New Year Theme - 2014

Every year people set New Year's resolutions, myself included.  Last year, for the first time, I chose a theme for the year, rather than a bunch of resolutions and I loved it.  It was so much easier to keep a theme in mind, to keep me focused all year.  Last year I chose the theme of Joy.  I needed to find more joy in my journey; joy being a mom, joy in the every day things that happen, joy even when things didn't seem to be going right.  I also wanted to do more things to help my daughter, Amelia Joy, know my mother, Joy.  In January I had no idea that my Mom would pass away in 2013, but God knew I needed to create those memories for my daughter before it was too late.

And as I have reflected on my self, my behavior, who I am and who I want to be, I've known for the past few months what theme I needed for 2014.  In 2013 I turned 40, and spent the year celebrating me - doing things for me, things I needed.  And now I know that I need to focus outwardly this year, so my theme for 2014 is:

Charity

Sometimes I think of Charity as service, but it's so much more.  I am reminded of a great scripture that defines Charity:  Moroni 7: 44-46.  There are so many things in this scripture I need to work on, especially at home:  not being easily provoked (kids can drive me crazy), being kind, endureth all things (did I mention that kids can make me crazy), etc.  And I've come to realize lately that service is a lot more than what is typically thought of as a "service project". There are so many ways I can serve, even if I never leave my home.  I'm excited for this year and look forward to growing in new ways.

New Year's Eve

I saw a fun idea of taking the decorations off of the Christmas tree the night before New Year's Eve, after the kids are asleep, and re-decorating it with streamers, etc. to make it a New Year's Eve tree.  Mine didn't turn out as cute as the one I saw, but it was festive enough for my kids. . . and pretty good for a last-minute trip to the Dollar Store.

I also have been gearing up to potty-train Sophia, and hoping that maybe potty-training Sophia might rub off of on Amelia.  And I had the thought that maybe I could use the newly decorated tree as potty-training incentives for Sophia. . . and maybe even Amelia.

This is how my day has gone so far.  Sophia was willing to sit on the potty this morning, but after a few minutes she started asking for her diaper.  So I put on her diaper and she promptly pees in it.  But I let Sophia pick a balloon from the tree for at least making an effort.  So I keep pumping her full of juice and water, but she won't sit on the potty again.  Instead, her diaper leaked while she was sitting on me, so we both had to change our clothes.  Meanwhile, Amelia still doesn't want anything to do with potty-training and Sophia refuses to sit on the potty again.  

Maybe 2014 will be our lucky year for potty-training.

So, this afternoon I told the girls that they could just take the decorations off the tree to play with them.  Amelia says to me "you mean we can take them off without sitting on the potty?" and when I answer "yes", she says to me "that is terrific!" and gives me a big hug.

And when one of the party horns didn't make any noise, I told her it was probably because I didn't spend very much money on them.  So Amelia says to me, "maybe you should spend more money on them next time".   Hhm?  I think I'm okay with noise makers that don't make much noise ;)

May your new year be filled with joy, laughter, and new adventures.  Happy New Year!

Christmas and the Aftermath

Christmas was a lovely day at our house.  Sophia woke up at 7:15a, but Amelia didn't get up until 7:45a.  We were just getting ready to wake her up when she got up on her own.

The girls loved Christmas.  Amelia was so excited playing with her new stuff, that she didn't want to eat anything, and didn't end up eating until lunch time.

• Santa doesn't bring much to our house, except for small toys and treats in our stockings.  But Sophia didn't even get to her stocking until almost 5pm.
• One of my sisters and a cousin posted a birthday wish to my Mom on Facebook.  When I saw it, I cried, and then Amelia saw me crying and wanted to know why.  I told her Christmas was also Grandma Joy's birthday.  So Amelia asked how we could get presents to her since she is in Heaven.  I told her maybe we could just be nice to each other; she didn't seem to think that was a fun idea.
• Amelia woke up crying early this morning because she had a "bad" dream that we had already taken down the Christmas tree.  I'm not ready for it to come down either
• And speaking of things I'm not ready for, I'm not ready to stop listening to Christmas music. Thank goodness for Pandora.
• Every year I think about going to get Christmas items on clearance at stores, but today while I was in a store, it was so congested and chaotic in that section of the store, I just had to walk away without buying anything.  The frenzy makes you feel like you need everything, but in reality, I probably need very little of what was there.

Christmas Eve

As a family with young children, we're slowly establishing traditions.  This year we decided to make sugar cookies on Christmas Eve, rather than gingerbread houses.  (I like to eat my work after spending so much time on it.)  The girls like to help bake and today was no exception.  But of course, the favorite part is licking the beaters.

Meanwhile, one of our neighbors that we just met at Thanksgiving, brought over treats for us and small snow globes for the girls.  My girls don't like regular candy canes (they're too "spicy"), but they loved the fruit flavored ones.

And the girls loved their snow globes, but unfortunately, Amelia broke her's before she'd had it an hour.  Thank goodness Daddy was able to pull out the broken glass and make it so that Amelia could just play with the globe, sans water and snowflakes.

After a full day of making the dough, chilling it, rolling it out, cutting out the shapes, and baking the cookies, it was finally time to frost and decorate them.  (I think there is a reason I don't make sugar cookies very often - they're so labor intensive.) 

Amelia did a great job frosting them.

And Sophia loved decorating them.

All in all, a successful, once-a-year project ;)  And after a very short Christmas Eve program of sorts, the girls are nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of Santa dance in their heads.  Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a Good Night.

The stockings were hung . . .

Finally!  The stockings are all hung by the chimney with care.

I started Sophia's stocking way back in February and finally finished it today.  Phew!  Just in time for Santa.

And in other non-news, today the girls were sitting on the floor, on top of the heat vent (their favorite place to sit), and Amelia asked me if I would take a picture of them.

. . . and then she wanted one of them with their mouths open, being silly.

The other day, we had a male deer come into our yard and Ken got this picture through the sliding glass door.

Another Random Post

• I bought a food scale a few months ago and every time I use it I get excited using it.  It's not super fancy, but I love it.
• Now that Sophia has learned how to talk, she often talks like a baby . . . and it drives me crazy.  Unfortunately, Amelia likes it and calls Sophia "my baby".
• Has anyone ever had success washing pillows?  I keep trying and wonder why I even try.  I washed Amelia and Sophia's sleeping pillows today . . . and I'm hoping that the increased lumpiness of the pillows doesn't increase their wakefulness in the middle of the night.
• A few weeks ago we had the missionaries over for dinner.  One of the missionaries asked me what I do for fun.  Sadly, I couldn't think of anything.
• Amelia is often constipated and after talking to her Dr, she suggested that maybe Amelia needed to eat more fiber.  While I tried to increase her fiber, I realized that probably the bigger problem is that Amelia barely drinks any fluid during the day.  I push fluids on her all the time, but she barely drinks 1-2 cups.
• Our Relief Society is doing a service exchange, rather than a gift/ornament exchange.  I think it's a great idea, but I'm stumped about what service I can/should offer.  How can you offer something without knowing what people need?
• Amelia is excited for Christmas, but I'm pretty sure she's just as excited for her birthday, 3 months away.

Christmas Tree

The day after Thanksgiving, we did our family tradition of going to a tree farm and picking out a Christmas tree.  Before we even got to the trees, Sophia had to stop and take the tractor for a "drive". 

Part 1 - the Hunt

Part 2 - the Find

Part 3 - Bringing it in

After Ken cut down our tree, the girls "helped" him pull it back to the pay station.

While we waited for Ken to get the tree measured, paid for, shaken and wrapped, the girls and I patted goats . . .

. . . and sat in Santa's sleigh - somebody forgot to tell them to smile ;)

Sophia wanted to go talk to Santa, but wasn't brave enough to sit on his lap.  She did wish him a Merry Christmas, however.  Amelia, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with Santa and stood crying behind me while Sophia talked to him.

Yesterday Ken did the hard part of setting up the tree and putting on the lights.  And today, the girls and I decorated the tree.  When I came in to start, I found that the girls had already put some ornaments on the tree.  Sophia's is the motorcycle ;)

After it was all finished, we took pictures next to the tree.

Yesterday I helped the girls put on lights and decorations on a little fake tree in our playroom.   They were so excited and loved helping put on the ornaments.  However, that evening when I went to put away toys with the girls, I found that Sophia had pulled all the ornaments off the tree and made 2 piles  - one of the ornaments and one with the hooks and tops of the ornaments.  Oye!  So, I was a little nervous to put the breakable ornaments on our tree, but so far so good. 

And after the tree decorating was finished, the girls sang their rendition of "Frosty the Snowman", in a rather rowdy, just their style, way.