Amazing

Boy, it sure is amazing what a little light can do. I don't know why we finally decided to do it, but we did it. We moved Kember to her own room (probably because she saw her cousin Zoie in her own room in the basement and decided to be just like her) and we are having the boys share a room upstairs. We were putting it off because the lights in the down stairs basement don't work for some reason. Well, after we bought a new bed for visitors (hint hint) I guess that gave us the needed gumption to keep going. We just put a lamp in Kember's room for now until we can get an electrician to fix whatever the problem is (there are many). We also finally fixed the light in the boys room. All it needed was a light bulb, but it wasn't a regular sized one so it wasn't as convenient to get. Well, both are now fixed. Happy day. I should have taken pictures, but it was quite the ordeal to get everyone motivated and moving, and it ended up being pretty late by the time we got to a point to settle everyone in for the night. I hope they all do well. I'm hoping that the boys will sleep longer in the mornings. Kember is our early riser, and well, we'll just have to see. I have plans to put all the toys under the stairs, and to motivate me I moved most of them out into the family room. I don't know how well that will motivate me since it's in the basement and not where people can see, but, it's a start at least. I'm excited, this should be good.
Oh, and randomly....since Dan is on call for Christmas Eve we obviously aren't going anywhere, and for the first time since we've been married we are going to start our own traditions. The only problem is we can't think of a thing to do. Our families did things centered around our big families, so....if anyone has any ideas for our 4, 2, and 1 year old (plus I think Dan's grandparents are coming) let me know. I'm kind of excited.

Kemberisms

Where in the world do these come from?

We were out driving tonight when we passed a lot of stores. Things like Gold's Gym, some restaurants, and other misc. stores and houses. Kember pipes up from the back and said, "Mom! That's where we saw the activity!" Uhhhh..."What?" "The activity!" At this point I'm thinking it was something she and Dan did on their daddy daughter date, but couldn't figure out where it was. Dan asked, "Gold's Gym?" Although, why she would know what that was is beyond me (unless Dan thought I got one of his Christmas presents there....sorry babe, no go this year). "What activity?" I ask again, "That one right there!" She is really frustrated at this point that we are so incredibly dense. "Kember, what do we do at the activity." "Mom, it's where everyone goes to see baby Jesus!" Oooooo, it all becomes clear now. She means Nativity, not Activity. Was there really a nativity there? Who knows, Dan and I were stuck on Gold's Gym and Daddy Daughter dates to look for that.

When we were getting out of the car Kember says, "Mom, you didn't sing the smoggy daddy song." "huh? (I heard a monkey in there, smog, and smoke) I don't know a smokey daddy song." "Yes you do!" (boy is she mad) "No, Kember I don't know any smokey daddy songs." "Yes, the Christmas one you were singing earlier." Ooooo, Felis Navidad. She's right, I didn't sing it to her.

This all gets really confusing because she normally talks really really well. I mean, she's 4 and one would think you could understand your 4 year old. In fact, she normally has to translate for me when Caden talks. Ahh well...you win some, you lose some.

Finally after we read scriptures and prayed we were giving hugs and kisses, and she says, "Mom, where is the chord in your ear?" "Uh, my earings? I took them out." I was pretty sure I got it this time. What else could she mean? Nope, I was wrong, which she made quite clear, but I still haven't figured out what she's talking about....cord?

Oh, and right before prayers she asks me how ducks lay eggs (really, where did this come from). I'm thinking, "Is this a sex question? And do I really want to go into that right now before bed?" Nope, "Ducks lay egg from their bums." "Really? How?" "It's kind of like they're pooping." That apparently satisfied her and the prayer was said in relative reverence (expect I wasn't paying attention because I was thinking about this random duck laying egg topic) .

So everyone, I hope you have a very smokey daddy.

Christmas Music

I love Christmas music. I've been listening to it ever since I found the station down here that plays it all day long. I love it. I love that my kids are learning Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer (well, Kember knows it...Caden just knows that Santa will come and say, "HO HO HO", which is just too cute when he says it). I love Manheim Steamrollar and Trans-siberian Orchestra. I love the special religious, this is what Christmas is all about songs. Sadly, there aren't too many of those on the radio. One of my favorite songs is Away in a Manger. My favorite part is when it says, "Be near me Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay, close by me forever, and love me, I pray." But here's the thing. Someone somewhere changed a word in the song, and it drives me crazy! Crazy! I suppose it was to make it less religious, but since the song is about Jesus, that makes nooo sense to me at all. They changed the word "heaven" to "Sky" which doubly makes no sense because people end up singing it "sky...ii.." two get the two syllables in there. What in the world is that all about? Am I missing something important here? Why would you change it?
One more song, that just kind of makes me sad. "I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". It's catchy, and I do like it...kind of cute. But really, today I found it slightly disturbing. Can you imagine a little kid, who still believes in Santa, not knowing it was his daddy in the costume, finding his mom kissing some stranger? Trauma! The songs says "what a laugh it would have been if daddy had only seen....." No, not a laugh...that poor man. Again, trauma! Anyway, I'm going to bed. Tomorrow I think I'll listen to happy Christmas music that tells us what Christmas is really all about.

Fasting

Last fast sunday I realized something I thought was interesting....I haven't fasted in about 4 years. I haven't fasted because I've either been pregnant or nursing. Boy, that is crazy. So anyway, since I stopped nursing Cole in October I've been able to fast November and December, and boy...it's hard. Especially when I'm just not used to it. I've noticed that it's just really easy to forget and lick my fingers when I'm making my kids something to eat, or really, just to forget that I'm supposed to be fasting. I do pretty well until after church and then while making the meal I just forget. Oops. This tells me two things. One-fasting is work. It takes effort and time. Two- I need to work on it. I believe fasting is a powerful tool given to us by Heavenly Father to get closer to Him. However, I'm not using this tool very well, and I really need to get on the ball. It's no fun starving all day, and I'm hoping that when I start fasting like we are supposed to (with a purpose, with faith and prayer, etc.) then the "starving" will get better. Granted, I'll still be hungry, but I think I remember a difference when I used to fast all those years ago. So, chalk another one up to the goal board. Fasting with a prayer and with purpose. Let's see how this goes.

Death, Nature, and Superman

Odd title, I know, but my kids are fascinated with death (not sure if that is the right word...maybe obsessed). We live a couple blocks away from a cemetery and every time we pass they will make sure that we know we passed it and that when we die we are buried there. Just yesterday we watched "Up" and there's that part where the guys wife dies (it's not traumatic at all just in case you haven't seen it.) Anyway, Kember starts to cry (she's a little tender) and the whole movie she keeps asking why his mommy died (I kept telling her it was his wife, not mommy, but apparently that didn't sink in). We talked about it a lot, and when the movie was over Caden started asking why everyone died. He started to cry and he told me that didn't want to die. Well, it's not like I can promise him that he isn't going to die anytime soon (although, I would have liked too). I kept telling him that everyone dies, and that it's a good thing. We get to live with Heavenly Father again, and we get to see family and friends that have died. He just kept telling me that he didn't want to die and that he didn't want daddy to die (I don't know where that came from). It was an interesting conversation to say the least.
On to the nature part. All Fall I've been expecting our tree to shed it's leaves (it never changed colors...it's still green). Just yesterday I was thinking, "Well, maybe this kind of tree keeps most of it's leaves...or maybe it's just not really Fall yet (hey, don't mock me, the tempuratures are different here). Well, I was wrong (obviously) on both accounts. This morning all of a sudden the tree lost all of its leaves. ALL of them. Now instead of having a small pile that would be nice if we raked up, but not really a big deal, we have a huge pile that needs to be taken care of (but will have to wait for Christmas when Dan gets a leaf blower...it's on rocks, not grass so we can't rake it) Crazy. I've never seen anything like it. When Dan drove home for lunch today he did a double take at the tree too. He said that this morning the leaves were all still on the tree. I have thought before that raking leaves was a waste of time because they just keep falling off the tree. Well, I guess this is the tree for me! One time raking...alright :)
I've decided I know what it feels like to be Superman. I love to wear my fuzzy red robe around the house. It keeps me nice and toasty warm and is sooo comfortable. However, it is a little embarrasing to answer the door while wearing it, so when someone knocked on the door today and I was in the basement you should have seen how fast I moved to take off the robe and run upstairs. This must be what it feels like when Clark Kent becomes Supperman in a phone booth. It was awesome! Good times....it's all in the little things.
Oh, and just so you all know, here is a joke that Kember told me today (one of them, the others didn't make any sense at all...)
What happens when you cross a frog and a pog?
A FOG.
Not so funy, but she's putting words together and I think that's a good thing.

New ideas (for me anyway)

So for my brothers christmas present I'm printing his blog (don't worry, he already knows...he wouldn't give me his password to get into his blog so he made me a contributor instead, snazzy eh?). He writes every day. Some days all he writes is "Long day, no post" but still, he writes every day. While compiling all this and trying to put this together for him I've realized a couple things (most of which I'll tell you at Christmas Collin!) but one of them is that it's good to have a record of your life. . .even if you don't write much. One of the apostles, Eyring I think, talked about taking the time every day to see God's hand in our lives. I think Collin does this, and I think I need to do it better, so...I'm going to start blogging more. This is a big thing for me because I'm a sucker for comments, and I generally don't post another blog until I feel like my post has got it's due. However, I'm changing my mind. My blogs are for me, so I should write them when I feel like I should. That's goal number one. Which brings up another interesting topic. Setting goals. I don't like to do it. I generally avoid it at all costs. But mostly just the word. After all, goals is synonomys with perfection, and that's the point of life (not to be perfect, but to try...to better ourselves). So, goal number two: Set goals. Crazy eh? Yeah, I'm weird, but it works for me. Goal number three: This can be summed up with a primary song (gotta love 'em) "Early to bed, and early to rise...makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise..." are you singing it in your head too? This little ditty has been constantly in my head for the last week or so...So, I'm going to try to do better. Don't look at the time stamp for this blog because it's late. 11:25 isn't early, but I'm working on it. So, here we go. Time to start something new.