December Fun

Is it just me, or has the month of December just snuck by? The last thing I remember is Black Friday shopping and now here it is, the 19th of December and Christmas is this week! I mean, what happened!?!? Of course, I should feel like it's creeping by because I'm at that point in my pregnancy where everyone always asks "So, ready to have that baby?" or "You're still pregnant?", and such. For anyone whose ever been pregnant, you know that those questions get real old, real fast. But just so that the whole world knows, I'm going in tomorrow morning to be naturally induced. What this means is that we might have a baby tomorrow and we might not (though I'm counting on it.) So if we do, everyone will be getting birth announcements in the near future. (Of course, I guess you will be no matter what b/c he's got to come at some point, right!?!? I mean, no one's ever been pregnant forever!)

In the process of this month flying by we've had alot of fun, too. Christmas parties, tree decorating, visiting Santa and lounging around the house. (We actually do that alot right now b/c Mommy's feet swell up like apples when I walk around too much. In fact, it's not unusual to hear Margaret say "Mommy, are your feet turning into apples now?" So here are just a few pictures of our fun month so far:

Steven's smile while playing Lego Star Wars

Margaret's silly smile while dancing like Santa

Steven's big grin while decorating the tree

Margaret decorating the tree

Margaret going for the pinata at the church Christmas party

Steven's pal Charlie at the Christmas party

Margaret telling Santa that she wants a Bathtime Ariel for Christmas

Steven and Santa smiling for the camera: perfect!

Have a Merry Christmas!

A Conversation with a 3-Year Old

After eating lunch at Taco Bueno Margaret and I had this conversation in the car:

A: (sneezing and sniffling)
M: What's wrong mom?
A: I don't know. My nose started bothering me while we were at Taco Bueno and now I can't stop sneezing.
M: Yuck! You mean you have Taco Bueno in your nose!?!?

Ah, the thinking of a 3-year old. :)

Catch-Up

Obviously I haven't posted in awhile... that seems to be a trend of mine. But today's post is going to be a catch-up of the past several months so that I can stop feeling overwhelmed with all I need to post and just move forward from here. Don't worry, I won't make it too long; just lots of pictures.

I had my birthday in August and, for some reason, turning 31 has affected me alot more than turning 30 did. Now I'm actually IN my 30's... sheesh that just sounds so old! We didn't do a whole lot to celebrate, but John and the kids got me some great gifts. John got me a rotary cutter and mat to use for sewing (which I absolutely love) and the kids got me Mary Poppins and some of my favorite movie candy... perfect!

The kids and I have been homeschooling since September and having a blast. I'm working on Kindergarten stuff with Steven (reading, writing, math, science and art) and Margaret just participates right along with him. For the most part, they just do everything together, but I change things up a bit for each of them when it comes to reading and writing. Some of the sentences that Steven has been reading this week include: "Slim slugs slept on the slick sled" and "Ducks in flocks flit and flap on the flat pond." I'm actually quite proud of how well he is doing and I get so excited when I think about what's to come in his education. Homeschooling has been hard the last few weeks because I've just been so tired, but I'm trying to be persistent and do it when we can since we're taking 3 weeks off for Christmas and the baby (one of the greatest luxuries about teaching at home.)

Halloween was loads of fun this year. I made both of the kids' costumes myself, which I'm quite proud of since I had never sewn anything on such a large scale before. Steven wanted to be a pirate and Margaret was, of course, a princess; Cinderella, in particular. We went to a Halloween party at a friend's house, trunk or treating with cousins, and had our own little party with my mom on Halloween night. All in all, a very fun month for us.

Thanksgiving is always fun for us since all of our family lives close by. We alternate each year whether we eat dinner at my family's or John's and then go to the other's house for dessert. This year we had dinner with John's family and dessert with my family. My nephew Hunter showed up just as I was getting the rolls together and he insisted on "helping" me. Actually, all he really wanted to do was come and squish everything in an attempt to make the ugliest rolls on the planet and then give all of the credit to me. I eventually had to threaten him with no dinner if he didn't make the most beautiful rolls possible. I mean, come on, he's a budding artist for crying out loud! He should have taken the opportunity to show off his mad skills.

When we got to my sister's house the missionaries were getting ready to leave so they shared a spiritual message before they left. It was kind of nice to have that on such a special day, I have to admit. But once they left, the fun REALLY began. We popped in Just Dance 2 on the Wii (which none of us had ever played before) and got down. Who was the overall champion for the night, you ask? Yours truly, of course! Which is pretty pathetic considering I had a huge basketball in the way the whole time. But hey, when you've got skills you've got skills. :)

Yeah, don't laugh until you've tried it; that game was very addicting! I would dance for a song, then sit down and have a bunch of Braxton Hicks contractions, then I'd get up and do it all over again. If I had remembered that John and I were going out for Black Friday shopping then I probably would have taken it a little easier. As it was, when we got home we put the kids to bed, put our lists together and hit Wal-Mart at midnight. We stayed out shopping until 8:00 in the morning. Needless to say, it took us several days to recover and my body was killing me, but we got some super-hot deals. But I don't know if we'll be doing that again... it was rough!

As far as the pregnancy goes, everything is moving along smoothly. I'm due on Christmas day, but my midwife wants to induce on the 20th, so that's only about 2 weeks away. I'm so excited to have Joshua here soon! (Not to mention the fact that when he's here I'll be able to feel my ribs again and sleep on my stomach again!) The kids are excited as well and pray every night that Joshua will get here in time for Christmas. Steven is especially cute. I've tried to get him to feel Joshua moving several times but the little guy always stops as soon as anyone else puts their hands on my stomach. So I'll push a little to try and get Joshua to move and Steven will say "Mom, don't wake him up. He's just a baby and babies need their sleep." How thoughtful is that!?!

Well, now that I'm all caught up I hope to make my next post before the end of the month. But just in case... Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Girls Camp 2010

I had the opportunity to go to girls camp again this year, and I'm so glad that I went. It was truly an amazing experience for me. We came home last Saturday, so it's been a week, but the memories are still fresh on my mind. Because I went as a stake leader this year instead of a ward leader, my experience was very different. While I grew very close to the leaders and girls that I went with last year, this year I had the opportunity to experience that on a much greater scale. I can't begin to tell you how many new people I met (and instantly fell in love with) or how many friendships were strengthened as a result of camp. I loved getting to meet so many wonderful and amazing women (and men.) But I had so much fun with the girls too. Whoever said that serving in the Stake YW Presidency inhibits you from developing close relationships with the girls was wrong. I would see these girls at dances, activities, in the halls and at camp, and I feel like my relationships with them are "tight." I had so much fun with so many of the girls at camp... they are amazing.

Of course, as much fun as camp was for me, it was also a very bittersweet experience. Our family moved out of the Frisco stake at the end of June, so going to girls camp with them was sort of my final "hoorah." And now, doggone-it, I'm suffering from separation anxiety (or something.) I had this wonderful, fun, spiritual experience with so many great people and then I was released from my calling Saturday morning and drove home. Talk about a loooonng, hard, emotional drive home. I cried pretty much the entire way. When I drove away from camp, I felt like I had lost much more than a calling. But I can't go on about that or I'll start crying instead of typing and we all know that I'm way overdue for a blog post!

Here's a picture of our amazing Stake YW Presidency (minus the first counselor), our Stake High Councilman over YW, the Stake Presidency member over the youth and the Stake President

Our Stake YW Presidency: Me, Kristan Miller and Rachel Green

Stake High Councilman: Bro. Zollinger

(Some of the most amazing people I've ever met)

Rachel Green, President Alleman, Kristan Miller and Me

(Talk about an amazing man)

My girls... I miss you guys so much!

Three

I can't believe my little girl turns 3 today. I've always been one of those moms that stands over my kids' beds at night and cries over how big they're getting. At least, most of the time. Margaret has been quite the pill since the day she was born and, I'll be honest, she and I just didn't get along very well. But something has changed over the last six months that has allowed she and I to finally bond. And since potty training earlier this month, she has been a completely different, happier little girl.


Three things you do that I love:

1) Get your Ariel doll and sing her song (when she's giving her voice to Ursula). You do it so "well" and you do it over and over and over... I love it.

2) Randomly run up to me, grab my face, and plant a huge wet kiss on my cheek. :)

3) At dinner time, you scoot your chair as close to me as possible and rest your hand on my leg.

Three of Margaret's favorite things:

1) Princesses

2) Clothes (especially princess clothes or clothes that mommy makes)

3) Playing superheroes with Steven

Three of your favorite foods:

1) Pancakes

2) Cereal

3) PB&J sandwiches

Three of your favorite colors:

1) Yellow

2) Blue

3) Red (notice these are Snow White colors)

Three nicknames that your family has for you:

1) sweet girl

2) ragamuffin

3) silly girl

Three words that express how I feel about you:

I love you. Happy Birthday, sweet girl.