getaway

Dave and I went on an overnight-er this week, courtesy of Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend, Vermont. Dave has always had an interest in rural medicine and we thought it was a good opportunity to find out a little more about rural family practice. We traveled to Townshend, toured the hospital, had dinner with one of the physicians, stayed the night, explored the area and then headed home. It was just what we needed!

We stayed at a little Inn in Newfane, Vermont called the Four Columns Inn. It was awesome! For a few hours Dave was at the hospital shadowing and I got to sit and relax (read: sleep) in our room.

Later that evening we went to dinner with one of the doctors at Grace Cottage. The restaurant was just down the block from our Inn, and was established in 1787! The food was great, the company even better. We talked a lot of medicine, but mostly about life and the doctor and his wife were so nice and easy to talk to. We were there for 3 full hours.

The village green that our Inn and the restaurant were on was really cool. This is the actual county courthouse. (The Inn was right behind it.)



(I love all the history that surrounds where we live. It is so neat to see such old stuff still in use!)

When we left, we headed to the town of Battleboro for lunch, and for a stop at the Grafton Cheese Factory to sample some Vermont cheese and buy some really cool bottles of syrup.

The getaway was awesome and we are so glad we did it.

family skating

Our family went skating today. Erin and I had never gone before but it was a lot of fun. Both Erin and Jack are asleep on the couch right now as a result.

Here is Jack with his skates on. He didn't seem very impressed at times but was the last one to take off his skates when time was up. I had to balance him at the waist so he would actually try to put some weight on his feet. He says he liked it and wants to do it again.


Ana had a little trainer that helped her say up. She had so much fun. I think she would do it all day with forced eating and bathroom breaks.




She got going pretty well before we were done!


Ana has a private lesson tomorrow at a different skating place as part of her Christmas present. She can't wait. She says she wants to wake up and go to the ice skating place early in the morning. And stay all day. I kind of agree with her. It was a lot of fun.

good gifts

Christmas was happy.

Christmas Eve, we ate turkey with the neighbor by lantern since the power went out. We went to friends' for the nativity story. The kids opened jammies, and slept soundly.


Christmas morning: Ana got ice skates.

Jack got Dave's old train set.

They were happy.
We went to a local park where they had a small snow-covered ice pond and let Ana skate around. It was cold, but she liked it. We played Mario Party, ate turkey sandwiches, and had a nice ham dinner with some friends.

Happy day.

The emotional let down after Christmas has always been hard for me to deal with. It came and went so quickly, with a million things on my to do list that didn't get done. I sat down last night and thought about the day. And cried.

I thought about Jack and how excited he is about his train and his bulldozers.

Mostly, I thought about Ana and what a wonderful girl she is. Giving and social and energetic. And how I hope she knows that I love her so very much.

Then this came to mind:

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

(Matthew 7:11)

May 2011 be full of good things for all of us. Merry Christmas!

after all, there's only one more sleep til Christmas*

Last week I was sick. It hit me about Thursday and it took until Tuesday to finally get feeling better. Dave got done with school on Friday and he came home and good took care of us.

Then I felt better, but had fallen very far behind. The last few days we have been scrambling to get everything ready for tomorrow. Besides cleaning the kitchen, cooking a lot, and wrapping all of the presents, I think we're finally caught (mostly) up!


There is a thick blanket of snow outside. Happy Christmas Eve!



*I have yet to see The Muppet's Christmas Carol this year. Can Christmas truly come without it? Best. Christmas. Movie. Ever.

snowman

I hadn't made a snowman in a long time. It was fun.


After we made the snowman Jack stayed outside with me for a long time "playing snow fight" and also thoroughly enjoying himself while he ran around hitting various bits of snow with a stick. It was a great day.

things that prove kids are awesome.

Awesome things that happened this afternoon:

*Jack said about a thousand times "Take a picture of this" and then made silly faces while I snapped photos:


*Ana took over the camera:

*Then made me a get well card:

" ANA
ERiNN
iM SORRY
YOU R SicK"

"ANA FROM" (from Ana)

*During dinner at Wendy's: Ana ordered a salad (and ate it) and a hamburger. She took a bite of her jr. bacon then opened it up and declared, "Holy Cow! There is bacon and cheese on mine!"

in our house

The kids hadn't been out of the house since Monday night. On Wednesday Dave stayed home studying so I ran some Christmas-related errands without the kids. Other than that, I hadn't left the house either. Yesterday I was sick. I stayed on the couch all day. And I let the kids watch a lot of TV. But behavior-wise they were doing just fine. They even left me alone for a few minutes so I could soak in the tub.

Either way, I knew that today we needed to get out. So after lunch I bundled up the kids and we went outside to play in the snow. We had a great time.

And then suddenly, when we came back inside, 4 days of being-stuck-inside-with-mom unleashed its power and the kids went nuts. And now I'm feeling a little under the weather again. So I think I'll curl up on the couch with the kiddos and read them stories while I wait for Dave to finish his test and come home for 2 whole weeks.

And then we'll finish our Christmas cards and finish shopping and get the house all cleaned up for Christmas.

snow is falling

And I love it! Dave and I were talking last night about how some of his class mates will be traveling to warmer weather this holiday season and how lucky they think they are. Just for the record, we love the cold, snowy, December-y weather. Let it keep coming! This is what Christmas is supposed to be like.

I know that come March I'll be tired of it. But that's nothing I haven't been dealing with for the last 7 years. Besides, this year I have a car all day, so I'm not stuck inside like I was for the first 4 years after we were married.

So thanks, Idaho, for preparing me for Vermont winters.

saying yes

This picture was taken from our living room window. That's Dave waiting for the bus. The bus comes every 15 ( 7:25, 7:40) minutes each morning and again in the evening. Its about a 20 minute bus ride to school.

When we first moved here, Dave planned on taking the earlier bus. Then if he missed the bus, he could take the next one and would still be on time for class. Now he plans on taking the later bus. That means if he misses it, the next bus comes too late for him to get to class on time. Those mornings he asks me to drive him to class. (It takes about 12 minutes to drive up there.) This usually happens about once a week. Though, some weeks he has missed the bus 2 or 3 times. I admit, I've been known to whine about it.

It was one of those weeks when I was talking to my sister on the phone. She was on her way to her husband's work (20 minutes away) to take him a soda because he wasn't feeling well. I was pretty amazed that my sister would do that. It wasn't a big deal for her, but I know that I wouldn't have done it.

Since then, I've noticed how often I don't do things for Dave and the kids. Or I complain while I do it. And then I've wondered how much better things would be if I said "yes" instead. If Dave asks me to make Grape Nut bars for him, even though I think they taste like peanut butter concrete, it is easy to say yes and we're both happier.

I'm not saying that my kids should get to do whatever they want. I am talking about being willing to serve them. When we are focused on doing things for others, we are happier. I always want to be available to help people in need, but often I forget that sometimes those people are my family. And their needs may be simple. Like laying down next to Jack at bedtime, finding Ana's favorite bear for her, or making Dave a salad.

Try it out. Say yes (without complaining) to your husband or kids. Serve them a little more. Be available for them. I know that the days that I do it, we are all a happier, including me.

let it snow

once upon a december

*Dave took me to a dance on Friday. For reals. Do you know how momentous this is? And he even fast-danced with me. I know. I can hardly believe it myself. And though the dance was mostly a drinking party for the med students, I met some of Dave's awesome classmates and, as I said before, I got Dave to dance. And I bought a cute new dress and earrings for it. So it was totally worth it.

Afterward we went to Applebee's for dessert and ended up getting the spinach and artichoke dip appetizer too. You can't beat 1/2 price appetizers. I didn't take any pictures, but other people did. I'll have to round one up.

*Its snowing. Yay! It just wouldn't be right for Vermont to not be snowy in December. We watched "White Christmas" last night. I think that's what did it. Ana said it looks like sugar and flour.

*We drink chocolate milk out of champagne flutes around here. Don't you?

and be glad.

Life is meant to be hard.

Some hard things we choose - becoming a parent, going to school, moving far from family. Some hard things we do not choose - kids with disabilities, health problems, job loss.

Generally speaking, I believe in choosing to do hard things. Those who take the path of least resistance usually will find resistance somewhere along their life. A person who doesn't take care of their body (because its hard to exercise and eat right) will encounter health problems later in life. Similarly, those who don't master themselves while young will most definitely have problems later as a result.

An illustration: C was known for his sense of humor and happy-go-lucky attitude. He didn't really like school, so he didn't finish. He got married, but couldn't hold a job, so his wife worked, even though she didn't want to. She felt guilty for not being home with the kids, so she never took time away to build her relationship with C. After 10 years of marriage, they were divorced. Perhaps if he had chosen to do something hard early in life (i.e. go to school so he could have a steady job) he could have avoided the much harder experience of a broken family.

Either way, life is going to be hard. Avoiding hard things isn't the answer. Of course, sometimes we don't get to choose. I often think that I complain too much. My life is pretty chushy, and I know a lot of people who have it much harder than I do. But life is still hard. It is for all of us.

Motherhood is one of those hard things. The more I look at other people's lives the more I believe that children are hand-picked for certain families. Sometimes I think, "I must not be a good mother because my children are so crazy." But when I take a closer look, I realize that some people have angel children, but they also have uninvolved husbands, health problems, children with disabilities, accidents, job loss, and or a million other trials to deal with. Then suddenly I realize, "this is my 'hard thing' and I picked it."

I am learning so much by mothering these little children. I am learning patience. I am learning compassion. I am learning joy. I don't really understand why some women don't want this wonderful, hard experience of motherhood. Life is going to be hard anyway. Though sometimes I want to run screaming down the street. Or lock myself in my sewing room. Or send the kids to the neighbor's for the afternoon. This is my "hard thing" and I picked it.

Eve chose motherhood too. It was a hard choice. And she didn't have parenting manuals or a mother to call when she had trouble children or wanted to potty train her 2 year old or needed to vent her frustrations or get a recipe. It must have been a hard thing to choose. But she was glad. (See Moses 5:11)

I can do hard things. We all can. In the strength of the Lord, we can do ALL things.

Even hard things.

its beginning to look a lot like christmas

The first snow of the season started falling Saturday morning. We bundled up the kids in coats, hats and gloves and drove a little north of town to a tree farm. Rows and rows of perfect Christmas trees stood before us. It was beautiful.

We walked among the trees searching for OUR tree, that symbol of Christmas that would stand in our home for the next month. The snow kept coming down. Jack ate snowflakes off of his mittens.

Ana picked out the tree she wanted to bring home. After looking over the selection, we deemed it worthy.






We cut it down and carried it to the shop. Warm hot chocolate, candy canes and a wood burning stove greeted us inside the little Vermont store. The walls were lined with Vermont maple syrup, handmade Christmas ornaments and goodies.

After our tree was shaken, bundled and secured to the top of our car, we drove carefully home in the driving snow.

Sunday afternoon we decked the halls, and I used the bottom boughs to make a Christmas wreath.

Its Christmas in our home!

caption game

What caption would you give to this picture? Think of your answer and then click on the comments to see what Ana had to say about it.

jack is a boy

Every once in a while he has these moments that remind me he truly is a little boy - I don't mean the times he runs around naked looking for different underwear.

This was totally unprovoked and unprecedented.

Today I crushed up a pine needle from our pine tree with my fingers. I had Ana smell my fingers and she said "It smells like Christmas tree!!!"

Then Jack wanted to smell my fingers too. He said, "Your fingers smell like poop!"

giving thanks

For the beauty of the earth

For the beauty of the skies

For the Love which from our birth

over and around us lies



Lord of All, the Thee we raise this, our hymn of grateful praise.

daddy's little girl

Have you read Fancy Nancy?

Ana loves it. Lately she's been wanting to dress fancy.


She wanted to eat at a fancy restaurant, too, so we decided to do our own.

We dressed up and had a fancy dinner. (Well, we ate spaghetti, which Ana requested, even though its not really that fancy if you ask me.) Even Dave dressed up.

Come to think of it, Ana can get Dave to do lots of stuff I never can get him to do.

Like wear a halloween costume.

And dance.


Its amazing what the love of a little girl can do to a man. She's got it pretty good to have such a daddy.

fools errand

I've been in a crafty sort of mood. Specifically, I want to make a skirt for myself. Also I'm doing a card exchange with the sistas so today's mission was to head out to some craft stores.

With kids in tow I headed to a craft store for some cutesy paper. Besides the fact that Ana had to go potty, (I swear it doesn't matter if she goes before, she always has to go while we're out...) the craft store was a productive errand. So we headed to a fabric store a friend told me about.

The fabric store is located near a downtown market called Church Street Marketplace. My first mistake was not looking up the directions. I heard it was on Church Street so I walked up and down church street looking for it. It took about 45 minutes of walking in the cold with the kids (and a couple phone calls) to find it. By the time I found it, my enthusiasm for the errand had waned.

My second mistake was expecting to find a store like The Gathering Place. Though I did see some cute (although expensive) fabrics today, I found myself missing the little gem on Rupert's Town Square.

My third mistake was not making Jack go potty somewhere in all the chaos of finding the place. When we finally got back to the car, he was wet. I have no idea where the accident occurred.

My fourth mistake was letting him fall asleep in the car. When I tried moving him to his bed, he woke up screaming.

So in the midst of frustration, I decided to take the kids to Wendy's for lunch. Because I believe that frosty's and jr bacon cheeseburgers have super powers. It worked, too, because I got to see Jack dance to the music while scarfing down chicken nuggets. And there is nothing cuter than that!

mission accomplished!

*Its been 3 days on our new system. Ana used all her tokens on day #1. Maybe I should have had more stuff on hand for her to do, but whatever.

Yesterday she didn't watch one minute of TV. She also didn't complain whine or ask me a million time to watch it either. Mission accomplished!

This morning she helped me clean the bathroom. Mission accomplished! Then I got to work out while she watched her 1 show (because she immediately cashed in her reward). And then she turned it off, and hasn't been whining or complaining about the lack of TV at all.

Maybe I'll have to slowly wean her down to fewer marbles a week. I think the key is that she is in charge. Its not an arbitrary decision made by someone else, but its in HER power. And she knows if she wants it, she has to work for it. I may adjust the rules slightly because I really like them to watch a show for me to use the bike trainer, so we'll see how the rest of the week goes.

*Jack is potty trained. Meaning he goes by himself most of the time. (He usually wants me in there anyway, and he runs around without underwear when he's done unless I help him put them back on). We are a diaper free family! He loves his reward:

tv tokens

Today I'm trying a new thing.

See, Ana is addicted to TV. All day long she asks to watch shows, play on the computer, and watch more shows. I have been very strict with making sure she watches less than 2 hours a day - but that seems like so much still AND she still asks to watch all day.

So to try and curb her appetite, I have started what I call TV Tokens. (Because everything has to be alliterate to be effective, right?)

Every Monday morning I'm giving her 10 marbles. Each marble is worth 30 minutes of TV/computer time. If she wants to watch a show, she pays me a marble (or 3, if its a movie). If she spends them all in 1 day, fine. But then she doesn't get any more for the rest of the week.

Since this allows for less than half of our current TV time, I will give her opportunities to "earn" more if she runs out early in the week. But they will be big things that hopefully will actually distract her and keep her away from the TV for a while longer. Either way, I'll be happy with the results.

I'm not saying this will work, but we're trying it. I will say that its Monday morning and so far she's cashed in 3, and then wanted to earn one back so she cleaned up her entire room by herself without me asking. Heck, that's worth a marble.

update: she has officially spent all her tokens for the week in one day.

on living 3000 miles away

(the fam, minus my brother who was on a mission, circa 1993)

I love our families. All of my sisters and sisters-in-law are so dear to me. I love spending time with them and going to family parties. We are usually the last to leave any family function because we love spending time with lots of people.

In my younger years my dad was in the Air Force. My parents (and most of my older siblings) spent the majority of the time living far away from family. We moved to Idaho when I was 9.

Throughout the years, I remember my parents talking about dear friends they had (and still have) all across the country, and world - from Hawaii to Virginia, Texas to Germany. My parents have very fond memories with them. They were the ones that babysat when my mom was in labor. They were the ones who called to just say "hi." When my mom had 3 small children, she used to "swap" kids with a friend every other week so they could have a few hours to clean house, run errands, or work on a project. They were (and are) as dear as family to my parents.

Now we are far away from family. We don't get to go home very much to visit. In fact, we really don't know when we will go home. So far, this has been a wonderful adventure. We already have dear friends that we can steal milk from and who will watch the kids for doctors appointments or dates. I know that they will be our friends forever.

I am so thankful that my parents taught me that time spent far away from family can be wonderful and rewarding. That eternal friendships develop, husband and wife grow together, and there are opportunities to grow found no where else. Though I miss our families, I don't feel homesick. This is my home and I am just happy!

cat and dog

Most days at some point Jack and Ana play "Cat and Dog." Jack is always a kitty and Ana is always a puppy and I get to go the store and buy them and bring them home.

It always makes me laugh. Mostly because my children are as different as cats and dogs.

Ana is social, a little loud, and wants to be in the middle of all the people. She loves to be right on top of me and she follows me around the house. She's always full-speed ahead. Very puppy-like. She even likes licking things...

Jack loves to be held and cuddled... on his terms. Mostly he likes to do his own thing and be left alone and he'll be quiet and happy. But if something bugs him, he'll let you know. He's always going at his own pace. Very cat-like. Just today he walked up to me and started rubbing his head up against my legs.

And right now Ana is chasing Jack around the room.

They are different. But not better or worse. I love them both and they make me very happy.

potty talk and bloggy thought

We're potty training this week. I'm just hitting the frustrating stage. We'll see how it goes for a few more days.

Doing this for a second time made me think about Ana's potty training, which took me into the archives of my blog.

That got me thinking about my blog. I love being able to write down my thoughts. I was always a very diligent journal-er until Ana came along and this blog has saved me from forgetting all those memories. I love that I can look back and see what was going on. I'm really glad I've written this all down.

I have noticed that there is a change in the blogging world since I started over 3 years ago. It seems most blogs these days are super-specialized., whether its photography or cooking or crafting or whatever else. Sometimes I wonder if my blog is just wasted space. That I should just go back to writing in my journal for all these memories and thoughts.

Then I remember that I'm not really super-specialized as a person. I am interested in lots of things. I like sewing, music, being a mother, cooking, photography, reading and every other subject. Though I'm not super-talented at any of them, I like them all. So I know my blog is a little scattered. But that's me. I hope the few readers I have will stick it out with me. And comment every so often.

So thanks for stopping by.

for her good

I've been thinking a lot about the Color-Pie incident.

I was writing about it in my journal the other day. Ana was crushed. And I was so sad for her. Then I started thinking about my reaction to the whole experience.

I could have prevented it from ever happening by putting it up high on a shelf or stopping her from playing with it. But I didn't.

I could have brushed it off and told her it wasn't a big deal and that she'd forget about it soon enough. But I didn't.

I could have gotten upset with her for playing with it after I warned her not to. But I didn't.

I could have said, "I told you so." But I didn't.

I hugged her. I let her cry. And I was sad for her.

I was also hopeful that this experience would teach her some things. Like how to be careful with her things. And that Mom has a good reason for telling her not to touch things. And that its okay to be sad and disappointed when sad things happen.

I love that I have a Heavenly Father who does the same for me. He doesn't always prevent bad or disappointing things from happening. He doesn't brush it off and tell us that in the great scheme of things it's no big deal. He doesn't get upset with us. He doesn't say, "I told you so."

He loves us. He comforts us. He understands. And He is hopeful that we will learn a few things in the process.

"My son, peace be unto they soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all they foes. ... Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."

Doctrine and Covenants 121: 7-8; 122: 7

I love what being a mother is teaching me about my Heavenly Father.

....

in memory

July of 2009 brought an addition to our family. It was birthday time for a special 3 year old. She declared to her Aunt Amy that she wanted "a pig... a piggy bank" for her birthday.

And this special piggy bank joined our family.

So many memories: adding coin after coin, putting band-aids on the slot, carrying it (and hiding it) around the house.

Then there was that one time when Ana took all the money out, took it to the bank, then picked out her very own game of Chutes and Ladders.

But alas, it was not to be. Today it slipped from those loving fingers and met its demise.

We have one broken-hearted little girl.

Ana, on the subject of her broken piggy bank:

"I'm so disappointed! ... I named it Color-Pie. ... I miss it already. ... I want to put the pieces in a bag and keep it so I can look at it and remember. ... I think listening to some music will help me feel better, Primary music. ... I need to go tell Sara (our neighbor.)"

Goodbye, Color-Pie. You will be missed.