Elias Goes Birdwatching

Today Elias found a pair of red plastic binoculars in his closet. He called them "his cam-wa" to look at birds.
He carried them around all morning, even when we went to the mall. As we walked around, he kept looking through the binoculars and say , "Look, a bir-die!" Very endearing!

What a Weekend!

We were so glad to have Amber visit us this weekend. Even though her time with us was really limited - basically a day and a half.

Amber got here late Friday evening. We got out the blow-up mattress for her and put her on the living room floor. On Saturday morning when the kids woke up, Elias comes running into the living room shouting, "I wake up, Mommy!" Of course, instead of mommy, Amber pops her head up. You should have heard Elias scream! After the initial shock wore off, he really warmed up to his aunt.

Poor Amber though got dragged to two birthday parties, part of girl scouts, christmas shopping, the ward christmas party, a full three hours of church, and a Sunday afternoon visiting with our friends Luke, Sam and their little guy, Max. All of this after an intense two day home tour workshop she attended with dad's firm in Costa Mesa. I think she was pretty glad to get on the plane home!

We sure love you Amber and hope you can visit again soon. We'd love to have Patrick too!

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum

We purchased and trimmed our tree this weekend. And now our house smells of delicous fresh pine and our living room glows in the evening with little white lights. Yummy.

It was a chilly night and we all got bundled up with sweaters and hats. When we got to the lot we were the only people there. We were able to find a beautiful tree in a jiff- not too tall and not too wide. I don't think I'll ever get over buying trees in SoCal. The palm trees around the lot, the teenagers loading the tree onto your car wearing hats, coats and shorts. Something very funny about that! In the end, these quirks don't detract from the fun and excitement created by this act. A Christmas tree in the house seems to signal that the season has truly begun.

My ideas about decorations have changed since having an extremely rambunctious 2 year old. While I still love the idea of a "decorated" tree - one designed and carried out by mom, I realize that's not going to work for us now. When we first brought the tree in and got out the decorations, Elias found an old candy cane and we didn't hear a peep out of him for the rest of the night. By next morning he had started to explore the tree and its ornaments. So far, we've only lost 3. For some reason he wants to see if the small wooden angels can actually fly.

As we get into the season, I started to feel exhausted before it had even begun (it's so stressful financially). But a good friend reminded me again that we are building memories for our children. These are the times that children cherish and remember. And when we build beautiful memories, we build family. And I knew this was true as I watched Addison take out each decoration so lovingly before placing them on the tree. She remembered each piece and knew where most of them came from. Her joy and the sparkle of excitement in her eyes are all the holiday decorating I need!

Addison's Recital

Last Saturday was Addison's violin recital. She played Gavotte from Mignon by A. Thomas from the Suzuki Book 2. She also played a Rondo as part of a quartet. She was very nervous - she really had only been preparing her recital piece for a little more than two weeks. With some hard work and a little bit of prayer she managed to pull off a wonderful performance. She played with confidence and style. I was so proud of her, and I know she was proud of herself. After she finished, she sat down next to me with the biggest smile on her face and said, "I did it, mom!" She sure did. Boy do I love that kid!

Blogging Lethargy (ooooohh, Big Vocabulary Word - Go Free Rice!)

Same old, same old. This past week was very boooorring.

And most annoying - our building's laundry room is being remodeled. So we've been without laundry facilities for almost 2 weeks now. I was told by the landlord that they were going to finish the project last Friday. Of course, when we woke up Friday morning we had the most lovely surprise! RAIN. Yeah - hip-hip-hooray! Only, plumbers apparently don't work on rainy days in SoCal. :( Meanwhile, our laundry is really piling up - I may need to go shopping for new clothes. Hmmmm. Now there's an idea. . . .