"Baby" Jane

It's isn't too often that Jane is referred to as "baby" anymore. It makes me kind of sad. She is definitely growing up fast. She is talking A LOT and it is so fun. Every day I am texting Rand all through the day with something else new she has said, and not just some cute little word but words strung together. The other day she was playing down stairs with Kate while I was folding laundry and Kate said "where's Jane", and Jane popped up out of a box and said "here I is!" It was the cutest thing.

Jane recently started to give you the come here signal waving her hand backwards towards her and wanting you to follow. I thought that alone was cute but then all of a sudden this week she started saying "come on" and "let's go". She can say everyone's name in the family except for Ethan and for some reason won't even try his but has taken a liking to "Kate". I am thinking because that is who she is with most often but it's so cute to hear her little voice calling many times throughout the day "Kate?, Kate?" . She is so darn cute that I just want to smoosh and smooch on her all day long.

She is a funny little thing in that she loves to help and is so good at cleaning up. When she is finished eating or drinking anything she will say "all done" or just "Done!". When you get her down from the table she insists on carrying her plate to the garbage to scrape it and gets mad if you take it from her. She isn't always successful in keeping everything on her plate before she gets to the garbage but it's so sweet. Anyway, when I clean, Jane cleans. she has a spray bottle and a cloth that she has to carry around when I am cleaning. She even helps me clean the toilet bowls in and out, even though I think it's gross and I hate her touching the toilet while I'm trying to wipe it.

Whenever we walk in the door she immediately goes straight to where we hang the coats, and though she can't reach to hang it she tries. Then she goes and puts her "boots" away. I keep telling the other kids that I don't understand why they are all older and yet drop all their gear and yet Jane totally knows the drill.

Jane has also become very interested in the Potty. She found the training potty in the basement and still tries to carry it around with her every where we go. She sits on it often, with all her clothes on most of the time so has never actually gone on it but even often sleeps with the potty in her room at night. I think I would start to train her except Rand and I are going on a little get away the first week of March and I don't want my in-laws who are coming to watch the kids have to deal with a potty trainer. I think if she's still interested after that I will go for it, I think :) ...

One other thing about her is she has recently started to fuss to go down at night. I think she is all too aware that no one else is going to bed and she is missing out. But, if I sing to her the night-night song and "I am a child of God" before I put her down she doesn't fuss at all.

She is so sweet and like all the kids Randall and I look at each other often and say "what would we have done with out her?"

Our Ward

We have lived in a lot of places with many different wards, and most of them have been great, and I don't want to compare them, but I have to say that we are really blessed to be in a fantastic ward. My testimony grows and is strengthened because of those around me. Our ward members are such good examples of people so willing to support others. Let me give a few examples.

First off, when we moved into the ward we had oodles of help with the actual moving in. I was not there personally because Rand and my Dad arrived a day ahead of those of us flying in :), but I was told that there were many men who came to help. Our Bishop even came toward the end when things were fairly well moved in so he offered to stay and helped Rand put all the beds together so they could be settled in for our arrival. Many of the men work very long hours and yet when there is a move or a need in the ward they are there to help. If they didn't come I wouldn't even fault them. Their poor wives hardly see them so why should they be out helping someone else in their free time, but they do. We have been in other areas with other moves where that has not been the case.

Another example. About a month ago a couple moved into our ward and was expecting their first baby. A few weeks after they arrived the baby was born and her visiting teacher felt like she could use some things and decided to host a shower for her. She put the word out on I think a Tuesday for Saturday and truthfully I was nervous about who would be able to come with such short notice. I went and I think there were probably 20 women (or more) there. Many of the women gave this new mom several outfits. In fact this week I have had 2 more calls of sisters asking for this lady's address so they could drop off a gift for her. That same night there was a new member baptism-which I also love about this ward, new members! Anywho, again even though so many had already spent hours of their morning welcoming this new mom and baby into the ward they came to support this new man being baptized. In fact, we had such a great showing that I had to sit on the piano bench the whole time because the room was filled to capacity.

Then, yesterday I received word that a sister from our ward who was 8 months pregnant lost her baby this week. There was a graveside service this morning for the family. This family has only been a part of our ward less than a year and is not very well known. Again I attended wanting to show my support and was overwhelmed at all those who attended to show this poor family their support. I don't even know if some of them even knew this family. It was obviously an emotional morning because of their loss, but I was also just overcome with the goodness of our ward members. I am so grateful to be a part of this gospel and to be among so many great people. I have so many great examples around me and it is such a strength. I love to go to church each week and I haven't always felt that way. I feel the spirit there. I love fast and testimony meeting, and that has not always been the case. I learn so much from the people who bear their testimonies. Our youth, from what I know, seem to be amazing. They all wake up for early morning seminary about 4:30 to be ready for school before they start seminary I think about 6am. They are all very dedicated and are such good kids. The youth participate a lot in our meetings. The youth rotate leading the music in sacrament meeting every single week. They speak in our meetings often and they actually of depth and gospel knowledge. Sometimes when they speak I am reminded of talks that I have heard from returned missionaries. Randall's home teaching companion is 18 and such an amazing boy. Last year he had 100% early morning seminary attendance.

Now don't get me wrong I'm not saying there aren't other great wards out there, because there are great wards everywhere, and we have been in them, but for now I can't think of a better place that I would rather be to raise my children. Their teachers magnify their callings and care about our kids. I think there are 10 kids that will be baptized this year along with our Anna, which is so hard to believe by the way.

People ask how we like living in "the mission field", and while it's hard to be so far from family, It's definitely the place for us.

New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve this year we continued on with a few traditions from years past. First off the kids requested German pancakes for breakfast which is one of our holidays breakfast choices. In the afternoon it's tradition for our ward to all go bowling, yes I said bowling. The ward rents out a bowling alley from 3-5 and I would say a lot of the families actually go. It's surprisingly a fun thing and gives us something family friendly to do so we aren't bored out of our minds. The kids love it too because they pass out goofy hats and necklaces which is all it takes for them to feel festive. After a few hours of bowling, which is plenty with kids our age, we came home to have our traditional fare.
We don't usually eat a meal on New Year's Eve but prefer to just munch on various appetizers. Randall still remembers when he was a little boy that his Grandpa Dutson who lived with them for a time would have lots of little fancy cheeses and different things for them to try. He really liked that and so now that's what we do with the kids. We try different cheese and various other goodies. At the stroke of Midnight, ya right, I'm not that nice... at 8 pm holiday or not, it was bedtime. It's not worth it to me to have the kids crying for a week because they are so overly tired from staying up late on one night. Before bed, we had a family toast with Martinelli's and then let the kids go outside and hoot and holler and blow their noise makers and then off to bed. Randall and I stayed up until a whopping 11pm and then went to bed.

I'm a bit funny though and get kind of sad if I don't get to watch the ball drop so I set my alarm for 11:55 so I could watch the ball drop via an app on my iphone. The neighbors and their kids sure made a lot of noise for the next hour or so which was kind of annoying but that was our big excitement to ring in the new year. I'm proud to say that it's common for me to feel a bit sad and nostalgic about the year coming to an end, but this year was not so, hurray!

One super sweet thing that Randall did though was when he went into work on Tuesday he said there was still confetti floating down all around Time's Square so he picked some up and brought it home for me. It totally made me day that he would know that I would love that!
I didn't do it this year but I read about something fun that I want to do this year. As the year goes you write down fun things you've done or memories throughout the year and keep them together and then read them on New Year's Eve of that year. I think that's something that would be really worth trying.

Pine Wood Derby 2012

This year for the Pine Wood Derby Rand made all my wishes come true and started working on the car very early on. Last year we barely finished and the end result was not pretty. This year as soon as Ethan was given his block of wood he made up a list of at least 10 different original designs, with the emphasis on "original". He finally settled on a a basic race car look but was sure that it needed to have lightning bolts on it. I'm sure that has nothing to do with his ever steady obsession with Harry Potter. Rand cut the car to his specifications and then they painted it up. First they painted it silver and then cutout lightning bolts in tape and taped where they wanted them. Then they painted the whole thing a shiny black and removed the tape to reveal the silver bolts. It turned out to be a pretty great looking car and I was proud that it was all Ethan's design and follow through. For his award he was given "Most Realistic", which is the exact award he won last year....
He was excited about the race and we didn't have to do much prep before hand this year in regard to sportsmanship ie. it's doesn't matter if you win, be happy for those that do etc. He came in 4th out of 10 and was very happy with that and went up one place from last year. He was a really good sport about the whole thing and really enjoyed it.
We had to add A lot of coins on the bottom to get it to the right weight. Maybe next year we'll actually weight it before hand with lead or something. I think those that do that end up placing better and it doesn't look quite so "tacky".

Whenever I go to things like The pine wood derby it makes me feel kind of old and legitimate. I remember attending those when I was a little girl with my brothers. The fact that Ethan will be ten this year, wears the same shoe size as me and is so "mature" blows my mind. I'm getting old.

Christmas Adam

Here I sit on the afternoon of Christmas Adam, Randall's family introduced me to that term many years ago.... Anyway, I just ran an errand that was crazy and insane and took way longer than it should have, so now I have declared that we are DONE! The only thing I really have left is to deliver a few goodies and pick up a few gift bags for things that are difficult to wrap but honestly at this point those things will just have to get wrapped somehow because I am done! Did I mention that already? In fact those goodies we made today, just may not even get delivered. Quite the Christmas cheer right? I think that all I want for Christmas is a big fat nap!

Yesterday around here it was 60 something degrees and so I'm not really feeling like it's really December 23rd or anywhere close to that. Having the tree up with all the twinkle lights does help the mood in the evenings but this year for some reason that I can't quite put my finger on, I'm just not feeling it...The Christmas spirit that is. And with that not feeling it comes a guilty feeling, so I am very clearly doing something wrong. I think too that this year I am more aware of so many that are struggling with finances, marriages, health etc. While this knowledge makes me feel even more grateful for how extremely blessed we are, it also makes me wish I could somehow do something to "fix" everybody's stress and anxieties. Maybe that's what Christmas is actually all about...being aware of and praying for those people I know and care about, and knowing that its the same Christ whose birth we are celebrating in just two days, that grew into the man that we worship, and that it's the gift of His atonement that can help us all overcome our weaknesses and deal with those pains and anxieties. Something to think about...

The Countdown

I can't believe it. The Holidays are almost here. The fact that we didn't really celebrate Halloween until November 4th, (See this post), makes Thanksgiving that much closer! I can't wait. My parents are coming to be with us for Thanksgiving/Randall's birthday. I think having family makes it so nice. It gives you an excuse to go all out and bake and cook and decorate like crazy. In fact while Randall was away on one of his most recent trips I may or may not have indulged in a little retail therapy at one of my very favorite stores. HOME GOODS! I love that place. If you don't know what that is I would say that it's like a marrying of TJ Maxx and Taipan trading company. I am a sucker for all things glass and there is a huge section right up front with all sorts of dishes and glassware and decorative vases,...and did I mention dishes? Ahh...I love it. And, it's cheap! My table cloth was $8, and I bought 12 new goblets for $12.99, now that's my kind of store. I figured it was only right that I get a more Thanksgiving worthy table cloth, because last year I had to use my white tablecloth, and white dishes on a white table cloth certainly does not "scream" Thanksgiving to me. So I bought a pretty gold-ish table cloth and then some deep purple cloth napkins because I thought that would be pretty and not so blah as gold and orange. Anyway, I have spent a little time on pinterest lately gathering all sorts of new holiday ideas.

It's tradition for Randall and me to make pies the night before thanksgiving, while watching a good movie. Then Thanksgiving morning we usually watch the Macy's day parade as we prepare the other fixins'. Since we don't have cable we won't get the parade, so I'll have to look into watching it on the Internet, because you can't have Thanksgiving without the Macy's parade. Last year we went and watched the parade from Rand's office and it was a dream come true, but it was also exhausting. Seeing it is his birthday on actual Thanksgiving this year, I figured I should make it a little more about him and what he wants to do and not all about me, at least for one day of the year :) We do however think we may go to Central Park the day before where they fill up the balloons and get them ready for the parade the next day. I think that sounds like a lot of fun. We shall see.

When I went on my date to the library I picked up some new recipe books and have been perusing all sorts of yummy things to maybe add to or mix up our Thanksgiving Fare. I am planning on making a Thanksgiving binder with all the recipes that I use on a yearly basis. I know this all sounds ridiculous and shallow but I LOVE Thanksgiving.

I was also trying to think of a way to make the holidays a little more meaningful and spirit filled so I have started reading the New Testament. Our scripture group is studying the New Testament this year and I figured reading and studying about Christ would be nice and I am enjoying it so far.

Last night Randall and I had our planning meeting to discuss our all things Christmas, like budget, activities, what are we doing etc. It got me excited and way overwhelmed too. Sometimes in an attempt to get everything done and organized I overwhelm myself and started to feel panicked. I updated my Address book and finished up our Christmas cards today and really happy with them. The card is just various pictures because I decided that while I would like to think that the people receiving the card want to read about the things going on in our life, and how amazing and talented little Johnny is, in reality xmas cards often comes across of being so over the top or just plain rude! I don't know how many times I've read a Christmas letter and thought to myself things like "wow, compared to them, we are LAME, we don't do any cool stuff like them, or "who really cares that you bought a new house, and car and went on 7 vacations this year? I remember saying to a friend of mine once after receiving her Christmas card one year and feeling really bad comparing my life to hers, "Wow, you guys had such a fun year!" She replied that it had taken her 3 days and a lot of crying to figure out something to say. We all want our lives to see amazing and glamorous but bottom line, is life just life and even if you do have that amazing life, maybe I'm just too insecure to read about it. We on the other hand, have some cute kids in my opinion, and we finally had some great pictures taken(thanks Josh!) and if people want to know the specifics of our life, then there are many ways in which they can look me up so we can chat in real life, not in the crazy xmas card world of "we are so amazing, and better than everybody else." Whew, I feel better now.

Hallowhat?

Saturday October 29 the forecast predicted a little snow in the late afternoon, so when the first flakes began to fall, I thought nothing of it. In fact, I was a little bit excited. The first snow of the season is always magical, and last year we didn't have any snow until December 26th! The only problem is the little flakes soon turned into big flakes and they just kept coming and coming. Randall and Ethan has been away for the weekend and were supposed to be flying in Saturday night, so when the roads began to be covered with snow I was a little nervous.

Miraculously after two long delays in Atlanta my boys were able to get home about Midnight, thanks to a ride from our trusty home teacher. We had received 6-8 inches of snow over the course of the day and the trees were looking a bit Seuss-like. What I mean by that is that the trees still have all their leaves on and adding heavy wet snow to those branches weighed down all the branches so they were all just bending over like a weeping willow. I noticed some branches breaking off in the road and some power lines came down but I never once thought that this would spell disaster.

Little did I know that about 3pm Saturday many, many and I'm talking millions of people had lost power. Somehow we were fortunate at that point to still have power. In fact Sunday our home teacher called and asked if we could return the favor and let them come over and warm up since they were some without power and their house was already to 55 degrees. We awakened to no power but welcomed them over anyway. It was fun to have their family over since Stake Conference was cancelled due to the weather. We enjoyed a little slower paced day and went to bed. We awakened in the morning we learned that the train lines weren't running due to hundreds of downed trees and many miles of damaged lines. This meant no work for Randall, yeah! Or so I thought. Without power or Internet Randall didn't even have a way to get into his work account to put on his out of office. His boss even asked him to go to an Apple store to try to log in there to do it. Randall's day off turned not so off, with him taking some client calls and the like, but it was still nice to have him home and not work for the most part.

The crazy part is that when we tried to get to the mall we had to try 3 different routes just to get there because of so many closed roads due to downed power lines and trees. I'm not exaggerating when I say that our poor little town looked like it had been hit by a tornado. Oh, and I forgot, Monday was Halloween. Our Mayor (I guess) decided that Halloween would be postponed until Friday November 4th. Can one do that?!? Apparently so. Oh, and did I mention that school of course was cancelled? Day by day I would wait for the call saying whether there would be school the next day or not. By Tuesday the kids were still home, Rand was able to get into work, and the house was cold. Thankfully it was only 55 degrees, which was chilly but not unbearable. The hardest part actually was having the kids keep enough clothes on. I was cold at times with a coat and a hat on. Kate especially was the worst and kept coming out in a skirt and t shirt and I would have to say "NO, long pants and long sleeves and socks or slippers and a coat!

Thankfully I wasn't worried or stressed really at all. I figured it wouldn't be long, because who in this day and age goes without power for an extended period of time? Little did I know. Many people in our ward were without power for 5-6 days! We were prepared with battery powered lanterns, flashlights, and many candles. We did realize quickly though that while we have a stash of "C" batteries, we very much need to stock up on "D" batteries. I was tempted to go trick or treating for batteries. Thankfully due to our location right next to the hospital we were one of the first after a few days to get our power back. Every time I am unhappy with the location of where we live I am reminded of how lucky we have been with our location for various reasons, and power is certainly one of them. We didn't lose power at all with Hurricane Irene and we didn't have any flooding with the snow storm, and on a day to day basis we couldn't be in a more convenient location to the train, library, etc.

The blessing in receiving power days before others was not only warmth, but that we had the opportunity to serve others. I don't write that to toot my own horn but I learned a very important lesson from this experience. Accept help!!! I, like many people, I'm sure due to pride, do not like to accept help. In fact I have a funny story about that. When I was pregnant with Jane I was really sick. I was throwing up all day and feeling horrible and just trying to stay alive. Needless to say the house was a complete wreck. So much so that one of the kids had spilled a ton of raisins all over the family room floor, and I didn't have the energy or the care to just pick them up or even ask them to pick them up. Some friends of mine came by during that time to give me a care basket full of things to help with my nausea and meals and various things to make me feel better. While they were there visiting one of my friends said "let me pick up your raisins" very non chalant, and I practically yelled at her "NO!!!" I was SO embarrassed that they were even there in the first place after who knows how long, and I was NOT going to let her pick them up. A silly thing really but that was so not going to happen. We still laugh about that now, and from time to time I will say "Nicole, let people help you pick up your raisins" and she totally knows what I'm talking about. Another time I was 8 months pregnant and we were moving out of our house and Randall was begging me to let people help me clean once everything was moved out. After much pleading on his part I finally promised him I would get some help. So...after hours and hours of cleaning myself, I went to my neighbor and asked her if she would come vacuum my living room for me so I could tell Randall I had help. I don't say this to say look how awesome I am but I am realizing how dumb that is. People really want to help. I saw needs of people and offered to do things and so many times it was like "no, we don't need to come spend the night, no, you don't need to do my laundry, NO... " I finally realized that it may be uncomfortable to let others see you at your worst, un-showered, dirty laundry etc., but they really want to help. We had the ability and desire to help people and sometimes people let me and sometimes they wouldn't and it just made me sad. While it will still be difficult I've decided that next time I need to let someone "pick up my raisins".

Another thing I learned through all this is how the council we are given from the leaders of our church is so amazing and inspired. Being without power and heat was mostly just an inconvenience. Others not of our faith were not prepared as we were and it was a true difficulty for them. With no prompting from me I was talking to a good friend of mine who is not a member and was without power for 6 days. She and I have discussed many different aspects of the gospel including food storage. She pointed out to me that this was probably one of the reasons why our church leaders ask us to store food. I couldn't believe it and was really excited that she put that together all on her own.

Needless to say by Thursday the kids were still out of school and Halloween had been cancelled at that point. Thankfully the Zoo was having trick or treating so I took the kids over there so they could as least put on their costumes and get some candy. It was a fun time. Wow, who knew the adventures we would have while living here, the good news is I wouldn't trade it for anything.