Once again, one of those rare times I will post a video here... but this one speaks volumes to the message of the Saviour's gospel. What a beautiful last message to leave as a beloved leader of the LDS faith.
(don't forget to turn of my music player on the right hand side of the blog before playing the video)
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Holiday Letter 2008
Alright, this might be kind of long... but I thought since I Didn't manage to get our family Holiday letter out this year I would post it on my blog.... Sorry for the length, posting it here kind of makes it long and narrow.
Dearest Family and Friends,
To get things started we dive in with Frog Prince. I can hardly believe that I am the mother of a five year old already and yet the boy has quickly grown from a preschooler to a full on, ‘boy.’ Since his birthday falls after the cut off for entering Kindergarten, The great FP got to attend one more year of Preschool this year. He LOVES it. His best friend in the world also falls into the same boat of late birthdays, so instead of being a year ahead of this boy in school, the two will end up in the same grade. He is steadily moving along with learning all of his pre-reading skills and has even mastered sounding out some basic words (as well as the unbelievably hard, ‘cried’). If I had to name the three great loves of Frog Prince’s life they would be, in order: frogs, Disney’s Cars, and Peter Pan. While FP is naturally a rather timid and reserved boy when it comes to adventure, at any given point during the day I can find him zoom around the house with Sheepie pretending he is Lightening McQueen (the hero of the Cars movie) or battling to the death as Peter Pan. One of Frog Prince’s great adventures of this last year was getting to ride on an airplane. He’d been once as a very very young baby, but this time it was without mommy or daddy. In March he got to fly out with his Nana to visit his cousins in Chicago for two weeks. It was quite a step in independence for him, and he and his little stuff froggie took it in stride. On December 4th FP officially left the world of preschoolerhood and turned five. He got to have all of his friends, from school and church, go out to eat with him and have a big birthday party. He now reminds us everyday about how great it is to be a ‘big five year old.’ With his birthday, he got to begin piano lessons and has shown great attention and dedication to learning how to play. He has also taken a great interest lately in competitive running and sledding in the several feet of snow we’ve received this winter.
If there was ever a child that marches to his own drum beat it would be Sheepie. I am not sure if we set ourselves up when we named our child ---and then handed him a stuffed tiger named, ‘Hobbes,’ but in all regards our sweet boy is living up to his namesake. Sheepie’s biggest accomplishment this last year was becoming fully potty trained. It’s funny to think that this only happened about a year ago, since he has done so well with it, but about this time last year we began the process and by the time the second term of preschool started (before he was even three) he was completely potty trained and ready. Over the summer Sheepie celebrated his third birthday with his, ‘first big boy party,’ (which means he finally got to invite friends to his birthday). The theme was –as it seems to be in his life in general—Finding Nemo. Sheepie LOVES Disney’s Finding Nemo, and it has been fun to watch his life; including things like daily head to toe dressing, dolls, and even the way his room is decorated revolve around this particular movie. He has also developed a strong love for WALL*E, as well (which is another Disney movie). He, too, is thriving in preschool, and I can hardly get in and out of the building without a handful of his teachers telling me how much they love Sheepie and that he is the cutest kid ever. He is steadily learning all of his pre reading skills as well and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is reading well before entering Kindergarten. Beyond his affection for Disney movies, some of Sheepie’s current favourites this year are: Hobbes (his best friend/ stuffed tiger), his blue blankie, Star wars and lightsabers, and riding the monorail ( a lingering bit from our trip to Disneyland this spring). Finally, Sheepie has recently declared that when he grows up he wants to be a Fireman.
In March, we were very excited—albeit a bit surprised—to welcome Boy into our family. Boy wasn’t due until the end of April, however he decided that he knew better than the rest of us, and arriving five weeks early, was born on March 22nd, 2008. He was a healthy 6 lbs. 6 oz. and 20 inches long, and besides mildly underdeveloped lungs and digestive systems completely healthy—not bad for being a preemie! The truly fun part of his early arrival is that he was born on his father’s 28th birthday; and since we’d already picked out the name (he has the same name as his Dad) it was an even more fitting arrival. From the time he was born to when I now write this nine months have already passed and the time seems like it’s flown. I can hardly believe that the round little butterball I see crawling around my house is the same tiny baby that was hooked up to all the monitors in the NICU. His is up and crawling and standing when holding on to things, and has already learned how to say ‘Daddy’ and ‘Hi’ and use them correctly. He also has an amazing ability to parrot people’s worlds; although he doesn’t know what he is saying and can’t use them again later, he often will repeat words that people have just said and do so extremely clearly. It’s quite amazing and I’ve never seen another baby do it. All and all he is a gem and I find myself being able to cuddle and snuggle him more than I ever imagined I would for my third child. I think that since he got off to a kind of bumpy start, he’s been making up for it by being extra cute and cuddly.
As for Hubby and me, we’ve had a few adventures this year as well. After years and years of lobbying, I finally got my wish and we bought a motorcycle—the irony was at the time I was pregnant, so I had to just sit and watch while Hubby zoomed around. With the rising gas prices and his longer commute Hubby decided that the 70 mpg the motorcycle would get sounded pretty good. Now I think he can’t imagine not having a bike (and I am pretty happy too!). Our family also took our first really big family vacation this year: Disneyland! About a month after Boy was born, we all headed down to Southern California with the kids and our quasi-Nanny/babysitter extraordinaire Kaitlyn. Along the way we stopped in Sacramento and toured the capitol and the train museum, the Hollywood district, and then stopped briefly in San Francisco to spend a bit of the afternoon with a friend of mine, riding the cable cars to the wharf and such. It was a lovely vacation and went very smoothly since we had an extra set of hands to help out and allow Hubby and me to go out in the evenings and enjoy the more grown up places like Downtown Disney. The major adventure of the year for us was Hubby’s eight weeks business trip to India toward the end of the summer. He had to go and work with a team from his company that is located in two parts of India and so I got to play the role of single parent for a few months and learn just how much I love having him around! He had a great time and was even able to have his dad come out and sight see with him for the last week of his trip. He also brought back amazing presents!!!
As we come to a close on this year, we find our family happy and healthy and glad to have one another. We hope that you are all doing well and that you might find joy in the season. May the Lord bless you all and keep you safe and happy in the coming year.
The Mighty C’s
Still Alive
Alright, I know I seem to have fallen off the face of the earth lately. We have been SOOOO extremely busy and it seems like the more I get behind posting harder it seems to get caught up. So in an attempt to not cry over the sad state of my blog I am going to post this meme that several of my friends have posted. Then I will have something new and pretty up and I will feel inspired to post something else soon (like our family holiday letter).
20 YEARS AGO (1988):
1. I was 6 years old and in Kindergarten. Mrs. Cohen was my teacher and AMAZING!
2. I lived in Orange, California and was way too spoiled for my own good.
3. My little brother Doug was born
4. I am pretty sure it was when I learnt to ride a two wheeler.
10 YEARS AGO (1998):
1. I was a Sophomore in high school.
2. I had just moved to Keizer, OR.
3. I got my drivers license.
4. I worked in a pharmacy.
5. I visited NYC for the first time.
5 YEARS AGO (2003):
1. I celebrated my first wedding anniversary.
2. My first son (Frog Prince) was born
3. I took my finals that year with a three day old baby.
4. My brother came to live with us when he was 15.
5. I was in Godspell at a local theatre.
6. I spent the summer doing some white water rafting and camping (two of the greatest things around).
7. We moved three times.
1 YEAR AGO (2007):
1. I celebrated my 5th wedding anniversary.
2. I was celebrating my middle child (Sheepie's) 2nd birthday
3. We celebrated owning our house for two whole years.
4. I learnt that we could live without TV happily
5. My dog Wriggley had to be put to sleep.
THIS YEAR (2008):
1. My third son (Boy) was born.
2. I learnt that there is power (and I look amazing) in skirts, high heels, and angel red lipstick!
3. We took our first real family holiday: Disneyland!!!!
4. Frog Prince turned 5 and sheepie turned 3.
5. My husband went to India for 2 months/ I learnt the lesson of single parenting.
6. We read the entire Book of Mormon as a Family.
NEXT YEAR:
1. Celebrate our 7th anniversary.
2. Celebrated Boy's first birthday
3. Frog Prince will start Kindergarten.
4. We will take a summer vacation (hopefully to take the kids hiking around Crater Lake).
5. I will turn 27.
6. Be on step closer to adopting a baby.
7. Read the entire Old Testament.
8. Have yet another year of awesome Halloween costumes.
20 YEARS AGO (1988):
1. I was 6 years old and in Kindergarten. Mrs. Cohen was my teacher and AMAZING!
2. I lived in Orange, California and was way too spoiled for my own good.
3. My little brother Doug was born
4. I am pretty sure it was when I learnt to ride a two wheeler.
10 YEARS AGO (1998):
1. I was a Sophomore in high school.
2. I had just moved to Keizer, OR.
3. I got my drivers license.
4. I worked in a pharmacy.
5. I visited NYC for the first time.
5 YEARS AGO (2003):
1. I celebrated my first wedding anniversary.
2. My first son (Frog Prince) was born
3. I took my finals that year with a three day old baby.
4. My brother came to live with us when he was 15.
5. I was in Godspell at a local theatre.
6. I spent the summer doing some white water rafting and camping (two of the greatest things around).
7. We moved three times.
1 YEAR AGO (2007):
1. I celebrated my 5th wedding anniversary.
2. I was celebrating my middle child (Sheepie's) 2nd birthday
3. We celebrated owning our house for two whole years.
4. I learnt that we could live without TV happily
5. My dog Wriggley had to be put to sleep.
THIS YEAR (2008):
1. My third son (Boy) was born.
2. I learnt that there is power (and I look amazing) in skirts, high heels, and angel red lipstick!
3. We took our first real family holiday: Disneyland!!!!
4. Frog Prince turned 5 and sheepie turned 3.
5. My husband went to India for 2 months/ I learnt the lesson of single parenting.
6. We read the entire Book of Mormon as a Family.
NEXT YEAR:
1. Celebrate our 7th anniversary.
2. Celebrated Boy's first birthday
3. Frog Prince will start Kindergarten.
4. We will take a summer vacation (hopefully to take the kids hiking around Crater Lake).
5. I will turn 27.
6. Be on step closer to adopting a baby.
7. Read the entire Old Testament.
8. Have yet another year of awesome Halloween costumes.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The cleaning so far
*I got the kitchen entirely cleaned (including a good hands and knees scrubbing of the floor).
*Dining room put back together and floors mopped.
*Dining room walls washed down (for some strange reason my dogs love picking the most conspicuous places in my house to rub their oily fur all over).
*Kids clothes all folded.
*Out grown clothes all folded/packed away; ready to return to storage.
*Living room put back together.
THING TO DO STILL:
*Dust entire house
*Vacuum entire house
*clean out book case/reading corner
* clean boys bedroom
*clean bathroom/scrub floor
*scrub entry way floor
* consider (okay, actually) cleaning our room... we shall see if this actually happens.
*DECORATE FOR CHRISTMAS
I also have to manage squeezing in the shuttling back and forth from school, Boys doctors appointment to check out the mysterious rash he's developed all over his boy, taking the kids to see Santa at the great historic movie theatre down town, our ward Christmas party and working on the quilt somewhere in there.
This weekend I need to find time to bake Christmas tree cookies and prep for our Nursery class Christmas party, as well as figure out what I am going to wear and how I am going to do my hair for Hubby's annual Company Christmas Ball.
All and all, a jam packed; fun filled couple of days ahead of me!!!
(( Taking a quick break from cleaning the kitchen to dance with Sheepie))
JOY
Every time I listen to Pachebel's Cannon I clearly hear these words in my mind;
"Joy must never diminish; it's light will continue to flicker and grow until it burns brightly in the hearts of all who believe."
It is so easy at this time in our world to forget to believe... Christmas aside; holidays put away; I hope all who read this will take a moment to listen for that the laughter; look for the flickering light, and most importantly feel the joy....
It is real... if we believe.
Blogging Black Hole
Gosh it seems like it's been forever since I've blogged. There has been so much that I need to blog about (Frog Prince's fifth birthday, the creche exhibit, the progress of the amazing frog quilt) but it just seems like I never get around to it. Even now it is driving me crazy to think that I don't have time to sit down and post about them.
Today's post mostly though is to try and remind myself why I like putting up Christmas decorations. Since I was busy all last week with the Stake Creche, I just let my house go.. and now it's gone; trashed, capoot! I have managed to catch up on washing all of the kids clothes, but I haven't fold them yet... and the dishes are done; but the house isn't even close to clean.... You'd likely pass out of you saw the present state of my dining room (let's just say dogs+pizza box= badness!)
But still I want to put up my Christmas stuff. It's almost half way through December and they aren't up..... so this is my little time to just aimlessly ramble for a few minutes in hopes that it inspires me enough to go push through the cleaning and get the boxes out of the garage.
I don't know if it will actually snow here this weekend (snow in Corvallis is always such a joke) but I have decided that I will never forgive myself if it's snowing and I don't have Christmas up... you could just hand me a name tag that says 'hi my name is... Grinch.'
I guess there is always the driving factor that all my in laws are coming for supper on Sunday. ( of course I will have to clean the house again between now and then, but it'd be much quicker if I wasn't wading through 'lakekidshavewaytoomanyclothes' in my family room.)
Alright... /end pointless rambling (god bless the person who created blogs)
Time to roll up my sleeves, pull up my sister in laws blog mix; as she has the best Christmas music mix, and start a sweepin' and a moppin'.... Maybe then I will feel inspired enough to update on something a bit more fun that my mindless ramble.
Toodles
Today's post mostly though is to try and remind myself why I like putting up Christmas decorations. Since I was busy all last week with the Stake Creche, I just let my house go.. and now it's gone; trashed, capoot! I have managed to catch up on washing all of the kids clothes, but I haven't fold them yet... and the dishes are done; but the house isn't even close to clean.... You'd likely pass out of you saw the present state of my dining room (let's just say dogs+pizza box= badness!)
But still I want to put up my Christmas stuff. It's almost half way through December and they aren't up..... so this is my little time to just aimlessly ramble for a few minutes in hopes that it inspires me enough to go push through the cleaning and get the boxes out of the garage.
I don't know if it will actually snow here this weekend (snow in Corvallis is always such a joke) but I have decided that I will never forgive myself if it's snowing and I don't have Christmas up... you could just hand me a name tag that says 'hi my name is... Grinch.'
I guess there is always the driving factor that all my in laws are coming for supper on Sunday. ( of course I will have to clean the house again between now and then, but it'd be much quicker if I wasn't wading through 'lakekidshavewaytoomanyclothes' in my family room.)
Alright... /end pointless rambling (god bless the person who created blogs)
Time to roll up my sleeves, pull up my sister in laws blog mix; as she has the best Christmas music mix, and start a sweepin' and a moppin'.... Maybe then I will feel inspired enough to update on something a bit more fun that my mindless ramble.
Toodles
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Locks of Love
Today, I did the craziest thing I've done in a long time.
BEFORE........
I believe the last time I really cut my hair was about 4 or so months after Sheepie was born. Today I had 12 inches cut off and I donated it to locks of love.
The woman at the salon said that I had enough hair on my head to contribute to up to four wigs. It makes me really happy to know that my hair will be able to help some children feel a bit better about their medical situations.
It's so different from what I am used to, but over all I am really happy with how it turned out and think that I will probably do it again in another three years or so.
BEFORE........
AFTER......
I believe the last time I really cut my hair was about 4 or so months after Sheepie was born. Today I had 12 inches cut off and I donated it to locks of love.
The woman at the salon said that I had enough hair on my head to contribute to up to four wigs. It makes me really happy to know that my hair will be able to help some children feel a bit better about their medical situations.
It's so different from what I am used to, but over all I am really happy with how it turned out and think that I will probably do it again in another three years or so.
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