Ho ho ho...

This blog has been edited for content...topics that were deliberately excluded from this post to make our Christmas memories more jolly are as follows:

1) Mom being on call and having non stop phone and house calls on Christmas day.
2) Dad's near hospitalization for pneumonia.
3) Vomit palooza in Grandma Bingham's master bath.
4) 104 degree fevers during the night.
5) Eddie drinking the water in Grandma Nelson's denture cup and then throwing the "rest" in the garbage.


Having said that...

Christmas vacation this year has been lovely. Honest it was! We had a nice FHE Christmas week and made little paper angels for the tree where we each wrote down something we would work on to be better. I said I would be patient all the time! Jacob wrote that he would share. We voted on Eddie's behalf and said that he would not yell. Saren would smile a lot. Done. Dave wrote...I will quote the angel he made directly "Daddy...stop talking nasty, no yelling, a lot of patience, mind out of gutter". It was a moving little activity.

Later in the week, we had a fun visit with Aunt Annie, who is here every weekend, and Aunt Merrilyn, who is visiting from North Carolina. My kids love their aunts, especially these two.

Christmas Eve we took a picture of Eddie's 2 year old mustache with this lovely Christmas backdrop.

I wondered if I would need to put Saren's hair in some kind of tail before Christmas morning pictures. I did.

Christmas morning, Jacob took a lot of prompting to get out of bed before he remembered what day it was. Then we did a lot of this....

(opening presents)

And a lot of this...

(posing by our loot).

Santa brought a lot of things, but most beloved was a package of fruit snacks (which Mom never buys) and had the kids in a complete frenzy of joy. Eddie has never posed so nicely for a picture.

And, after tucking the kids in bed Christmas night, I was up late making a Spiderman birthday cake. Birthdays are a Christmas tradition in our family too. Merry Christmas!

i'm feeling a little regret

I'm in a pickle. I recently ordered some Christmas cards online. It was a relief to get them done, until I started really stressing about the content of the brief, obligatory letter I included. This little note, recapping our year, is being printed right on our card...so it's all or nothing. I can't censor content for the elderly, the holy ones or the easily offended on our Christmas card list. This now has me worried. What I thought was a cute comment about "bodily fluids", now seems an inappropriate reference in poor taste for a Christmas Card. Oh, I need a redo but I'm not going to get it, they are paid for and on their way to my door.

Dave was no help at the time I placed the order..."Whatever honey" was all he said when I asked him if the bodily fluids reference was OK or not. But, a mere hour later he suddenly exclaims, "Great! I guess I can't mail one to my mission President because you had to talk about bodily fluids in our Christmas card!". Thanks a lot honey! This got me thinking of all the other people whose homes I should probably not disgrace with our card. In our extreme narcisism, we ordered a few extra because Dave said, "I can give them to some of my patients". Great! Not anymore. I could cost him his career with my little comment. Also, there are some of my Aunts and Uncles who likely only know me as Lynda's daughter...and are probably not aware of my wicked rhetoric and sarcasm. They will now think of me as a bratty, wise acre.

A hopeful thought crossed my mind that maybe the lettering would be too small for some older people to notice the reference. Or maybe, people won't bother reading the whole note. I'm reaching aren't I? These are the ramblings of a desperate woman, I know. On my blog I can pretty much be myself. No one over 65 years old has ever seen it, so that eliminates most of the people I would worry about offending. I was feeling a little too much creative freedom while I wrote the Christmas card, I guess. It's so hard for me to write just a nice letter...the smirky comments just pour out of me. I can't help it. It feels so disingenuous, until I include a little smut. It's like asking Eddie to walk down the hallway without tripping or running into a wall...can it be done by someone? Yes! Can he do it? Not likely!

So, I apologize if after receiving my card...you find me immature and lacking in tact. You are probably right, but it was bound to come out eventually.

what we've been up to...

Me....I've been making these while fighting an ugly, epic, holy war with a not-to-be-named neighbor about who has the rights to "pretzel sticks" in our neighborhood gift exchange. Kelly, these are all yours for 2010 and the rest of eternity. I never want to "make" a pretzel stick again and I think yours were prettier anyway. I should never have tried to dethrone the queen (notice the inferred apology tainted with a subtle diss by not capitalizing "the Queen"). It's been fun. But next year, it's that crappy chex mix with powdered sugar. Anyone want to fight me for that?


Dave...wasting time on facebook. Just kidding honey...he has been doing lots of online shopping. Some of it even for other people, apparently. I am under strict orders to not look at e-mails from Amazon.


Jacob...begging for time on Dad's iPod...

and being cute in his Preschool Christmas program.

Edison....being naughty, being ornery, being funny (in that order) and playing with every item in the house that is not a toy, like the kitchen fausett.

Who me?


Saren....teething (she finally broke through one of those mean top front teeth)

...acting like a big kid. This girl is a toy junkie. It kills me to watch her follow the boys around the house and play like them.

And, most imortantly...eating like a human. Saren is nearly one, so I am officially letting her have all that stuff babies can't have and want so desperately. She is finally getting her hands on ....peanut butter, honey, chocolate, eggs, citrus and nuts (not all in the same meal) and she is pretty amped about it.

a fly on my wall

These are things that could have actually been overheard in my house today...

Eddie - "I yike peanut sammich"!
Me - "OK"
Eddie - "With big, big honey on it"
Me - "OK, you want a peanut butter sandwich with honey?"
Eddie - "All the time, Mom....All the time"!

And, during an hour long wrestling/tackle football session between Eddie and Jacob...

Jacob - "You ready to feel the wrath, Eddie?"

my cup runneth over...

No matter how nice of a day it was, Thanksgiving Thursday couldn't help but be outdone by our Saturday, when we went to the Salt Lake Temple and had Saren sealed to our family. It was a wonderful day and Saren was so happy and darling and full of smiles and charm (as she usually is). It was a sweet, sweet experience and I have little snapshots in my head of many beautiful moments that I hope my forgetful brain will never lose. Jacob and Edison were so excited and knew what a special thing it was to be there. I hope their little minds can remember too.

High Five! I got sealed today!

Handsome big brothers!



Eddie kept saying "It's a Castle!" as we started walking up towards the temple grounds.

Our three little miracles...

Aunt Lynette says she has never laughed so hard on the temple grounds...

Wait for it....

And finally, I can't help myself...a little love note to my baby girl.

Baby Saren, this is your family! You are stuck with us now. We love you so much! I don't know if you will ever have a baby as darling and happy and good natured as you, because you really are one in a million...but I hope someday you get a little glimpse of the joy you have brought to me, your Dad and your brothers. You are the little cherry blessing on top of my blessing sundae. We could never have hoped for a more loving, sweet girl who is so full of life and enthusiasm, and we couldn't possibly be more in love with you. You are a beautiful, radiant child of God and I couldn't be more proud and blessed to be your Mommy. We are all so thankful you found your way into our home.