Photo book for 2012

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Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

You know I love Shutterfly. I spent time each month online scrapbooking that month's memories. At the end of the year I order my book. They had a 40% deal, so how could I resist ordering it now?

Enjoy 101 pages of fun from 2012 :)

Show 'em how it's done boys!

Our boys are growing and changing so quickly. They have hit some great milestones.

Spencer:

Is reading like a maniac. His teacher has granted him access to raz-kids.com. This is a great reading tool. He get to read books online, earn star and "buy" cool things with his stars. As a parent it gives me his reading level, how much time is spent reading and what books he is reading. He is one of a few students from his class who has been given this privilege.

Jacob:

Is getting potty trained! Let me hear a Hallelujah. He started this week. We use the potty training boot camp method. He basically get to drink and drink and drink as much as he can (soda, juice, chocolate milk. . .any thing.) And then you sit him on the potty every 10 min. all. day. long.

When he has a success, he gets one skittles and lots of praise for being a big kid. (He is really motivated by sugar.) When he has an accident, we just talk about where you need to pee (in the potty.) I have a pile of pants and underwear right by the bathroom. And have done a couple extra loads of laundry.

On day one: He had three accidents (all in the morning.) Then in the afternoon, not one accident.

Today is day two. So far, one accident right before lunch and one in the afternoon. We have also worked our way to 20 min. potty intervals. It is great, Jacob hears the timer and runs to the bathroom. He knows the drill. My goal to is have him wear underwear to church in Sunday. That is three solid days of boot camp. I think it will work.

Jacob doesn't seem to get that when he is wet that something is "wrong." He just continues playing and doesn't say anything, just has a weird look on this face. So that is something to work on. But he is great will the skills of pulling his own pants up and down and hopping up on the potty all by himself. (I don't use a little potty, he just sits on the real potty and holds himself up with his hands.)

This is a skill he will use for the rest of him life.

Luke:

Is sleeping in his own room. At 13 pounds he was starting to rock the bassinet when he tried to roll. He has been napping in his crib for about a month, but now it is 100% of his sleep time. It is great that Dave and I get our room back. It was feeling so cluttered, with the rocker and ottoman, changing table, hamper and stack of blankets and clothes he has outgrown. Now Luke has his own room and space. He still wakes up for 2 feedings a night, but his room is next to ours so it isn't too far to go.

 

Gifts from Vivian

We got a wonderful Christmas surprise. Vivian (Luke's birthmom) sent our family a Christmas package. Chocolate and macadamia nuts for mom and dad, Lego sets for Spencer & Jacob and an adorable outfit for Luke. Also, she sent us a photo album filled with pictures of Luke, Vivian and Truman from when he was in Hawaii. I must admit the photo album was my favorite. It was wonderful to see him being held and loved by this birthfamily. I only wish we had that for Spencer and Jacob too. So, the surprise package was simply wonderful. What a great way to end the year.

Reading in 2012

My goal last year was to read 24 books. I missed the mark :( In 2012 I read 14 books. With all that has happened in the last 12 months I guess it shows in my reading time being taken up.

For next year I would like to shoot for 19 books. But I plan to read Les Miserables this year. It was originally published as a 5 volume series (it is 1700 pages.) So that will make my reading closer to my usual 24 book goal.   I think the books I enjoyed the most were "Life is so good" and "Freckles." I just love reading and am looking forward to some great books for my book group this year.

Chirstmas Eve & Christmas Day

Christmas was great. On Christmas Eve we had Nachos with steak and all the fixin's. Tiffani and Kyle came over and spent the evening with us.  After dinner we called Grandpa Bassett and had him read 'Twas the night before Christmas, we had him on speaker phone (as Skype was not working.)

Then Dave read Luke chapter 2 and we each got to chose a Christmas song to sing. It was sweet to gather around the tree for this tradition. It has been 2 years since we were home for Christmas so I just relished it.

Then it was time to open gifts. When I grew up we always opened gifts on Christmas Eve from family members and then on Christmas morning we see what Santa brought. (It is an Eastern European tradition.)

Christmas morning the boys were up at 7AM to see what Santa brought. It was great to see their faces light up and be filled with such joy.  The big gift from Santa this year was tablets for the older boys (Google Nexis). They were preloaded with tons of great games; like math bingo, name the state capital, drag and drop puzzles, psychics problems, planet and star games, US and world history games :) Every parents dream come true! Santa also added Star Wars Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja for good measure. 

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Christmas Day was ended with a wonderful meal and visit to Grandma's house.  There were more gifts to open and lots of fun & games. This Christmas is about 1000% better then last year. I still wonder about Caralee and Nathan sometimes. I hope they had a great Christmas this year, we sure did.

Holiday Cards

Christmas Eve fun

Whitney, Kenzie and Dexter come over on Christmas eve day for some fun. They played and had a great time. Whitney also brought a craft over for the kids to do. They frosted ice cream cones and decorated them with sprinkles and sugar. Too fun.

Flowers

And that, my friend, is what it means to have a truly amazing husband :)

Guess what came in the mail today?

I adore it. It fits nicely in our family room book case :)

The Boys Visit Santa

6 days and counting

In just 6 little days, Christmas will arrive! I am so excited. I have all the gifts purchased and wrapped under the tree. . . minus a couple that are still en-route (bless those UPS drivers!) and I would still like to pick up a few stocking stuffers.

For Christmas this year, we are getting a Willow Tree Nativity set from my parents. I am so excited! According to UPS it will be here today. I plan to put it in the book cases in the family room. I think it is just lovely.

I have a couple of other nativities that I put out this time of year. It is a fun tradition.  My sister Janelle gave us a beautiful German handcrafted wood nativity the first year we were married. I love taking it out and displaying it every year. It has a home in our living room. 

We also have a ceramic set.  I have a table in our entry that is the home for this set, for the month of December. I got this the Christmas of 2003, right before Dave and I were married. It has suffered a couple of mishaps in the last 9 years, but nothing that super-glue and a steady hand could not fix :)

I just love holiday traditions. And nativity sets are just one thing that makes this a special time.

Tonight we are off to meet Santa! It should be a fun evening for the boys. Jacob is excited for the candy canes and Spencer has his list ready. I will be sure and post photos tonight.

Spencer also did a Nativity, he did some great work on this :

Luke meet oatmeal, oatmeal meet Luke

More gingerbread fun!

More gingerbread fun at Aunt Nae's house! Janelle did an amazing job of organizing a gingerbread house making day. Lots of candy, treats and gingerbread.

The boys had a great time eating the candy and decorating houses, gingerbread boys and gingerbread Christmas trees. Jay and his family was there too, so a marvelous time was had by all.

Janelle also had quite the spread with candy, appetizers, hot chocolate and veggies. I loved the snap peas. I think I need more snap peas in my life. And Micheal Buble singing Christmas songs :)

12-12-12

Well, my friends.  .. it was 12-12-12 and the world did not end. . . but my 30s did.

I am now (gulp) 40. Yes, I turned the big 4-0 on 12-12-12 and it was a great day!

My day started early with Dave and Spencer waking me up saying "Happy Birthday!" and wanting me to open my present. I, of course, was happy to oblige. I was so pleased to see a Pandora bag with a lovely box inside. Inside the box were three lovely charms for my bracelet! One was a Christmas tree, so cute! I changed out the beads on my bracelet that morning to include my new beads.

The rest of the day was great. Spencer cleaned his room (no small feat) and the boys were just so good. I had a couple of friends stop by and visit. One friend brought me a little bunt cake to wish me happy birthday. Then. . . Grandma & Grandpa Stirling came over that evening. We all shared some birthday cake together.

I love cooking and baking, so was excited to try a new recipe. Spencer helped me make a triple layer lemon cake with lemon-cream filling and a cream cheese-white chocolate frosting. I promised that if it was super yummy I would post the recipe here. . . Note: I am not posing the recipe. It was good, but not amazing.

But, the best part of my day was having Grandma and Grandpa watch the boys and Dave took me out on a date! This was our first date out since Luke came home (4 months ago.) We went to "Sushi Monster." It is one of my favorite Sushi places.

Also for my birthday I went to my favorite salon and got my hair done. It was two hours of bliss! I got a two-color hair treatment and a perfect cut. I loved every second of it. Dave was home with the wild maniacs boys and I got to read my Thomas Jefferson-Sally Hemmings book on my paper-white Kindle under the warmth of a hair dryer.  Ahhh.

Overall being 40 isn't too bad, it is nice to look back at my 30th birthday and think of how I felt then and how I feel now. When I turned 30 I didn't know Dave and was planning to get my PhD. I was teaching at Snow College (my heart will always be at Snow.) I loved my job, was looking forward to earning my doctorate. With all those wonderful things, I did long to get married and have a family.

Here is a journal entry I wrote around my 30th Birthday:

I turned 30 last month. I guess I feel it. I wouldn't say it is hard. But I certainly think that NOT being married and not having kids is hard.  I really embrace my age, where I am and who I am. But, my whole life I have dreamed of having a family, a husband and many children. It seems that if I am not married by now, my chances are slim.

If I am not to be married I need to do more with my life. Perhaps after my PhD I will join the Peace Corps. Without children I feel I need a noble work to do. I always thought it would be. . . to be a mother. But, it makes me sad to think no one will call me "mom."

I would love to be 100% content with my life as a single sister. I pray earnestly and ask for contentment. It would be my desire to put the words "marry," "husband" and "wife" out of my everyday thoughts. If only I could banish the words, but more importantly their significance in my life. I am so afraid that I will feel that there is something missing all my life. And I will miss out on opportunities to feel fullfilled, because I have false hope for a life that can never be mine.

I am sure this is just a pity party, but it feels real nonetheless.     

Even though I did not feel this way everyday, reading it again makes me remember how "real" it felt in that moment.  It makes me more sensitive to others' longings. Maybe I was having a pity party that day or being dramatic. But at the time the sense of loss, longing and hopelessness felt very real.

Now, ten years later I have a husband who is so perfect for me. He really amazes me with his love, depth and sensibility. Three amazing son, (who happen to be Asian) and I still get to pursue my passion of teaching, online

I longed to have a family for so long. I just cannot help but feel the Lord's hand in my life. I would have waited a thousand years for Dave. He truly is the best man I know. The years of waiting to be a mom to Spencer, Jacob and Luke have been worth every tear and every heartache. How could this not be part of a divine plan?

Even though being a stay at home mom can be hard at times (isolating, frustrating, intellectually unfulfilling, messy, annoying) it is also the most fulfilling (loving, amazing, take-your-breath-away, life alerting, wonderful) job imaginable.

I am so richly and deeply blessed. Bring on 2022.

Jacob Singing

Jacob singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Cookie Day

Each year my sisters (and sister in law) get together and have a cookie day! It is always in December and usually a Monday. We get together to make goodie plates to give to neighbors. It is a fun tradition.

This year we got together at my house. We had some old reliable recipes (Sarah's white fudge. . .mmmmm) and also some new ones (peanut butter candy & turtles). It was a full day of baking and chatting. It is so fun, but by the end of the day I was glad we only do it once a year :) My feet were killing me.

Enjoy some photos:

  It was quite cold outside, so we had our own personal (unlimited) fridge space.

Empty box, endless fun