18 Months

 This little guy brings so much personality into the family.  He is so chill, yet has such a temper at the same time.  I never would have guessed those two traits could exist so strongly simultaneously, but apparently they can.

At 18 months this little guy:

* says un-oh for 'yes.'  It's really confusing to other people, but we're pretty used to it.  

* loves to wrestle - and he's not afraid of egging on either of his sisters.

* throws his food/plates/utensils to the floor when he's done

* still likes to bite, although it's becoming less frequent.

* is saying lots of words, but his most frequent one is Hannah

* knows exactly what he wants and will often kick, bite, or go limp when he doesn't get it.  Did I mention that all of the above are paired with some good, healthy screams?!

* avoids looking at the camera - it's so darn frustrating that it's kind of funny.

* likes to tease

* thinks the bed is better than a trampoline

* loves playing in deodorant...and rubbing it on the walls and his hair

* puts everything in his hair (vaseline, deodorant, stickers, glue, lotion...etc)

* LOVES babies.  

* melts my heart so often.  I think he realizes that I'm a lot softer than Dad (this is a hard spot for me because I feel like I've always been the strict one, but there's a definite soft spot for my little guy)

This little suit was supposed to be his Easter outfit (as in the holiday that's still 2 months away), but it's already a little snug, so I figured we'd better wear it while it fits. Anyway....his pot belly cracks me up.

My Goals

Rather than set New Year's resolutions I try to set smaller goals regularly…but it’s definitely time for me to re-evaluate my goals. Nothing new or major, mostly little things. Just trying to do a little better. Here they are....for no reason other than making myself feel more accountable.  

Spiritual
     *15 minutes of solid study without kids. That means making sure I'm up before them or doing it during TJ's nap time.
     * reading Sunday School and RS lessons beforehand

Physical
    * 3 or less treats per week
    * 3-5 servings of veggies each day
I have done really well the past few months because I've joined some health challenges, but I'm trying to save the money and do it on my own....here's hoping it still works with only James to report to!

Social
    * inviting someone to do something with me and the kids each week - I need friends!!!

Mental
    * reading one book each month
    * trying to get 10 minutes of 'me' time every day

Financial
     * sticking to my grocery budget ($250/month)
     * spending less than we earn and saving money for a house downpayment

Cousin Fun

We went to Houston to visit cousins over the Christmas break. Everyone (at least on our side of the family) had lots of fun. I did a terrible job taking pictures...as in hardly any at all. But here are a couple I did get. 

Fishing and playing at the park:
 











The kids all had fun being tossed onto the beanbag and James got a pretty good workout.


We had lots of fun.  It was great to see our kids playing with and getting to know their cousins.  And they are pretty darn fun cousins!

A Simple Christmas

We live a pretty quiet life around here. I feel like it was a very Christ centered Christmas. Since we have no family and hardly any friends we had no distractions at all. Some of my favorite things about this holiday season were:

• Reading stories by the Christmas tree – something about the lights is magical. 

• The kids being excited about the advent calendar – although next year I’m simplifying it a bit.

• Not spending too much money – our kids got lots of 'boring' things they need and a little bit of 'fun' but they were so happy with it.  It's nice they're young enough to be excited without breaking the bank.

• Siblings' exchange - this was the first year I had the girls spend their own money to buy each other gifts.  It was so fun to see them doing extra jobs to earn the money and taking forever to pick out an item at the dollar store.

Here they are on Christmas Eve in their 'new' pajamas.  They're holding up the gifts they got each other

On Christmas morning Sofia was pretty darn pleased with her pile of gifts!

Hannah was so excited to open gifts she could hardly sit still.  She kept bouncing all around.

TJ seemed pretty pleased with his lone gift.  We're just having a hard time making sure the hammer is only used with the toy.

 As a funny side note...my older sister gave us this toy along with a bunch of other stuff when Hannah was born.  It was almost 6 years ago, but I hung on to it figuring some day it would come in handy.  It sure did!

Our First Tree

This is the first year we've had an actual Christmas tree (at least one that wasn't made out of paper). Growing up I always enjoyed pretty trees, not the homemade looking ones.

Well.....ours is definitely one that looks homemade.  We had no ornaments and I didn't want to buy any because I knew they would get destroyed.  Solution -  we made some.  The girls had lots of fun....and it matters to them.

I'm rather proud of our tiny 4' tree with a star made of iron pony beads and hand crafted ornaments made mostly by a 3 year old with occasional help from the 5 year old sister.

In case you can't tell by looking, it has been tipped over several times, all but 1 cinnamon ornament have been eaten by TJ, and majority of the ornaments have been taken off and tossed around multiple times!!

A Change of Attitude

Most everything in life that really matters to me is pretty darn good:

* our family is healthy
* we have good kids
* my husband works hard and loves me and the kids
* we have had some amazing adventures
* I love both of our families and we have their support
* the gospel is a major anchor in our lives
* we are able to live within our means

The list could go on....and on.....and on.  Life is so good in so many ways, but that being said sometimes life just kind of sucks!!

The one area of frustration- finances!! I'm tired of being poor.  We have had many adventures and we have made lots of sacrifices (studio apartments, living in the ghetto, walking up 5 flights of stairs to get to our apartment in a country where we can't communicate at all, using a laundromat, sharing a car, never eating out, not spending money on anything we want, no tv, no cable, cheap phones, an old car, 3 kids in the back seat of that old car....this list could go on and on too)......

...I feel like we've paid our dues and should now be able to live comfortably.  At least we should be living above the poverty line.  Isn't that what the sacrifices were for?

Basically, everything in life is good, but I'm so tired of living of off so little that I've been letting it get to me.  Eat at me....and it has begun affecting every aspect of our lives, in a bad way.

The other day I realize I needed an attitude change. I was listening to a podcast about finances.  The girl (whose blog/ideas I really like on funcheaporfree.com) really got to me.  I was irritated.  The guidelines she was giving for spending were way, way above what we can afford.  If most people spend the amounts she recommended on groceries, eating out, etc...they would save tons of money.  Not us....we were spending way, way, way less on everything.  Anyway....long story short I was getting angry...but something else dawned on me.....

..my attitude stunk.  I was letting it eat at me.  So here's what I've decided.

No, it's not fun being poor.  But, that's what we are right now.  It's the circumstances we are in...and those circumstances will change.  James is looking for a better job.  There are possibilities for him to teach extra classes in the future.  There are things I am trying to do to earn a little more.  It's not my dream, but it's life.

The circumstances hopefully will change.  But, if they don't.....or if it takes a lot longer than I want.  It's okay.  I'm learning and growing in the process.

After all, the things I do have are pretty darn important and pretty darn good.

So, I've changed my attitude....and we're still poor.  But, it's amazing how life seems a little brighter.

Some Days

.......you just feel like crying.

Then your sister shares her apple and everything seems a little better.

First Snow

NOOOOOO!!!!  

That was my reaction when I saw the weather forecast with snow in it.  And, still hoping the forecast would be wrong, that was my reaction when the snow actually started falling.

I don't know when I became such a scrooge.  Maybe it has something to do with being spoiled by the weather in LA. Maybe it's because our car doesn't want to start and has a really hard time going.  Maybe I can't stand getting out of a warm shower to freeze to death.  Or that we can't spend hours playing at the park.  Or biking.  Or there could be a lot of reasons.  But, I don't love the cold weather that comes with snow.

The girls have a different reaction than I.  It started snowing while we were at church.  They were ecstatic the entire drive home.  They stood mesmerized at the window watching it fall, begging to go play in it.  Once we got the snow clothes out they were thrilled to go play in it. All .025" of it. 

I grudgingly went out to snap a few shots of the first snow fall.  And you know what?  The excitement was a little contagious.  There really is something a little magical about watching it come down from the sky.  I decided I should be less of a scrooge. 

That being said....I'm still happy the weather forecast is sunny and in the 50's for the week!!

Thankful Turkey

In random order...here's what we had on our eyeless Turkey this year!

family walks on nice sunny days

a nice house (by sofia)

a hard working Husband

trick-or-treating

school (by Hannah)

bikes and trails to ride on

BROWNIES!!  

friends

Monsters Inc. (by Hannah)

pumpkins

opportunities to learn and grow

food

a husband/father to take care of us when we are sick

the gospel

a patient and understanding wife

Cassie (by Hannah and Sofia)

doing hard things

health

family w/ lots of quirks and having lots of fun together

family pictures

insurance

a heater

the car-it is still running, if fits all of us, and it has cheap insurance

tooth (a lost tooth)

opportunity to give talks and get them over with

a job with steady income

cheap rent

2 beautiful girls and one crazy son

hope

Thanksgiving

This is what it looks like when you need to make mashed potatoes for 25+ people and you only have small pots.  

It takes all 3 pots you own and boiling 2 batches of potatoes to get them all cooked.  Luckily, we just bought the large one a few weeks ago......made the job much easier.

James is teaching international students and most of them have never experienced Thanksgiving - many of them didn't even know what the holiday was.  So, we invited a bunch over to experience it. Luckily the neighboring apartment was open and James' school director let us use it - there's no way we would have fit into our place.

I probably should have been a little nervous about feeding almost 30 people, considering it's been a long time since I've made a lot of the traditional food, we have a minimum of cooking utensils, and almost no serving stuff.  But, I wasn't too concerned.

They've never experienced this, chances are good they won't like lots of it even if it is made excellently, and they don't know any better, so why stress?

It did take quite a bit of thought getting the logistics worked out.  The joys of a small kitchen and very few pans.  :D 

The heating element broke in our oven.  Luckily we noticed it as we were putting the Turkey in.  It's a good thing we had a key for the neighboring apartment...the Turkey and rolls would never have baked in time.

Here we are with most of the students that came for dinner.  The students were from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil.