sick sick sick at a wedding

It seems like with Christmas always comes sickness, at least in some form. Lucky for us this year it has come in ALL forms! Some of us had the flu, some colds, some worse colds, and some everlasting  kind of flu-bugs....and unfortunately we're not out of the woods yet. Which is why I haven't updated the blog yet on our wonderful Christmas!! 

I will soon though....promise...hopefully my pictures will work out too. It seems like every time I want to take a picture, my camera is dead...how can it always be dead? I don't know...but it happens every stinkin time, ha ha.

On another HAPPY note....my dear friend V just got married to the LOVE of her LiFe S...and they make a wonderful couple...like THE best. I was sad that we had to miss the wedding ceremony, because I was over-the-moon sick....but I made it to the family dinner (with a huge roll of toilet paper stuffed into my purse for my ever-dripping nose). It was wonderful, and she looked beautiful, although, she always does so NO surprise there. 

They had cafe rio for the family dinner (YUM!!), jones soda and a candy bar....also a photo booth with some really FUN props. It was really nice...and the speeches we're great. THE best part however was a couple little nieces and nephews, max 5 years old, probably younger...singing L O V E ....they even had a choreogrpahed dance during the instrumental section....it was the cutest thing I've seen in a long time...and i just wish I had been videotaping it!! It was to DIE for adorable...

anyways....all in all it was  a good day...and I'm hoping for an amazing evening tonight, if my nose ever decides to STOP running!! It's driving me CrAzY!!!

peace out...I'm going to attempt to rest for the afternoon with my 2 crazy kids....ha ha...ya right!!!

LIFE is good

So...we had a fantastic weekend, super busy...but wonderful. We drove to calgary to visit some family and friends, and did shop christmas shopping as well, of course. 
We went to ikea, and found THE set of bunk beds that I really want, only to find out that they pack it in this HUGE long 9 ft-ish box...that definitely would NOT fit in the van. Fortunately, I wanted it so bad, that I convinced daddy to go back the next day, and we attached it to our roof....with a 1/2 hr of twine (thats right, ha ha...daddy was twining it to the roof for a full half hour in the freezing COLD!!).
It was great to see my sister and her hubby too, they have a nice little basement suite, and we all had a great sleep there. We also played this stinkin' funny game called scribblish...it was a blast!! 
The next morning we drove to our friends house to hang out with some of daddy's old high school friends and their families...it was SO nice seeing them, we rarely get together anymore, so its really nice when we do. 
We also drove up to the new mall, north of calgary, and spent most of the time at Bass pro shops, which is AWESOME!!the kids loved it....they had stuffed animals and big rocks, waterfalls, streams....it was CrAzY!!

The funnest part was standing in lone to see santa. They had a whole north pole section, with stuffed deer, and a ton of free games for the kids to play. Like racecars, remote control cars, guns, wii games....it was great! The pictures we're free too! We had a great time. Here's a GROUP shot of us! :

I'm excited for the next time that we can go up and visit again....we'll have to try and make it more, because we haven't really been going anywhere lately. 
In January, there are some exciting things happening...I can't say all of them, BUT, we will be applying for jobs again! Daddy really needs to get a job in what he wants to be doing, so we'll start looking everywhere starting in January. We think it would work our really nicely if daddy changed jobs in the next few months, and in between jobs we could go visit Nica and grandpa down in CHILE for a few weeks...but we'll see!

I spent all day yesterday with my fabulous friend D, and my wonderful sister-in-law, K sewing the cutest little DIY crafts. Well, by sewing I mean, I did everything but sew, I cut, cut some more, and stuffed a TON! I don't sew at all, so I left that up to the pros...and we ended up with 18 of these SUPER cute owls!!
here are a few of them:

I finally uploaded some pictures of our Christmas decorations...so I'll post them soon!!

funny quote: A was cleaning his room and yelled out to me "MOM! I love you!" ha ha...more sweet than funny, he's a doll. And R's new word he loves to say is "Hosanna! Hosanna!" ha ha....
Daily Gratitudes: my children. Our financial situation, as we have been able to get the kids a lot for Christmas this year.

my little R, and other news...

R is getting SO big and SMART and just wonderful all around...not that he wasn't before, lol. We went to the doctor the other day, a pediatrician that we meet with once a month, because of some previous problems that little R has had. This time he was HUGE....he has gained almost 3 pounds this last month, to bring him to a whopping 25 lbs!!! Which is a pretty big deal around here, since most months he either loses weight, or doesn't gain any. the funny thing is, his height is still pretty low, 5th percentile....so he's just turning into a tubby little bunny. 
Lately he has been speaking in more sentences than ever before, and its stinking adorable! He was in the tub with A, and when A stole his toy he said "A truck please me!" ha ha...it was SO cute. In other firsts....he started asking to go on the potty a  few weeks ago. I decided there is no harm in trying, so I let him whenever he wants to...and today he actually peed on the potty!! LOL...it would be pretty amazing if he ended up being an easy potty-trainee...because A sure wasn't. He does love to copycat his older brother though...he walks around all day calling for "A, brother, A, brother!"...its pretty much sweet.
R has a really funny personality, pretty much 2 polar opposites....he's either smiling ad laughing, or screaming at the top of his lungs. We were at the mall the other day, and he was giggling and laughing SO loud, the WHOLE time...everyone thought he was adorable. This one lady stopped and said "Is he always like this?" and I said "Ya, when he's not screaming!" ha ha...and thats the truth. The funny thing is, he is just so agreeable. He is THE most obedient child...he does anything and everything you tell him to do, no matter if he wants to or not. If he's screaming, I always tell him "R, its not appropriate to scream, use your words please" and he immediately stops and says "okay!", no matter how much he was previously tantrum-ing, he almost always stops.
We've been SO crazy busy lately, that we haven't made it to the temple this month, or actually on a date at ALL this month, which is a bummer. Fortunately for us, one of our dear friends V is getting married to the LOVE of her life, S, and he is her PERFECT match....they make the cutest little lovey dovey ooey gooey couples ever....and they are getting married on the 30th, so we will at least be able to sneak in a wedding at the temple, that counts right? ha ha. 
As for our weekly date, we may go out for a bit tonight...but we get to go hang out in Calgary with some good friends this weekend, which should be a BLAST! Almost fun enough to make up for no date, ha ha. 
Tonight we get to say go to a farewell of one of our exchange students...we're still looking for another one this January, so if you know of anyone, let us know!
Oh, and I am SO so so excited for this sunday....ALL music...and some great songs at that....I think it'll be fantastic. If anyone feels like coming to our ward this sunday, and skipping out of theirs, let me know! ha ha, it'll be great!!

blogful

man....I realized that this whole writing-in-the-blog-once-a-day stuff is just not working out for me, LOL. So, my new goal is at least once a week, but hopefully twice, ha ha. 
So, I'm ridiculously excited for CHRISTMAS, mostly because I get to see my family...and it feels like its been WAY too long since we've been up there. Also, I LOVE giving presents to A, because he just loves them so much, and gets SO stinking excited about each one, its awesome. We got him a ton of presents this year too....probably too many...but they we got really good deals on them! ha ha. Anyways, we got stuff for R too, just not as much.
 I'm still looking for a bunk bed though because the boys love to sleep together now. I'm hoping to find one before Christmas (which is NEXT weekend! CRAZY!!). So....we'll see....Daddy decided that he needs to get in shape, these last 5 years of marriage have taken a toll on his muscles, ha ha, he never has time work out or play sports. So, he decided he wants to buy a bowflex, which is fine with me, because its our 5th year anniversary, and it seems like a pretty good present for that. I have way better chances of getting that sparkly ring I want if he gets his bowflex, ha ha. 
In other news, I'm learning more patience, finally. I feel way more relaxed and at peace, and a lot less worried. The last week or so I've really been working on it....there's really only one thing patience-wise that I'd been having a hard time not worrying about....but its getting way better now. 
Tonight we are having a Christmas party, gift exchange and stuff...which I'm excited about. Its kind of a farewell party for our one exchange student, Minji, too....because she's going back to south korea. Its been really nice having her here, and we'll be sad to see her go. 
Well....if anyone is free tonight, come on over to our Christmas party, it'll be awesome!!

Christmas and such

So...we are ALMOST done all of our christmas shopping...except that we keep buying more, un-needed things...ha ha.I really need to stay away from the malls. This year is the first year that we have actually had money to spend on christmas, we always get good stuff anyways...because we are pretty good at saving throughout the year, no matter how much we're making. 

BUT this year...we actually have a job...ha ha...well Daddy has a job, and I have my exchange students. The funny thing is, this year I feel like spending less, just because daddy has turned me into such a saving machine, lol. 

He is pretty much the best with money of anyone I've EVER met...ha ha. It used to bug me, but I'm getting SO much better at budgeting, and saving and what not...he has taught me a LOT. I really appreciate him for it. 

So...back to presents. We are THE worst "Santa's" EVER!! ha ha...daddy tried wrapping all of the presents in the same paper, but I said that was out of the question. We at least have to use the back side of the double-sided paper we got, ha ha. AND...we left a few presents udner the tree from "santa" accidentally...and I had to sneak them back into my room while A was perusing the gifts...oh my...I don't think this whole santa get-up will last too long in our family. 

Oh well...Christmas is great without santa anyways. I've been trying to find ways to make the season more about "Christ" for the kids...and I try talking about it a lot, so they grow up knowing why we really celebrate the season. 

One of the things we started doing, is having our weekly family home evening (which is basically a family night once a week where we have a lesson, sing songs, eat treats and play games together) lesson on the birth of Christ. So, every week, we read a the story, but from different points of view...like last week was the story of samuel the lamanite (in the Book of Mormon) and how he taught of Christ's birth. Every week we read a new story, and then talk about what we can do that week for service, to show Christ that we love him this christmas season. A's idea was to shovel someone's walk...which we haven't done yet, oops! Its the end of the week! Maybe I should stop blogging, and start shoveling, lol. 

I did want to share the links to these SWEET books I made for part of the boys christmas presents. I made them on picaboo, like I mentioned in my last post...anyways...I LOVE the way they turned out...so take a look at them if you want! I just hope they make it in time for Christmas!!

 Reuben's book
Ashur's book

life and other things...

What inspired me to write a blog post today was to tell you about the cutest thing that A said in his prayers tonight....so be sure to read the funny quotes at the bottom...

LIFE has been busy for us....mostly busy with up's so thats good! It feels like my whole life is just filled with music around this time. I teach the primary children (little kids at church, up to age 12) how to sing...so my life is always full of music anyways, but is seems even more so now. 

Just a few weeks ago was the primary presentation, which is always fun....full of little kids singing songs they've learned all year....well, at least practiced all year, ha ha. I was super busy dealing with that as of late..and now its December, when every Sunday seems full of music. 

I've been teaching the kids a new song they'll sing in church this sunday. I'm also involved in the church choir, and we are singing in church this sunday too. After church, that evening, we are in a choral festival, in which we are singing "Angels we have heard on high"...the Sally Deford version.. (click here)...which is the same vocals as usual, but an AWESOME 4-hands piano and 2-hands organ triplet (is that a word? not a duet, so triplet? lol, I may have made it up, but it sure sounds like a word!). I am one of the 4 hands on the piano, and let me tell you, it sounds SO amazing altogether, I'm pretty stinkin' excited to finally do it this week. 

On the 19th, so 2 Sundays from now, we are doing music for the whole hour long sacrament meeting at church. So, altogether about 8 or 10 songs...of which I'm playing 2, and singing 3 or 4 I think...so busy busy. OH, and I was asked to direct that musical, I posted about before....so I have to come up with a song/dance for a 5 minute music for 20+ women from church, to sing at a talent show in January.

The busiest part of all of this is all of the practicing, practicing piano duets, singing duets, singing choir, singing quartets...I haven't even started practicing for the musical, because there is NO extra time, at all...wwhhhhewwww....my LIFE is FULL of singing right now (oh, I almost forgot I got a call tonight to play the piano for the Christmas party this Saturday too, he he)

It may seem like I am complaining a bit, but I actually do love it. Christmas is ALL about the music...and I LOVE music...so it helps me stay in the Christmas spirit. I also enjoy that it buds my talents....the more I am involved in musical things, the more I get better at sight reading, both in playing the piano and singing parts.

In other things, I'm completely done all my decorating, and pretty much all of Christmas gift buying as well. Which is quite a feat, since how there are 18 of us in my side of the family, and 6 in Daddy's....so ya, LOTS of present buying, which we did most of online. SO much cheaper and easier, and cuter, for the most part too, ha ha.

Also, I found an awesome site called groupon....you should check it out. This last weekends offer was $35 for $100 in product to picaboo....which is awesome!! So, I decided to make some photo books as extra Christmas presents...oops, that probably should have been a surprise, so if your reading this, and you think you might be getting one...just forget about it between now and the 25th okay? ha ha

Funny Quotes: Part of A's prayer tonight..."thankyou for the prophets and for the angels way high up in the sky, that give us commandments, and please bless that santa will some REALLY really really really soon...like as fast as a rocketship!" L.O.L....and that is why I love that little boy to pieces!

Daily Gratitudes: pretty much everything right about now...this season, my tree, my decorated house (yay!), my kids....and that my patience has gotten much better with them (although still does need improvement, lol).

hold the phone!

I don't think I'm ready to stop nursing! Okay, I know most of you probably think I'm one crazed mama...but I LOVE it! I always thought I would try and nurse the kids until they were around 1 1/2 or 2...I didn't have a set date in mind. I just figured that one day I would think thet were too old. One day it was supposed to get weird nursing a walking, talking child. 

BUT it didn't, lol. Maybe it is because he is just SO stinkin cute...because seriously he is, let me tell you. Or maybe its because he loves it SO much? Or it might be because he is so little for his age...he really is, like 5th percentile, you would never guess he's almost 2, besides that he is a great talker. 

So...here I am...21 months after my precious little boy was born, and  8 non-nursing days later...and I'm dying! LOL. He is just so cute, and he misses it so much, and asks all the time...the little stinker, lol. I figured that a few days later, he'd just forget about it, but no. 

One major upside though, is that he is sleeping WAY better! Which I love....just last night he only woke up 3 (maybe 4?) times....which is a major improvement, even though that sounds crazy (just imagine how bad it was before, ha!). 

The worst part isn't that he is so cute, and I hate saying no to him....or that he just won't forget about it...or that I miss nursing...its that I am SO SORE! 

6 days after I stopped, I started getting lumps (I know, gross...) and I have had the hardest time getting rid of them...in fact they just keep getting bigger. 

So tonight, he was asking, and I thought, "Hey, what the heck...I'm sore, maybe it'll help!". At first he was super excited to be nursing again, for about a millisecond, until he just started laughing and saying "nanny, nanny" (thats what he called it). Then immediately stopped and said "all done, soo soo now"*which is silly because he doesn't even take a soother!)....bbaaaahhhh! Now I'm even more sore, maybe...well, atleast, just as sore...and it stinks. 

But, I am ever so grateful that I have had this time with him. No matter how tought this is, or it yet gets...it was SO worth it. I have always been a huge advocate of nursing, and I am even more so now. I loved nursing him, but loved more that he loved it so much. I am SO thankful that he actually nursed well, because it didn't go so well with A...and it can be so stressful to have a bad nurser. 

So, for this last 21 months...I am SO happy that I could have nursed him so well...and made it through all the long hard nights...but nursing, I bid thee adieu. 

I'm really done. He's done. And I can't wait until the night when he sleeps allllll.....night long...oh how glorious it will be...the end is in sight. 

Thanks for listening!

Musicals...

So, I have to get together a 5-minute number....it can be a skit, play, dance...anything. I've decided on doing a fun musical number, with some sort of singing and dancing....I could use some help though. 
I'll post all of my ideas...and then comment on which one you think would be funnest! Keep in mind, it will be a group of all women, of all ages...and I'm not sure how big...hopefully 20+. 
1) 5 minute musical medley, for example Mary Poppins. We would put together a song made up of a whole bunch of songs from this musical, and sing a stanza or two of each one...we could dress-up in fun costumes, and make it funny.
2) A parody on the 12 days of Christmas, making up words that have to do with new years resolutions (the activity this if for is in January)...we would dress up in sweet 70s/80s clothes and do a skit/musical.
3) The song off of Glee....singin' in the rain/under my umbrella...I love the dance they do to it. We would try and make it really similar, but we wouldn't be able to get water on the stage or anything, which looks SO sweet when they do it. Here is the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbZcYy6AAGg&feature=related 
4) Glee version of Don't stop of Believin'. I thought it would be fun to change the words on this one...I don't have any ideas...but it could be funny, but still have some really good singing in it too....I thought it would be fun if we started in the audience too. So, we'd all be at random tables, and then just start singing out of the blue...as kind of a surprise...I thought that might be fun. Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5EP99x8MM8


So....what do you think? They are all good, hey? Its tough to choose, and I'm supposed to decide this weekend. I'm pretty much the most indecisive person ever...so any tips would be appreciated! Thanks!

Patience...what I've learned about myself

So, I've learned a lot about patience, throughout my whole life, but specifically in the last little while.I've always known that I wasn't great at having patience all the time, in all things. 
I've worked really hard in the last 6 months + to become more patient in my family life, with my children and husband. Mostly my children...I had a difficult time always maintaining patience when it came to them. 
A friend of mine was talking about different parenting methods, and how the best method is to be like Christ. Try and act as he would have acted....unconditional love, patience, kindness in all things. 
I work on this a lot....I usually encompass all of these Christ-like aspects into "Charity". I LOVE that word, and everything that it means. I love to study about charity in the scriptures, and how I can become more charitable in every aspect of my life. 
I developed a pretty good plan, once I realized the things that made me more and less patient. I've never been a yeller, but I would definitely lose my patience with A more than I wanted to. 
Probably THE biggest thing that I learned about us and patience, was that my attitude had the biggest impact on the children. If I was happier and more patient they would be a lot more well-behaved. This has made a pretty big change in how I am, even if they do something crazy(which happens a lot with toddlers, ha ha), I try as har as I can to be happy about the situation, or at least kind and gracious when dealing with the aftermath. 
Another big thing I noticed was that the kids, especially A, would be MUCH more well behaved if we went out at least once a day. Leaving the house, even just to go to the park, go shopping, or go to swimming lessons, would really help how the day would go. 
I also noticed some "triggers", things that made both of the grumpier. One was how much food they had eaten, or how much sleep they had gotten. If they we're having a tantrum for seemingly no reason to me, most of the time they were either lacking food or sleep. 
Another thing that made a difference was who A would spend his time with. There are a few friends that he has, one in particular, that I've noticed has a really bad affect on him. He would always end up grumpy, balk-talking and with a bad temper, if he spent time with this child. I think I didn't do anything about this for too long because I enjoyed the mothers company, as we were friends. Once I realized that this was turning into a problem, I had to sacrifice spending as much time as I wanted with her, so that A would behave much better.
Needless to say, things have been substantially better. A is still hyper, and crazy things do happen...but we are happy. We try and do something fun every day, I watch what makes him happy/unhappy and try and regulate those things more, and the biggest change has been with me. I try and be kind and gracious in all situations, even the craziest ones...and it is much easier now. I definitely have't mastered it yet, but I will one day.
The aspect of patience that I am still sorely lacking in, is not this kind, however. 
I LOVE planning.....scheduling, writing out lists, being organized in every aspect of my life. What comes with this, is a deep hatred of the unknown, ha ha. I hate not knowing whats going to happen next, and not being able to plan for things....especially the future.
As of late, this has been difficult for me, because I want to know what we are going to be doing with our lives. Will we live here for much longer? When will we be blessed with a baby and how? I just wish that I had a crystal ball that would tell me exactly what was going to happen and when. Unfortunately that is not going to happen. 
I've realized that I just need to have more faith. More faith in the Lord, and that he has a hand in all things. He knows what I so deeply desire, and He will bless me when He knows I am ready, and when He knows will be the best time for our family. I only hope and pray, that I will have enough faith to get over my impatient nature....that I will be able to just hand my life over to Him, in every aspect, and know that everything will be okay, more than okay even.

Daily Gratitudes: For all that my children are learning. I love watching them learn and grow, A has gotten to be so cute, and asks and answers so many questions, that surprise me. At church on sunday his teacher said that he put up his hand and said " I have something really special to say. I have scriptures in my own room." How cute is he?!
Oh, and for my tree, that is finally up and decorated. Well, up with fishing line still, but oh well...it looks really nice all done up
Funny Quote: A was on speaker phone telling my sister what I wanted for Christmas and he said excitedly " I know what mama wants!! She wants twins!" lol....I sure do, ha ha...but I don't think aunty will be able to get me those, lol.