Christmas Pre Game

Wednesday night we headed over to Jackman, ME with Brad's parents and in search of snow. We left rain, and green grass here, drove 2 and a half hours inland and up in elevation, to find a winter wonderland. This was our maiden voyage for what we have hoped will be our new family winter sport. We are all relieved that the kids loved it. Quote from Gwen: "Mommy, going on the sleds with Nana and Puga was Super fun. Really, Really, Super Duper fun!" They were all troopers and exceeded our expectations for the outing. Beckham proved to be a natural winter lover. He never once tried to get his helmet, goggles, mittens, hood, or balaclava off. He just sat on the front of Brad's snowmobile, harnessed in, loving the ride. Whenever we would stop, he would just tap Brad's leg and point forward again and again. When we stopped for a break, we just plopped him in a snow bank and he was in heaven. I loved having Liv on the back of my sled. She was great company as she giggled over the bumps and yelled, "WEEEEEEE" down the hills. And of course, everything is more fun with Brad's parents around. We love them and love everything about being with them. Plus they were a ton of help!

Lesson learned: Before we put on the tights, wool socks, long underwear, sweat pants, snow pants, 2 sweat shirts, mittens, and winter coats. . . make sure the girls go to the bathroom.

Trail Conditions: 32 degrees, packed snow underneath with 5 inches of fresh snow from the night before on top. Half of the trails groomed, half with those 5 inches still on top. Pine trees covered in those 5 inches, it reminded me of marshmallows.

Added Bonus: Brad's parents offered to let us go on a midnight ride after the kids were in bed. OK, it wasn't exactly midnight, but it was 10:00p.m. This was my first ride in the pitch dark, through clean, ungroomed trails. Three words to describe it: Peaceful, scary (a little bit), fun (a lot).

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A little bit of luck

Lucky enough to catch this view out our bedroom window

when we wake up at just the right time

Lucky enough to catch this view out our sliding glass doors

when the flock is wandering through

Lucky enough to spend our afternoon with Nana,

this time making reindeer food.

Parent teacher conferences

I just got home from Gwen's parent teacher conference. I have loved her preschool experience. I come home from picking her up and tell BR all about how her teachers are just as excited about the exploring, and creating as the kids. They love to play with the children, and it shows. I was further impressed as I sat and listened to the teachers tell me Gwen's strengths, and I could tell that they see her much the same way that I see her. With a class full of children, it takes a talented teacher to understand the children on an individual level. I am so grateful for these women, who nurture my little Gwen and love her while she is away from her home. Some of the things they had to say about Gwenabeanie are: She is adaptable, happy and comfortable in any situation. She is enthusiastic about learning and receptive to their lessons. She chooses an activity and easily focuses on that activity. She can sit down with any child and play with them. During free time, she always chooses the art project, and is very creative. She has an idea of how she wants her project to turn out, and carries out her plan. She has a great imagination and they enjoy the commentary she comes up with for her art projects. She always listens and obeys happily. She is a pleasure, all of the time. Although it appears that she gets all of the letters in her name out of order, if you watch her she actually writes the letters in order, but hops around the line while writing them, instead of continuing consistently from left to right. She knows that they go from left to right, but likes writing it the way she does it. If asked, she will write them in order. She recognizes and can write all of her letters and many numbers, and excells with patterns and rhyming. They said that she is very well prepared for Kindergarten already (which, if you have talked to me at all, you will know I have contemplated that decision since she was born. He birthday is right before the cut off.) What an angel this little girl is. Amazing, born with so many talents. I love you Gwen, you amaze me. Most everything comes easily to you. You have a way about you that is going to make your life great. They asked me a series of questions right after their assessment of Gwen, one of the questions they asked me was this:

What is the best thing about being a parent?

This is my answer: The best thing about being a parent is the opportunity I have to know these little spirits better than anyone else in the world, and the opportunity that I then have to teach them about how amazing they each are. I am so impressed with them, each of them absolutely beautiful on the inside as well as the outside, they teach me so much about how to be a better person, how to trust God, how to love unconditionally, how to handle my trials. With the opportunity to serve them comes an opportunity to love them more than I could have imagined was possible, which in turn makes me so happy. God knew what he was doing when he organized families.

Saturday| Christmastime LL Bean style

Sometimes we have a hard time coming up with a Saturday plan this time of year. Not because it is Christmas time, but because without snow on the ground, there is nothing to do outside. We decided that it was the perfect Saturday to go to Portland to see Brianna and Jon, Brad's sister and her husband. So, we looked into Portland Christmas festivities and came up with a day at L.L. Bean. It looked a bit like this:

Hot Chocolate by an outdoor fire,

20+ ice sculptures,

The big bean boot, as always,

sugar plum fairy ornament making,

Play house playing,

Face Painting at Cool as a Moose

Balloons from Santa's helper

A play of "The Christmas Carol"

Free Carriage rides around the city

Shopping

Chocolate eating

Valet Parking

A gigantic Christmas tree decorated in Sleds

McDonalds for lunch and dinner (I'm still laughing about that)

Christmas Lights

Christmas cheer

Sadly, something came up and Brianna and Jon weren't able to meet us in the end. We were all disappointed.

Before we headed out to Freeport, we had a yummy new breakfast (made by BR). PLOYES. YUM, YUM! They are buckwheat and fall somewhere between a pancake and a crepe. They were so good, that I made them again for Sunday Breakfast. SO Good.

P.S. What doesn't taste good doused in Whipped Cream, butter, and real maple syrup??

Do you have any fun activity ideas for the time between fall ending and winter beginning?

How about fun Saturday Morning Breakfast ideas??

Just plain excited

I am really excited for today. When I first met Liv's teacher at the beginning of the year, she gushed about how each year her class studies gingerbread houses, and then has a day when they each make their own gingerbread house and how much fun it is. When she announced the date of the gingerbread activity, I was disappointed to see that both Gwen and Beckham had Dr. appointments that day. A couple of weeks passed, and I was still a bit bummed about the whole thing. Then, I thought, "I should tell Brad's parents, I bet they may be interested in going." SO, I did, and they were! Even though I thought of it the night before the day before the festivities {figure that one out =0) }, they were willing and happy to hop in and participate. I'm not sure if I ever officially included them in my grateful list, but I feel very blessed to have such a great mother and father-in-law. They are both so kind, and fun. Brad's dad has a sincere, kind, gentle way and I love that about him. Brad's mom is always giving, loving, fun, kind, happy and making our family a priority in her life and I love that about her. So, back to my original thought, I went from being dissappointed I couldn't attend, to being as excited about their attendance as I would be about my own. Liv woke up early this morning, and would periodically sigh and state how she wishes it was "time for school already!" I wasn't the only excited one =0).

Little things I want to remember about the kiddos lately:

• Gwen, while eating carrot and green bean left overs from the staff party: "Daddy, these are SOOO delicious to me!"
• Liv is reading the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle collection, "Mommy, me and Mrs. Piggle Wiggle are friends." (I love that she gets lost in books. I wish I were more like that!)
• The doctor asked Gwen if she picked out her own outfit =0). How could he tell =0)? My little Pippy.
• Gwen couldn't wait for her doctor "mappointment" today. She was so cute answering his questions. She felt very mature, and loved the attention. Her biggest concern with the shots was that she felt immodest pulling down her skirt so they could get to her legs, it caused her to give a nervous giggle. She was SO excited that she didn't even cry with her shots. She was excited to be big and brave. The instant she was done, she said (in a dreamy voice),"Oh mommy, I love my bandaids. Don't you think they are beautiful!"
• Gwen, when I asked her if she would help me empty the dish washer, "Of course."
• Liv said, "Gwen, do you want me to read you your new book?" Gwen, "Of course!"
• Liv came home with candy from school, and divied it out evenly between herself and Gwen =0). Sweet and thoughtful, as usual.

Welcome December

We have been hoping for snow around here. I guess that makes me a good fit for Maine. The typical comment about snow seems to be how much people don't want it. I'll tell you a little bit about why we love it around here. A snow covered earth means loads of activity possibilities. Namely: Snow mobiling, Sledding, Snow Shoeing, Snow man making, ice skating, skiing, tubing, the list goes on. We had our first real snow storm last week. We had just enough snow to do some of those activities. Mostly Sledding and snow man making. The girls spent hours outside crafting an adorable snow woman, which I did not get a picture of, sadly. We spent Saturday afternoon sledding. The girls had a blast, and we discovered that Beckham loves, and I mean LOVES the snow. He belly laughed as we threw snow balls at him =0).

Wrapping up my grateful list

I couldn't end my grateful list without including how grateful I am for my baby boy. Beckham has stolen all of our hearts. This little boy is pure joy. I tell you, he has us all wrapped around his little chubby (chuggy, as Gwen says it) finger. On mornings when Beckham wakes up before we do, Brad or I bring him into bed with us. It thrills him completely, and he gives us the smile of pure pleasure. I love that little look. At 15 months, he loves crawling, and doesn't care much about walking, he belly laughs every time we play peek-a-boo, adores his daddy, calls everyone and everything he loves mommy, smiles, waves and says hi to everything, and listens really well to a little, "No, no buddy." He LOVES food, and eats like no one I've ever seen. He keeps his mouth as full as possible, and stuffs more in as quickly as possible using both hands. He keeps us laughing, and makes our world happy. One of my greatest blessings is the way our family feels so complete now that he is here. I am so lucky to have that sweet, happy, soft, and chubby boy. I love you sweet boy.

#74

I am grateful for:

74. a week with my entire family all together in one place.
75. A dad who lets us tease him, and wakes up every morning with the kids to make them pancakes.
76. A mom who spends all of her life planning and preparing fun activities for her grandkids, and Loves all of them to pieces. She spent all of her time in the past few weeks making the tree house of all tree houses. She built it all by herself!!! While my brother, the builder, acted as her personal building consultant, and answered all of her questions over the phone. I am also grateful that we have a lot of fun together and I always know that she loves having us around no matter what.
77. Danny, who always puts his arm around me in a loving, big brother way and calls me when he gets a minute.
78. Meredith, who always gives me a compliment and has a sweet way about her in everything she does.
79. David, who has almost gained Grandma status because he is always on the kids level, playing and having fun with them, and who always makes for good conversation. And, for the opportunity I have to be a big sister, because I always will always love him in a special way.
80. For Megan, who blends so seemlessly into our family. She is fun, sweet, cute, beautiful, helpful, wise, fashionable, playful, loving, adorable, and great in every way. I really just adore her. I don't think anyone could help it.
81. Angi, who is teasable, and has always been there for me, always. She is everyone's protector, and has little inhibition, which makes her a great playmate for people of all ages.
82. Jeff, who adds humor to life, and provided me with his interpretation of "me" when I begged him, and was right on, in an amazingly accurate way. Jeff has a way of making me feel like he has accepted me, I really appreciate that.
83. Kariann, who gets me, and adds energy to life, and also plans all of our days and keeps us on task, which I am SOOO grateful for, because, I have to admit, I like a plan, and its a hard job.
84. Chad, who plays hard and helps hard, a great dad, and great to my kids.
85. Brad, who was willing to fly out just for the weekend, just so that I could stay with my family for Thanksgiving and he knew I wanted him to. And for how much I love having him around.
86. All of the cousins, and how much fun they had together. And that they have all of these opportunities to grow close to one another eventhough we live so far apart.
87. Christ, who came to earth, so that we can know how to live, and the peace that comes to my life as I follow him.
88. To be me. Quirks, and all.
89. My life, and all that it includes, the joy that comes from the good things, and the growth, and joy that comes from the hard things.
90. The times that God answers my prayers, and the times that he gifts me with blessings I didn't even ask for.

#73

73. I am grateful for the many kind strangers who went out of their way to help me maneuver myself, three kids, 2 carryons, a stroller and a carseat through the airport. Especially when it was midnight and the 3 kids were fast asleep and uninterested in waking up to walk and carry their carryons to baggage claim. It reminded me how good people are, and left me feeling soo grateful for their kindness. I really, really could not have done it without them.

#68

68. I am grateful that the girls had a surprise for me when they woke up. They were so excited to tell me they had made their beds and I "didn't even need to ask them!"

69. I am grateful the girls were excited to help me match and fold a laundry basket full of odd socks.

70. I am grateful they can help me out in really useful ways.

71. I am grateful that everytime I get in a cold car with Brad, he has turned on my seat heater just to make me happy =0).

72. I am grateful for airplanes!

#63

63. This morning I am so grateful for the speakers I listened to last night. Four of my take home messages: Make communication with my kids (all of the time, and especially about God) a huge priority, Strengthen my spirituality and spend the most amount of time on my weakest areas, and make 100% success my goal and when I don't get it 100% of the time just try again, make strengthening the life of a young woman everyday my goal (any young woman anywhere, not just the young women in my church congregation.)

One of my favorite quotes: "Through a child's eyes, their family is their entire world, Oh how important it is that we step back and see the world through a child's eyes." Rosemary Wixom, Primary General President (this title means that she is the president of the children's organization for our entire church throughout the entire world).

Can I just tell you how incredible her talk was. It brought me back to my center, gave me great ideas on how to focus on my family and living a God centered life together.

64. I am grateful for my friend Amy who always tells me when I do something to answer her prayers. She is one of the things that has helped me realize that the Holy Ghost prompts me more than I thought, and to recognize what that prompting feels like. A priceless gift.

65. I am grateful that I get extra time this morning to pack anything I have forgotten.

66. I am grateful for my family, and that they are the most important thing to me.

67. I am grateful that I know God will help us grow towards him, together. And that with Him, we can be a family forever.

59.

59. I'm grateful that I get to go to a women's meeting at church tonight. The general Young Women's, Relief Society, and Primary presidents are going to be there!

60. I'm grateful Brad is coming home early to watch the kids so I can go.

61. I'm grateful I don't have to pack everyday. Today it is on my list of least favorite things to do!

62. On the other end of that, I'm grateful I get to go home to be with my family, and that the whole clan is going to be there!

I have to include this picture because I love it

And this one because Megan isn't in the first one, and I love her.

And this one to give you a better idea of what "the whole clan" means. . . All under one roof =0). Can't wait!

56.

Today I am grateful for Gwen.

Gwen is an exuberant soul. When Gwen is smiling, her whole body smiles, and everyone else smiles too. I love the makings of her little person. She draws me right in. She is a little bit of everything. Dainty, rough and tumble, quiet, outgoing, with a mind of her own, yet always eager to do what is right, kind and loving. One Gwen quirk is that she loves everything teeny tiny. She always has an inventory of her special collections, even if it is a paperclip. She will ask something like, "Mommy can I go get my paperclip? It is next to the sink in the bathroom under the towel." Every morning, she is holding exactly the same collection that she had before she went to bed. She also loves to organize things. I often find objects perfectly lined up in a row on the floor, under the cabinet, along the window sill. I always know it was her. Gwen also LOVES to be a helper, I often find her at my heels wanting to know how she can help me. And I have had many people tell me what a good friend she is. One of my favorite memories of Gwen is around 2, she would always come up to me, put her chubby little hand by my ear to move my hair away, and in a soft, airy voice, say, "Mommy, you sooo make me happy." and then back away with a little closed mouth Gwen smile. I love having her around. I always ask her, "Gwen, do you know what makes me happy?" She backs away, gives me that same closed mouth, smiley eyed, Gwen smile and points to herself over and over while she whispers, "me." with a giggle.

57. I am grateful that my favorite thing to do is be on a date with BR. We had a perfect night last night, even though my plan and my backup plan fell through. I always come home happy and rejuvinated.

58. I am grateful for my sweet kids. Just now:

Gwen: Aahh, I know Liv, we can write about how much we love our mom!!

Liv: I already know lots that we can write!

I had a pretend job today

55. I am grateful that Brad asked me to come in and interpret for a deaf man at his office today. BR has a new patient at his office who needs an ASL interpreter. BR asked me to do it, and had tons of confidence in my ability to do a great job. Every time I mentioned I was a bit nervous, BR said, "you shouldn't be, you'll do great." In the end he was right, it went very, very well. The patient was really neat, fun, easygoing, happy. I really enjoyed pursuing something different, and really enjoyed having a new title (other than mom), and I remembered how much I LOVE sign language. I am so grateful to BR who thought of me, knew I could do it, and asked me to help him out. I am already excited for his next appointment in 6 months.

Glitter

Imagine it, It has been raining outside since we woke up this morning. The grey, dark sky kind of rain. Just now, a sun burst streamed through an opening in the sky and shown through my family room window. The screen on the window is covered in thousands of tiny rain drops, all shimmering as if it is covered in thousands of pieces of glitter.

54. I am grateful for the beauty of the earth.

More to come from today, I had a really neat opportunity this morning that I am VERY grateful for!

P.S. The heart bokeh idea is not my own, it came from here (scroll down to the October 19th post.) I loved it, and had fun imagining how I would reproduce it, this picture is my first attempt.

#49

49. I am grateful that bad mornings can turn into fine days.

50. I am grateful that my floors are clean and shiny now.

51. I am grateful that the leaves have fallen, so I can stand at my front door and wave to the bus driver when Liv gets dropped home instead of walking all the way out to the street in the rain.

52. I am grateful for everyone that smiled at me today =0).

53. I am grateful for my lists and the slight sense of organization they gave me this morning.

#43

Today I am grateful for:

43. Family Home Evening

44. A fresh Haircut, and a hair dresser that I love.

45. Friends that will watch my kids when I need it.

46. A great, great lesson in Young Women's yesterday by Jessica.

47. We get to go to SAINT LOUIS!!!!! We're counting down the days!

48. That Beckham slept through the night after going to sleep at 2:30, right after church, and not waking up before we all went to bed!

#38

38. I am grateful for my favorite necklace. We purchased the pearl on our honeymoon, and Brad had it set in a necklace for me for our first anniversary. I am super sentimental and it is special to me. And I am grateful that the chain has never broken at a time when I would have lost the pendant.

39. I am grateful for the feeling of a fresh, clean, brushed, flossed, minty mouth. I love that feeling.

40. I am grateful for how much joy the girls get out of oranges. They love them, wish I would let them eat 4 a day and love to put the peelings over their teeth. I love to hear them giggle about it.

41. I am grateful for church music playing through my house on Sundays.

42. I am grateful for Brad who went out of his way to get speakers for our computer just because he knew they would make me happy.

#33

#33. I am grateful for the little things that let me know that God is real, and that reaffirm to me that the teachings of my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are true. Here is my best effort to explain what I am saying to my potentially broad audience.

Intro: I have had numerous spiritual experiences that have taught me things like: God is real, Jesus Christ is our Savior, he died for all of us, through him and only him we can be completely clean from our sins, he can lead us to true happiness. I continually have experiences that confirm that if I have a problem, and I turn to God, pray about it, ask for help, try my best to follow his teachings, he will ALWAYS answer my prayers. God loves me, he loves you, he will always help me if I turn to him. I could go on and on. I don't need anything more, but I am grateful for the extras.

Again, I am grateful for the little things that let me know that God is real, and that reaffirm to me that the teachings of my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are true. These are the two experiences that prompt this statement. 1. Brad gave me a blessing the other night. It was such an answer to my prayers. To start out with, Brad came home, I had a bunch of jumbled thoughts, so much so, that I couldn't explain to him what I was thinking. I didn't even try, I only asked for the blessing. Brad has the priesthood, he can give priesthood blessings. Sometimes it is a blessing of healing, sometimes of comfort and counsel. Always it is from God. This was a blessing of comfort and counsel. His words in the blessing answered every jumbled thought and concern that I had. It was an incredibly personal experience that was only possible because God knows me in a complete way. He knows my thoughts. Through the priesthood and God's ability to communicate with us on earth, Brad can really give me a blessing that is from God. One way I know this is because Brad didn't know the things that he was able to tell me because I had never verbalized the questions. Only God knew, because only God knows my thoughts. The results of the blessing were that I felt clear about my direction on the issue, and completely calm about it. 2. Brad and I went to a world-wide training meeting this morning. The prophet, Thomas Monson, spoke and introduced a new guidebook which outlines the organization of the church, and church policy. He introduced it by saying, we now have 14 million members of the church, and we have written this book in order to keep our structure and practices pure and consistent throughout the world. This makes complete sense to me. I am amazed at how organized the church is, I can only imagine how difficult it would be to try to keep a church of 14 million members, amongst world-wide areas and cultures, the same from one place to the next. It is. Church leadership is always one step ahead of everything. Throughout our moves, and travels, we always find church in one place to be the same as it is in the next. The organization is amazing. It is done in such a simple, clear fashion, that it testifies to me that God is behind it.

These are not the foundation of my faith, they are extras, that reaffirm my faith, and remind me how clear and simple it ALL is. How much it makes sense, and how much I love it ALL and what it adds to my life.

I am grateful for the extra ways God shows himself in my life.

34. I am grateful that Brad and I like to do house projects together.

35. For good friends that we love to be with, and support me in SO MANY other ways.

36. I am grateful for childcare at the gym.

37. I am grateful for Keebler grasshopper cookies in my freezer. My recent addiction.

Plus a link to www.mormon.org

-Betsy