We're Rich! Rich!

Thanksgiving Day at our house started with a chocolate turkey.

Poor guy never saw it coming.  

Then we had games

and toys

and the official measuring of the Thanksgiving chain.

 Over 6 feet tall!

We cleaned up eventually- 

and made our way to Thanksgiving dinner.

I once defined "rich" to Leah as having a lot of something, and it stuck.  She, and consequentially now all of us, often point out the things we are rich with- we're rich with cereal!  We're rich with books!  This year, we are so thankful to be rich with health, rich with food, rich with joy and rich with love.

Throughout the month, we shared our gratitude for so many things- the Lord blesses us every day.

Thanksgiving Chain

Technology d
Milk e
Sleep d
Baby t Rex a
A warm house m
The gospel l
Drawing a
Medicine d
Preschool l
Emma's laugh m
Crackers a
My kids d
The earth l
My very hard working husband m
Days of the week l
The bus d
Water a
Skype m
Our home l
Chickens a
The sun m
Corn a
My family d
Our garden l
Naps m
Church d
Food l
School d
The zoo l
Lazy days at home m
Flounder a
Saturday's d
Health m
Word world a
"r" family l
Church d
The sacrament m
Nursery a
Staying home l
Date night d
Malones gym a
Good food m
My mom l
Moonnn a
Scriptures m
Tasty food d
Water l
Grandpa a
Happy children d
Our car m
Grandmas and grandpas m
Being a detective l
Meatloaf a
My friends l
Honey crisp apples m
My sisters a
Thanksgiving d
Daddy's work l
My body d
My clothes l
Diapers a
Heat m

Sneaky Peaky

Miss Emma figured out a way to avoid tummy time.

Blessings

Today we are thankful for air travel, which conquers the miles and miles between us and our loved ones.

And, if it were up to Leah, Grandma would stay for "10 days, not just two."

And, if were up to me, we'd be using air travel to get home for the holidays!  But I'm thankful we have a car that will get us there all the same.  Leah has been asking about the road that will take us all the way to Colorado and Utah for a long, long time.  She's about to get really familiar with it!

Come Again?

Lunch today went something like this-

"I don't want tuna.  I don't like tuna! Sorry about that."  

(We all giggled for 5 minutes that Adam actually said 'sorry about that'.)

"What's that?  If I eat my tuna you'll give me a caramel chocolate chip brownie?"

Leah is shocked that someone could not like tuna.  

And even more shocked that I am offering dessert after lunch.

"Alright, I'll try it... Am I dead yet?   I didn't die?!  Okay, where's the brownie?!"

Exhausted

Watching the Saturday night dance party at the our house can get a little overwhelming.

Big Brother

Admired... 

Observed...

Appreciated... 

Adored...

Write Away!

Leah has become really interested in writing.  She will sit happily and quietly through church, in the car, or at home as long as she has a paper and pen in hand.  She tries to sound words out herself, and as our official Thanksgiving chain scribe, the links say things like, (I'm thankful for)..."Grama"and "Grapa".  Letters are often backwards, there is no spacing between words, and she spells words like trains phonetically- chrans.  It looks a bit like a foreign language, but once you know she thinks, it all makes perfect sense.

Passing notes in church- 

Dear Mom, I love you.

 You look beautiful

 The alphabet, including "now I know my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me."

 "I drew a scary face to scare my hiccups away!"

Scary

" Nephi and his family on the boat."

Admit It

My old arch nemesis Baby Brain is back.  It's settled into my head, clouded things up, and doesn't appear to be vacating any time soon.  I want to start all of the sentences I speak and emails I send with, "Do you know how tired I am?"  I look at pictures of myself and see that I look just as tired as I feel.  And it's not the kind of tired that goes away with one good night's sleep or a nice long nap, although I would be happy to have one of those once in a while.  It's the I-want-to-weep-but-I-don't-have-the-energy-to-bone-tired-that-doesn't-go-away-until-your-babies-aren't-babies-anymore kind of tired.

Day and night, I am constantly listening for the sounds of my baby- the snuffling, the crying, the breathing- it all drowns out the words than anyone else might be saying, which leaves people staring at me expectantly, waiting for an answer, but I have no clue what the question was.

I start sentences and can't remember if I've finished them or not.

I start thoughts and only speak the second half of them out loud.

I cannot make decisions on my own.  We have been dealing with thrush, and I actually called my doctor to ask them if it was okay if I didn't come in to their office right away.  Not that they even asked me to in the first place.  I just couldn't figure out what to do on my own.

I have to write out to-do lists for every little task ahead of me, for fear that I will forget everything that needs to be done.  Really?  "Go Christmas shopping" needs to be on  a list?  Apparently for me, yes.

I had a grassroots policy petitioner hippie man knock on my door a few weeks back.  Emma was crying in my arms, Adam was wrapped around my leg, and Leah kept asking, "Who is that?" while he gave my his pitch.  He looked at me expectantly (I think it must have been my turn to speak), I blinked twice, and all I could say was, "I'm sorry, but I can't hear what you're saying.  Could you come back later?" and shut the door.  I probably shouldn't have opened it in the first place.

I have to get my drivers license renewed this week.  I sincerely hope that they don't ask me any questions more difficult than "red means stop and green means go" (something Adam reminds me of at every light), because I'm not sure I'll be able to answer correctly. 

Ugh.  Baby Brain.  I recognize your grip on me, but I promise (I hope!) it won't last forever.

Videos of the Week

Leah and Adam love, love, love watching videos on the blog.  And while they may seem simple or trivial today, 6 months (or years!) down  the road, we will all marvel at how much has changed.

The kind of things Leah is learning in preschool- so sweet!

Of course, Adam wanted a turn, too.  He is saying what he is thankful for, which we do every night as we add links to our Thanksgiving chain.  At least 3 of his links say "Word World"- a show I think he's seen all of twice.  Never mind the bare chest- we were mid-clothing change.

And we couldn't leave out Emma, who is mauled by her loving older siblings several times a day.  Adam is interpreting- "Emma say goo-goo gaa-gaa in da picture".

I heard Adam scold Leah the other day- "Be soft with her!"  That is a constant reminder around here as the kids get more confident with Emma.

Date night with Dad!  Leah's turn was last week, this week Adam and Jason headed to the toy store.  Not sure which one of them came home with the longer Christmas wish list.

 

Adam loves to pretend that he's a robot- using boxes, bins, and bags as his costume.

 

 Not a boy of many words...

 

Raking leaves!

And squishing them down-

And... I think that's it!

Sleeping Like A Baby

 After nursing, rocking, and cuddling with my sweet baby girl for nearly an hour, I finally had to set her down.

Thank goodness she's not rolling yet!

Teeter Totter

I learned a few years back that our teeter toter is pretty darn sturdy.

 And good thing, too, because a happy boy face like that is totally worth the risk.

Teeter totter, bread and water

Wash your clothes in dirty water.

Rinse them off with applesauce 

and send them to the dryer.

The Dynamic Duo That Wasn't

Despite my begging, pleading, and possibly even bribing, Leah was "not going to dress like a BOY" for Halloween.

Oh well.  I tried.

Jekyll and Hyde

We've got a two-year-old on our hands here.  Adam is the sweetest, most easy-going little fellow I've ever met.  He puts up with constant bossing around by his older sister and frequent requests to "wait just a minute" while I take care of his younger sister.  He takes it all in stride and doesn't put up much of a fuss, until... he does put up a fuss.  A HUGE fuss.  A fuss to be reckoned with.  The blow-ups are usually centered around time-sensitive activities- getting carseat buckles on, putting shoes on, getting ready for bed- and always have to do with the desire to "do it myself."

The other day Adam had threaded himself through the backside of a little chair.  He was stuck and crying, so I helped him out.  Oh, the injustice!  What was I thinking?!  He screamed in his tiny two year old way at me and then got himself re-stuck in the chair just so he could get himself out again.

The worst blow-up I've dealt with so far happened as he was trying to help me carry heavy sacks of food into the back of our car.  He couldn't lift them himself, but didn't want my help, so we were stuck in the middle of a parking lot.  A stalemate.  He was kicking and screaming and crying.  I felt like kicking and screaming and crying.  Somehow we got home in one piece and the day got better after a good long nap.

I don't know that I necessarily want to remember these dark pockets of life with a two-year-old, but I do know that 10 years ago I wouldn't have had the patience or the love or even the know-how to put up with such a horrendous display.  But as I've mentioned here before, motherhood is forcing me to become the kind of person that I want to be.  The person that looks past the streaming tears and the sobbing and sees a frustrated little boy that just can't accept the limitations of his sweet little body.  And I love him.  And I put my arms around him when I can and I tell him it's okay.  And that we can work through the seemingly overwhelming task of putting a shirt on together, no matter how long it might take.  And I am truly happy to do it, because I love him.  And a little voice in the back of my mind just shrugs and says, "Oh that's right.  He's two.  But he won't be two forever."

I love the moment when suddenly (or finally), the tantrum is over and he's my happy boy again.  He asks for clarification, then cheers about everything.  "Morningtime is here?  Yay!  Morningtime is here!" or "I get a piece of candy?  Yay!  I get a piece of candy!" or "My sun came up again?  Yay!  My sun came up again!" 

Adam is truly, truly a delight.  The two-year-old business is temporary, and we can deal with it.  It's a small price to pay for the privileged of having him in our family.

Conference Highlights

General Conference might have been a month ago, but the sweetness of listening to our inspired leaders and feeling the spirit in our home as we spent the weekend together has stuck. 

Of course, conference isn't nearly as fun as going to Primary for the kids, but we still had a great time eating snacks, pitching our tent toward the temple, and doing activities to keep us entertained through each meeting.  It amazes me how quickly the two hours fly by as an adult- as a kid I felt a bit more like Adam in the top picture. 

I think the kids favorite part of the weekend was playing their new favorite game- "How Many Grapes Can We Feed Daddy Before He Throws Up?"

This talk really resonated with me- I felt like President Uchtdorf was speaking directly to me with every one of his points-

 Please never forget that you must be patient and compassionate with yourselves, 

that some sacrifices are better than others, 

that you need not wait for a golden ticket to be happy. 

Please never forget that the “why” of the gospel of Jesus Christ will inspire and uplift you. 

And never forget that your Heavenly Father knows, loves, and cherishes you.

 

These reminders have popped into my head many times since, and I am thankful to know that Heavenly Father is so mindful of each of us, no matter how big or small our troubles may be.

Third Time Is A Charm

It's hard to believe we have lived here long enough to call anything a tradition, but we recently had our third annual attempt at a fun family trip to the pumpkin patch.

Take one-Leah played, Adam slept.  Freezing cold weather.  Partial success.

Take two-Sick Leah slept in the car, Adam played.  Partial success.

Take three- We finally got it right.  Everyone was happy, healthy and warm.  The ponies were the real highlight of the day, followed by jumping on the hay bales and feeding the eager bunnies as many corn kernels as we could find.

 

 

And, of course, Emma Grace was there, too.

As was Jason.-taking lots of pictures and videos.

We started a new incentive chart with the kids last month.  They can earn a fun family activity (that we would most likely be doing anyway but use as a way to encourage everyone to get through the bedtime routine a little quicker) after they fill up a sticker chart.  Last month's activity was a trip to the movie theater, this month was the pumpkin patch.  Leah is motivated by the activities, Adam is motivated by the stickers and the little check marks they like to make on each circle.  Either way, it is fun to help the kids work toward a goal and then celebrate their successes together as a family.