Family Pictures

Here are a few of our pictures from November

Christmas Dresses

Today I gave my girls their Christmas dresses to wear to church. They looked so cute, we had to snap some pictures. Since this is my journal, I need to record what I experienced in Sacrament meeting. The choir and congregation sang many songs together and there were two really good talks. The first song was "Away in a Manger" I've sung that song every day for the last month with my girls, but today it was different. I was holding Maren trying to rock her to sleep. I looked at her face and thought about Mary and how she must have felt and the circumstances surrounding the birth of our Savior. I started to cry. I felt the spirit so strong and I felt so much love. Babies bring so much love into a home. I thought about Jesus and how he came as a baby into the world in such a humble setting. It's hard to describe all of the feelings I had, but love and peace are the two easiest words. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who sent His son into the world as a newborn baby to grow and learn as other children have. I am grateful for Jesus Christ and the ultimate gift of the atonement. What a great reminder at this time of year. I had a hard time keeping it together the rest of the program. The music was gorgeous and the talks were very thought provoking. I really needed this feeling of love today.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

I would like to thank my friend Laura for the idea for this post. She has been doing a 12 days of Christmas memories on her blog and it really has had me thinking a lot. Some of my memories are silly and others just warm my heart. So if you are up for some reading, continue on, but warning this might become a novel. I've had 31 Christmases so far, so there are lots of memories. Many of my memories come from pictures and stories from my mom. When I was about 3 years old we had a family home evening lesson about the nativity. We had a flannel board and my job was to place the pictures on the board at the right time. Being 3 I had a mind of my own and so the pictures were all over the place and some were upside down. I believe that was the same night that I was singing at the top of my lungs, when my mom asked me to be quiet I said "you don't tell a child of God to be quiet." I hope she laughed at that. On Christmas Eve I would lie awake, too excited to sleep and I would listen for Santa. because my siblings were much older, I would sneak downstairs by myself and check out the haul and then I would go back to bed. It was always great when Santa left something unwrapped. A lot of times I would empty my stocking and re-load it before returning to my bed to wait. Some of my favorite gifts were a play kitchen with lots of food and dishes and appliances. I wanted to be chef Brocket from Mr. Rogers. I also loved my roller skates, cabbage patch dolls, charm necklace, moon dreamers and my Molly doll. Molly is one of the original American Girl dolls. I even took a catalog to Santa so that he would get my order right. What a silly kid. When I was in grade school we would ride in buses up to the training school (developmental center) and watch a Christmas show put on by the residents of the school. It was always fun to go and watch. The kids would put on a show with music and dancing. I remember they had Sesame Street costumes and I can still see Bert dancing. They would act out the Christmas story. I remember being impressed because their manger scene had two real live doves in a cage at the top of the roof of their stable. They no longer put on a Christmas show at the training school which is sad to me. Now when I look back, I think how special all of those children and adults were. How sweet it is that they brought so much joy to others when their lives maybe weren't so great. Christmas day was always great, after opening gifts we would pick out our favorite toy and take it with us to visit my grandparents. We would stop at the Riddles and see what funny quirky gifts Grandma had picked out for us, then we would go to Grandma Carters. I have a special place in my heart for my Grandma Carter. She was the best, she made me feel like I was her favorite. It wasn't until recently that I realized that she made all of her grandchildren feel like they were her favorite. We would eat at Grandma's in shifts because her kitchen was so small. I would play with my cousins and we would show off our new toys. Grandma made the best homemade fudge and toffee. I remember sneaking as much as I could and then wanting to visit after the holidays for left overs. I loved spending time with my Grandma and all of my family. Our Carter parties were full of love and laughter and hours of playing "do you love your neighbor?" I hope that one day my children will look back at Christmas and have good memories that make them laugh and some that make them cry. I have many more memories, but for now I will spare you.

The Tooth Fairy

Last night by accident I found Maren's first tooth coming in. It's on the bottom right about the same place where Addy lost hers. Addy asked if I thought it was her old tooth that fell out. She said that maybe the tooth fairy recycles. I sure hope not.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

On Thursday night Sydnee had her pre-school program. They started with the nativity story. Sydnee was able to play Mary and her boyfriend Garett played Joseph. Yes, I said boyfriend. Sydnee calls Garett her boyfriend, it's really cute, especially since she doesn't understand the full concept of boyfriend. Anyway, they performed a few songs, recited a poem and ended with a story about Santa. It was short and sweet and perfect. We absolutely love Mrs. Jerman and her wonderful pre-school.

A Labor of Love

This last week I made ankle bracelets for our young women for Christmas. Our young women's president found the idea online and I studied it and found the supplies we needed. Little did I know that it would require a lot of work and patience to make. I pinched my fingers with the pliers and now I have two lovely blood blisters on one finger and I have many blisters on my other hand. I really hope the young women will like them. It took me at least 10+ hours to make, so at least I can count it as a personal progress project. I celebrated when I had all 21 finished, wahoo!

Christmas Parties Galore

The last few weeks have been crazy. The girls and I have all taken turns being sick and this junk just keeps hanging on. Among all this sickness, we've had lots of parties. Ben took the girls to the ward Christmas party where they performed a little nativity play. Addy was a shepherd and Sydnee was an angel. I stayed home with Maren who was sick and forgot to send the camera with Ben, oh well. The next day was the Carter family party. Ben stayed home and I took the kids. We had a yummy breakfast, games and lots of fun with cousins. Addy made friends with all of her cousins whom she sees once a year. She even learned that her cousin Tea goes to the same school and they are both in first grade(what a coincidence, I've only told her this a few times). The party closed with a visit from Santa Clause who brought gifts to all of the children. I love this Santa. His father in law was the Santa that came every year to the party while I was a child. Every year he came and he knew our names and all about each of us. He even remembered things that had happened the previous years. Our past Santa passed away a few years ago and left the outfit, bells and Rudolph puppet to his son in law who took over the business. Our current Santa is just as good as our past Santa. He remembers what the kids did last year and teases everyone, including the adults. It's great to have such fun memories and to see the same Santa every year. It's also fun to see my kids playing and having fun with their cousins. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that it was me playing with my cousins, and now our children play together. Sigh, I'm feeling old.
Our next party was Ben's company party. It was held at La Caille this year. This is not one of my favorite parties. La Caille is a very fancy french restaurant with fancy food and such. I'll just say that it wasn't a very fun evening and leave it at that.
Yesterday I was able to go to my Snow college "roommate" party. These girls weren't actually my roommates, but they let me practically live at their apartment and treated me like a roommate. I love these ladies, we have been friends for 13 years now. We went from crazy single girls living the college experience to grownups with children in the last 13 years. We met at my friend Maggon's house and after a little snow trouble, we had lunch. After lunch we shared our favorite recipes, books we've read and other favorite gifts. It was so much fun visiting and catching up, we should get together more than once a year. I am so grateful for friends and family to celebrate this season with.

I had to do it...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Holiday Wishlist

I never win anything, but I thought I would at least give this one a try, I could use a new bike and some crafty stuff (you can enter too if you would like)

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme
TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year?

• Peace on earth
  
• A day without children whining
• Some new clothes
• A garage door
  
• A fence to go around my yard

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received?

• A scrapbook
  

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle?

• homemade dresses for my girls
  

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child?

• my play kitchen
  

5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year?

• bunny
• jack-in-the-box (thank you Dora)
• new school clothes
  
• anything Santa sees fit
  

6. What is your favorite holiday food?

• funeral potatoes
• fudge
  

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays?

• photo albums for the babies
  

8. What is your favorite holiday movie?

• A Christmas Story
  

9. Favorite holiday song?

• Carol of the bells
  

10. Favorite holiday pastime?

• Spending time with family

• decorating the Christmas tree

To enter to win all these cool prizes below simply answer the questions in this meme, make sure to post links back to TodaysMama.com and Provo Craft (use this link: http://bit.ly/4ikY3c ) and tag your friends!

Tales of the tooth

On Halloween we discovered that Addy's two bottom adult teeth are coming in. I wiggled her tooth and made it loose. For 4 long weeks she's been wiggling it with no luck. Last night before bed, I tried wiggling it, it was really loose. We've been worried that the dentist would have to pull the teeth. Addy let Ben and I wiggle and try to pull her tooth out. Finally just before bed I was able to pull the tooth out, with a bit of drama from our little queen. Once Addy calmed down she was super happy and excited. I made Addy a tooth pillow right after we discovered her loose tooth. Addy found her pillow and put her tooth in and went to bed. She only came upstairs a few times, she was too excited to sleep. The tooth fairy visited her room last night and left her a dollar. She can't wait to get the other tooth out now.

Sydnee's Specs

On Thanksgiving morning we were lazily lounging and watching the parade. Addy came up to inform us that Sydnee had drawn glasses on herself. Ben asked Sydnee to come up stairs and sure enough she had drawn glasses on her face. She did a pretty good job by herself.

Elephants...

How do you entertain two little girls and their parents while they have colds and can't leave the house over Thanksgiving break? You make elephants. Ben used to make elephants out of clay when he was in grade school. He had a package of clay on hand and so we set to work Saturday morning making our elephant family. This activity took most of the day which was great, it kept all of us busy so we didn't get cabin fever. Maren's trunk has a binkey stuck in it. The girls had a great time sculpting and painting their own elephants. Thanks Ben for the great idea!

Many Thanks

Thanksgiving this year was great! We had dinner with my family and it was super yummy. I was able to stuff myself and enjoy all of the gluten-free goods. My sister-in-law Leanne made this awesome GF stuffing that was fabulous and Ben made GF pumpkin and chocolate pecan pie. I think I gained a few pounds. We had a great time visiting and playing games together. It's fun to see my nephews and watch my girls play with their cousins. Friday we met with the Yancey's and took family pictures. Then we had a spaghetti dinner with the whole crowd, all 18 of us. We consumed enough spaghetti to feed an army and lots of left over pie and birthday cake. We had two full busy days, but they were great. I have so much to be thankful for. I have a wonderful husband and three sweet little girls that I adore. I have a warm house, good food to eat and I am able to stay at home with my kids. I have a Heavenly Father and a Savior who love me, what more could a girl want? Okay, maybe I could want to get over this cold that has been plaguing our whole family, but other than that, I have everything!

4 months old

Sumo Baby

I can't believe how fast time is flying at our house. It seems like yesterday we brought Maren home and now she is 4 months old. Maren woke up with a cold this morning, but she was still smiling and happy as usual. I took her to the doctor for her check-up. She weighed in at 14lbs. and is 26 inches long. The doctor said she's textbook perfect and looks perfect. I think so too. Maren is such a sweet, mellow, happy baby. She is the perfect addition to our family. We are so blessed to have her in our home.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night

Last Saturday, I needed to get out of the house. We headed out to do a little Christmas shopping and to get some groceries. I have lots of coupons in my wallet for freebies, so we stopped at smart cookie for some free cookies, unfortunately they don't have any gluten-free cookies, so I was a bad girl and had part of a really yummy sugar cookie. At this point I figured that as long as I'm cheating and I'm going to pay the price, I want something good. So after a quick stop home and diaper change and pit stop, we packed up and headed to the brick oven in Provo. I however wasn't very smart. We got there in time to see herds of BYU fans filing down the sidewalk and into the restaurant. Fortunately they were able to get us right in. I just have to say that my salad bar and pizza dinner were heavenly. I haven't had good pizza in forever. You just can't get a good gluten-free pizza. We guzzled root beer and I stuffed myself with glutenous goodness. As we were finishing up, Ben asked the waiter about all the balloons that other kids had and asked for balloons for the girls. We were thinking of the ones filled with helium tied to a string, well our waiter sent over the "balloon guy". Wow! This guy was amazing. He made Sydnee a Snow White balloon and Addy a frog. I've never seen anything like this before. The kids were impressed just as much as Ben and I were. They very carefully carried their creations out to the car and we made our way home. What a great family night together. Another fortunate blessing is that I haven't paid too dearly for my evil feast, yet.

Girls night out with the vampires

Friday I got to go out with my fabulous friend Jamie for some dinner, a little girl talk and to see New Moon. I really liked the movie, but I think I liked Twilight better. The jury is still out on that one, but I do have to say that the werewolves were beautiful!!! Thank you Jamie for a wonderful girls night!!! And thank you to Amy for the movie tickets!!!

Halloween 2009

Aunt Camille

Sydnee the sick little fairy

The whole scary family

Addy insisted on having her face painted

This year things we did things a bit differently. Sydnee was sick and we didn't want her to totally miss out on the Halloween festivities so, we joined the huge crowd at South Towne mall and went trick-or-treating at all the stores. We were done in an hour and home by 5 p.m. We started the tradition a few years ago of having a Halloween themed dinner so the kids won't fill up on candy. This year I stole ideas from Rachael Ray's magazine. We had a great dinner(see pictures below).

Our scary dinner
1. buried alive muffins 2. monster mouth yogurt
3. fried egg eyeballs, severed hand and foot toast and hashed brains.

A Special Night

For our young women's activity Wednesday night, the Laurels and Mia Maids went to White Elegance. The girls were given a short lesson about the temple and the importance of preparing now for temple blessings. After the lesson the girls were able to try on the temple dress of their choice. These girls looked absolutely gorgeous in white. It was so neat to see them dressed in white, they just glowed. Pardon my sappiness, but it gave me a glimpse into the future. I've seen these ladies in white when we have gone to do baptisms, but I know one day I will get to see them in white dresses again. What a great night!

Family Home Evening

Addy talked about her art project that she did at school and insisted that we all try it. We let her be in charge of the activity for family home evening on Monday night. Here are pictures of our lovely ripped pumpkins.

Verify This

This one is for you Laura. I posted a comment on a friends blog today and this was my verification word frisper. I think its whisper being said by someone with a lisp. Any other suggestions?

Crazy Hair Day

Today was crazy hair day at Addy's school. I think it looks pretty crazy!

Almost 3 Months

I can't believe how fast time is flying. Maren will be 3 months tomorrow. It seems like yesterday we were at the hospital and now I have a baby that's growing like a weed. Maren is a sweet baby, she smiles all the time and is super patient. The only time she gets upset is when she's hungry, has a dirty diaper, or needs to burp. She is such a joy!