Merry Christmas

12/27/09

Well...Christmas is over. Such a big build up and then it's all over so quickly. We had a great Christmas. We got to have my sister Beth stay with us for the holiday break (she's actually still here) and we've loved having her with us. I know it sure helped me get more done than I could have on my own.

She and I took the kids to see Santa at the mall. Aiden was into it and I love the smile he gave me in this picture, but you can tell Emma was pretty nervous. I think if I could do it over I wouldn't have made her sit with Santa. This is the first year I've ever taken the kids to see Santa, mostly because I never felt like Aiden was old enough. So I guess it wasn't fair to think Emma would be. I just hoped having her brother there would help. Not so much! At least she didn't cry. Aiden asked Santa for a train, and Emma didn't say a word. Then they both got a Sees Chocolates butterscotch lollypop. Since we got there early we were 3rd in line. So the wait wasn't bad.

We got a few days of snowfall the week of Christmas so we took the kids outside and Aiden had fun pulling Emma in the sled.

On Christmas Eve we decorated cookies for Santa.
(This is the first year we've done the whole Santa thing with the kids.)

This is Chistmas morning. I didn't have time to make us new stockings so we just had to make due with the ones we had and rename them. :)

After opening our gifts we went to Kart's parents' house for "Sweeds" (they're basically like creps) and more present opening.

(the scarf I made mom)

(the silhouette I made of Aubrey)

Kart filming the fun day.

Emma's cool new converse shoes from her aunt Nea.

Emma loves this toy.

The gorgeous checker/chess board Kart made for Kelby.

Every one passed out after presents for an afternoon nap.

Then we had Chinese for dinner and the kids enjoyed drinking out of fun cups with straws.
(I just like this picture because I think emma's face looks funny!)

Emma got these leggings for Christmas and they look so funny on her- showing off all her rolls. Kart renamed her "Stretchy Pants" for the rest of the day. I think they're cute on her.

That's some of the highlights of our Christmas. I hope yours was fun too. Merry Christmas and have a happy new year!

Christmas Spirit

12/19/09

I hope you're all having a happy holiday season and not letting things stress you out. I think its easy to lose sight of what we're really celebrating when we get so involved in the gift giving and the parties. I thought this short video does a great job reminding us of the reason for the season. Enjoy and have a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Around the World

12/12/09

The Christmas parties have begun...
I'm okay with that though. I love a good party, and this one was great.
It was for my Church and the theme was Christmas around the world.
There were displays from different countries, and trivia given about other countries' Christmas traditions through out the night.

My dad was in the army when we were kids and for a few years we lived in Belgium.
While we were there we adopted their tradition of putting our shoes out by the door on Dec. 6th for St. Nicholas to fill with candy and small presents, and we would leave carrots for his donkey. It was a tradition we enjoyed so much that even after we came back to the U.S. we continued doing it for several more years. (if we remembered to) Heck, what kid wouldn't want 2 Christmas celebrations? The more candy and gifts the better. ;)

The party tonight was planned by a Hawaiian family so you know we ate well!
We ate a delicious dinner of pineapple glazed ham, "funeral potatoes" (or what ever you call them), rolls and jello. That was followed by a large assortments of pies- that we had too much of! One of these days, probably after Christmas, we're going to try giving up sugar, but I'll tell you more about that another day. (it's something I've been mulling over for a while now and just have to get the guts to try) My favorite part, as always at these functions, was just visiting with all our great friends!

My kids and I ended up at the craft table where I think I had more fun than they did making things. They colored while I made them both headbands out of sparkly pipe cleaners. I made Aiden a holly berry wreath and Emma some reindeer antlers.
Doesn't she just make the cutest reindeer?

Motivation

12/11/09

Back when I first really started reading blogs I found one that I really connected with called Simple Mom. I use to read it religiously, and then as my list of blogs I subscribe to got bigger I read Simple Mom less and less. Well this week I've rediscovered this old favorite of mine and it makes me wonder why I ever stopped reading in the first place. It's an endless source of inspiration and help for stay at home moms. Today I found what I needed to hear so badly; a post on finding the motivation to do what we as moms do everyday. It's a great post & you can read it for yourself here.

cinnamon clay ornaments

12/8/09

This is how we spend the coldest day of the year in Utah...

We ate grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.

Mmmm. Perfect cold weather comfort food.

We like to cut ours in strips - perfect for dipping.

Don't forget to drink the leftovers!

And with just these 3 ingredients...

we made these delicious smelling and oh-so-cute ornaments!

They're really easy to make and smell like cinnamon for years! The only hard part was keeping the kids from tasting them. I'm still waiting for them to dry, but when they're dry we'll paint a few of them and tie a ribbon through each one. I can't wait- they're going to look so cute on our tree! (and make our house smell yummy)

Want to make some too? Here's the recipe...

Cinnamon Clay Ornaments

1 1/2 c. ground cinnamon

1 c. applesauce

1/3 c. Elmer's glue

-----------------------

Mix the 3 ingredients in a bowl. (It should be the consistancy of cookie dough.)

Knead on a surface dusted with cinnamon. (If it's too crumbly just add a little more applesauce or water.)

Roll out (again lightly dust with cinnamon to help prevent sticking) and cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters or a knife.

Poke a hole in the ornaments for stringing ribbon or a wire ornament hanger through and lay them on a flat surface for drying.

Total drying time should take 3-5 days. Be sure to flip them over a couple times a day.

Enjoy your delicious smelling ornaments!

just keep moving

12/6/09

I don't know if it's like this for you, but when it comes to cleaning my apartment I find that if I can get myself to start and then just keep moving, I end up getting a lot done; and usually pretty quickly. (Or at least quicker than I thought I would.) I've been thinking about that idea a lot lately. "Just keep moving." It doesn't just work as a method of getting my apartment back in order, but also applies to my spirituality, my creative work, and my role as wife and mother (and probably other areas of my life too).

I think I'm really writing this post for me, as a reminder of the connection I made tonight, but thought maybe someone else might be able to relate or benefit from me sharing it. I've been in a rut off and on the last few months and I think part of the reason for that rut is that in some areas I've stopped moving. When things get hard I have a tendency to want to step away from it so I don't feel so stressed out. Sometimes that's okay. Taking a break can be a good thing if more important things are being neglected. But I think that in general, if I would "just keep moving", then the frustration would pass and something good would come.

Creatively I haven't been producing the kind of artwork I'd like to lately. So I put it away because it's frustrating me. Well I know if I just kept drawing or creating, eventually I'll create something wonderful and worthy of sharing. I can't just stop because it's not perfect, but even though I know great artists don't always create amazing things every time their pen hits paper or paint goes on a canvas, I still want to quit. I just need to keep moving, keep creating and know that eventually something great will come of it.

Spiritually it's easy to get stagnant too. I know how not doing the little things can really stop me from progressing, and affect the way I feel. I always feel better when I read my scriptures, pray sincerely, and do my best to make good choices. But it's easy to let the little things slide even when I know they make the biggest difference in my day, and in my life.

That's just a couple of examples. I'm sure there are more connections I could come up with, but I'll leave it at that. Thanks for letting me share my thoughts tonight. I'm going to try to "just keep moving" more often. Life can be hard, but I know if I just keep putting in the effort that good things will follow eventually. It's when I stand (or sit!) still that things fall apart.

Back in the saddle again...

12/5/09

Recently I've had a couple friends ask me to do portraits for them. Even though I've done it before it always makes me so nervous! I just know how important portraits are to people, myself included, and how much effort goes in to preparing for a photo shoot. I don't want to mess it up for anyone. It's the pressure I guess. Well, despite my nervousness, I did the shoots anyway and I'm actually pretty happy with how they both turned out!

This first shoot was for my friend Megan, who was recently sealed to her husband and children in the Temple. They all had matching outfits, kinda like a wedding, and I thought they looked so cute! This shoot was just the kids though. We were lucky to get this shoot done on one of the last warm-ish fall days last month.

Then today I shot pictures of one my friends from home, Annie, and her adorable family. I love that they decided to do matching pajamas for their pictures! It was a joy to photograph them and am so grateful they braved the very chilly weather for this first shot. Their daughter is adorable and such a sweet baby. I love photographing kids- especially babies. It was great to see Annie again and meet her family.