My Vacation

Apparently I went on vacation not too long ago. I wish I would've remembered to send post cards to myself to jog my memory of this event, because I have no memory of this vacation. Here's how I found out about this: I was asking Joshua what he wanted for lunch yesterday. I gave him a few choices and he picked something we didn't have, and hadn't had for awhile. I told him we didn't have it, when did he have it? "My robot mommy gave it to me", he replied. "Your robot mommy?" I had to make sure I had this right. "Yes, my robot mommy came and made it for me". I wonder how long I was replaced by the robot mommy. Maybe I went to the beach. That would be nice.

Lovin' on My Kids

It seems that every age is my "favourite". From the sweet little slugs they start out as, to the smiley and personality-emerging cherubs around 6 months, to the talking, walking beings they grow into. I realize these years are probably coming to an end for Caleb in the next 4-5 years, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised and love the teenage years, too.

Caleb decided the other day that he wanted his training wheels taken off. Unfortunately, he assumed that he would be able to hop on his bike and pedal off into the sunset. Gravity is such a hard teacher. After about 30 seconds, he fell. Which prompted cries of, "I'll never be able to do this!". After an hour, and a jillion falls later, we've decided to go back to the training wheels, but to raise them up a little so he has a little safety net. He was leaning so far to the left I was surprised he was still on his bike at all. I'm so proud of him, though, for trying and sticking to it for about an hour.

Mischa is turning out to be a mini-me when it comes to reading. I'm so jealous of the time that she has to just pick up book after book. She probably likes the nonfiction books more than fiction.

Joshua has been really whiny lately. I realize this just goes along with the territory for being 4, but he has turned into such a good big brother. Almost too good of a brother. Anneliese was chewing on a strap of her car seat (the part where you pull to tighten it). He was so insistent that it was dangerous and it had to stop. We had to endure 5 minutes of it, but it was nice to see him caring so much about his little sister.

Anneliese has been slow with her talking. Her understanding of words, however, is right up there. If you mention the word "go" in a sentence, she's off to the closet to get her shoes. And if mentioned going, isn't occuring, she'll tell you "go". She gets so excited over things. Bringing Ranch dressing to the table gets me a "Yay Mama!". If she sees food she likes, she points and says, "There it is!". She has a funny little "ooh" face that she pulls out several times a day.

Everyone is in different stages, and I'm loving them all. I miss the little baby stages, but seeing them all grow up is so exciting and fun.

Growing Up

The first Sunday of the new year is always a shock to me, it seems, when it comes to my kids. Last year it was Caleb moving up to CTR 8 and his impending baptism, and Joshua being a Sunbeam. This year, Caleb is now officially in senior Primary; Mischa, a CTR 7, is the highest in junior Primary in our ward (they had to move CTR 8 to senior Primary last year because of the size of junior Primary); and Joshua came home with his first CTR ring- he is now a CTR 5. Anneliese is having a blast in nursery and no longer cries when we leave (I guess she would have to look back to watch us leave to know that we were leaving, lol).

I am sad to leave the study of the Old Testament in Sunday School. We have an awesome teacher that made everything make sense, even some of Isaiah! He did a really neat slideshow on the life of Christ today before the start of the lesson, with him playing appropriate hymns on the piano in the background. Our ward is really blessed by him.

This is a really neat thing that was posted on a board I go to:
www.sugardoodle.net/Prophet/Prophets%20and%20Apostles%20share%20testimonies%20of%20Christ.shtml


I tried prettying it up, but lately inanimate objects have it out for me. Sorry to bring you into my battles, lol.

Joy to the World

One of my callings in Church is Relief Society chorister. I get to pick the music for the lessons. Two of the lessons of the month I know in advance, the other two I usually find out on Saturday, or on Sunday when I see the teacher for that lesson. The 17th of December was one of those Sundays that I knew in advance. I decided at the last minute to check with the teacher to see if the songs I had picked out would be okay. She told me that she had changed the lesson, so it would be okay if I picked out some Christmas songs instead. I asked her if she had a favourite, and she picked Joy to the World. I decided to do it after her lesson. All of my life, this song has been just a Christmas song. After her lesson, though, I've seen it in a new light. Her lesson was on the Second Coming of Christ, and this song fits so well, almost even better than as a Christmas song.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King!
Let ev'ry heart prepare him room,
And Saints and angels (heaven and nature) sing, and Saints and angels sing,
And Saints, and Saints and angels sing.

Rejoice! Rejoice when Jesus reigns,
And Saints, their songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more will sin and sorrow grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He'll come and make the blessings flow
Far as the curse was found, far as the curse was found,
Far as, far as, the curse was found.

Rejoice! Rejoice in the Most High,
While Israel spreads abroad
Like stars that glitter in the sky,
And ever worship God, and ever worship God,
And ever, and ever, worship God.