Paul & Sue visit

We took a quick trip to Broken Arrow (Tulsa area) today to visit Uncle Paul and Aunt Sue. I can't imagine a Christmas without seeing them! They have always been so good at making it a point to be around for the holidays and have truly made Christmas so much fun. They always think of the most amazing, thoughtful gifts and they are SO hard to shop for in return because they also take good care of themselves! They are so much fun to be around. It is hard to see them going through such a difficult time with Sue's ALS. They are awesome people. Awesome.

Mom wasn't able to make the trip because she had the flu, so we missed having her there. The kids were so much better this trip than the were when we visited in August, I was really pleased with them.

Did I mention I have an amazing family? I just can't say enough about how great these people are that I've been blessed to be a part of.

BFF

It has been so nice getting together with close friends from high school while Marna is in town for Christmas. We called Dayna in Utah so that she could be a part of our get together a few days ago and then we got together again tonight. It is wonderful to be able to start where we've left off and still feel a closeness that has not diminished. We are still close enough that we can tease Heather about the plant that is growing out of her head in this picture! I'm so excited to be less than five minutes from her now so that we can see each other ALL of the time! Now we just have to convince Marna and Dayna to come back. Ok, there is NO hope for Dayna to come back, but we're still working on Marna.

Christmas 2007

I have taken WAY too many pictures this year to post even the best of them on my blog, so I'm just going to put up a link to my web album.

The reason for my many, many pictures is my NEW camera! Yippee. I'm so excited that I no longer have to hold the battery door closed while I'm trying to take pictures. Plus it has tons of cool features that I will actually use and I just love it. Thanks Santa!

We have had a lovely Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve day with my parents and brother and went ahead and exchanged gifts because mom had to work Christmas day. We scooted off for the evening to Jeff's parents house and had a yummy spaghetti dinner and a nice time with his parents, Joe, Kim and her family, Amy and her kids, and Grandpa Poyner. Lesley and Spencer and spouses opted to stay in Utah for the break since they've made so many trips to Oklahoma this year for weddings and funerals. We missed them, but still had a really nice time. Granny sat down with the kids and explained all of the parts of the nativity and then read them a nice story before we started opening gifts. There are just too many people to do it in much of an orderly fashion, so we just divide up into families and piles and go after it, occasionally sending a thank you across the room and running to show off something new.

Christmas morning the kids came in to sit with me on the couch with their usual morning milk and Lincoln said, "I want more presents for Christmas." I told him he should look and see if Santa brought anything in the night, that I thought I'd heard him while I was sleeping. He looked on the other side of the fireplace and said, "nope, nothing yet." I had to really encourage him to go and look by the tree and turn on the lights so that they could see. They were really excited to have a candy cane first thing and then enjoyed their gifts too. We took it really easy and played with new toys and gifts all morning before heading back to my parents for the afternoon. We had a lovely and simply turkey dinner prepared mostly by my dad and just enjoyed each other through the evening.

I'm so blessed to have such wonderful family so close by.

I hope that all of you have had a great Christmas as well.

Crashing into the moon

Yesterday the boys and I went for an afternoon walk and we looked up and saw a half moon. We were looking at it and talking about it and Lincoln saw an airplane WAY up there heading toward the moon. We would never have noticed it if we weren't already looking that way. I hadn't even noticed it. Anyway, Jackson spotted it too and they were watching it and it looked like it was going to fly right into the moon. They both got so anxious watching it heading right for it and expecting a big crash... boy were they relieved when it skimmed just above the top of it and made it safely past. We decided to make the rest of our walk an adventure walk and we made up stories about all of the Christmas decorations that we saw around the neighborhood. What a fun time!

Tradition

I carried on a tradition from my growing up years today with my boys. I begged them all day to make cookies with me. Finally in the afternoon they were excited to do it, so we made the dough together. They were not too happy about having to refrigerate the dough for TWO hours, I TOTALLY remember that as a kid. It seemed like FOREVER! Lincoln kept saying, "mom, it must be ready now!" Jackson fell asleep (luckily) before the creation of the candy cane cookies began. Lincoln ate more dough than he structured into shapes and some wacky shapes were made. I always forget how much the cookies grow in the oven and they all came out way too huge to even get off of the pan in one piece. Overall, there was not a pretty cookie to be had, but we had a fun time and I can carry on one of my favorite traditions from my childhood... taking the candy cane cookie recipe and making into crazy shapes... because really, how many times can you sit there and make candy cane shapes. Only three this time!

Snow Days

We are having quite the ice storm right now. Many places in the city are without power, including the hospital where my mom works. We are lucky to be up and running because our powerlines run underground. Many trees cannot hold the weight of the ice build up and are bending and breaking. Some of these land on the power lines and cause a lot of damage.

The roads are also icy and slick and all schools and many businesses are closing. Most churches did not hold services yesterday. Jeff's office did not close, but people were not too happy about having to work. I can understand it, they fear for their own safety, or perhaps they just hoped for the "snow day" we got while we were in school. I was really proud of Jeff as he got all of these e-mails explaining why people couldn't make it in that he went in to take care of things. They did close the site down today, so he made sure to call all of the customers that they were scheduled to call from home to explain the situation. I was proud of his attitude of just doing what needs to be done. I remember being the employee who felt entitled to a snow day, really just excited about a free day off. I'm sure there are many of those out there today who are grumpy about having to be at work, and I'm grateful for those like my mom who work in places that continue to function while everyone else gets to stay home because they can't quit just for bad weather.

All About Jackson

I caught Jackson stealing his brother's cereal when he wasn't looking. This was a rare moment of weakness buying sugar cereal to begin with. It won't happen again for a long time. Especially not with small colorful pieces that stick to the tile... but I digress.

I remember making a poster puzzle of all of the words in Lincoln's vocabulary at 22 months and I feel like I need to try to do something similar for Jackson as he is suddenly saying SO much. Our favorite thing from the past two days is a very distinct "thank you, welcome" He say's "your welcome" before the person he's thanking has a chance!

His favorite tv show is Little House on the Prairie, he calls it "neigh" because there are always horses on. He asks to watch it everyday with his dad. He has no patience for commercials and whines until they are over, "no! neigh, neigh!"

He is all boy and loves cars and trains and such. He can make the kind of boy noises that come naturally to them for driving his cars around... if I tried to make those same sounds you would all make fun of me for sure.

He has just started watching the Letter Factory movie that taught Lincoln all of his letters and walks around saying, "tuh, tuh, tuh." He says that whenever he draws too.

A mama's boy through and through, he follows me wherever I go. No matter where I say I'm going (including to take out the trash or go to the bathroom) he gets really excited and says, "come!" He loves to help me cook and is always saying, "try, try!" He wants to stir and dump ingredients in and things like that. He has a stool that he pushes around the kitchen and finds me wherever I roam, usually he ends up right where I need to be and I have to stand leaning over him to get to what I'm trying to work on.

The games we are playing all of the time right now are duck duck goose and hide and seek. I wish I had a video of Jackson walking around Lincoln and I patting our head SO EXCITED and saying "quack, quack, quack, quack." I usually have to remind him to say "goose" eventually. He calls hide and seek "eek" and loves to hide with Lincoln or myself and loves to count with me (up to three) and say, "come!" when it's time.

Unlike his brother, he loves to wear clothes and shoes. He likes to look at the picture on his shirt and show it to you proudly. He loves to put on a jacket because that means he's going outside. He LOVES socks, and especially footed pajamas, which he calls "ocks."

Jackson is a climber and we are constantly telling him to get down. Do ALL boys do this? It is scary!

He is very giving and always asks for some of whatever he is getting for everyone. When my dad and Jeff were working in the attic recently he kept insisting that they too needed a cheesestick. I finally had to just take them one so that we could move on!

That's a pretty good list of things. Now I'll have a record of some of my favorite things about my little guy.

Lunch Laugh

Lincoln is starting to do a lot more pretending and we are getting such a kick out of it. At lunch yesterday he was eating Dino Nuggets and he started making two of them have a conversation that went something like this:

"I'm a dinosaur"

"Me too"

"Let's be friends"

"ok"

"Want to go to planet ketchup?"

"ok"

As he ate off parts of them he'd look at what was left and give it a new description, a bat or camel or something. It made for a very amusing lunch!

New Callings

Between classes today I ran into one of my seminary teachers. I stopped her to thank her for all she did, knowing now how much of a sacrifice it is and how much work goes into it... little did I know that I would be receiving the same calling two hours later!

We were asked to meet with the bishop today after church and he told us that he had some callings for us. He talked to Jeff first about his, boy scouts, something new for him. He seemed hesitant about talking to me and said, yours isn't really a calling, it is an assignment...

Boy, I've heard that line before....

I couldn't think of anything it might be except Seminary teacher, and lo and behold!

We've done this with Jeff as seminary teacher and I guess it is my turn now. I'm actually really excited about diving into the scriptures and getting to know the youth. I won't have to adjust to the early morning schedule too much since my kids wake me up at 5:30 or 6:00 most days anyway. Jeff will have to get up a little earlier to help out with the kids and develop a morning routine that includes them. I won't start until the beginning of the year, so we have a little bit of preparation time. It will be nice to have an experienced teacher at my side for my many questions that I'm sure to have. I do have a great love for teaching, especially to people that are eager to learn, as I'm told this group is. I'm excited.

6th Anniversary

I have to admit that I forgot our anniversary. I knew it was coming, but it sure snuck up on me that December is already here... I guess that's one of the troubles of having an anniversary on the first of the month! My sweet grandparents sent me an e-mail early in the morning wishing us well and I thought, nah, it can't be December yet? Sure enough, it is. Well, my parents remembered too and called to offer their babysitting services, so we were able to spend a lovely evening together. What did we do on our free evening? Pho for dinner (yum) and a trip to Sam's Club and Wal-Mart. It may sound a little sad, but we enjoyed being able to relax and shop at our leisure.

I'm so grateful to be married to a kind and loving man. He is very patient and giving and would do anything to help a friend. He's a super dad. I'm a lucky woman.

Still in Bloom

I just took this picture today of the Clematis outside our kitchen window. I can't believe this blossom is still looking so good. There are a couple of other ones as well. I'm so excited to see what it looks like in it's next season. There is a trellis that covers our the entire view outside our window. At first I wondered why anyone would block a window, but now I love seeing this instead of the brick of the neighbor's house!

More Candyland Pics

Here are just a few more pics of our Candyland adventure.

Candyland Birthday

Lincoln's birthday party was a lot of fun. I'm really glad Jeff thought of putting candles on Lincoln's sausage at breakfast because I didn't end up getting a picture of him blowing out his candles on his cake!

I have to give another huge thanks to my mom for helping me get ready all day for this party. She is a trooper!

Our party started in the toy room with a molasses hot potato game and we followed a board game like trail throughout the house for activities at different stations. We dropped unshelled peanuts into a jar for a peanut brittle treat. We made animal noises for a candy cane from the Christmas tree, had a lollipop hunt in the "forest," made candy necklaces out of cereal and made gingerbread houses. I think all of the kids had a great time.

Dare I say that Lincoln was sick once again? He was pretty groggy from a really long nap (which was helpful in preparations) and had a fever. He participated some, and I think enjoyed it, but you could definitely tell that he was not himself.

Just a quick quote

Lincoln brought me a feather and said, "Look Mom! A bird leaf came in our house!"

Hosting Thanksgiving

We hosted our first Thanksgiving this year. It was SUCH a fun day! Jeff is recovering from a cold, so he didn't want to do his usual cooking. His sister Amy spent the night the night before so that we could get up early and start the stuffing and turkey. We did that and pies and some green beans and everyone brought everything else. It wasn't ever stressful, and in fact was a lot of fun. It was a really enjoyable day with the family and even though I'm tired, I'm feeling very fulfilled.

We squeezed 17 people into our eating area at two tables. Our giant table held all 10 adults and a smaller folding table was perfect for the seven kids. I even broke out the China since it never gets used. The kids enjoyed playing together and we had a very pleasant afternoon just enjoying one another.

Now it's time to get ready for party number two for the week: Lincoln's Candyland birthday party is Saturday. Boy do I wish we could serve leftover pie instead of cake!

House Progress

Mimi has been anxious to see pictures, so I took some even though it is not anywhere near "finished." I do have to say that I am proud of my new floors. I put down a faux wood floor in the office and extended it out into the living area sort of creating a hall way area to the back door and extending the office space.

The kitchen cabinets are kind of a strange orangey color and there were only two colors that seemed like they would look good with them... blue or red. I decided to go with red, fearing that the blue might feel too country.

This is one of my favorite things about the house... the two sided fireplace. We are using the small room behind the living room as a toy room. I think it will grow well with the kids. The space in the fireplace for wood works well to hold a tv (we had one there for a few days) so they can play video games and stuff when they get a little older. Right now it's full of junk!

Leaf Bath

The boys set up their hole full of leaves to give their favorite stuffed animal a "leaf bath" tonight. They are both very attached to the Webkinz animals and play with them every day. Lincoln knows which ones are his and takes them with him most everywhere. I have enjoyed listening to him tell "Country Sausage" and "Monkey Monkey" stories and carry on complete conversations with them.

"Jack"son in a Box

I couldn't pass up the picture when he climbed into a box to help me unpack. Look at that face... he KNOWS he's being cute!

We had a very productive day today. The kids were very well behaved and I was able to make a lot of progress on the house. Jackson follows me everywhere I go saying, "me! me! me!" He wants to help with everything. I've been trying to find boxes that we can work on together.

Our Halloween

Halloween was not quite as we planned. The ward had a chili cookoff before the carnival and trunk or treat festivities so we didn't want to get the costumes dirty during dinner. Poor Lincoln never got to put his costume on as he lost his chili and had to go home. Jackson and I stayed for the fun, but I didn't get any pictures. Here he is trying his costume on a week or two earlier.

Falling Leaves

We've had a fun evening with friends and cousins over. Jeff's friend John came over to help him do some cabling to get us all set up with tv and computer type stuff (no more cords running across the living room!). He brought his family and Amy brought her kids over and they all had a really great time playing in the backyard with the abundance of leaves. We had pond in the back landscaping which has been removed (for nastiness and safety reasons) and there was a big hole that the kids filled with leaves and jumped around in. Too cute to watch!

My boys

Just wanted to share some pics of my handsome boys.

This was taken just before the primary program a few weeks ago. We worked with Lincoln all morning and were able to get him to say his line on command pretty well, but when it came time to actually stand up there and say his part they phrased it very differently than we had and he got confused and hid under the pulpit. Instead of saying "I show my faith in Jesus Christ when I pray," his teacher surprised me and said, "Lincoln shows faith when he listens to his parents." It caught me so off guard that I laughed out loud. Oops.

We are very excited to be in our new ward now. Lincoln has two Sunbeam teachers. They asked me to sit in with him since it was his first week and I was very impressed with them. He has five little boys in his class and they all sat and listened very reverently. I wondered if Lincoln could actually do that too! I have hope. One of the ladies called me this week to ask about him and even sent him a postcard welcoming him to their class. Jackson did very well in his first week of nursery too.

I was excited to get a call on Monday night inviting me to a playgroup on Tuesday. One of my old roommates is in the ward and has two "little people" as she calls them. It is nice to have quite a few familiar faces around.