Christmas Countdown

Our family has been having a great holiday season! Here is what we've been up to:

1) Putting up the Christmas tree and other Christmas decorations (The kids really got into decorating the tree this year and are always asking if they can plug in the lights. They'll turn on the lights, exclaim how "magical" it looks, and then start dancing around and singing "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." They also really love their stockings made by Grandma Freeman (a family tradition from my great grandmother on my father's side). Sometimes they just can't resist and instead of just looking start touching and pulling on them. We've had a stocking along with its holder come crashing down three times.

2) Our Stake held a Nativity for the community, and we enjoyed helping with cleaning the church building in preperation for the event and then attending with our family. There were hundreds of nativities displayed throughout the building, and in the primary room they had a large stable and costumes where families could dress up and get pictures taken. Cicialy was really excited about being an angel, I was Mary, Dan was Joseph, and our big baby Weston was Jesus. For the first time in his life Will refused to participate, repeatedly telling the elderly volunteer who was trying to coax him to be different things that he didn't want to be anything at all. (He has since informed me it was because he liked his astronaut costume)

3) The kids each got to pick out a Christmas story from the bookstore to buy and bring home. We have since been reading them, along with the others we already had, almost every night.

4) As a family we made and decorated a huge batch of Christmas sugar cookies which were devoured in less than a week (I'm pretty sure Dan was taking more than his fair share to work everyday). The last two were finished off yesterday by the kids only after reassuring them that Grandma had cookies at her house to give Santa so we didn't have to save any of ours : ) I also had to make sure Grandma had carrots for the reindeer too!

5) Playing in the Snow! Yes, it did snow in Houston one evening and we woke up to a little bit still left on the ground. The kids thought it was a Christmas miracle!

6) Listening to Christmas music. Will and Cicialy love the classics like "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", and "Frosty the Snowman". They are constantly running around the house singing these songs. On Saturday while we were out and about in the car I put in a CD of beautiful Christmas music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. William immediately protested by stating, "MOM, this is not CHRISTMAS MUSIC, this is CONFERENCE MUSIC."

7) Watching tons of Christmas movies. We've watched all the classics that come on TV every year and borrowed lots more from my parent's DVD library (Elf, Santa Clause 2, Snow Globe and several other cute yet cheesy ABC Family Christmas movies).

8) Getting a visit from Santa Claus. When Santa Claus appeared at the end of our ward Christmas Party Cicialy went crazy. She started shaking and got the biggest smile on her face. Will and Cicialy both knew exactly what they wanted from Santa Claus and let him know the second he asked. (Cici wants a pink kitchen and Will wants the Geo Trax Airplane). Weston enjoyed eating Santa's beard.

9) Playing with our Little People Nativity. We bought this Nativity two or three years ago and it has been well worth what it cost. Our kids love playing with it and we've used it countless times to illustrate the Christmas Story. We set it up right next to the Christmas tree so they can play with it whenever they want and to serve as a reminder to them what Christmas is really all about. Yesterday we focused our family home evening on the true meaning of Christmas and had them read with us the Christmas Story from Matthew and Luke while using the Nativity to suppliment the story. We then had them listen to the primary song "Picture a Christmas" which reminds children to picture Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Angels, etc. when they think of Christmas. It really turned out great!

10) Getting excited to spend a few days at my parent's house and the arrival of some cousins! My kids can't wait till tomorrow morning when they'll get to see Aubri, Daegon, and Koen.

We love Christmas and really think it is the most wonderful time of the year! We hope that all of you are having a great holiday season as well and are taking the time to remember our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Best Wishes for a happy, heathly, and successful new year (don't we all need that in these times).

Halloween and Thanksgiving 2008

For family memories sake I am blogging about and posting pictures of Halloween and Thanksgiving now, even though Christmas is only 3 days away. I am trying to play catch up on our meaningful moments together as a family and hopefully will be more timely with my posts in the future. Thank you for bearing with me (if anyone even reads this blog : )

Halloween

Will and Cici really love this holiday and who can blame them - tons of candy, playing dress up, Grandma's stack of cool halloween stories to read every afternoon, making treats and food that represent scary and goulish things! In fact, the whole month of October William and I would have conversations that went like this. Will-"Mom my favorite holiday is Halloween." Me-"Well Halloween sure is fun." Will - "Yeah, its my favorite holiday. But my most favorite holiday is Christmas, (pause) and my favoritest favorite holiday is the one where we buy you presents." I am pretty sure he was refering to Mother's Day and how sweet is that! Anyways, Cicialy's costume was a no brainer: Cinderella, her favorite princess. It took us a lot longer to decide what Will would be. He was a super cute robot last year and we knew that it would be impossible to top that. Besides we were still living with my parents and working on closing on a house. We decided to pay homage to the city we now call home and have Will be an astronaut (Houston is home to one of NASA's space centers). I found his costume at Costco and was excited that I didn't have to sew or gather any more parts to complete the outfit (he already had black rubber boots he used as "moon boots" thanks to Uncle Dude and Cousin Riley). The kids had a blast trick or treating and got to go twice since the church trunk or treat was on a different night (we are just now seeing an end to all of the candy). For family home evening the week of Halloween we carved our pumpkin and decorated our traditional pumpking sugar cookies, which the children really enjoyed. Holidays, especially ones like Halloween, are so much more fun with little kids around!

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving at my parent's house this year, which is only about 40 minutes from our house. I hadn't had my mom's super yummy Thanksgiving feast since Dan and I got married so it was definantly a treat! My brother Matt and his wife Miya were also there and the kids had a fun time playing Mario Kart and other games with them. We stayed a few days and just relaxed, it was great! What I love about Thanksgiving is taking time to reflect on the positive aspects of our lives and showing gratitude for those things. Will really got into that and would ask us every night at dinner for the week leading up to the holiday what we were thankful for. Each of us took turns and it was really exciting as parents to see same of the values and ideals you are trying to instill in your children come to fruition, even at such a young age. This year in particular I was extremely grateful for my parents and all they have done for my family, for the birth of our third child who always is grinning and making us smile in return, for the trials and miracles that have really made my family stronger, and hopefully next Thanksgiving I can say that I am grateful for a summer in which my husband and I did not have to separated!

Dan was letting Weston eat all sorts of treats (mashed potatoes, rolls, pumpkin pie) even after my death stares, I mean seriously he was only 6 months old. What if he had food allergies.

Family Pictures

The day after Thanksgiving my dad and I took some photos of our family and the kids in their backyard for our Christmas cards. Even though they are by no means professional, I think we got a few cute shots.

(The above picture is to document how Weston acted the majority of the time while taking pictures. I was unable to get any single shots of Weston (6 months) and Will (4 yrs. old) because they refused to cooperate. Hence one of the reasons I haven't gotten professional family photos taken yet. I know I would spend the enormous sum of money it costs only to have my kids refuse to take pictures : )

This is my favorite shot of the day. At least Cicialy (3 yrs. old) would let me take a few good pictures of her.

Me and My Herd

If I get one more weird / disapproving look or rude comment directed my way when I take my surprisely well behaved children out to public places I think I am going to unleash a tongue whipping that goes something like this. "Yes all these beautiful children are mine. I am older than I look. I am not an uneducated high school dropout but a highly intelligent college degreed woman who has chosen to stay at home and raise her kids, and it is perfectly acceptable for me to take all of them to the store with me!" Sorry for the tirade but I guess me and my kids are a strange sight here in Texas (in Utah I would just blend in!), and Texans don't have a problem stating their opinions or being rude (I can say this because by birth I am a Texan). For example, at Walmart two days ago I was at the photo counter when a man came up to me and said, "Ma'am you sure have your hands full don't you." (I hear this every time I take the kids anywhere). Now keep in mind that my kids were not acting up but standing quietly and patiently next to me. I just smiled and said yes I do. He then moved on to point out that my baby wasn't wearing any shoes or socks. I just laughed and said that with my hands being full, as he had so kindly pointed out, every once in a while something gets forgotten. He then went on to lecture me that it was cold outside and that he should call my husband to let him know that if the baby was sick by the time he got home from work it was because I had let him catch his death from the cold. I just laughed but what I really wanted to say was, "Give me a break ... One Weston doesn't walk so he doesn't need shoes, Two I parked right outside the store so we have been outside a totel of less than a minute, and Three mind your own business. And why exactly are you in Walmart at 1:00 in the afternoon? Shouldn't you be at work or something." Weston was wearing lined pants, a long sleeved shirt and a sweatshirt so it wasn't like I had him out in shorts and a t-shirt. Then the next day as I was entering Office Depot one of the clerks walked past and commented, "Brought the whole herd today didn't you." Excuse me, my children are not animals and I don't take kindly to you insinuating that they are.

Finally a Minute to Blog!

I know I've been a slacker and not updated this blog in over 2 months but I finally have a moment to play catch up while all the kids are napping or playing quietly. So, what have I been up to? I finally found a house, bought a house, moved into a house, unpacked all but the last 10 boxes, celebrated halloween, thanksgiving, and am trying to make sure my kids have a great Christmas season even though I am completely tuckered out. What follows are the things I should have blogged about sooner.

Trip to Utah

Aug. 30 - Sept. 3 we took a short trip to Utah for Ben (Dan's Brother) and Miriam's wedding. I decided it would be a brilliant idea to priceline our tickets. Worst idea of my life. We got a late flight out which cut out an entire day of our vacation and were routed through Minneapolis / St. Paul. Three hours on a plane, a two hour layover, and another three hour flight sounded like a nightmare to me, but once you accept your price there is no refund (I know because I tried) - f.y.i. you have to accept based on price before you know the flight details like what airline, time, and routes. Anyways, the kids were excellent and we had a fun but short trip visiting with family. We were so excited that we got to spend a short little afternoon with our friends Holly and Ryan, and Will was beyond estatic that he was able to see his best buddy Carson again. I'm sorry I didn't let anyone else know that we were in town but our visit was jammed packed with family events, so we hope to be able to get together with everyone in July. Will and Cici thought they had died and gone to cousin heaven the entire time, and seeing them having so much fun made it well worth the effort of going even though we were in the middle of a move. Thank you to everyone in Dan's family for spending so much time with us, we don't see you enough. Following are some pictures from our trip.

(Cici and Will on the airplane - they loved flying!)

(Will and his best friend Carson)

(Cici and her friend Braydon)

(all the Packer cousins and Uncle Rob too!)

(Dan and Weston at the wedding)

(Cici and her cousin Kenzli at the wedding - they are only 3 1/2 months apart)

(Will and Cici in their wedding outfits looking super cute!)

Weston at 4 Months

Weight: 17 lbs. 2 oz.
Length: 27 inches

What he is doing at this age: Smiling and giggling at everyone, rolling all the way across rooms, grabbing at everything and putting it in his mouth!

Cicialy's Birthday

Cici turned 3 years old on September 27th. We started out the day by having both her and Will make birthday crowns which they then insisted on wearing to church. After church we had a little party with Grandma Freeman and Papagator (we were still living with them at the time). We had strawberry ice cream cake in honor of Cicialy's love for Strawberry Shortcake and then opened Cici's presents. Her brothers got her the barbie movie "The Princess and the Pauper" and Dan and I got her puzzles and her big girl Princess bike! Grandma and Papagator spoiled her with a gap outfit and strawberry shortcake books.

I love this 3 year old little girl with all her spunk, sass, hardheadedness, and absolute sweetness. She proudly proclaims that she is a big girl except for when it comes to tiolet time - she then insists that she is a little girl and can only use the little girl potty (a.k.a. a small training tiolet) no matter what! This has proven to be problematic as she refuses to sit on a normal tiolet. Needless to say Grandma and Papagator now have a little tiolet at their house, one had to be borrowed from Uncle Ken and Aunt Cari while we were in Utah, and we must make sure she uses the tiolet before we go anywhere. Cicialy gives the best hugs (two types: hugs you while softly patting your back or squeezes super tight and then yells "Pop" when she lets go - I don't know where she learned either one from but they are super cute!) and zeerbie kisses. Her favorite toys are pet shops, disney princess polly pocket type dolls, and puzzles. Cicialy can put together 100 and 150 piece puzzles by herself and wants to do one almost everyday. Her favorite color is pink and she loves her brothers, especially Weston who is her little baby. She even loves to go shopping with me which I hope will lead to a life long partnership of girl bonding time between mother and daughter!

*Well the baby is now up and crawling all around and trying to unplug the computer so I will have to write about Halloween and Thanksgiving another time!

We Survived Hurricane Ike (and a brief update of our life)

Life has definantly been crazy the last couple of months. For those of you who don't know we have recently moved. Dan has been working in Houston, TX since the end of June for Hydril (a GE oil and gas company). It wasn't a move I was really enthusiastic about making since I loved my house in Tyler and the people there too! I had lived in that house for less than 9 months and it was the house of my dreams for this stage in my life (granite countertops, custom kitchen, all brick fireplace, crown molding - it wasn't very large but it was beautiful). I also wasn't very excited about selling another house and moving again in less than one years time. But alas life sometimes presents (or thrusts upon us) interesting opportunities that must be made the most of. So, in short, Dan moved to Houston, I stayed behind for a month to sell a house, when that became unbearable I moved to Houston too, and the house sold three weeks later. The house closed on Aug. 25th and since that time we are officially homeless (we are living at my parent's in Houston while we determine where and what we want to buy - thank goodness we have family here to help us out). I never want to move again - only problem is that I am not sure I want to live in Houston for the rest of my life. I guess I might have one or two more moves in me, but they will have to be years apart from eachother! On August 30th we flew out to Utah with our whole family to attend Ben's (Dan's brother) wedding and to let Dan's family meet Weston for the first time. I will post pictures and write more about this in another post. Upon coming home I was to begin househunting only to be sidetracked by mother nature. Those of you who have never lived through a Hurricane I do not recommend the experience. We were not in a mandatory evacuation zone so we were told to shelter in place. My dad boarded up their closet window and that is where we slept the night the storm hit. Really the only way to discribe our experience is that it was loud and very windy. Luckily my parent's house came through the storm relatively unscathed but many others were not so lucky. Trees are down everywhere (on houses, fences, power lines and across roadways), lots of flooding occurred, and power was out for a long time (and still is for many people even two weeks later). Really the worst part was living without power for four days after the storm. Luckily the Lord blessed this area with unseasonably cool weather during that time period or it would have been utterly miserable. Dan and my dad braved the aftermath of the storm and immediately started helping ward members get trees of of their houses, tarps over holes in roofs, and unblocking driveways. Dan was having the time of his life. He even got two days off of work because of Ike. Now that things are sort of returning to normal I have begun looking at houses again. Only problem is I am discovering a lack of homes that meet my criteria. All the ones I thought would be cute and in my price range got damaged in the hurricane and have been taken off the market. I can probably get a much bigger house here than my last one but without all the upgrades : ( There just isn't a four bedroom, one story, approximately 2200 square foot home here with all the features my last house had. I wish I could just sit and wait for the perfect house to come on the market but I think my parent's would like their house back to themselves sometime soon. Wish me luck as I search these next couple of weeks!

Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime?

Help! With Dan being gone for the third summer in a row, I am running out of things to keep myself and the kids entertained. Any ideas or suggestions? Keep in mind that parks are out of the question because of the heat and my house has to remain pretty much spotless in case any prospectus buyers come to take a look. Here is what we have been up to during these hot, hot, hot summer days in East Texas:

Visiting the local splash park once a week:

Swimming when we get a chance (there are only private pools here)

Going to the Discovery Science Place

Eating lots and lots of popsicles

Playing with water guns (we need to get bigger ones!)

Playing Will's V-Smile or pbskids.org

Watching movies

Cleaning the house constantly

Trying to make Weston Smile

With Dan not home in the evenings the days seem to drag, cooking food is not as much fun, and I have less structure during the day. If you have any craft ideas, yummy and easy summer kid friendly recipes, or other activity ideas send them my way. How are all of you spending your summer days? And please PRAY that our house sells soon, keeping it clean is driving me insane!

Weston's Blessing and 2 Month Milestones

Weston just barely turned 2 months old! He is growing way too fast, and I am trying to treasure every moment while he can still be called my little guy. Here are some facts about Weston at this age.

Weston's Two Month Stats:

Weight: 13 lbs. 2 oz.

Length: 23 1/4 inches

Head Circumference: 16 inches

Weston's Two Month Milestones:

1) He truly smiles now (it is so handsome!)

2) He loves to hold conversations with his mommy

(he babbles, waits for me to respond, and then babbles back at me - we had a 25 minute conversation like this two days ago)

3) He rolls over from his tummy to his back

4) Sleeps longer stretches during the night (usually 6 to 7 hours)

5) Has slept through the night 3 times

6) Loves to grab hold of mommy's hair and hold on for dear life

7) Loves having his legs pumped like a bicycle

8) Calms down when the family sings "You Are my Sunshine" to him

9) Loves to have the Baby Einstein soft plastic books read to him

10) He loves to snuggle!

On Sunday July 6th, Weston was blessed in sacrament meeting at our church. Dan peformed the ordinance with my father "Papagator", my grandfather Freeman, two of my uncles (Web and Ron), and my cousin Ronnie assisting in the circle. Weston Reed Packer is the name he will be known by on the records of the church and on this earth life and he was blessed with love and kindness, the ability to listen, to be a good example, to have foresight and a discerning spirit, to have joy and peace especially as he listens to the spirit, and to have a kind heart. Weston behaved great during the whole blessing. We were sad that no one from Dan's side of the family was able to be there, but were grateful that we had several members from my extended family there to share this special event with us.