Christmas Time is HERE!

The second big event I am updating on was CHRISTMAS!!!  How can you NOT write about Christmas?  We spent both Thanksgiving and Christmas by ourselves this year.  And it was SO FUN to see Abby and Isaac BLOSSOM through this holiday!  Their eyes glowed at every thought of every aspect of the season!  Santa, reindeer, snowmen on t.v., Christmas lights, Christmas music/songs (Brianna sings Jingle Bells more clearly and often than anything else -- Isaac uses it to annoy us at the top of his lungs whenever he wants to get a point across or feels ignored), cookies and candy-making, caroling to friends and neighbors, you name it!  And we tried really hard to give them opportunities to give and to thank and to celebrate . . . and to get really excited about Christmas coming!!!!  We didn't put any presents out because they ALL would have been opened if we had.  So you would pretty much convince a rattlesnake to give you his fangs before you could convince Abby or Isaac that SANTA didn't bring them ALL of their Christmas presents.  Brianna was oh so cute as well!  Oh - boy!  That is an understatement!  How did I get the cutest kids in the world?  How indeed, indeed, indeed!  Without too much detail, here's the breakdown:

Isaac: Isaac started the season by telling Santa (and everyone who would listen) that he wanted a dinosaur for Christmas.  He proudly announced it on Santa's lap at the ward party and then repeated to everyone who asked that Santa was bringing him a T-Rex for Christmas! One morning as the girls were asleep and we were cuddled on the floor watching Toy Story 3, Isaac watched the final scene with the little girl wanting Woody.  He told me, "He doesn't share very well." I explained it was hard because he really loved Woody.  Isaac said, "Know what he should REALLY DO, Mom?  Trade her.  He should get the dinosaur back and just let her HAVE Woody!"  His expression was saying, "This boy is CRAZY!  He just gave up the DINOSAUR for that silly COWBOY?!?!!? Doesn't he know ANYTHING?!??!?!"  The problem: We bought him a Melissa and Doug Train Set for Christmas -- on a super, duper Groupon coupon sale that could NOT be returned.  So I went to Toys R Us on Christmas Eve to find him a dinosaur of some sort -- to NO avail (without going WAY over budget, anyway).  Fortunately for me, Daddy had gone to the Dollar Store and bought a T-Rex for our little boy.  Isaac saw it in his stocking as soon as he walked down the hall, yelled, "Santa got me a T-Rex!!!" and was M.I.A. for the rest of the day (week) with that thing.  Good thing we spent so much money on the train set!


Abby: Abby told Santa she was getting a horsey!  And her heart was set on it.  After a LOT of research and some help from some horse-loving friends on Facebook (and finding out that my mom got her a My Little Pony Mother/Daughters play set), we got her a 20" horse that was on sale at Target.  And the 18" doll that was on Clearance to go with it.  And she LOVED it!  Absolutely loved it!


Brianna: Oh our sweet Brianna!  Two years ago, we bought a cabbage patch doll for Abby on a SUPER Black Friday sale.  Two years later, we gave it to Brianna.  Skeptically, because Abby never really latched onto her baby doll from Dave's mom and I didn't know if Brianna would like dolls either.  WERE WE EVER WRONG IN OUR SKEPTICISM!!!  Bria LOVED that little baby -- she hugged it and kissed it and put it down and quickly picked it back up.  Then she handed it to me to give it hugs and kisses and smiled, bowing her head in approval, before eagerly taking it back from me and giving it more hugs and kisses.  And then she didn't let it out of her sight!  Until, that is, Abby opened her doll and Bria decided that Abby's doll was . . . better? prettier? simply Abby's doll? . . . who's to say?  But after Abby pitched a fit and we got the correct doll to the correct owner again, she was still happy.  She also got an 18" plush rocking horse that makes noises and sings galloping songs.  She was a VERY HAPPY almost 15-month-old girl!  


We have a Christmas Tradition in our family: Each person gets three gifts, like the gifts of the wise men.  They get an ornament that represents something about or from the year.  They get a book -- we LOVE books and any excuse to gift and read them.  And they get a toy.  In their stockings, they get an orange and something else.  This year the something else was a coloring book and crayons.


The ornaments we got them this year:
Isaac got a picture-holder train.  Up until the dinosaur, I PROMISE he was LOVING his trains!  But more than that, the train for him is all things boy and adventures.  He is ALL boy!  And he has the most imaginative and creative and adventurous mind.  I'm going to start keeping better record of where that mind takes him (them, really) this year because between the two of them . . . I just might have all the material I need for that children's book series I have always wanted to write.  So our little adventurous boy got a train ornament for Christmas.


Abby got a picture-holder wreath made out of buttons.  This was a very tender ornament for me to find.  Because Abby has truly been - many, many times - the buttons that held things together for me this year.  She is the sweetest little girl!  She will often find me upset about something and quickly smile at me and say, "But Mommy, we HAPPY!"  She loves to play with Brianna and is so soft and tender with her.  I can put them in Abby's room for hours and never worry about Brianna being played with and loved and taken care of.  She is a little mother to Isaac, giving him love even when he is in trouble and needs some tough love for a minute.  And she is fiercely loyal to and defensive of him in those moments.  When she is making bad choices, all I have to do is look at her and tell her in a soft voice that that's not a good choice, and she almost always calms right down and apologizes.  And when my ALL BOY three-year old is tearing me apart at the seams, many times Abby comes right along and buttons me back up until I can pull the threads back together.  She blesses ALL of us that way!


Brianna got a picture-holder angel.  She is truly our little angel!  I was TERRIFIED to have another baby with the twins still so young.  And when Dave got sick just after she was born, I was even more terrified.  2011 was a difficult year!  And God sent us the PERFECT spirit to experience it with us without breaking us.  She is so even-tempered, so slow to anger, so quiet, so peaceful, so cute, so cuddly, so sweet, so full of laughter and music and dancing and all things JOY!  She balances out and adds to each and every one of our lives and, for that, has truly been our little angel sent from Heaven to move our family one step closer to Him!

Four YEARS! (Only Four? Four Already?)

This may or may not be a post most will read, but there are things I have to record.  I have been SUCH a slacker!!!

First of all, Dave and I celebrated our FOURTH anniversary on December 15.  We had talked about going to Disneyland because I found tickets for $35 a day, which is UNHEARD OF!  And Christmas time at Disneyland just HAS to be incredibly magical, right?  I mean, it's DISNEYLAND!!!  But we couldn't arrange things with anyone to watch the kids for an entire day!  And so . . . . drumroll, please! . . . . he surprised me with tickets to the Palmdale Symphony Orchestra's Christmas Concert.  That might not seem like much to some.  They weren't even a LARGE orchestra, and the first half of the concert was mostly performed by a bunch of young children/beginning violinists.  But for me -- it was perfect!  I don't remember the last time I went to a concert!  And I truly took for granted having so much at my fingertips in Moscow with the Music Department, Jazz Choir and Bands, community concerts, plays, musicals, you name it!  And most just a 10-minute walk from my front door.  So this orchestra might as well have been . . . well, whatever a really well-known and much larger orchestra is. :-)  See? I don't know the difference.  And I felt spoiled!

And sappy wife moment -- you've been warned -- I remember when I would hear people say that they grew more in love as they got older.  My friend Amanda once told me that what she felt for her husband when they got married was puppy love compared to what she felt a few years later.  These last few years for us have been HARD!  H-A-R-D!  Not that marriage has been hard, but life has been hard, filled with changes, transitions, and challenges I never dreamed of, let alone planned for.  And I felt so many times like I just WISHED I would understand what those people were talking about!!! LOL - no offense, Dave! :-)  Mostly a reflection on ME, really! ;-D

But this year, it hit me so strongly that I was feeling so in love with this man I get to spend every day with.  That the "falling more in love" has happened slowly, almost imperceptibly, as I have watched him as a husband, a father, a friend, a son, a brother, a dreamer; as I have felt his selfless acts of kindness, received his words of encouragement when I most warranted criticism; as I have felt his literal and proverbial steady hand when I wanted to crumble or even disappear.  The falling more in love hasn't happened on weekly date nights -- or even monthly date nights most of the time (Bi-annual, anyone?). :-)  And it hasn't happened over dinner or flowers or chocolates or jewelry (just another way he actually shows me he loves me, because my emotions and our finances couldn't have handled all of those things). 

But it HAS happened over every single day, every single time he respects me, elevates me, tries to understand me (complicated for the best), and looks for opportunities to give me wings to fly and make me happy! It HAS happened as I have listened to him read stories to my children at night to have special moments with them and give me a breather.  It HAS happened as he has created memories and traditions and made life happen when I was busy just trying to get through it.  It HAS happened as he has helped me re-focus on eternity when temporal trials and shortcomings had me so tied in knots I couldn't see straight.

So, yes! I have fallen more in love with the man I had just brushed the surface of understanding and appreciating just four short years ago.  And I know now, more than ever, that I am married to the man of my dreams, living the life I always wanted!

Happy Anniversary, David! The best is yet to be!

Best Morning EVER!!!

This morning, Abby and Isaac tiptoed into my room, whispering because they could see I was still "asleep." They climbed up on my bed, and Isaac gave me the sweetest kiss. Then he sat back and Abby leaned forward and gave me a kiss as well. They both started giggling and then said, "Shhhhh!!!" And Isaac leaned forward and gave me another kiss. I half opened my eyes and said, "Good morning!!!" And Isaac said, "Morning, Mom! Did you sleep well?" We hugged and talked and then I asked them if they would please go and play for a while until Daddy got out of the shower because I was really, really tired this morning. They said, "Sure!" and off they ran to play.

A few minutes later, they came in, singing "Jingle Bells" at the top of their lungs. Without opening my eyes, I said, "Can you guys please sing a little bit softer?" And they complied and finished their song. Before I knew it, they had climbed up on the bed, each of them holding one side of the base to their blocks, and Isaac said, "Mommy! Look! We brought you BREAKFAST!!!" I opened my eyes, "You brought me breakfast in bed? Wow! THANK YOU!" They were VERY pleased with themselves and simultaneously said, "You're welcome!" Then Isaac said, "You have to eat it, Mommy - it's apples . . . and MARSHMALLOWS!" I smiled again as Abby said, "And . . . chicken?" Isaac answered, "No! Not chicken! It's a yummy breakfast! Just apples and marshmallows! Eat it, Mom!" Abby said, "Oh!" and I said, "Thank you!" and we hugged and laughed as I "ate" my yummy breakfast! Then they ran off to play, content as content could be.

Wow! Mornings like these really make me wonder how I ever got SOOOO incredibly lucky!

Picture This . . .

No camera for these moments, but a few memories I don't want to forget:

*Tonight at our church Christmas Party, Dave told the kids they had to have ONE BITE of all of the food on their plates: ham, potatoes, green beans, and a roll.  Only THEN could they have a cookie.  Isaac took a bite of the ham.  And a few more.  He tried a bite of the beans.  And one was enough.  Then the potatoes.  One bite was all, friends -- just one small bite.

Fast forward AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER!  The band had played, the crowd had sung, Santa had circled the gym on a skateboard with lights on it, and all the while . . . there sat Isaac, completely silent, refusing to swallow that ONE BITE of potatoes.  And Daddy determined it was a battle of the wills that Isaac was NOT going to win.

We tried everything -- "Isaac, here hold the cookie - all you have to do is swallow the potatoes and you can eat the cookie!" (He tried stuffing the cookie in beside the potatoes in his mouth -- but it didn't work very well, so he just held it!)  When Santa left the room, "Isaac - hurry and swallow your potatoes so you can talk to Santa!  You can't talk to Santa and get candy if your mouth is full!"  Nothing!  He just looked at us, taking it all in.  A young man in the ward gave him a box of nerds.  Again, he tried really hard to fit them in next to the potatoes.  But again, he sat and listened to all the prods to just SWALLOW the potatoes and quietly shook his head.  Dave said, "Well - I guess we have found a solution to the days when he is so loud we need an off button."  I said, "I think you should just take him to the bathroom and let him spit it out!"  But he wasn't "giving in." As we waited in line to see Santa, someone tried to get him to swallow by making it a competition, see who could swallow first.  Isaac just stared and did nothing.

Then, just as we got to the door, Isaac threw his head forward and spit those potatoes all over the floor!  I don't think it was intentional -- he was covered and looked pretty flustered by it all.  I think Abby started to faint because I heard someone say, "No - Abby! Don't touch!" and I turned to find her falling on her knees almost RIGHT IN the mess on the floor - which she would NEVER intentionally do because she HATES being dirty.  I handed Brianna off and went to clean Isaac up as Dave dashed to the bathroom for paper towels to clean up the mess.

In the bathroom, I said, "Isaac! Why did you spit the potatoes all over the floor - why didn't you just SWALLOW them?"  He said, "Because I wanted to talk to Santa!"  I guess he was listening after all . . . . And you have NEVER heard a more proud and excited boy than the one who ran up and climbed up on Santa's lap and told him that he wanted DINOSAURS for Christmas.  He talked about it the whole way home - that he sat on Santa's lap and talked to Santa and got candy!

And, I might add, beat Daddy in the battle of the wills!  Who learned a lesson tonight?

Two other memories I need to record:
* I walked into the kitchen to make dinner only to find Brianna . . . sitting in a pile of broken glass and salsa!  YIKES!  Fortunately we grabbed her, discovered the blood all over my arm was just from a small cut on her right hand, and got her into the bath before more damage was done.  Tender, tender mercies!  With the size and the extent of the shattered glass, it could have been much, MUCH worse!

* I was changing Brianna's diaper, and she started to just cry and scream and wiggle away from me.  Abby and Isaac came and knelt beside her, and Abby started stroking her hair and saying, "It's okay, Bria!"  Then Isaac took her hand and kissed it and Abby started to sing "I Am a Child of God" to her while I finished.  She calmed right down.  I LOVE how tender my twins are sometimes!