Collage Catch-up Part Deux

Thank you for the birthday wishes!  You are all wonderful!

Now, forgive my untimeliness (yes, I know it's February!), but I've got to finish the collage catch-up -- here's Christmas!

After driving all day in rain, we made it to Grandma & Grandpa's the evening of the 23rd.  It started raining ice on Christmas Eve, and by Christmas morning, we were in a winter wonderland!

We spent Christmas Eve with all the local family who stayed in town, and then had Grandma and Grandpa all to ourselves on Christmas morning - we felt so spoiled!

By the time the Jake and Jen came around we needed to get out, so we went sledding - behind Jake's CRV!!  It was so fun sliding around the parking lot!

I wanted to try for a more home-made Christmas this year - I can't figure out if I'm trendy because I make stuff or if I'm nerdy because I make stuff.  (just to clarify - I think everyone who "makes stuff" is awesome - I just want to be like you)   Anyway, above are pics of most of my Christmas gift crafts (& links if I found it on the web). 
1. super hero cape & mask for nephew (made it up)
2. Let It Snow sign for Dave (love that Cricut)
3. Black Apple Doll + accessories for Bailey (Black Apple Doll pattern here - I made her a little skirt and blazer because I'm not modern enough to leave her lower half nekked! I made up Bailey's skirt, too.  I found the flower clip here)
4. reversible apron for my mother-in-law (from this book I found at our library, probably the most complicated thing I've ever sewn on my own!)
5. another black apple doll w/ hair flower clip for another niece
6. baby Sling for Angela (from KarmaBaby)
7. buttercup bag for Heidi (from Made By Rae)
8. notebook & crayon caddy for K & J - made it up -- it's a modified crayon roll w/ a big pocket for the steno notepad.  These are for church, and I LOVE THEM.
It was really fun to be all crafty - I really do like to make things (be it nerdy or not!)

Cute little blizzard-maker!

We went to our old stomping grounds in OP, KS, to see our best friends and attend our old church.  But mother nature foiled our plans - church was cancelled because of the weather (as my sister said, "Church was canceled by an act of God!")  So we had a good snow day and just played all day.  We still got to see a handful of friends (at least most of those who were in town for the holidays!)

We CUT HER HAIR!  I finally decided her long, gorgeous, coveted hair wasn't worth the damage it was doing to our relationship every morning as we sorted out the tangled mess before school.  (whew, run on sentence!)  She wanted to look just like her best friend, Madeline. :) Thanks for your good work, Jen!

Best Friends!!  How cute are they?! 

Uncle Jake fooled Baby A into loving him by pretending from the get-go that he was daddy!  Baby A just went with it, and Jake didn't have to endure the 'warm-up' period she put everyone else through. :)

I love my kiddos!

And if you made it to the end of this mile-long post, I love you.  Consider yourself hugged. :)

Thirty

I'm feeling like a bit of navel-gazing is required today - today I am thirty (I hate that I cringe when I say that, but I just did). And in an effort to be positive about such introspection, I decided to make a list. Not things that I need to do (there are certainly more than 30 of those), and not things I'd like to change about myself (more than 30 of those, too), but 30 things for which to be grateful.

1. answered prayers (most recently the hymns in Sacrament Meeting this morning - the Sacrament hymn said, "Holy day, devoid of strife" - HA! I had to laugh - it was only 9:15am and I'd had strife enough! But then we ended with "Where Can I Turn for Peace." My own little tender mercy.)

2. a good husband who works hard for our family - and does a very good job of it.

3. safe, warm, comfortable, clean(ish) home

4. healthy children

5. beautiful things all around me

6. a camera to take pictures of said beautiful things (and being content with my camera) :)

7. The hustle and bustle of December, followed by the quiet instropection of January

8. A sweet baby who loves me (even if she'll only say Da Da and not Ma Ma)

9. twinkle lights (in January)

10. Snow Days

11. Two cars that are more (or less?) reliable!

12. rain on melancholy days - when heaven acknowledges your frustration

13. being a stay-at-home mom - hardest and best thing I've ever done

14. eating cold cereal for lunch

15. playing with my kids

16. rocking and singing to my baby before bed time

17. freshly bathed children, ready for bed

18. bedtime (for the kids, for me!)

19. a mantle and a fireplace - we probably won't ever burn a fire in there, but it sure is fun to decorate!

20. teaching myself this piece- cheaper and probably more effective than counseling :)

That just makes me smile.

21. wonderful parents who love and sacrifice and give endlessly

22. fabulous siblings (and their families) that make me laugh and love

23. great in-laws that teach and encourage

24. Knowledge - why I'm here and what I'm doing and how to do it.

25. a basement = room for my crafty stuff!

26. an uncertain future that keeps me humble and prayerful

27. the gospel and organization of the church - my built-in family, no matter how far I am from home.

28. the chance to choose (specifically: choose faith and family and friends)

29. others who love and teach and care for my children. 

30. technology in my life (from the computer to the sewing machine to the stone-age cell phone (5+ years old!))

30. a charmed life - trials, heartache, hard days, yes, but the good makes up for it

30. optimism

30. being a citizen of the United States.

30. YOU :)  I'm so thankful for friends and family that make my life so beautiful and rich and fun.  Thanks for your comments, too - I love them.  You are a blessing to me! 

(I love having my head full of blessings.  I certainly have more than 30 of them, too!)

The Annual Collage Catch-Up

Seems like November and December are never very good blogging months for me! But I do have some good pictures to document our wonderful holidays, and I just can't move on without posting [at least] my favorites. And you know I am a firm believer in the collage. :)

A brief explanatory note:

My entire wonderful family (except for one brother serving an LDS mission in CA) came to Ohio for Thanksgiving - we had 16 people altogether, and turned the living room into a banquet hall. :) Then it was the music room (lots and lots of singing around the piano - it felt SO GOOD to sing with my sisters and mother again, and we even had the boys join in a few times!), and finally it was the Christmas Hall (complete with my little 10 year old artificial tree that I said would just get us through college..... still there....). My brother in law is a chef (a crazy blogging chef I might add), and he wowed us all with his skills -- I was afraid to cook in my kitchen for a week after he left, thinking that I might desecrate it. :) I gained about 5 pounds in 3 days. (OUCH). But it was worth it. It was that good.

Since everyone was here we did Christmas on Saturday morning - it was the crazy marathon holiday weekend, and it was fantastic.

I love love love my family, and having them all here in my home was such a treat. I love the way we all squish together on the couch, the way we talk for hours, the way we sing and sing and sing. I love the way my brother played heroes with my son, my sister colored with my daughter, and my mom and dad moved around from room to room, activity to activity, supporting and loving all of us. We all have faults, but when we're together it's perfect.

The Truth about Santa

Warning -- this post contains spoilers! (Or maybe not!)

I was getting worried about J-boy's understanding of reality. He's told me several times that I am not really in charge -- Santa and Jesus are in charge. And he's pretty preoccupied about Santa and reindeer and chimneys and stockings and presents and presents and presents and presents.

Now I'm not trying to be a scrooge, and you may disagree with me, but I don't think Santa and Jesus should warrant the same amount of faith. Santa's fine and dandy and fun, but Jesus is real. So I talked to Joseph about it, and decided it was time to break the news. Joseph actually told K-lady a few years ago the truth about Santa (she asked, and he was on the spot, and I was rather annoyed with him at the time, but since then I've come to appreciate his candor and honesty). I really want Christmas to be about Christ, not Santa.

So I sat down with J-boy the other morning and told him that Christmas isn't about Santa, it's about Jesus. We get presents because it's Jesus' birthday, and he got presents, too - remember the 3 wise men?? And we can even have a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas day. And Santa was actually a sweet old man named St. Nicholas that liked to give presents, and sometimes people remember and celebrate him. But Santa Claus from the North pole is just pretend. We can pretend about Santa, but Jesus is real.

After my big long shpiel, I waited anxiously for J-boy's response - was he going to cry? Was he going to understand?

J-boy scoffed at me (did you know 4 year old's are excellent scoffers?). "No, mom, Santa is real. Santa AND Jesus are real. They are the boss. But we can talk about Jesus if you want to."

I tried. Maybe we'll try again next year. :)

Family Pictures

Meet my darling sister, Heather. She is (among other things) cute and funny and sweet and talented and long suffering in affliction to boot. I asked her to take some family pictures for us (the self-timer thing only works so well with a 16 month old and I'm too cheap and too addicted to photoshop to do it any other way...), so she did - not once, but twice! The first try we had a minor run in with wardrobe that put us behind and we missed the best lighting. So we headed out again a week later (that's what I mean by long-suffering in affliction)! Anyway, I think she got some great shots. Thank you so much, Heather (and Ryan and L!!)

It's not every day you get a good photographer who loves your kids almost as much as you do!

I love her smile. I think that is what 7-years-old should look like.

Outakes -- Don't I look like a caricature?! I didn't know my face could look that way without some seriously silly photo editing.

A bit o' random

Just 'cause I think she's so stinkin' cute (that's J-boy's discarded jacket that she insisted on wearing over top of her own)

J-boy made his own bed! I asked him about the bump towards the bottom of the bed, and he explained that he liked it that way so he could "lay on it like this (lays himself down with the bump supporting under his knees) and sleep like that"

When decorating, it's all about the details. And snacks.

The kids had some time on their hands a few weeks ago on a Sunday morning before church. They decided to try to make some cash. They were yelling and screaming at every car that drove by: "GARAGE SALE!! KID STUFF ONLY!!" They were charging $10 for every item (including the homemade paper-taped-to-a-stick-flags). But they gave Joseph a great deal - they weren't getting a lot of customers, so they clearanced everything at $1 a piece. (I still think he got suckered into that one)

Happy Holidays!

May your nose be merry and bright.

(I think I owe this to Joseph after having his bite at the front of the blog for nearly a month -- more posts coming.)