Thursday, December 2, 2010
Mothers and Christmas
After attending the Rigby Christmas party last weekend, I got to thinking about all of the effort that Marsha (my mother-in-law) went to in planning this party. I can't even guess how many hours she must have spent planning and cooking and making and doing.
She made ornaments for each of the 15 grandchildren, bought the supplies and made gingerbread for the gingerbread houses, she cut out each grand child's name with cookie cutters and gave them each their name in sugar cookies so they could decorate them, she prepared a 12 days of Christmas packet for each of us so that we could carry on this tradition. She cooked and baked and sewed and cleaned and I could go on and on and on. I know she made many of her gifts this year. She canned her famous zucchini relish and gave each of the sons a dozen jars. (And it is soooo good!) Is this woman amazing or what?!
I got to thinking that it is so easy to take all of this for granted. She works so hard to make these parties special for everyone and I don't think we always stop and think about the effort that goes into them.
I kind of think this is the case with all mothers at Christmas time. They cook and bake and shop and wrap and decorate and send cards and take packages to the needy and I could go on and on here.
When I was growing up, I remember sitting in front of the TV watching the Rudolph or Charlie Brown Christmas specials as my mom was working away in the kitchen. She would bring me treats which I thought were the best ever. But, I never stopped to think about how much time she spent making sure that Christmas was nice for the rest of us.
Now that I'm a mother, I am beginning to appreciate all of this effort more as I am doing some of the same things that my mom did. But the beautiful thing is....I absolutely love every minute of it! I think I would work 24/7 if I could to make sure that everyone had a nice Christmas. It's what mother's do, right?
So, thank you Marsha for your hours and hours of work on our behalf. The party was amazing! And thanks to my mom for all of the popcorn balls and tv crunch and fun Christmas mornings and memories. I hope that I can pass on the fun and beautiful memories that these two amazing women have given me.
She made ornaments for each of the 15 grandchildren, bought the supplies and made gingerbread for the gingerbread houses, she cut out each grand child's name with cookie cutters and gave them each their name in sugar cookies so they could decorate them, she prepared a 12 days of Christmas packet for each of us so that we could carry on this tradition. She cooked and baked and sewed and cleaned and I could go on and on and on. I know she made many of her gifts this year. She canned her famous zucchini relish and gave each of the sons a dozen jars. (And it is soooo good!) Is this woman amazing or what?!
I got to thinking that it is so easy to take all of this for granted. She works so hard to make these parties special for everyone and I don't think we always stop and think about the effort that goes into them.
I kind of think this is the case with all mothers at Christmas time. They cook and bake and shop and wrap and decorate and send cards and take packages to the needy and I could go on and on here.
When I was growing up, I remember sitting in front of the TV watching the Rudolph or Charlie Brown Christmas specials as my mom was working away in the kitchen. She would bring me treats which I thought were the best ever. But, I never stopped to think about how much time she spent making sure that Christmas was nice for the rest of us.
Now that I'm a mother, I am beginning to appreciate all of this effort more as I am doing some of the same things that my mom did. But the beautiful thing is....I absolutely love every minute of it! I think I would work 24/7 if I could to make sure that everyone had a nice Christmas. It's what mother's do, right?
So, thank you Marsha for your hours and hours of work on our behalf. The party was amazing! And thanks to my mom for all of the popcorn balls and tv crunch and fun Christmas mornings and memories. I hope that I can pass on the fun and beautiful memories that these two amazing women have given me.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Annual Rigby Christmas Party
Over Thanksgiving weekend we traveled to Soda Springs, ID for the annual Rigby Christmas party. I think this is the best idea ever. Every year we take turns hosting this family Christmas gathering. Every other year it is in Soda Springs and the off years it is at one of the kids' homes.
The party usually consists of a visit from Santa, a service, the sharing of the Nativity story and/or other meaningful Christmas stories, a nice meal(s), gifts, a slide show of pictures of each of the families throughout the past year, a fun craft for the kids, a craft for the daughters, and this year there was even a gingerbread house contest for the men of the family. It is always fun (and a little bit of controlled chaos)!
And, the other great thing is that having our family get together early in the month allows for us all to do whatever we want with our individual families for Christmas. Isn't that sometimes a struggle? Who's house do you go to? Or, we just want to stay home instead of going anywhere. So, this solves that problem! If your family isn't already doing this and it is doable for you, I highly recommend it.
Jeff's assignment each year is to create a slide show DVD of pictures from each of the families. Each family sends in 25-30 pics of their family throughout the past year. He puts the pictures to music and wa la...a beautiful little piece of family history to be enjoyed through the ages. He usually adds some type of comic relief at the beginning and this year he actually created a movie trailer. I think this turned out so great. I have a very smart and talented husband. (If I do say so myself.) Here it is:
It was great to see everyone last weekend. I really have wonderful in laws all the way around. They have welcomed me in as one of their own from the very beginning and are so much fun to be around. I love 'em all! Well, most of the time. Let's be honest. :)
The party usually consists of a visit from Santa, a service, the sharing of the Nativity story and/or other meaningful Christmas stories, a nice meal(s), gifts, a slide show of pictures of each of the families throughout the past year, a fun craft for the kids, a craft for the daughters, and this year there was even a gingerbread house contest for the men of the family. It is always fun (and a little bit of controlled chaos)!
And, the other great thing is that having our family get together early in the month allows for us all to do whatever we want with our individual families for Christmas. Isn't that sometimes a struggle? Who's house do you go to? Or, we just want to stay home instead of going anywhere. So, this solves that problem! If your family isn't already doing this and it is doable for you, I highly recommend it.
Jeff's assignment each year is to create a slide show DVD of pictures from each of the families. Each family sends in 25-30 pics of their family throughout the past year. He puts the pictures to music and wa la...a beautiful little piece of family history to be enjoyed through the ages. He usually adds some type of comic relief at the beginning and this year he actually created a movie trailer. I think this turned out so great. I have a very smart and talented husband. (If I do say so myself.) Here it is:
It was great to see everyone last weekend. I really have wonderful in laws all the way around. They have welcomed me in as one of their own from the very beginning and are so much fun to be around. I love 'em all! Well, most of the time. Let's be honest. :)
Before and After
I have a little catching up to do and I thought I would start with some before and after pics of Lizette's and my recent haircuts. Our all time favorite stylist, Lisa, came over to our house a couple of days before Thanksgiving. It was so fun! If you are local, here is her info:
Starting Dec. 9th she will be located at Total Health Massage and Fitness at 4822 N. Rosepoint Way Suite B, Boise, ID 83713. It's located off McMillan between Eagle Rd. and Locust Grove.
378-1517
hrteezr@yahoo.com
She does a fantastic job and makes house calls! Think kids here. Way easier at home, I think! And her prices are very reasonable. $10 for a kids cut and style. $20 for a women's cut and style (less if you just have her cut it.)
Here we are before:
I love our before picture. I told Lizette to look really slouchy and sad. She did her best.
Starting Dec. 9th she will be located at Total Health Massage and Fitness at 4822 N. Rosepoint Way Suite B, Boise, ID 83713. It's located off McMillan between Eagle Rd. and Locust Grove.
378-1517
hrteezr@yahoo.com
She does a fantastic job and makes house calls! Think kids here. Way easier at home, I think! And her prices are very reasonable. $10 for a kids cut and style. $20 for a women's cut and style (less if you just have her cut it.)
Here we are before:
I love our before picture. I told Lizette to look really slouchy and sad. She did her best.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Romance!
I mentioned in my last post that Jeff and I are not very romantic. Well, I was wrong!!
Yesterday morning I put some little treats next to his keys and wallet so he would find them before he left for work. On top of the treats I put a little note that said I Love You. Pretty nice, huh? :)
Before he left for work he placed a little note of his own in the very spot he thought I would be sure to find it...first thing in the morning. On a can of Diet Coke! Isn't that so sweet? I was honestly really touched. The sad thing is, that was the one day I waited until noon to have a Diet Coke!
Anyway, just wanted to share that we are not completely without romance in our life. It's the littlest things that mean the most sometimes.
P.S. Yes, I realize that it's a little sad the most obvious place for Jeff to leave me a note is on a can of Diet Coke. I wish I was the kind of person where somewhere like the scriptures or a really good book would have been the obvious place to leave it. Maybe someday I'll be that person. For now, I'm glad that he knows me so well! :)
Yesterday morning I put some little treats next to his keys and wallet so he would find them before he left for work. On top of the treats I put a little note that said I Love You. Pretty nice, huh? :)
Before he left for work he placed a little note of his own in the very spot he thought I would be sure to find it...first thing in the morning. On a can of Diet Coke! Isn't that so sweet? I was honestly really touched. The sad thing is, that was the one day I waited until noon to have a Diet Coke!
Anyway, just wanted to share that we are not completely without romance in our life. It's the littlest things that mean the most sometimes.
P.S. Yes, I realize that it's a little sad the most obvious place for Jeff to leave me a note is on a can of Diet Coke. I wish I was the kind of person where somewhere like the scriptures or a really good book would have been the obvious place to leave it. Maybe someday I'll be that person. For now, I'm glad that he knows me so well! :)
Friday, November 19, 2010
I love my family.
The last couple of weeks have been interesting for us.
We started out the week of the 8th in the ER with Lexi. She had a bad case of croup and when I called the 24 hour nurses line at 3:00 that morning, the nurse listened to her over the phone and said I better get her in to the ER. Not what anyone wants to hear. I was so worried about our poor little girl, but after a couple of respiratory treatments and the steroid they gave her, she took a turn for the better pretty quickly. However, as croup goes, we still had about another week and a half of coughing through the night and not feeling the best.
On top of Lexi's illness, Jeff has been sicker than I have ever seen him in our 7-1/2 years of marriage. I think he must have had a pretty bad flu bug. He was miserable for most of the last couple of weeks as well.
Pretty downer post so far, huh? Well, never fear my friends! I am here to share some positives that have come out of these sort of downer few weeks we have had.
With being cooped up and not able to take part in a lot of the activities we would do normally, I have had the chance to spend a lot of one on one time with the girls. My amazing girls. We have played and played and played. I've had the chance to just sit and observe more than normal and that has been fun.
Lizette is so in charge all the time. She really wants to do the right thing, and expects the same from everyone else. I really think she is a smart girl and is going to do well in school. She loves to learn and picks up on pretty much anything academic so quickly. She has such a vivid imagination. Hence, her new imaginary friend, Olivia. Olivia even said our family prayers for us the other night. Lizette makes a bed for Olivia next to hers. She is really becoming part of the family. At first I was a little worried, but I have to say that I really like Olivia too. She doesn't say much and I totally respect that.
One of our many "dress up" moments from the past few weeks.
(I'm not going to go into detail here about my childhood imaginary friends. But for my family who might be reading this, I'll just say that the apple does not fall far from the tree.)
Lexi is sort of a breath of fresh air and hell on wheels all in one package. She is so sweet and loves to just get in your face and smile and kiss. In the next moment she is yelling at us when we take too long getting her dinner. She gets into absolutely everything and tries to do it quick before we stop her. I love this girl. It's going to be fun to watch as she gets older to see how this little personality develops.
You know how I was bummed that we didn't get any cute pictures of Lexi in the Marie costume on Halloween? Here are some post-Halloween pics that we forced her into last week. Poor girl.
"What in the world are you making me put this on for? Didn't you get the memo? Halloween is OVER!"
"Okay, I can take it for a few minutes if you'll tickle me!"
"Seriously Mom, take it off!"
And then there's Jeff. Jeff and I have never had what a lot of people would call a fairy tale romance. We are not super lovey dovey. In fact, we can often be quite sarcastic with each other. But I have to say that I think the one thing we have going for us is humor. We laugh at ourselves and at each other with a lot of ease.
So, here's a couple of funny moments we've had these past couple of weeks.
As I mentioned, Jeff has been pretty sick. He hasn't felt like doing a whole lot lately. He has watched quite a bit of TV and laid low a lot. This hasn't bothered me, other than I just wish he could feel better. But, I think the line was crossed the other night. I left for a couple of hours after the girls went to bed. When I came home I asked what he had been up to. He smiled. I figured he had been watching some documentary on Steve Jobs or something. Fox News? Oh no. None of the above. He was watching Teen Wolf. You know, the Michael J. Fox movie from the '80's? He made me promise I wouldn't tell anyone. (hee hee)
The other funny moment came when I realized the other night just how predictable Jeff and I are with each other. I kid you not, almost every other night just before we go to sleep he says "Man, I got some SERIOUS heartburn." And he says it that exact same way...every time! He said it the other night and I just had to laugh. We are soooo predictable. Every time he runs out of something like soap or toothpaste or some sort of toiletry, he'll say "I'm almost of out this, do we have any more?" And every time, I get so annoyed because I have a closet stocked with these supplies and have gone over and over with him where stuff is. So, I'll storm off to the closet, grab whatever it is he needs and storm back into the bathroom and hand it to him. It's hilarious. When we are 80, we are going to be having this same conversation. I love it.
I love my family. We are all a little crazy, some of us a little "unbalanced", but I'm so happy we have each other.
We started out the week of the 8th in the ER with Lexi. She had a bad case of croup and when I called the 24 hour nurses line at 3:00 that morning, the nurse listened to her over the phone and said I better get her in to the ER. Not what anyone wants to hear. I was so worried about our poor little girl, but after a couple of respiratory treatments and the steroid they gave her, she took a turn for the better pretty quickly. However, as croup goes, we still had about another week and a half of coughing through the night and not feeling the best.
On top of Lexi's illness, Jeff has been sicker than I have ever seen him in our 7-1/2 years of marriage. I think he must have had a pretty bad flu bug. He was miserable for most of the last couple of weeks as well.
Pretty downer post so far, huh? Well, never fear my friends! I am here to share some positives that have come out of these sort of downer few weeks we have had.
With being cooped up and not able to take part in a lot of the activities we would do normally, I have had the chance to spend a lot of one on one time with the girls. My amazing girls. We have played and played and played. I've had the chance to just sit and observe more than normal and that has been fun.
Lizette is so in charge all the time. She really wants to do the right thing, and expects the same from everyone else. I really think she is a smart girl and is going to do well in school. She loves to learn and picks up on pretty much anything academic so quickly. She has such a vivid imagination. Hence, her new imaginary friend, Olivia. Olivia even said our family prayers for us the other night. Lizette makes a bed for Olivia next to hers. She is really becoming part of the family. At first I was a little worried, but I have to say that I really like Olivia too. She doesn't say much and I totally respect that.
One of our many "dress up" moments from the past few weeks.
(I'm not going to go into detail here about my childhood imaginary friends. But for my family who might be reading this, I'll just say that the apple does not fall far from the tree.)
Lexi is sort of a breath of fresh air and hell on wheels all in one package. She is so sweet and loves to just get in your face and smile and kiss. In the next moment she is yelling at us when we take too long getting her dinner. She gets into absolutely everything and tries to do it quick before we stop her. I love this girl. It's going to be fun to watch as she gets older to see how this little personality develops.
You know how I was bummed that we didn't get any cute pictures of Lexi in the Marie costume on Halloween? Here are some post-Halloween pics that we forced her into last week. Poor girl.
"What in the world are you making me put this on for? Didn't you get the memo? Halloween is OVER!"
"Okay, I can take it for a few minutes if you'll tickle me!"
"Seriously Mom, take it off!"And then there's Jeff. Jeff and I have never had what a lot of people would call a fairy tale romance. We are not super lovey dovey. In fact, we can often be quite sarcastic with each other. But I have to say that I think the one thing we have going for us is humor. We laugh at ourselves and at each other with a lot of ease.
So, here's a couple of funny moments we've had these past couple of weeks.
As I mentioned, Jeff has been pretty sick. He hasn't felt like doing a whole lot lately. He has watched quite a bit of TV and laid low a lot. This hasn't bothered me, other than I just wish he could feel better. But, I think the line was crossed the other night. I left for a couple of hours after the girls went to bed. When I came home I asked what he had been up to. He smiled. I figured he had been watching some documentary on Steve Jobs or something. Fox News? Oh no. None of the above. He was watching Teen Wolf. You know, the Michael J. Fox movie from the '80's? He made me promise I wouldn't tell anyone. (hee hee)
The other funny moment came when I realized the other night just how predictable Jeff and I are with each other. I kid you not, almost every other night just before we go to sleep he says "Man, I got some SERIOUS heartburn." And he says it that exact same way...every time! He said it the other night and I just had to laugh. We are soooo predictable. Every time he runs out of something like soap or toothpaste or some sort of toiletry, he'll say "I'm almost of out this, do we have any more?" And every time, I get so annoyed because I have a closet stocked with these supplies and have gone over and over with him where stuff is. So, I'll storm off to the closet, grab whatever it is he needs and storm back into the bathroom and hand it to him. It's hilarious. When we are 80, we are going to be having this same conversation. I love it.
I love my family. We are all a little crazy, some of us a little "unbalanced", but I'm so happy we have each other.
Friday, November 5, 2010
The Halloween That Wasn't (and other happenings)
I think maybe the only thing worse for a kid than being sick on Christmas is to be sick on Halloween. And you guessed it. Lizette and Lexi were both sick on Halloween this year! Major bummer, but we made the best of it.
About two days leading up to Halloween a fever and cold hit Lizette and it only just started getting better a couple of days ago. So, all the anticipation of the trick or treating (actually it would have been 'trunk or treating' for us) and wearing her Cowgirl Jessie costume was for naught. Thankfully, her preschool group had a little Halloween party so I did get one picture of her in her costume (minus the cute, red cowgirl hat).
I didn't even get a picture of Lexi in our 'Marie' from the Aristocats costume that Lizette wore for two years. I think I'll put it on her tomorrow and try to snap some pics. Here is Lizette wearing it when she was one:
(Maybe Halloween just isn't her holiday?)
About two days leading up to Halloween a fever and cold hit Lizette and it only just started getting better a couple of days ago. So, all the anticipation of the trick or treating (actually it would have been 'trunk or treating' for us) and wearing her Cowgirl Jessie costume was for naught. Thankfully, her preschool group had a little Halloween party so I did get one picture of her in her costume (minus the cute, red cowgirl hat).
I didn't even get a picture of Lexi in our 'Marie' from the Aristocats costume that Lizette wore for two years. I think I'll put it on her tomorrow and try to snap some pics. Here is Lizette wearing it when she was one:
(Maybe Halloween just isn't her holiday?)Here are a few pictures I snapped of our sickos this week:
Her eyes were swollen for days. First the left, then the right. It was awful!
This is where she was most of the week. Watching way too much TV! In fact, we've never watched much Nickelodeon before this week and I'm glad. They have so many toy commercials! I think PBS is the way to go. They pretty much only advertise organic baby food.
Here's little sis trying to cheer her up. (Lexi didn't have it nearly as bad as Lizette)
Since we've had this cold thing in our house this week, it has been relatively uneventful. We did get out today and had lunch with our good friend Laura. We got to see her beautifully remodeled home in the North End of Boise. It is gorgeous! It's like something you would see on This Old House or HGTV.
If you're not familiar with the North End of Boise, it is full of charming, older homes. Many of which have been redone very nicely. If we were to ever move again, Jeff and I have often said we would buy another 'fixer upper'. I love the charm and details of older homes and sometimes miss our home on Rose Hill. I think we made the right decision to move because of the busy street and it wasn't so kid friendly. But I really miss the charm of our little home. We put so much hard work into it and it turned out to be just what we wanted. Bear with me as I take a little trip down memory lane...
+Home+Documentation+-+Upstairs.jpg)
+Home+Documentation+-+Downstairs.jpg)
+Home+Documentation+-+Downstairs.jpg)
Good memories. But we are very happy where we are at now too. Home is where your heart is, right?
I'm going to make this an incredibly long post and share a few of our family photos that our professional photographer friend, Shandy, took for us recently. I don't know if I've mentioned this in a past post or not, but our photo session was in my opinion a disaster. Lexi cried most of the time. Every time we would get posed for a picture, she would scream. I was stressed. Jeff was stressed. We were thinking there would be no way we would get any decent pictures out of that. Shandy kept reassuring us and telling us she thought they were going to be great. I wasn't so sure. But then, a true miracle happened! Shandy worked her magic and we got some great pictures. If you live in Boise, check her out. She really does a great job.
Her eyes were swollen for days. First the left, then the right. It was awful!
This is where she was most of the week. Watching way too much TV! In fact, we've never watched much Nickelodeon before this week and I'm glad. They have so many toy commercials! I think PBS is the way to go. They pretty much only advertise organic baby food. 
Here's little sis trying to cheer her up. (Lexi didn't have it nearly as bad as Lizette)Since we've had this cold thing in our house this week, it has been relatively uneventful. We did get out today and had lunch with our good friend Laura. We got to see her beautifully remodeled home in the North End of Boise. It is gorgeous! It's like something you would see on This Old House or HGTV.
If you're not familiar with the North End of Boise, it is full of charming, older homes. Many of which have been redone very nicely. If we were to ever move again, Jeff and I have often said we would buy another 'fixer upper'. I love the charm and details of older homes and sometimes miss our home on Rose Hill. I think we made the right decision to move because of the busy street and it wasn't so kid friendly. But I really miss the charm of our little home. We put so much hard work into it and it turned out to be just what we wanted. Bear with me as I take a little trip down memory lane...
+Home+Documentation+-+Upstairs.jpg)
+Home+Documentation+-+Downstairs.jpg)
+Home+Documentation+-+Downstairs.jpg)
Good memories. But we are very happy where we are at now too. Home is where your heart is, right?I'm going to make this an incredibly long post and share a few of our family photos that our professional photographer friend, Shandy, took for us recently. I don't know if I've mentioned this in a past post or not, but our photo session was in my opinion a disaster. Lexi cried most of the time. Every time we would get posed for a picture, she would scream. I was stressed. Jeff was stressed. We were thinking there would be no way we would get any decent pictures out of that. Shandy kept reassuring us and telling us she thought they were going to be great. I wasn't so sure. But then, a true miracle happened! Shandy worked her magic and we got some great pictures. If you live in Boise, check her out. She really does a great job.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)