Oh How I Love Christmas!

(I don't know why but it's not letting me upload pics, so I'll try again tomorrow)
I love Christmas Soooo much!! I can't wait for it every year! We start getting Christmas hungry in like August and start listening to some Christmas music and I like to watch Home Alone 1&2 in July. But I love the lights, the smell of food, and just the feeling in the air of kindness and love. I can't wait until we have a house so I can go all out decorating it and really making it look good but we do our best in our little duplex.

Some Family Traditions:

Every year for the last 10 years or so my family has done a snack/junk food movie day on Christmas Eve. We make all of our favorite foods from the year and watch our favorite movies from the year. For some reason we always end up watching one of the Father of the Bride movies...i don't really know how that's a Christmas movie but in our house it is. :) So Daniel and I have decided to keep that tradition going and since our family is small and there are pretty much only two of us that can really eat all of the yummy foods and since we LOVE to cook and entertain we invited Daniel's family over to share with us. We watched Joy to the World, Borrowed Hearts, and The Christmas Shoes (All GREAT Christmas movies) and we had soooooooooo much food. Daniel's brother, Sam, rented "17 Again" and we watched that. It was pretty good. We had SOOOOOOOO much food!!! We can't wait for next year when we (hopefully) have a house and we can really have a TON of people over and have a great time. (I love having people over. It gets a little crowded in our place right now but it's still so great!) Anyways, here's what we ate: a HUGE fruit pizza, sausage balls, meatballs, pigs in a blanket, 7-layer dip, chips and salsa, an amazing cheese platter from Sam's club, cake balls, peanut butter fudge, chocolate pretzels, veggie tray with homemade chipotle ranch dip, and chips and homemade french onion dip. I'm sure there was more that I forgot to mention but that's most of it. It was so much fun! I love cooking good foods. It was so much to have everyone here and share it with us!

Something else we have chosen to continue from my family is something that has been going on for 20 years. When I was little my family didn't have much money and we were supposed to have the missionaries from our church over for dinner on Christmas Eve. My dad really wanted to make it special for them but with very little money that was going to be hard so he came up with a great idea that stuck for years to come. We had pancakes by candlelight. It was so much fun! So every year we have a candlelit pancake dinner with ALL the toppings and different syrups. This year we had sausage links and bacon and a fruit plate. It was so delicious! It was so much fun to have it in my home.

When Daniel went to pick up the missionaries (oh yeah that's part of the tradition, we try to get them to come every year) I stood back and looked at my house. It really made me feel like a grown up! I was very pleased with the whole day. Our house was decorated nicely, it was clean, the christmas lights added the perfect touch, and the food was fantastic. I turned on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and soaked in the Christmas feeling. It was perfect!

Daniel and I have started some of our own traditions that I really really love.
1) Daniel makes super yummy cinnamon rolls every year for breakfast. mmmmm they're so tasty!
2) On Christmas morning Santa brings the stockings, the basics you know, a tooth brush, some snacks, and maybe a fun toy or something small. But we give each other gifts that actually mean something. Things that we put thought into and bought/made specific for the person. We also open the gifts from our extended family. We focus on the birth of our Savior and on His love for us. It really helps us focus on the reason for the season. This year Daniel got me some books on Christ and a digital picture frame to display my digital scrapbook pages on! I gave him a wallet with new pics of our family (since his old one got dropped in the lake on the last boy scout canoe trip.) and I got him a fuzzy bathrobe because he has really wanted one for a while. :) The boys got some learning games, new PJ's, snow boots (which were perfect since we actually woke up to snow!). It was such a great day for us!
On New Years Eve we have a special day and that's when the toys come! We try not to go crazy but it's a really fun day so stay tuned for next week when pics of that come.
3) Someone has to be sick!!! It seems like EVERY holiday someone is sick. Knowly has taken that role for the last several holidays. Two years ago Nate was teething on Christmas and he threw up on me while we were opening presents. Last year Knowly had breathing issues and Daniel still had the flu. This year on Thanksgiving Knowly had the hardest time breathing again, so much that I was scared, but after a few breathing treatments he was fine. Just too much stimulation I think. Then today everything looked great! The kids were happy so we headed off to Daniel's parents house for Christmas with them. We opened presents and had breakfast and everything was great. I had just sat down to eat a cinnamon roll and Nate asked for a bite so I gave him one. He acted like he didn't like it so I told him he could spit it back on my plate. Then next thing I knew I was COVERED in puke! Nothing got on him or the couch where I was sitting but it sure got me all over! It even got into my shoe! Oh it was so gross! But after that he was wound up again and back to his normal self. I don't know what happened but it never even phased him. Oh well...what can you do?

Anyways, that was our Christmas. I hope yours was as wonderful as our. May we all remember the true meaning for the season and find ways to come closer to our Savior Jesus Christ all year long. Love to all! Good night.

Quick picture

I posted another post earlier so Please scroll down and read that one too.

Unfortunately this is one of the very very few pictures I have of this pregnancy. These are my two best friends ever(besides Daniel) and they just so happen to be my sister in laws AND we just so happen to live SUPER close to each other. We do EVERYTHING together it seems. I love them! They have been my life savers while living here in MO. We've called each other on occasion and said things like, "Will you come save my children!" or "I just need to talk to a big person", or "I'm sorry I'm very hormonal I just need to cry for a minute." It's the best! Amber(pink) is due in January, Crystal (gray)is due in February, and I'm due in March!! Crazy time! :)

A Moment to Brag

Can I just brag on my sweet husband for a minute? I am so impressed with him! He is finishing up the semester in nursing school and only has one more left!!!!! :) In the time he's been going to school we have gotten married, will have had 3 kids, moved 4 times, worked at least part time the whole way through, and he's been serving as Young Men's President at church for over a year. He's had a lot on his plate! But even through all of this he will graduate next semester with a GPA of 3.9 for the nursing part and a 3.8ish overall! I can't believe it! He's so amazing! Just thought I'd let everyone know how blessed I am to have him! :)

Turning my Terrible Two Year Old into Not so Terrible...

If someone has the fairy wand that turns the terrible two year old into a perfect angel I would like to borrow it PLEASE!!!

Nah, my sweet little Nate isn't that bad. He's just extremely curious. We had a round two of the baby powder episode and almost a 3rd but I caught that one just in time. (no I'm not stupid! They were all different bottles, each one is now safely in the dump. I swear they just poop out these things because we don't even USE baby powder!! I still don't know where they found 3 bottles of it!) I turn my back for just seconds and he's into something. I get a phone call, that doesn't even last very long, and that's a cue for him to do EVERYTHING he's not supposed to do.

But I found a solution!! (No it's not melaleuca....they don't make ADD medication lol) I've been experimenting with different things in the last little while, along with pleading for help from my Heavenly Father to guide me as to how to help Nate. So here's what I've done:

I made a list of several different things:

• Things to do at the table
• Things to do as a "helper"
• Things to do by himself for quiet time
• Learning activities
• Playtime Activities
  
  

I can up with quite a few things for each category like, coloring, sewing cards, file folder games, making necklaces, reading, washing dishes with mom, sweeping the floor, ect.... I've found that when he's into trouble he's bored so I give him something to do from the list and it helps him focus and he's not in trouble! It took some time but I've made a lot of reusable activities that he can do. I'll be working on a blog to post some of these things so others can benefit from them too.

Another thing I've learned is that he thrives on praise! He loves to do a good job so when he does something good I make sure to tell him and make it really special. For example the other day he grabbed the broom and swept the kitchen well, you know, "swept" the kitchen but he was really trying to do good so I surprised him with a fruit snack and he was thrilled because he wasn't expecting it at all! Something else that has helped is that if we start the day out right our day is SOOOO much better!! After breakfast I try to give him "table time" where he sits at the table and colors, or makes fruit loop necklaces, or something with his hands that's creative. I'm not exactly sure why but it helps him so much to listen and focus a little longer during the day. Then I watch for cues as to when he needs something to do. I try not to "entertain" him all day, I want him to be creative and play by himself, but he does need a little guidance as to what is good and what keeps him out of trouble.

The last thing that works AMAZINGLY well is that I turned off the TV. The days where he watches little to no movies are super successful and less whining days. Unfortunately I'm pregnant and need him to watch some movies so I can put my feet up for a little bit but we do it sparingly and for reward. TV, no matter what's on it-good or bad, creates a weird attitude from kids. I don't get it but I don't like it!

Anyways, those are the ideas that have blessed my life I hope they can help someone else too. We're still learning everyday but that's what being a parent is all about right?