"Reality"... everyone has their own. I'm trying to shine some light on the real, not the ideal. Real is not neat and pretty. Real is messy, and crazy, but can be funny and wonderful too. This is our reality what is yours?
Thursday, December 17, 2009
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!
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!
Monday, December 7, 2009
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!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
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.
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.
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