6 days till Christmas

I thought I was so prepared this year. My shopping was done early, the house was decorated in plenty of time, but I am feeling such a holiday time crunch. I feel so incredibly busy, but I know that there are people out there so much more busy than me, how do they do it?

Let's see, today I worked on a Christmas present I'm making (okay, so there's one thing that I put off till late), I got ready for a presidency meeting, went to the presidency meeting, picked Tyler up from school, took him straight to WalMart to buy a birthday present, took him to the birthday party, worked on my homemade present again, picked him up, came home, wrapped a sheet of stickers 30 times for hot potato at the preschool party on Friday, gathered materials for the party, (yes, I'm the room mom, another thing that definitely crept up on me this time of year), made dinner, cleaned it up, read with Tyler, watched Frosty the Snowman on TV with Tyler, put him to bed, worked again on my present, and now I'm doing this. Okay, that so did not help; I just feel more busy now after rereading that.

I think the biggest problem is that I forgot to take into account all the little things that are inevitable this time of year. Example: Last Friday Dan decides that he DOES need to go to his work party, and on Saturday, an hour before it's time to leave, he decides that I too DO need to come. Did I mention it was black tie? Here we are:
Luckily, I had a dress from about 6 years ago, when Dan had some other work function that was black tie, and luckily it still fit!

My goal was to not let the stress get to me, and I think that is still possible. I still have 6 days till Christmas, and not too much to do. At least I think. We'll see what creeps up.

Pirates

We had Tyler's friend party last Saturday. I thought that having it earlier in the month would make it a little easier to get people there. We invited 4 little boys, and three came--pretty good. Here they are:
I think they all had fun. Tyler for sure did, and loved getting presents. We made a spyglass, played pirate games, had pizza for lunch, did the pinata, and had cupcakes for our treat.

And totally unrelated, but look at what I found in my yard this morning. We have three trees in our front yard, and around two of them were three of the weirdest looking things I have ever seen. Have you ever seen this? Do you know what this is?

Gift giving

One definition of a good gift giver is someone who is thoughtful; one who thinks of the receiver and chooses something with that person in mind. If that is true, then Tyler is an exceptional gift giver. For example, last Mother's Day, Dan asked Tyler what he wanted to get me. "Lightbulbs" was his answer. Now, you might be thinking that is a lame gift, but just that day I had mentioned that I needed new light bulbs.

Well yesterday, I was asking Tyler what he wanted to get his Dad for Christmas. "Well, since Dad likes taking baths, how about a rubber duckie?" See? So thoughtful and chosen carefully with the receiver in mind. And yes, we did find a rubber duckie that is just waiting to be wrapped and placed under the tree.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Wow, what a crazy holiday season we have had already. Our Thanksgiving was wonderful! We had 21 people eating dinner at our house, and the food was absolutely delicious. I love the food on Thanksgiving--turkey, potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, veggies, all of it. I sometimes think it would be awesome to have Thanksgiving dinner more often, but then of course it wouldn't be as special. Of those 21 people eating dinner with us, 15 of us slept here at our house. We were pretty crowded, but it was fun. Tyler loves playing with his cousins, and we love visiting with Dan's family; we always stay up too late playing games and visiting, and we did again.

Sunday morning, Tyler had a pretty nasty cold (which we even eventually went to the Dr. for, but yes just a bad cold, no infection) so he stayed home from church. When I came home, our company had just left, so Dan had pulled out all the Christmas stuff from the attic. We were both so excited to decorate this year. I think it might be because Tyler is really getting into it with us. Well finally yesterday, I put the last of the things away and got my house clean from all our company. I love it. The only thing left is the outside lights. We are finally going to do them. I have never had lights on my house at Christmas, not as a child, not with Dan. And I want them. I started this afternoon, but only got as far as what I could do with the ladder; I didn't want to climb out onto the roof without Dan here, and he is working today. He promised me we will get them up next week.


So, here are my pics of our decor. I obviously need some work when taking pictures without a flash, but you should get the idea. I want to point out Mom, under our tree in the family room (which used to be Grandma's and I kept thinking of her when I was stringing the lights on it) we have wrapped books. We are going to open a book each night starting tonight for a little countdown to Christmas. You see, my mom has given us a Christmas story book on Christmas Eve for years now. I think I was able to go from the 9th to the 24th, with some supplementing to fill in the 1st-8th. That would make 15 years? worth of books. What a neat tradition, and we are excited to use them this way.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Indian Boy

Last Monday Tyler had his Thanksgiving feast at school. I love seeing him in his school environment. The class sang us two songs, and then the pilgrims (the grown ups) had all brought food to share at the feast with the indians (the kids). Aren't their indian costumes adorable? Tyler has been wearing his all week.

Later in the week Tyler and I decided to try out the Museum of Health. They have a Sesame Street Exhibit that is all about the body--body parts, how they work, organs, taking care of your body inside and out, etc. We loved that we got to meet Elmo, and I think we stayed in the Elmo's world section for almost half the time we were there, but Tyler's very favorite part, like so many children I'm sure, was the little display on digestion. Look at the pictures, and I'm sure you'll see why. We liked this museum and plan to go back to look at the permanant exhibit, we didn't even make it there we liked this so much.

Vacation Recap

We had such a great time on our vacation. It was a beautiful resort, and we had a lot of fun with our friends Joshua and Amanda. This was purely a vacation of R&R; we spent most of our time hanging out at the pool sipping our newly discovered drink--a virgin Miami Vice. Well, I did. That and spending some time in the spa. Dan was a little busier. He and Joshua went golfing, and also enjoyed all the activities on site--water polo, water volleyball, football on the beach, and so on. We stayed at the Excellence resort at Playa Mujeres. We were actually the first people to stay in our room, which was pretty cool. The only bad thing was that there were a few construction kinks: the fitness center was not open (and I was so going to workout everyday) and the hot tubs were still cold tubs. We had even payed extra for the room with a rooftop terrace and hot tub, and it was cold; we couldn't even use it. The resort was good enough to comp us some golf and spa treatments to make up the difference. The service was wonderful, and the food excellent. We would love to go back again.

Greetings from Mexico

Trip can be summed up in three words:

virgin miami vice

More later!!

Family Pics

We got our proofs back from our family pictures, and are really quite happy with them. Here is a link to our photograper's blog:

http://www.amyjophoto.blogspot.com/

Amy is a friend from church, in fact she was Tyler's teacher for awhile, and we had such a fun time with her.

As far as our happenings go, Tyler and I went to Austin Friday night so we could be there for our cousin Nathan's baptism Saturday morning. What a fun time; Tyler loves hanging out with all his cousins, and he and his cousin Emily who don't always play so well together, did. Here they are with Ryan:

Grandma and Grandpa are here now to do us a huge favor. They get to stay and play with Tyler while Dan and I go to Mexico. It's a little trip for our upcoming anniversary, and we are so looking forward to going. So in two days, I should laying poolside, sipping my virgin pina colada, with a good book in hand. Ahhhhh.

Happy Halloween

Hope you had as much fun as we did!

Grateful Sunday

I've seen other people make these grateful posts a regular part of their blogs, and I think that's a fabulous idea, so here are a few things I am grateful for today.

1. Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
This seems to actually encompass several of my thoughts right now. I am grateful that we have a church led by men of God. We had Stake Conference today, and it was such a blessing to hear these messages today. The thing that really sticks with me is the desire to learn more about my Savior Jesus Christ. Along with the spiritual nourishment that comes with membership, it's the friendships that I also value. I love that no matter where we move, and we have certainly done that a few times, we have always so quickly felt a part of our new ward. No matter how big the church gets, it still stays small, which is just divine planning. Just today we were visiting with someone in our ward, and she told us about her niece's experience with adoption, and it just is so nice to have that kind of support.

2. My husband.
I know, I sometimes complain that he worries too much, or that he doesn't help me around the house enough, but he is actually an amazing man who loves the Lord, loves me, and loves Tyler. He works so hard and does his best to be the best. And I love him for that.

My Heater

I got to turn on my heater this morning for the first time!! We have been waiting and waiting for it to cool down just a little here, and it finally did. Monday morning when I took Tyler to school at 8:30, it was a muggy 80 degrees. By the time I picked him up at noon, it was in the 60's and rainy. It hasn't gotten above 72 since! This afternoon Tyler and I went outside and treated ourselves to a little game in the beautiful fall weather. I knew it would eventually come, we'll just see how long it stays.

Now, that would be totally lame if I only talked about the weather, so let me also add a small note to say that the best Sunday of the year is inevitably the day of the Primary Program. And yes, even though we had only been called one week when it was time to do the program, it turned out great. The kids are sweet, the leaders and teachers are awesome, and the spirit was strong. I am looking forward to the upcoming year of primary.

New Hair

I had put off getting my hair done for so long trying to get it closer to our trip next month. I finally went yesterday, and here it is:
This was also my first attempt at taking my own picture in the bathroom mirror. My hair is the darkest it has ever been, and I think I am liking it.

A Busy Weekend

Not much seemed to happen at all this week, other than the same old carpooling, running errands, and cleaning my house. So when Saturday came around, we decided to make the most of it. Dan had been invited to go jet skiing with some friends, so Tyler and I decided to have our own fun. His choice, Old MacDonald's Farm. Just down the street from us, off F.M. 1960 for any locals, is a small farm with petting areas, play structures, a small train, pony rides, a pool, a GIANT sand pile, and so on. This was the first time since we were there last March that I would even consider it with our warm weather. I am just not used to this pretend fall in Houston. We have been cheering because last week the highs were only around 85, and the overnight lows were actually below 70! But, I digress. As I said, this is the first time I thought we wouldn't die of heat exhaustion if we went. And know what? When we left at 1:00, I was still pretty hot, just not drenched in sweat. Anywho, here are our fun pictures of the day:


Tyler is funny because it's a farm, but he really doesn't like the animals all that much. He didn't want to pet any of them, and he made me feed them. I don't particularly like feeding them myself. So we spent most of our time playing on the fort and slides, and riding the train. Also, during the month of October, kids get to pick a pumpkin to take home. Don't you love the pumpkin that he choose? There weren't really any big ones, but he choose the littlest one he could find. He's funny.

Then, as if the farm wasn't enough, we came home and changed and went to a birthday party! One of the boys in Tyler's preschool had a party, and we were invited. It was at this cool place called Kids in Action. They had tons of games and stuff to play on, and music, and it just kept the kids so busy. Here's Tyler:

We had a lot of fun yesterday, and Tyler went to bed early, and slept hard. Oh, and we even found his precious blankies. They had been lost for almost 2 months, and we found them yesterday in the garage. Yeah for mom, the super blankie finder!!

We have also turned in our adoption application, along with our nonrefundable fee (eek!) and hope to hear from LDS Family Services soon.

And finally, the weekend was also quite busy today, as I received a new church calling today. I am the 2nd counselor in the primary presidency. Our ward split two Sundays ago, and the entire PP was in the other ward. Today we practiced for the primary program, which is next week. Needless to say, we are not quite organized with everything, but this program is looming over our heads!! Today went well, the children are well prepared, and I'm assuming that even if it isn't perfect, it will be wonderful, and everyone's favorite Sunday of the year. We'll see next week.

Musings on Conference

I love General Conference. Granted, I don't get out of it all that I should, especially since half the time I am playing conference bingo with Tyler, but I certainly get enough out of it to feel inspired and encouraged. (By the way, Tyler actually sat through most of one session on Saturday and half of one session on Sunday because of that game, so I guess I should be happy!)

Elder Condie's talk on Saturday morning was especially touching. I have been trying so hard to trust Heavenly Father lately as we long for a baby. I have tried to just trust him not only for the if, but also for the when. It's his time table, not mine. So as Elder Condie spoke about how the Lord will remember us, using the story of Rachel from the Old Testament, it just totally reaffirmed to me that yes, God is aware of me, and will answer my prayers in his way and in his time.

I also appreciated President Packer's talk. With our ward splitting last Sunday, there are suddenly new opportunities for everyone to serve. I just kept thinking during his talk, it's not where, but how. How can I magnify my calling, no matter what is asked of me? A couple Sunday's ago, Dan had left the TV on to the BYU channel, and I walked into our bedroom to an Education Week talk. I don't know who he was, but he was speaking how at his grandmother's funeral, he found out she had worked in the nursery of her ward for 30 years! All faithfully and without complaint. I think of that often and yes, it is how you serve that will matter.

Finally, Elder Oaks gave a great talk--good, better, best. How do I spend my time? I am blessed that right now in my life I am not that busy, not that scheduled. That leaves me a lot of time to accomplish the things I need to. Do I use my time wisely? Do I do the things that are the most important and essential? Not always. What a good reminder for me.

Now I am just looking forward to the Ensign coming out I can't wait to reread so many of these messages.

Visiting the Children's Museum

When we first moved to Houston, we bought a membership to the Children's Museum, but it had been awhile since we went there. Tyler had been asking about for the last couple of weeks, so we went this afternoon. He loves it there. They had a new exhibit all about Marc Chagall and these interactive art activities geared towards kids. They had some really cool stuff there that I liked, but Tyler was drawn to more of his usual. I think he really likes repetition and routine. We of course went grocery shopping, milked the cow, checked on the baby chicks, and so on. It's a fun place, and most importantly, Tyler really likes it there.

Back to Normal

I think we are all finally back to good health. In my ever so kind manner, I was sure to share my stomach bug with everyone in my house. Dan and Tyler both seemed to get over everything yesterday late in the day. Today seemed to be the day to try to get back on track, but it didn't quite happen. I made myself a big long list of everything I need to do this week, and so tomorrow will be the day I get back on schedule: carpool to preschool, work out, clean toilets, mail a package, and so on and so forth. Life will be back to normal. I hope.

A Sick Day and a Trike-a-thon

Yesterday was so not fun. I woke up with a stomach bug at 5:00 in the morning. I haven't been sick like that for probably 10 years. And on top of that, at noon, I got a migraine. And I couldn't even take a thing for it because I couldn't keep anything down. I was in bed all day, except for my trips to the bathroom, and when I crawled out of bed long enough to get Tyler some lunch. Poor kid. He was good; he just watched Playhouse Disney and Noggin all day at the end of my bed. He was so excited for Dan to come home, so he could have someone to play with. And of course my husband is so wonderful that he took over all the neglected chores and let me sleep.

I finally feel back to normal tonight, after being a little run down for most of today. But I was well enough for the trike-a-thon! Yea for Tyler.

He did such a great job. The kids rode their bikes and trikes around the parking lot, and could stop whenever they needed to. He kept going for the whole 20 minutes, and he got 13 laps. He was so excited when he found out he was going to get a gold medal at the end. And the pizza they were selling as part of the fund raiser, well he couldn't have had a greater night.

Is it Fall yet?

I am so ready for it to be fall. We've had a few mornings, where you walk outside and it feels just a little like fall, but with most days still up to 90 degrees, it's hard to escape Summer. Tyler and pulled out and set up our fall decorations today, because we want it to be fall time!


And just for the grandparents, tonight Dan took Tyler for a special daddy outing (dinner and Chuck E. Cheese). When they came home I put Tyler in the bath and left him for just a minute. He usually turns off the water himself when it gets to the right level. Tonight he had bubbles, and I guess they were quite distracting, because when I came back in, this is what I saw:



Do you see how high that water is?

Gotta love him. I think I will go give him a good-night kiss now.

And now, there's a blog

I have decided to jump on the blog bandwagon. Now, I know that my computer skills have yet to progress beyond surfing the internet, organizing my photos in photoshop (the actual editing of said photos is another story), and balancing my checkbook in Quicken; however, I am certain that I can manage a blog. Let's see.

For my inaugural post, here are the top three events of September:

1. Tyler started preschool.
















What a big guy we have! He seems to be doing well, his teacher told me she wants to take him home. I'm still waiting to find out that this little talker of mine has spilled some family beans.

2. The Wild Boar
Did you know that wild boars lived in Houston? Not just in the wild but in my neighborhood? I know now, because one attacked me. Well, he ran in front of my car, and now there is one less wild boar running the streets of Houston. And of course, this happened in our 7 week old car which is still in the body shop.

3. Adoption
We have received our adoption application. After several doctor visits, and being told that nothing is wrong, we have decided that this is the option for us to pursue now. Do all we can, but trust in Heavenly Father for his will and his timing.

Look at that. One post down, and I even included pictures. :)