my prophet

I feel happy for him that he is with his wife after such an amazing life and example.
I took this picture at the parade this summer. (Thank goodness for a long lens.) Its truly amazing how close (proximity) our lives come at times. How blessed I am to have felt his presence. He has always made it feel like there is hope to do better, even in the darkest of times. What an amazing life to look at and realize how far we can go.
P.S. If anyone wants this picture, I would be willing to send it to you.

Christmas pics

Eli got a raptor for Christmas, which he now considers one of the children in the family.
Wyatt, in this cute black & white, is being a shepherd that is "sore afraid." Pretty good, I'd say.

Stubborn

Today, like most days he has school, Wyatt did NOT want to go. I told him if he was that whiny about it,he was probably tired and he should go to sleep. He never actually sleeps in his own bed for long, but today he perched himself up at the top bunk where a pregnant Mommy definitely cannot get him. He lay there stubbornly for 45 min. until he fell asleep. Wow. I guess he really didn't want to go to school.
These mind games children play. They attack you at your weak spots and try to outwit you by saying how much they'll miss their mommy. Ahhh... I will think of something. I will win.

I haven't forgotten

My pictures have not been able to attach for weeks, hence no blogging. I've also been reading "Eclipse" and "New Moon" and haven't been paying much attention to my own life.
Christmas was wonderful-- I love having kids to enjoy it all with. I'll try to download some pics of that, but I didn't take many-- I was enjoying being in the moment this year and trying not to stress. It worked.
Anyway, I'll try to get to writing more soon.

half way there

Christmas is coming and I feel like the goose that's getting fat. But I'm half way there! Its nice to have so much to do to stay busy. Jason has been working a lot, I've been getting the presents wrapped and mostly eating all the candy the neighbors have dropped off by myself. I need to stop. I even hear the "back away from the food" voice in my head and am getting really good at ignoring it. What is it about the baby excuse that derails me? Anyway, I'm excited to see my children's excitement next week. They have been looking around the house for where the presents are hidden. Ha Ha. Who said being the adult isn't fun sometimes?

What we've been up to

I have been feverishly trying to sew a lot of presents this season. I wish I could post pictures of all the cute stuff, but as some of the receivers may read this, I will wait until after Christmas. The annual hand-made card will be going out this week too. Totally cute. I need to start wrapping the presents, but I'm still worried the kids may try to open them, even though they are not for them.
This weekend, my husband helped the kids make an awesome snow fort. They think its cool, but now its icy so they slip a lot. Next they want to make a dinosaur snowman. Looks like Jason won't be getting much done this winter.

Snow: worth it in the end

I don't like cold weather. Truly, if I could afford it, and didn't care if my house burned down, and liked earth quakes, and all my family moved with me, I would move to the California coast. But my boys breathe the outdoors and are sooo excited about the snow. Every time it melts Eli cries.
I like snow for Christmas and then I just wish it would go away. But I really like water-- to drink, to play in, to keep things around here semi-green. Jason and I were talking about how we just haven't had that much snow these past, maybe 10 years. Not like it was when we were kids and we got snow days and built snow caves and never saw the grass from October to Easter. Anyway, hope this season brings lots of water, good playing, and we only have safe driving conditions. Is this possible?