Ward Christmas Party

A Princess Hat

A Viking Hat

Our ward was so large that we had to borrow the Stake Center for our ward party. At the party the children were able to get balloon creations, visit with Santa, and play games that rewarded little prizes. The children had a lot of fun, and we enjoyed the yummy food. We also discovered that Ryan likes gentle Bluegrass music. The Activities Committee hired a band to play Christmas music during the party and Ryan could not get enough of their music.

Three Kids

These pictures are from the first couple of days after we brought Ryan home from the hospital. I took them with my phone to share on Facebook and to save as my background. I want to put them in my scrapbook too so I am sharing them on here.

Soda Shop

Back in November we attended a birthday party for a friend at a traditional ice cream parlor. Everything was so authentic to what I pictured a 1950s soda shop would be like I felt like I should have been wearing a poodle skirt. We had a lot of fun and the ice cream was super yummy!

Facebook Status Summary

I spent a lot of time on Facebook this last year. Some of it was a big waste of my time, I acknowledge that. A lot of the time I spent helped me feel more connected to my ward members, neighbors, and friends that I don't live close to anymore. The statuses and updates on Facebook helped me to realize that others are facing similar challenges to what I am experiencing as well as getting feedback on the things I share (at least the feedback was positive most of the time.)

At the end of the year, I was able to review all of the things I shared as my "status" for the year. I selected the ones I wanted to remember and used an app to compile the list above. I had a good laugh at some of the things I shared and had forgotten. I'm glad I can retain the memories of what I shared this last year.

Benjamin's Christmas Sing

Our big Kindergartener performed in his very first concert, the annual Elementary Christmas Sing. He dressed in his Sunday best and performed two musical numbers with all of the other AM Kindergarteners. There were so many parents there that it was challenging to take pictures and find a seat in the gymnasium, but Bekah, Ryan, and I managed to do it. Benjamin was delighted to have us there and did a good job participating with his class.

I have a quick side story about Benjamin's outfit for the performance. Benjamin kept telling me he did not want to wear his Sunday clothes. I kept telling him that he was suppose to. Finally, I was able to get him to express that he didn't want to wear his Sunday clothes because he would feel silly if no one else was dressed up in their Sunday clothes. After realizing this was the case, I read the notice from the school asking all of the children to wear their Sunday best unless instructed otherwise by their teachers and then Benjamin was okay with getting dressed up. Then, in the process of picking out his clothes, Benjamin decides to wear his pink dress shirt and informs me, "This is the last time I am going to wear it." Silly kid.

We are glad that he is learning and growing so much in Kindergarten, and are hoping for an even better second half of the year.

The Blog List Returns

A while ago I switched over my blog to a different address and when I switched back I lost some of my page elements, namely the Blog List. Since then I haven't bothered to try to recreate it because I had over 30 blogs on the list and, frankly, I didn't want to spend the time finding and readding them. Today I decided to add it again because I am tired of having to go to my bookmarks to read the blogs of friends and family (too many clicks for my overactive brain.)

So I went to page elements and added a blog list expecting to have to start from scratch, adding one blog at a time. To my surprise all of my links were still saved and all I had to do was fix some of the names. What I expected to take half an hour to an hour took all of five minutes. Thus, the blog list has returned so that all of my fans (a.k.a. my mom, love ya!) and myself can link up to the blogs of my friends and family. Yay for shortcuts!

Festival of Trees: Gingerbread Houses, etc.

Our tradition for kicking of the holiday season has been to attend the annual Gingerbread House Festival put on by the local Boy Scouts of America council. Unfortunately, in 2010 the council switched venues and did not advertise as well as in year's past. Combining that change with the change in our lives of having an October baby, we missed the Gingerbread House festival. Thankfully, at the Festival of Trees we were able to see a variety of intricate gingerbread creations. Thus, our tradition continues. (We also saw Santa Claus and some unique nativities.)

Santa giving candy canes to all the kids in our group

"It's Like Pulling Teeth"

Literally, because today I pulled another one of Benjamin's teeth out.

Mind you, it was loose and the other tooth had grown in behind it, but it was quite the process. It only took three hours of taking turns wiggling the mischievous tooth, a couple yards of dental floss, a lot of screaming that "it hurts too much," and one Popsicle to remove a tooth with an undissolved root. My poor son did not have a lot of fun tonight until we reached the right angle and he jerked just right so the tooth would pop right out. In the end, he said it was worth it because he was able to eat a Popsicle right before bedtime.

I learned the definition of the phrase "It's like pulling teeth." Wow! That was quite the challenge to have to inflict a little bit (in the time spectrum) of pain on my child to try to prevent a lot of pain later on. I know I will have to do it again, but I am not looking forward to it; and now I better understand why the metaphor is used about some of life's challenges. There are a lot of things we find ourselves having to do that we may not look forward to. In fact, the challenges we face may be difficult. However, completing or overcoming our challenges helps prepare us for the future just like removing baby teeth helps make room for larger, permanent teeth.

I no longer have an imagined perspective on comparing teeth pulling to facing and conquering some of life's 'baby teeth' moments or periods of time, I have memories of the actual experience to draw upon. Here's to many more 'pulling teeth' moments, with my children's dental needs and my own growing pains!

Festival of Trees 2010

We went, we enjoyed, and we saw some awesome trees!

Original Gingbread Houses

Michael wanted to start the tradition of building gingerbread houses after Thanksgiving dinner. So after dinner was cleaned up and put away, out came the graham crackers, candy, and frosting. I had exhausted my creativity at that point and left the designing and building to Dad and the two older children. The results were fabulous!

Thanksgiving in Review

Thanksgiving 2010 was just the five of us. I say "five" because when I was talking to friends about our Thanksgiving I kept saying "four." In truth, only four of us were eating but I kept forgetting that there were five members of our little family. Not that I ever forgot the baby, I just forgot to adjust my mental equation of our family members.

We had a traditional Turkey dinner on a smaller scale than when we attend big family dinners at either set of parents' homes, and lots of pie! It was nice to spend the day with each other, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and playing "pin the feather on the turkey."

On the Monday before Thanksgiving, we made a "Thankfulness Turkey" for Family Home Evening. We cut out a bunch of feathers and wrote about the things we were thankful for on each feather. Then we glued the feathers to the turkey's body and hung it on the wall. The visual reminder helped us better focus on the reason for Thanksgiving throughout the week.

Our "big" kids sitting at the table waiting for dinner to start. I would say our first solo Thanksgiving was an enjoyable success. I look forward to continuing this tradition for many years.

A Few Resolutions

Drum roll please . . . . . Resolutions for the year 2011, in no particular order.

• Spend time each week with my children doing something they enjoy. Every day would be fantastic, but I am trying to be realistic.
• Take a nap each day whenever possible.
• Read at least 12 books.
• Plant a garden.
• Create 365 posts for this blog. Notice, I did not say post every day, just 365 posts.
• Spend less time on Facebook playing games.
• Sell 100 flower headbands and clips.
• Help Ryan learn to crawl, walk, say a few words, eat solid foods, and feed himself finger foods.
• Help Benjamin continue to develop his reading abilities, do homework, transition into 1st grade, and have playdates with boy friends.
• Help Bekah transition into Primary, have playdates with girl friends her age, learn how to ride her scooter, and ride her bike without training wheels.
• Index 75,000 names using Family Search.
• Find time to laugh, smile, and serve others.

We will see how the year goes . . . .

Reviewing My Resolutions for 2010

At the beginning of last year, I posted some resolutions. In the process of setting goals for the new year I thought it best to review what goals I actually accomplished last year. Why? Because while I did a lot of other things (oh, like having a baby), I did set out to accomplish a few specific things that I would like to review. Then we can see what I will set out to do this year.

• Figure out how to lose weight. That one was shelved and will be brought back done this year. One caveate to this is that I set a goal for maximum weight gain during my pregnancy, while still maintaining a healthy pregnancy, and I managed to stay a few pounds under it.
• Clean one room a day, completely. A good goal, and while I managed to maintain some level of cleanliness, my house was not always orderly. We probably would have passed health inspection most of the time, but I spent my time growing a baby which put me on the couch a lot of the time. Time well spent when I look at our precious baby boy, Ryan.
• Sew and donate 100 bears. Probably something I will strive to do at a later date. Instead, I made baby blankets, diaper cases, a carseat cover, flower headbands, bows, meals, memories, curtains, a wedding quilt, and treats.
• Starting a business . . . I think I will do this in 2011. Come visit my business blog Petals and Laughter for more details.
• Survive Benjamin starting Kindergarten. A huge one! Benjamin is thriving in Kindergarten. He loves riding the bus to and from school, playing on the playground with friends, and math. He is also learning to love reading and writing, and realizes that others have to exercise self-control over their hands and words. His teacher tells us that he is a quick learner and an excellent helper. We are excited that he loves school and is doing so well.
• Take a real family vacation. We went to San Diego with some friends in April and had a blast! Now to determine where to go this year . . . . .
• Combine 2 spring birthdays. We actually ended up having two separate parties, one for each child. I separated them by a week and we were able to focus on first Bekah (our April baby) and then Benjamin (our May baby). Each child felt important and delighted to have a party just for them.
• Potty train Bekah. Wow! I had forgotten we did this in 2010! Bekah is amazing at the potty though she does like to tell us the details of what she accomplishes each time she goes. I guess that is part of wanting to know she is doing everything right, which she does most of the time. She has also learned how to dress herself, put on her own shoes and coat, zip up her coat, and color in the lines. Lots of growing for our little girl who is now very "big" according to her.
• Have wisdom teeth removed. Had them removed in February and couldn't figure out why I felt so nauseated for days afterwards. Needless to say, we found out I was expecting 3 or 4 days after my oral surgery was complete.
• Finish some unfinished projects. I finished some and completed a lot of new ones. Life continues to move forward.

I am so glad I wrote down last year's goals so I can be able to see how much I really accomplished of what I set out to do. What a year!