We started the month long festivities with Connor’s school Christmas Program. That night we went to the Soldotna High School where k-2 graders performed their vocal talents. It was short and sweet! Connor sang loud and proud. Such a goofball. But he has been singing those Christmas songs all month long and it’s so cute. I’m so proud that he isn’t too shy to sing in front of a huge group of people.
One day while at work my manager offered me Brown Bear Hockey tickets for the Saturday night’s game. We were going to take all the kids until my girlfriend offered to watch our kids so we could have a date night. I’m sure the kids enjoyed the more but someday we’ll have to take them to see a game. I’m sure Connor and Chloe would have enjoyed it.. Curtis would have just enjoyed the snacks!! : ) It was really nice to have our first date night since being here. A couple of hours without the kids not thinking about the stresses of life was nice.
PROJECTS:
When my mom was in town she helped me with Two Projects: The first was making new stockings. I either don't like the stockings I see in the stores or can’t afford the ones I want so we decided to make our own. We went and bought fabric, I did the cutting and my mom sewed them all and after she left I slowly finished with them the embellishments and names. Simple but classic.
The second thing my mom helped me with was to brainstorm ideas for the kids and what to do for Christmas. I wanted to do something homemade and thoughtful. We are stuck indoors in the winter (which is the opposite of Arizona in the summer time) so we came up with the idea of making tents for the kids. With a little inspiration from Pinterest we came up with our own version of the tents that we wanted to make. My mom went with me to home depot and we bought all the wood materials to make the frames and then after she left I went out and bought the fabric…. Even Kiel came to my rescue Christmas EVE to help me finish the boys tents. Total family effort but I think they came out so cute. Pictures below but along with that project I saw another cute idea on Pinterest that I quickly imitated. I helped the kids make their bunk bed into a little fort. The kids loved their little hideaway curtain.
Preschool * Every Thursday there are four of us Mom’s that rotate and host preschool in our homes. We plan a little lesson, an activity, lunch and then playtime. Nothing to stressful but the kids really enjoy it. When it was my week I planned something fun geared toward Christmas of course, mainly the Christmas Tree. We played pin the ornament on the tree and then decorated our own “Christmas frosting trees” out of Ice Cream Cones and green frosting and sprinkles. It was …. kinda a mess but of course the kids loved it!! They came out pretty cute. We are so lucky to be apart of such a great ward with such great sisters. I have made such great fast friends who truly are in the same boat as I am in. They have been nothing but welcoming and loving and for that I have been so grateful. Chloe will be in kindergarten next year and she academically is where she needs to be so doing this preschool thing has been great for her with the interaction with different kids and then following rules in each home. Whether she listens or not is one thing but at least she is learning about Following Directions.. (a phrase used many times each and every day!!) The little girl in the middle picture is Jessie Evarts. She is Chloe’s BFF and next door neighbor. They play so well and play almost 3 days a week. I love it!! Love little girls.
Of Course… it’s Christmas Time… so we have to show off our Holiday nails!! Chloe had me paint Snowmen… turned out pretty good….
In early December we received more snow and the kids just loved playing in it.. Driving in it is another story but being safe at home it’s fun and beautiful! It’s such a winter wonderland.
Just a couple of my favorite pictures. We read stories every night before bed and most of the time that is my favorite time of the day. The kids are sweet and tender and cuddly. Only because they are trying to avoid going to bed…… but when they are sweet like this I am happy to grab a couple more books and keep reading.
I believe it was a week before Christmas one of my girlfriends offered up her home and invited a ton of us to bring our kids to decorate Graham Cracker houses. (Crazy woman : ) ) It was nice to get out and socialize while watching these kids make a huge mess! Connor and Chloe have made some great friends and I am so glad that everyone is so willing to open up their homes which is sometimes a huge inconvenience and stressful so our kids and we can interact and play. I don’t remember bringing the houses home in one piece… I think they were inhaled by the time we got home but that’s what it’s all about right… December = continuous sugar high.
Saturday before Christmas was the Ward’s Christmas party. I was put in charge of arranging the program portion of the night. Great… I thought… I don’t know anyone here… don’t know what they have done in the past… and what people are good at…. not a problem. no sweat. Well it turned into me just planning the program (mind you… 30 minutes) into the decorations…. into…. table settings….. games/activities…. etc…. again… no stress… with working 2-3 days a week…. along with my projects listed above and all these other activities and speaking in church… no Sweat… Ha. Well all I can say now.. is that it is over. Did it turn out the way I wanted… eh…. some parts… would I do it differently next time.. Yes! but it was a nice night and it was a chance for the ward to get together and share a meal together and enjoy the wards’ talents. I think the hardest part for me was the Kiel had to work that night and I didn’t have my rock and support there with me helping me that night. But it turned out ok. I had to Channel my inner Valerie Miller and be a tough chick… power through.. right Grandma!? I decided to get everyone involved by having a variety show. There were more people involved than I had predicted.. we went a little over on time but I was glad people were participating. We then closed it up with a family I asked to share the nativity story. They decided to act it out with their 4 children and then the bishop closed with his testimony. When it was all over it was such a sigh of relief and wishful thinking that they would never ask me to do it again!! Wishful thinking…. But currently both Kiel and I are callingless and we are enjoying every minute : )
Then Finally Christmas was among us. I have to admit I was a little blue this Christmas season. Not that it was my first Christmas without my family. Each Christmas I am not with my family is hard but this one really stung. We had no family what so ever and along with that. Kiel had to work most of the day. But again I dug deep and powered through. The kids didn’t realize how blue I was that day which I am grateful for. It was just hard. The past 6 months have been a really stressful, emotional transition for me. Usually I am a go with the flow kind of person but over the years I find myself being more and more controlling and when I don’t have that control I have anxiety. Over the past 6 months I have had a couple of really bad anxiety moments and it has been hard. When the holidays rolled in I felt myself detaching from my family… my best friends and not wanting that communication because I felt alone and they all had each other. I was just being selfish… but getting yourself out of that state is always easier said then done.. and this time it was harder for me to get out of that funk. I have been so blessed to have the support of my loving and patient husband who I have relied on way more than usual, emotionally. There is no way I could’ve or would’ve done any of this without him. He is my rock and when I don’t have him I am afraid I am weak. So Christmas day I was emotionally weak.
That morning we had the kids open their “stockings” and tents and then after breakfast we had time for the kids to open most of their gifts. When they seemed content playing with their new gifts we stopped and Kiel went off to work around 9:30am. The rest of the day the kids and I played with their new things and continually explained that we were waiting for daddy to come home to unwrap everything else. When Kiel got home he had to lighten my mood and convinced me to pick up where we left off.
We finished unwrapping presents around 8pm (BEAT that DAD : P ) and we were off to bed. Pictures from the day….
Don’t get me wrong.. it was a great holiday season. The day after Christmas I boxed everything up and put all the decorations away and just decided that I was going to be happy and get over all my sorrow. And I did. Things have been good. no more dark days… well at least emotionally… weather wise… it’s dark around here!! but I am cheerful and do enjoy living here. So no one worry. All is well! December was exhausting, emotional, fun, busy, and defiantly entertaining. But I am happy it’s over! 2013 brought our family a lot of change. Now on to a new year… and I pray for……. Not that much……. change again : )
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