We've done a lot this month . . . and taken lots of pictures.
(Sorry if you're on facebook -- these are pretty much all repeats)
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Stories Mixed with Pictures
To warn you, this is gonna be a bunch of short stories about the kids or the holidays (most pilfered from my Facebook statuses over the last week) mixed with random pictures from the last little bit . . .
First, an original Annie story. Annie came upstairs tonight, was shedding her clothes as she walked down the hall into her room, and hollered over her shoulder, "Dad said to go upstairs and get changed into pajamas before we did ANYTHING else." Then she stopped. Walked slowly to the door of my bedroom and added thoughtfully, "Although, that wouldn't really be possible. I mean, you can't do nothing. Just walking up the stairs, breathing, walking to my room . . . that's all doing something." She thought for a second, then happily added, "I think he meant before we did anything like PLAY," and skipped off happily to her room to follow her Dad's instructions to the best of her ability.
First pictures are gonna be from Thanksgiving. There's a bunch here (About every couple months, I throw together simple collages on 8.5x11" prints that I send my little brother, Cody, in Uruguay. So, there are all those collages for him). Thanksgiving was a ton of fun. We had it at my Mom's house this year, and the kids loved seeing everyone. Even if Mr. Grumpy Pants (i.e., Isaac, the moody toddler) spent half the time glaring people down. My Grandma asked me what was wrong with him that he doesn't like people. :-) I tried to explain it's just a phase, and that he's actually quite warm with people, but is awfully suspicious of my family, since they tend to do evil stuff like babysit him. With Mom GONE. Who can blame him for giving them the stink eye. They're monsters. :-)
Usually it'd be the day after Thanksgiving that'd kick off the Christmas season around here. But we started decorating the weekend before. Greg was initially mildly opposed, possibly using words like 'sacrilege', while I countered with words like, '8 months pregnant with your child', and I won the debate. :-) I want to get things up so we can enjoy the holiday season before things get more hectic, and because I have every intention of putting away all things Christmas on December 26th, since I'll be a week from my due date, and I do NOT want to come home from the hospital with a newborn and still have Christmas decorations to put away! So, Christmas goes up one week early so we can take it down one we early. Greg couldn't argue with my flawless logic. Or hormones. The kids LOVE having the tree up, and we spent Monday evening decorating it. For Family Home Evening, we had the girls put the ornaments on the Christmas tree -- for each ornament each person put on, they named something they were thankful for. It was so amazingly sweet and cute. The girls came up with literally dozens of blessings in their lives (Ellie's got a bit repetitive at the end, and often included Annie), and they'd hug each other and gush every time they mentioned each other . . . it was so sweet! The one that amused us the most was Ellie's, "I'm thankful for Mom can give me blessings when I'm sick." Annie's eyebrows arched, and was all, "You mean Dad?" "Nope, Mom." Then the next ornament, "I'm thankful for Annie can give me blessings when I'm sick." "Dad?!" "Nope, Annie." She never did mention Dad giving her blessings . . . :-)
Thanksgiving night the girls got their Christmas Dresses for the year (to wear the next morning for their cousin Bailey's baby blessing that we were having early Friday morning . . . so we tried to get some family 'Christmas Card-ish' pictures taken that morning . . .
Oh, and since those last pictures included Santa, I should add an exchange between Ellie and I from last week here:
Me: "Ellie, what do you want for Christmas?"
Ellie: "Bubble gum!"
Annie: "You can't just ask for gum, Ellie." Exasperated sigh.
Ellie: "I KNOW ANNIE! STOP TALKING SO I CAN TALK TO MOM!"
Ellie, again: "Gum, with, like, Santa on it."
Me: "Well Ellie, we'll ask Santa to put gum in your stocking, but what else do you want?"
Ellie: Thinking hard, then lighting up, "Oooh! Presents!"
Me: "OK, what kind of presents?"
Ellie: "Lots of presents!"
Me: "OK, but Ellie, what kind of presents."
Ellie: "The kind you open!"
She is not being as helpful as she thinks she is . . .
(Both girls asked for nothing but gum for a couple weeks . . . Annie is now asking for roller skates as well. And maybe some lip gloss.)
So, after our little photo shoot at home on Friday morning, we headed to my sister's Church for her Baby Bailey's blessing. (Usually such things are traditionally held on a Sunday, during Sacrament Meeting . . . but, a huge part of my brother-in-law, David's, family had been able to come into town for Thanksgiving and Friday, so they scheduled it for a Friday morning to accommodate the most schedules.) It was really fun though, all getting together in the chapel for the blessing, then going back to my Mom's house for brunch and hanging out for a couple hours. My kids have seen SO much family lately -- with Aunt Andrea (Greg's sister) in town, and hanging out with Greg's parents, grandma, all my family together for the holidays. They have LOVED it. They've gotten so used to seeing everyone, that they now ask first thing every morning if we're going to see Grandma Ruth or Aunt Star or Grandma Verla or Aunt Andrea or Grandma Karine . . . or whomever it is they're convinced they should get to see that day. Good things we have a whole month of the holidays ahead of us!
The kids were SO excited when they woke up a week or so ago (or whenever that was!) to a bunch of snow in the backyard. For the first time of the season we busted out all the gloves, snow boots and ski suits and got everyone dressed to go outside (except Mom, who stayed in where it was warm and dry, and did dishes and cleaned the kitchen. With nobody pulling on her pant leg.) I think it was a first -- the kids stayed outside FAR longer than it took to get them dressed to go out! They had so much fun (although Isaac took a good long while to warm up to the cold snow -- but sledding, and being pulled around in a sled, finally got him smiling.) Greg would load all three kids in the sled, pull them all around our huge backyard, up the small hill at the back, and they'd come sliding down together. It was hilarious. And from the looks of it, exhausting. Greg came in after awhile and said, "Wow, pulling 90 lbs. around in a sled for awhile is quite a work out! I told him I'd been watching, and decided if I go overdue again this time, I'm gonna go out and try it, 'cause I'm convinced that would put me into labor.
The girls finished their soccer season. Annie really seemed to enjoy it. Ellie screamed and cried and whined and had to have her hand held the first three games. So, for the last three, we gave up and let her not even show up. So, of course, hours after what would have been her last game, she asked, "Hey, why didn't we go to soccer today? I wanted to play!" I don't believe her.
Lastly, a couple Isaac stories:
Isaac's sentences are ever growing . . . today instead of just saying 'Gee tales' (for Veggie Tales) he exclaimed, "Bob from Gee Tales!" Then tonight while brushing his teeth, "Oh no! Drop teeth brush!" when he dropped his tooth brush. (He then proceeded to walk around the room, throwing down the tooth brush and exclaiming, "Oh no! Dropped!")
A few days ago, the girls were telling jokes in the van on the way to Grandma and Grandpa's house . . . at one point, Isaac chimed in. "Naw, naw?" (Knock, knock). At first I just repeated "Knock, knock," back to him, 'til I realized he was getting frustrated with me, so the next time he said knock, knock, I responded appropriately with, "Who's there?" He happily squealed, "ME!" and proceeded to laugh uproariously at his own joke. I have a comedic genius 16 month old on my hands! :-)
First, an original Annie story. Annie came upstairs tonight, was shedding her clothes as she walked down the hall into her room, and hollered over her shoulder, "Dad said to go upstairs and get changed into pajamas before we did ANYTHING else." Then she stopped. Walked slowly to the door of my bedroom and added thoughtfully, "Although, that wouldn't really be possible. I mean, you can't do nothing. Just walking up the stairs, breathing, walking to my room . . . that's all doing something." She thought for a second, then happily added, "I think he meant before we did anything like PLAY," and skipped off happily to her room to follow her Dad's instructions to the best of her ability.
First pictures are gonna be from Thanksgiving. There's a bunch here (About every couple months, I throw together simple collages on 8.5x11" prints that I send my little brother, Cody, in Uruguay. So, there are all those collages for him). Thanksgiving was a ton of fun. We had it at my Mom's house this year, and the kids loved seeing everyone. Even if Mr. Grumpy Pants (i.e., Isaac, the moody toddler) spent half the time glaring people down. My Grandma asked me what was wrong with him that he doesn't like people. :-) I tried to explain it's just a phase, and that he's actually quite warm with people, but is awfully suspicious of my family, since they tend to do evil stuff like babysit him. With Mom GONE. Who can blame him for giving them the stink eye. They're monsters. :-)
Usually it'd be the day after Thanksgiving that'd kick off the Christmas season around here. But we started decorating the weekend before. Greg was initially mildly opposed, possibly using words like 'sacrilege', while I countered with words like, '8 months pregnant with your child', and I won the debate. :-) I want to get things up so we can enjoy the holiday season before things get more hectic, and because I have every intention of putting away all things Christmas on December 26th, since I'll be a week from my due date, and I do NOT want to come home from the hospital with a newborn and still have Christmas decorations to put away! So, Christmas goes up one week early so we can take it down one we early. Greg couldn't argue with my flawless logic. Or hormones. The kids LOVE having the tree up, and we spent Monday evening decorating it. For Family Home Evening, we had the girls put the ornaments on the Christmas tree -- for each ornament each person put on, they named something they were thankful for. It was so amazingly sweet and cute. The girls came up with literally dozens of blessings in their lives (Ellie's got a bit repetitive at the end, and often included Annie), and they'd hug each other and gush every time they mentioned each other . . . it was so sweet! The one that amused us the most was Ellie's, "I'm thankful for Mom can give me blessings when I'm sick." Annie's eyebrows arched, and was all, "You mean Dad?" "Nope, Mom." Then the next ornament, "I'm thankful for Annie can give me blessings when I'm sick." "Dad?!" "Nope, Annie." She never did mention Dad giving her blessings . . . :-)
Thanksgiving night the girls got their Christmas Dresses for the year (to wear the next morning for their cousin Bailey's baby blessing that we were having early Friday morning . . . so we tried to get some family 'Christmas Card-ish' pictures taken that morning . . .
 |
| (The bottom corner pictures are from the Mall, where Annie's Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Andrea took them on Wednesday night. The girls had a sleep over with them on 'Thanksgiving Eve', since Aunt Andrea was only in town for another day or so . . . they have not stopped talking about it since!) |
Me: "Ellie, what do you want for Christmas?"
Ellie: "Bubble gum!"
Annie: "You can't just ask for gum, Ellie." Exasperated sigh.
Ellie: "I KNOW ANNIE! STOP TALKING SO I CAN TALK TO MOM!"
Ellie, again: "Gum, with, like, Santa on it."
Me: "Well Ellie, we'll ask Santa to put gum in your stocking, but what else do you want?"
Ellie: Thinking hard, then lighting up, "Oooh! Presents!"
Me: "OK, what kind of presents?"
Ellie: "Lots of presents!"
Me: "OK, but Ellie, what kind of presents."
Ellie: "The kind you open!"
She is not being as helpful as she thinks she is . . .
(Both girls asked for nothing but gum for a couple weeks . . . Annie is now asking for roller skates as well. And maybe some lip gloss.)
So, after our little photo shoot at home on Friday morning, we headed to my sister's Church for her Baby Bailey's blessing. (Usually such things are traditionally held on a Sunday, during Sacrament Meeting . . . but, a huge part of my brother-in-law, David's, family had been able to come into town for Thanksgiving and Friday, so they scheduled it for a Friday morning to accommodate the most schedules.) It was really fun though, all getting together in the chapel for the blessing, then going back to my Mom's house for brunch and hanging out for a couple hours. My kids have seen SO much family lately -- with Aunt Andrea (Greg's sister) in town, and hanging out with Greg's parents, grandma, all my family together for the holidays. They have LOVED it. They've gotten so used to seeing everyone, that they now ask first thing every morning if we're going to see Grandma Ruth or Aunt Star or Grandma Verla or Aunt Andrea or Grandma Karine . . . or whomever it is they're convinced they should get to see that day. Good things we have a whole month of the holidays ahead of us!
The kids were SO excited when they woke up a week or so ago (or whenever that was!) to a bunch of snow in the backyard. For the first time of the season we busted out all the gloves, snow boots and ski suits and got everyone dressed to go outside (except Mom, who stayed in where it was warm and dry, and did dishes and cleaned the kitchen. With nobody pulling on her pant leg.) I think it was a first -- the kids stayed outside FAR longer than it took to get them dressed to go out! They had so much fun (although Isaac took a good long while to warm up to the cold snow -- but sledding, and being pulled around in a sled, finally got him smiling.) Greg would load all three kids in the sled, pull them all around our huge backyard, up the small hill at the back, and they'd come sliding down together. It was hilarious. And from the looks of it, exhausting. Greg came in after awhile and said, "Wow, pulling 90 lbs. around in a sled for awhile is quite a work out! I told him I'd been watching, and decided if I go overdue again this time, I'm gonna go out and try it, 'cause I'm convinced that would put me into labor.
The girls finished their soccer season. Annie really seemed to enjoy it. Ellie screamed and cried and whined and had to have her hand held the first three games. So, for the last three, we gave up and let her not even show up. So, of course, hours after what would have been her last game, she asked, "Hey, why didn't we go to soccer today? I wanted to play!" I don't believe her.
Lastly, a couple Isaac stories:
Isaac's sentences are ever growing . . . today instead of just saying 'Gee tales' (for Veggie Tales) he exclaimed, "Bob from Gee Tales!" Then tonight while brushing his teeth, "Oh no! Drop teeth brush!" when he dropped his tooth brush. (He then proceeded to walk around the room, throwing down the tooth brush and exclaiming, "Oh no! Dropped!")
A few days ago, the girls were telling jokes in the van on the way to Grandma and Grandpa's house . . . at one point, Isaac chimed in. "Naw, naw?" (Knock, knock). At first I just repeated "Knock, knock," back to him, 'til I realized he was getting frustrated with me, so the next time he said knock, knock, I responded appropriately with, "Who's there?" He happily squealed, "ME!" and proceeded to laugh uproariously at his own joke. I have a comedic genius 16 month old on my hands! :-)
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Thanksgiving Pics and Other Stuff
So, I totally forgot to bring my camera to Thanksgiving this year. So, that night I hurry and snapped a few pictures of Isaac in his 'Baby's First Thanksgiving' shirt . . .
Which is the same shirt Annie wore her first Thanksgiving in 2006 . . .
(She was 6 months old in these pictures vs. Isaac's 4 1/2 months old on Thanksgiving)
It wasn't until today that I remembered that Ellie did not get to wear the traditional 'Baby's First Thanksgiving' shirt . . . she was wearing a matching sweater with Annie and we also were living my in-law's basement while we were in the middle of our move to this house, and I couldn't find it. :-(
Here's Ellie's first Thanksgiving, 2008, 6 months old.
Then, just for fun, I put together a bunch of 4 1/2 month old pictures of the kids --
Isaac is the first and third row, Annie's the second row and Ellie's the last row.
And the last few weeks in pictures --
Isaac and his sisters, who had buried him in toys in his bouncy chair (notice there's about 15 toys on his lap)
Daddy and Isaac in his monkey pajamas.
Annie and her baby doll.
Isaac sitting up in his bumbo chair. Usually he just tries to use it to propel himself into a standing position, so I can never walk more than 2 feet away when he's in it.
Already fascinated with toy trucks . . .
Annie and Isaac marveling over the truck.
Annie in her Thanksgiving day outfit.
Ellie already in her pajamas by the time I got the camera out on Thanksgiving.
Black Friday shopping -- I went to Kohl's around 8:30AM. Nobody was in line. Shopped until 10AM, when everyone decided to get in line at the same time. I got both of the girls new night gowns. Ellie will ONLY wear nightgowns to bed, and always kicks off her blankets, so I constantly worry about her freezing at night. So, long sleeve nightgowns in a warmer material seemed like a good idea. I bought those for the girls, and long sleeve Sunday dresses for the cold weather. So basically all my 'Christmas' shopping was for now, and not Christmas.
Here's Ellie in her new princess nightgown . . .
Sisters in their 'matching' gowns . . .
Isaac and Daddy . . . this outfit of Isaac's is one of my FAVORITES now, as it totally brings out the blue in his eyes.
"Look Mom, I found my feet!"
He's big into holding onto his feet, but rarely brings them to his mouth like his sisters always did. He doesn't seem nearly as flexible as them either, as his feet barely make it to his mouth whereas his sisters could basically fold their bodies in half and shove their whole foot in their mouths . . .
Here's Annie at 5 months -- much more bendy :-)
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Bright Side in All Things
This Thanksgiving morn, after being woken up WAY too early (4:30AM) by multiple of my sick children, I decided it was a good time to examine what I'm thankful for -- and to see the bright side in all things --
I'm thankful for my sniffly, hacking children -- because their illnesses meant they wanted to spend all morning just cuddling with me in bed.
I'm thankful Greg is at work today -- because it means that even though he'll miss one big family meal, he has a wonderful job that provides so well for all of our other meals.
I'm thankful for my lack of sleep -- because it means I was holding a beautiful baby close to me in the wee hours of the night.
I'm thankful for my lumpy, frumpy body -- because it's physical evidence of the beautiful children I've been able to carry.
I'm thankful for my postpartum hair loss (that typically makes me nearly cry every time I shower and watch handfuls of hair go down the drain) -- because I realized this morning it only took me 12 minutes to blow dry my hair to stylish perfection. Twelve minutes! When I was 18 (and had a LOT more hair) it took 45 minutes, minimum, to get my hair dry with a blow dryer.
I'm thankful that my little brother isn't with us this Thanksgiving, living in another continent -- because it means he's doing something wonderful and worthwhile and making more of himself. We're all so proud of him.
I'm thankful for the pile of laundry that still needs to be folded -- it shows that we are able to clothe our children, and even have an excess.
I'm thankful for the embarrassingly large pile of shoes, boots and coats piled by our front and back doors that clutter the house -- because my children are always warm and comfortable.
I'm thankful for all the bits and pieces of play-doh, the pile of broken crayons, and the dried on glue I had to clean this morning -- it means my children are creative and bright and have lots of opportunities.
I'm thankful my children fought about what to have me make for breakfast this morning -- it means they have every expectation of being able to eat whatever, whenever they want. They have not had to know want. (I'm also thankful we had bowls of Cookie Crisp for breakfast . . . after an impulse buy in Smith's yesterday, that was the first time I've had Cookie Crisp in years!)
I'm thankful for that I still have a ways to go in becoming the person I want to be -- because it allows me to look back and see how far I've come, and make course corrections that'll get me to where I want to be.
Mostly I'm thankful for my husband, my children, my family and my Savior -- and I didn't even have to try to find the bright side of those blessings. They are the brightest things in my life.
I'm thankful for my sniffly, hacking children -- because their illnesses meant they wanted to spend all morning just cuddling with me in bed.
I'm thankful Greg is at work today -- because it means that even though he'll miss one big family meal, he has a wonderful job that provides so well for all of our other meals.
I'm thankful for my lack of sleep -- because it means I was holding a beautiful baby close to me in the wee hours of the night.
I'm thankful for my lumpy, frumpy body -- because it's physical evidence of the beautiful children I've been able to carry.
I'm thankful for my postpartum hair loss (that typically makes me nearly cry every time I shower and watch handfuls of hair go down the drain) -- because I realized this morning it only took me 12 minutes to blow dry my hair to stylish perfection. Twelve minutes! When I was 18 (and had a LOT more hair) it took 45 minutes, minimum, to get my hair dry with a blow dryer.
I'm thankful that my little brother isn't with us this Thanksgiving, living in another continent -- because it means he's doing something wonderful and worthwhile and making more of himself. We're all so proud of him.
I'm thankful for the pile of laundry that still needs to be folded -- it shows that we are able to clothe our children, and even have an excess.
I'm thankful for the embarrassingly large pile of shoes, boots and coats piled by our front and back doors that clutter the house -- because my children are always warm and comfortable.
I'm thankful for all the bits and pieces of play-doh, the pile of broken crayons, and the dried on glue I had to clean this morning -- it means my children are creative and bright and have lots of opportunities.
I'm thankful my children fought about what to have me make for breakfast this morning -- it means they have every expectation of being able to eat whatever, whenever they want. They have not had to know want. (I'm also thankful we had bowls of Cookie Crisp for breakfast . . . after an impulse buy in Smith's yesterday, that was the first time I've had Cookie Crisp in years!)
I'm thankful for that I still have a ways to go in becoming the person I want to be -- because it allows me to look back and see how far I've come, and make course corrections that'll get me to where I want to be.
Mostly I'm thankful for my husband, my children, my family and my Savior -- and I didn't even have to try to find the bright side of those blessings. They are the brightest things in my life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)