of soiled clothing Drew was helping me. He wanted to hand me clothes that were already sorted, and he found that the best way to do that was to climb inside of the sorter. That way he could hand me clothes from all three compartments. He happened to choose to climb into the section that had the clothes that I really wanted to wash at the time, but since he was on top of those, they were his least favorite articles to pull out and hand to me.

And because speed is the name of the game...it was only four hours later that the first load of washed clothes was making it into the dryer (hey, license plates that have been expired for a month must get their renewals, preschoolers must be picked up, and we all needed to eat and nap). Drew was once again by my side. He sat on the bench next to the dryer as I loaded. I enjoyed his comments. "That's mine dressed" as he recognized a familiar shirt, "That's mine jammies", and a very excited "That's mine blue blanket!" Blue is Drew's favorite color. From the time he was one the plain blue fleece blankets were the only acceptable crib covers to his liking, and it remains so to this day. All of them happened to be with the dirty clothes, and getting him to use some other covers for naptime was no easy task today. "Yes, Drew, that is your blue blanket. The washing machine got it all clean and now we're going to put it in the dryer to get dry so you can sleep with it tonight." "Ooohhh, wow! That's gweat! Oh my goodness! Awesome! Good job, dryer" That last comment came as he patted the dryer door. Quick to follow was a toot. "'Scuz me." A minute later, another toot followed by a most sincere "oh, 'scuz me!" How can two not be my most favorite age?

A side note on sleeping: my definition of success today was that ALL FOUR BODIES in our house slept simultaneously during quiet time. That hasn't happened for at least a month. Never mind that Camden was nestled on one of my arms, at least I was lying down and in my own bed! Glorious naps! I haven't had one in about a week.

It took me a few days to finish this post. This photo is what I found in my laundry room yesterday morning. AGH! I knew I had lots of clothes to clean, but some of them looked familiar, as if I had folded them quite recently. Upon further inspection, I had. I got to inspect and figure out what clothes HAD been folded and which ones were dirty. Inspector Mom deduced the following: there was an empty laundry basket turned upside down. There were once-folded clothes on the floor. The contents of the diaper bag were strewn everywhere. And Drew had told me a few minutes previously that he had gotten his own piece of gum. When will I learn that phrase likely means trouble? Yes, I still love twos! But at this point I was ready to put out a plea for someone to come fix my doors (the pantry door, the laundry door, and the door into the hallway towards the laundry/half bath area). None of them latch properly, so until they can those handy child-doorknob-proof handles won't work. My personal handyman is busy being handy with a fussy baby in the evenings. Help!

A manly post, and a racecar poster

One of the greatest things - one of my childhood friends and I connected on Facebook. He races a 911 Porsche as a hobby. He let me know he and his dad were going to come up to Utah to race on the Miller Speedway, and invited us to tag along.









Jacob and Drew and I ran out to the track to see Brian race - what a blast! While there we also saw a bunch of Cobras! What a treat! To enhance the picture, Jacob thought it would be a good idea if they lifted their shirt to expose their bellies.

Jacob was most excited about the poster he got to bring home - a picture of a silver 427 Cobra. Beauty! Drew liked running up and down the bleachers.

We saw a number of beauties, including this race-worthy Viper. Incidentally, there was also a nice Z4 running around, which gave me no shortage of great ideas.

It was loud, hot, fun - we only wish we could have stayed longer, and that we had plans to go again.

The Disney princess reinvented

No, I'm not trying to be Walter Wick. This set-up is just as I found it after Drew finished playing one day. It brought a good laugh.

I just overheard a play conversation that Jacob was having. "Oh, hi, princess, how are you today? I'm a transformer!" It takes me back to the days of playing with my nephew, Craig. I was all the Barbies, and he was all the He-men. It worked.

Happy Birthday to me!

It's not even my birthday yet and we're already celebrating. I feel like Tyler, who celebrates his entire birthday month!

Tyler surprised me and took me to look at a used canoe. He wanted to buy it for me for my birthday. It broke the birthday & Christmas budget but what an investment for family fun! I couldn't ask for anything better. We tried it out yesterday at the local pond. I had a funny stirring in my heart, seeing a canoe on top of our van. That was such a familiar sight during my childhood; I can't quite express how it felt to see my little family with our own canoe. I'll borrow a Martha Stewart phrase and say it's a good thing.


It's not the Brandywine, but this isn't too bad for our neck of the woods. Here's to lots more canoeing family fun!

Bursting at the seams

Literally, he is. I was reading a book to Jacob about caterpillars. They grow fast and shed their skin, and I thought of Camden. I know it's normal for babies to have their skin peel as they grow (at least it's been normal for all of mine), but Camden seems to "shed" several skins a week. The scale at the doctor's this week revealed that he is a whopping eleven pounds!


The thinker: a common pose
for Camden.






















What physique! From the looks of this pose it appears that he has been hanging around with Todd from Tyler's office.

Sharing

Who says two year olds don't know how to share? Drew is great at sharing! He shares the girls' clothes and jewelry. They actually dolled him up and he wore this all day long. He was put-out when I pulled the hairband out of his hair (the ponytail/twist combination had undone itself). And when the skirt fell down he insisted that I fix his "dress".














He shares Jacob's suit coat. Hannah got him dressed for church and put this on him. He does look rather handsome, I must say, even if it's a bit big. He got lots of comments on it at church (because of course he insisted on wearing it the whole day).













He especially likes to "share" with Camden -- his swing, his car seat, and his pacifier. Sharing the latter resulted in sharing his fever of 102 degrees this week. We're grateful that it was shared five days after Camden turned one month old so that he did not have to be admitted to the hospital. I'm glad it's just a fever. My heart goes out to those that undergo all the testing, time in medical waiting rooms, etc. for serious health challenges. I could endure our taste of that with a smile this weekend since I knew we were just going through the formalities of taking care of our little guy.