Reuben is offically a missionary!

My lil bro just left on his mission! I can't believe it! He left for the MTC on the 30th and will be headed to the Roseville California mission. (northern CA) We had his farewell on Sunday and his "last supper" on Tuesday. He looked so official in his suit and black trench coat.  It's crazy how fast time goes by! When I said my last good buy he just said "See ya in 2 years", like he was just saying "see ya tomorrow" or something. What a goof.

We'll miss you Reuben, but way to go!

Lucy singing us all a song.

I don't know what inspired this song and dance or the lyrics either...

(Sorry it's sideways.)

Santa Came!!!!!

Christmas was really fun this year. It's the first year Lucy really knew what was going on and Lydia was big enough to open her own presents. They had a blast! We opened presents and then had a nice healthy breakfast of sausage, eggs, sweet rolls, and chocolate milk. It was SO good! Then we spent the rest of the day with our cousins again. We played a fun bingo game with some great prizes! Ate some yummy food and just hung out with family. It was nice.

Christmas Eve with the cousins.

Lucy and Liddy in their christmas "pa-jamies"

We spent Christmas eve at Grandma Mathis' house with Mike's brother Jim and his family. These are their kids (Kennedy 2 1/2, Lydia 1 1/2, Taylor 2 1/2, Maci 5, Lucy 3, Madison 5.) Lucy and Lydia had so much fun playing with their cousins. They live in Arizona and we only get to see them 2 times a year. Lucy especially loved playing with the older twins.

Santa Claus is comen' to town!

This year has been pretty fun with Lucy. Her favorite christmas songs on the radio are Little Drummer Boy (she'll sing "rum-pa-pa pum, rum-pa-pa-pum," over and over again) and Do You See What I See. Her favorite primary song is "Mary, Mary, hush see the Child" and she sings them all the time. She knows about Santa, and most of what is coming. She was so excited to see him at the mall. Lydia was fine to just stay with Mike.

Grandma Collier gave us this cute book of books advent calendar that tells a little part of the Christmas story every day and Lucy has really loved it. Plus I really want her to know why we have a big celebration at this time of year. It's Jesus' birthday! She's been excited about that cuz she really likes birthdays.

Here are some of our "decking of the halls."

Thank goodness for 3ft prelit trees up on desks!

Our cute knitted stockings! (no, I did NOT knit them. Not even close!)

 

And our Mamma and Pappa mice. My mom made these when I was a little kid and I've always loved them. She gave them to me last year!

Merry Christmas!

Remember:

Christ is the Gift

Wisdom of Children

So Lydia is starting into her terrible two's a little early, and you know how kids are at this age...always saying no... but Lydia dosen't just say no. She says "NO WAY!" Like at dinner, I'll tell her to get a bite and she'll push her fist at me and say "NO WAY!" Or for nap time. "Let's go take a nap." "NO WAY!" Ahh...I love this age.
(12-17-09)

Lucy was in the tub the other night and let out two short farts and one long one. She started giggling and said, "That sounded like 'bark, bark, woof'!" (Such a lady.)
(12-14-09)

Lydia kept spilling her little bowl of cheerios on purpose and Lucy thought it was really funny, which made Lydia want to keep doing it. Finally, after cleaning up cheerios a million times, I told Lucy to stop laughing at Lydia. Lucy said, in all her wisdom, "I'm not laughing at her. I'm laughing with her!" Where did she get that from! (You're three years old kid!)
(12-7-09)

Today I gave Lucy some minty gum. A few minutes later she says "Mom, this gum is spicen' me all up!" and she spit it out.
(11-30-09)

The Nursery kids have been coming into primary for singing time. We've been singing the song "It's autumn time,"lately. So Lucy comes home and sings "It's all da time, it's all da time, the weafs are fawing down."
(11-15-09)

Circe gave Lucy some of their hand-me-down dress-ups. Lucy was trying everything on and put on a tinsil halo, but didn't like it. Circe told her when she wears it she's an angel. Lucy replied with a scowl, "Sometimes I don't want to be an angel." (That's the truth, but we LOVE you so much!)
(11-13-09)

The other day in the car I was singing along to the song on the radio. Lucy from the back seat goes, "Don't sing. It hurts my ears!" I asked her if it was too loud, but she told me "No, it just sounds kinda funny."
(11-4-09)

Lucy was a fairy princess for Halloween and had pink butterfly wings she wore all day while running aroung and saying, "Fly to the world!."
(10-31-09)

Two Words: Fart Machine

Mike's parents have a fart machine. (A little speaker that lets out all sorts of fart sounds when you push a button on it's remote.) Apparently it's really funny. Lucy keeps on blaming the farts on Grandpa Mathis, who's just trying to watch TV.


Click here to see the video. (Blogger wouldn't let me put it straight on here, so I had to do youtube.)

Temple Square Lights

It was C. O. L. D!

But the girls loved the lights. Lydia kept saying, "Oh! WOW!" We bundled them up REALLY well and set out. It's always so beautiful there and I love seeing the Nativity scene and listening to the message. It puts the Savior back into Christmas.

Lucy loves seeing the temple too. I'm glad we got there before all the snow hit.

Just an afternoon playing dress-ups.

What would we do without dress-ups?

Counting My Blessings

This list could be so long!, but I'll keep it to a minimum. (in no particular order)

• My Hubby. He is working so hard for our family and I know that he loves us all so much. (Love you, Mike!)
• My Girls. Even though they screech at each other and wake me up in the wee hours of the morning, my life would be very empty without them. They fill my days with laughter and are my best form of entertainment. I cherish the moments when we all get along and learn from the dramatic tragedies that we go through. (you know how girls are!) Love you guys!
• Our Families. We've been in school for almost 7 years now, and the support from our families have made this time much easier for us. Thank you!
• The Church. I think we would all be very different people if we didn't have the Gospel and the guidance of our church leaders. I love the spirit and love seeing it in the people I am surrounded by.
• Health. I don't have much but I have my health. We've been blessed to not have any challenging health problems in our family. I sure admire mom's who do have health issues in their families and are so positive. I try to raise my girls to live healthy lives and be a good example too.

Now some less important things I LOVE!

• Good Food. I LOVE a good meal. Pork tacos at Cafe Rio. A Philly cheese steak from Charlies at the mall. Some good garlic bread. Fillet minon at Ruby River. The southwestern cob salad at Chili's...should I go on?
• Ross. My favorite store. I can get a sweater for 9 bucks, but when I ever look at the mall, everything is at least twice as much!
• The DI. I'm a new HUGE fan of the DI. I find the coolest things there! Decorations for my house, things similar to Pottery Barn, for like a dollar! Nice clothes for my girls. Plus when a shirt is only $2 I don't feel bad being a little creative and adding a flower applique to it, or letting her eat a red popsicle! When I have a house I want to do a furniture refinish, like a dresser or nightstand. That would be such a fun project! I love the DI
• My big green chair. If you've sat in this chair, your bum will never want to sit in any other chair! It's the best thing at the end of a busy day. Crank it back and read a good book.
• Good Books! Nothing better than a good read. I love being pulled into an addicting book.
• Make-up. Without makeup, I look pretty scary. I wish I didn't have to wear it, but, alas, I do. But despite that, thank you, make-up, for making me a little less funny looking.
• Dumb little crafts. It's just something to keep me entertained and remind myself that I do have talents outside raising my girls! (wink wink) It's a great feeling after I've created something new and it actually turns out. Here's to dumb little crafts!

Well, I'll stop there. Happy Thanksgiving. Take time to remember all that you are blessed with.