An uneventful life...

Things have been pretty boring around my house lately. Not much blog material, and not much exciting for us at all really, just our day to day insanity. So, a few updates on our family.
Tank has the month off from preschool, so I've enjoyed having her home with all her crazy comments and silliness. Today she told me that she really missed her blue eyes. Have you seen this girls eyes? She was never blue eyed. LOL. She also got really upset at Benson for not taking her to the store "to buy mom some Smooth Away, so she doesn't have to shave anymore". Maybe she's on the right track on that one; shaving is getting more difficult with the baby belly getting in my way. In case you missed it in the previous picture, here she is with her baby in her belly. :)

On the flip side, Twister is also home with me all day, and he hasn't been quite so cute. :P Well, of course he is still adorable, but his latest joy in life is helping himself to whatever he wants in the fridge. Today he spilled a pitcher of juice, helped himself to a handful of cheese sticks which he chewed on the wrapper, but didn't actually want to eat, and opened 2 yogurts which he also refused to eat. Time for a fridge lock!!! But, despite his antics, he is so darn cute. He is talking up a storm and LOVES to sing. My favorite thing to do with him is to sing nursery songs with him and listen to him attempt all the words. He also does all the actions. SO FUN! He also loves to play with balls and is quite entertaining to watch with them. Yesterday he entertained himself for an hour with a bat which he was using like a golf club, and a ball which he hit all around the room... then giggled uncontrollably. He's a ham, and we love him. :)Goose is back in the swing of things at school. He's actually been doing really well lately. Homework is not as difficult a battle as it has been sometimes, and he has really been a big help at home. He has chores that he has been fairly responsible with and he is ALWAYS a great help with Twister. Don't know where I would be without him.

Benson has been really really busy lately. He is trying shift up a gear in his job search. He's really feeling the need to find something with a regular schedule and in his field. Keep up the prayers on his behalf please! :) We still need them.


Sweetie is also back into the swing of things at school. One of her favorite things to do when she is home is to be the owner of her own restaurant. :) She will take everyone's lunch orders and actually make them for us! She is still very into her art and craft projects as well, and is very talented.

As for me, I'm hangin' in there. Most days that's about all I can do. I recently failed my 1 hour glucose tolerance test and had to go for the 3 hour. The same thing happened last pregnancy and I was a lot more bitter about it. LOL. This time I just decided to get it over with quickly. I did the test on Monday and they didn't call with results, so I can only assume I passed. I hate doctors offices that only call with bad results, but that is the way it goes with the office I'm at. Overall, I'm actually feeling better this month than last, even though I'm now in the 3rd trimester and according to the books, the 2nd trimester should be the "best". I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts, because its only a matter of time before I get really uncomfortable. My doctors have decided to watch me very closely for preterm labor with this pregnancy. When I was watched closely when I was pregnant with Tank, I delivered at 38 weeks. With Twister they didn't watch me closely at all because I'd gone "full term" the previous pregnancy. Go figure, I delivered at 34 weeks. So hopefully, I will go to at least 37 weeks with this one. Actually I don't really care how far along I go, as long as I don't have to leave the baby in the NICU. That is my goal.

Well, that's all for today!

A little miracle

We've had a LOT of snow lately here. Last fall, we didn't get our trampoline taken down, so it was being weighed down by the snow. Yesterday Benson decided to take the net down in hopes that we don't ruin it by leaving it in this weather. Tank joined him outside and enjoyed playing in the snow.

Later in the day, Benson needed to leave for work, but couldn't find his keys. He looked all over the house, in his coat pocket, in his pants pocket.... they were not to be found. He finally asked Tank if she knew where they were.

"Yes Dad, they are under the trampoline."

Apparently they fell out of his pocket while working on the tramp. They surely would have been lost until Spring if our little Tank hadn't kept her eyes open. It may be a little miracle, but I'm sure glad for it!!!

Quick Tank-ism

Benson and I got the kids to bed on time last night for the first time in at least 2 weeks. LOL. I guess that is part of Christmas vacation, right? Anyway, all the kids know that they should not come downstairs after Mom & Dad have given hugs and kisses and said prayers with them...

However, last night Tank came down anyway. She quickly began to explain herself:

"Mom, I know I need to go to bed, but we had a little candy situation."

Where does she come up with these sayings? a candy situation? Sure enough, she had found some candy in her bed, and *needed* to put it away immediately.

Funny girl.

Christmas Letter 2009

Merry Christmas to all!

We've had a crazy but blessed year. We were blessed with a "for sure" job opportunity falling through, a car biting the dust and a shocking surprise of a pregnancy, plus a few other "blessings", but nothing that we couldn't handle. I never thought I'd be grateful for some of the trials that we have had, but I think I'm getting there. Despite our worries, we have been able to pay our bills every month, we have a safe and warm roof over our heads, and we've been blessed with good health. For that, I am truly grateful.

I have to start with a quick shout out to all the Santa's out there. I was worried about this holiday season disappointing the kids because I knew we couldn't add gifts to our budget. Through the help of many, many Santa's, we were blessed with an abundance! One of the biggest blessings came in the form of boxes of clothes for our new little girl, from a couple different sources. I mentioned this pregnancy was a surprise, well, it was so much of a surprise that we had gotten rid of all of our baby girl clothes a LONG time ago, and baby boy clothes right up until I found out I was pregnant. Buying new clothes is not exactly part of our budget right now either, but now I have clothes to outfit my baby for at least the first year!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all the Santa's out there, those who helped us knowingly and those who hardly know us at all, and yet were still extremely generous. Words just don't seem like enough.

One of our years highlights included visiting St. Louis for Benson's parents 50th wedding anniversary in June. We were blessed to see the majority of Benson's family at that event and it was a good time for everyone. It may not have been a tropical getaway, but we were glad to be able to take a few days to remember how awesome it is to have good family surrounding us. I sort of wish we had some other vacations or events to brag about, but most of our year has been spent at home.

Well, on to the more traditional Christmas letter bragging updates on the kids.

Goose is doing just amazing in school. He is in fourth grade this year. This past month he seems to have gotten into the schedule of school and is doing great keeping up with the workload and getting a little bit better organized. He still loves his legos, Star Wars, a computer game called Wizard 101 and reading. He has been a huge help to me lately with his little brother Twister. He will play games on the computer with him, build towers for him to knock down or just sit with him, and Twister couldn't be happier about the attention. :)

Sweetie is in second grade this year. She is also very smart and doing great in school. Her true loves lie in arts and crafts. She always seems to be making a card, or project for someone. She has a talent for it, and I love to do crafts with her by my side. She and her sister have a very close relationship and I love watching the two of them play together.

Tank is in preschool, and ready to turn 5 and start Kindergarten next year. She talks about it quite often. She is very social and loves to hold a conversation with anyone who will listen to her. She is very loving and super sweet with her little brother, but still insists on picking him up and moving him where she thinks he wants to go... thus still earning her nickname Tank. :) She is super girly and loves her skirts, dresses, and purses.

Twister is growing up much too quickly. He is now 20 months old and his language is suddenly exploding. Some of his favorite words include "andy" for candy, "at" for cat, and "up" for cup/milk... he also loves his family. He has words to name everyone including "Mommy", "Addy" for Daddy, "Tin" for Goose, "Aa" for Sweetie, "Ette" for Tank, "Papa", and "Nana". We love to quiz him on these names because they just sound so darn sweet coming out of his mouth. :) Some of his favorite things to do are knock down towers, read books, and watch "Ora" aka Dora.

Our April 3 Expected beauty seems to be growing well. She is slowing me down greatly, but I'm not too uncomfortable yet. We look forward to meeting her in a few months.

Benson is still working awful hours at Buffalo Wild Wings, but we are grateful for the income. He is trying to fit a job search into his schedule, which has proven difficult. Hopefully it won't be too long before something he finds actually comes through. Thank you for all the prayers we know are being given in this search!

As for me, most of the time I'd say I'm doing well. The house isn't clean, and dinner is often frozen pizza, but we always seem to have enough entertainment, enough toilet paper, enough food, and enough love... so I'd say we're doing well. I was able to make a bunch of the Christmas gifts that we gave this year, which was a lot of work, but so much more rewarding to me than going out to the stores. The gifts included a family memory game (using family photos), a block photo puzzle, rice bag Monster Warmers, pretend make-up and a photo slideshow DVD. Here's a small sampling of the DVD for your enjoyment:





I love receiving all of your Christmas cards, so I really would love to send one too... However for this year, consider this your official "card" from us... perhaps next year we will have the energy and resources to get out a snail mail card.

Again, Merry Christmas to all of you, and a happy new year.

White Elephant gift. . . .

So....... This story starts many decades ago with my grandparents.  I believe it was in the 1970's that my grandfather was called to serve as the mission president in the Phillipines.  The people there were very generous and loving and gave my grandparents many gifts when it was time for them to come home.  Several of the gifts were handcarved wood sculptures of amazing quality.  My dad has a really cool water buffalo in his house, and there were others including some little pigs and other miscellaneous things.  There was also one, somewhat disturbing sculpture.  The sculpture was about 2 feet tall, and was of a naked warrior.  He wore a loin cloth, that was actually cloth.  I don't think I ever looked underneath but I assume it was carved underneath the fabric too...  The most disturbing part of this naked warrior was that he had a a head hanging off of his waist and another head in his other hand.   I remember this guy being in my grandpa's office, and thinking it was, well, scary!  LOL!  As I mentioned, my dad has several beautiful philippine sculptures, but this guy was kept in the basement.  :)  Well, several years ago, we went to a Christmas party with a white elephant gift exchange.  I was at my Dad's house telling him I didn't know what we were going to bring, and he suggested that the sculpture might be quite the hit.  Since I had no better ideas, the sculpture was wrapped up and brought along.  The poor couple who got it were such good sports, but really, the sculpture is somewhat hideous... what would you do with it??? (The ribbon was to "dress him up" from the last exchange)

Well, that was at least 2-3 years ago, maybe more.  I had lost track of him the moment he was in someone else's possession.  I was nearly in tears today when I found out that our bishops wife has ended up with the infamous sculpture in another white elephant gift exchange.  Apparantly the little man has been around the block a few times.  It has even begun to collect signatures from those lucky enough to inherit him.  Who knew what we were starting?  :)
I did a little research and found that in years past, in the Philippines, headhunting was considered noble, and now symbolizes bravery among men.  Nice symbol of bravery, right?  Who's brave enough to display this guy until the next gift exchange?  

Shhh!!!! It's a secret!

I'm dying to share these cute little guys... but they are for a secret santa gift exchange, so if you know any of my kids cousins MUM'S THE WORD. 

In my searches for fun, creative, handmade but not "HAND" made (as in yuck) gifts, I found *this link* to make rice pillows...  I thought they were a good idea, but I was looking for gifts for the under 8 years old crowd, so I almost dismissed them.  Then I had an epiphany.  :)  If they were cute and cuddly, maybe they could be exciting and functional.  So, I began scrounging through my fabric scraps to see what I could come up with.   For this project, Sweetie was my right hand girl... she "designed" a perfect little monster warm hugger. 

Sweetie was ready to carry it around as her own little baby so I thought that was a good indicator that it might be cute enough.  Now for the functional test.  I put our little hugger into the microwave for a minute and pulled her out.  The reactions were priceless.  :)  Sweetie didn't want to stop hugging it, and when I suggested that it could keep feet warm in a cold bed, she thought that would be awesome.  :)   That was good enough for me, so I started on the next one...

I let Goose and Twister check this guy out.  After it was warmed up, I let Goose check it out first... he immediately asked if he could have one too!  He said he needed one for after he comes in from playing in the snow.  Good idea buddy!!  Need to add that to my instructions card.  :)   Twister gave it a big hug and walked off with it, so I think he liked it too.  I just hope the actual recipients are as excited about them as my kids are.  I'm hoping that since my kids have helped design and have tested them out, that they will share their excitement with the cousins they are giving to...  :)   Now I have to see if I have enough rice to make 4 more for my kids too!!  LOL!

Santa

Twister didn't even cry at Santa this year! Progress, right?

We had a good time at our ward's Christmas breakfast this year.  Good food, good company and good times.

So far, I've got about 4 1/2 gifts ready.  Still more to go.  I'm really hoping what my kids remember is the time, thought and effort we've put into gift giving this year.  And obviously that time and effort is not at the stores. I've been trying to spend time *with* the kids making the gifts for others so that they are involved and creating memories.  In this commercial world, that is a challenge, but I know it will be worth it.