Once There Was A Snowman!

To our surprise and excitement the last few days have been full of snow! So we have been trying to make the most of it- who knows when the next time we will see snow again will be! First, I wanted to post about our snowman adventure.

The kids had a great time learning how to build a snowman. They caught on so quick!

It was fun watching them rolling the snow.

I helped too and had a great time! Best part about having kids- reliving your childhood!

We were having so much fun that we decided to make a whole family!

Baby's first snowman!  I just adore this little baby snowman. :)

And here we are next to our masterpieces! Fun times!

And what kind of photo shoot would this be without a goofy picture! (Gotta love Memphis' mugshot look)

One more baby snowman picture because it is just so darn cute! :)

Christmas!

I laughed so hard when I saw Elijah hopping around in this stocking. A great idea for a holiday game of sack racing...or rather "sock" racing.

The shirt says it all. My little girl is so sweet. :)

 The kids on Christmas morning with their cousins. (from left to right: Memphis, Tegan, Elijah, Bria, and Enoch) We had a lot of fun sharing Christmas morning with family.

The stockings. I thought the boys' stockings looked so cool with the fireman hats on them.

When Elijah is happy, you can always see the joy radiating from him. I love it!

When I asked him to pose with this Italian singing bear, it was so big, Memphis stretched his little neck up and looked down at it. Soooo cute!

While the kids were opening presents, we had a half man, half horse visitor observing the scene. My brother-in-law Jon was really cracking me up with his Christmas present.

Why didn't I get a horse mask for Christmas??? So jealous!

My little princess.

A dolly! We got her one because she kept stealing my baby Jesus from our Nativity set and enthusiastically saying "baby! baby!" or sometimes "baby Hyrum!"(which sounds more like Hi-yum in Toddler tongue). Likewise, she keeps calling the doll, baby Hi-yum. So I keep calling the doll baby Anna.

Opening presents is fun to do, to do, to do, to do.

The boys each got these HUGE robots. Fun, fun!

The brave knight riding his noble steed.

"Oh no!" says the knight, "we are under attack!"

And Ma in her kerchief and I in my cap, Had just settled down for a long winter's nap.
I love how they are laying in the exact same position...so adorable!

What would Christmas be without a little afternoon nap?

One more because he is so sweet when he is sleeping!

In the evening more family came and we all exchanged dollar store presents. This is my nephew Moroni with his new squishy.

Memphis showing Uncle Joseph his present.

Bria rocking her new necklace.

Hyrum got an adorable cow toy.

...and a bunch of other things. Pretty spoiled for being 1 month old!

My niece, Cali, LOVED the soft scarf we got her. The dollar store isn't so bad.

 What do you get your father for Christmas at the dollar store? Oh, just a little reminder of how old he is. Dark brown hair dye. I saw him eyeing the instructions...perhaps we'll need a before and after picture. :)

BEST PRESENT EVER!!! Amazing that Jeremiah whipped this up from the dollar store (assembly required) a picture frame with plastic cockroaches glued into an artful design. For those who do not understand why this present was brilliant, Joseph has worked at Pheromone for years- assembling art work with real bugs, shells, butterflies, fossils, etc. It is lovely artwork that I recommend to all who want a unique discussion piece for their wall. See  http://www.formandpheromone.com/ for more info.

These rascals provided after-dinner entertainment for all the adults. They sang us Christmas songs and even put on a play. Lots of laughs, lots of fun! All-in-all it was a lovely Christmas day! It was nice to share it with family.

Perspective

In a family, day by day, there are two perspectives. That of the parents, and then the way the children are viewing the world, the moments. I always loved what Dumbledore said, "Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young". As parents, it is very important to remember what it was to be young. As a parent, our perspective is so completely different, it can be easy to forget. I am certainly guilty of this.

As I contemplate what a parent perspective is, I find it can be all too easy to slip into a selfish mind frame without meaning to. We see something our child has done and think about all the extra cleaning and work we will have to do now.

One day, my husband taught me a very good lesson on perspective. I walked into the kitchen to find eggs cracked all over the kitchen floor. Yolk and egg gunk were everywhere. I completely lost it with my kids, I was so mad. Eggs gone. Kitchen mess! This was horrible!

Well, Jeremiah gently took me aside. "You know," he said, "they didn't do this to make you upset or to make a huge mess. Smashing eggs is fun, didn't you know?"

"No," I said grumpily. I was not to be pacified.

"It is," he said, "Come on, try it." He flashed me his goofy grin and pulled me toward the kitchen. He could tell I was trying not to smile as I kept a scowl on my face.

"No, you are silly, it will just make a huge mess to clean up." I said as he dragged me to the fridge.

"I'll clean up the mess," he said as he pulled a carton of eggs out.

"You will?" I said.

"Yes, now throw it." He said, handing me an egg.

"I can't" I said.

"Do it, come on! It is fun!" he said as he threw one on the floor with a laugh.

So there we sat for the next few minutes breaking eggs on our kitchen floor and giggling like little kids. I'm sure we were quite the sight. But, his lesson has stuck with me. It was true, my kids had not done this mischief to be mean to me or make my life harder. Simply, they saw fun. They were learning about the world...and enjoying it! They don't see the weight on our minds- the bills to pay, the chores to do, the endless errands to run.  They can't know. So, from that day on I have vowed to take a moment to remember what it was like to be young. To stop and change my perspective before I react, lest I become the guilty one.

The Castle Park

I found this park in Astoria and I love it. I nicknamed it "The Castle Park" because of all the lovely castle-like structures it has. The kids had fun playing, though we only stayed for a little bit because it was cold.

Elijah has way too much fun posing for camera pictures. :) I love watching his joy.

In this picture I told them to make a silly face.

Bria had fun exploring and walking around the park structures.

I love this little sand digger toy. fun fun!

Bria had fun on this rope bridge until her foot got stuck. :)

Lots of fun slides.

Here are a few pictures I tried to get of the whole park. It is hard to really capture how big this park is.

I love the beautiful tiles on these structures here.

We had a great day at the park!

Sunsets and Wildlife

These are pictures taken from inside my house as I look out the window. I absolutely LOVE where we live right now, from the beautiful ocean bay view to the fun wildlife all around us. I constantly look out the window and smile.

Sunset is my favorite time of day to look out the window. The beauty always causes me to pause and enjoy the moment.

I love this tree, it makes such a beautiful landscape against the bay, especially with the colors of the setting sun.

Time To Blog

Wow, it has been a while! Since I last blogged a lot has happened, including the addition of 2 members to our family. Instead of spending hours catching up, I'm just going to start from here. It is Christmas Time in 2011 and our family is excited for the holiday. We love spending time together and had a great time this last weekend decorating the Christmas tree. I love this picture of Bria with her tree bead necklace and her daddy. She is such a daddy's little girl. I love it. :)

I love that she put the tree decoration around her neck like a necklace. I used to do that as a little girl too.

It was especially fun decorating the tree this year. It seems like our kids were just finally old enough to really get into helping.

Me with my little pumpkins except Baby Hyrum was sleeping. I love my children so much. They are my joy. It should be a very full and Merry Christmas at our house.