Merry Christmas One and All!!!

So I was meaning to post earlier, but we have been having way too much fun.  So Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!

We have been having an eventful year. D is 10 and in the 4th grade.  He is growing up way to fast!  He loves DS games, Pokemon, Beyblades, and Lego Ninjago.  He does really well at school and is learning so much.  This year he has to do book reports.  He gets the book read at the beginning of the month but we seem to still be last minute on finishing the book report.  He has been reading the Book of Mormon on his own and he started  to not eat "treats" for a year to earn some money.  He has been two months "treat" free.

A is 7 and counting down till  she turns 8.  8 is a big birthday around here.  She will get baptized, not have to ride in a booster (maybe, if she is tall enough), and she gets to start activity days.  So she can't wait until her birthday next year.  She still loves all kinds of animals, especially stuffed :)  She loves My Little Ponies, Pet Shops, and dogs and horses in general.  She is doing really well in school and picking up on reading.  She is great at Math!  She has started playing so good with T.  It's been fun having little girls play together.

C is 4 and still such a handful.  He will be starting a little preschool in January.  I hope he will sit down long enough :)  He also loves Lego Ninjago, Beyblades, and Cars.  He is all boy and full of energy.  His favorite song all year is "Santa Clause is coming to town".  We really have been singing it all year long.  He has been so excited the last few weeks when it has been coming on the radio.

T will turn 2 in a month!  I can't believe my baby is getting so big.  She loves baby dolls, which is great because A never really did.  She got a play kitchen for Christmas and has been playing non stop with it.  She is so polite and says Thank you to everyone for everything.  I love to hear her little "Tank U"  it is so cute.  She has been going on the potty, so hopefully we can graduate from diapers forever!  Oh how exciting that will be!

B has been busy with Dental School all year.  We had a break in the summer, and he has had a week off already for the holiday. We have had such a wonderful week spending time with our kids.  It has been a long year without seeing much of Dad.  So we have been trying to play hard!  B is doing great in school and working very hard.  He gives so much to his family and is working so hard to provide for us on a long term basis.  He will start in the clinic in February, so if anyone needs to see a dentist, look him up :)

As far as me.  I keep things rolling at home.  I love my husband and kids so much!  They are the world to me.  We really have had an amazing Christmas Break!!!  We have a few more days to party and have fun together and we plan on taking advantage of it all.

  I know we have only survived this year because of a LOT of prayers and hard work.  We are so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the gifts He gives us daily.  Sometimes its just the strength to make it to bedtime,  but He always gets me there!  I am so grateful for the greatest gift of all, my Savior Jesus Christ.  Because of Him I can have my beautiful family forever!!!

We wish you the Merriest Christmas and a wonderful New Year!!!

Long Day...

It's been a long day.  Thinking back, I can't even think what I did today. So I am going to try and make a list to see if I accomplished anything.

1.   Got everyone up and ready for the day
2. Drove kids to school
3. Went grocery shopping with T and C
4. Unloaded Car in snow
5. Put Groceries away and got breakfast for T and C
6. Read scriptures
7. Started Laundry (switched all day long)
8. Cleaned Living Room
9. Cleaned Kitchen
10. Folded Laundry
11. Put Laundry away
12. Finished Kitchen
13. Made Lunch
14. (Forgot, I called the Dr. for B in the morning)
15. Got T down for a nap
16. Folded Laundry
17. Made sure D and A made it home from school
18. Actually got a little nap
19. Kids woke T up, laid down a little longer with T
20. Folded Laundry
21. Kids homework
22. Started Dinner
23. Got kids to start cleaning up messes
24. Finished Dinner
25. Cleaned up Dinner
26. Nagged Kids to finish cleaning
27. Boys in tub
28. Everyone in bed

And B went to the Dr.  he has that nasty virus that is going around.  A cough for 2 months etc.  Only he doesn't do well being sick.  He is on his death bed :)  I love the man to pieces!  I can't stand it when he is sick because suddenly he can't handle anything.  I had the same thing a few weeks ago and I still had to take on the world.  Oh well, I think it is just a man thing :)  Hopefully he will get better soon.

T doesn't want to go to sleep :)  she is in there calling, so it might be a long night too.

Book reading day

So I saw this on Facebook last week and thought it was hilarious!  Since I have 4 kids I totally related.  I am lucky to get out the door some days..  And most days, I don't! So I had to look up the book that this was from.  It is from The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan. 

I checked at our Library and they had it so I put it on hold.  And yesterday I picked it up.  I read all day and finished it right after the kids got home from school.  Overall, I think it was a very good book.  The only thing I didn't like was the language.  It used a lot of offensive language to me.  I thought about just putting the book down, but I understand there was a lot of emotion going on and not everyone has the same standards of language as I do.  Anyway, it was about fighting cancer, for some reason I'm kinda drawn to that. So it was a great true life story.

And it was a great day of just completely relaxing and not worrying about housework, and jobs.  Of course that means tomorrow will be twice as hard, but it was worth it. So B has a huge test tomorrow so he won't be home until late.  I am tempted to just have cereal for dinner, but I guess I better go make something. I didn't really think of a Christmas thing today or of an act of service, but the night is not over so maybe I can think of something.   Until later.

Family History

So I have been learning a little about Family History.  I have all of my Mother's old photos and I have been scanning them in so everyone can have a digital copy. It has been a lot of fun to see them and learn about who they are.  In the process I have made several phone calls to my Mom and ask her questions, I have learned a lot.

I was trying to find information on one family line and I have come in contact with a distant cousin.  We have talked over the phone.  He is so excited to find the information that I had, and I am excited to learn more from his extensive research he has done over so many years. Hopefully we can keep in contact and continue to discover mysteries of our family.

So that has been the exciting news in my life.  Lots of new information.  I called my Mom this morning and shared with her and she was very excited.  I am hoping this new cousin will connect the information that I had and that he has and will discover something wonderful :)

Stephen Henry Winter

A-Ha

So I know I am not the brightest light bulb out there, but this is what I learned this morning. As I was trying to read my scriptures (With Frosty the Snowman in the background to try and entertain T) I was thinking about how I have so much to teach my children about the Savior.  And the thought came to me that the best way to teach my children about the Savior is for me to be like the Savior.  And for some reason that just hit me this morning. (I know it is a duh, but it is what it is) So that is an overwhelming thought.  I have really been trying to be a better mom, and it just re-enforced in my mind how much I need to try harder, for my children's sake. So I will try a little harder, because I have such a long way to go.

So I have also been trying to spend more quality time with C and T while the bigs are at school.  This morning went well.  We read books, and watched shows together.  I love their little smiling faces!!!  Wish I had a picture to share of them.

T loves to run down the hall with her arms open to you when she sees you at the other end.  Picture those romantic movies of couples running together.  That is totally what she does.  I love it!!

C is so smart and can figure out any game on my phone or computer.  He loves when he gets to the next level and does a victory dance.

Of course, I love my bigs too!  Last night I wanted to show the kids a video clip on Facebook before bed.  B was playing with something and hit the spacebar and the video paused. Both B and I were confused as to what had happened.  D speaks up and says, " You hit the space-bar, that pauses the movie" What??? I had no clue.  Well he knew what he was talking about.

A got her homework done so fast last night.  It was great.  She likes to play and get distracted, but we got threw her spelling and reading before D finished his.  And then she got to play.

Well, I am off to try and be a supermom!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTsveDgG82Q

Headache :(

So I think I am going through drug withdrawals. Last week I had a horrible root canal and I was on prescription pain killers for most of the week, and then I have been on IBProphen every four hours also.  Today I have a killer head ache.  So I'm wondering if it is withdrawals from the pain killers?  Maybe so.  Anyway,  my head is pounding.

I had a great Sunday.  My sweetheart let me sleep in on Sunday. (I let him sleep on Saturday, its kind of a trade off we do) I survived at church.  Its kinda sad how church is almost just a survival for me with the kids.  I did love Sunday School and Relief Society being kid free and actually feeling the Spirit a little bit. After church B and I teamed up on dinner of Spaghetti.  So another little thing we do, is after we get everyone feed on Sundays, we try to sneak off to bed for a nap. The trick is to sneak off and leave the other one with the kids :)  Okay, I know that sounds mean, but we usually both end up taking a nap if we can time it with T's nap. Yesterday T actually woke up just as it was time to lay down, but she didn't sleep very long so I just brought her into our bed and we both feel asleep.  I was totally expecting B to come take a nap too, but he shut the door so it was quiet and went and played with the other three angels.  So I got to sleep in and take a nap.  That doesn't happen often at all!  So last night.....I couldn't sleep.  That was frustrating :)  I guess I could have saw that one coming.

So I am trying to do better at following all the little thoughts I have. Yesterday after church I thought that I should talk to my neighbor friend who is due any day.  I just wanted to let her know that if she needed to drop off her kids in the middle of the night she was welcome to. So this morning I got a phone call.  She had her baby last night and needed someone to watch the other two for a few hours today.  I was so glad that I talked to her yesterday so she felt like she could call me today.  We had them over and all the little ones played and had fun.  So I'm sure that was the Spirit urging me to talk to her yesterday,  if I had waited a day it would have been to late to offer the help.  I'm so glad I was able to help someone today.

As I think about the Christmas Season, I thought it would be wonderful to try and do an act of service each day of December.  Maybe I've just been more observant,  but opportunities to serve have been brought to me.  I LOVE IT!  I think it is a tender mercy from Heavenly Father, because I know as I serve I feel so much better myself.

So to think about the Savior today, go do something for someone else :)

Grumpy Gal

I sure woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.  Not entirely sure why.  Yesterday was a rough day.  I lost an uncle this week and I wasn't able to go to the funeral.  My very talented cousin took some beautiful pictures and shared them on Facebook.  I loved seeing them, but I also broke down in tears.  So much love between them!

 I want to grow old with my sweetheart, and be just as in love as these two!!!

It was also one of those days when everyone was demanding everything from me. I know my children are learning, but some days it is non-stop rude, not politeness, demanding.  That's when it gets to me.  The constant "I WANT!" and the hitting me and "YOU DID THAT!".  (It is always my fault for everything.)  So it was just one of those days.

I usually look forward to Fridays, because we get to see B on the weekends a little more.  But I have just been grouchy and need to change that.:)  We had family movie night last night and watched BRAVE for the first time.  It wasn't too bad, I didn't like the bare bums. They really didn't need to put that in.  But it was pretty good overall.  Funny thing is, all my Christmas decorations are black bears.  They have been since B and I got married 12 years ago.  So after we watched the movie T and C where pointing at all the bears everywhere.  And T had to sleep with a couple of my Christmas bears :)  I guess that is better than being scared of them.  It was just a little funny.

So for each day in December I wanted to share something that helps me think of my Savior.  I was hoping to find a video of this song, but no luck.  This is my favorite song lately, Blessings, by Mercy River (on their Higher CD).  It helps me realize that each trial we go through brings us closer to our Savior!  I know this is true.  For me I need to remember to turn to Him more often.  Love the song!  And the whole CD really!  Check them out.