Christmas Eve

Today started off as a pretty busy day of normalcy...

6-mile run that turned into a 4-mile run/walk
cleaning
laundry
last-minute Christmas shopping
copying the programs for tomorrow
grocery shopping
wrapping the last few presents
welcoming some handbell carolers

Then this evening, Glen made us a simple dinner, we opened our pajamas, got comfy cozy, and we did our traditional Christmas Eve program--singing songs, reading scriptures, and eating treats.

Then the little ones went to bed, Mom and Dad got busy doing Christmasy stuff, while Spencer and Cami were getting a little too snoopy...

Now we're watching a very weird movie and anxiously awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus....

Merry Christmas! 

Ellie's improving!!!

More than a year after her diagnosis with Childhood Absence Epilepsy, I am pleased that to be able to tell you that Ellie is finally seeing some improvements!

After the unpleasant side effects she experienced during the first few months of taking the medications, the neurologist had been approaching her care with caution.   Finally in November she was having so many seizures per day (every couple of minutes),  that we felt like we just had to be more aggressive with her treatment and hope for the best.  

With our negative report and her teacher's worry that her seizures were starting to interrupt the class (because she had started clicking her tongue during the seizures),  the neurologist made a plan to double her dosage over a period of a few weeks.  We were a little tentative about the big increase, but knew that we had to give it a try...for Ellie's sake. 

Much to our surprise, not only have the numbers of seizures reduced significantly, but she has also retained her energy and sprouted a creative/focused streak that we've never seen before.

It seems as though her brain is so thrilled to be interrupted so many fewer times a day, that she literally cannot contain her enthusiasm for expressing herself in creative ways.  For hours each evening she writes books...

makes her own dolls...

 transforms paper plates, boxes, and toilet paper rolls into beautiful creations... 

and even bakes her own pies...

All completely of her own accord.    

We know she still has a long path in front of her, but we're excited to see a side of her that's been hidden away for a while!    Yay!

Tacky, Annoying, Excellent, Tedious, Phantom, Red Roses, Sitting Still Angst

This weekend:

We went to see some Tacky Christmas Lights with friends, then finished up the night at a nearby Krispy Kreme.  After just two years, it's quickly becoming a family favorite Christmas tradition for us.

 



We went the temple visitors' center and thoroughly enjoyed the Sandra Turley concert.  Besides the concert though, it turned out to be a very annoying experience.  It was way overcrowded and  after waiting in line to see the international creche exhibit for  over 45 minutes,  a big group of people cut in front of us, and didn't respond at all when we tried to show them where the end of the line was. In a moment of magnanimity and not wanting to cause a scene at the temple, we decided to leave the line and make sure we got good seats for the concert.    Next year, we will definitely not be going there on the weekend before Christmas. 

Cami gave a talk in sacrament meeting on how small and simple things can make a big difference.  She did an excellent job.   Click here to read her talk. 

Glen and I ran for 8 miles on Saturday.  It was still cold and tedious, but definitely an easier run than last week.

We did a little Christmas phantoming (in broad daylight no less).  My kids enjoyed doing it a little too much!

We celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary a day early with some cooking, cleaning, shopping, and a dozen red roses.  :)

After more than two years, I spent one of my last Sundays as a nursery leader today.  While I'm feeling like it's time to move on, I'm already dreading the sitting still for three hours (something I'm not very good at) and I know I'm going to miss those little ones like crazy!    Glen was released last week from his calling and with my release coming up, now it's time to dive in headfirst to our stake Youth Conference calling....aaaaaaaaahhhhh!!

For Better or Worse...

The cards are off (most of them anyway)....

and now our entire Christmas card list is about to know what you blog readers figured out a long time ago...

That I have a very odd sense of humor when I'm tired/hormonal/stressed/etc.

Silver Linings

In an attempt to see the bright side of things lately, I've put together the following list:

1.  Cold sores make my upper lip match the fullness of my lower lip.  Who needs botox? 
2.  I just opened a new box of tampons and found a bonus box inside.  Yippee!  
3.  Our new(ish) car officially feels like part of the family now that Cami spilled powdered sugar all over it.
4.  Young children staying up past 10:00pm doing their homework every night means that I have someone to keep me company until Glen gets home at night. 
5.  With today's batch of Gingersnap Whoopie Pies, I've successfully put myself and Spencer over the sugary edge and into craving spinach.  
6.  The over-sized pile of unfolded laundry is all-the-softer for flopping into. 
7.  Falling asleep at my daughter's choir concert, complete with head bobbing and drool, means that no one thinks I'm  underworked and overpaid anymore. 

Unlike her mother, at least she looked cute at her concert.

This weekend...

• At long last, I ordered our Christmas cards and now I can't wait to send them out.

• I ran 10 miles and it was HARD!  Despite the fact that I've kept up with running, I seem to have lost a lot of endurance in the month since running the 1/2 marathon. 

• I stayed up way too late, ate way too much junk, and woke up way too early. (maybe why my run was so hard)

• We went to tithing settlement and discovered that two kids haven't paid any tithing all year.

    

• Totally couldn't stop giggling when, right in the middle of teaching a lesson to the nursery kids about how Jesus wants us to be kind to each other, one kid started pelting another.  The other kid wasn't crying and it's not like anyone was looking at me anyway, so I didn't feel too bad about it.

• Took Rocky for a walk and a doberman pinscher charged across the street and attacked him. He's okay, but it was kind of scary for all of us.

• Didn't do an ounce of Christmas shopping, although I should have.

• Went to a cousin's baby's blessing and got to listen to a Tony award winner sing, "O Holy Night".   It was AWESOME!

Having Fun in the Kitchen

The kids and I have sure been having fun in the kitchen lately and although I imagine most of you dear blog readers also follow along with my recipe blog, I just couldn't help but share some photos of a couple of our latest (and favorite) creations.

These melting snowman cookies totally cracked us up...

And this gingerbread nativity was a labor of love.  I had to go to three different stores to find all of the ingredients, then it took as long to clean up from them as it did to make them, and the recipe post took even longer to put together than all that.  Yet, I harbor no ill will towards them.  In fact, I am in love and am still convinced that it's one of the coolest projects we've ever made. 

 Oy!   I don't know if I can stand so much kitchen cuteness all in one place!    I think I'm obsessed! 



So, do you all have any fun kitchen projects you think we should try?  I'm always looking for fun new ideas! 

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Decorating for Christmas

I'm not much of a home decorator, nor will you ever see our home featured in Better Homes and Gardens, but I just have to say...

I love our house at Christmastime! 

Sometime during Thanksgiving weekend, we break out our Christmas boxes from the attic and bedeck our house in Christmas splendor and today's post will give you a little tour of it all! 

Our beautimous Christmas tree!    We bought a real tree the first year we were married, but when Glen sneezed his way through that Christmas season, we knew we were destined for a lifetime of artificial greens.  This tree has now seen 16 Christmases in our family and is looking strong for the 17th! 

This heart-shaped ornament was a wedding gift, that reads "Our First Christmas Together 1993".  It's not really my style of decor, but it holds a place as one of my favorite ornaments nonetheless. 

The snowflakes were mostly made by my Grandmother Hepworth (and later supplemented with some storebought ones).  They're my very favorite feature of our tree and they make me smile each year when we cover our tree with them. 

Here you can see a glimpse of our mismatching stockings, including my awesome left-handed one I've had since I was a baby.  We've talked many times about getting matching stockings for the whole family, but each time the suggestion is heartily rejected by certain members of our family (both male) and so our mantle with personality remains intact. 

Here's a close-up of the Nativity on our mantle.  One my siblings brought it back for us after a Jerusalem study-abroad trip there.  The stable was a $5 consignment store find, which complemented it perfectly! 

An even closer close-up, so you can see some of the beautiful detailing. 

Here's a Nativity that my sister AnnaLisa made for us in the style of a Finnish nativity she'd seen before.  I love that it's hand-made and totally unique! 

Here's a little Nativity one of the kids made...

This is our kid Nativity--the one I don't mind if the kids play with.  It's cute, mismatching, and sturdy (just like me). 

 I think that the word JOY sums up what Christmas is all about...

Here's the porcelain Christmas tree we got as a wedding gift.  It's lost the star and a few lights in the 18-years we've had it, but we're thrilled that it's long enough to be a part of each year's Christmas decor!

Another wedding present that just makes me smile...

The Mary and Joseph figurine are another gift from Jerusalem, while the Silent Night cross-stitching was from Glen's mom.  I'm not sure if she made it or not, but it's been a part of our Christmases for 18 years now!

and I'm not quite sure what's wrong with this Christmas elf's tongue, but I find him strangely debonair and I hope he won't mind if I pinch his cheeks and keep him around for a while.  :)

 

Wrapping it Up

Ever since Cami won this contest a few years ago, my kids have been interested in replicating her success by entering other contests found in the Kids' Post section of the Washington Post.  Most of the time, it never progresses past just the thought of entering, but then came the annual wrapping paper design contest. 

Emma had read about it in the Kids' Post and couldn't stop talking about it.  I decided that it sounded like a fun little Thanksgiving week project, so I went ahead and got out the paints and paper and let them go to town. 

We studied wrapping paper designs in our house, talked about some ideas, and then encouraged them to do their best.  I was rather surprised at how seriously they took it and although the process of creating was mostly fun for them, we still ended up with a few tears of frustration over some perceived errors along the way.

After several days of work, everyone was finally happy with their creations and we eagerly went to the post office to send them on their way. 

I think we would have already heard by now if they had won, but nonetheless I feel that it turned out to be a fun, festive, and time-consuming project for them on a vacation from school and the kids are already talking about their ideas for next year's contest.  I guess that means it was a success all-around. 

And all this got me to thinking....wouldn't that be a cool future job? 

"Nice to meet you, Adam.  What do you do?"

"Well, I'm a cardio-thoracic surgeon by day and a wrapping paper designer by night."

Yahoo! 

Free wrapping paper for life!


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