Painting of Rose

I had to post this! When we were at the art museum during Christmas break, there was a painting that looked a lot like my lil 'Rose. Especially in the eyes. What do you think?

Can You Teach an Old Mom new tricks?

So often I just go through life, get the daily stuff done, veg in front of the TV, and then go to bed. Tuesday I went to a much needed Enrichment night filled with words about Jesus Christ and music. It was so great! It made me really reflect on what's going on with me. I'm focusing on the wrong things. The things I can't take with me after this life. I am so distracted by all of the unimportant things going on around me. I mean, I go to the gym about every day and run or go on the elliptical while watching the most silly, unimportant, and goofy stuff. I mean, Regis and Kelly are fun and nice and all, but what am I taking home from that except a numb brain?

We are reminded every day that life is short. We only have a little time in this life to raise our children, work, learn. I reflected on my priorities so I can straighten them out! I am so focused on the wrong things. About every night Dave and I have a good 3 hours to spend together, we'll talk, watch a tv show or two, and relax. Lils just started piano lessons, so I decided to learn to play piano with her! I've always wanted to learn, so here it goes! I'm listening in on her lessons and doing the songs in her workbooks! Dave helped me last night and it really started to click! I can read music now! It is so fun. I'm actually learning something for real.

I have these precious few years with my kids at home to teach them and help them gain testimonies. I just want to really take advantage of this time, though I know I'll get lazy, it was good to get a kick in the pants! I do it to my kids all the time! Every few months Dave and I will come up with some new chore chart or "be nice" scheme to get the kids excited about jobs around the house again. I know that Heavenly Father has to do the same for us! We get stuck in ruts and need to get motivated to DO things, live a real life. I am excited about learning piano and Dave also said he'll start teaching me Portuguese. might as well, right?!

We're all in different stages of life and a lot of times we REALLY do need to just not use our brains and veg out. But I've got older kids now, no babies, things are getting easier and so it's the right time for me right now to add some real stuff and get rid of the lame. Well, that's about all for now. I hope everyone is having a great new year so far!

New Year

The new year brings with it a slew of birthdays. My little boy, E turned 5. I can't believe he'll be in Kindergarten next year! He had the best 2 parties ever (well, one was fun, the other began in tragedy). He invited his 5 favorite friends (don't feel left-out if your kid wasn't invited, I could only have 5 since it was a hot tub party and he chose his friends all by himself! :) Anyways- it was truly a boy's party. We made "Ninja Zhu Zhu Pets" out of Twinkies, frosting, and candy... I was expecting them to actually take time on their hamster twinkies, but the boys were done in about 2.5 minutes! Then it was on the present opening which was a blur of wrapping paper, toys flying, and kids going "oooohhh!!!!"... that took about 3 minutes, tops. Then they were throwing off their shirts and running out to the hot tub!!!! It was the easiest party ever. I sat in the warm kitchen watching the kids while they grabbed all of the toys from the chest outside and went wild in the hot tub. They were so cute and just loved every second of it. Those kids played in the hot tub for over an hour. Then we called them in and had twinkies and ice cream.

On Saturday we celebrated with family. It began in pain, though, as E excitedly ran outside to see if anyone was here yet, he slammed the door on his middle finger and it swelled up and turned black! It was so bad! We actually ended up taking him to the ER Sunday night so they could pop a hole in his fingernail to release the fluid build up. It was hurting so bad he couldn't sleep! As soon as the hot metal thingy touched his swollen finger, there was instant relief. Gross, but true. Then we had to take him on Monday night to the Urgent Care to get the kid on an antibiotic because it looks infected now. (Your welcome! :) I also made a pretty cool Bakugan cake. I know, I know, Bakugans and battle hamsters- were do they come up with this stuff?! But hey, he loves it!

Anyways, Ebear is 5. He is huge, solid, crazy, fun, and has really turned around with his little sister. he's started to like to take care of her and is letting her get away with stuff, which has been so nice for me! Those guys are so competitive! E's favorite things now are Legos, Ninja Zhu Zhu pets, sourdough toast, listening to me read Narnia (we're reading "The Magician's Nephew"- the first book, so good!), and riding his bike. He has started reading lessons with me and is really smart, thank goodness because I only have a good 15 minutes to sit down with him and have him concentrate, then he's done. He sure is a special kid, I love him so much!

Christmas

I have a sick little boy today, so it's been a day of kids watching cartoons and me getting stuff done. I usually don't let the kids watch tv during the week, only weekends- but when they're sick they get to do whatever makes them happy and less whiny! I've been downloading all of my pictures and videos from Christmas and the new year. I always try to get my home videos onto DVD soon after I take them so we can watch them. The kids love watching "family home bideos" on Sundays.

Our Christmas was really fantastic. My Mom, Dad, and 17 yr old bro Cordell flew out from Virginia and stayed over a week. My sister, her hubby and 3 kids came out from Utah as well and we had a full house! Each day we did something fun, like ice skate, go to the Jelly Belly Factory, and we also went to our newly renovated art museum, which was fabulous! It would have been a lot more enjoyable if the kids could handle it for more than an hour. :) The girls also were drawn to and grossed out by all of the naked people and just pointed them out to everyone with an "eeewww!!!". Oh well, I remember being shocked by the nudes as a kid. It's pretty surprising. Thankfully at the end of the museum, we hit the modern sculptures and paintings and the kids loved that, they were all very colorful. Cora and I loved the old renaissance paintings and people. It was great going there with my family, I really enjoy doing that kind of stuff when we are together, I feel like I could've spent all day there. Growing up with an artist father, we always made time for the art museum and went a few times a year. When Dave and I lived in North Carolina, we saw the Monet exhibit- wow. Beautiful.

Anyway, Christmas Eve was very special. Me and my Mom and sister spent the day cooking together in the kitchen, which is one of my favorite things we did. I love that time together and missed my other sis, lorel, badly! We had our feast around 3:30 which left plenty of time for walks, vegging out and leftovers the next day. That night my parents made cute little "hobo bags" (handkerchiefs on a stick) filled with the makings for s'mores. We went out to our firepit and enjoyed the s'mores by the fire. We sang Christmas songs and told the story of Christ's birth. The we went inside and watched "The Christmas Story" ("you'll shoot your eye out!")

Christmas morning was fantastic. The kids loved their gifts and were just happy and full of joy. They enjoyed giving eachother the gifts they had picked out from the Dollar Store a few days earlier. I was happy to have many of my family there, but missed my other sibs! My favorite times were after the kids were in bed and we'd stay up and talk and laugh and play games.