Our Nativity sets

We currently have three Nativity sets at our house; I suspect that number will wonderfully increase as our girls get older and bask in all of the joys of seeing our house get decorated each December for Christmas. Here are the current models:



Our first Nativity set. My Mom gave this as a Christmas gift to us the first year we were married, in 2005. Becky started crying when she opened the various boxes. It is very meaningful to us. Thanks, Mom!

Nativity Set #2.

We got this at a Catholic Church's Christmas bazaar in November for $8. Goose and her best buddy Parker had a blast playing with the little figures each day. She also takes an angel or shepherd up to bed with her sometimes.

Nativity Set #3, the newest addition arrived days before Christmas, from Becky's mom. This is kind of Goose's "own" Nativity set for now. It creatively folds up into a little package, and try as she might, she has been frustrated in her attempts to take the figures off the sand board (they're glued on) and play with them as she does the figures in set #2. Thanks, Mary Ann!

"Special dress"

This is Our Little Lolo's "special dress" outfit. She debuted it at church last Sunday. The actual dress, underneath her overcoat, looks like the coat--only, there is a triangular pleat (I think that's what it is called) in the dress, whereas the coat has a vertical rectangular pleat. Listen to me, like I know what I'm talking about in fashion?!

But I do know that Our Dear Goose looked absolutely adorable, and more grown-up! Becky called this her "special dress," and for a while on Sunday, Goose walked around saying, "seshial dress," in imitation. Oh, she looks so darn cute!

Our 2008 goals in review

Last Christmas season, we sat down as a couple and created a list of personal and family goals for 2008. I thought it'd be interesting to see, and record here, what we considered worthy to tackle, and which items we did/did not get to. Here is a sample:

Becky: read at least 15 books (done); no sweets for 6 months (done); cook at least 12 new recipes (done, and then some! I think she topped out at 30, and she is on fire).

Tim: work-related goals (ongoing); 100% home teaching (not done); no sweets for 6 months (done, and re-upped for 6 months); get weight down to 160 pounds (oh so close...I was 161 Christmas Eve, but since then, I embarked on an egg nog bender, chased with Becky's delicious scone-type rolls, and my gym has been closed due to Harvard's long break).

Family: Have another baby (done...welcome, Mouse!); dinner with our neighbors (done, and visiting with other neighbors in a few hours); redo our kitchen (not done); add a downstairs half-bath (not done). In hindsight, not getting into those two projects saved us headache and money, and would have been ulcer-inducing when added to the last few weeks of Becky's pregnancy with Mouse, wherein she was breached. We may do the downstairs bath in '09, but the kitchen is okay for now.


***
We're excited to sit down tonight for an hour and plan our goals for 2009. Some of those goals may see the light of this blog. We love thinking and praying about ways we can improve as individuals, as a couple, and as a family. I think this will be part of our Christmas season tradition for years to come.

365 days done

Way back at the beginning of 2008, Becky and I pledged to not eat sweets, fast food, soda, ice cream, etc. for 6 months. I later extended that pledge another 6 months. Meaning, the pledge ends in about 12 hours! I have to admit, it wasn't hard at all to avoid those items, once you get into it and see the rewards. Admittedly, Christmas was tough because of the heroine-like addictive substance called "Hood Golden Egg Nog" and hot chocolate. But this was an awesome investment and I'm pleased with myself for seeing it through for 365 days.

The question is, do I re-up? Do I commit for another month, another season, another 6 months? Do I not go "cold turkey" and instead take it as it comes? The jury (of one) is still out.

The Goose's latest vocabulary

Goose at 21 months is showing her smarts, her independence, and her manners. Here are some words that she has been saying lately:

"Cat," for when she wants to toss a plush baseball with us.

"Coffee," which we don't drink, and which she definitely doesn't drink, but that the staff at her 1-day a week daycare do drink (apparently a lot of). She now equates any cup to holding coffee.

"Coming," for when either she wants to follow us upstairs or elsewhere in the house, or when she wants one of us to follow her somewhere.

"Dank you"

"I do it," which we hear a lot these days!

"Nimals," for the animals at the Stone Zoo that we saw over the weekend.

"Out...crib," for when she states the obvious that she managed to crawl out of her crib, again.

"Peese," mostly she has to be reminded to say this after asking for something.

"Sorry"

"Skews me," for when she bumps into you or an object.

"Tired," which she just started saying over the weekend.

"You do," for when she doesn't want to be bothered doing something, like opening a box of raisins or a sleeve of crackers.

Christmas update

This will be quick, with more photos and more writing to do our Christmas season justice. Suffice to say, we spent Christmas in Boston this year and have had a nice, relaxing time. The Goose "gets" Christmas a little bit, while Amelia basically slept and ate her way through the holiday. Things were a little less "relaxed" in Utah, where Becky's dad had a heart attack two days before Christmas. We monitored the situation from afar with phone calls to Becky's family, and we looked into short-notice flights to Salt Lake. Thankfully, he got to a hospital quickly and is now home, doing fine and sounding like his old, strong self.

That is the best Christmas gift this year.

Climber!

People give on Christmas, right? Well, Our Dear Goose gave us a fright for Christmas this year!
Christmas morning, we're downstairs doing a video chat with Becky's mom and sister. Goose was in the middle of her morning nap. Suddenly, we heard a little voice at the top of our staircase say, "Hi!" We raced to the front hallway to see her standing on the top step, waiting for us to come help her downstairs.

She somehow climbed out of her crib and opened her bedroom door, all by herself. We had no warning. We had never seen her get even halfway up on her crib rungs. Thankfully, she was either patient enough or scared enough to not venture down the staircase by herself, and whatever way she used to scale her crib, she landed on her feet.

She pulled the same stunt on the day after Christmas as well, but she hasn't gone crib-clinging since Friday!

Christmas songs

We spin a lot of tunes at our house starting around Thanksgiving to usher in the spirit of Christmas. Becky has been ravaging our town's library, checking out oodles of CD's over the last month and playing kids', contemporary, country, R&B, and traditional versions of Christmas songs. We've had a few grand slams (a James Taylor Hallmark CD), a few that were good, and some misses (Destiny's Child, Neil Diamond).

Because Timo loves making lists, and because there's nothing else to do right now due to 24 hours of snowfall, two sleeping little girls, and Becky out running errands for our Christmas card, I bring you herewith my list of favorite Christmas songs. In no particular order, and not exhaustive:

O Come O Come Emanuel by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

It's Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home by U2. Disclaimer: Hands down the best rock 'n roll Christmas song of all time.

The Little Drummer Boy by the Harry Simeone Chorale. This was my favorite Christmas song growing up. I used to imitate the little drummer boy. Maybe that's why my parents steered me away from drums in junior high school?!

Mary's Boy Child by Harry Belafonte. One of the sweetest, most polished-sounding recordings I've ever heard.

I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In by Sting

Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth by David Bowie and Bing Crosby, in the oddest pairing of music legends that I can think of.

In the Bleak Midwinter by James Taylor (on Hallmark CD). The video linked here is not of Sweet Baby James, but it's a good version.

The Holly and the Ivy by George Winston.

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by Josh Groban. Enough to make the Grinchiest heart cry.

Christmas Time by Smashing Pumpkins. Enjoy the kitchy video, too!

Snoopy's Christmas by the Royal Guardsmen. One of Timo's dad's Christmas favorites, it has totally grown on me over the years.

The First Noel by Andy Williams.

Honorable Mentions: "Silver Bells" by The Supremes; "O Holy Night," and "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

Church Christmas party

Mouse and Nana at our church's Christmas program last weekend.

The Goose and Daddy hangin' out at their table. Her face was sticky due to a freak collision with a candy cane.

The gang's all here!

Mouse's first Christmas

Baby Mouse got into the Christmas spirit a bit at the photo shoot with Staci (see the next two posts as well).

"Ho Ho Ho!"

Christmas Card outtakes

Our friend Staci, who has taken many photos of our family, especially our girls, over the last two months, has once again outdone herself. She took a slew of photos for our family Christmas card this year (which Becky is working on right now, and which most of our loyal peeps will get via e-mail as we're behind this year!), and we were thrilled with the results. Here are some of the cream of the crop:

Church Santa

...and hating every second of her time with Kris Kringle!

Church Nativity

Last weekend, our church had its Christmas party. One part of the show is a Nativity re-enactment featuring the Nursery-age kids (18 months to 3 years). Becky is in charge of the Nursery, so she was elbow-deep in the preparations, which included getting Goose ready for her stage debut!

Thankfully, Grandpa Dave [and his camera] were on hand to capture some highlights:

She did great! Considering that she "hates" her two male Nursery teachers (their words, not ours) and has yet to go more than 2 minutes in the 2-hour Nursery without crying, she was a trooper. She took her seat, tried to play with that twisty balloon behind her, and was overall so content. And then she saw Da-da below the stage, snapping pictures. She came close to walking off the stage!

***

P.S.--Great job, again, babe!

"no-man"

Recently, Goose decorated a snowman. She really loves to see snowmen right now, either ones that light up on people's lawns or the big inflatable ones. At the same event, she also had a snowman painted onto her cheek:



At least she was better-behaved for the college student than she has been for when she's seen Santa!

Little sisters

Goose , displaying her "say cheese" smile!

And a cheesy "say cheese" smile!

All-nighter, part 2

"For my next act..."

Our Little Mouse added to her 8 hours in a row of Sunday night by sleeping 10 hours straight last night! We are thrilled! And don't worry...we'll be sure to keep this blog balanced and not so brag-prone. The next time she keeps us up for most of the night, we'll report on that here as well.

In other Mouse news, some may know that because Amelia was breached for so long, her hips were not 100% for her first few weeks. Luckily, our doctor gave her the "all-clear" report yesterday and her hips are fine now. But she does favor looking to the right a lot of the time, which can lead to a condition called torticollis. So we have to incorporate some phys. ed. into her life, like having her sleep on her left side and things like that, to strengthen that side of her neck and muscles.

All in all, Our Little Mouse is doing wonderfully. We are so thankful.

Seeing Santa

You can barely see Santa Claus and his white beard in the background of this photo. This demonstrates just how Goose feels about Santa; any closer, and she breaks out into hysterical crying fits. This is as close as she wants to get to Jolly Old St. Nick.

Goose's Christmas words

no-man=snowman

Santa

ights=Christmas lights

Ma-wee Kismas=Merry Christmas

Baby Je-su=Baby Jesus

Kismas twee=Christmas tree

Best friends

The Goose has been loving the last two weekends, where she's been hanging out with her crazy best friend, Parker, who's been in town.

All-nighter

Guess who slept 8 hours straight last night?!

Six years on

Timo was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints six years ago today. It is always fun and meaningful to reflect on that day and how pivotal that period of my life was in helping to shape, challenge, and grow me over these last six years. I still have a very good recollection of my baptismal service--who was there, some of each speaker's comments, the general feeling of peace and happiness, and feeling the Spirit there.

Thankfully, I am blessed to add that life has only gotten better since I took the plunge! A wonderful wife, two healthy and beautiful little daughters, a house, a stable job, and a host of new friends and family members.

It has also made me appreciate my (and my family's) good fortune more, and to realize that I don't do anything on my own--the Lord's hand is in my life, and that is comforting. Finally, the night of my baptism, and since, has brought me--in incremental steps, and sometimes with not nearly as much effort as I should give it--closer to my Savior.

Santa's Choo-Choo

During Thanksgiving, we hit the town common in my parents' town to see their annual Christmas display. Goose absolutely loved it, jumping from one section of the wooden train to the other sections, and darting around the signs, Santa's chair, and other decorations. Here are some of the highlights:

New hobbies

Connect Four (or, just tossing the black and red chips anywhere!)

Crawling under Amelia's vibrating chair

Playing with balloons!

21 months old

Our Dear Goose is getting closer to 2! To mark this occasion, in just the last few days, she has taken to putting more force into her "No!" statements. In fact, her "No!" at dinnertime last night was so sudden and...emphasized...that it took daddy by surprise.

The start of Christmastime!

Last year, this photo (linked and below) became our favorite of Our Dear Goose's first Christmas.

***

This year, the picture below is the image we want to remember, the scene we want to capture as the hallmark of our Christmas season.

Goose looking at a painting of the baby Jesus (Je-saw, as she calls Him) with Mary (Ma-wee), and Joseph (Jo-sup).

More

"More more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more!"

That is all Dear Goose had to say last night while out for a pre-bedtime drive around town with Daddy to look at neighbors' Christmas lights and decorations. A nano-second or two may have passed from the time I pulled away from a house, heading to a new locale, until the moment she started saying, "More!"

She sometimes mixed it up by adding, "More ights!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Goose helped make these at her daycare last week. That's where she also learned to say "Gobble gobble" and flap her arms like a real turkey! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Timo is...

• Excited for the weekend with his three girls
• Down to 164 pounds (not seen since freshman year of college!)
• Sleeping better
• Glad he found a work-out buddy in the office
• Looking forward to seeing "Quantum of Solace," not so much "Twilight"
• Not focusing on the news
• Perplexed with what to do once you're a friend with someone on Facebook?
• Counting down till Opening Day
• Wondering if life is all about laundry, diapers, and dishes
• Glad to teach his children about Jesus Christ
• Grateful for our prayers, and those of our friends and family
• Addicted to "The Office"!

Becky is...

• An attentive, loving mom to our little girls
• Excited to see "Twilight" (numerous times, no doubt!)
• Feeling great about being a mom of two kids
• Meeting more women in our neighborhood and forming friendships
• Loving her Church calling as Nursery leader
• Shocked by Steve Carell's character Michael Scott each time we watch "The Office"
• Learning to (and wanting to) cook more
• Already playing Christmas music at home (sample artists include, of all groups, Destiny's Child!)
• Excited to get back to running
• The love of Timo's life
• Outpacing Tim for most books read this year
• What keeps our family going every day!