Merry Christmas!

I emailed my Christmas "card" to everyone that I had email addresses for, but for those of you I don't have addresses for and if you check this, I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas too! I'm doing an email and blog card to save paper and time. We'll see how it works this year. Here are the kids with Santa! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Feeling better postpartum wise

Well it's been 4 months since I had Vivi now and I am feeling better, but I am knocking on wood right now because I know things can always change. Hopefully it doesn't. This is how it usually goes, I tell someone something and then the next day it changes. Like "oh my baby is sleeping through the night" and then the next night it never happens again for months. Hopefully that doesn't happen with me feeling better. I think I started feeling better when Vivi was about 2 months old, but that's partly because I am taking an anti anxiety/depression med. It's called Celexa, and I'm on a low dose, but it seems to take the edge off. I've discovered I am a tightly wound person that does have anxiety problems, and pregnancy seems to bring it out even more. Also I think lately that everyone is crazy- sorry if you think you're not :) I really am convinced that everyone has a crazy side. It's only when you can't cope with it that it becomes a problem. I am learning to cope with my anxiety. Just wanted to document that I am feeling better- yeah!

Christmas Ornaments

For Family Home Evening we went to the store and picked out new Christmas ornaments for each of the kids. This is an annual tradition. Each year they pick out a new ornament. Claire picked a Rudolph ornament because that's her favorite song this year. Will picked some John Deer tractor ornaments- it came with 5 little tractors. I think he just wants to play with them. And we chose a little jingle bell baby ornament for Vivi that said 2009 baby's first Christmas! After this low key family home evening we ate cookies- yum!

Next week will be busy right before Christmas so I'm thinking I won't have time to write our FHE next week and so I'll write what I'm planning right now. OK, I have a cute little box that I've put in our manger scene and I'm going to give a lesson about Jesus' birth and then I'm going to ask the kids to think of a present they can give to Jesus and they can either write it down or draw a picture and then will put these gifts in the little box and put it back by Jesus in the manger. I hope they will give gifts of being kind to each other or something like that. Anyway, we will see how it goes next week! Can't wait for Christmas!

Sub for Santa

For Family Home Evening tonight we took the kids shopping for a Sub for Santa we do in my family and also for the Bishop's Christmas Room for our ward. I wanted to get the kids in the giving mood- because of course all they talk about is how they can't wait for Santa to come and bring THEM toys. So we had Claire and Will pick out the gifts and clothes. We bought some clothes for a little 2 year old girl named Cynthia. And then Will and Claire each picked out a toy to give to the DI for the Bishop's Christmas, who will then distribute the toys to kids in need. We were able to drop the gifts off at the DI tonight and it was amazing to see how many people were there giving, and the crazy amount of toys that had been donated! I'm so glad soooooo many people were giving. It made me even want to give more. We topped the night off with two treats. The DI had cookies for everyone that brought toys so we ate our sweets, and then Shawn just had to see if the new West Jordan In-N-Out was crowded since it just opened, and holy moly it wasn't. You can't pass up an opportunity like that, so we got fries and shakes and went home full!

FHE Recap

Last Sunday our Bishops wife gave a great talk about Family Home Evening which we try to have every Monday night. Anyway, she said that she had kept a record of the Family Home Evenings they had when her kids where little and this idea struck me as a good idea. Mostly I think it's a good idea because then I have proof for my kids that yes I tried to teach them. I might also give me even more motivation to get it done every Monday because I want to write about it each week. Anyway, here goes. There are weeks that life is crazy and I seem to forget, but in general I try to throw something together each week and hope it sticks somewhere in my kids brains. This should also document how imperfect it really is too- but I try right. So here are the last two weeks.
November 23, 2009
Lately I've been really focused on service. Ever since I heard President Monson speak about service last conference I've been realizing how important it is to serve other people. I really want my kids to know this, so we go around the dinner table at night and ask what they did each day for someone else. Thanks to Shawn because he tends to remember to ask as I'm rushing around trying to get kids to take bites. Anyway, so last Monday we had a great opportunity to serve. Shawn signed us up to clean our ward building. It was a great service opportunity for all of us to see that the building doesn't get clean magically and that we should have more respect for it. Three other families where there. Our family was in charge of vacuuming and cleaning the glass doors. Claire and Will really helped out and I'm proud of them for all of the work. Now if I could just get them to help that much at home. Afterwards we went and got ice cream. Vivi was even good that night and fell asleep to the sound of the vacuum. All in all it seemed to be a productive family night, and maybe the kids learned a little bit of the importance of service. Of course repetition is key with all of us right.

November 30, 2009
Last night I thought we should focus on Jesus since it is the Christmas season. I was totally mortified when I asked whose birthday we remember at Christmas and Will said "Mine" :) Anyway we focused on Jesus. I had the kids go on a scavenger hunt around the house and find different scripture passages that reveal the characteristics of Jesus and all he has done for us. We looked up things like he is the creator of the world, he is our example, he is the son of God, he was resurrected, he atoned for our sins..... and the list goes on and on. The kids liked the hunt and even listened to the scriptures- for the most part. Will was jumping on Shawn's back most of the night- but I'm sure something got in- Anyway now they know how much Jesus has done for us. At the end I gave them each a heart and said the best thing we can do to show Jesus how thankful we are for him is to do nice things for each other. I told them this week we wanted them to show their thanks to Jesus by doing something nice for someone in our family, and leave the heart where we do the service so we remember we are thinking of Jesus while we serve each other. Then we ended and dismissed for brownie time and the hearts where forgotten on the floor in the living room. They are still forgotten this morning. We'll see if anything will happen with the hearts. Oh well, as long as they at least know that it's Jesus we all celebrate and not Will on Christmas.

My first 5K!

Run with an attitude of gratitude! That was the theme for the Utah 2009 Human Race on Thanksgiving, and my first ever 5K! My mom, dad, sister, brother, and sister in-law all participated in this on Thanksgiving morning! I had so much fun! My goal was just to run the whole thing and I did! I even finished with what I think is a decent time (31 minutes). Anyway, I'm proud of myself. The race was so crowded. They had 3,600 people run which is good because they were trying to earn $50,000 and they exceeded their goal for the Food Bank and Humanitarian Services. I'm already excited to run my next race and beat my time!

Our Sweet Cherries!

Claire 6 years old!


William 3 years old!



Vivian 2 1/2 months old!

Halloween!!!

We had a fun Halloween! Here are some pictures!


Our Trick or Treating group. Don't we look crazy!



Elvis and Priscilla Presley



Our little Pumpkin, Vet and Spider man!


Claire as a Vet and Will as Spidey!




Our hot dog Lilly!

First Snow Fall of the Season

It snowed a few days before Halloween this year. Claire and Will were soooooo excited. Here they are out playing in it. Yes, Will is in his PJ bottoms. We had a pajama day and I couldn't keep him inside any longer even to change him. The snow took us off guard. I still need to get Claire an official snow coat. Luckily the weather is now fabulous again. We are in the 60's this week! It was nice to see snow for a few days, but I really do love the sun!

Pumpkins

Here are pictures of us carving pumpkins for Halloween. The kids loved it but Vivi was done after two pumpkins, so that's all we did this year. Claire scooped out the seeds and Will supervised the cutting of his. Claire's is the cat and Will's is the skeleton.

Alpine Slide

We got to go up to Park City two weeks ago and ride the Alpine Slide as a family. We had to take turns going on the slide, because one of us had to stay down with Vivi, so it took double the time. Plus it was super crowded. We spent the good part of a day on the mountain. I took Will up and Shawn took Claire. Luckily it was a beautiful day and the kids loved the slide!

Will and me riding on the ski lift to the top of the mountain!



Claire ready to take off down the mountain!



As we were leaving I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of the changing leaves, so I made Shawn take a picture of us in front of this little tree. See the little bit of red in the background :)

Sisters

Here's a sweet picture of Claire and Vivi holding hands!

Vivian's Blessing

Vivi is now two months old! I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She is smiling and cooing all of the time! We were able to bless her last Sunday at church! Shawn gave her a beautiful blessing! I'm so grateful for the priesthood and that Shawn is worthy to hold it! We are also grateful for our family that came to support Vivi! Here are some pictures of Vivi's blessing day!


Sweet Vivi in her dress!


The five of us!


Great Grandma Vivian (who Vivi is named after)


Another photo of Vivi in her dress. My mom and dad bought this beautiful dress for her and my mom had that tiny bracelet made with Vivian's name on it! So sweet and cute!


I couldn't resist buying these cute silver shoes for Vivi's blessing- aren't they fabulous :)

Witches Weekend

Last weekend we went to Gardner Village for their Witches Weekend to kick of Halloween! We went with my parents and sister. Gardner Village is so much fun by itself that with the witches we had a blast! Here are some pictures!

The five of us at Gardner Village


Grandpa Smith with Claire and Will and one of the Witches!


Our family with one of the Witches!


Claire got to ride a pony at Gardner Village!

No More Snoring

Claire had her tonsils out two weeks ago because she had sleep apnea. I think she probably had this her whole life, but we just figured it out a few months ago. She's always snored, but I thought that some people are just that way. Apparently her snoring was because her tonsils were HUGE, and I mean HUGE. The doctor after he took them out was surprised that she was breathing at all. Not too great for a parent to hear, but at least they are out now.
Her throat and ears were sore for about the first week. She missed about a week of school, but now she is doing great! I mean she is really doing great. She doesn't snore at all anymore, and she gets a great night of sleep. It's the weirdest thing to walk by her room and have it be so silent. Poor girl. All this time snoring and not breathing well.
Primary Children's Hospital was wonderful too. They were so nice and helpful. We couldn't have had a better hospital to have it done in. You never like to see your kids in a hospital bed, but she does look pretty cute. Oh, but was she ever goofy after surgery with all the pain meds they gave her. She was claiming to everyone that math is her favorite subject- this didn't fade with the pain meds either. It stuck. She still thinks math is great. Shhhh don't anyone tell her.... but before surgery she thought math was "boring". -Weird huh? :)

30 Little Toes

Look at these cute feet! I can't believe how much Claire's have grown, and how small Vivi's are. Time goes by so fast. Soon Vivi's will be the size of Will's.... and Will's will be the size of Claire's... and Oh, I don't even want to think of these feet growing anymore. Let's just try to keep them this size for awhile.

Sweet Vivi!

Vivi is 4 weeks old today! She will officially be a month old this Saturday. I can't believe it was four weeks ago that we didn't even know her yet. Now it seems like she has been part of our family forever. She is so sweet and cuddly. We are so lucky to have her! Life is chaotic with three, and I feel like I don't have a minute to spare, but I am so glad Vivi is here and I can kiss and hug my sweet Vivi!

Rocks and Flowers and Feeling Loved!

Will has recently started giving me rocks as gifts. I kind of laugh to myself every time he gives me a rock because he is so sincere in giving me a nice gift. In his mind how could I want anything more than a rock? He loves to find cool rocks. He keeps a lot of them for himself, (he has quite a collection going on- to Shawn's frustration) but every once in awhile he will bring me a rock and say "Momma this one's for you!". He started bringing me rocks a few months ago. One day when they were outside Claire picked me a flower, and Will brought in a rock for me. Now I am the proud recipient of flowers from Claire and rocks from Will. And to tell you the truth I love both gifts. Who couldn't love kids that pick out the perfect flower and rock for their mom.
Of course when Will is a teenager and starts dating we might have to tell him that flowers are preferred by some :)!

First Day of Preschool!

Will had his first day of preschool at Sunshine Square! He started on August 12th (a week after Vivi was born). His teacher is Miss Leslie. He gets to go to school with his cousin Gavin! They go twice a week. Will completely loves school! I can't believe he is old enough to go to preschool. My little boy is getting so big. Here are some pictures of him on his first day.




Will ready for school with his cool back pack!

Postpartum

I hate to say it, but again I have some sort of postpartum depression. I'm amazed I'm even mentioning it on my blog. I guess I don't want to pretend everything is perfect when it isn't. It's very easy to pretend everything is fine, but don't you hate thinking someone else is perfect? Well, now just in case anyone had any doubts- I am not anywhere near perfect. I've had this problem with each of my kids. With Claire it lasted the longest- I think because she had colic. Anyway, I'm not so bad I just feel sad a lot. It's the weirdest thing for me. I can remember feeling happy a few weeks ago, and now I'm sad. I try my hardest to be happy for my kids. I mean I have to get up and get them breakfast and Claire to school. I'm glad I am busier because then I don't focus on it, but it is so frustrating not to feel just happy on my own, when "normally" I am fine. It kind of hit me this time too. I felt fine for two days after Vivi was born and then the third day I woke up from a nap and I just felt completely opposite. Weird weird weird hormones. I don't think my kids know anything is wrong (I hope not). I'm glad to for all of the help I've gotten these past two weeks. All of the food has been wonderful and my mom has helped getting Claire to school and helped with house chores. I couldn't ask for a better mom. I just hope I can be a great mom too. I think my depression is partly anxiety based. I don't know when it happened, but I worry way too much about things. Anyway, I am technically fine, just trying to work through this and be the best I can be. It wouldn't hurt either if I could just fit back into my regular clothes- I hate my maternity clothes- but dang it I still look like I'm 3 or 4 months pregnant- ugh!

Vivian Laura Houston

At 2:58 pm on August 5th Vivian was born! She is named after two of her Great Grandmas Vivian and Laura. We are so excited to have her here! The labor and delivery were both fine with no complications. I was induced, which I hadn't experienced before. I think being induced might have been a little tougher on my body because I was in much more pain after than I was with Claire or Will. The nurses were surprised with how much pitocin they had to pump me full of to get any contractions to start. I thought my labor would be shorter too, but it was only an hour less than Will (6 hours). Vivi also had a knot in her cord. We are lucky that it wasn't tight and didn't cause any complications.
To actually see Vivi and to hold her was such a miracle! It always takes my breath away the first time I hold my babies. It was also wonderful to deliver here in Utah too. We've never had visitors at the hospital before, but this time we were able to have so much family come and see us it was great! We are glad to have Vivi home with us. Right now she has dark hair. It will be interesting to see if that changes. Claire loves her and Will loves her in his own way. I don't think he knows what he is supposed to do with her, but every once in awhile I see him pat her head, or hold one of her hands. Vivi is so sweet. She's a sleepy and cuddly little girl! Here are some pictures.

Big Brother!



Big Sister!



Mom with three kids now!


Proud Dad!



Going Home!



Now we are trying to get sleep when ever we can!

Strangers, Apricots and Horses

Last week I went shopping at Costco and got tempted by the yummy yet expensive apricots, so I put a crate in my cart and continued shopping. When I was almost done shopping an older couple introduced themselves to me (Mark and Judy) and told me that they have a huge apricot tree in their backyard and the would love it if someone would come over and pick some apricots, so they wouldn't all go to waste on their grass. They told me if we came over and picked them they would give them to us for free. They gave me their phone # and address (what nice trusting people). I put the Costco apricots back on the shelf with a look of disgust- I wanted free apricots-and so yesterday evening I called these nice strangers and we all went to their home to pick apricots. They live just down the street from us in South Jordan, but they have this beautiful big yard. Shawn and the kids picked apricots while I sat on the porch and talked to Judy and Mark. The kids LOVED picking apricots, and to top it off they took us over to meet their neighbors horse Luna after we were done. Claire was in heaven! Luna the horse was a character. Her mom had died after giving birth to her two years ago, so the neighborhood women pitched in and took turns feeding and caring for her. She was basically raised by humans, and you can tell. She was the funniest horse. She wanted attention, and if you didn't give it to her she would twist her head down to you and give you almost a little kiss with her lips to get your attention. When you patted her head she would turn into the pat like a dog. I can't really explain it, but she was a horse full of character. We really enjoyed meeting Mark and Judy, picking apricots, and meeting the silliest horse ever. Here are some pictures.

First Grade!!!!

Claire on her first day with her huge back pack!




You are probably thinking "WHAT???- it's still July!" We are on Year Round school now. So, this is how it worked. We got out of School June 11th and started a new school year today. We had 6 weeks of summer. I think that was plenty though. We will have a nice 3 week vacation in October and then in January and then in April, so it's just broken up more. I think we will like the schedule. It will be great for vacations. Plus summer didn't get too long or boring.
The big thing is that Claire started going to First Grade (all day long) today! The all day long part is the weirdest thing. I really missed her, but the day went by faster than I thought. Maybe that's because I'm busy trying to get ready for the baby. She had a good day. She did say that she missed kindergarten, but I think it's just because she was worn out when she got home. She also didn't eat all of her lunch so she was starving when she got home. The reason she didn't eat her lunch was because they make the kids sit at the tables for at least 8 minutes before they let them go out to recess (for those kids that would rather play than eat anything), so after the 8 minutes Claire thought she HAD to leave. She had only taken one bite of sandwich and ate a few carrots. Hopefully she will take more than 8 minutes to eat lunch tomorrow. She also didn't meet me in our designated meeting spot. She heard other kids saying they were riding their bikes home so she got excited and ran over to the bikes to ride her bike that wasn't there. I had to ask her teacher if she had seen her. She said Claire was so excited about riding her bike she took off that way. Maybe she can ride tomorrow. Other than that her teacher is great, and she got to play with a good friend at recess. It was a big day for Claire, but I think she will love this year.

Summer 2009

I know summer isn't over yet, but with Claire starting school in July (year round school) and with the baby due any day I feel like we might not have as much of a chance to get out and do a lot of things, so here's a list or recap of our 6 weeks of Summer 2009!


I think we've been swimming more times than I can count. This is because we have a community pool in our neighborhood, which is so convenient. The kids LOVE to swim! Claire also mastered the art of a cannon ball this summer- I need to get a picture of that!





We've been bowling- the kids loved this too! It was so cute to see them in their little bowling shoes! I even bowled. I was off balance with my huge belly, but I still won :) sorry Shawn!



We've gone to many parks and spray parks and the zoo!



We've also done different kinds of crafts at home.



And the one thing we did more than swimming was probably going to the Library. Every Wednesday they had a craft day and we took advantage of that plus the free books and movies! I really do love the library! We've had a great summer! Now it's time to bring on homework and a new baby! Really????