Merry Christmas

This has been quite a year. When I think about last January, I almost can't even believe where we are now. So many changes, some expected (new baby! starting kindergarten!) but mostly unexpected (sold our house! building a new one! moving to a small town, a little place we didn't even know existed back in January!)

While I'd like to look back and say it was a year of peace, simplicity, and joy, the truth is even better. 
It was a year of growth. 
A year of tantrums and tears and "mom fails," but also a year of adjusting to three kids and the exponential love that comes along. 
A year of difficult decisions, but also a year of learning to trust each other and the answers to prayers. 
A year of packing and moving and all the stress that comes from trying to sell a house with three little kids, but also a year of looking forward to new beginnings and having faith that our Heavenly Father has great things in store for us.

What it all comes down to is that it was a year. And we survived it. Maybe even thrived in some moments. 

And we'd like to celebrate that
by giving awards to each family member. 

2015
The things we were best at:

Kent: Kids' first choice for snuggles and loves. Able to transform into a dragon, jedi knight, or superhero as needed. Traveled to Romania (twice), Paris, Boston, and Manhattan, but most impressively, he survived the crowds of Disneyland at Christmas.

Becca: Packing extraordinaire. Perfected the art of getting the house show ready in 45 minutes or less. Able to translate a kindergartener's phonetic spelling while under pressure, convince a four-year-old that there's more to her dietary needs  life than candy, and do both of these while being loved on/slobber attacked by a crazy strong nine-month-old.

Nicholas: Best Jack-o-Lantern smile (missing 6 teeth). Most likely to have "the best day ever!" every single day of school. Dreams of becoming a rockstar with a song on the radio or youtube and makes up the best lyrics and choreography.

Ellie: Most able to watch silly cat videos for hours on end. Grilled Cheese Sandwich's biggest fan (with quesadillas coming in a close second.) Most likely to share, serve, and make sure everyone is taken care of. 

Christian: Our never-failing, never-ending wiggling bundle of smiles. Always happy, and always moving. The speediest army-crawler around. Most likely to be mistaken for a puppy as he spends his time chasing balls, nibbling at our toes, and attempting to squeeze out the door.

With the year behind us, as we find rest and stillness spending time with family this Christmastime, we find ourselves feeling more grateful than ever for the peace that comes from the blessings of being led by the Spirit, the joy and hope of our Savior, and the never-failing Love of our Father. Life is good. So very good. 
We hope you all have the merriest, most wonderful holidays.

Merry Christmas!

fun with curtains

Christian is the happiest baby in the world.
I'm not even kidding.
This kid--sometimes it's almost freaky how happy he is, All.The.Time.

He especially loves to hang out in his play saucer.
One day, I put it next to the couch, near the curtains.

And when I looked over at him,
he was happy as can be, spinning around and around, twisting himself up in the curtains.

 And although he's the skinniest baby I've had so far (how could he gain weight with all the moving he does??), he still has those yummy knee rolls. Love that.

He thinks he's the funniest.
He pretty much is.

Now, every time I put him in the saucer, his first order of business is to turn the curtain into a tornado while he laughs.

home

We finally got confirmation on Monday that the sale of this home had been recorded.
Our beautiful house is no longer actually ours.
And it's a bittersweet thing indeed.

Sweet because we have been so blessed. 
Blessed to have been here for three wonderful years.
Blessed by the friends we've made, the ward we've loved, our mountains, the parks, paths, shops, places, and memories.
And so very blessed to have sold it when the time was right, and be able to stay for just a little bit longer.

It has taken me a very long time to be okay with moving.
My head has known that it is right,
even more than right--it is what the Lord wants for our family,
but my heart didn't understand why, and didn't want to go.
And so I dragged my feet. And found reasons to complain, 
spent my time looking for all the things about moving that are hard,
all the things that are complicated and difficult.
(and there are many! Moving stinks.)

It certainly didn't help that as of three weeks ago, Nicholas has been accepted into every single charter school (5 of them!) we applied for here in this area. I was hoping he'd make into even one of them....and I had to turn them all down.

Kent says I get too attached to places.
And he's right, I'm sure. But it's hard for me to leave a place where I've been so happy, where so much of our family has happened.

The stories from 1 Nephi (you can find them here), have been a source of great peace, strength, and even self-correction for me over the past months.
Nephi's family was also asked to leave "The Land of their Inheritance," for reasons they didn't completely understand,
and some of them were okay with that,
but most of them murmured at one time or another. And when they did, things didn't go so well for them.

What I've come to see is that,
if we want the blessings that the Lord has in store for us,
we must be willing to follow the path He chooses. Even when it doesn't make sense. Or when it's hard. Or when we'd rather just pout and delay and murmur. 

1 Nephi 17:13

"And I will also be your light in the wilderness; 

and I will prepare the way before you, 

if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, 

inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments 

ye shall be led towards the promised land; 

and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led."

We have loved this home,
and we expected to be here for much longer,
but, I'm doing my very best now to look forward with hope
for whatever might be ahead of us 
in our new home.

Life is so very good.
And each change, while hard in the process,
simply adds to our joy if we open our hearts to find it.

Grammer's visit

Kent's mom came to visit us over Labor Day weekend.

We had so much fun! 

We visited the aquarium (where Christian seriously wanted to jump in and swim with the fishes,) took her down to visit our home site a few times, played, got cupcakes, and just loved having our Grammer here.

 When we dropped her off at the airport on Monday, Nicholas said,
"But I just wish Grammer could be here every day!"

We do too, Bud. We sure love our Grammer!

Six months

It's just not fair.
How is it that with each child, you appreciate the baby stage more,
but it goes by so much faster?

Christian is six months, and I am deep in love with this boy.
He is perfection. He's seriously the happiest, most perfect dreamy baby there is.

I know this sounds crazy, but Kent and I actually go days in a row without hearing him cry. When he's hungry or tired, he just kinda whines, like
"I know you're busy, but if you get a minute, I'm maybe ready to eat... you know, when you get a chance."

What a darling, easygoing little man.
I love this stage, the "Mama just can't get enough of you!" stage.
I just want to eat him up, all day long.

He learned to crawl about halfway through the month,
and it's awesome.
He's crazy fast, and SO excited.

 Things I want to remember:

Laughing. Christian learned to really laugh this month--the best big belly laughs. The person who never fails to make him laugh? Ellie.

He also discovered the ability to "fake laugh"....a funny little coughing sound with his eyes squinted shut.
I adore it.

He gets SO excited every time we open the fridge, pantry, or any cupboards while holding him. He frog-kicks his legs, starts to squeal and pant, and flaps his arms. 

He wants to explore, and I'm 100% certain he's going to give us a run for our money as far as babyproofing goes. 

But, at least he'll be happy while he's at it!

He's got a pretty good schedule going--two naps (sometimes three) a day, still nursing every two to three hours, goes to bed at 7 pm, and waking up about 2-3 times a night. He rises each morning at 7 am pretty much on the dot, and there's no chance of me convincing him to sleep just a leetle bit longer. He wants to play! And talk! and climb on us!

He is a handful (or two handfuls!) to hold. He can't decide if he wants to jump in my lap, climb up to my shoulder, pull my hair, twist upside down in my arms, or launch himself over the side of the couch/chair I'm sitting in. 

He lost a bit on the growth charts this month (down from 46th percentile to 34th), he's now my skinniest baby by far, but I'm pretty sure it's because he's just so so active. In fact, as we were at the pediatrician's office examining his growth chart, he was twisting upside down in my arms until he was hanging with his head by my knees and trying to squirm down to the floor so he could crawl around. 

My mom has nicknamed him "Mr. Wigglepants," and it's more than fitting.

He's really not excited about solid food. Occasionally, he'll pick something up and attempt to eat it, but most of the time he waits for me to put it into his mouth for him. He loves broccoli, cheese, green beans, pineapple, graham crackers, and butternut squash soup. He tolerates baby food, for a few bites, and gives everything a taste as long as I'm the one holding it, but he just really isn't too enthusiastic yet. 

New tricks: sitting like a pro, crawling, rolling both ways with ease, going down for naps without assistance, pretending to laugh, shaking his head to copy us, and being able to go from sitting on my leg to standing without help.

When he's really happy, he shakes his head, chatters and babbles, and does what I call his "happy hands," swiping his hands back and forth against each other, like modified clapping. 

I really can't remember what life was like without this wiggly, squishy, happy little guy.

this is what my life looks like, September 2015

September is one of my favorite months.

The weather, the hints of autumn in the mornings but summer in the evenings, 

the fresh-grown produce, the end-of-summer rainstorms.

I love it.

Past Septembers: 2014, 2013 (Gah--the kids are SO little!!), and 2012 

(side note: Nicholas has recently figured out how to get his own cereal in the mornings. And Kent and I feel like singing hallelujah. As much as it's hard to see the kids grow up, there are some benefits. This is a big one. Now if we can just figure out how to convince him to get Ellie's breakfast too....)