Christmas Morning 2009

Christmas Eve

This year for Christmas Eve we invited our friends Sharyl and Wanda Waldron over to join us. The kids sculpted their own nativity characters out of play dough and then acted out an impromptu nativity w/ the traditional Bible reading. Emily really wanted to be the angel, so I was Mary w/ Daniel as Joseph. Then we sang some Christmas carols and Rebecca & I played a couple of duets on our violins. Playing w/ her was one of those nostalgic parenting moments that brings tears to my eyes. The kids were so excited to open the gifts that the Waldron's brought and they've really enjoyed playing with the puzzles and books they received over the holiday break. I guess Rebecca enjoyed her turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy and pistachio pie a little too much because she threw up at the end of the evening but was fortunately was feeling just fine by Christmas morning. Daniel let us in on his grand schemes to "catch" Santa. He rigged up a string of bells to hang/tape on the front door so he could hear him coming. The boys were so excited about their plans, they went to bed pretty late and awoke at 1:30 a.m. to discover that Santa had already come. But just the sight of seeing what he had left for them got them pretty wired and they were up for at least another hour after that chattering in their room.

Digging Holes Builds Character

The first time Jared & I saw the movie "Holes" was soon after we had quit our job working as home parents at the Utah Boys Ranch - a correctional facility for troubled boys. It is a funny movie about wayward boys who are sent to "Camp Greenlake" to dig holes all day long. It says something like... You take a bad boy, make him dig holes all day and it makes him a good boy. Our boys watched the movie recently and have caught on to this concept. They keep retreating to the backyard to dig holes for fun. So my kitchen floor has been a little bit dirtier, but my boys are having fun and getting along better. But now the hole digging has come to an end. The other day Jacob came in and said, "Mom, I found this yellow pipe in my hole but I can't get it out, Can you help me?" So I went out to survey the situation and found that he had dug down to the gas line- with fortunately no damage done. He quickly filled in his hole, and therefore the hole digging has come to an end.

Who Needs Toys...

when you can play with packaging materials? I received some packages in the mail and Dan & Emily had a great time popping the air bubbles. It kept them busy for a really long time. A few days before that I found Emily playing pretend in my bedroom with...earplugs! One was the mom, the other was the dad and she found some other random objects to be the kids. I think toys are overrated sometimes.
Oops! I forgot to rotate again.

Halloween Pics - a little late

A Post Authored by Rebecca

Poor Rebecca. Yesterday Rebecca hurt(perhaps sprained) her wrist. She says she was trying to reach her cookbook and lost her grip on what she was holding and fell. I came in just in time to see her falling through the air. She hit the floor hard. At first it looked like she had passed out, but luckily she didn't.

Funny Irony

I came downstairs to get something from our unfinished basement and found the (sadly) typical disarray of clutter lying about that seems to occur on Sundays while mom is napping and dad is at meetings- Popcorn kernels & blankets all over the floor by the couch, an empty cereal box some child decided to snack on, some game pieces and the vacuum. The funny thing was, next I saw some papers someone got out of my preschool files entitled "THE JOY OF ORDER AND GOAL STRIVING." I guess I still need to work on what I should have learned way back in preschool. I like order, but apparently my children don't. But fortunately, there is hope. I have gone 3 straight days without "losing my cookies" so someday soon we are going to get our house in order:0)

Why Rebecca Wants a Baby Sister

Someday I'll actually post all of the pictures I took for Halloween, but for now you get to read a morsel from "Rebecca's blog." She decided to start typing her own blog in Microsoft Word including imaginary comments from her friends and family. Here's a little clip explaining why she wants a sister in the house - not a brother.
. "I REALLY want the baby to be a girl! I don’t think I could live with another boy in the house. Sure he’ll be cute when he’s a baby. But by the time he’s 5yrs. I’ll be 14, which means I’ll be interested in boys. He could walk up to my boyfriend and say, “Are you gonna’ marry my sisto?” How embarrassing! And when he’s 7 I’ll be 16 and then he can tease me about all the boys I like. If it’s a girl that’s a whole nother’ story. Anyways, I really want it to be a girl."
She forgot that she can't have a boyfriend at the age of 14:).

Sunday Night at the Movies + random happenings

Our family has lately discovered the fun of YouTube. Since our antennae is too wimpy to pick up any TV even w/ a new converter box, we've had to resort to new forms of entertainment. My boys want to listen to Miley Cyrus "The Climb" and Taylor Swift - "You Belong with Me" and watch the BYU football highlights. I wish I could video Dan's version of You Belong with Me sung with his cute raspy voice. I love watching fun and amazing piano performances. Tonight we found some fun clips from Mormon Ads and Mormon Messages. This one by Gordon B. Hinckley about lessons taught to him by his dad as a child was my favorite. It made me cry - but that doesn't take much these days.
Other Good things this week:
Its amazing how much technology can bless our lives. In fact, today while I stayed home sick from church, I was able to hear the entire Sacrament Meeting with a little hearing aid device checked out from the library. I was so grateful because the speakers were Dan's primary teachers and their talks were just what I needed to hear. I was reminded of the blessings in my life - like 2 kind friends who surprised me with dinner this week when I felt too sick to make anything decent for the family.

Daniel surprised me this morning by bringing me breakfast in bed. He had gotten himself all dressed up for church in his suit and came in with a bagel with cream cheese for me. He said he wasn't quite sure how to do it but he tried. His hands were a bit messy with cream cheese, because he spread the cream cheese on the outside of the bagel, but his gesture of kindness just touched my heart.

Rebecca has been getting up earlier than Jared & I lately. This morning I could hear her sweet animated voice through the heat vent as she read stories to Emily. She will be a great mom someday.

Jacob has been so motivated to read this week ever since he discovered that he can earn up enough points to by a football at the A.R. store. I'm grateful for his school teacher Ms. Sanders who really seems to have a gift at inspiring great readers.

Jared & I went to a Jazz Bands concert for our date this week. It made me think of my dad and how he inspired me to appreciate all kinds of music. It was also so nice to have a break from the stresses of life. I am so grateful to Jared who has really been carrying the load for me while I've been so nauseous. I couldn't have married a better man.

Nausea with Neal Number 5

I never thought I'd say I'm glad to be throwing up, but after a few early miscarriages I've learned that nausea is a very good sign in pregnancy, and I've been feeling plenty of it lately. Hopefully our little "Neal Number 5" will arrive the beginning of June. It seems that the best cure for nausea for me is to eat every 15 minutes or get really involved in music stuff that it takes my mind off it. By the end of the day I don't want to look at anymore food. But fortunately I've had weird healthy cravings in the mornings. With Rebecca I craved ice cream, Carnation instant breakfast and crackers. But this time, I've been downing a lot of spinach, V8, bagels and pears. Pregnancy sure does weird things to you. I think Rebecca's a little scared of having kids after she's seen what the last few months have been like for me.

If I Had My Life to Live Over

I stumbled on this site while looking for a song to play on my violin for Christmas in church. There are a lot of inspiring messages and songs, but I think this was my favorite one today. It made me cry, but it seems like it doesn't take much to do that now that I'm a mom. The only thing I really don't agree with is the part about not buying practical things. Practicality just runs in my blood and I don't mind it. It probably saves me a lot of money :). I really liked the part about inviting friends over even if the carpet has stains. I just cleaned ours this week, but I think some of those stains will never come out. I make plenty of plans to have friends and neighbors over for dessert or games or double dates but it has been a really long time since I've actually done it.
Good things:
I didn't get the swine flu - just a mild case of the flu
I got better in time to watch my kids sing in the Primary Sacrament Presentation today
Rebecca is old enough to make me breakfast when I'm too sick to do it
My husband washed all of the dishes even though he was kind of sick too

Rebecca Biggest Fear

When I read my sisters latest blog about critters in her house, I thought of Rebecca. Rebecca thinks we have mice in our house. Here's what she wrote in one of her latest stories/journals. You never can tell what is reality in her journal. Her posterity will probably believe a lot of creative stories she likes to incorporate among the facts.
"We have mice. In our house. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Sorry about that I just had to let it out. Let me say one thing. I HATE MICE!! They give me the heebie-jeebies. On Tuesday and Wednesday I started hearing squeaks. That freaked me out. Then yesterday I started hearing sounds like the pitter patter of feet. Very tiny feet. Yep. Mice. And I also saw something brown and furry scurrying past Mom’s exercise bike. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek! I was so scared I slept with Emily. "

We have had problems with the little varmints in the past. That's reality when you're the first person in the subdivision to build your house on an old farmers field. But we have always seen the evidence by their droppings. Fortunately after using all kinds of traps we haven't spotted evidence for a while, because they give me the creeps too.

Piano Recital

Last weekend I had our fall piano recital. I played a duet with each of my students and they did a solo song as well. It was done in about 20 minutes. I guess that's one more benefit for the parents of me taking only a few students. Rebecca played The Woodchuck Chucks Wood and Green Frog Hop. She says she enjoyed it but her favorite part was the treats after.
Daniel played "I am Playing Tee Ball" and "Tigers at My Door." Daniel says he kinda likes performing.
I always forget to take pictures until the end because I get caught up in just making everything run smoothly.

Crazy Hair Day

Jacob's hair just doesn't want to be crazy. This was his attempt at spiking it. He always wakes up looking good - lucky boy. Rebecca started out the day with her own fashion beard - it got even crazier by the end of the day.

Rebecca's Will

Rebecca makes me laugh. She is so expressive, especially when she writes. Here is one of her latest samples, including the items she has bequeathed to her future husband and children :)
I Rebecca Neal have written this will.

For Mom
Mom I want you to sell all my things except for my journals and books. I want you to give them to my husband (if I have one ) And my daughters or sons (if I have them). As for my $ that I’ve been saving for college I want you and Dad to have one third and give the rest to my husband (if I have one). However if I don’t have a husband or daughters or sons I want you to keep all of my books and one third of the $. I also want you to have all my cookbooks.

For Dad
Dad. If I have an I-pod I want you to have it. I also want you to have some of my papers that I have typed up on the computer. And Dad. If I have any remaining candy I want you to have it.

For Jacob
Jacob I want you to have one seventh of my money so you can go to collage.

For Daniel
I want you to have one fourth of my money so you can go to collage. And I also want you to have my Huckleberry Finn doll.

For Emily
Emmy I want you to have one third of my money so you can go to collage. I also want you to have any remaining balloons that I have. I also want you to have some of my candy that’s hidden in my room. And I want you to have all my littlest pet shops.

For Future Husband
Oh dearest future husband. How I love you. Do you remember when we first met. Oh I will never forget that day.! Sigh. I wish I could be alive and with you. But don’t worry sweet. I never forget you for a day up here in heaven. I wish you could be here. It is soooooooooooooo romantic. No one will ever be as handsome as you my love. It is wonderful up here. Now to the business. I want you to let our little Melanie have half of my journals. But read all of them before you give them to her. Keep the other half of journals for yourself. I want you to have all of my money that I haven’t given to my Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters,etc. I also want you and our children to have all of our candy. I want you to have half of books.

For other people
I want Aunt Courtney to have half of the papers I’ve typed up on the computer. I want Mrs. Crocket to have all my Nichole Roose stories. I want Ashlee and Mercedes to have all the money from my littlest pet shops. I want Mrs. McAteeer to have the book The Secret Life of my Father.
I want Aunt Kara to have my cookbook that’s called Cooking with Chef Rebecca.

Farmer Boys

The kids had school off last week for a couple of days for Parent Teacher Conferences. Jacob & Dan enjoyed playing with each other outside almost all day long. They were pretending to be farmers and seemed to derive a lot of pleasure from digging and hauling dirt around in the garden. Jacob also continues to perfect his bubble blowing capabilities. He came in with a pretty mustache that night after all the gum that got stuck on his lips mixed with the dirt they dug up. Emily joined in for the pictures. She loves being outside almost as much as them. Yesterday she announced that when she grows up she's going to be a girl firefighter.

Roasting Marshmallows the Easy Way

While I was cleaning up the garden area yesterday, Dan & I made a little "firepit" in the backyard. We had fun that evening roasting marshmallows, lighting a few leftover sparklers and singing songs around the campfire. It's obvious that Emily really enjoyed her marshmallows. It was so nice not to have to load up and go far away. I guess that's one benefit of having a really big garden plot.

Conference Weekend Getaway

Jared & I headed down to our parents for Conference weekend. Our parents took turns watching the kids while we "took a break" to rejuvenate. I don't think I've gotten that much out of a Saturday morning Conference session in a long long time. We went to a temple session then headed down to the family history library and temple square. We hoped to watch the BYU Game in our hotel, but unfortunately, they didn't get the channel so we listened to it on the radio. We listened to part of Conference overlooking Utah Valley. The leaves were gorgeous up there.

Persistence

This is what Jacob finally accomplished after several weeks of attempting. He is so persistent when it comes to learning "boy skills" like whistling, fielding the ball and blowing bubbles.

10 Reasons why I love my Dad by Rebecca

I came down to use the computer and found a paper with this typed on it lying on the ground. It made me smile - especially because a few minutes before I had found a handwritten chart in my room on my floor that she titled "Mom's feelings". It has pictures of 15 faces ranging from angry, crying, sad, flat, happy, excited, etc. Yesterday my emotions were like a yo-yo. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and felt like crying over nothing. But fortunately I was happy by the end of the day after I read some stories to my kids and had fun playing games. Rebecca has been spending a lot of time on the computer lately now that she has discovered how fun it is to read all of the fun anecdotes on everyone's blogs. She also loves typing up all kinds of lists. This one is a treasure.
10 REASONS WHY I LOVE MY DAD
10 Reasons why I love my Dad

Reason # 1 He’s HANDSOME. I know that’s not very important but still he is handsome

Reason #2 He tries to spend time with you ( with me he calls it “connecting” ).

Reason #3 He comes up with really good stories.

Reason #4 I like his talks that he gives in church. They’re spiritual and interesting.

Reason #5 Most of the time when I ask him to bring home a treat he does. Sometimes he brings one home even when I don’t ask him.
Reason#6 When I ask him to take me to the store he does, and he doesn’t take me on hour long shopping trips before we buy the candy.
Reason #7 He’s funny, and when he see’s something funny at a movie he acts it out and that makes dinner a lot more enjoyable.
Reason #8 He’s easy to talk to.

Reason # 9 When I ask him a question he answers it.

Reason #10 He’s just a fun person to be around

I LOVE YOU DAD

What's Most Important

This was a busy week. AfterParent Teacher Conferences, helping at the book fair, Music Club Meeting, piano preschool, Tee ball games, a ward baptism, piano lessons and choir practice, we had Stake Conference on Saturday & Sunday to rejuvenate. We rushed off to the adult session last night to sing in the choir and I was so sad because I forgot my notebook. Jared was so nice he passed his notebook through the choir over to me so now I can remember all of the inspiration I received a little bit better. He is so thoughtful. (Rebecca -my editor- says "That's why you married him mom!" - and its true.)
Elder Craig Zwick from the Seventy came. I especially loved his wife's talk. Her theme was from Jacob 5:41 - What could I have done more? Although we are usually trying our best in life, there is always more we can do to improve. She related several life experiences where she wished she would have done things differently. I can definitely think of plenty in my own life. Here are a few of my notes - it is a little bit of what she said mixed with what came to my mind while she spoke.
Happiness in daily life comes from making deliberate decisions to do good and carrying them out.
I think I make a lot of decisions to do good- especially at night when all the kids are asleep and I am feeling peace, but it is so much harder to actually carry them out the next day when life becomes a whirlwind.
1- Don't let the world get into your heart. Sister Zwick shared a story about when as newlyweds, her husband "surprised" her by getting them a new (old klunker) car. She had formerly been driving a really nice convertible that was her parents. When she saw her husband pull up excitedly in an old white "klunker" he just bought for them with his hard earned money, her dissappointment was apparent in her face. She wished she could go back and change her reaction now.
This made me think of one of my regrets from high school. I remember a really shy boy calling me the night before Sweethearts to ask me out. I didn't date too much and I said yes although I didn't know what I was going to wear. $ was really tight in our family then, & I thought the "dress" was formal and figured I didn't have anything suitable to wear. I knew we couldn't afford to rent anything and didn't think I could find something to borrow on such short notice. With a little persuasion from my mom, I called the boy back and told him I couldn't go because I didn't have anything to wear. Later when I saw my friends pictures, I discovered my plain church dresses would have been just fine. I have always felt bad that I worried more about how I looked than how another person felt. I was too embarrassed to apologize.
2. Use the scriptures as a guide for your life.
Proverbs 3: 5-6¶ ^aTrust in the Lord with all thine ^bheart; and lean not unto thine ^cown ^dunderstanding.

6 In all thy ways ^aacknowledge him, and he shall ^bdirect thy ^cpaths.
I've always loved this scripture. Sister Zwick shared how this counsel had helped her with the challenges of parenting their first born son who was born with physical and mental delays.
3. Don't let secondary things get in the way of essential things.
The most important yes we can say to our children is "Yes, I have time for you."
I think that was my favorite quote from the whole conference. (Rebecca who is reading beside me disagrees, She says the most important yes is "Yes you can have some candy")
So my house may be a little bit messier, but this week I want to make a few more memories by playing Old Maid with Dan, Cooking with Chef Rebecca, throwing the ball with Jacob and dancing with Emily.
That makes me think of this quote from our prophet,
"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly." - Pres. Thomas Monson

I'm so glad for the Saturday night adult sessions. My inspiration was quite a bit more sparse while we wrestled keeping 4 kids quiet on the bench for 2 !/2 hours.

More Diligent and Concerned at Home

This talk by apostle Elder David Bednar was one of my favorites this conference. I can't wait to read it again in print. His 3 areas of counsel about strengthening our family relationships were
1. Express love and show it
2. Bear Testimony (Bear it, mean it, live it)
3. Be Consistent (w/ family prayer, scriptures and family home evening)
I feel that it is somewhat ironic that now that I am "living my dreams" of being a stay-at-home mom, sometimes (too often) I just want to be alone, even though I love my kids very much. I spend so much time serving them by washing clothes, doing dishes, fixing meals that by the end of the day I'm not as available to them as I'd like to be. But time is passing too fast and my time "at-home" with Rebecca is already half over if she leaves for college at 18. That makes me sad, and I want to be better at showing my children how much I love them, sharing my testimony of the gospel of the Jesus Christ and being even more consistent in doing the important things with them like family prayer and scripture reading instead of just rushing through it before they run out the door to the bus.
My mind was filled with specific things I need to do to improve. This talk made me think of Daniel singing a solo for our family night last week. He sang "The family is of God" while I tried to play the piano music throught my tear-blurred eyes. I love that song! It says
"Our father has a family, its me, its you all others too we are his children
He sent each one of us to earth from birth to live and learn here in families.
God gave us families to help us become what he wants us to be
This is how he shared his love
For the family is of God"
It just makes me smile thinking of him singing the word "children" with a bit of a country twang:0)
Good things:
Listening to 2 sessions of Conference w/ no interruptions (thanks to Jared's parents)
Family Night
New Inspiring Primary Songs
Family

Captain Moroni Comes to Primary

Emily helped me make rice krispy treats for the primary activity we had this morning. Don't you wish you could look this good in the morning without even fixing your hair?
Our activity was about teaching the children to strengthen their family. We sang the I" am a Builder Song" and then divided up into groups for different activities. I was in charge of helping the kids make our own "title of liberty" with pictures of things they could do to strengthen their family. So I recruited Jared to be Captain Moroni and tell his story. Then I read this quote by Elder Ballard about the Family Proclamation
“Today I call on members of this Church and on committed parents, grandparents, and extended family members everywhere to hold fast to this great proclamation,” Elder Ballard said, “to make it a banner not unlike General Moroni’s ‘title of liberty,’ and to commit ourselves to live by its precepts” (News of the Church,” Ensign, Nov 2005, 126–28)

Then the kids drew pictures of them doing things to strengthen their families. I gave them ideas from one of my favorite parts of the proclamation...
"Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."

It was cute to hear a lot of the boys saying - is that real? can I touch your sword? etc. I ended up taking pictures of a lot of them w/ "Captain Moroni" and I think that was their favorite part.