My new adventure!

This week I have started watching 3 additional children every weekday from 8:30 am to 3 pm. The kids are ages 3, 2 and 1! My home has not been child proof for quite awhile. Elizabeth was never a climber. She has really been a pretty calm child and so I have been completely out of touch with babies and toddlers and how busy they can be. It has been an adventure because I am learning new things about myself and how important it is for me to rely on prayer. I am learning that the things that seem impossible are quite possible with the help of Heavenly Father. Things have come to my mind that are not my thoughts. Light and knowledge on how to deal with certain behavior problems have been an inspiration and have seemed to work so well. I am humbled to know that I couldn't do this without my Heavenly Father. I am simply amazed by the blessings of strength, knowledge and patience that I have been given this week.

Today, I went to do an Art lesson for my son's 5th grade class, I felt like it was so easy to do, when in the past it was a challenge. I loved it and was so grateful for the opposition and difficulties that I have experienced this week that made me realize how pleasant it really is to teach 5th graders! Opposition sure does help me. The harder things are, the stronger I will be in the end. Happiness comes with the simplest little blessings!!!

Vacation fun!

The kids and their cousins played with the nerf guns for hours! They loved it and loved being together.

Do all kids just love trying to get pictures of things in the air flying? They thought this picture was pretty cool!

New Years Eve the kids got to go ice skating with some of their cousins. They enjoyed it alot more than we thought they would. They even got a lesson on how to skate from one of the instructors there. It was a great alternative to going to the snow. They really got good fast and spent the entire time skating (over 2 hours).

Christian, Meliah and Lizzy, skating together! I love my kids, they are such a blast!

Lizzy started off by skating with Aaron holding her hand. Once she got her skating lesson, she went off on her own and did amazingly well. The kids all had a super great day!

After skating we went to Aunt Terri's house and spent New Years Eve with a ton of cousins. I can't even remember how many kids were there. We played murder, heads up seven up, night at the museum and simon says until midnight. We also made hats, ate ham and celebrated Marin's birthday.

Walking in a winter wonderland!

Lizzy opening a gift from Meliah

Aaron opening his gift (a temple bag)

Christian opening a gift (his excitement wasn't the same as when he was younger but I must say he was pretty excited about his paintball gun and our family gift - a wii)

Meliah and Taylor got necklaces from Grandma and Grandpa Eller

Lizzy opening her tea set.

Fondue on Christmas Eve

Lizzy and Bella

The Nativity that Aaron's Mom made for us several years ago. We all still love it!

This jar showed up on our doorstep on Christmas Eve. I had just finished reading the Christmas Jars a couple of nights previous. The jar has so much meaning to me personally and we will be reading it as a family the next couple of weeks. Thank you to the person that dropped it off, it is a great blessing to our family

I still haven't gotten used to the "no snow" on Christmas. It just never feels like Christmas until we have a little fall on the ground. For me, it represents my childhood, the cold reminds me of my hometown and some pretty vicious snowball fights that I endured. My brother Martin could really throw a stinger. I found out later that he would make his snowballs icy before he'd throw them, ouch! But more importantly, I remember the white, pure glory and amazing brightness of the outdoors. The beauty of it, of course, is out of my vocabulary in the English language. The only perfect man who has lived on this earth was so pure and glorious, it reminds me of what snow does to the earth. I am so grateful for a loving Savior, who came, lived and gave all he had to others and to his Father then died for all of us. Just as I am in awe of the snow the morning of the first snowfall, I am in awe of that one perfect man and his tender mercies! Most of the time we take a trip up to the mountains so that we can at least see it before the Holidays come, it gets me in the mood and the true spirit of Christmas. This year, maybe I will just have to remember those wonderful feelings and keep them in my heart all year round. I will post some pictures after our trip to the snow.

I want more curls!

Last night, I put curlers in Elizabeth's hair. Her hair is very straight and doesn't hold a curl very well. It only holds a curl with the spiral curlers and still only lasts for half of the day. When she woke up this morning I took out the curlers and it looked adorable. After she looked in the mirror, she started to cry and just be terrible. She kept saying she wanted more curls up higher on her head (you know when they get delirious and keep repeating themselves over and over again). She was throwing a complete temper tantrum! I had a ton to do this morning and really didn't have time to help her and satisfy her at all, so I just got impatient with her. She said "I just won't go to church today then!" I said, "fine!" I went out to the car well-knowing that I wouldn't be able to leave her at home alone at 4 years old. I went back in the house and she was sitting in the same place I had left her. I looked at her face which didn't seem upset anymore and I said, "I can't leave you at home Lizzy, but you can choose to go to church happy or you can go to church sad". She stomped to the car while muttering, "I'll go to church sad". I realized later, when I had more time to talk to her, that she wants hair like Meliah (who has a ton of hair that has a lot of natural curl). Do I already need to deal with a little teenager? This is ridiculous!

Elizabeth with her straight hair (taken a couple of nights ago)
Elizabeth today after church (she got so many compliments on her hair at church :))

Christian, Meliah, and Elizabeth after church (Meliah tried to flatten her hair on top so that Elizabeth would be okay with her hair)

I couldn't resist posting the latest pictures taken of our kids! I absolutely love them, the pictures and the kids!

Elizabeth 4 1/2


Meliah 8 1/2


Christian 10 1/2

Meliah finally got that tooth out!

One of Meliah's teeth has been loose forever! She finally got it out! It wasn't even that loose but we told her that she had to get it out before her dentist appointment last week, or the dentist would have to pull it out. She was getting more and more frustrated as the day came closer and would ask for orajel to numb it before we all worked on it. She was thrilled to get it out all by herself the night before her appointment.

Before the tooth came out

After she pulled it out herself

Thanksgiving and getting ready for Christmas!

Elizabeth is the perfect age for Christmas. She is so thrilled with our Christmas tree and loved putting all of her ornaments on the tree. The squeals that come from her make me want to squeal too and be a little kid again! Why not, I think I'll have to sit on Santa's lap this year!

We have continued a tradition that Aaron's family has that I love. All the kids have their own boxes of ornaments and we add to them every year. They aren't done decorating the tree until they've emptied their boxes of ornaments. Aaron has a ton of ornaments that he has been given through the years and they are all dated. Many of them he made himself. The kids always laugh and enjoy looking at all of his old ornaments. We also have a bunch of ornaments that my parents have given to us since we first got married. One of my priced possessions is a set of handmade ornaments that my mother made for our family tree years ago. It seems that little by little they are dwindling (I think my siblings are swiping them).

Thanksgiving day! This was not a part of our plans on Thanksgiving. We were packed and ready to go to Salem, Oregon to spend a few days up there with Aaron's side of the family. When the flu bug hit our house, we decided it wasn't a very good idea... so we stayed at home. This is my parents with most of their grandchildren.

This is a picture of all 8 of us siblings. We haven't all been together for many years, so it was really nice to be able to snap a picture.