Christmas 2012

Well my camera charger no longer works so I can't charge my real camera and have only my phone camera to take pictures with.  I don't feel like the pictures are as good but at least it will take some.  I've never been a good picture taker anyway so I don't have much to show for Christmas this year.  To begin we got a tree.  I have been so excited to have a pretty tree to go in front of our big windows.  Turns out no one really see it except our neighbor and if you happen to be walking home from the church at night.  Oh well.  I still loved it.  

We also attempted potty training during December but we all know how that failed.  He was so cute in his underwear.  Does he remind you of anybody with that pose?

The kids had christmas parties and activities through out the month.  Here they are with friends over and they are all eating off the same gingerbread cookie that Heidi made.  

We also had a Christmas slumber party while watching Christmas Story.  I slept on the couch with the Christmas tree lights on all night.  I love sleeping in front of the Christmas tree.  I would do it growing up and my dad would always turn the lights off after I had gone to sleep.  

Ben's family came up for Christmas.  Christmas Eve was spent doing some tax-free shopping and searching for red hots so that Peggy could make her cinnamon apples as requested by Ben.  Then Christmas night the kids went to bed, fell asleep, and woke up at 11:30 that night ready to open gifts.  We let them know it wasn't even Christmas yet and we still hadn't gone to bed but they ended up staying awake from 11:30 to 2:00am.  They were just too excited.  It seems that you never get a good night's sleep on Christmas Eve.  After opening gifts the kids took their loot upstairs and started eating all their candy. 

Everyone enjoyed their gifts.  I got some great home decor things from Becca, my Mom and Ben.  Becca made the wreath-she is really talented-and my mom found the candle holders at a yard sale.  I love yard sales.  

I really wanted a place to put our blankets in the family room so that it would feel more cozy out there and guests would feel completely welcome to grab one and snuggle up since that room can be a little chilly with all the windows.  So I bought the wood and Ben and Mikey built me a six foot long crate!!  I love it!!  That room is really big so a six foot long crate may sound too big but it turned out to be the perfect size.  It's not a very good picture of it but it is just what I wanted.  

Daisy's favorite gift was her Princess and the Popstar assemble.  She got the dress, purse and microphone.  All Christmas day we got to hear her sing along with the microphone.  Over and over and over.  She loved it though.  

Kaylee's big gift was  CD player of her very own.  We only play music off our computer so this was new to them all.  She plugged it in and has played her new Kelly Clarkson CD ever since.  Not the whole CD though.  Just one song.  Over and over and over.  I don't know the title but it says 'I forgive you, I forgive me' and honestly it has been good for me to hear because the song it constantly stuck in my head and whenever I get ticked off at Kaylee (that happens a lot) the words remind me just to forgive her.  They are playing with their princess castle in this picture.  I love that toy.  The princesses say things and sing their songs from the movies-all except Snow White who for some reason sings a totally different and lame song.  And Heidi's big gift that she held on to all Christmas day was her password journal.  It is voice activated so that Kaylee can no longer get into her journal.  She changed the password about 15 times that day.

And in this picture you can see signs of Blake's favorite toys.  A bubble blowing Mater and there is a poster on the wall of Cars that came from his new favorite book 'Meet the Cars'.  It has the picture, name and description of almost every car from the movie.  This is very handy since he insists on calling all his cars by their correct name.  He also got a Cars jacket that he loves.  Every time we put it on he says, "This is a good jacket."  And he is so cute when he shows you the front and back.  He is pretty proud of it.  The only problem is that he has already spilled a frosty, Costco ice cream, soda and hot dog on it so we have to wash it. 

After Christmas Uncle Mikey and Grandma stayed a few extra days that were filled with shopping (they each got $20 to spend from Great-Grandma), Just Dance, jumping on Uncle Mikey and watching Barbie movies they got from Christmas.  i just have to say that Peggy is a fun grandma.  She danced with those kids for hours.  Even though I know she doesn't want this recorded for life I told her the kids will love it when they are older and can see how much fun they had with their grandma.  It's not every grandma who will dance like that for their grandkids.  Thanks, Peggy.

Last night we sat down as a family and went over our goals for the new year.  I will post more about them later but as we read the scriptures that night it was about tithing and how if you pay it you will receive more than you have room enough to hold.  I asked the kids if that had happened to us then took time to point out all that we had received.  We moved from a 1300sqft apartment into a 2300sqft house.  You would think the house would be empty and bare, however, since moving in we have received the following all for FREE:

Couch

Rolltop desk

Dresser for the entryway

Door to hang on our wall

Large kitchen set for the kids

Paint for both girl rooms

Sewing machine

Headboard for mine and Ben's bed

New car bed for Blake

and a Piano.

I can honestly say that we don't have room enough to receive it!  We are out of room in our house.  Heavenly Father does keep his promises and I have a strong testimony of paying tithing.  We have always been taken care of and when we needed things they have been provided.  Even things we didn't need but just wanted have also found a way of falling into our laps.  We are truly blessed and are so grateful for all we've been given. This is Blake with his new bed.  When I first asked him if he wanted to sleep in it he said "No, I'm going to drive it!"  I love this little boy.  We have a really good life.

Giving Up

So this picture posted.  I randomly tried it and it worked.  Maybe it will let me post pictures again which is good because I figured if I couldn't post pictures I might just give up blogging all together.  I do wonder when I will stop.  I thought the time had come but I'm sitting here all alone.  The kids are in bed.  Ben is at church getting trained for his new calling as the financial clerk and the house is quiet.  

I'm ready to quit a lot of things in life today.  This may be a bit of a depressing post-maybe not-but it is one for me to work out my thoughts.  I find if I sit and type I can figure things out.  I guess that is why we are supposed to keep journals, so we can be inspired as we reflect on our situations.  

I want to give up potty training.  I've become worse with each kid.  Daisy was awful.  It took about a year for her to actually get it down.  I attributed that to her intelligence.  She isn't as bright as Heidi and Kaylee.  I thought that was the problem.  Blake is really smart.  He is actually smarter than Daisy already.  He is passed the 2 1/2 mark so he is plenty old enough to be potty trained but he just won't.  I don't know why.  I am willing to give my kids ANYTHING if they will just pee in the toilet.  I will give them candy, ice cream, toys, I tell them they are doing great, they are a big kid, they can do this...I don't care what it takes I just want them to go in the toilet but, no.  My kids are just stubborn.  They will hold it in as long as they have to just to avoid going.  I sat in the bathroom for two hours tonight.  Blake drank a ton of juice and was finally falling asleep on my leg and still would not go. And then I lose all my patience and put a diaper on and throw him in bed because I am so mad at him I don't even want to look at him.  He has started holding his poop in for three days just so I won't try to make him go.  And when he finally poops in his diaper it is a huge mess.  Poop gets everywhere because no diaper is equipped to handle a load of that magnitude.  So I put him in bed and went to my room crying.  Sobbing even.  I don't get it and I'm ready to quit.  I'm ready to just buy diapers until he walks into kindergarten and the kids make fun of him for wearing diapers and he decides on his own that he should man up.  

I'm ready to give up in the fight against the utility bill.  I try to keep the thermostat at 70 but I'm cold all day long.  I try to man up myself and get over it but I spend all day wanting to take a hot shower and shivering.  I don't want a huge bill but I don't know how much longer I can do this.  I'm about to lose to the elements.  

I'm ready to give up on Jane Eyre.  I never understood why people like the book so much but I've decided to give it another go.  I'm intently searching for reasons why she would fall in love with Mr. Rochester.  I'm to the part where she has fallen in love and to be honest I think the only reason she did fall in love is because he is the first male she has talked to after spending 8 years in an all girl school.  There is nothing about him that is appealing.  He's ugly.  He's grouchy.  He's rude to her and demanding.  He's guardian to a little girls that he is not even that fond of and pretty much tells her to leave him along any time she tries to play with him.  What a jerk.  However he does talk to Jane and for some reason that is enough for her to fall in love with him.  I guess it is a good book to read to understand why some girls fall for losers-it's the only guy around that will give them the time of day.  I'm still going to read it but I honestly do not understand how it became a love story of the ages that is referenced and respected by so many people.  

Well, I feel better.  Blogging does help with that.  I don't know what to do about the potty training.  I guess I should just wait a few more months.  I did get my house really cleaned yesterday and that was felt great.  I also found out where Heidi has been stashing her secret letters.  I plan to read them tomorrow.  That should be fun.  I'm one of those parents who believes in reading my kids' diaries.  Have a good night everyone-or I guess I should say Mom because I don't think that many people even read this anyway.  

What?

Well I was going to put some cute pictures up today.  Each year I take a picture of the kids and I in front of the Christmas tree.  We did that today and got a super cute picture in only two takes!!  Pretty impressive.  But here is the problem.  Blogger won't let me add any photos to my blog.  It says that I've used up all my storage space.  OK.  I guess I will just delete some older posts from 2007.  That was sad to do.  But I deleted over a hundred posts so I should easily be able to post another 100 posts with pictures.  NOPE!  It still said I was over my limit.  I don't get it.  Is this some new blogger thing to make money?  I like having a blog but I'm not paying for it.  Does anyone know what to do?  I would like to post my picture and if I can't post it here the only other option is facebook which I hate doing.  So let me know if you are having a similar problem or how to solve the problem.  Thanks!