Jack Loves PopTarts

I mean, he really loves them. He would eat them everyday if I let him. He has been making his own breakfast for about a year now and he is in a pop-tart and hot cocoa stage. So basically he gets all sugared up then I send him to school...

He did go through a butter wutter stage, which is basically toast with peanut butter on it. He will eat cereal, but no milk on the cereal please! That one baffles me.

Two Weeks to go...

This month is really flying by it seems. I am doing pretty well getting all my shopping and such done. Nate has been a huge help this year and has gone to the mall with me the past two weeks in a row. I like when he comes with me because I am much more efficient. Also, I finished shopping for the kids last week while Bella was at preschool. She is just too old to shop in front of this year and it seems I get much more accomplished in the morning, so I am grateful for preschool.

The kids went to see Santa on Saturday. B actually sat on his lap this year, she has been terrified of him her whole life, but still wants to make sure he knows what she wants, poor kid. But this year she decided to be brave so she could protect Sophie. She asked him for Lincoln logs, which was a bit of a surprise. Jack asked for Lego's, which I expected. After Santa we went to eat at Red Lobster, my first time. And I actually managed to eat some fish-I am usually not a fan. While we were there the snow started coming down pretty heavily and it took us over an hour to get home. The kids were pretty excited, nothing like playing in the snow. I am sure Nate was just thinking-man, I am going to have to shovel. But we woke up the next morning to find our driveway and walk all shovelled, we have some very nice neighbors.

I had sharing time yesterday in Primary. I actually kind of like doing it, but always feel a bit relieved when my turn for the month is over. We also had our Primary teacher appreciation dinner last Friday and it was a blast. We only had about half the teacher show up-about 25 or so-but it was a lot of fun and the food all turned out great. Sometimes I am overwhelmed with a primary this large, but everything always seems to go great and everyone gets along really well.

We took pictures outside yesterday of the kids for our Christmas card. The above picture is from yesterday, but not the one I chose for the card. I can't wait to get them to see how they turned out! Nate thought I was insane taking Sophie out in the cold, but we went super fast and she was inside with him until right before I snapped the picture. Everyone survived just fine.

Last night we watched the Amazing Race and Jack's favorite team got philiminated. He was a bit devastated. For some reason Bella has picked Ronald and Cristina as the team she likes. They are a father daughter team where the father is not so nice or considerate of his daugther's feelings. I am hoping she is not catching all of that, but is just imagining herself and Nate going on the Amazing Race together. I picked the goth couple early on. They came in second last night, so hopefully they will keep moving up.

In other news, LOST season 3 comes out tomorrow. Nate and I have been watching this pretty much from the beginning and have gotten to the point that we had a little party with our in-laws last year when the season began. I find that LOST is something people either love, hate, or have no idea what is going on. I am totally buying it tomorrow with much relief that there will be something we can sit down and watch in the evening. We only have basic basic cable, and the writers strike is starting to effect what's on. I kind of like watching the older Leno every once in a while, but on Saturday night we found ourselves watching the most ridiculous movie called Night of Terror. It was so bad we couldn't turn it off. So LOST will be a welcome diversion. That and all The Office DVDs. After all-the strike seems to be here for the long run.

Smiles!

Sophie has been so smiley lately. She smiles at Nate whenever she sees him. She smiles when I aim the camera at her, which makes me think she may be an aspiring ham! She smiles at the kids when she sees them, and she smiles whenever she wakes up. It's so adorable, and most of the time her smile is too big for her face!

It seems like we have entered a really busy time of year. At least there is more to do than I seem to have time for. Sometimes this is good, as it causes me to really prioritize what we should be doing this time of year and what we should be focusing on. I am trying to really set down and figure out how we are going to spend our time between now and Christmas with what we want to do and what we need to do.

Sophie has her two month check up tomorrow, and I must say I am not really looking forward to the shots. I can't believe she is already two months old and it seems she is growing so fast. When Jack was a baby it seemed to last such a long time, and Sophie's babyhood is already speeding by. She is really coming out of the newborn stage and becoming really aware of what is going on around her. She has started to pay attention to toys, mostly just to look at them, but she will bat and try to grab one every once in a while. She is also awake a lot more during the day.

Saturday we all went to the jewelers to get my stone tightened in my wedding ring and Nate bought me an anniversary ring. I really love it and am a bit surprised how tickled I am by how lovely and sparkly it is. We had been planning on getting one someday, it is so nice that someday has arrived! Bella loved looking in all the cases in the store and was enamoured by all the sparkly things. After the jewelers we went to the mall and did some shopping and went to Cold Stone-yumyum!

Last night we went with the Glovers downtown to Temple Square to see all the lights and such. We have done this every year for the past several years and the kids all have a ball. Well, after we planned for the night we realized the First Presidency Christmas Devotional was going on, so there would be a lot of people and a lot of traffic. We decided we would just get there right after the devotional started and leave just before it ended. Logistically, it seemed easiest to have Nate and Jeff drop us all off next to the temple, have them park the cars and come meet us in the visitor center. That way, we wouldn't have to walk with all the kids as far in the cold. Shelly and I and the kids waited and waited in the visitor center for quite a while. Jeff showed up and said the nearest parking was miles away, and for us to take the kids through and meet up with them on the other side, and to be quick about it because the devotional was going to end in a few minutes. So we hurried across and they picked us up. We had not factored in that we wouldn't be able to find any parking, they have knocked down the two downtown malls and their parking structures, and with the Christmas devotional, everything else was really full. So this will be the year they just played chauffeur while Shelly and I rushed the kids through. Nate and I laughed about it all the way back to their house. We then had cocoa and cinnamon rolls and the kids exchanged gifts. It was really a fun night despite the parking.

This isn't the best picture, but it's pretty silly on Bella's part. This is my first turkey. It weighed 21 pounds could feed a small army. It turned out pretty good thanks to Brad's telephone help and no one got sick. So I count it a success. Really, Nate and I made a joint effort at putting Thanksgiving dinner on the table. He helped get the bird ready, I have a little trouble with raw meat that still resembles its animal form. Then he took care of Sophie all morning while I prepared the stuffing and potatoes. He set the table and did a lot of the clean up as well. I must say, I am a bit sore from peeling 10 pounds of potatoes and chopping onions and celery. We had eleven people for dinner and way too much food. I realize on Thanksgiving every year that I am not a huge fan of Thanksgiving foods. I can attribute this to the eight or ten times I had the flu on Thanksgiving while I was growing up. I think I just associate it with being sick. But everyone else seemed to have had a great time and finished off the evening playing Encore. If you haven't played Encore, you totally should. Marsha got it for me this year for my birthday and we have been playing it at family get togethers ever since. Basically you have to sing songs associated with a word or phrase on a card. And you go back and forth with the other team until on team runs out of songs to sing. The best part about it is the kids can play and have fun if they want to. Also, Nate's family is full of people who will sing shamelessly for the most part without regard to being in tune or self consciousness. This makes the game super fun and I am always sad to see it over.

I woke up the day after Thanksgiving around 5:30 to feed Sophie and decided I would run to a few stores after that. I figured everyone would be asleep, so I may as well get some shopping done. I wanted to go to Target, but the closest parking space was my house, which is miles away. So I ran over to Kohls, they had been open for hours already, so it wasn't as busy. I shopped for Bella and got stuff for Jack's stocking and was home by 8 o'clock. We went to see Enchanted all together around 10, then to IHOP for lunch. Enchanted was cute, tons of references to other Disney Princess movies. I have been waiting for a princess movie ever since Bella was born. Don't get me wrong, I love the Pixar flicks, but I remember how much I loved Ariel when Little Mermaid came out and wanted another princess flick for my girls. Silly I know because I was thirteen when Little Mermaid opened, but I have always loved Disney, still do. When we got home I lay down with Sophie, intending it to be just a few minutes, and awoke a few hours later. I must have been pretty exhausted to sleep like that, so it was good, but I always feel really groggy after naps.

So now I am on to the Christmas shopping rush. I have made a list, I just need to start getting stuff done, time always moves so fast on this side of Thanksgiving.

This is the only picture of Sophie on her blessing day where she is not crying. She fell asleep at church and was awakened unexpectedly, so she was pretty upset. I have plans of putting her back into the outfit and taking some pictures, but the best laid plans..... Bella is wearing the dress she wore at my cousin's wedding. She is really funny about picking out her clothes each Sunday, it is the only day she has a definite opinion on what she wears.

Our ward had a DI drive this past weekend. Usually I completely forget about these things, or don't want to poke around and find stuff to get rid of, but this time, I decided to be an overachiever. It all started with a nightstand. We only had one in our bedroom, so I had my mom bring one down when Sophie was born. I had been using one of those magazine stands with a light on it on my side of the bed, and really wanted some drawer space. So she brought down the nightstand and Sophie was born less than 24 hours after she got here. Needless to say, I didn't make the switch before she was born, and everything slows down after you have a baby, so it didn't get made till last week for the sole purpose of the DI drive. Well, after that happened something clicked in me and I started filling bags and boxes for the drive. I went through all the toys in the house and got rid of several Rubbermaid bins of toys that hadn't been played with in ages. As well, now I have some paranoia about the whole lead in the paint in toys made in China. I mean, Sophie is totally going to be putting things in her mouth, and I am sure the statue of limitations has run out on testing most of the toys that belonged to Jack as a baby. Also, I realize it is pointless to store Jack's outgrown clothes any longer. I have started sending some of his outgrown stuff off to my sister-in-law, who has four boys younger than Jack, and giving some of it away. I mean really, if we do have another boy, it will be years and years of holding onto stuff before he can even use it. And Nate pointed out, I will want new stuff anyway. So I have really pared down and got rid of a lot of stuff. It felt so freeing! I think sometimes we can really be affected by what we own, and if we hold onto a lot of things just in case, it really brings us down. A month or so before Sophie was born, I cleaned out my sewing room and craft stuff. I had some projects I started before Jack was born. Let's face it, I am not going to finish something that has been around that long. So why keep it. I sent Nate with a carload then to the DI, and it felt so good. I think with Christmas coming up, I really want to be organized and get things to a manageable level. I just want fill our lives with experiences rather than things.

Date Night

So Nate has been really making an effort to spend extra time with Jack and Bella since Sophie has been born to make the transition easier. And to take some of the pressure off me and give me full time to recover. We usually do tons of fun stuff together as a family in the fall, and let's face it, a newborn slows things down a bit. So a few weeks ago he and Jack went to a BYU football game. They have also gone to a few local high school playoff games. We have been waiting for something fun for him and Bella to do and on Friday, I found it. I was heading to the Rack in Sugarhouse and heard on the radio they were giving away tickets to see Enchanted tonight. The giveaway was about two blocks from where we were in the car, so we zipped over and picked them up. B was so very excited. She called Nate and asked if he would take her on a date. And then she began to count down the days to when they would go. She woke up this morning so excited knowing tonight is her date with dad and that in bonus to that she is seeing a movie a full week and a half before everyone else can go. I love how she is excited to spend time with her dad and how he loves doing fun things with his kids! I can't wait to hear how the movie was when they get home tonight, and plan when I can go! I totally want to go! But in the meantime, Jack and I will probably play a mean game of Monopoly and eat left over sweet and sour chicken, which is the perfect night for him and me.

In other news, I have been hugely busy with Primary. The end of the year is a giant organizational challenge. We have to restaff teachers, figure out classes, plan great to be eight, priesthood preview, and the meet your teacher breakfast. We think we will have eighteen classes this year, which is less than last year by one. We do have three Sunbeam classes again, which is a big challenge. But even scarier, in 2009, we will have 45 sunbeams coming into primary from nursery, meaning by the end of the year, we will have almost 60 kids in nursery! Yikes! However, all this is easier, because we have done it before, the first year was truly frightening.

My mermaid and soldier...

Last week went by in a bit of a whirlwind. I really procrastinated making Bella's costume and didn't finish it until Tuesday morning. I had all these intentions of having it done before Sophie was born, but that didn't happen, and so it was a bit of a scramble. Luckily she didn't know I was working on it up to the wire, it would have been tragedy had she had to settle with last year's Cinderella dress. Jack on the other hand was pretty easy this year as nothing he is wearing is handmade by me. He wanted to be a soldier with full weaponry and ammo. I nixed that and made him into a medic and filled a bag with ace bandages and alcohol wipes for him. He seemed pleased and went along with it pretty well.

On Tuesday we had a ward trunk or treat. It was put on by the primary, so I spent most of my time directing and leading other kids while my own were left to fend for themselves. They did pretty good and followed my directions despite thinking they were silly. I had Sophie with me, so no danger there. Before she was born I made her a little ladybug coat to wear, well, my amnesia about how small babies are, combined with the fact that she is smaller than the other kids made for a giant ladybug coat that may fit her next spring. However the massive amount of fabric ensured she was nice and toasty warm.

On Halloween it didn't snow. This is the first time in the past several years that it has actually been pretty nice on Halloween. Nate took the kids trick or treating around the neighborhood and I handed out candy. We only had about 50 trick or treaters, so a really low year. I suspect it's because we are near the end of the block. But the kids had a great time and lasted just over an hour before Bella decided to call it quits. She really isn't into having the candy, and she only likes a few kinds, so the fun of it wore off and they were home just after 7.

Nate blessed Sophie yesterday at church, so I spent the end of the week getting ready for that. So the house feels really clean right now, well, the main floor and the lower floor, all bedrooms are a disaster. It was a really great Sunday, Sophie's blessing was beautiful, and I managed to bear my testimony without turning into a puddle. We had everyone over for hoagies afterward. It was a great day.

Now it feels like we are into the swing of the holiday season. My kids ask every year why there are no Thanksgiving decorations before the Christmas ones are out. I usually cynically tell them Thanksgiving isn't a money making holiday. But I do plan on scaling back this year and enjoying the holidays, so maybe the cynicism will disappear.