Friday Favorite: William's Choice

Today I asked William what some of his favorites were and here are the answers he gave me:

Favorite Color: Orange and dark green
Favorite Food: Cookies with sprinkles on them for Halloween. Witches, pumpkins and bat cookies
Favorite Animal: Chickens
Favorite TV Show: Diego
Favorite Song: Jingle Bells
Favorite thing about preschool: Free Play Time
Favorite thing about Isaac: That I can Play with him
Favorite thing about Elijah: That I like him
Favorite thing about Dad: He takes me fishing!
Favorite thing about Mom: That I can give you hugs and kisses and play with you
Favorite thing to wear: Camouflage (I think this is inspired by his cousin Elliot)
Favorite place to go: Blastoff (We've only been there once.  It must have made an impression)
Favorite book: Harry Potter
Favorite holiday: Christmas!!!
Favorite thing about being 5: That I can go fly fishing
Favorite place in the house: Living Room
Favorite season: Fall  Why? Because we can jump in the leaves and play
Favorite part of your body: My mouth that I can eat and drink with
Favorite thing to do outside: Shoot BB guns
Favorite thing to do inside: Shoot a blow gun
Favorite word: You

And here he is singing his favorite song in his own particular way:

And here are some of his thoughts on Christmas. I really need to come up with a good way to explain to him that muggles can't do magic; with or without a wand. He isn't convinced yet.

Thanksgiving

So I totally dropped the ball on posting something I was thankful for every day this month.  I really thought I was going to do it, but lets face it, this last week or so has been a little crazy (primary program, teaching preschool, piano recital, extra group lesson, thanksgiving prep etc.) and, although I did think about things I was grateful for, sitting down at the computer and writing them down dropped off the top of my priority list.  There are a few things I really did want to write down however, so here they are:

One of the days I was really really grateful for my hilarious children.  We actually own one baby doll at this house and this baby has actually become quite an integral part in some of the games they play which is fun to see. Lately my boys have started pretending to "nurse" the baby.  They take turns pulling their shirts up and sticking the baby doll to their chests. Well on this particular day last week, they were carrying on an epic battle game complete with nerf guns, war noises, chasing etc.  William was riding on a little scooter toy we have, chasing Isaac around with a gun...all while having the baby doll clutched to his chest "nursing." It was pretty dang funny to watch. 

On another day I was thankful for William's helpfulness.  Lots of times when I talk about "helpful" kids I am being slightly sarcastic, but this particular day I was busy making a bunch of cookies for my piano recital and William stood by me and washed all the dishes as I went, and did a really great job of it!  And he even volunteered to do it.  I was so so so grateful because I probably would have had a completely trashed kitchen to clean at the end of it if he hadn't, and because it was fun to being doing something like that together. 

Another evening Isaac was having a really hard time settling down and going to sleep.  He had taken a pretty long nap that afternoon, so he was awake long after William was asleep and kept coming out of his room over and over again.  Finally I could see that he was just having trouble unwinding so I decided that instead of getting frustrated with him (which I would normally do) I would just sit down with him in the rocking chair and sing to him and try to help him settle down.  We ended up hanging out for quite a while talking about all sorts of things, like the location of Madagascar, and the fact that the girl named Dora who was coming to for Thanksgiving was not actually Dora the Explorer (although he never quite understood that until she got here today and he said "She doesn't look like Dora?!"). We sang songs and snuggled and then after a while I could tell he was getting really sleepy and all of a sudden he said, " I am going to go back to bed now." And he did.  And I was so grateful I had chosen patience instead of frustration.  I hardly ever get moments like that with Isaac so I was glad I had taken advantage of that one.

So...even if I wasn't posting them, I am glad I started doing this month of Thanksgiving thing because I planned on trying to find something specific to that day that I had been thankful for and it really made me focus on what I was doing each day and what I had specifically to be thankful for.  It's easy to come up with the generic things (family, food, shelter, the gospel etc.) and not that being grateful for those things is bad, but I am glad that this gave me a chance to dig a little deeper and notice the little things each day that truly made me happy. 

And now I just want to share a pictures of pies. Pie is my family's big Thanksgiving tradition. We made 15 pies this year (a record I think) plus my grandma brought a pie and a chocolate cake.  So all in all we had one pie/cake per adult who ate dinner at our house.  Um...holy cow.

I wish I had remembered to take pictures of anything else about our Thanksgiving meal this year, but I didn't.  It was delicious though, and fun to have so many people there.  In addition to those of us who live here, we had Tim and Irene, Mary, Grandma Creighton, Tim's friends Jared and Katriell, Irene's brother Micah and his wife Rachel, Irene's coworker Dora, and the Sant family including Chris's brother Brad.  It was really fun to have such a full house, and it made me realize how much I really do have to be thankful for. 

And now I am grateful for Mary, who is about to give me a back massage even though she doesn't know it yet :).

1 hour

Elijah napped for a full hour today, right during my piano lessons.  Now THAT is something to be grateful for!  That adorable boy has decided for the past month or more that he shouldn't nap for more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time, and I can rarely seem to get him to sleep during the times I am teaching, even if I try to plan my whole day that way. Yesterday he took three 20 minute naps between 9:00 in the morning and 8:00 at night.  Well, today I put him down for a nap about 10 minutes before my two piano students came and he slept until about 5 minutes before we were done.  It was fantastic!

Books

I figured out that I could download the free kindle app on my iPad and can download free or very cheap books onto it. I have spent much more time reading today than I should have! But I am so grateful for books. I love reading. I love reading to my kids. I am so glad my parents read to me all the time I was growing up and always encouraged and supported reading in our home. Reading bigger books with William (we just started the Narnia books) has been so much fun for all of us. And I've actually learned to enjoy reading non-fiction as well as fiction. I am so grateful for books and how easily accessible they are today!

Nursing

Today I am feeling really thankful that I've been able to nurse all of my kids. I know some women can't and some don't want to, and that is fine, but for me it has been such a sweet experience. Sure, it's not always easy ( especially at first) and sometimes it's painful or inconvenient, but most of the time I love being able to sit down and take a little break from busyness and just snuggle close to my baby. I love that through nursing I can not only nourish his body, but also our relationship. I love that on days when he is out of sorts or not feeling well (such as today) that I have a ready made way to comfort and help him. I love that my body and my milk can adapt to his needs day by day. It's pretty awesomely amazing!

Health

Today I am really grateful for the fact that my kids are rarely really sick. Sure they get their share of runny noses, but compared to a lot of kids they hardly ever get sick and generally bounce back very quickly. William was down with a fever and the aches for about half the day yesterday and today he's back to normal. I've never had to take my kids in for ear infections, and I can count the number of times William has had the stomach flu on one hand. As far as I can remember Isaac has never had it. I've really been blessed in that way!

Grateful Monday

Today I'm grateful for daylight savings.  Although my kids woke me up an hour earlier than normal, it was actually pretty nice to be able to have William get dressed, do his chores, eat breakfast etc. and be ready for preschool all without me having to tell him to hurry. I was also able to shower and get myself ready so I didn't have to spend time on that when I got home. It was kind of nice! Don't ask me how I feel about it tomorrow though...

Today...

Today I am very grateful for my calling in the Primary.  I recently got called to be in the Primary presidency in our ward, and I'll admit, was a little wistful about it as I really quite enjoy going to Relief Society. Today, though, as we practiced for the Primary program that is next week, I really felt a sense of joy in being able to work with these kids.  Two of the kids bore their testimonies in Sacrament Meeting today and it was so neat to hear the wisdom coming from these young children.  It really made me realize that kids understand and internalize much more than I tend to give them credit for sometimes. I know that this calling will stretch me and make me do things I'm not generally comfortable doing, but I also know that I will be greatly enriched by association with the children in our ward if I can look past the craziness and see the joy like I was able to today.

So Thankful...

For this wonderful man!

He really is my best friend and the best Dad I could ask for for my children. 

Friday Favorite: Facial Feature

It's true.  I have always been partial to Isaac's eyebrows.  Ever since he was a tiny baby I have absolutely loved his big expressive eyebrows.  I know you aren't supposed to have favorites as a mother, but there you have it...I think I like Isaac's eyebrows better than William or Elijah's.  I think it has something to do with the fact that his eyebrows are EXACTLY like Chris's, and something to do with the fact that the things he does with them make me laugh on a daily basis.  He cracks me up.  William is actually very expressive with his eyebrows as well, and quite funny, but his eyebrows just don't stand out quite like Isaac's.

Those rosy cheeks and lips are pretty scrumptious too...

Grateful Day 2

Today I am really grateful for how nice it was outside.  All the snow did melt and it was so warm that we decided to go for a bike ride to the park.  I know there won't be a whole lot more days like this so I am really grateful for the ones I get and I am going to try to take advantage of them and spend as much time outside as we can! To anyone who actually reads this...please don't take this picture as proof that I'm a terrible parent (there are plenty of other things to prove that, but this isn't one of them :)).  Elijah fell asleep on the bike ride home from the park, but his head was back and he was perfectly safe and comfortable.  It only came forward when I lowered the bike trailer down, and he was like that for about 1 minute while I took the picture. 

 
So grateful for nice weather in November!

Month of Gratitude: Day 1

Today I am really really grateful that William's preschool got changed to tomorrow instead of today due to a conflict of the mom who was in charge of teaching this week.  After all of the hullabaloo of Halloween it was so nice to not have to worry about getting us all up and ready in time for William to be at preschool!  In fact, I laid in bed until 9:00.  It was wonderful!

Speaking of preschool, I've been wanting to put up some pictures from when I taught last.  I had a great time with the kids, even if it is a little crazy with so many with widely varying attention spans, plus a baby!

Gluing yarn into letter B and b

They had fun making a band (letter B again)

Puzzle Station

Sorting beans by number station

Pouring Station

Picking up yarn with a clothespin station (fine motor skills and pencil holding)

Pouring again.  The kids ALL loved this even though I had planned it more for the younger ones.

Gluing shapes station

Stringing beads station.  Cute C was so good at this! She did it for a long time!

Number peg puzzle station

The stations that I did the second day of the week were actually a huge hit with the kids.  They all wanted to try all of them out even though I had geared some to the younger and some to the older kids, and they didn't want to stop when I said it was time to go on to something else.  They each had one or two that they really gravitated to and wanted to do for a long time.  All except Isaac that is. He kept flitting from activity to activity constantly wanting to try out another one.  I couldn't decide if it was an attention span issue, or just that he was so excited to have all of these kids over at his house.  Probably a combination actually.