Christmas decorations!

I love putting up my Christmas decorations! They have so many memories. Here are a few of my favorites.......

Mike and I were married in December. We did our wedding colors in burgandy and gold. My wonderful, amazingly talented step-mom put together most of the decorations for the reception. As a wedding gift she made us some ornaments that went along with our wedding colors to put on our first Christmas tree. We've added to them over the years and putting up our front room tree not only has wonderful Holiday memories, but we have the priviledge of wedding memories tied into it too. I wish I had the photographic skills that so many of my friends seem to posess. My little picture doesn't do it justice. It really is a beautiful tree.....glittery gold snowflakes, sparkly white lights, elegent balls and bow. I love it!

I adore Christmas villages. I always wanted one growing up. I bought my first house the first year we were married and I've collected one for every year since. Now that I have 10 houses I'm starting to run out of room, but I can't help myself.....I still go out on Black Friday every year and spend an obscene amount of time picking out the next perfect addition.

A few years ago my sister bought us this Advent Calendar. Can you get any cuter? Love it! Every day you pick out an ornament from the little wooden boxes surrounding the base and hang it on the wood tree. The boys love it as well and I have to keep an eagle eye out to make sure non of the ornaments "walk off". And then there's Christmas Tanner style.....

I never thought to hang ornaments on a bassinet....

or our woodburning stove.....and I found this little cozy Christmas scene set up inside of his pop-up pup tent...and I think the big black trantula posed on the Christmas house ready to pounce on the carolers added a classic touch....

My Naughty Boy

Frustration!
Anger!
Irritation!
and occasionally......

A Laugh!

I see Blogs all the time where they have a weekly theme that they post on, such as things they are grateful for, or funny thing their kids said during the week. This morning during a moment of extreme annoyance a thought came to me......I could do a weekly post titled Naughty Things Tanner Did This Week. That little boy tries my patience! I think there's something to be said for the fact that I've discovered my first couple of gray hairs since he joined our family. There is no child-proofing preventative measures that he can't get past. I feel like I shouldn't even have to child-proof my house for a 4-year-old! I'd love to know what goes on in his head. Is it all just boredom? Curiosity? Here's just a sampling from the last 10 days......

1. Got into paint that one of Mike's co-workers left behind. Proceded to paint the trampoline and his and Caeden's new clothes.


2. Spilled Fun Dip on my fabric couch and instead of coming to get me to vaccum it off he tried to lick it up and made a huge blue stain.

3. Stood on the cat food bucket so he could reach the Bleach Pen up in my laundry room cabinet. Proceeded to ruin half of Caeden's school wardrobe.


4. Tried to feed Weston peanuts.

5. Crawled up on top of my dresser and snuck into my jewelry box. Took out my wedding ring and tried to run off with it hidden behind his back. To fully understand the seriousness of this crime I have to explain that this is wedding ring #2. Tanner ran off with my original ring and after it had been missing for 2 years Mike finally bought me a new one for Christmas last year.


6. Used the advantage point of the top bed of their new bunk bed to tie a bunch of toys to the ceiling fan and then turned it on. The ceiling fan now has one blade that hangs lower than the rest.

7. Ate a tube of toothpaste.


8. Kept playing with one of the lamps. Finally the lamp shade got close enough to the bulb that it started to melt.

9. Cut the sleeve off of one of his school shirts.


10. This infraction was a while ago, but we're just barely getting it resolved this week: threw a rock at a neighbors truck and chipped the paint. We finally found the name of an autobody shop that will do a patch job on the one chip and not want to just paint the whole entire panel (a painful $500s).

Today......

11. Started playing with his night-light (I just barely put in their bedroom to replace the destroyed lamp) and came downstairs screaming that he lit his room on fire. I ran up and the night-light as well as the plug socket are both charred black.

12. While I was trying to locate the fuse to shut off power in his bedroom until Mike can get home to fix the wiring he came downstairs to "play" with Weston. My blood pressure just about went through the roof when I walked down to see that he's wrapped the cords from his video games around Westons neck several times.


13. Put a washer on his finger and couldn't get it off......we discovered that butter really does work for that kind of thing.


....it's not even 10am yet.....!


And the occasional laugh....

14. Right now he's fixated with tape. Give him a roll of tape and it entertains him a full 30 min. (a very long time in Tanners world). I keep finding toys taped up all over the house. Hilarious!



I love this little stinker so much......and I need to remind myself of that daily!

Caeden

Yesterday was Caeden's 7th birthday. I can't believe how fast he's growing up. I feel like this last year he's really matured. He's such a big handsome boy. It seems like it's only been a blink of an eye since we brought our firstborn son home from the hospital. He was such a colic baby. Those first few months were so hard. Then he grew out of it and has evolved into the most mild mannered, mellow and sweet kid. He has such an amazing imagination. It's so funny to watch him out on the trampoline having imaginary battles. It's like he sees a whole world right in front of him that the rest of us have no access too....the simple backyard with trees and a swingset no longer exists. Instead he's a Pokemon trainer and he's locked in a fierce battle against Team Rocket.......or he's a Power Ranger morphing into an animal and fighting some huge and ferocious alien creature.......or he's the Transformer Optimus Prime and he's able to fold himself into a diesel truck and race away to save the day. Mike always says "Caeden's back in The Zone." because none of us can reach him there. We can call his name or shout at him, but it's almost impossible to get his attention once he's in The Zone. He LOVES LOVES LOVES anything to do with superheroes. You name it, he's into it: Spiderman, Bakugan, Transformers, Batman, Pokemon, Medabots, Thundercats, Star Wars.......I know more than I ever thought I would about all these boyish idols. He's very social and is always looking for friends everywhere we go. He likes everyone and will play with them regardless of age or gender. His best friend at school right now is a girl (I love that!). Despite that he also likes his quiet time. He enjoys reading and being read too more than almost any other activity. He loves building with legos, doing puzzles, and playing board or card games with anyone who's willing. He's the one child I have to pull away from the TV or he'll become so engrossed he'll watch it all day. He takes the role of Big Brother very seriously. He's always teaching Tanner his letters and how to count and he's so helpful to feed Baby Weston or make him laugh and keep him happy while I'm busy.

When he was an infant and so colic my dad used to stop by the house on his way home from work. More often than not both mamma and baby would be sitting on the couch crying. His Papa would pick him up bounce him and walk around with him. He would settle right down....no one else could get him to do that. I think they formed a special bond right from the start. Caeden idolizes his Papa more than any other person. He thinks the sun rises and sets with his grandpa. It is so special to watch them together. Every once in a while his Papa will take him to go get a Happy Meal, or let him spend the night at his house......he gets so excited, he'll talk about it for days and days. Luckily we only live about 10 min away so his grandpa is a huge fixture in Caeden's life.

One of the things that can be a little challenging about him is he is a TEASE! He constantly teases his little brothers and the only complaints I've ever had from his teachers at school is that he teases, teases, teases! Despite his tendancy to "bug" Caeden really is a good kid. He's always eager to please. I rarely have to fight with him to get him to do his chores or homework. He's just starting to understand some of the Gospel and develop his own testimony. It's so special to watch. He talks about being a missionary and doing what he's supposed to so he can "make Jesus happy". He loves reading the Childrens Book of Mormon Stories and watching The Living Scriptures. I think all the battles, heroes, and soldiers in the scriptures intrigue him. Caeden has a gentle heart and his feelings can get hurt quiet easily. He gets so upset if he has an arugment with one of his friends. If someone in our house is sad Caeden will be the first of the boys to pick up on it and he'll do everything he can to try and make it better. Part of me is so proud of the big boy he's becoming, but I also feel that little mommy ache for the little boy from his past. He's growing up too fast. Happy Birthday Caeden Bug!

Halloween Fun!

Warning: LOTS of pictures!

Halloween this year was crazy, busy, and fun fun fun! We had so much going on this year! Mike's family had their annual Halloween chili party. I didn't realize it until I downloaded our pics this morning, but we didn't get very good pictures of mine, Mike's, or Westons costumes. I went as a beehive, Mike went as a patch of lawn....we sprayed his hair bright green and put bugs in it and had ants crawling up his face, and Weston was a turtle.

Caeden was a scary Darth Vadar and Tanner was the cutest little cowboy.

I love this little lady bug, I would take her home and make her mine in a heartbeat! More family members in costume........

A week later we had our ward Halloween Party. We were babysitting my two nieces so I was going a little crazy keeping track of 5 kids. I didn't get a lot of pictures, but I had to drag my camera out for this.....

Caeden decided to celebrate his birthday a little early this year and have a Halloween Birthday Bash for his party. It was loads of fun. We had so many kids turn up. It was a mad-house! I was so busy I wouldn't have many pictures, but I had a wonderful friend who agreed to come out and be our photographer for the event. We played Pin the Bones on the Skeleton, Blood Running, and decorated pumpkins.

There were lot of creepy snacks.

Swamp cupcakes.....

Pretzel spiders.....

Slimey eyeballs, Goblin fangs and Monster Much popcorn......

Worms and witches fingers.......

The highlight of the evening was the Haunted House we put together in our garage and the empty addition above it that Mike is building onto the house. Once we added fog, creepy lights, Halloween music and people in scary costumes we had ourselves quite a good Spook Alley. It was such a hit we rounded up some volunteers to work it and kept it going on Halloween night for all the Trick-or-Treaters. It was so much fun we might just make it a yearly tradition! The cemetery where Mike and Uncle Jeff waited to scare anyone who dared to enter......

Grandma Jarvis as the Mad Scientist....

The Haunted Forest where Grandpa Robinson hid in the fog in his scary wolf mask (he was a little too scary, he made a little girl cry).......

A Black Light Room where Aunt Cherie wore all black and blended in with the black walls.

Draculas Castle where Dinah played the famous count......

We had so much help with everything. This last week really helped me to feel blessed. We are surrounded by the greatest group of family and friends!

Goals

Mike asked me a question the other night that really got me thinking. He asked me if there was one area of my life where I didn't compare myself to other women.....he just wanted me to think of ONE. Huh. I couldn't do it. Keeping a clean house? Ha! I could rattle off tons of women who have beeeauuutiful houses that always seem freshly cleaned. Being a good mom? Nope. I have no patience and I get so agitated when my house if full of kids ( I can handle a couple extras, but past that I start to STRESS!).....I have some friends who are not only great with other people's kids, but they are fantastic with their own. They really seem to take the time to have quality time doing fun and educational things with their children. The way I look? Don't get me started! How come everyone seems to lose the baby weight twice as fast as I can? And what woman can't instantly rattle of 20 other girls who she thinks are prettier? Talent? I can't think of any skills I have that are above mediocre. I know so many women that can sew amazing things, or paint, or play the piano, or sing, or take pictures, or decorate, or craft. Even in something as personal as spiritual progression I tend to look around me and feel like so many others are leaps and bounds ahead of me in terms of living a Christ-like life and having an unshakably firm testimony.

The crazy thing is I think most women do this to themselves....especially LDS women. I always thought that age brought confidence, but I feel like I get more and insecure as the years go by. Maybe it's because the consequences attatched to failure are so much scarier than when I was young. If I'm not a good enough mother my boys will suffer.....if I don't have a strong enough comittment to the Gospel how am I going to help my family stand strong against all the bad in todays world........if I'm not thin enough or pretty enough I'll be one of "those" women who get married, have babies and then let themselves go......if I don't keep a nice enough house we'll be embarassed to have people over (and what would they think of me!). I really hate that I do this. I wish I didn't care what other people thought. I don't know how to shut that part of my brain off. All comparisons aside I do have lots and lots of room for improvement in my life. That being said I wanted to compile a list of goals for self improvement. In no particlular order.....

1. Daily Scripture Study- boy has that one fallen on my list of priorities since Weston was born. Our ward has a goal to read the Book of Mormon in 100 days. I occasionally fall behind, but so far I've been able to catch back up. I'd also like to get back into the habit of reading the Book of Mormon Stories for Children with the boys at night before bed.

2. Run- I want to do a half marathon sometime this Spring. My PR is 2:16, but I'd really like to beat that. Running is my anti-depressant. It's what keeps me off post-partum meds. Although I'll probably never have a whip-thin runners body, I feel better about my self image when I'm in shape, I feel stronger and more confident.

3. FHE- We seem to manage a track record of about 50-75% I'd like to be 100%

4. Home- here's a biggie, I know it's unrealistic (for me) to have a lickably clean house at all times. So I'd like to just focus on a few things. Make beds everyday. Wipe down my bathroom everyday (absolutely necessary with little boys). Load and run the dishwasher at night before bed.....don't let dinner dishes sit until morning...yuck.

5. Developing talents- I need to start practicing the piano again. I haven't played since Martha died. I'll never be a concert pianist or be able to play amazing solo pieces, but I would like to have music in our home. I love to play, I feel very relaxed and at peace. I also enjoy feeling like I'm using my brain when faced with challenging pieces.

6. Motherhood- Tanner is so bored with Caeden in school all day. I want to start planning at least one fun special activity for him each week. Maybe a picnic at the park, or building a snowman, or doing a fun craft at home. Also, Caeden seems to really need one-on-one. I want to start having mommy-boy dates with each of my kids once a month.

7. A Better Wife- I'm too hard on Mike. I know I am. He works so hard and I don't tell him often enough how much I appreciate the good life that he provides for our family. I tend to focus on how much he's gone instead of how much he does. I need to be a more positive wife. I've arranged a babysitting swap with my sister so that we can start going on dates once a month. I love him more than ever, but too often our relationship takes back seat. I want to help bring some sparks back into our marriage.

8. Me- When I spent the day doing Halloween crafts a couple of Fridays ago I realized that I don't make "me" time very often. I have tons of scrapbook stuff that has been collecting dust for about two years now. I love doing crafts. I love cooking, baking and creating yummy things in my kitchen. I'm not amazingly talented or creative, but I love having something to show for my hard work......you just don't get that with the house, meals and endless loads of laundry. I'm thinking Friday will be my day "off" (need to send a memo to the kids about that) to do what I want, craft, cook, read, go shopping, or spend the day with my sister or have some fun with friends. Only the most basic of house work or errands on that day.

9. Service- I know one of the best ways to have gratitude for what you have is to serve others. I am so blessed. I'm blessed to have my health, family, and material comforts. I know a lot of people who don't have those things. I want to spend more time helping ease their burdens. I want to be a better friend, daughter, and sister. Right now I'm a quarterly Visiting Teacher...I need to get back to doing it monthly.

10. Blog- I put off blogging for so long, but now that I've started I'm realizing that it's such an easy way for my to keep a journal, not only about me, but about my boys and our family life.

I'm hoping that if I focus on these goals and some self improvement that maybe I'll be able to overcome some of my insecurities and boost up my pesky lagging self esteem. There. I've written them down. Now I'm accountable.

Halloween Crafts!

Today I did something I haven't done in longer than I can remember. I made something! Not anything earth shattering or especially useful. I saw the cutest Halloween craft on this blog.....here. I decided that today I was going to ignore my messy house, my loads of unfolded laundry (my kids, ssshhhh), and all the other things that needed my attention. Today was for ME! It felt great! I love crafting - I love creating - and it's been way too long since I've taken the time to do any of it. Ta da!

Martha

Martha Morris 1932 ~ 2009 Martha Elizabeth Galbraith Morris was born May 19, 1932 in Philadelphia, PA to Robert J. and Elizabeth V. Galbraith, returned to be with her parents and our Heavenly Father on Wednesday, October 7, 2009.She was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She held many positions within the church with her most memorable one being that of organist in the Jordan River Temple. She will be truly missed by her family and friends. She is survived by her husband Bobby, West Jordan. Her children: Liz (Paul) Muir, Kearns and Robert (Cheri), West Jordan. Also surviving are her grandchildren: Brandon, Jeremy, Danyele and Caitlin Muir and Lisa and Steven Morris. At mom's request graveside services will be held Monday, October 12th at 11:00am at Camp Williams Cemetery, 17115 S Camp Williams Rd, Bluffdale, Ut. In lieu of flowers the family has set up an account at any Cyprus Credit Union in Bobby Morris' name for contributions to help with funeral cost.

Just over a week ago I lost a dear friend. I wanted to write about some of my memories of her. She was one of the sweetest most gentle ladies I have ever known. I got the privilege of taking piano lessons from her for the past year and half. During that time I grew to love her very much.

Martha was always thinking of others. Every time I showed up for a lesson she would ask my how I was doing, how my boys were, if they liked school, how Mike's work was going. She and Bobby didn't have money to spare, but she was always picking up little treats and coloring contest pages for my boys when she went to the grocery store. On holidays she would make special little candy bags for me to take home to them. My boys liked going to Sister Morris's house, eating apples in her backyard, and playing with the toys she still had lingering around from when her grandchildren were young . For a few months last year I was pregnant and too sick to take lessons. She would call me up every week or so just to check on me, make sure everything was okay, and tell me that she was thinking of me. I don't think I ever left a piano lesson without her giving me a hug and telling me that she loved me.

Martha and Bob had the sweetest marriage. She was the organist in church and Bobby would always sit up on the stand with her so that he could be near her during Sacrament meeting. Bobby had some surgeries and health problems this last year that required temporarily staying in a nursing home. Martha missed him so much. It was so hard for them to be apart. I would drive her down to the nursing home and she would stay there visiting him as long as she was able.

She was such an example of a woman with a strong testimony. There were so many times she would brush off my enquiries of how her health was by just saying she had faith that the Lord was taking care of her. One of the stories she used to tell was about few years ago when she fell on a patch of ice in the parking lot and shattered her arm. She had to have multiple surgeries to fix it. The doctors didn't know if she'd ever be able to play the piano again. She was given a blessing that her arm would be healed and her musical abilities would be restored. She didn't doubt, it was a long time before her arm functioned normally again, but she knew that she just needed to be patient and the Lord would fulfill His promise to her. There were so many different occasions when she took the time to bear her testimony to me. She loved her Heavenly Father and had such a close relationship with Him.

Martha was an amazingly talented woman. Her former piano teacher was German and Julliard trained. She was very strict and mean. I think Martha tried to make up for that by being extremely patient and sweet with her students. She thought everyone should know how to read music and she loved to teach....especially adults! I learned so much from her. I loved to listen to her play. I would practise a song for weeks and when I played it sounded like a mediocre melody for a beginning pianist. Martha would sit at the keys and play the same song from the same sheet of music and it would sound beautiful! She was the organist at the Jordan River Temple for many years and she loved it. She would always talk about how much she enjoyed going to serve on Tuesday nights. This last year they released her from that calling because her health was failing. She was so disspointed, but going there every week was tiring her out and she knew it was the right decision. The temple presidency gave her a certificate of thanks for her many years of service. She was so proud of it she put it in a frame and displayed it in her front room.

The week before she passed away I missed my piano lesson in order to go camping with my family. I wish I would have known that it would be the last time I would have seen her. I wouldn't have missed that lesson for anything. I told her "thank you" after every lesson and I responded in kind when she said she loved me, but I don't think I ever truly told her how much she meant to me and how much I appreciated her sharing her talents with me. I regret that I never once even took my camera with me to one of our lessons and got a picture of her sitting at her piano. She had such a hard time this last year. She would call Mike or I to come and close her gate in the front yard because walking up or down the stairs in her house would absolutely exhaust her. She was diagnosed with congenital heart failure and had to carry around an oxygen tank (which she hated).....despite all that she rarely complained! She had such a positive and cheerful attitude. I miss her, but I'm glad that she's finally out of pain. My heart aches for Bobby, but I know that he'll be with her again someday. I'm so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I'm grateful for the knowlege that we'll see our loved ones again. I love you Martha!