I Love December

Wow, I can't believe that Christmas is almost here. I love Christmas time, and I have really been trying to enjoy it this year. I feel so blessed to know that Jesus is my Savior, and that in him I can be forgiven and perfected. Today in Relief Society Sister Penny (I can't remember her last name for the life of me!!!) was reminding us not to just glorify Christ, but to emulate Him. What a wonderful reminder! I should not just remember and praise Him, but I should try to pattern my life after His.

There are so many family and friends that have served us and loved us these past several months. Some have helped us with a few bills ( my medical bills have gotten a little out of hand), some have been good listeners, some have offered advice, some have even tried to help me with access to an E. Stim machine! Can you believe the generosity? Some of the sisters in my ward have even provided me a warm hug and comfort to my soul. As women, we all need that some times. I am so grateful for the love and generosity we have been shown. These people have reminded me how to be like Jesus.

... Okay, so obviously I didn't finish this post. Now Christmas has passed, but I still want post what I had written, along with a few photos of our December before Christmas. I will do a separate Christmas post in a few days. Love to you all!

Zane telling Santa that he has been good all year.

Nyah would only sit with Santa if I was with her.

By the tree.

Zane's Christmas program at Challenger School.

Zane and Ny after the program.

Me and the kids at Zane's program. Sadly, Jeff had to work and couldn't attend.

Zane's Statue if Liberty in the Hall at Challenger School.

The map where the Statue of Liberty is posted.

With Eve at Glenn Beck's Christmas Show. Thanks for the ticket, Jeff. It was the best Christmas present ever!

The Nativity at Temple Square. The kids loved the lights and the Nativity story.

Security or Love?

Jeff and I are having a little difference of opinion on something, so I figure we could settle this by getting the opinions of all the people reading this blog. Here's the question:

What is a woman's basic desire/ need from a man?

This would apply to women in general regardless of age, religion, or social status. Jeff and I agree that a man's basic desire is sex, so there is no disagreement there. Here are the arguments:

Jeff: A woman's most basic desire is security. She wants to make sure that her man will provide a good life for her. It is not sex, admiration, love, appreciation, or any other thing. Those things, although important, are secondary to security. Most women will try to deny it, but if they take a real good look at themselves, security is #1. This is not a bad thing, it is an innate desire to help women chose a mate that will be able to provide for her children, and make it possible for the mother to spend her time caring for and nurturing the children. He doesn't think all women are gold diggers, he thinks they have this desire for the purpose of creating a family that thrives.

Tara: A woman's most basic desire is love and adoration. I think that when a woman is dreaming about her future mate she thinks of a man that is totally in love with her. She dreams of a man who loves her and only her, and would be willing to sacrifice anything reasonable to make her happy. This doesn't mean that she would actually ask him to do that, she just wants a man who adores her enough to be willing to. A woman wants a man who thinks good thoughts about her, and only has nice things to say about her when he is talking to family or friends. She wants a man who loves her as much or more than she loves him, and she would take that above being secure any day of the week. The way I see it, if your hubby is completely in love with you (and treats you as such) you would be willing to endure and work through any "security" issues there might be. In a truly loving relationship, trials are much easier to fight through together.

We both agree that there are a few exceptions to the rule, such as gold diggers, or completely immature nit wits, but we are sticking by our arguments as a generality.

So, what's your opinion? Who is right, or are we both wrong? I am excited to hear what you have to say!

November

This month has had it's ups and downs, but mostly ups. The kids got to build their first snowman ever, and it was awesome. Jeff and I tried to make it as fun and cool as possible for the kids, so of course we broke out the Halloween candy and winter accessories to jazz things up a little. I have to admit that I don't have any solid memories of making a snowman, so this felt like a first for me as well. This was several weeks ago now, and we haven't had any snowfall since, but the kids are anxiously awaiting its arrival so they can build another one.

Later in the month my beautiful grandmother passed away at 94. I love her with every fiber of my being, and I feel so blessed that she was in my life. I am sure that many of my good qualities were planted and nurtured by her over the years. I felt a tiny bit of sadness at her passing, but honestly it was mostly joy. She lived a full and vibrant life, and was surely missing her husband of seventy some-odd years. My sweet grandmother suffered from Alzheimer's at least 10 years of her life, and I have been missing her all that time. I knew she was in there, but it was difficult to reach the real her. She must be thrilled to be rid of her body that was filled with restrictions, and be free to be herself once again. I am sure she will love getting her body back in it's perfected state. I'm sure we all will. I will miss her until we meet again.



The kids were so excited that Christmas is coming that they begged to put the tree up early. So Jeff went to the garage and pulled out our cool fake tree, and all the decorations to go with it, and we turned it into a two night event. I will post pics of the tree later on, but here is a couple shots of the kids playing in the tree box. They loved that box so much that we are debating wrapping up several different empty boxes and giving those to the kids for Christmas... hee, hee...

Thanksgiving was such a peaceful holiday. Judy made a delicious dinner as always, and the company was very pleasant. I made pumpkin pie and a real cheesecake (I had to bake it and everything!) for the first time by myself. I am an okay cook, but I have never baked a pie before, and it was pretty fun. I think I will try that more often.

Thanksgiving day was also our 9th anniversary, so Jeff took me to see the movie of MY choice, which was Twilight. I thought it was so sweet that he was so willing to see a chick flick with me, no questiions asked. We usually try to compromise and see a movie that we both are interested in, but he insisted on giving me the movie of my choice. After 9 years he is still as sweet as ever.

Zane's Artwork

I have been such a slacker about posting, and I have so much to post, but since I haven't loaded my new pics from my camera yet, I thought it might be fun to post a little bit of Zane's artwork. He loves to draw and paint, and I think he is pretty darn good at it.

Bat

Octopus
Dolphin

Santa Maria

Horse

T-Rex

The horse and the T-Rex were painted on the same day, and I like to think of them as a set.

The Praying Mantis is my very favorite.

I know I am his mother, but I think it is brilliant.

There are quite a few other pieces that I have put away and have not scanned yet, but I will scan a few other good ones later. Nyah loves to paint and color with Zane, but so far it is pretty much circles and lines. I will have to post a few of hers too so she can see her creations on the computer as well. I think her natural gift of art is dance. She has natural rythem, and can twirl and move with ease. We put on music just about every day and let the kids get their groove on. Jeff says poor Zane has inherited his dad's rythem. I wouldn't know since I have NEVER seen Jeff dance in the 10 years I have known him (other than basic slow dancing, of course). Anyway, he has a pretty cool way of busting a move too, and you can tell that he really gets into it. It's pretty funny to watch.

I love my kids, they bring Jeff and I so many smiles every day.

Our Halloween Experience

We had such a fun Halloween this year. When I say "we" I mean me and the kids. Jeff was sicker than a dog. Poor guy.

Getting ready for Halloween, the kids and I decided to make cupcakes for the ladies I visit teach. I ended up making 2 batches, but I only have pictures of the first batch. By the second batch I figured out a way to make the witches a little cuter, but you will just have to take my word for it.

Jeff liked the mummies the best.

Zane and Nyah enjoyed placing the spiders and worms.

Zane wanted to carve the pumpkin that he and Nyah got from Grammy and Grandpa. I pulled up photos of jack-o-lanterns on the net and let him tell me what he wanted to do. As soon as he saw a picture of a pumpkin barfing he knew he wanted to do that too. So I had him draw a picture of exactly what he wanted, and we negotiated a few funny changes (the eyes). Then Zane helped me draw the design on the pumpkin. I did all of the gutting, and Jeff did the carving. Zane thought the smell of the pumpking guts was revolting, so he walked seveal feet away from it while we worked. He is such a funny kid!

The Saturday before Halloween I took the kids to the community center for their big Halloween Bash. RJ and Ethan came with their friend John, and Krista and Tiff brought their cute kids too. We had so much fun playing games, trick-or-treating, and going through the haystack maze.

Gavin, Nyah, and Zane

Nyah, Alyssa, Tatum, Gavin, Brianna, and Zane

On Halloween I took the kids to the mall with my friend Heather and her kids to trick-or-treat. When we got home we had a dinner break, and then we went back out to trick-or-treat in our rainy neighborhood. We had so much fun seeing the neighbors all dressed up.

Every time we would get to a door, Nyah wouldn't say "trick-or-treat". Instead she would say,"happy Halloween!" And then she would reach down into her bucket and find a treat to put in the bowl of the person at the door. Most people were confused, and tried to give her treat back, but a few accepted her gift and returned the favor with two treats for her. Every now and then she would ask the person at the door if what she gave them was their favorite. So funny.

Zane was very excited and wated to go to every house that had a light on. By the time I was totally pooped, I told him we were done and should walk home. He conceded, but insisted on still going to the houses with lots of cool Halloween decor on them. That sounded like a fair deal to me.

Halloween Party

Today a few of the neighbors threw a really cool mommy and me Halloween party. The kids were so excited to get into their costumes and go see some friends. Even some of us moms dressed up! Here are a few hi-lites of the party:

This is Nyah getting her Halloween Groove on. She is the only kid dancing... what a cutie!

This is the last few seconds of Zane beating the crud out of the pumpkin pinata. He was the biggest (not necessarily the oldest) kid at the party, so they let him go last and bust that sucker open!

Shelly and I in our costumes

The cute witch is Selena, and the pregnant and pretty angel is Stephanie.

Thanks Selena and friends for a great party! I am not exactly sure of all the ladies that helped put it all together, but it was so fun, and I am glad we went. Hopefully we can do it again next year!

Birthdays

Since my last post both Jeff and Zane had birthdays. Jeff's was first, and he wanted to go to Tepanyaki for dinner to celebrate. We love this place because they make such yummy food, but also because it is so entertaining to watch them cook it right at your table. Zane and Nyah had never been there before, so it was especially fun watching them discover how cool it is to watch someone do tricks while they cook for you. Nyah wasn't sure how she felt about the onion fire volcano at first, but as soon as she saw the cook turn it into a choo choo train she smiled with delight.

After dinner we went to Zane's soccer game. He scored another goal, and it was fun for everyone to be outside together in such nice weather. After the game we went home for some cheesecake (Jeff loves cheesecake) and a few small gifts. It was so nice.

The onion volcano.

Nyah is nervous about the volcano.

The volcano is now miraculously a choo choo train

Nyah tries to climb over the top of Jeff at the soccer game.

Jeff's cheesecake. Yummy.

Exactly one week after Jeff's birthday was Zane's birthday. The big number five. He wanted to have a party, but I was hoping to keep it low key this year, so we decided on a movie party. We got ready by making sports cupcakes and decorating a little bit.

Then lots of his friends came over, and everyone went down into the basement for snacks and a movie. Zane chose Alvin and the Chipmunks. The kids seemed to be watching it for about thirty minutes before they got too excited and started to play around. A few of the older cousins decided to have a puppet show for the younger kids, and it was a big hit. Unfortunately that just made them more rowdy and wild. So I decided it was time to redirect the party upstairs for cupcakes and presents.




The party was so fun, and I am glad that so many kids could come celebrate with us. On Zane's actual birthday we took the kids to Boondocks and played arcade games. After an awesome afternoon playing, we came home an sang Happy Birthday and had chocolate cupcakes. He had a soccer game that night too, so we went straight there after our little family party. It was a great day, and I am so glad that Zane is our boy.

Such a cool kid. I love his smile.

This Week

Hooray for Zane!!! He got his first goal last Tuesday at his soccer game! He is really learning how to get the ball out of the crowd of kids surrounding it, and kick it in the correct direction. He is the youngest kid on his team, and many of the other kids played last year, so they have a few more soccer skills than Zane does. But I think that is a good thing, because he is learning so much watching their example. It has been such a blast to go to the practices and games as a family and cheer the team on. I will be bummed when the season is over.

Zane is right in front of the girl (#3). This is the moment before he kicked the ball into the goal! Too bad you can't see more than a small part of the back of his head peeking out.

This is the photo I shot right after he made his goal. He was so happy.

!

This one is obvious... he is throwing the ball back into play.

This past week was filled with many fun things in our family. Just before Grandma Deb came into town, Zane decided it would be fun to help Nyah put on some makeup while I was on the phone. They did this in a matter of a few minutes!!!

It kinda looks like she has a moustache!

She's fussing because she knows she's busted.

Later that day Jeff and I put together her first big girl bed. She was so excited! All she can talk about (even now) is her new big girl bed. The first night she slept in it was Wednesday night, and she didn't get out even once. I find this to be quite a miracle because when Zane got his first big boy bed he was out of it like 50 times a night. We had to keep putting him back in it (without saying a word to him) until he finally got the picture. I am glad that Nyah's experience made it much less exhausting on Jeff and I!

Woo Hoo!!! My new big girl bed!!!

Dad and Ny on her new bed.

On Thursday night after the kids were in bed, Grandma Deb came to visit for the weekend. It was so fun! We went to lunch, went to the toy store, and had Sponge Bob Popsicles. We all loved having her here, and we wish she could visit more often. Here are a few pics from the weekend.

Grandma gave each kid a whole dollar! Zane was especially thrilled.

Grandma and Nyah.