This week in pictures

Wednesday Abi kept trying to sneak into my scrapbook supplies so I brought down some scissors and colored pencils and she had fun coloring and cutting
Thursday she asked to wear this hand me down dress from Courtney. It is still quite big on her but she loved it and I thought she looked so cute in it... so she wore it.
I just couldn't stop taking pictures....

If you are very familiar with Alan Rickman (Robin Hood, Sense and Sensibility, Love Actually, and of course Snape in Harry Potter are among his movies) you will know that when he talks his lips do weird things like sticking out in ways other people's lips don't. Abi's do too. I have often thought she makes faces like him when she talks which cracks me up. In this picture I caught one of them...
I've talked before about how Abi sometimes walks up on her toes like a ballerina. I have not been able to capture this on film yet.. but this came close. You will see that one of her feet has the toes curled up underneath it. That is how she does it. So, now imagine both feet like that and she is walking and dancing with them that way. It amazes me.
This one is for Grandpa. This is the princess hat and skirt she got at Target with the two dollars you sent her. She loves them.
Thursday we also had preschool. During part of it the girls were doing shopping like Abi and I had done at the library. They wanted to take their groceries for a picnic. Here it is. Alisse making her silly face and Abi making sure her polar bear has had enough to eat.
Then they made snowmen out of Styrofoam peanuts. This was one of those projects where it looked amazing in my head but didn't translate that well. The girls had a lot of fun though. Alisse loved the sound the peanuts made when she broke them in half.
Today Abi wanted to make something for dinner. I couldn't really let her do the dinner since it was in the oven but I rummaged around in our pantry and found a package of chocolate pudding. All she had to do was add the mix to cold water and mix for two minutes so she was able to do it by herself. I cannot even begin to tell you how much she loved that!
As soon as Doug got home Abi suited up in her snowsuit and went outside to 'help' him shovel the huge amount of snow we got today.

Of course she decided it would be more fun to climb the snow hills. I watched her struggle to try to climb this one forever. It was so funny. Finally she called to her dad for help and he gave her the shovel handle. She then pulled herself up and over the hill.

Then she went back to work....

Been to the library lately?

Abi and I went on a little outing to the library on Tuesday. We went into the kids section and one of the ladies that works there stopped me and told me to go have a look in the room they do story time in. They had set it up as a new reading/learn to read experience.
I pulled Abi over and we went in. We spent an HOUR in there. It was so much fun.
They have a puppet theater set up. I did a show and then I got to sit in the chairs while Abi did a show...

they had felt boards to build snowmen...
and chalk to draw snowmen...
and best of all they had a little grocery store set up. The clipboards had 'grocery lists' on them and Abi could look at it and find that particular food and then mark it off with a crayon. Then we could buy it at a cash register. We went through every list and then just made up our own.
It was so great. I think I may need to do some of these kind of lists at home for her. Or we could just go there more often.

Doctor Drama

Monday Abi had her 3 year appointment at the doctor. It was later in the afternoon and she fell asleep in the car on the way there for about twenty minutes so I assumed she would be a little cranky but I did not expect the drama to follow.
She was fine in the waiting room and then we walked back to the room. She got one look at the nurse and flipped out. She didn't even want me to take her shoes off. We had to have her stand against the wall to be measured and stand on the scale to be weighed. She wouldn't do either. She was SCREAMING- actually screaming and saying , " I NEVER do that!" I was so embarrassed and wondering why she wouldn't do these simple things. The nurse looked annoyed and just stood back saying, "I won't touch you."
I finally got her on the scale and then she jumped back off. I had to hold her to the wall and pull the thing down to her head and let her go and she ran back into the room.
The nurse said, "Well, I guess she won't let me take her blood pressure." to which Abi wailed, "No!" So she left.
Then the doctor came in and she was better with him, more comfortable and played around in the room while he and I talked but she was crying while he listened to her heart and lungs and looked in her eyes and ears. She clamped down her mouth when he wanted to look at her teeth so he pried her mouth open and when he was done counting her teeth she just looked at me with the saddest face and the most pathetic little cry. It was pretty sad. Then he had to examine her body. I felt bad as I had to hold her down while he checked everything. She was not happy.
So, she needed her flu shot. He left and we waited for the nurse to come in with the shot. I expected the worst after all of this. The nurse that came in was a different one, a little older, and I put Abi on the table next to her. I held onto one side in a hug and Abi just sat there. No tears, no struggle. She got the shot, the nurse put on a band aid. Still nothing. She says goodbye. I get her dressed. Totally fine.
What? You scream about everything else and then are fine for the shot!
This made me think. Maybe Abi isn't just afraid of Everyone, maybe she is just a really good judge of character.......
Here she is running to me when we hear the doctor coming-

Playing while we wait
Telling me a story-

This is a fun little blogging game that's been going around. I saw it on Donna's blog today, and she gave me the letter L. If you want to do it, mention it in your comment and I'll give you a letter, and then you can write on your blog about ten things you like that start with that letter.

1. Letters: I love getting a good old fashioned hand written letter in the mail. This , obviously, doesn't happen that often anymore. I like emails too, but there is just something about being able to hold something in your hand and read it over and over again that I love. (This is the same reason I could never read a book online- I like to hold stuff.)

2. Literature: I love, love, love books. I've pretty much had my nose stuck in a book since I was a kid. I like all sorts of genres so you can find me reading biographies, autobiographies, mystery, romance (although you will never find me reading the more 'adult' romances- yuck-not my thing), classics, etc.. I even read my first graphic novel the other day -Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale which I loved! My favorite type of book, however, tends to be in the Young Adult category lately- more specifically the fantasy young adult. My favorite 'new' reads this year have been discovering the Fablehaven and Eragon series and Shannon Hale. I guess I'm kind of a nerd but the more epic the novel the more I like it. I like my books like I like my movies: exciting and full of action and adventure.



3. Lakes: I love visiting the lake near us and watching all the boats and pretending it is the ocean.

4. Love: Like everyone I like to love others and have others love me. It's so great to have wonderful people in my life that I know love me unconditionally.

5. Laughter: I love the sound of laughter- especially Abi's. I like to laugh. Sometimes I can have one of those days where I just feel down and as soon as I laugh I feel better.
6. Life: I like life and living. It is all so amazing and interesting and full of new things to discover and learn.
7. Licorice: I like licorice but I am picky about it. I do not like twizzlers. It has to be Red Vines red or black vines.


8. Lists: I like lists so much that I sometimes just make up something I can make a list about.. yeah I'm weird like that.
9. Lazy days: Those days where you have no commitments and you can just play all day (or read). On my mother-in-law's advice a few years ago I try to take one day a month "off" where I get to stay in my jammies and read all day without any guilt!
10. Lucy Maud Montgomery: She is one of my favorite authors as the creator of Anne of Green Gables. I also love her Emily series. Actually, I love all of her books! I think I own them all. I also have one of her journals. If it weren't for her there would be no Anne. If it weren't for her I would never have had an interest in Prince Edward Island and wouldn't have visited there twice. Although I never knew her she has been a huge inspiration and role model to me since I was eight.

First day of Primary

Abi's a sunbeam!

Today was Abi's first day in Primary. She was really nervous. We let her wear her fanciest dress so she would look like a "princess" but she still was saying she wanted to go to nursery. I took her into the Primary room and she didn't want to stay so I sat with her class with her on my lap through the talks, scriptures, etc. Finally she would sit on her own chair.

So I asked her if I could leave and she said yes. I went back into the nursery but about 1/2 hour later her teacher brought her to me and said she was having a hard time going into class. I guess she had been laying on the carpet in the primary room. So, I didn't want to keep her in nursery with me figuring that that would only make it that much harder again next week so I went into her classroom with her.

It was fun. The teachers are really great and there was a nice little lesson and then she handed out CTR rings and CTR papers to color as well as these fun little Sunday box crafts that they got to color and play with. Abi seemed to enjoy it and after we got out really liked her ring.
I wanted to get a picture of her with her ring on and this is what she did. I swear I didn't tell her to pose this way!

She had a hard time at first with nursery ( I wasn't in there yet) so I'm sure that this will only take a few weeks to get used to as well. Until then I'm sure I'll get to spend some more fun time in Primary with her. I can't believe she is old enough to be in Primary!

What did we do this week?

It seemed like a really busy week but we also had a lot of down time which was so much fun!
These are some of the things we have done over the past week...
Abi showed off some of her new bows and learned that it is hard to run in an ankle length denim skirt. (But she still had fun doing it!)

We found out we had voles again when I noticed one of the holes from last year looked open again and then saw a little one come running out and start eating the grass the day after the snow melted. Doug put out some poison before going to work while I watched with mixed emotions feeling like a villain.

Abi learned about Taoism as it relates to the Winnie the Pooh gang.... (not really, she just liked looking at the pictures while I read through it)

Abi was thrilled that she finally could wear the yellow overalls that Mckenna and Courtney handed down to her. She loves the little hammer holder thing on the side.. it's the perfect size to hold the teddy bear the doctor gave her when she had pink eye.

There were a few meltdowns in her room when her dolls wouldn't cooperate during tea time... that darn Kirsten just wanted to stand on her head. Where are her manners?

We celebrated New Years Day and Eve:
Abi started the day watching the Barbie Nutcracker. She was mostly playing and making a mess while I watched it (I really like it) but toward the end when the Prince and Clara are dancing she stopped everything and watched, occasionally lifting up an arm and a leg like they were doing.

We were very excited for New Years decked out in our polka dots for good luck!

We had tacos and chips and homemade cheese salsa for dinner along with soda and other kinds of junk food.. and we each got to pick a movie to watch. Abi's pick: Horton hears a Who. She had fun building a fort while watching.

We rang in the New Year (the first time) at 6:00 when Abi's movie was over. We all sat on the floor and had a glass of sparkling apple juice, broke open a Christmas cracker and Abi put on the crown, and we made a toast to 2009 and yelled Happy New Year!

Then we did a little dancing of course!

Then it was off to bed for Abi and Mommy and Daddy celebrated the rest of the night by watching Mommy's pick 'The Spiderwick Chronicles" and Daddy's "Wanted". These were both intense movies so they kept us up easily until midnight. We paused Wanted in time to watch the ball drop at midnight and toast each other with some more sparkling cider and then finished watching it. We both liked both movies a lot although I had to cover my eyes a few times during Wanted so I wouldn't see the blood. (Here's Abi looking soooo much like her Aunt Wendy I did a double take)

We gathered all the Christmas stuff into the front room and packed it away..

Then moved everything into the middle of the room and painted! (This was Friday and Saturday)

So now we finally have a room in the house painted that people actually see..

The red curtains won't be staying in here. They just have to stay until I get the new ones sewn. I bought the fabric two years ago when we first were moving into our home but hadn't made them yet because it is nice fabric and I didn't want them hanging in the preschool room. These are the fabrics they are going to be made out of.

and I read A LOT of books. It was awesome.

My word

CHALLENGE

"Accept challenges that you may feel the exhilaration of victory."
- George Patton

I've noticed that many bloggers choose a 'word' each new year. This word is a mantra of sorts- a way to remind them of what they want to accomplish or 'be' during the next year. I wanted to do this. I have been pondering what my word would be for a while now and found that there were a few that stuck out. I picked the word 'Challenge' because I feel like it covers all the areas that I want to focus on. I'll try to explain.

My favorite Disney Princess movie is Beauty and the Beast. I'm not sure why this surprises people but , in my experience, it does. I was 14 when I saw it the first time and was in a pretty bad place in my life. I felt pulled in all sorts of directions. There were my parents and a few 'good' friends pulling me one way , encouraging me to act a certain way, and then there were my other friends (the majority of my friends) trying to pull me down their path. While my parents path was by far superior to the one I was choosing at the time I really didn't want either at that point. I didn't know what I wanted. So, there I was watching Belle being proposed to by a horrible guy when she runs out into the field and sings, "I want adventure in the great wide somewhere, I want it more than I can bear. ... I want so much more than they've got planned." There it was. That was what I wanted. All my life I have craved adventure. I wanted something 'more'.

This has not changed since then. What has changed has been my perception of adventure. Sure, I still want to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, go down in a shark cage, track tigers in China, see the great Pyramids, and the Polar Bears in Churchill, but I have also realized that every day can be an adventure, every moment can be an adventure. Every challenge I face every day can be one more step of my great adventure.

"Life is a great adventure or nothing at all."
-Helen Keller

Life is challenging. Life is hard. Life requires courage, faith, and spirit. These are some of my every day challenges.

"A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner."
-Anonymous

2008 was a rough year for me. I can't put my finger on one thing and say "this was the problem". It was just hard. There were the normal stresses of being an adult and parent of a two (now 3) year old but there was more than that. I dealt with a lot of inner turmoil because of the high expectations I have for myself and the things I think I am inadequate at. I lost focus at times. I missed my family and Utah more than I ever thought possible. I sometimes felt really alone and bored with everything. There were moments when I looked back at the person I once was and wondered where that girl went.
Over the past 11 years life's circumstances have transformed me into the girl I now am but over the past 7 I felt like I had gained a lot of what I had lost back. The truth is though that I have never returned fully to that girl that was happy no matter what. In high school I was brimming with confidence and enthusiasm and joy. I was known for it.

I sometimes feel that since then I have become someone who is happy but not always 'joyful'. I have a more cynical outlook on life and people in general and I don't like that. I liked being a cockeyed optimist no matter how naive that may have made me. I don't like that I doubt myself. I think I have sometimes forgotten that age old saying, "Remember who you are."
In high school I also studied Taoism for a class project and fell in love with it and the wisdom of Lao Tze. This week as I was pondering all of this I ran across a quote of his:

"At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and what you want."

That's when I realized that yes, I do know who I am. I do know what I want. I want challenges, adventures, joy. My biggest challenge this year is going to be: BE MYSELF. This means that I will take my challenges as they come. I challenge myself to find joy in small things. I challenge myself to find the good in everything. I challenge myself to look at the world through rose colored glasses. I challenge myself to get the story that has been brewing inside of me this year onto paper and become the writer I know I am. I challenge myself to be joyful. I challenge myself to continue to learn and read and stretch my mind. I challenge myself to laugh more than I should, love deeply, be excited, and follow my heart. I challenge myself to be silly every day with my little girl the way we were on Christmas Eve making faces at the camera.

I have also resolved to follow a goal setting plan that I picked up almost a year ago while in Utah at a church distribution center. It is called the Pursuit of Excellence. I opened it today and noticed that it is referred to as an "achievement challenge". Throughout the booklet you don't list 'goals', you list 'challenges'. This year I will be challenging myself spiritually, intellectually, physically, and socially. I am not challenging myself to be perfect in these areas, but to be better.

This is the year that I will challenge myself to reach a new level of potential, to remember who I am:
To make my own adventures, to make life count, and to embrace the challenges that come my way.

"Challenges are what make life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."
-Joshua Marine

I challenge myself to be do all these things and more.. to take life by the beard and show it that it isn't the boss of me. To tell the world once more the saying I am famous for in my family, "Don't tell me what to do."

"When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand and that it was only tied on to scare away timid adventurers."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is your word this year?

Check out the 'word' giveaway over at Tip Junkie!