Cats

Sunny is somewhat obsessed with cats--all cats are of great interest to her, but especially our cat Hermione. She and Hermione have a special relationship--they talk all the time. I mean, like, they meow to each other. And Sunny is very thoughtful--she always translates the conversation for us--like, whether we want to hear about it or not. She also talks to other neighborhood cats. When asked at school to write an essay on her hero, she wrote it about Hermione. When we spent a few days during the Christmas season recording some of our "tender mercies" from Heavenly Father in a family journal, Sunny wrote 3 out of 4 times about Hermione.

Yep, I'd say she's a little obsessed.
And tonight was the topper.

She was having a hard time going to sleep so she stayed up with me for a little while talking, but she seemed much more interested in "talking" to our cat outside and translating for me. Well, when she finally went to bed she was walking into her room and she started to randomly meow at me. I was pretty taken aback and asked, "Sunny, what are you doing? Hermione is outside and can't even hear you."
"Oh, sorry Mom, " she responded, "it's just an instinct."
Should I be worried?

Christmas Goodies

This year we enjoyed lots of goody making before Christmas.  First we went to a gingerbread house party at Jack’s uncle’s house the Thurbers.  Lots of fun, games, food, kids, and family!

  

Then we made some of our own goodies for our neighbors.  Jennie, I tried some of your recipes from your cookie party and sooooooo many people have asked for the recipe for the caramel puff corn.  Our next door neighbors gave us an entire plate of homemade tamales in exchange for another bag of it!

Then we went to my cousin Tami’s house for her sugar cookie making party—way fun!  She uses her great grandmother’s recipe for the cookies and the frosting, she has aprons, special knives, cute bowls, hot cocoa, apple cider, lots of cookies and TONS of different sprinkles and toppings.  We had so many cookies we had to give more away, and people must have been very impressed because they were just beautiful!

My sister Melanie and I are both pregnant together—she is due in March though.

Yep, we’ve had our fill of the sweets over here—and some great memories too.  I’ll post more of Christmas Eve and Day later—hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

It’s a Girl!

We found out last week that we are having a little baby girl!  Jack was totally right because that’s what he had said all along.  I’m so glad that I kept all of Ella’s baby clothes and have them all organized—can’t wait to get those cute little things out again.  Well, actually, I can wait because I want to feel more ready and organized before we welcome this little one.  But still, we are excited!  Here I am at about 17 weeks or so I think:

Kind of a weird picture with my hand I know, but I don’t know what the proper pregnant lady stance is when posing for a belly shot—hopefully I’ll figure it out next time! 

Here’s a few Christmasy pics for good measure:

We used our fake tree this year because it was SNOWING in Eagar over Thanksgiving and Jack was not up to tracking through it to get a tree.

The perfect spot….

Making candy cane cookies for our shepherd night—these were VERY sticky and hard to do, so Mom did most of the baking, but I made the kids each make one for posterity sake of course.  Ella “stuck” with it to the end though (pun intended) and was quite a happy mess!

Santa at the ward party—Ella told him she wants a “jingle bell” for Christmas and Conner was not having it—finally we have a classic “kid scared of Santa” pic!

More ward party pics:

Look—it’s us together in a picture!!!

Can’t believe Christmas is so close!  We’re Christmas crazy around here so we’re trying to squeeze it all in before the big day—stories, cookies, songs, lights, traditions, gifts—it’s sort-of crazy, but I love it because it’s only like this once a year, and then it’s over!  Merry Celebrations!

P.S.  Ella’s birthday was December 12th—she’s THREE!  And I want to put up her party, but my Mom took the only pics on her camera, so it will coming soon!

A Christ Centered Christmas

I know Christmas is pretty far away, but I tend to start thinking and planning for it pretty early.  One reason is that I’m excited, and another reason is that I don’t like to be all stressed out about the holiday season, but actually enjoy it.  Anyway, I have found this book and I love it so I thought I would share it. 

If anyone loves to do little traditions during the Christmas season you will LOVE this book called A Christ Centered Christmas by Emily Freeman.  You can get it at Deseret Book for ten bucks.  It gives ideas for some simple and fun things to do with your family—and as you do each tradition you put a new piece of the nativity out, with the last being the Baby Jesus.  It goes through seven pieces—Mary, Joseph, the Angels, the Shepherds, the Wise Men, the Lamb, and Jesus.  You can decide how and when you want to do them all.  Probably a lot of things you may already be doing, I just think it is a really neat way to tie it all in together.  So, I just thought I would put this out there for anyone who is interested.  It is getting me more excited for Christmas so we can begin!

Reflections and News

(We braved the crowds and tried out Boo at the Zoo this year.  I have no idea if Ella is upset in this picture or just trying to show something that is in her mouth—thanks lady that took it for not telling us.) 

You know that saying, “Life is what happens when you are making other plans”? Well, I’ve been thinking lately and I think that it is pretty darn true. Please indulge me for several moments while I travel down memory lane:

December 2001—Jack and I married with dreams of having babies right away. What a disappointment when that didn’t happen! We thought for sure we would just start having babies. As the months went by we started to get a little worried, but figured there was a reason. Well, two years later along came our first three children—Angie, Sunny, and Logan. We got an instant family of THREE little ones—2, 4, and 6 years old. What a ride that was! At the same time we felt so blessed and realized that this was what God had in mind for us all along. I learned a lot that first year, and I am still learning the same lessons every day.

So, after this we still wanted more children, and really hoped to have a baby. We started in with a slew of infertility treatments and got certified to adopt at the same time. After a few years of tears and disappointments, we were blessed with our first baby and fourth child through adoption—Ella Anne. We were all so happy to have a baby, and felt very blessed. Believe it or not, after a year we felt impressed to certify to adopt again. However, we had no idea that we would be getting Conner so soon after that. We felt so full, so happy, and so complete.

Because we have been so blessed and just feel so right about our family, we decided that we wouldn’t adopt any more and that we were most likely “done.” That doesn’t mean we didn’t want more children, we just felt like adoption was not our path any more. Well—we were right. Remember the whole “life …other plans…” thing? We—ell…….. (in case you haven’t already heard)……..

We are now 14 weeks pregnant! We are SO HAPPY! We have not done any infertility treatments or anything like that so this was a big surprise to us. And we have been married for almost NINE YEARS. And it has also been a huge testimony building experience—I mean, we always felt like our other five children were meant to be in our home and be our children, but now it just seems so right—these wonderful five kids have come to us through adoption, and now we will have another child through birth. Heavenly Father knew that we had to wait to get pregnant so our other children could come to our home first.

Can you say shock/disbelief/wonder/awe/amazement/humility??????

This is our THIRD baby, our SIXTH child, and our FIRST pregnancy. (How fun is that to explain to your OBGYN?)

God is GOOD—and He loves His children.

Just had to share the news….

Morning Farewell

Like many a morning, I said goodbye to Sunny and Logan this morning as they started to ride down the streets with their bikes. And like most mornings I am standing their holding Conner and warning them about not talking to any strangers and being careful on the way—I am hoping to make them just slightly paranoid about other people on the street, but not enough that it causes trauma or anything—hopefully my plan is working. Anyway, as they start to ride off out comes Ella yelling dramatically, “WAIT! I have to give them kisses!” Ella thinks that basically no one can leave without her “giving them kisses.” So, she rushes over there frantically telling them to stop—they do, and they try to act a little annoyed, but I know by their smiles that they love it. Leaning over, goodbye kisses and hugs, Ella is relieved that her mission was accomplished. I am just soaking up the whole scene when suddenly Ella comes skipping back to me and says, “I’m right here Mom—don’t worry. I have no panties on!” What a fabulous start to my day!

Halloween!

Here we are in our random costumes—it was a free for all this year after a trip to DI and some creative embellishments at home.  Dad recycled his scarecrow costume from last year, and I recycled my Little Women dress from high school when I was in the play—it is my constant last minute back up.  Sunny was a geisha, Angie an old lady, Logan an army guy, Conner a cow, and Ella a Minnie Mouse princess. 

Eating the spoils after Trunk or Treat—learned a new trick this year with make up—use ACRILIC PAINT.  It stays on AWESOME and washes off super easy.

 

Dad and Ella at the Chilli Cookoff right before the Trunk or Treat outside

More trunk or treat shots—it was really fun because most people had a game in their car or something fun to do for the candy.  We did a cakewalk, another lady was a gypsy who told fortunes, we even had some puppies!

Fun times and home by 7:30P.M. with church the next day—who can ask for anything more??

 

Then, on the actual Halloween day I decided to go a little crazy and make a fun meal for our family and all of Jack’s siblings who live in town and their spouses, (or future spouses):

I am so proud of my accomplishment that I just had to document the work so here ya go:

I started with thirteen of these little guys:

Then I used my little minions to help me scoop out all the goo (This actually was the longest and hardest part—I really didn’t think about how long this would take—Thanks goodness my girls were willing to help—to his credit, Jack is gone all day on Sundays except for dinner time—to Logan’s credit—uh, he helped with one or two maybe—to the babies credits, they were napping.)

Then we seasoned them and added some butter and baked them good…

And added in this DELICIOUS filling which I had made the night before (with Jack’s help, so he did contribute after all).

Then I topped off the little guys with cute pie crusts that looked like pumpkin tops—this part I cheated on and did frozen because I didn’t want the extra work of making the pastry.  However, I have never had frozen pie crust before and I was not a huge fan—so I think I would go ahead and make the pastry myself next time.

And they looked like this—and were yummy!  And we had a fantastic strawberry salad from Camille and Jacob and rolls from Kari and Corey, as well as a yummy drink provided by Tyler and Whitney.  Oh, and Kirsten and Levi even brought pumpkin rolls.  It was a yummy, fun night with lots of kids and babies, lots of food, and a few trick or treaters at our door. 

I must confess though, I was so obsessed with taking pictures of the food that I only took one of any people!  How appropriate that I chose the newly engaged couple though!

 

They even shared their pumpkin because it was a rather large one—how cute are they!

Family is the best isn’t it? 

Halloween Will Have to Wait

Because tomorrow is voting day!   I hope everyone who can will go make their voices heard.  Here’s how I plan to vote tomorrow.  Feel free to try and change my mind because I don’t profess to know it all or anything and could be misinformed on something.  In fact, some of these I am still undecided about, but I will put maybe where I am leaning towards:

106—This proposition will help to protect us from having no choice in our healthcare and it fights the healthcare bill in a way so I am all for that.—Yes

107—This proposition is a wonderful civil rights move because it will end affirmative action in our state.  That means that we will really be judged “by the content of our character, and not the color of our skin” as Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed about long ago.—Yes

109—This proposition will protect and preserve hunting and fishing areas in our state by keeping special interest environmental groups out of the process.—Yes

110—State Trust Lands—not sure—leaning no

111-Executive Department—not sure—leaning no

112—Initiative Petitions—not sure—leaning no

113—This proposition will protect our right to a secret ballet and I cannot believe that we actually have to do this but I’m glad it is being done.—yes

203—This proposition would legalize so called “medical” marijuana—big fat no

301—Land Conservation Fund—leaning yes

302—I am undecided on this bill.  It would take previous money that was supposed to be used for various government programs, some of which are early childhood programs, and cut those to balance our state budget.  I understand that we need to do this, but part of me doesn’t think it is right to cut those programs.  So, I have yet to decide.  However, the bill was written by Russell Pearce and I usually agree with him.  --don’t know

 

Other than that, vote REPUBLICAN in general and especially for Jan Brewer, Tom Horne, John Huppenthal, and Jeff Flake(he’s in my district).  I’ll vote for John McCain because he is a decent guy and has done some good, but sometimes he is not my favorite Senator.  John Kyle however would have my vote for our next president! (But he’s not even up for re-election.) 

 

Anyway, most important is to get out and vote because if you don’t you have absolutely no right to complain about the government.  It is our civic duty people and one of the reasons that we have the absolute best nation in the world. 

P.S.  Happy Halloween!

The Circus and Some Thoughts

Sunday night Circus A’ La Whitings.  This kept them all busy for several hours of planning with relatively few fights between them—they mostly consisted of when Ella had to let the others have their turn to shine.  Of course, the circus performance itself lasted about 10 minutes total…

Crazy acrobats

Magic tricks (disappearing thumbs!)

Excited spectators

Tightrope!

Ballerinas (cause there must be a ballerina at our circus if Ella is involved)

 

Grand Finale!

And now some thoughts: 

I was thinking last night about expectations that I have for my children, and how as a mother I am always trying to keep that delicate balance between asking them to do too much, or asking them to do too little. (And how sometimes this balance can cause me to go a leetle bit insane..like the other night when I told them all that I was going crazy from repeating myself and that if I went crazy I was taking them all with me…and then they just laughed—what is up with that?  Anyway, back to the main point…. )  Since our school schedule is different this year and the kids get home at 3:00 and Angie at 4:00, I decided that they should have all chores done and one instrument practiced in the morning(Sunny is playing piano and clarinet) .  That way when they come home they basically only have homework to do—and Sunny has to practice her piano still.  Then they have more down time to play and read and whatever right? 

 

Well, for a while I was thinking it might have been too much.  Why you say? Because for the last several days my children have been running late every morning and we all were feeling rather disgruntled—Angie would be running out the door for her carpool while they were honking at her and I would send Logan and Sunny off on their bikes and pray they made it in time.  I must be giving them too much to do right?  But after school has been SO NICE with so much less stress, and I didn’t want to give that up.  So….new plan….

 

I decided to make a little check off list of all the stuff they had to do in the morning and a time it should be done.  And if they get it done on time they get tickets (it’s this reward thing we do).  I went over their lists with them last night and….low and behold..they were all done like 15 minutes EARLY this morning!  Okay, maybe the fact that we were having a yummy chocolate pastry for breakfast helped a  little as a motivation to get done, but it proved something to me….children CAN accomplish quite a bit.  And I think it is okay to let them do some hard work and get some things done—of course they need to have down time as well, but teaching priorities is a good thing.  And, let me tell you, having everyone ready early like that and not all stressed out and upset in the morning makes SUCH a difference in our home—Logan sat and read stories to Ella and Angie had plenty of time to make herself beautiful for the 7th grade jungle!  So, I just hope that this new  system will help—until it doesn’t anymore and then I have to try something new for motivation:) 

In the meantime, I will enjoy this memory of seeing a little bit of heaven in our home:

 

Okay, those were a lot of thoughts.

Oh, just one more cute picture: