Getting ready for family portraits. 

random stuff

Today is the last day of November and that makes me happy. It means Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat and all that. It also means that tomorrow the girls will start opening the advent doors in the advent wooden box we have. In past years I put candy in the boxes but this year I have planned activities for each day and will put a little card listing what the day's activity is in each box. I am excited! We are going to be reading new Christmas stories (thanks to Sarah's book order), and making cookies, writing and visiting Santa, doing some fun craft projects, decorating a gingerbread house (without eggs), and other stuff.

The girls all have coughs now. It was just Sarah but she shared. They're not too bad and I'm hopeful they will not get too bad.

The wind has blown the snow against the front door creating a small drift. I wonder if it will help insulate the cracks around the door and prevent the cold cold wind from blowing in. That would be good since having to reshovel the front walk isn't all that appealing. I'm not even going to bother trying to reshovel the sidewalk after the snow plow covered it up with icy snow again. It would take forever and be downright crazy considering how much ice there is. People will just have to either be careful or walk on the other side of the street where the snow plow didn't unshovel the sidewalks.

Not that I want anyone to think we're desperate, because we're no where near desperate, but finances wouldn't allow me to do the usual buying of presents thing and so I made a couple of gifts and the girls are getting a combined Santa gift and Alan and I aren't buying for ourselves (except in October I did buy something actually) but anyway the point is Christmas means more this year to me. I'm slow but I can learn. We are focused more on the point of Christmas and are having more fun even without the shopping and gifts. (Alan was waiting years for me to figure this out I'm sure.)

I do have to pat myself on the back for a brilliant strategy I figured out recently. The girls are in charge of cleaning up their own messes- i.e. the playroom mostly. When I send them down it takes them forever because they just start playing some other game or Sarah sits on the couch and reads while Emmie picks up. So, I let them take turns choosing which room they would like to clean and one cleans the playroom and the other picks up the family room. I usually give myself a room too (usually the kitchen) and away we go. We have a contest to see who will be done first. The person who wins helps the other until everything is tidy. This way the house is always tidy before bed and usually it leaves us enough time to play games together. They get mommy to play with them and I get a clean house. It works well so far.

Guess what Emmie told me she wants for Christmas. Yes, a princess dress. It apparently isn't enough that she has a new Cinderella dress and pink Aurora dress. She needs a Snow White one too. Unbelievable. Unfortunately for her, we've made other plans for her Christmas gifts. I'm just amazed at how girlie this girl is. She loves to dress up and takes turns deciding what princess she is. What cracks me up is how girlie she is without any flowing girlie locks on her head.

Sarah didn't win the reflections contest which is fine with both of us. She got a kit-kat bar out of it and so wasn't disappointed in the least and I just wanted her to have the experience of entering so we're both good.

Well that's about enough rambling. See you all later.

the best error message ever

This is the best error message I ever read. I found it while looking for pinewood derby awards.

bits and pieces

We are well and looking forward to seeing some of you on Thanksgiving. This past week was mainly uneventful with small events thrown in to spice it up. For example Sarah got the stomach flu Monday night and missed school on Tuesday. Alyssa learned how to drink out of a straw and cut her top tooth. She now has 6 teeth in her little mouth. Yesterday Sarah went to the dentist to have a couple of cavities filled and did amazing! They didn't have to numb her more that the numbing gel stuff and she did great. Every day this week we are doing a pilgrim activity. Yesterday we made butter and corn bread. Today we played "hide the thimble" and tomorrow we will try and sew a little bag. The girls are excited to learn how to sew, why I can't imagine. I think they get it from Julie.

I've really enjoyed chatting on gmail but Alan is tired of being confused for me so I got my own gmail account. I actually have an email now for the first time ever. It is gotdonuts(at)gmail(dot)com I would love an email or a donut, either one. Anyway there's not much else to report. Have a lovely Thanksgiving where ever you are. I have so much to be thankful for and you are all among my most cherished blessings!

Emmie sat on the stairs and asked me to take her picture in her "pioneer" dress. She said, "I will smile like this." and tilted her head. Potter, not wanting to be left out, sat down next to her and I took the picture. 

Caught in the act of climbing stairs. She saw me pick up the camera and immediately smiled. 

So I was in the living room reading and I look up and there's Alyssa all the way up the stairs from the family room! 

One of Alyssa's new things this week was scrunching up her nose and puckering her lips every time I gave her a bite of something, while at the same time breathing through her nose to make a lovely noisy sound. It was sooo funny!! 

Sarah saved me one evening from going crazy by feeding Alyssa for me. I love how she's opened her mouth as she offers Alyssa some pears. 

Alan was putting a toy in his mouth and Alyssa would grab it and laugh. She thought this was so funny! 

"I'm bringing home a baby Alyssa girl. Won't my wife-ee be so proud of me..." 

Can I get in yet? 

Getting ready for a bath. 

this week

First of all you all need to check the insegredient ignatz site.

Next a little about the week. We had a fun Halloween. As you can see from the pictures it was actually a family affair this year. It was really fun to have Alan as an FBI agent. I think it's all the "Numbers" shows we've watched that inspired him. Alyssa hasn't seemed to have a major aversion to the chocolate I've eaten this week so that's good.

Speaking of Alyssa, she's not been sleeping at night well since she started this teething thing. Last week we had one night where she was up every 2 hours. That's brutal. Then last night she slept from 8 pm until 6:30 am!!! Mind you I woke up several times thinking I should be feeding her but managed to go back to sleep without too much problem. I hope this will be a new trend. Her last top tooth is just about to break the skin. I think it will be today. Then she will have 6 little wee teeth, and hopefully a break before she cuts any more. She's so cute. She's been expanding her vocabulary to da da da and ba ba and ra ra. But sadly no ma ma. She tried yogurt this week and like it. She also tried a ritz cracker and thought that was pretty good.

Emmie is at a delightful age. I love 3 year olds. Of course she's not quite 3 but almost. Her birthday is on Thanksgiving this year. She wants a princess dress of course. She's way into dress -up as I have already stated in earlier posts. That hasn't changed. Yesterday she said she was wearing down sleeves and she likes up sleeves better. She's also been practicing her pronunciation of certain words. She'll wonder around saying, "Grooomit. Gro-met. Gro-mit." She was a butterfly for Halloween. She liked her preschool party and yesterday she liked going to Primary. The nursery children came in for singing time yesterday.

Sarah is at a comparative stage. She compares herself to everyone in everything. Sometimes I worry she is going to turn out uppity and snobbish. "Am I better at reading than everyone in my class? I am. I am better than Emmie at swinging. I am better than Emmie at singing. I am taller than Emmie. I am smarter than Emmie. Am I the smartest one in my class?" This is a sample. Our strategy has been to acknowledge her accomplishments while pointing out that others are better at other things and that Emmie is simply younger not less-smart. Yesterday in primary she was play hitting a boy sitting next to her. (Another activity learned at kindergarten which we have recently become aware of and told her to cease and desist.) I caught her eye and shook my head "no" and next thing I see she's leaning over and kissing him on the cheek! My daughter the flirt at age 5. She doesn't get this from me.

I had a good week. I've spent a lot of it doing primary stuff. I spent some of it shopping and some of it cleaning and some of it cooking. Well basically I've spent it being a mom, which is just right. I did however do some reading as well instead of watching tv in the evenings. My mom would be proud. This week I want to play more with the girls. One of the highlights of my week was going to Cabelas with mom and dad Wessman. I loved it there. What a cool store. We got to see them feed the trout and I was amazed at how quick they took down those little goldfish. I also had a dentist appointment and have nothing to report, which is good.

Alan did the same old things with the exception of Halloween which has already been discussed. He didn't have to teach on Sunday and spent most of church time home with a sleeping baby. We will be soooo glad when church is at 9 am next year!

"Area is secure." 

For the first time in at least 15 years Alan dressed up for Halloween! He is an FBI agent wearing a real FBI vest Jacob brought him back from Brazil, only without the bullet proof inserts. 

Emmie as a butterfly, Alyssa as a bunny, and Sarah is riding a unicorn. 

Finished. 

Our scary pumpkin, carved by Alan. If you look at the paper next to it you can sort of see the drawing Sarah made of what it was supposed to look like.  

To do list

Today I would like to:
Buy replacement garments for the ones ruined by the pen Alan left in his shirt pocket and I washed in a large whites load.
Buy a couple of shirts ruined in same said load.
Go to Walmart and get some groceries.
Clean up messy kitchen.
Vacuum main living areas.
Clean bathrooms.
Prepare and discard ruined clothing.
Make dinner.
Call to get different pinewood derby track.
Call activity day leaders to make sure they've passed out the cars to the girls.
Plan and prepare sharing time.
Read to the girls.
Make pumkin choc. chip cookies, only put raisons in some so I can eat them.
Think about how I should exercise.
Write thank you cards.
Read my scriptures.
Think about taking a nap.
Think about how much time I'm wasting writing this list.
Help Sarah start her "reflections" entry.
Put away the Halloween decorations.
Maybe sell my camper toys on ebay, sometime this week anyway.
Consider ironing my white shirt.
Start another book.
Call Mom Wessman and tell her how much I liked the book on the Delany sisters and ask if my Mom can borrow it.