LIFE

Today, at Abby's request, I taught/played the classic board game LIFE with my kids. It was a blast. I'm so glad I put aside all the need-to-dos in my mind and enjoyed the time with my kids.

Towards the beginning, a conversation with Harvey-

I can't WAIT to get Married!!

Who DO you want to marry when you grow up Harvey?

The Crossing Lady!

(laughing)Why the crossing lady?

She's really nice but, sometimes I forget to give her a hug.

Not too far in, I traded 4 LIFE tiles for the 100,000$ salary. Shortly afterwards, Abby landed on a trade salary space. I pointed out that mine was the highest and took a big pay-cut. A little after that, Harvey landed on a trade salary space. I pointed out Abby had the biggest salary, and she took a 30% pay cut. Which resulted in tears for the next few rounds. Until she landed on ANOTHER trade salary space, and giggled delightedly. We finished up just in time for her to go to Activity Days.

Who won? HARVEY. That boy had the biggest good luck streak I have ever seen, lol. He found buried treasure, won the marathon, was the 'Tech' and got 50,000 a couple times when the spinner went wonky. There was plenty more good luck in there. Abby came in for a close 2nd, but she had gone to college, and had to pay that back. She was pretty wise in her decisions- not buying a house when she was super broke, buying insurance, etc.

Harvey was just l-u-c-k-y.

Go ahead, get out a game and play with your kids. It's so very worth the time. The house, it will still be messy later (even if you clean instead)

A little Christmas Miracle

Little Christmas miracle today- Almost 2 years ago, I bought a Nativity (I <3 Nativities) in Mexico while Jeff and I were on a cruise, right after Christmas. I think I was a bit baby brained last Christmas, because it didn't get brought out at all. When Jeff pulled out the decorations this year, I remembered.

I definitely wanted to find it and set it up this year, but I didn't know at all where I had put it. Probably in my closet, but my closet is FULL of secrets right now. I didn't relish the idea of digging through there. So, when I said my prayers this morning I asked for a little help to find the Nativity. I opened my closet (to get socks), glanced up, and saw a big shoe box, that I hadn't noticed recently. 'I bet that's it' I thought. I pulled it down- and sure enough! My Mexican Nativity was all wrapped up neatly in newspapers in the shoe box. Heavenly Father answered my prayer in less than 2 minutes. I got right back on my knees to thank him.

It's a small thing, and wouldn't have mattered if I hadn't found it. However, I can not deny that Heavenly Father hears prayers and cares enough to pay attention to me, even for some little thing. I think he was just showing me that- He's Here. How blessed we are to have Him and that He sent his Son!

Merry Christmas all!

Some Stuff

Life has gotten pretty exciting around here so I thought I'd do a quick update (it's all I've got time for!) Mostly about the kids.

Sarah has developed chunky thighs, and tends to get stuck in her Bumbo seat. She went after baby food with relish for a week, then changed her mind and stopped eating. And she got her first tooth. Today! I can't believe how fast she's growing. She'll be 6 months in a few weeks, so this is the earliest any of my kids got teeth, by far.

Willard has learned to use the potty! I was very nervous about training him but decided to give it a whirl last weekend, and when he asked me to put a diaper on him and THEN peed his pants- we knew he could do it. He did fantastic after just one day with wetting, and after this ONE week, he seems to have the concept of telling mom and putting icky's in the potty too. Wow, I'm a lucky momma.

Harvey got to register for Kindergarten this week! He was so excited. I found it quite funny to hear how he answered questions- 'No I can't write my name- but I can SING it!' His counting is usually funny- 1, 2, 7, 10. And his shapes, oh my. We have some work to do before school starts. I really thought he knew them. But his enthusiasm was unmistakable and I'm glad he's excited. I can't really believe he's 5.

Abby is a Girl Scout and has had a successful run of selling cookies, which are now finally all delivered and money collected, and just plain done with. She's doing well in school, and loves to help me out. We had a new family move in 2 doors down and they have a little boy in first grade. She's so excited to have someone her size to play with, and he comes over almost every day to ask if she can. I'm trying to find a balance with all that I think she should be doing and letting her be a kid.

I'm a Bear Den Leader now, and still haven't figured that out. I feel like I'm kind of sort of starting to get the new swing of things with 4 kids. I teach Harvey's preschool group about once month or so, and try to volunteer in Abby's class on Thursday mornings. The spring bug has bit me hard, but I'm so busy I honestly think I'm going to miss Spring entirely. Jeff has got some exciting things going on at work- which are keeping him even busier too. So if I sometimes look like I've lost my mind- hopefully it's temporary!