One Little Monkey

 Because just sitting is too boring.

Look at that form!

Happy New Year!

We welcomed the new year in with two parties!  Both of which I did a horrible job documenting.  We spent the first part of the night with friends at church, 

and the second part of the night with neighbor friends.  Jason and Noah spent the night at home because Jason was sick (which seems like a bit of a new year's tradition, poor guy).

We loved singing and dancing and playing Qwirkle, but my neighbor had the brilliant idea of celebrating New Year's Eve live with New York City, which means we were all toasted and tucked into bed by about 11:15.  

Perfect!

And then we were on saying goodbye to the holidays and welcoming in a new year.  

I love making resolutions at the new year, even if I know full well that I won't actually keep many of them past January.  Healthy eating, exercise, more service, learning, organization, spiritual growth and deliberate relationship development, I love to try it all.  Leah had some great insight on a new year's resolution, too.  She said she noticed that some of her classmates seemed to have more energy and endurance than her and she wanted to change that.  It went along perfectly with my resolution to get out of the house and get some fresh air every day (something that is surprisingly easy to avoid when it's negative temps outside and I'm always rushing from car to school to home), so on New Year's Day we made our way around the block in just 14 minutes!  And that has become of on my (many) resolutions.  Spend 14 minutes in motion outside every day.  Sounds easy enough, right?

2015 was actually a hard year to say goodbye to.  We started the year off with a bang in Utah/Puerto Rico and kept up the traveling fun nearly all year long with trips to Chile, Kansas City, New York City, Utah, Indiana, Chicago, and Omaha.  We set goals and watched them materialize as the year went by.  We worked on our home- installed a whole bunch of landscaping, a backsplash, crown molding, and garage shelving.  We saw our families, decided we were done growing our family, and made awesome memories as a family.  We visited sweet old friends and spent time with new friends and served as a family.

It was a full and wonderful year.

I've sensed for quite some time now that 2016 just might pale in comparison.  We don't have any big (or little) trips planned.  We're not planning any huge improvements to our home (as much as we would both love to blink and have a finished basement).  We're thrilled to at the prospect of having family come to visit, and possibly to take a trip home, but not much is set in stone yet.

Our big goal this year is to save money.  Boring, I know, but we need to create for ourselves more peace of mind and freedom of choice for our future.  The huge company Jason works for just merged with another huge company, and that means a bit of uncertainty for our immediate future.  Best case scenario, nothing changes.  Possible scenario, we have to relocate.  Worst case scenario, his position is eliminated.  Any way you look at it, planning for and expecting the unexpected is a far more worthy goal than any trip or home improvement project we could plan for this year.

Even if it is quite a bit more boring, too.  But we always manage to make lots of our own fun.

So... here's to 2016!  

Whatever it may bring, I'm sure it's going to be just what the Lord has in mind for us.

Halfway There

Leah turned nine!  Jason has been torturing me by reminding me that we are halfway through our time with her (as a child) in our home.  It can't be true!  These years are flying by.

We put this sign up in her room while we *thought* she was fast asleep, but she told us the next morning that she had been faking it.  

Little sneaker! 

The first item of business was a birthday party!  Originally Leah wanted to have an animal/swimming/winter themed party, but when I assured her that I had no idea how to make that all come together, she happily agreed to a cupcake decorating party instead! 

And it was so much fun.  She invited just three friends after we talked about how different years can bring different kinds of parties.  Some years are meant for big blowout parties, some years are just for family, and some years are just for your best friends of all.  Like this year!

And they had plenty of fun! 

 Look at that perfect rose!

I loved listening to them giggling and imagining over lunch.  

It was a fun party for everyone! 

Including Adam, Emma, and Noah. 

 That night we had a family dinner, and Leah wanted to smush all of the candles close together to get one big flame, and she definitely got one!

I'm thinking she made a great big wish- 

 

 And still managed to blow it out.

 Oh how we love our sweet little tiny!  She is always so patient with her mom and dad as we try to navigate all the new avenues of parenting that she takes us down.  

She is calm, sensitive, and sweet.  She's so thoughtful- always coloring pictures or knitting small gifts, and she has always been very aware of our feelings and emotions.  She's such a kind big sister, even though little brothers and sisters can sometimes be a bit of a bother.

  She has the best laugh, is developing a fantastic sense of humor, and is always willing to try new things, whether it's violin, a yucky looking food, or roller skating!

And she's not really so tiny anymore.  At nine years old she is just ten inches shorter than me!  She has a perfect nine-year-old smile full of big and little teeth, curly black eyelashes, and hair that curls up so sweetly.  She loves to try on my shoes and borrow my earrings and loves to play make up with Emma.  She received a birthday gift from a friend that she already owns, so we did a little birthday shopping and she came home with a tiara and a bouquet of flowers for herself.  

She's a true princess at heart!  

She's learning more about what kind of friend she wants to be and wants to have, she mostly loves school, loves being home even more, and is a huge ray of sunshine in our family.  She is always willing to pray and to read scriptures, and she tells us often that we are all her best friends, and she is especially loved by her baby brother.  She said her favorite birthday ever is when she turned 8 because she chose to be baptized, and she can't wait until she's just a bit older so she can go to the temple.    

We love you Leah!  I'm really hoping that the next nine years go by a little slower than the last nine, but I do know that every day with you between now and then is going to be filled with love and adventure!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day finally came!  We didn't have any early risers, but Leah did come into our room just after midnight- minutes after Jason and I had gone to bed.  She was just too excited to sleep, she said, but then immediately fell back to sleep by my side.  Jason carried her back to her room and we were all granted a solid seven hours of sleep before the morning excitement took over.  After the traditional picture on the stairs (which the kids invited me to join in this year!), and a stop by the front door to see if the reindeer food was gone, 

the real fun started.  And boy was it fun!  

Santa Claus delivered all sorts of fun surprises, some wished for, some not.  Emma has loved the toy kitchen in her preschool, so when she saw that Santa had brought her a new one, she said, "He just knew I was hoping for a new toy kitchen in my heart."  

 Adam received the very Lego sets he wanted, and we didn't see much of him for the rest of the day.  Legos are the perfect present for him at this stage in life!

Noah was so happy with his new roller coaster, and loved wandering around and playing with everyone else's toys.  

And Leah was thrilled with her new karaoke machine, which hooked up to an old iPod full of lots of her favorite songs.  We got several performances on Christmas Day.

As the day went on we stopped to play with each gift after it was unwrapped, check out everyone else's gifts, eat breakfast, then unwrap another gift or two.  There wasn't a whole lot of ripping through the whole pile, and I love it that way.  There are so many pros and cons to spending Christmas morning without other people, and one major plus is that Christmas goes entirely at the pace of our kids.  I can't imagine even the most doting grandparent being so excited to watch the kids open and enjoy their new sleep masks (a hilarious wish list item for both Adam and Leah that everyone got in their stockings), but that's exactly what we did with just the six of us.  And with no lunch or dinner plans to get to, we were left to enjoy a completely leisurely day together at home.  

 On the con side, we did miss our families horribly.  Thoughtful presents were enjoyed and FaceTime sessions were a great way to bridge the gap, but there is no way to replace the wonderful feelings of "home for the holidays".

Still, we had a wonderful day.  The fuzzy blanket I got has become the new family favorite.  Jason decided all he really wanted for Christmas was a new paintball gun, and that's what he got.  But he bought it about two weeks before Christmas, so I made him pull it out and play with it on Christmas morning while everyone else was enjoying their gifts.

There was one tense moment when Leah opened a gift that Emma really wanted.  Leah was so sweet and offered to give the gift to Emma, which she exchanged for a gift that Emma liked but was willing to share.  They were both very sweet to each other.

The magnatiles we recieved from Grandma and Grandpa were probably the biggest hit of the day. Perfect for building castles, academies, cabins, Hexbug racetracks, and homes for Legos, everyone loved playing with them all day long.  And I mean everyone!

We had a delicious and huge dinner, played late into the night, and just loved each other all through the day.  Christmas 2015 was a great one!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a beautiful night in our home, filled with the spirit of Christmas. We had a simple dinner, and set an extra place at our table for Jesus.  We even brought over a picture of Him to remind us what all this Christmas hoopla was really about.

The kids were far more interested in the candlelit centerpiece than they were in discussing Christ, until near the end of the dinner when they all started singing this sweet song that they learned in Primary- 

Baby in a manger 'ere the break of day

Baby in a manger sleeping on the hay

Hear the angels singing, joyful at thy birth

"Gloria! Gloria!  Peace on earth".

Baby in a manger, legions gather nigh

Heaven's song re-echoes 'neath the starry sky

Hear the angels singing, joyful at thy birth

"Gloria! Gloria!  Peace on earth".

Baby in a manger, heaven hosts proclaim

This is the Messiah!  Jesus is His name."

Hear the angels singing, joyful at thy birth

"Gloria! Gloria!  Peace on earth".

And that became my most favorite moment of Christmas 2015.  Those sweet little voices singing around our candlelit dinner table, all focusing on the birth of our Savior.  

After dinner we moved on with the Christmas Eve traditions- acting out the main events of Jesus's birth as outlined in Luke 2.  

Emma was Mary, Leah was the angel, and Adam was Joseph- 

He was a very dutiful husband, dragging his heavy wife all the way to Bethlehem on her donkey.

Emma was a very tender and loving mother to baby Jesus- 

Noah the shepherd was very diligent about tending his flock of 
Potato Heads- 

But eventually made it to the manger- 

And even said hello to the newborn babe- 

Which made Emma very happy- 

Leah read us the book "I Believe in Santa Claus", which parallels the life and mission of Jesus Christ with the identifying characteristics of Santa Claus. 

And the kids exchanged the gifts they had so thoughtfully picked out for each other.  

Their gratitude and love for each other on Christmas Eve is always so sweet.  

Then there was sprinkling reindeer food on the lawn- 

  Setting up cookies and eggnog 

(or neggnog, as we seem to call it around here)- 

And then off to bed!  With visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads.