Off to...Mutual?

Okay, so a couple of weeks ago I was released from the Primary Presidency and put in as the new Laurels advisor. I had a lot of mixed feelings about the change. After the roller coaster of emotions I've finally landed on excitement. Tonight is my first night to go to mutual. We are making fleece blankets for the presidency and advisors that were released from YW. It feels a little weird to be going back to mutual, but it should be fun. Wish me luck!

Enjoying Christmas Adam?

It's the final countdown to Christmas and I've kind of lost steam. I was feeling pretty jolly for a while there and then Jeremiah and Isaac got sick. Jeremiah's finally on the upswing and Isaac seems to be improving as well. They've both had priesthood blessings which made a marked difference in their recovery progress. I've since contracted a cough but I'm doing my best to ignore it. (My sincere thanks to the makers of Nyquil.) Hopefully we'll all feel well enough this evening to deliver neighbors' gifts.

I'm hoping that as Christmas Eve approaches the kids will get excited and it will rub off on me. And I'm hoping that none of use are contagious and can go to my parents house, I have something really fun I'd like to do there.

Anyway, if you have some Christmas cheer, send it my way. For now, I think I'll make myself some hot cocoa and read by the Christmas tree.

Happy holidays y'all!

Revisiting My Childhood

Remember the Christmas specials that used to come on TV. Oh they were great...Garfield, Charlie Brown, BC, For Better or Worse, Iggy? The list goes on. They just don't make them like that anymore. I was unfortunate enough to suffer through watch some "Christmas" specials with Isaac yesterday. I guess that these days for a show to be a Christmas special there just has to be snow and a Santa hat in the episode. I feel bad for my kids.

One of my favorite specials was the Claymation Christmas. It included the California Raisins, a We Three Kings segment and the Carol of the Bells. I've chosen to share the latter since it is one of my favorites. I still think it's hilarious, even as an overgrown adolescent adult.

Mom X 3 = Blessed Kids

Jeremiah has been sick since Tuesday and Isaac since Wednesday. Because it looked like niether of them were going to recover before school let out for Christmas, yesterday it hit me that if both Jeremiah and Isaac were going to be home I would never have any time to wrap Christmas gifts (I made only a small dent in the task during my gift-wrapping open house.) I'm not one that can get out of bed before the rest of the family and clean the whole house or stay up late after they've gone to bed and do anything besides veg in front of the TV or computer (curse you Facebook!) so I was doubtful that I would be able to get much wrapping done during those times either.

Anyway, I was venting my concerns to my mom yesterday and she offered to have the kids down to her house so that I could tend to Jeremiah and get some wrapping done. I gratefully took her up on her offer. Jeremiah joined me in the family room to watch "The Christmas Miracle of Jonathon Toomey" (a fantastic movie, BTW) while I wrapped furiously. During this time my MIL dropped by and asked if Kenley would like to stay the night at her house. I then went down to my parents house to retrieve the children. When I got there Isaac was sitting under a blanket, even more pale than usual (which apparently is possible,) snuggled up against Gammie while she bound a quilt. He was obviously not feeling well. Within minutes he was laying on the floor asking, "Can we go home?" Usually, when it's time to leave Gammie's, he's clinging to the computer pleading, "Can we have a sleepover?"

Anyway, sometimes I feel like a bad mom. I feel bad for sending my sick boy to someone else's house and not nurturing him like I should have. (To be honest though, I didn't think he was that sick. I thought he was in the recovery phase.) Although I'm sure he received love and nurturing from my mom, it really should have come from me. And then I feel kind of bad for sending Kenley to Nana's house. I hadn't seen her all day, I saw her for a little bit at my mom's and then sent her off with Uncle Gabriel.

Although I'm wrestling with my guilt, I'm really thankful that my kids have such a good relationships with their grandparents. It's truly been a blessing for our family to live close to both of our parents. My kids know them and love them and get to see them often. That's something I never had... my maternal grandparents passed away before I had a chance to know them and my father's parents lived 2/3 of the way across the country. Anyway, I'm thankful to know that even though I'm not always the best mother, I have my mom and Jeremiah's mom to help fill in the gaps.

Hostess with the Mostess?

Tomorrow night I am hostessing my 2nd annual gift-wrapping open house. I pull out all of my wrapping paper, tape, scissors, curly ribbon, tissue paper, etc. and invite neighbors over to get some of their Christmas gift-wrapping done. I make lots of cookies and something in the crockpot, turn on the Christmas music and the Happy Hearth DVD (it makes my TV look like a fireplace.) Jeremiah is going to take the kids out and spend some time with them so I don't have to worry about their little, spying peepers.

I still can't decide if it's a good idea or not. It's not much trouble for me because I don't have to haul gifts in and out of the house in order to get them wrapped. Last year most of my guests just brought a few gifts to wrap, and I wasn't sure if they came just to be nice since I was new in the neighborhood. Either way, I'm looking forward to it and I hope the people who do make it over enjoy themselves!

A Plea (updated)

(I've updated the link)

Please, please, please say a prayer for little Ravyn Finch. She is our cousin and she is in dire need of a miracle. She has been diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer in her brain stem. It absolutely breaks my heart! She and her twin sister Alexia came out for a visit a couple of years ago and they are both darling little girls. Visit her mother's journal at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ravynfinch. Leave an encouraging message with them, even if you don't know them, and pray, pray, pray!

First Words and Phrases

I remembered being asked at Kenley's 18-month check up how her vocabulary was coming along. I answered 25 words at the time and then wondered if I had exaggerated. I came home and kept a list of words she said over a three day period and was surprised that 25 words was conservative.

Jack had his 18-month check up in October. I anticipated the Dr. asking me about his vocabulary as well so I prepared by making a list of his words (as well as his pronunciations.) Once again, my expectations were conservative. Here they are.

*mommy*daddy*help*up*no*yep*brush (besh)*
*shoes (use - although it used to be pronounced douche... kind of sad to see that one go)*
*Bucka (that's what the kids call my dad)*ball*

*bottle (which he says when he wants a drink)*uh-oh*oh-no*

*here you go (ih-ugo)*out*hold on (oh-dah)*please (peas)*more (moh)*nose*

*apple*this (diss)*mine*cookie (cook)*on*again (nen)*bite*ow*kiss*buckle*
*pretzel (beh-too)*eat*yucky*there it is (deh-tis)*hurt*water*Amen*one*wow*

*bye-bye*poo-poo*pee-pee*baby*banana (nanana)*juice*

*open (ope)*go*yes*house*animal (almo)*look*Elmo*

That was the list I made before the visit. I've added more since then. It seems like he is learning about two new words a day. Even as I've been typing he displayed a new word. He's been playing with a tape measure. He pulls out the tape, lets it go and then says, "Menny" which I'm going to guess is *funny,* judging by the laughter that follows.

My favorite word that he says is blanket, because he says "beddu." I don't know where it came from but I think it's cute. Also, he calls both Isaac and Kenley "Iyat." I love it!

Kenley's Favorite Bedtime Story

As told to her by Gammie.

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Kenley. Kenley loved to play. One morning, when Kenley woke up, the sun was shining brightly through her window and she thought, "I want to play."

So Kenley went over to her big brother Isaac's bed and said, "Isaac? Wake up, I want to play!" But Isaac was so tired, he didn't wake up. And Kenley still wanted to play.

Kenley went into her little brother Jack's room. She walked up to his crib and said, "Jackers? Wake up, I want to play!" But Jack was so tired, he didn't wake up. And Kenley still wanted to play.

Kenley went into her mommy and daddy's room. She walked up to their bed and said, "Mommy? Daddy? Wake up, I want to play." Mommy and Daddy didn't even move.

She climbed up on their bed to get closer and said, "Mommy! Daddy! Wake up, I want to play." But Mommy and Daddy were so tired, they didn't wake up. So Kenley climbed in between them, snuggled down beneath the blanket, and fell fast asleep.

The End.

C'mon, Let Me Down Easy

As Isaac was getting ready for school yesterday morning he said, "I want to go on a date with you."

I thought it was cute so I told him, "Maybe while Daddy is home for Christmas break you and I can go out on a date."

"As long as we go to a play place."

I'm not sure what he means so I ask, "You mean like a theater? You want to go to a play?"

"No. Like a place I can play. You know, a play place."

"Oh, I guess we could do that."

"Um, actually I don't want to do that. I don't want to go on a date."

"Why not?

"I'm too young for you."

The Report

Thanksgiving was a success. All the planning and preparation paid off and dinner was delicious. (Carenna even told me that it was the most well planned, beautifully presented Thanksgiving meal she'd had.) All morning I felt like I should have been doing something (like stressing out) but - thanks to my timeline - I had time to sit and chat with my sister-in-laws. The guys watched football, the kids played and I think everyone had a pretty relaxing day.

My favorite part was playing games, although I think my in-laws saw a side of me they hadn't seen before. I get a little crazy and I think some of them got a little frightened. We were so wound that we didn't go to bed. We stayed up looking through ads and planning our shopping route. Pretty soon it was 3 AM so Kelly, Lynette and I piled into the mothership and started shopping. We hit Best Buy, Kohl's, Wal-Mart (which should be renamed "Pandemonium" for Black Friday), and then split so that I could shop at Staples while Kelly and Lynette shopped K-Mart. My shopping wasn't as successful as last year. Jeremiah and I really hadn't decided what the kids need so all I ended up buying was a flat panel monitor for our computer that Jeremiah and I have wanted for a long time. But still, it was fun, and I had to go because I can't stand it when people have fun without me.

I finally got to go to bed at 7 and I slept until almost 4. Then we went down to my parents' house and played games all night. I had an absolute blast. Playing games with my brothers is one of my most favorite things to do. They get my sense of humor and I always get to laugh tons with them. Plus their wives are fun, too, so we have a good time. We didn't get home until about 1:30 AM. Then we went back Saturday night and played some more. It was just so much fun. We got back late at night (or early in the morning, however you want to look at it) again so yesterday we just took it easy here at home. It was a fun holiday for me but I am looking forward to getting to bed at a decent hour tonight!