Happy Christmas

It's Christmas Eve!
The boys put out reindeer food.

The tree is built.

The stockings are hung.

Time for dinner and finishing the day.

The KAT's Meow

Jr.: Can I have a marshmallow?
Dad: What is it with you and marshmallows?
Jr.: I just feel like a marshmallow.
Dad: No. I feel like a marshmallow.
Dad (pushes on his belly): Bloop. Bloop.
Jr. Jr.: No, Dad. Marshmallows don't sound like that. You can hear them scream when you eat them.



Jr. Jr. (singing): I still need to eat the crackers I found in the basement.
Lucky: Daddy's garbage.
Jr. Jr.: Mm-hmm.



Mom: I have a cold. I can't keep talking. The more I talk, the more it is irritated.
Lucky: Jr. Jr., don't talk to Mom. The more she talks the more she gets irritated.



Lucky (about Jet): Aww. He's looking at me... just like the empty child.... Except he doesn't have a gas mask and he's not a child. He's a baby.




Lucky (about Jet): Aww. He has green eyes... like a crocodile. When he grows up he's going to be a crocodile kid then just a crocodile and not a kid.

Still Got It

Check out my Catch of the Day on July 11, 2014. Oldest and youngest grandchild (Lucky) at the time. That skill has not been lost. Oldest cousin getting youngest cousin (Jet) to sleep.

National Chocolate Covered Anything Day 2019

December 16 was National Chocolate Covered Anything Day. Lucky decided for Family Home Evening treat, we should have marshmallows dipped in chocolate with pretzel sticks sticking out of them. He was a big help in making them.

First Family Photo

And here we go. First family photo since Jet was born. I love us.

A Couple Things We've Been Celebrating

Here are a couple ways we've celebrated in December.

December 13 was National Cocoa Day. Can you believe none of us had hot chocolate on that day? I did get into a nice text discussion with my mom and my sisters about hot chocolate. It was a coincidence that my sister started talking about hot chocolate with us but I did point out the holiday at one point. They got a kick out of that. And my mom told me she was going to have a nice cup of hot chocolate herself.

We celebrated Lucky's birthday in December. He was in a chocolate mood so cake, frosting, sprinkles, and ice cream all had fancy chocolate names like double fudge or death by chocolate.

He was very pleased to get what he wanted- walkie talkies- and has been playing with them daily ever since.

Oh, and I never did blog specifically about Thanksgiving in November.
Here's our Thanksgiving spread.

Because of lack of sleep, I managed to spill stuffing as soon as I had the opportunity (I didn't do it on purpose). I did clean it up.

This Week's Service to Light the World

Having a cold throws everything off. Having a baby does the same. And having a baby with a cold...
So let's catch up a little, shall we? #LightTheWorld. Some ideas based on the calendar for this week:

December 10-  "Cheer someone on! Make plans to attend an event (holiday, athletic, cultural, etc.) to support someone you know."
I was not able to do this for obvious reasons. However, I gave someone the opportunity to serve in this manner. That night, Nichole and Jr. had orchestra concerts. Jeremy was working so he was not able to go. Some nice people in our ward were willing to take Nichole and Jr. and my camera and video their performances since neither Jeremy nor I were able. Very nice. Thank you again for serving our family that way.

December 11-  "Call your parents right now and tell them how much you love them."
I have been so good at this in years past. This year? I knew it was on the calendar. I was expecting it. I was going to do it. The day came and I didn't even look at the calendar. Sigh. Like I said- sick and baby throws everything off. My parents know I love them and I call at other times to let them know.

December 14- "Plan a one-on-one activity with a friend, a child, or a loved one."
While Jeremy and the rest of the kids were at the ward Christmas party, 
Jet and I had some tummy time together. Sweet baby.

A couple things of note about the ward party:
Nichole was invited to participate in a little group of stringed instruments playing Christmas music. 
While Jeremy was taking a video of her group, Jr. followed the younger two boys around while they made crafts and sat on Santa's lap. Thank you, Nichole and Jr. for your service.

After the ward party, nice people brought me food from it since I wasn't able to go. And that took care of dinner tonight. Hooray!

A lot of people have been doing service for us lately and I feel very blessed. Thank you, all. I feel loved. Remember, your service matters and it is appreciated.
Mosiah 2:17 "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

What?

Catch of the Day

Fun at the Library... With Santa

Jeremy took the four oldest to see Santa at the Orem Library for FHE last night. The older two opted out of sitting with Santa but the two younger boys did sit with him.

And of course it's Santa so he told the kids that he knows Dad and sees him around doing balloons.

The kids were well behaved for Jeremy so they came home with a big stack of books and movies.

I love the Orem Library.

First Presidency Christmas Devotional

We were ministered to very nicely this evening by a couple in our ward. It was a nice chance to get to know them since we basically just see them in passing at church. We talked about the Book of Mormon and about reading it next year. We talked a bit about ourselves and they about themselves. It was nice.

 They also gave us peaches and grape juice. Here is Lucky sporting his nice grape juice mustache.

I'm grateful. I can use the vitamins that come from those since Jet and I have caught our first cold since he was born. This is what we feel like:

I tried to get a picture myself and Jet. It's kind of hard when you have your eyes closed. Jr. Jr. finally volunteered to take a picture since he could get it from a better angle. Thanks, Jr. Jr. That's service. Way to #LightTheWorld.
Speaking of colds, remember our old tradition of someone being sick during the First Presidency Christmas Devotional? I guess Jet just wanted to get in with some of our family traditions.
The devotional was great. All the kids did a good job of paying attention and answering questions about it afterward.

Today was a pretty good day.

Christmas Caroling

Jeremy, Jr. Jr., and Lucky got to do service through Christmas Caroling with the Primary this morning. I asked Jeremy to get pictures of the two little boys and he did.

And silly:

 And nice:

 And silly:

 And nice:

 And silly:

 And silly again:

 And nice:

Mint M&Ms and Love

Look! We got our mint M&Ms. Let the Countdown to Christmas scripture study continue (as it has every day since the first of December with or without mint M&Ms).

#LightTheWorld One By One.
Sometimes we do service for others. Sometimes others do service for us. I can't mention on here everyone who has served our family in the past few weeks. There are so many and they are appreciated. I will mention (because I have a picture) that our sweet neighbor got us some cute outfits for Jet who is quickly growing into them.

I will also mention that every piece of service is an act of love. We've read recently in 1 John 4:11, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." In 1 John 4:21, it says, "And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also." I love seeing all the love that goes around this time of year as there is more of an emphasis on the Savior and His birth. Keep it up, everyone. You're doing great. And continue on, even after Christmas is over.

The KAT's Meow

Lucky: Why doesn't Emily call me her best friend?
*pause*
Lucky: Who is Emily?




Lucky: Do want to buy a doll?  A creepy doll?
Mommy: No, I don't want to buy a creepy doll.
Lucky: Why not? One that can say, "Mommy.  Mommy," that's remote controlled.  And that holds its hand out.

Sometimes Service is Hard

I've blogged quite a bit over the last few Decembers about what we've been doing to #LightTheWorld through service. Sometimes we do elaborate acts of service and sometimes they are more simple.
Sometimes it comes together really well. The kids are excited to help out and we have a great time.
For example, just a couple days ago, Nichole helped Lucky read a story from The Friend for his Family Home Evening lesson. We didn't ask her to do it. She offered. So nice.

Then we have mornings like today. First off, I didn't get a lot of sleep during the night because that's when Jet decided to be awake. I'm still working on trying to find the balance. During Thanksgiving Break, the kids all slept in so when I didn't get a lot of sleep at night, I was able to get some during the morning. And I looked something like this:

Aww. So content.
Now it's December. We're trying to do our Countdown to Christmas scripture study in the morning before school. I have this crazy idea that I can sleep after the oldest three go to school and the baby's asleep. But no. I look like this:

That's tired grumpy Mommy right there.
We've talked to the kids about doing simple acts of service for Light The World. That's what I'm trying to do. Finding simple ways to serve.
This morning, all I wanted to do was sleep. That's a way my child could do service for me. Let me sleep. Nope. Every time I dozed off, I would hear, "Mom. Mom."
"What?"
"Do you know what I can do?" Lucky wanted me to think of something fun for him to do. I kept giving him ideas of things he could do- color a picture, look at a book. He didn't like any of those ideas. So after I started to doze off and again he woke me up, I tried to give him ideas of service he could do- clean his room, clean the living room, draw a picture for someone, let Mommy sleep. No, he wanted something fun to do. I tried to remind him how important service is. Sigh. I just wanted sleep.
Finally he decided to write a note to someone at school. Finally. Phew. But then he wanted me to tell him how to spell some things so he could write the note. Ack.
In the end I didn't get much more sleep, but Lucky was pretty happy with the result of writing this note. So that's good anyway.

So sometimes even the simplest acts of service can be hard. Hard when I just want to sleep. Hard when Lucky doesn't want to do service. On the bright side, we'll be able to look back on this blog post and I'll be able to say, "I survived." The kids will look at it and say, "Ha Ha. Look at tired grumpy Mommy." This is life.

Light The World One By One

It's December. Time to #LightTheWorld. This year we are encouraged to Light the World One By One. Find someone to serve specially each day.
Since I can't get out much, I'm going to be serving mostly from home. I started with writing a note to my husband and putting it on his pillow for him to see when he got home from church.

I absolutely love my husband. He does so much for our family. He sacrifices quite a bit, including sleep- especially lately. He spent Wednesday before Thanksgiving cleaning with the kids, doing lots of dishes since I haven't been up to doing dishes lately for obvious reasons. Then he spent all of Thanksgiving preparing food then staying up late to get ready for the next day. Friday, he drove in the snow all the way to Vernal to do balloons in the coooooold at Vernal Holly Days. We obviously didn't go with him this year. He drove home the next day. Every night he's been helping me with the new baby. He's been taking the kids to church all by himself every week. While I was in labor, he was right there with me helping me through it then he went home to take care of the older kids, came back to the hospital to help me through the night, then back home the next morning to help the kids get ready for school. Again, I appreciate his sacrifices. He is my hero.

Our family is also starting our countdown to Christmas scripture study. We didn't get around to getting mint M&Ms yet, so we started with regular M&Ms to tied us over until we get the mint kind. Things are crazy right now.

Honors Orchestra

Recently, Nichole was invited to participate in a district honors orchestra. She was given sheet music to practice on her own for a couple months then got together with everyone else for two afternoons/evenings of rehearsal. Then they put on a concert. Jeremy and Jr. went to it.
Because they did a good job, they were given an extra piece of music that they learned in 40 minutes. Then they performed it also at the concert. Impressive.

Way to go, Nichole. Keep up the good work with your violin playing.

We're Thankful For... Jet

"When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way From your first bassinet to your last dying day."

Welcome, Jet! We're so thankful you're a part of our family. What a great blessing you are.
Happy Thanksgiving!