Christmas in the Park

Tonight we went to Christmas in the Park. It is a free community event with lights, hay rides, hot chocolate, cookies, music and Santa. The lines for the hay ride and Santa were pretty long so we let Luke choose which he wanted to do and he chose the hay ride. He'll get to see Santa in a couple of weeks when we go on a 'Polar Express' train ride. The boys LOVED the hay ride and had such big smiles on their faces. There were also animal characters walking around the park greeting children. I was afraid Seth would be scared of them, but he walked right up and gave them big hugs. He said, "I want to see the teddy bear again!" (We can't believe he's talking in full sentences!) A church across the street from the park was doing a live Nativity. They had a camel, donkey, sheep and lots of goats. Both boys had so much fun petting the animals and Seth was going crazy trying to hug them and chase them. It was a great little outing and it was all free!! Sorry about the low quality pictures, our little point and shoot camera doesn't do very well in the dark.

Gig 'em Aggies!

Living in CS has opened my eyes to a whole new world of football. The people here live for football like nowhere else! David has loved living here because he is a big fan of college football and he was excited to join the Aggie spirit. He's had season tickets the past 2 years and I finally went to a game this season. It just happened to be one of their worst games, which they lost . . . but it was still a lot of fun! Anyway, the Ags are going to a bowl game and can we just say, David is 'excited!' We had a lot of fun going to the pre-game festivities last weekend as a family.

Birthday Boy!

It's so hard to believe that my baby is 2! Sometimes I like to snuggle him close and say, 'my little baby' in a cutesy voice. He just laughs at me and then wiggles away. Just recently though he's been coming up to me and saying 'little baby' and then crawling into my arms. He's such a little charmer. He had a great birthday. He was served crepes with Nutella and whipped cream for breakfast followed by presents. He got a bucket of tools, Doc Hudson (his favorite Cars car), some books, a monster truck and lots of construction tractors. He spent the whole day playing with his new toys. The next day he had a little birthday party with close friends and it was fun and very low key. We love you so much Bubba, Bubs, chubby bubby, Sethy, Sessy!

Fried Twinkies

On Wednesday we drove past the mall and Luke noticed a huge Ferris wheel in the parking lot. A carnival was being set up and he requested to drive by every day to look at all the rides. Luke has been sick all week and we've been cooped up in the house so we decided to go ahead and take the boys tonight since he's feeling a little better. Luke was so excited about it and he never once asked or begged to go. He would just say things like, "I bet that dragon roller coaster is so fun!" The rides were pretty spendy and the employees were a little scary (smoking while they helped kids to their seats/mohawks/etc) but the boys were in heaven! Their smiles were so big and they were so excited about everything. They only got to go on 4 rides, but they loved it. Right before we left we decided to try the infamous fried twinkies . . . amazing! Just don't think about all the fat and calories! I think Dave and I only got 2 bites each because the boys devoured them. Seth had a major meltdown when we got to the car and he realized it was time to go.

Super Family!

We had a fun Halloween this year. Last week we had a Halloween preschool party. We played lots of games and decorated sugar cookies. For our costumes on Saturday, I found a batman and a robin costume at the thrift store for $2 each! They were missing capes, so my mom made them and then Dave and I were Clark Kent and Lois Lane. We went to the trunk or treat at our church and Seth LOVED the idea of getting candy. He caught on very quickly!

Preschool

This school year I decided to do something a little crazy. Most of my friends are pregnant or have just had a baby, so not many of them wanted to do a preschool swap . . . I figured I'm not pregnant and don't plan to be any time soon, I have a preschool age child, and I have experience, so I'm teaching preschool in our home. It's not much, just twice a week and we're having a lot of fun. There are 5-6 children ages 3-5 and they are all such good little friends. I've figured out a good schedule and as long as they get several breaks to play they do really well. I started in June and took a few weeks off in August. So far we've covered birds, food and nutrition, health, individuality, and fall/leaves. We're going on a field trip this week to a farm/pumpkin patch and we plan to have a great year. Luke LOVEs having preschool at his house!

Spritited Child

Just about 2 years ago a beautiful little boy joined our family. He had the chubbiest cheeks and softest skin. He looked exactly like his daddy and seemed to be docile and calm. We were struggling to decide on a name for this charming baby. We had it narrowed down to Conner and Seth. After his first day I said, 'Seth just seems like a calm and peaceful name. He seems that way, lets go with that.'

Once we were home from the hospital (and I couldn't send him to the nursery) he seemed a little more fussy and difficult to calm, but he had severe jaundice for 2 weeks with so many foot pricks his poor heels were covered in little cuts and nursing was a struggle. And then he developed reflux and would immediately spit up everything he ate. He was uncomfortable and his first year is a complete blur. We called it quits with nursing at about 3 1/2 months when he absolutely refused to latch and the poor boy woke every 1-2 hours until he was 5 months old. After some help from my mom those sleeping stretches grew to about 3-4 hours until he was 18 months old. Then magically, one night we put him down at 7:30pm and he didn't wake again until almost 8am.

He has never been easy to please. He has never been a child that would sit in a saucer or swing. Even when being held he had to be jostled and cajoled to keep him somewhat happy. But, boy can he smile. When he's happy, he's happy. He doesn't just giggle, he laughs out loud. But, 5 seconds later he can be a wailing heap on the floor.

Once he could sit he was irate to be put on the floor with toys (unless someone was right next to him). He started crawling at only 5 1/2 months and from that point has never stopped moving. But with his mobility came more independence and more confidence and happiness for him. He screamed and went ridged every time I put him in his car seat or high chair until he was about 18 mo old. Now, he gets in his car seat happily and does well as long as he doesn't have to be there for too long. We gave up the high chair and booster seat months ago, it wasn't worth the fight. He is so loving and loves to snuggle. From the time he could squeeze he has given great bear hugs and the sweetest slobbery kisses. But the moment something doesn't go his way (which is very very often) his first reaction is to hit or fall on the floor screaming.

He knows what he wants, how he wants it, and when he wants it. He becomes an inconsolable, raging boy when anything is wrong. He finds anything in his path to hit, kick or destroy. But, when all is right in his world he is the sweetest and cutest child around. We are drawn to his tenacity and lively personality and he makes us laugh. We have a lot of wonderful, high moments with this child and we equally have a lot of low and difficult moments with him.

I have often wondered what I could be doing better. And I read a lot of parenting books and I read all the 'get your baby to sleep,' 'get your child to cooperate,' etc etc. And some things have helped in some areas but overall I have felt like these things just don't work on him.
A few days ago I was having several hard moments with him, and I had a constant prayer in my heart and mind, "please help me be kind and patient, please help me be kind and patient, and what am I doing wrong, what should I be doing?" That very day a great friend of mine from back in Provo emailed me and said that she felt prompted to tell me about a book called, "Raising your Spirited Child: a guide for parent's whose child is more intense, sensitive, perceptive, persistent, and energetic." I immediately went and bought the book. The first chapter described Seth almost to a T. And the author went on to say that these children are completely normal, just MORE, spirited. And she said that she didn't like the labels given to them; difficult, demanding, stubborn, extreme, wild, impatient, anxious and instead uses labels like; zestful, curious, charismatic, compelling, dramatic, analytical. I am excited to read more. So far I am feeling more hopeful and I feel strongly that I need to accept Seth and embrace him and not try to change him, but teach him how to channel his temperament in positive ways. He is an amazing addition to our family and although he is not what I had envisioned he is just right.

Words of Encouragement and Brushing Teeth

This afternoon while the boys played out in the front yard (thank goodness for semi-cooler weather!) I watched a boy skate boarding home from school. He was probably about 11 and he stumbled a little bit but caught himself. I was very impressed with his response. Rather than cuss he said out loud, "Way to go! You're getting it!" and then clapped. This moment probably made my whole day. It reminded me just how important it is to be encouraging. Not just to others, but to ourselves as well. I think like most women, I am my worst judge. I set these outrageous expectations and then get so mad at myself for not fulfilling them. I want to keep my house picked up and cleaned, give my children complete attention, read books, work on family history, learn to sew, cook gourmet meals, go on lots of dates with my husband, learn to can, do more with photography, have children that don't fight or fuss or throw tantrums . . ., work on emergency preparedness, do cute crafts and projects, organize my house, be a better visiting teacher, know exactly when and how to serve and the list goes on. I look at all the AMAZING women around me and of course I just focus on their best qualities. 'Well, so and so does this and so and so does that, so why can't I?' What I often forget is that so and so's life is different than mine and she has different talents and interests and she probably feels the same way I do. Why do we do this to ourselves? So here are some words of encouragement, "Way to go!"

The boys really don't like to brush their teeth, really. And Luke is usually pretty good about it, but tonight he didn't want too (probably because I didn't make them last night since David wasn't home), anyway, He finally grabbed the teeth from mister potato head, stuck them in his mouth and said, 'ok, you can brush my teeth now.' Pretty clever.

Day of Rest

I've had this post in my mind for quite some time. I remember the days when Sunday really was a day of rest. We would go to our regular church meetings and then come home and take a 3 hour nap. This was before we had children obviously and before David had leadership meetings. Our Sundays are quite a bit more hectic lately and it's probably our busiest day of the week. Here's a little review of our day:

6:25am - we hear the boys stirring
6:30 - David gets up to shower and the boys come out of their room (Luke helps Seth get out of his crib in the mornings)
6:45 - we all eat breakfast
7:20 - David leaves for his meetings, boys and I play in the living room and backyard . . .I attempt to read conference talks and scriptures
9:15 - boys watch Mickey Mouse while I take a shower and get ready (I need to get some living scriptures or something)
10:15 - David comes home!! we get the boys dressed and I finish getting ready
10:45 - go to church (David ended up in the hall most of the time even though I'm in the nursery, Seth usually wants him and doesn't want to be in nursery . . . such a stinker!)
2:15pm - home, quickly get the boys lunch, put Seth down for a nap and clean up the house
3:00 - home teachers come
3:40 - home teachers leave, continue cleaning up, getting dinner ready, Seth wakes up very cranky
4:00 - friends from David's program come over for dinner (they have twin girls Seth's age)
(4:30 - I would usually go to choir practice, but skipped today for dinner)
5:45 - friends leave and we go out front to let the boys play
6:00 - our neighbors (also in our ward) head to the park so the boys and I join them, meanwhile Dave leaves for a stake priesthood meeting
7:30 - get home, bathe boys, sing songs, pray, get them in bed
8:00 - start writing this post

Our Sundays are some variation of this with visiting teaching, home teaching, etc. and after reading this I feel like maybe I'm not very good at keeping the day holy. The boys end up playing in the yard a lot. I guess the biggest difference is that most of our day revolves around church and fulfilling our callings as home and visiting teachers. Even though it can be stressful and certainly doesn't seem like a day of rest, our home usually feels a little more peaceful. I would love any suggestions for Sunday activities with children. They're getting old enough that I want them to know that it really is a sacred day, so suggest away!

So Much to Blog, So Little Time

The month of August flew by so fast, just like the rest of the year has. In the past month we've gone on vacation to Utah (for nearly 2 weeks), Dave has started his last year of school, and I am teaching preschool with Luke and 4 other children 2 afternoons a week (while Seth naps).

We had such a good time in Utah and loved visiting family and enjoying the weather. I had forgotten just how beautiful it is there! We could actually play outside at any time of the day and the mountains are gorgeous. We love it here in Texas, but it's just not the same. Visiting our families really makes me wish we lived closer so we could see them all more often, but we are so grateful for the times that we do get to be together. Since coming home we've loved getting together with friends and making new friends (30 new families moved into our ward this month). I'm having fun teaching preschool and it's a learning experience for me as well to figure out what the kids like and how to get them really excited about learning. Overall things are really good for us and we're expecting to have a great school year.

It's weird to think that in just 8 short months David will graduate and we'll be moving on to something else in our lives. Maybe I'm weird, but I'm going to be sad when it ends. Just because that means we're going to have to move and leave behind some great friends. Even though we knew we'd only be here for less then 2 years we decided in the beginning to 'stand where our feet are' and enjoy things right now instead of living for the future. Living with this kind of mentality has been so good for me. Anyway, maybe I'll post a little more often now, but here are some pictures from the last month.











I just have to say, Seth is a crack up. This kid makes us laugh all the time . . . you can see it in some of the pictures.

A Dream Come True

On Friday we took the boys to the Texas Department of Public Safety's 75th anniversary celebration (say that 5 times fast!). They had police cars, helicopters, swat vans, tanks, crime labs, Texas Ranger horses, K-9 dogs, an inflatable obstacle course and lots of other 'cool' things. The only thing that was not 'cool' was the weather. Let's just say it was HOT! But what do you expect for Austin in August . . . perhaps they should have done this in April . . . I should have been on the planning committee. Anyway, it was about a 2 hour drive for us (David's daily commute for only 3 more days!), but the boys were perfect. They just hung out the first hour and watched Little Einsteins the second hour. They were in pure heaven the entire time we were there and loved everything. Luke's favorite parts were the search boat, and the obstacle course. Seth seemed to love the helicopter, dogs, and music. The boys were both so beat by the time we left at about 1pm that Seth fell asleep as we left the parking lot and Luke soon after and they didn't wake up until we got home. That was my dream come true!