Merry Christmas

It is Christmas Eve and I am just now sitting down to get a Merry Christmas post out to you all! It has been a fun and adventurous year for us all, and will only be more so in the year to come. I, like many others, meant to get a Christmas card, a physical one, out to friends and family and gosh darnit, this year I was going to do it. Well, time and chance happeneth to all and here I am digitally telling you all what a wonderful year we've had. Maybe next year you'll get a real one. So here's a quick peak into all of our lives!
Odell is two now and has clearly forgotten that she is a calm, placid child who wants for nothing but to stare at everything and giggle when prompted. She is now talking up a storm and has great joy in "MY-KA-SI-WAP!" (which translates roughly to, "Mother, may I please sit in your lap?"). This also has very little to do with actually sitting in my lap, but more to do with stepping, climbing, pulling, jumping, and dancing on my lap. Needless to say Mommy does not get very much accomplished during this time. We've also discovered that she has somehow absorbed from the universe how to identify the entire alphabet by sight and knows several shapes and colors. Funny how you try so hard with the first ones to teach them everything and then the little ones just learn it on their own sometimes. She loves to laugh, loves to point out everything, loves to dance, looks irresistible in pigtails, loves her older brother and sister and gives us hugs and kisses all day. Not potty trained yet, we're working on it. I'm trying to enjoy every minute of having a bubbly happy little girl around all day whilst trying not to spoil her completely.
Linus' personality continues to blossom in the most intricate and interesting ways and makes life entertaining to say the least. Everything has to be exact with him. Everything has to have an answer (which makes for a LOT of questions). But we love watching him develop and see the way he observes the world. His behavior has been getting better, to the relief of his parents and family, and we've learned a lot of coping mechanisms with him. For example, he lives for a routine and schedule. Not that he's constantly aware of what's happening next, necessarily, but when days stay pretty much the same, the tantrums are fewer. He loves to cuddle with Mom, loves puzzles and coloring (and I must say in my humble opinion, he colors really well. In the lines perfectly and picks the coolest colors, coloring in every empty spot possible- I'll have to save that for another post), loves writing words, loves making really loud random noises, loves making his sisters laugh, and generally just has a great time being a four year old little boy. He also can't wait to start school next year.
Chloe is growing like a weed. She's getting taller and more gangly by the minute. Her pride and joy is her long, beautiful, flowing locks of silvery blonde hair. Or, that is, her long, tangled mess of knots and frizz. I'm pretty sure she thinks that I'm purposefully torturing her for no good reason at all every time I tell her we need to brush her hair. Yet she won't let me cut it. I even consented to bribing her, but no go. Crazy girl. She LOVES Kindergarten, although it takes her until she gets to school to realize that most days, so sometimes our mornings go a little slow. :-) She loves all things art, and I am fully enjoying entering the stage of motherhood where I get to pick out cool art kits and crafts for her for birthdays and holidays. I vividly remember spending hours on my spyrograph, moon sand, and friendship bracelet kits as a kid, and am glad to have an excuse to do it again. She is doing swimmingly at school and it's fun to help and watch her learn to read. We've also moved into the wonderful world of chapter books and I am SO excited. As you can tell, I sort of live vicariously through Chloe. She is a lot like me and I couldn't be more thrilled. :-) I'm sure someday along the line this may cause a problem between us, but that's okay. Except, one thing, she does have a very different taste in colors and style than me, that may be because she is six, but we went to the craft store to pick out some fabric together for her closet door replacement curtains and I finally had to bribe her to pick something that didn't have real pictures of kittens on it or an assortment of Easter Hosanna phrases ("Alleluia! Praise the Lord! He is Risen!"). We'll see if she grows out of it someday. :-)
Craig and I are keeping more than busy, between school, work, photography, seminary, Young Men's President, in home daycare, cooking and cleaning (between the both of us), spending time with the kids, and trying to snatch a kiss here and there, we are booked. Craig is starting his internship and final semester of school in recreation management and will be looking for a job here before too long. We are SOOOOO excited to be done, and a bit apprehensive about what the future will bring...but mostly just SOOOOO excited to be done. We had that major stomach bug go through our house for THREE WEEKS right after Thanksgiving, but by a miracle, I got it earlier on and was able to take care of the rest of the family without fear of getting it myself while we focused on NOT getting Craig sick so he could make it to all his finals and get all his projects done for the semester. And thankfully he didn't and pulled off another 4.0 this semester (I gotta brag because heaven knows he won't!). Craig and I were also able to take a trip to his uncle's house in Virginia for a week before Christmas just the two of us (Craig's uncle is a dentist and he helped with fixing Craig's broken tooth, which also included a root canal and three fillings). We enjoyed our time visiting some of the historic sites near Richmond and also watching movies, playing video games, eating lots of food, staying up late and sleeping in, and doing everything we don't get to do with the kids. Not that we don't love them, but it was nice to relax for a week.
Here's to a wonderfully exciting year in 2013! We look forward to all the changes, and hope we are settled enough to get a real card out next year. Love you all!

Thankful

It's the last day of November. I didn't write all the "I'm grateful for..."'s on facebook, but I wanted to take a quick moment to tell you something that I am very very lucky and blessed to have in my life.
His name is Craig. And he is my best friend. And I'm married to him.

(hands off, ladies, he's mine!)

Last week I was on another photoshoot rampage and I called home to ask Craig about something, I can't remember what. When he answered the phone he was laughing and I could barely understand a word he said because it was interjected by screeching children and loud bumps and thumps. The kids were crawling all over him and playing with him on the living room floor. It didn't really matter what he said because my heart was warm and I was so immensely grateful for him at that moment, that I could go off and do what I need to do and he's got things covered at home. And he enjoys spending time with his kids. And he's happy. I reflected on this later when I was talking with a friend about hubbies and was just again filled with that gratitude recognizing how much he has grown as a husband and father in the few short years we've been together. What an amazing blessing it is to be married to a man like that. Truly.
I want to share something else with you. We're not perfect.

(this is one of our happy engagement pictures 7 and a half years ago!)

I know that comes a shocker. I just wanted to implant that in here because I'm going to share a story with you and I don't want anyone, anyone out there thinking that life is all peaches and cream over here. I share good moments on my blog because I want to remember them. Sometimes life really is a kick in the pants, but when I look back on these, I want to remember all the good things. That's what being grateful is all about.

I have read a number of Craig's papers over the years for his schooling. I've helped him write quite a number more. This has been a battle between us for some time. Why? Because, duh, I have to catch up on all my Scramble and SongPop games on my phone, I don't have time to read a paper over. I watched the kids all day and maybe baked some food and sorta cleaned...a little..I've earned a break, seriously, I can't read a paper right now! Two nights ago I came home from shopping with a terrible case of the chills and bad aches all over my body and a climbing fever. I tried to eat a little food after Craig got the kids down and then went on to immediately started welcoming the Priests from church (16-18 year old guys he's in charge of from church) to work on some scouting into the living room. It wasn't working out so well, and as soon as the boys left, I told Craig I was going to hit the sack. Timidly as I was climbing the stairs, Craig turned to me while pulling up his homework on the computer and said, "Hey, ah, I have this paper...."...and sort of trailed off when he saw my "I'm sick, does it look like I want to read a paper right now?" grumpy stare, and he then replied, "...can you read it for me tomorrow? It's due on Thursday." and I said, "Yes, I'll read it tomorrow." Well tomorrow came and I was down for the count. I spent most of the day in the bathroom and spent the rest of it cursing my wretched stomach, which seemed to have tied itself in a giant painful knot. Craig graciously took over seminary for me, got the kids ready for the day, and helped out as much as he could before he left. My blessed mother in law took the kids for me that afternoon as I got worse, and then Craig promptly took over as soon as he got home from work so I could rest. By the time 10:00 rolled around I was desperate for some relief, so I asked Craig if he could give me a blessing. For those of you who aren't familiar with this, Craig, using his priesthood authority, which he has the privilege to administer to those in need as a member of our church, laid his hands on my head and gave me a blessing of healing. According to our doctrine, just as in the times of Christ, it is by the faith of those giving the blessing as well as the faith of those receiving it that grants the fulfillment of the healing, according to the will of God. I felt such a calm peace rest over me as he gave me the blessing and I knew that everything would be okay. By morning time I was feeling immensely better and again had very warm feelings of appreciation and deep love and respect for that man I am married to for all he does for me and our family, and particularly for the fact that he carries himself according to God's will so that he was able to perform that blessing for me.
So that paper that was due on Thursday did not get read. When Craig came home from work, halfway through cleaning up dinner, I remembered and started apologizing to Craig. "Don't worry!" he said, "I read it over and turned it in today." "I'm sorry I forgot, was the paper okay?" "Yes, it was fine, don't worry about it!" I let it go and moved on with the evening (I really did feel bad, I know it means a lot to him when I can check over his work for him, even when it interferes with my superior schedule...). After the kids were in bed and we were winding down for the day, Craig asked me if I would at least look that paper over for him to check for mistakes. Obviously I didn't feel bad enough about not reading it because my response was something along the lines of this: "And you already turned it in?! Noooo thank you. As much as I enjoy editing your papers, I don't do it for fun. It's turned in, there's nothing you can do about it!" Craig patiently persisted, "I really think you should read this, just look it over for me please?" to which I again replied with a dramatic roll of the eyes and a "Seriously?". "Yes. Please. It's like a page and a half, it's really short" *exasperated sigh from me*...."Okay fine, I'll read it."
I sat down at the computer and began to read. It was a short extra credit essay on who was a hero in Craig's life. He began by explaining it wasn't a famous person or an athlete or a respected teacher or leader or anything like that.
It was me.
His wife, Chelsea, me, was his hero.
Tears welled up in my eyes and spilled over as I read the rest of the paper. He talked about our friendship, my qualities as a mother, my kindness, the many things I had overcome in my life and the good things I've been able to do despite that, my talents and my sacrifices to stay home with our kids, our marriage, and my example.
All I could say was, "I'm a scum bag. I. Am. A. Scum. Bag." It's a good thing he was sitting behind me because he might have been a little alarmed at the pain on my face- a good pain. A grateful pain. I turned around finally and he was smiling sweetly at me. I wanted to ask him how on earth he could let me treat him like I do, but I didn't, and instead I said thank you. Especially when he brought me a tissue.
I don't want anyone telling me I didn't make the right choice when I did. I wouldn't let this man go for the world and he is the largest influence for good on my life, hands down. My marriage to him is the greatest blessing I have ever received and means more to me every day. His love for me is a testament of God's love for me, and if you want a perfect life, a real one, that's all that matters.
Thank you, Craig, for making me happy in every sense of the word. I love you. 

Weenie!!

To enjoy the fruits of your labors, you must wade through some muck sometimes. Some pumpkin muck, to be specific. 
Chloe: "Mom, can't you just scoop the pumpkin yuck out for me?"
Me: "NO"
Because Daddy did it for me. And also it's a rite of passage until you become a Mommy and have earned a Daddy to do it for you.
Actually, I don't mind the guck so much, I just am too much of a perfectionist because I try to get every single little stray stringy thing out of the pumpkin and I sit there forever. Craig gets it done a lot faster for me. 

Odell was a little freaked out. But she recovered, don't worry. 

 Yeah, that's right. My pumpkin is clean.

 Workin' hard!

The finished products!! While, as mentioned previously, I kind of have an OCD problem with getting all the stringies out, I kind of like how Craig was lazy with his and let them be. I can be okay with it just this once.

So, typically I got out each year and take pictures of the kids in their costumes- this year was no different. Except for the fact that it usually goes off without a hitch, and this year it didn't. I had Chloe and Odell outside and had just gotten Odell's makeup done when Chloe whipped out her light saber and hit Odell in the face with it. And the makeup came a smearing down her face with her tears. I had just gotten her calmed down and re-make-upped, I got a few shots of her while I could and was about to move on to Linus when Chloe ran up to me and through panicked tears said that her stomach hurt really bad. I assessed that she wasn't dying, looked like it was likely just gas, but she wouldn't let up about it. I had her sit down, then go inside and get a drink of water, then lie down for a bit, and finally after her extreme insistence that it was the costume that was bothering her, I let her take it off before I got any decent pictures of her in it. After she got it off, I tried to see what was wrong with her, and explained that if she really wasn't feeling well then she needed to rest for a bit and I would take her into the doctor if it hurt that bad (which would likely mean no trick or treating). Magically the pains disappeared within about ten minutes, just enough time to wear Linus and Odell out enough with pictures that it was time to come inside. Nice. Oh well, I can always dress them up again on another warm day when we have nothing else to do, I'm sure I won't get any complaining.
Odell is "Queen Amida-wah", although I went a little over-board with the red dots and she looks more like a geisha. Still cute either way, though, and she was so excited to wear make up just like mommy. Or something like mommy anyway. 

 Here is stomach-ache Chloe. Who was replaced quickly by "I want to go trick or treating!" Chloe. She played Ahsoka from Clone Wars. She knows nothing about her except that she's a cool jedi and also she's a girl. 'Nuff said.

 Feel the rage, Darf Dater.

 Protecting the geisha at all costs.

I want YOU to join the dark side...

Guess which ridiculously good-looking family won best themed family costume award at the church Halloween party?
Aw yeah. I know you are jealous of my dread-lock wig turned Leia buns wig. And my jedi moves. And my sexy Han Solo. How come Leia didn't have the force?

Super Mom

Linus at lunch today:
"Mom. You aren't Superman, but...I KNOW you have super powers."
"Oh yeah?"
"YES!"
"Like what?"
"Like knowing if I'm asleep or not at nap time."
"Oh yes. That is my super power. And knowing if you've brushed your teeth enough."
"And Mom."
"Yeah?"
"Can you throw fire out of your hands like my X-men book?"

If only. Actually it's probably a good thing I can't shoot fire out of my hands or I might've burned my family and house down by now.
But this was a good reminder that even when I feel like Kryptonite (aka my weekly schedule) is sucking all my energy away, my little buddy still knows that I have super powers.
This morning was one of those mornings. You know. When your oldest child suddenly absorbs from the universe that school is not as cool as staying home and turns into a dead log incapable of doing anything but lying on the floor or crying. One of those mornings when there are too many poopy diapers to change and not enough time to change them. One of those mornings when your four year old somehow released an untapped reservoir of energy out of his system and expresses it by being as loud and crazy as he possibly can with no end in sight. One of those mornings when you are feeding your kids around 8:30 and realize you've been up and going for three and a half hours already and feel just as tired as you did when your alarm went off.
And the weight of the day feels kinda heavy even when half of it is gone already.
But that's okay. When you are super busy for a lot of days in a row, suddenly super busy is relative and you're able to handle things okay. Especially when the prospect of fall break is just around the corner and you can't wait to sleep in for a whole 10 days in a row. Oh goodness, I'm getting chills just thinking about it.
So here's to all you super moms out there. Destroy your kryptonites, whatever they are, enjoy your super busy days, and then come over to my house this weekend to watch Jane Eyre on blueray with me. I'll make popcorn with coconut oil on it and pull out all our blankets. Just for you.

Just hangin' around this town

As Craig would say, "Oh my Holy Night."
I can't believe it's only October. I feel like our family has aged about ten years in the last month. Pretty soon Chloe will be getting married, Linus will be going on a mission, Odell will be dating boys, and I'll have 8 more babies clamoring for my attention.
Just kidding. We're only having 7 more babies. HAH.
Well September was chock full. Chloe learned how to ride her bike finally! I was a little nervous. Typically she meets something she has a hard time with, she digs her heels in and folds her pretty little arms. I was afraid that the first time she fell over, that would be it. No learning how to ride a two wheeler. However, we started with Grandma's small bike and literally the first time Craig let go of the bike she had it down. She's maybe fallen down like twice and got back up, brushed herself off, then proudly announced, "I'M FINE MOM!" Two weeks later we switched to her big bike and she got off without a hitch. Now she's a biking maniac and LOVES riding around and around the cul-de-sac. WHEW!

 

We also had school picture day in September. I got a packet in the mail asking me which canned portrait photo package I wanted to buy, the cheapest one staring at $20. HAH. I threw it out. I told Chloe she could dress up at school and as soon as she got home, we went out back and had our own photo shoot. I like mine better. 

 

  

Odell wanted in on the action too. 

 Linus has had fun being Linus in Chloe's absence. Doing all things boy and exploring a world without a bossy older sister making up games for him to play all the time.

 

 Odell misses her sister when she's at school. But she stays occupied being her sweet self and puts up with Mommy when I forget to do her hair in the morning. Also she has new boots. And asks to wear them every day. 

 And lastly, our favorite neighborhood Uncle got called on a mission! Called to the Czech Republic and Slovakia mission (!!!!!).  He's leaving in November, so Craig and I were able to join the family in going to the temple with him for the first time. We were able to be the witness couple during the ceremony, so that was neat. Here you can see my amazing photshop skillz making sure all of us were in the photo in front of the temple. I blame it on Craig, who took the picture of us without him at a different angle than I took of the family without me, making it impossible to photoshop him in naturally. But we all know he's not much of a natural anyway, so the best we could do is this. :-)

And now for something completely different

Tuesday in the house it was hot. Craig reminded me of this several times after dinner and I felt it while I was doing my exercise in the living room in the evening. Shew.
Yesterday I wore a sweatshirt around the house it was so chilly all day and today I wore one until I started putting together a shelf for the girls' room and then when I had two babies and a four year old climbing all over me while I was trying to hammer and screw things together, I finally took it off, but anyway, point being it officially hit below 60 outside and so I guess now I can officially say that our summer is over.
Yellow leaves litter our lawn minutes after Craig mows it, that's a tell-tale sign that Fall is coming. Obviously school has been in full swing for almost a month, I saw my breath when I was running (in the rain) the other morning, and when I went outside to check the mail today I was hit full on in the face with the enchanting smell of autumn. Summer may not be officially over for another week, but it's checked out of the hotel for the year. I DO really love fall, but it's always also mixed with a fair amount of melancholy as summer waves goodbye. Routine. Structure. Regret at everything you had planned on getting done and didn't. But also satisfaction with all the good memories that took their place and the anticipation of all the fun things October, November, and December have to offer.
I realize I didn't blog about half of what we did this summer, and unfortunately I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do, but I did just enjoy the moment a lot more. Living in real life is better than pictures.
We didn't travel a lot except for an amazing trip to Montana for an Ellingson family reunion. Craig's aunt and uncle have a farm near Great Falls- we all camped in the backyard, rode horses, sang songs, spent the day at a mountain lake fishing, boating, and swimming, and made pots! Craig's uncle is an incredible artist and has spent his life teaching and making beautiful works of pottery. He showed us all how to throw a pot from the wheel to the kiln- we made some fun ones and we use them for oatmeal some mornings now just for fun.
Here's a couple of pictures from the trip:

 We had a hoe-down in the barn- the kids had fun dancing and the Ellingson elders had fun singing all the "real" lyrics to "Clementine". That was entertaining.

 Making pots! Uncle A had fun helping the kids make their own pots.

 The girl's and I started a craft club while we were there. Here we are making friendship bracelets. :-)

 Fun at the beautiful lake!!

 I love this girl!

 Thumbs up.

 Linus spent almost two hours out on the lake with Cousin C: thankfully they caught something, I was afraid Linus would get out there and then throw a huge fit if they didn't (he had sort of a hard time the whole trip...well, really the whole summer, but being away from a regular routine and in a new place with lots of things to get into trouble, it was rough). We asked C how he did out there because Linus's attention span gets about 15 min. max, so two hours was a long time to be occupied in a boat. He kind of looked at us and then said, "Well...he asked a lot of questions." Yes, yes he does ask a lot of questions. Guess talking your ear off is better than screaming fits, right?

 

 Yeah, I'm married to that. 

 Paintball wars. They set up a whole getup in the field behind the barn and basically sat behind barricades for about ten minutes at a time, then everyone would get up and run around the field and shoot each other all at once, then come back and reload. Repeated several times.

 Watching him from Uncle A's large authentic WWII German truck in front of the field at a safe distance.

 Playing Nazi soldiers in the car.

 So after you throw a pot, as it is called, on the wheel, then you have to let it sit for a couple of days to dry. When it is done drying, then you paint it, then you let it sit in the kiln for half an hour, then you throw it in a closed container with dry kindling to start a fire, then immediately pull it out and douse it in water. This creates a metallic, oxidized look to the pain on the outside of the pot- it was really cool to go through the whole process.

 Can't have camping without archery. Chloe LOVED it.

 And someone invited the Three Amigos along for the ride.

 It really was a beautiful spot of land and we saw some spectacular sunsets in the evenings.

It was a really fun trip and it was fun to get to meet some of the Ellingson family I haven't interacted with a whole lot. Plus cousins. The kids LOVE playing with their cousins. Linus still tells me all the time that Cousin J is his best friend.
The rest of the summer we spent just gearing up for the start of school. August 8th Linus had surgery on his magical bump!! It was finally time to get rid of what we thought was a cyst above his left eyebrow. Actually, it wasn't really a cyst- it's called a dermoid, about 1 in a 100 kids is born with it, just a pocket of leftover skin cells from when his skull bones were growing together in embryo. And no, they didn't find teeth and hair in there. :-) 
Here is a last shot of the "unicorn" before we went in.

 Doin' good, Mom. Don't bother me, I'm breathing here.

 Also Chloe and I had the opportunity to have a Mommy/Daughter date. My step-dad invited me and Chloe to come to a family excursion to go see Oklahoma at the Central City Opera House in Central City with he and my mom and his sisters during their family reunion. It was so much fun and afterwards Chloe and I went out to eat together and then went shopping at Target for some new school clothes. This was the only shot we got, but we had fun!

 On our last "summer" excursion to Grandma in Denber's house, we spent the day in the pool having fun. Actually, we're hoping we can do one more pool day before September is over, but it keeps getting chillier every day and I'm wondering if that's going to happen. Craig had fun being a goon-bucket, as usual....

And now I'm mostly all caught up.