Reflection

This year started off with several emotion hurdles for us. It seemed like the first half of the year was full of emotional struggles, each of us having our turn. But through it all, we were blessed with a multitude of tender mercies. With the Lord’s help, we persevered and came out on the other side, not unchanged, but hopefully stronger.

For me, I think this year has been one of personal change. I’ve had some emotional and spiritual struggles, but I think I’ve made some progress. I’ve worked toward overcoming several things that have been hard for me. I’ve strengthened some relationships. I’ve put some priorities back in the right order.  And I think that perhaps, I’m a few steps closer to being who the Lord wants me to be.

So as we end this year and start another, I hope the new year will lead to continued personal growth and perhaps, fewer bumps in the road.

The Spirit of Christmas

As a parent, it seems like I’m perpetually exhausted on Christmas. While the kiddos wake up smiling and full of excitement and energy, I feel like the traditional cartoon character who needs toothpicks to prop up his eyelids. In spite of that, it is always such fun to see all the reactions to the presents we have all carefully selected and the enthusiasm that goes into the giving. I love that part. Here are a few of this year’s highlights.

Santa brought Malia a beanbag chair. It turned out to be perfect because Kevin and I bought her a new bed-a big girl loft bed. It has built in bookshelves and a perfect space underneath for a cozy reading nook. She was super duper excited about it and spent the afternoon helping Kevin build the bed.

She also got Barbies-one from Daniel and one from Kevin’s mom. She was thrilled to have an assortment of clothes and accessories as well. I dug through one of my boxes in the basement and pulled out the Barbie bag that my mom made for me when I was young. After a run through the washer, it was good as new. It is fun to have some things to pass down to Malia. None of my boy children had any sort of caring for many of my childhood treasures. 😉

Matthew got an iPod Nano from Santa and we felt very lucky since everything below the iPod Touch has been discontinued. He loves music and is thrilled to be able to listen to whatever he wants whenever (almost) he wants.

He also got a ukulele. Our elementary school has a full-time music specialist (whom we totally love) and he teaches the fifth graders to play ukulele. Matthew has been wanting one of his own so when my parents went to Hawaii last month, we asked them to pick one up for him. Before they could even shop for one, my Mom’s cousin, Audrey, offered them one that she had been given. It had been meant for her grandkids, but none of them had any interest. Matthew, on the other hand, was ecstatic. And the fact that is was a hand-me-down from family made it even better.

Nathan got a Fitbit Blaze. Over the summer he discovered that he feels better when he is more active and I let him have one of my older Fitbits. Like me, seeing the number of steps go up and reaching a daily goal is very motivating for him and he has been wanting a device that would show more than just a light so he would know exactly where he was. He also got a mini tripod and a set of camera lenses that work with his phone. He has developed a passion for photography so he was super excited about those as well.

Nathan has always been a fan of board games and card games, so it was not a surprise that several of his siblings selected card games. What was unexpected was the cat theme that emerged. Daniel bought him a game called Exploding Kittens and Malia chose one called Cat Stax. It seemed totally random to him, and it probably was, but both are actually very fun.

Daniel got a set of Doctor Who mini figures. They aren’t actual Lego, but they are similar and combined with the Lego set he got a year or so ago, he now has mini figures of all the doctors except for the newest lady doctor.  He also got a mini drone which he was excited about. They are just super fun!

And of course, there was Lego all around. (Nathan got some as well, but he was too engrossed with getting his Fitbit set up and we didn’t get a picture.)

There was a nap midmorning for me, much Lego and bed building and a tasty traditional ham for dinner. To top it all off, we ate Chinese pretzels. These are a traditional Christmas delight for my family, but I haven’t made any for years because Matthew can’t eat them. We’ve snitched a few at my mom’s house, but we don’t make a big deal of it so that Matthew doesn’t feel deprived. But my wonderful mother totally rocked the pretzels this year and figured out how to make them without eggs. She filled an entire tin just for Matthew before she made the eggy version for everyone else. Watching his eyes light up as he crunched into his first ever pretzel made me cry. Yes, I’m a huge bawl baby. It’s a proven fact. It’s also a proven fact that my family totally rocks the allergen accommodations. They go out of their way for Matthew time and time again and I’m enormously grateful for their efforts. It helps him feel included and loved. And really, isn’t that the definition of Christmas spirit? Making everyone feel included, loved, and special is really what it’s all about. It's an integral part of being Christlike.

Holiday Hijinx

December is always a busy month. Between the concerts, recitals, Christmas preparations, parties, shopping, crafts, etc. our schedule can get a bit hectic. In addition to that, Matthew and Malia are off track for most of December. I know it would make some parents crazy to have the offspring at home the month before Christmas, but I love it. They love it. We do lots of fun stuff. Here are a few of this year’s highlights.

I started off the Christmas season by being the bringer of the treats for Malia’s class Christmas party on Dec. 1. We made some nut free melted snowman cookies. It was super fun.

For one of the activities in our yearly activity advent, I took Matthew and Malia to paint ceramics at Color Me Mine. When I made the reservation, the girl told me to plan an hour tops for kids of their ages. At the 2 ½ hour mark, I had to tell the kiddos that we needed to hurry and finish so we could get home in time to cook dinner. To say that they enjoyed themselves would be an understatement. They loved it. They both have an eye for detail that I did not realize and took time to paint things in just a certain way. Malia had hers all done when she discovered that they had glitter paint, so she had to repaint several parts to include glitter. And I was jealous that they got to paint and I had to supervise. 😉

Picking up their glazed and fired pieces a few days later was very exciting for them as well. They had to unwrap them before we left the studio. They couldn’t wait until we got home.

We also made cinnamon salt dough ornaments. Matthew and Malia had a great time rolling and cutting the ornaments. My favorite part was the fact that the house smelled fantastic for days!

Matthew crafted a nativity from Lego. Malia was helping, but she got bored pretty quickly and wandered away to do something else.

I got to go to the MoTab Christmas concert with two of my sisters. This is the first time I’ve ever been and it was super fun! On our way we walked past the Macy’s Christmas window displays which are made entirely out of candy. They do them every year ( a tradition they carried over when they bought out ZCMI) and I’ve seen them before but they are always eye catching and amazing.

Malia had a dance recital. She takes tap and ballet and although she says she likes both, she seems to catch on to the tap steps easier. Ballet doesn’t come as easily. It will be interesting to see if her interest in ballet (and dance in general) continues or if it dwindles. She says she likes dance but sometimes we get a negative reaction to the weekly dance lessons. I guess we’ll see how things go. I’m not the kind of mom who will force her daughter to stay in dance lessons just because I enjoyed it so much.

Daniel and Nathan don’t care all that much about most of our advent activities, but they were super stoked (yes, I’m a child of the ‘80s) about the strawberry Santas.  In fact, all the kiddos liked it so much that we bought more berries and did it twice.

As always, Christmas Eve meant dinner with my parents and siblings and the yearly reenactment of the nativity story. I feel like we’ve been very blessed that all or our kids have cousins their age with whom they have become good friends. It has taken Matthew the longest to find that cousin since there are none just his age, but in the past year his cousin Drew (who is a year older) has become his cousin buddy. They both love sports and as they have gotten to know each other better they have become comrads. Matthew looks forward to their time together. They opted to be shepherds this year. Malia and Kate both choose to be angels. Nathan, Jacob and Ella were this year’s wise acres…I mean wise men. And Daniel was a fabulous sport and was willing to be Joseph when none of the younger kids (or older ones) wanted the job.

Daniel had a band Christmas concert. Nathan had a choir Christmas concert, but he didn’t actually sing. By then he had been sick for nearly a month, the doctor had given him a note to stay home from school for the next week and the parents had agreed with said note so Nathan went just long enough to play the piano for the number he was accompanying. He wasn’t happy to be out of school the entire last week before Christmas, but he had been pushing himself, not taking time to rest and recover, which led to his extended illness. We put our metaphorical feet down and made him stop so he could get better. He’s on the way to better now and should be back to normal before too much longer.

So yeah, busy month. Mostly fun stuff though, minus one sick Nathan and two colds for me. I love that my little ones are home with me all month and while rumors and speculation abound right now, I’m hoping our elementary will stay in year-round school so we can continue to have our whirlwind month of fun.

Time Marches On

Birthdays get calmer as the kids get older. We still have chaos on Malia’s birthday, but even Matthew’s shindigs have become calmer. The only thing I did for Daniel’s party was provide the pizza. He invited friends over for food and a movie and they are old enough that they take care of themselves. We didn’t even do fancy cake and sing. They just gorged on pizza and topped it off with ice cream sandwiches.

This evening we celebrated at my folks’ house and at he got candles and cake this time. And he lived up to the family tradition of being a dork. Gotta love the dork gene. 😉

I know I say this every time one of my kids has a birthday, but it’s kind of hard to wrap my brain around the fact that my first born is only one year away from being a legal adult. Seriously, how does time go so fast? I try not to think too far ahead or I freak myself out thinking about college and mission and marriage and…holy cow! He’s not old enough! Neither and I! But time marches on and whether I’m ready or not, he’s growing up right before my eyes.

Rite of Passage

When I was in high school, a dance meant dinner before the dance, the dance itself and then some kind of dessert afterward. Nowadays a high school dance has become an all day adventure: a day date, a short break for everyone to get all dressed up, dinner, dance, and another activity afterwards. Today was Daniel’s very first school dance. The day date included games, snacks, etc. and ran from 9:00 a.m. until about 1:00 p.m. Daniel had a bit of time to kill since it only takes him a few minutes to get all suave looking, and then he was picked up at 5:00 p.m. for pictures, dinner and the dance. After the dance there was dessert and a movie. So it was an all-day adventure and he had a fabulous time. His date looked lovely and her dress was fantastic. It made me wish I had an excuse for a fancy dress.

Daniel hasn’t dated much thus far, but he had a wonderful time and perhaps this has given him a taste of how fun these group dates can be. I didn’t date all that much in high school either, but there was one high school dance to which I took a crazy guy as an emotionally safe date and we had a great time. Though neither of us could have possibly predicted that we would end up married 7 years after that casual date and in fact, we assumed we would never see each other again after high school, it was a common experience that gave us a reason to remember each other when we met again much later. While most high school dates don’t end up in marriage down the road, if nothing else, they are a memorable part of high school, a highlight to be remembered with fondness.

The BIG Game

Remember those giant playing cards that sent Nathan into a paroxysm of laughter last Christmas? Nathan and friends actually gave them some play time this evening. It was crazy entertaining…and terribly hard not to cheat. 😁

Happy Holidays

A Day of Thanks

I’m constantly on the lookout for new foods that are Matthew friendly. My latest discovery was a product called Choco No No’s. They are allergen free M&M copycats. I discovered them in the heat of the summer and so we had to wait for cooler weather so they wouldn’t melt while they were being shipped. Fall has brought the appropriate weather and they arrived yesterday. Malia was excited because she can’t eat M&M’s anymore, but Matthew was totally stoked to try an M&M-like candy for the very first time ever in his life.

He loved them. And that totally makes them worth the hefty price tag. I mean, do you see that look of glee? What mother wouldn’t willingly pay goodly amounts of money to see that? Now I’ve got to see if I can get one of my local stores to order them in for us. The increasing awareness of food allergies and the accompanying increase in allergen free products has been a huge blessing for us. It lets Matthew experience some of the small pleasures that other children have regularly. The next item on our to-try list is the Matthew friendly white chocolate chip. I can hardly wait.

Malia has some things to be grateful for as well.

(Boogie boards are e-writers that she gets to use at school.)

I’m enormously grateful for kids that are learning to be thankful for the little things in life. It’s easy to be thankful for the big stuff, but remembering that even the small things are blessings is really what it’s all about, isn’t it?