A December to Remember

Jared and I joke every year about the Lexus commercials and the big red bows you see on top of their cars. But, it is their slogan that has me thinking this year: "A December to remember."

December evokes many memories for me. For some reason it is the month with tragic memories in our child bearing existance. I remember the year 1999 when we were in the midst of infertility treatments and finally got pregnant … only to lose the baby 8 weeks later and a few weeks prior to Christmas. I remember the year 2005 when I was pregnant and doubled over in pain sure that I would miscarry again. Well, I was only partially right. I was pregnant with what was thought to be twins and was losing one to miscarriage while still being pregnant with the other. December was the beginning of several long months of bleeding that eventually made my water break early and our sweet Robert was born too early to survive at only 24 1/2 weeks old. I have a necklace that I have worn everyday since that reminds me of Robert. This December, without my knowing it, the clasp on my necklace broke and I have lost my pendant. Truthfully, it has been a bit devastating for me. Why December?

I have thought this month about these experiences and what they have taught me. Then, I remember it is not about me and my babies … it is about THE baby. It is about the baby that came down to earth to live and die for all of us. It is about remembering all that this baby has done for us so that I can see my baby again. It is a month to remember both the good and the bad. Perhaps the marketing department at Lexus is not that far off. December is definitely a month to remember.

The Little Chef

Joshua loves his Momma. He loves to spend time with her and work in the kitchen. If Mom is going to cook something, he is going to be working in the kitchen with her. He used to follow her around in the kitchen looking for a handout the older kids did not know existed. Now if he sees Mom go into the kitchen, he grabs a blue stool so he can help out.

If you are cooking and need flour or sugar, just ask Joshua. He will run over to the pantry and grab the containers you need. He just loves to be involved.

How much does he love it? Today Grace asked Joshua if she could help make the cupcakes with Mom. Joshua's emphatic response was, "NO!"

Joshua is our little chef.

Redefinition

I was talking to Grace the other night and Caleb came up to me and said, "You're a nerd."

I said, "Thanks."

Caleb turned around, looked quizzically at me and asked, "What does nerd mean?"

I said, "A nerd is someone who likes to learn and study. They are usually pretty smart."

Grace said, "I want to be a nerd!"

And Caleb said, "Me too!"

I loved it. Some of you may say that I left details out of that definition. The way I figure it, they will know something about the social awkwardness/stigma sooner or later. I mean, they are related to me.

Mr. Handsome

It seems that Caleb has done so much growing up lately. It has been fun to watch him transform. He is learning, helping, trying to stay a little more calm and is a fun element in our home.

I took this picture of him helping Mary frost cupcakes this morning. He does so much to help and he looks grown up. (We just bought him this new dress shirt. He has grown out of everything else. I am sure this shirt will soon be suffering from the same fate.)

Outfits

I gave the children a bath before church today. After his bath, Joshua decided to put on his bear pajamas. Since our church is so late, I did not see much of a problem with it. When I saw him later, I thought those pjs are one of my favorite outfits that he has.

Why?

Who wouldn't love to see Joshua's little bear bottom running around? What are some of my other favorite outfits that the kids have had? Well, I loved this outfit that Grace used to wear. I would call it her yogurt outfit. (It has fruit on the bottom.) And one last picture with Joshua properly in it.

Aren't Children Great?

Grace has really started to read and I don't mean that she has just learned to read. She has known how to read for a while. Now she has a reason to read. She has discovered the "Ivy + Bean" series and it has captured her. It has been rare to see her without the book for the last two days. I am excited that she has begun to learn the power of books.

Now I am faced with the question as to whether or not I should read her books to know what has captured her attention.

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The other night it was Caleb's turn to pray. He said a short prayer and end with this comment, "... and thank you for our clothes. Amen."

I did not know what to say.

(Although, every day many people are grateful for my clothes.)

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Did I tell you that Joshua likes loves adores eggs? If you want him to do anything in the morning, just tell him that you will take him downstairs and make him eggs for breakfast. He will do it as fast as he can and when he gets downstairs he will go over to the cupboard with the pans and try to open it.

Joshua know what he likes.

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If you want to listen to a good song, here is a group of guys we know from church singing an a cappella number.

Man-Riching

Tonight was the annual Wreathmaking event for the women of the ward. A ton of time was spent setting up the church, preparing the program, getting out the food assignments, and bringing in the materials so the women could make wreaths. While the women were making wreaths, one of the men suggested we meet at the delicious dining establishment of McDonald's.

I was thinking about going. It would be fun but I was not sure that I wanted to spend the money. (Let's say that replacing the roof was not what we planned to do with our finances this year.) I wasn't convinced that I wanted to make the trip. It is a school night. Then Mary told the kids that I was going to take them and there was no way I could back out. So we went.

It was great fun.

We got there after a couple of the other families had already arrived and ordered. The woman behind the counter looked at me with my three kids talking to other people walking in the door and said, "There are a lot of guys with kids here tonight. Do you know each other?"

I smiled and said, "Yeah, most of us do."

I ordered and the kids ate quickly in the restaurant portion of McD's. There were two or three other families that we knew eating there. (You cannot go into the play place area until they have eaten or they just won't do it.) They disappeared to the play place once they were done. I cleaned up, grabbed the drinks, and headed back there. Once I opened the door, the noise was overwhelming. The front part of McDonald's had about five customers in it. The play place had about 10 dads and some 35-40 kids.

The agenda for the evening was:

• Four Big Mac Challenge — Danny, the event organizer, offered to pay for four Big Macs, if anyone could eat them in one sitting. Derek took him up and pounded the Big Macs in a matter of a couple of minutes. Danny has photographic proof of the last bite.
• Technology Update — Matt showed a prototype of a new iPhone based technology that he is working on. He explained what it does and talked about the manufacturing process for the prototype and the production version.
• The Geopolitical Climate — Dave and Jim lead a discussion about the emergence of China on the global economy and the possibility of instability due the unique Chinese demographics. This lead into a wider discussion of the effect of the bail out on our economy and other developments around the globe. It was interesting to hear different perspectives on recent happenings.

Now it might not have been a typical Enrichment program or held at a typical enrichment venue, but I left feeling man-riched.

(Well, I also felt a little sick. Though I did not eat much, I think most of the men left with that feeling that can only come from eating fast food. Ah, what some endure to eat something they like but only while they are eating it.)

Sesame Street

Joshua loves all things Sesame Street. He loves to watch the short videos of a couple of songs on the web. He knows all the Sesame Street characters. He loves his clothes with any Sesame Street character on them. The most interesting part of this is that he has never watched an episode of Sesame Street. The marketing department at Sesame Street should be proud to know that Joshua is fully tapped into their show without even watching it. Here is the video proof:
I love the way that Joshua says Big Bird!

Gotta Love Kids in the Shower

The Transformation

One of the reasons why Mary is madly in love with me is because I am always so well groomed. [Insert sarcastic laugh.]

I don't know what it is with me and grooming. I like to be clean shaven. I like to have short hair. I just don't really like to shave or get my hair cut. I don't know if it is because I am lazy, I don't really like to be as well groomed as I profess, I'm too cheap to pay for haircuts, or if I am not worried enough to actually do it more often. Who knows. Anyway, this "before" picture shows me with a nice little halfro going. The "after" picture is with Joshua and Caleb on a Sunday evening. Caleb and I had gotten our hair cut the day before. (Caleb looks great with a buzz cut.) We had all worn ties, so we decided to take a picture. A friend at church said of this haircut, "Jared has gone jarhead on us." And in case you were wondering, Joshua's hair still rocks. Also, when I see boys Joshua's age wearing ties, I think that there is another member of the Future Accountants of America. All he needs now is a briefcase.

Grace's Instrument

Grace started taking piano lessons this year. She is having a lot of fun. I am excited for her to learn more about music and develop her talents. Since music is something we can enjoy all our lives, we might as well learn about it. (File that under "Advice I did not take as a child.")

The Children

This is what the kids are like some of the time: This is what they are like most of the time:

Firefighting

The fire department in our town has an open house every year. You can see the fire trucks, hear safety awareness information, have some pizza, and get safety handouts. We like to got and get the plastic firefighter hats for the kids. Here are some pictures of the boys "driving" the big fire engine:

Playing Soccer

Grace and Caleb both played soccer this season. It was Caleb's first attempt. Here they are before their first games: Caleb had a good year. He ran after the ball and almost scored a goal. Here he is on the field: Grace was much improved this year. After going to soccer camp this summer, she was more aggressive. The yellow team has two boys from our street on it. Grace told me she was going to kick the ball away from them. She did. Here she is running down the field: All in all, they both had a great season. They both played hard, had fun, Grace scored a couple of goals, and we will see what happens with the next season.

Catching Up with School

I have not been blogging much lately. I thought I should catch up. I am going to start with the back to school pictures.

Grace on her first day of school: Here is a picture of the kids on our street that walk to school together. (The two on the left side are too young for school.) Because the Kindergartners in our town start on the day after the rest of the kids, Caleb refused to be in this picture. If it is not his first day of school, he is not going to be in the picture. Grace and Caleb by the morning glories in our backyard on Caleb's first day of school. Caleb with Mary and me before he goes to school for the first time.

Who Raised this Kid?

Last night, Caleb was the only person to eat all of his dinner. That meant he could have ice cream for dessert. He chose the Brigham's Peppermint ice cream. (This is an excellent ice cream. One of the best peppermint ice creams I have ever had.) Normally, Caleb stirs his ice cream until it melts and leaves a little bit in the bowl when he is done. Last night, he ate, drank, and licked every last drop of his peppermint ice cream. (He even got a drip off of the table.)

I was not sure whether I should be proud of this behavior or not, but it is a shame to let the good ice cream go to waste. (Just don't let Mary know that I condone this behavior.)

Joshua's New Talent

Joshua is picking new things up every day. Before bedtime we usually sing a song or two. (Most of them are the Primary songs the children learn at church.) This past year, Grace and Caleb have learned "Called to Serve" and it is one of the songs that we often sing at night. I taught them that sometimes an extra "Go" can be inserted in the chorus between the refrains of "onward" and "forward." Joshua has picked up on the "Go." So when we sing "Called to Serve" he is quiet through the song, until after the second "onward." Then he will belt out a "Go" and stay silent for the rest of the song.

Health Food

We had ice cream for dessert the other night. We let the children choose either vanilla bean ice cream, chocolate frozen yogurt, or cookies and cream frozen yogurt. (It is not hard to guess which one of those I would have purchased.) I did not tell them one was ice cream and the others were frozen yogurt. Caleb selected the vanilla bean ice cream and said, "The vanilla bean ice cream is the healthy one. It has beans in it."

I agree with that kind of health food logic.

Halloween Pictures

Here are recent pictures from Halloween events: This is from our church Halloween party. All but Mary in orange on black on Halloween. (And I love the fact that Joshua's hair is working overtime in this picture.) Ready for trick or treating! Joshua is a cute little dinosaur. Don't mess with pirate Caleb. What a beautiful Asian princess. All the kids from the 'hood that went trick or treating together. And a great picture of little Joshua that I could not resist posting.

And a link to even more photos.

Recently Heard

The last video shows how Joshua's language skill continue to improve (and that his favorite word is "idunnoknow"). He has started learning a lot of new words, but he is not the only one with new words. Everyone has been getting in on the act.

Grace's reading has been tested by Halloween candy. She was digging through her bag the other day and asked me if I liked "Whooppers". (Marketing slogan: Candy that makes you whoop!) I asked her if she meant "Whoppers".

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This morning I was coming downstairs as Caleb was getting his backpack ready for school. I hear him say, "Mom, why did you leave my zipper all skippity-bappity?"

How do you answer that? All I could do was laugh.

(For the record, I believe skippity-bappity means out of place. Mary left the zippers together at the top of the backpack when Caleb clearly wanted the zippers either all the way to the left or the right.)