Born That Man No More May Die

The first Sunday of December, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has a Christmas devotional.  This year, we tuned in from home, now that we've joined the throngs of people with things like Roku sticks.  It was awesome to be able to do that.  If you're interested in hearing the talks (which were amazing), you can follow this link.

The choir, in the beginning of the devotional, sang Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing.  I've heard this song a bazillion times.  I've sung it close to that many times.  Who hasn't?  But, like other things in life, sometimes you'll hear a song you've heard your whole life and suddenly something different stands out.  Something powerful.  And you'll find yourself not able to sing, because of the tears streaming down your face.

That's how it happened for me this year.  The words I used as the title for this post hit me really hard and impacted me greatly.  Perhaps it is because we lost Brad this year.  And that still seems so unreal to say (or type).  I don't go moping through life at the loss of my brother.  But there are moments that blind-side me when the grief washes over me and the pain is fresh.  I miss him terribly, and yes, my heart is still broken that he is not here.  But I know I will see him again. 

That is the power of these words.  Born that man no more may die.  What a beautiful promise.  Especially for those of us who have lost someone we cherish so much.  

But something else also hit me powerfully in that moment.  Again, nothing new to me.  And yet it struck me powerfully in that moment and I saw it differently.  And that is the mission of that little Baby, whose birth we celebrate this season.  Born that man no more may die.  His mission was unique.  And vital.  But the mother in me aches, because I understand that phrase.  How grateful I am that He came.  That He chose to come -- to be born -- that man no more may die.  I don't know what Mary knew or understood about the mission her baby boy was to perform.  I only know, as I sit here, very heavy with child myself, that a mother's love is indescribable.  I don't know if I could handle the magnitude of pain associated with my child being born that man no more may die, considering what that entailed.   

But I am grateful that she was strong enough to teach him; and that He was strong enough to do the will of His Father.  I am grateful for what that means for me.  I am grateful He was born that man no more may die.  I am grateful for that precious little baby boy -- the hope of the world.

(We took a better picture after this, but this one cracks me up ;)). 

Phases

I must be going through a blogging phase.  And a picture-taking phase.  It's funny how I do that. 

This past weekend was Conference weekend.  So we hung out at home and {attempted} to get a lot out of it.  I say attempted, because of the two littles who run around making noise and such.  It's a good thing the talks are also available online and in the November Ensign!  I'll need to read a bunch of them ;).  I did get a lot out of the parts I heard, though.  Specifically finding joy.  And also about parenting.  Really good stuff.

On Saturday, Lynnaea and I took a picture with this doll.  My mom made it for me when I was a little girl.  And now Lynnaea plays with it.  One day, if she treats it kindly, Lynnaea can have it to give to her little girl -- if she has one.  It's kind of a special thing.  I'm glad I held on to some of the things I held on to.  Sometimes I could border on pack-rat...  But sometimes it's worth it ;).

Lynnaea actually paid attention to some of Conference this time.  Which was cool.  She would ask who each speaker was, and she recognized the Prophet, Pres. Thomas S. Monson.  She brought out her rocking chair to sit in and watch, since we were watching on the tablet in the living room.  Corbin wanted to sit in a rocking chair too, so we pulled the glider chair over.  I laughed when I saw this and said they must be preparing for old age ;).  Haha. 

We hung up the leaf wreath!  It actually looks really cool!  After a couple days, the leaves started to curl up.  You can really tell in the picture, but it really gives it a neat effect!

Jeremy was off work today, because they have started outage and he is scheduled tomorrow through Saturday.  Let the fun begin, right?  Blah.  It was nice to have him home for a 3 day weekend, though.  He kept the kids buy while I worked on my never-ending to-do list.  I was able to go by the frame shop and start the process of getting some of our pictures framed (one is a painting by Jeremy's grandmother).  I returned some too-small "lazy Susan's" to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and then picked up a few things at Target.  All without the kiddos, which means it went tons faster!  And, I got to sport my sunglasses, because guess what!?!?  I have my trial contacts -- and they are working!!!  Today was the first day in about 3 months that I have worn my contacts all day long with no awful results!  No sensitivity, no huge red spot on the whites of my eyes!  It's amazing!  So maybe I developed a silicone sensitivity.  I hate, in no uncertain terms, that I will be throwing away 6 pairs of otherwise perfectly fine contact lenses.  But life is life...  Next time I won't order a 2 year supply.  Ugh.  So anyway, this is what I did at a red-light, just for fun :).

Later in the evening, as I prepped dinner and continued my big list, Jeremy spent lots of time with the kids outside.  It's been a beautiful few days here in Alabama!  And since he knows he won't have much family time for the next 3 to 4 weeks, with outage, he took the time today to hang with the babies.  They loved it.  Including the porcelain doll Lynnaea has decided she is in love with and plays with like a real baby...  I had to glue it's face and hair and eyelashes (courtesy of Corbin) back on over the weekend.  The face and hair had come off years ago and we just never fixed it...  We were going to throw it away, but then Lynnaea saw it and decided she loved it.  And thus we bought super-glue, and I fixed it.  We keep expecting it to break again, with the way Lynnaea takes it outside and it falls on the patio pavers and such.  So far, it's been a hearty little thing.  Go figure.  Anyway, so Jeremy hung out with "glass doll" (as Lynnaea calls her) too.  Hahaha.

And finally, here are me and my boy.  Yawning.  I guess all that outside time wore him out!

A Day of Two Miracles

Miracles still happen.  I know this.

Prayers are answered.  I know this too.

Today, I was shown, once again, that it's true.

I haven't shared much about this, but for the past year, my younger brother Brad has been battling a very aggressive cancer.  He has undergone 3 surgeries, 2 rounds of chemo, 1 of radiation.  He has lost muscle tissue, arteries, veins, and I think even nerves in both sides of his neck.  He has been through hell, and this cancer kept seem to show back up.  Truthfully?  I have had to put up a wall in a sense.  I couldn't think too deeply about this, because every time I did, my stomach knotted up.  This is my "little" brother.  This can't happen to him.

And so I prayed.  We prayed.  We fasted.  We hoped.  Today, for the first time in a long time, the news was good.  Hope grows.  He isn't through this yet.  There is another round of chemo.  A life-long effort to keep cancer in remission.  But there is hope.  The news was good.  Oh how we have prayed for this.  How I have prayed for this.  And so, today.  This was my first miracle.

My second came only a few minutes later.  You see, my Lynnaea has two little stuffed doggies she likes to sleep with.  Every night, she remembers them at bed-time.  And usually they are nearby, because she usually carries them around from room to room.  But tonight was different.  We'd all searched in all the "known" places.  Under the beds.  In her closet.  In mommy and daddy's bed.  In the playroom, in the cupboards.  Even in the recycle bin (Corbin likes to put things in there).  We were at a loss, and Daddy had already told her she might just have to sleep without them tonight.  Oh how she cried at the prospect.

No, I don't necessarily relish her being so attached to the dogs that she melts down at the thought of not sleeping with them.  But to hear her cry like that...  It hurt my mother heart.  And so I kept looking.  Utility room, back in the playroom.  Behind the couch, under it.  Behind the couch cushions....  Into the play room again.  And then we went back into the kids' room and I searched the closet again.  I stopped.  I looked at her and said, "Lynnaea, come here a minute."  She did.  I said, "There is Someone who knows where your doggies are.  And He loves you very much.  He will help us, if we ask.  That person is Heavenly Father.  Let's say a prayer and ask for His help to find your doggies."  She immediately sat on my lap and I said a prayer.  I told Heavenly Father that I know He loves Lynnaea, and I know He knows how important these doggies are to her.  I told him I knew he knew where those dogs were, and asked if He could please help us find them before Lynnaea had to go to bed.  After our prayer, we looked some more.  I did know He would help us.  I just didn't know where else those dogs could be.  I went into the kitchen and looked in the oven (Corbin again...).  And then I remembered.  I remembered the little roller backpack she sometimes stuffs things into.  I remembered it had been in the living room earlier and I'd thrown it into the play room.  I remembered that, as I was throwing it into the play room, I wondered if there was stuff inside it.  I marveled that I hadn't noticed the bag in the play room the two times I'd been in there already.  But when I went in again, this time specifically looking for it as I called Lynnaea to the play room, I saw it lying there.  I told Lynnaea I knew where her doggies were, and I pointed to the backpack thing.  She smiled and zipped it open.  Her face was joyful as she pulled her doggies out.  I asked her if she knew what we needed to do at that moment.  She said we needed to thank Heavenly Father.  She was right.  And so we did.

Now, it may seem coincidence.  It may seem ridiculous to believe the Lord would care anything about two stuffed dogs.  But I know He does.  Because they matter to Lynnaea.  And she matters to Him.  This was my second miracle today.

How grateful I am for His love for my precious girl.  For His precious girl.  How grateful I am to be reminded of His love and awareness of me.

I leave you with this talk, because it's one of the best I've ever heard and read.

And I leave you with this little cutie and her paper cut-out of herself (for school).

Family Night Week 10: Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

Well, it only takes me about a week to write about what we did on Monday!  Aaahhh!  The packing and moving process is intense in and of itself.  Add to that mix 2 littles and it just gets crazier!  So things get pushed back.  But here we are, reporting on our Family Night for this week!

So there has been a lot of emphasis lately from church leaders on keeping the Sabbath Day holy.  Clearly this is an important issue, and our family has chosen to strive to do better.  So we had a Family Night lesson about the Sabbath Day.  Not sure that we will be able to stretch this topic for the whole month of March, but at least two weeks will be about Sabbath Day observance and how we can keep this commandment better in our family.

Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

Song:  "Welcome, Welcome Sabbath Morning"

Scripture:  Ezekiel 20:20 -- "And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God."

Lesson:  We showed a picture of a birthday cake and talked about how we have birthday cakes to celebrate a person's special day.  Then we talked about the Sabbath (which we recognize as Sunday in our faith) and how that is Heavenly Father's special day -- that He has commanded us to keep it holy.  So we talked about things we can do to keep the day more holy in our home.  One thing we are going to do better is having scripture videos in our home for Lynnaea to watch on Sundays for when she goes poopie on the potty.  That has been the incentive that has worked for her (2 tv shows for a big poopie), so we don't want to just dismiss that on Sundays.  Until now, we've allowed her to watch whatever videos we have checked out from the library (like Bubble Guppies, etc), even though we don't otherwise watch any TV on Sundays.  So we are now going to purchase some scripture videos so that she still has a video option, but it will be something that will, in our opinion, honor the Sabbath Day more.

Activity:  Wrote down Sabbath-appropriate activities (we were supposed to continue this, but the kids took early naps and by the time they woke up, we were rushing through Family time to get Jeremy off to work...  So we are going to continue this next week and actually decorate our "Sunday 'cans'" can and then write these activities on Popsicle sticks to put in the can.

Treat:  Since we talked about birthday cake, we had lemon-zucchini cupcakes with lemon-buttercream frosting.  (This recipe is bomb, and I might even get around to sharing it on my foodie blog in this lifetime ;).)

Family Night Week 9: The 10 Commandments

Since we focused on Keeping the Commandments last week (as part of our Follow the Prophet theme), I decided it would be a good use of our Leap Day Family Night to talk about some of the commandments we are expected to keep.  We focused on the 10 Commandments found in Exodus, even though I know there are many others. 

Song:  How Gentle God's Commands

Scripture:  Doctrine & Covenants 21:4-5

Lesson:  We read Exodus 20: 3-17 and mentioned that Heavenly Father gave us those commandments to help us be happy.  We tried to explain most of them in terms a 2 1/2 year old can understand (but not the adultery one... she's not needing to know that term yet...). 

Activity:  We played a home-made board game!  It was set up a lot like CandyLand so that we could use the little CandyLand cards :).  And people.  Every so often there was a space that described you either keeping a commandment or breaking it (I used examples that would hopefully make sense or be meaningful to Lynnaea -- like for coveting, I said the person wanted a toy Corbin had so badly that he/she pushed him over and took it away).  If you kept it, you went forward to the next of that color.  If you had broken it, you moved back 5.

Treat:  It was supposed to be chocolate frosting with nutella glaze.  But Lynnaea didn't eat her lunch, so we skipped it this time.  We'll do it another time, I'm sure.  Jeremy is back on swing shift (my favorite shift!), so we are having to hold our Family Night during the day ;). 

So here's a picture of the board game -- and of Lynnaea with the board game (she wanted to play the game many times, so I think she liked it!

Family Night Week 8: Keep the Commandments

Once again, we were focusing on following the prophet.  One of his most recent Conference talks was about Keeping the Commandments.  I thought it was an amazing talk as I read over it, and very appropriate for our day.  I had hoped we would have the chance to make and fly a kite.  But that just didn't happen.  It would have been a great object lesson. But then again, I'm sure we'll cover this topic again in years ahead.  So maybe next time ;).

Follow the Prophet:  Keep the Commandments

Song:  "Keep the Commandments"

Scripture:  Doctrine & Covenants 21:4-5:  "Wherefore...thou shalt give heed unto all [the Prophet's] words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me; For his word ye shall receive as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith."

Lesson:  we read a few excerpts from this talk.  

Activity:  We watched videos about listening to and obeying rules and guidelines for safety.  One video was about a boy who didn't listen to his parents' rule to always wear shoes (not flip flops) in the dessert (they lived somewhere with scorpions) and he ended up getting stung.  Unaware of what would happen, but fearing the worst, the parents and the boy thought he might die.  The other video talked about rock climbing and the guidelines for doing so safely (with a buddy, using anchors, etc).

Treat:  Was supposed to be chocolate pudding.  But Lynnaea didn't eat her dinner, so that didn't happen. 

Family Night Week 7: Following the Prophet's Example

Our Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, is known for how much time he spent visiting widows when he was a young Bishop many years ago.  So this week, I decided that we would follow his example.  We picked 3 sisters in our Ward (congregation) who are widows.  We made little cards with lots of hearts that said "We just want you to know you are loved!"  We took them to those ladies.  Two of them are in a nursing home, and the other is living on her own, but is beginning to show signs of Alzheimer's/dementia.  It is hard to imagine that it could be me one day...  Hard sometimes to remember that these women were once young and full of life.  I wanted Lynnaea to have an opportunity to learn something new about kindness and love -- and helping people know they aren't forgotten.

The downfall is that we planned this last-minute, and not a single one of them was there (even the two in the nursing home weren't in their room -- they are roommates).  So that was a total bummer.  But we left the cards for them, and perhaps we will have an opportunity to try again sometime. 

Because of the time crunch, we did most of family night in the car (other than the making of the cards, which we'd done earlier in the day, when Corbin was napping). 

Song:  Follow the Prophet

Scripture:  Doctrine and Covenants 21: 4-5

Lesson/Activity:  see above

Treat:  cinnamon rolls from Sunday breakfast


And here are a couple pictures...  It is way late, and I need to go to bed!  But I was already behind on posting this, so....

 My babies...  Here's some awesome news:  I haven't changed a poopie diaper for Lynnaea in 2 weeks!  She now asks to poopie on the potty every single time.  It's awesome.  She still doesn't pee on the potty.  But poopies are nastier anyway.  We'll keep working on the peeing.  I'm proud of her. 

Of course, now she does things like run into the friendship room at the funeral home during scrapbooking event and ask loudly if Grandma is going poopie on the potty when she can't find her grandma in her office.  Hahahaha.  I told that to my mom today and my mom laughed so hard.  For the record, Grandma had been upstairs helping a family.  Not going poopie on the potty.  Haha.  This girl.

 And here I am with a clean Corbin-roo! 

 And this was Monday.  I don't usually lock them out of the kitchen, but Monday I was trying to accomplish a lot, and for some reason all four of us kept ending up in the kitchen.  It was a little stressful.  So we put up a gate temporarily.  These babies...  How I love them.  They just like to be wherever Mommy is.

Family Night Week 5: Being a Light and Example

It's a new month, so we have a new theme!

The truth is that lately I have felt the weight of responsibility that comes with being a parent.  There is much to impart to our children.  I have hopes that my sweet babies will grow up to be kind, wise, good, responsible.  I have hopes they will grow up to know their Heavenly Father and their Savior.  That they will strive to be like the Savior in their actions and words.  That they will make choices that will keep them safe in this world that is so fraught with dangers and evil.  As I pondered that last week, I felt strongly that the best thing I can teach them is to follow the Prophet.  Because we believe we have a Prophet on the Earth today.  We believe He receives revelation from Heavenly Father for the world.  And we believe there is safety in heeding his counsel (since it comes from our Heavenly Father).  And so...  I chose to focus on the theme of Follow the Prophet for the month of February.  And for each week, we will focus on the most recent Conference talks given by our Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson.

Be a Light and an Example

Opening Song: "Let Us Oft Speak Kind Words"

Scripture:  Doctrine & Covenants 21:4-5:  "Wherefore...thou shalt give heed unto all [the Prophet's] words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me; For his word ye shall receive as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith."

Lesson:  We read several excerpts from Pres. Monson's talk entitled Be an Example and a Light. We focused particularly on the sections containing the attributes of a believer according to the Apostle Paul.

Activity:  We went into our bathroom (which is windowless and therefore very dark).  We had a cupcake with a candle in it (Lynnaea and I had made the cupcakes earlier for our treat :)).  We asked Lynnaea if she could see anything in the dark. She said it was very dark.  We lit the candle.  Through the light of that one candle, she could see the entire bathroom, even around the corner where not much light reached, she could still see enough to see her daddy and Corbin when they went over there.  We talked about how, even though we are each only one person, we can be a light in darkness through our actions and our words.  We can make a difference and spread our "light," just like the candle.

Treat.  And then we put a little frosting on our cupcakes and ate them :).  Lynnaea loved that part (of course ;)).  Here she is posing with what was left of her cupcake (which she called a muffin) and mine -- which I lit just for the picture ;).

And just because this is too precious not to share...  This was this morning.  She wanted to go out on the back porch.  Well, it's cold outside and she is just now getting over a nasty upper respiratory bug (and Corbin is right in the miserable middle of it :/...).  So we told her she couldn't go outside unless she had shoes and socks on, and a coat.

She said she wanted to wear "tippy toes."  Apparently this is what she calls high heels!  How stinkin' cute is that!?!  So, how could I say no?  I made her put on socks with her tippy toes to keep her feet warmer.  Oh sweet Lynnaea.  How I love her.  (Yes, they are also on the wrong feet...).

Family Night Week 4: Choosing Happiness

I started out with this lesson's focus being choosing happiness.  Because, let's face it:  life is hard.  Sometimes it's really really hard.  And it is often very easy to feel defeated and just give up.  One of the ways that we decided our family could be more unified is by choosing to be happy instead of grumpy, regardless of life's circumstances.  So that was our topic this week.  But as I was preparing it, I also found a fair amount about being grateful in our circumstances as well...  And that happiness would naturally follow. 

So here's what our family night looked like tonight:

Choosing Happiness

Opening Song:  Count Your Blessings

Scripture:  Mosiah 18:21: And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another. {emphasis mine}

Lesson:  link gratitude and happiness.  We read excerpts from Pres. Uchtdorf's talk from April 2014 called "Grateful in Any Circumstance" and we also read a quote by Pres. Monson in this month's Ensign:  So much in life depends on our attitude.  The way we choose to see things and respond to others makes all the difference.  To do the best we can and then choose to be happy about our circumstances, whatever they may be, can bring peace and contentment... We can't direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.  For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we choose a positive attitude."

(I just happened to see that yesterday when I picked up the Ensign for January for the first time, and I know that was no coincidence!)


Activity:  cut out hearts and each of us said things for which we are grateful, which we wrote on the heart.  We earned jelly beans for each one, which was our treat.


Treat:  the jelly beans :).

 

And just because I have some really cute kids.... ;)....

Family Night Week 3: Sharing

As another segment in the "unity" goal, our Family Night last night was all about Sharing.  Which was the thing Lynnaea said she could do (with our suggestive help ;)) to help us have more unity in our family.  (She has had a hard time sharing with Corbin, now that he is mobile and interested in all of her stuff...). 

Sharing

Opening Song:  Children's Song Book:  'Give' Said the Little Stream

Scripture:  Mosiah 18:21: And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another. {emphasis mine}

Lesson:  We talked about how Jesus taught us that we should be nice to everyone.  And one way we can be nice to people -- especially people in our family -- is by sharing!  Then we watched this video for Rainbow Fish (because the library was closed for MLK, Jr. Day and I therefore couldn't go check it out at the last minute (I found this idea on Sunday...).  

Activity:  This idea came from this blog.  I traced the fish (using my tablet, which was awesome!) and then we glued on different colored scales.  4 of those scales were a shiny silver cellophane wrap -- one for each member of our family.  Then we each said something we could share.  (Well, I spoke for Corbin who will share his wooden blocks with Lynnaea.)  I said I could share more of my time with my family members (because it's sometimes hard for me to remember that my time is best spent with my family and not on my own selfish pursuits).  Jeremy said he could share his Wii (which he does already, but it was an example for Lynnaea that she could understand, because she sure does love playing Wii Fit Plus with her daddy!).  Lynnaea decided she could share her lego blocks and also her talking cube.  Then Lynnaea and Jeremy finished coloring Rainbow Fish while I went and got Corbin from his nap.

Treat:  I made tapioca pudding, because Jeremy loves it, and I thought we could use it as one more example of sharing.  When it was time for treat, I announced that, because it was one of daddy's favorite things, it was all for him!  I put the whole bowl in front of him and he pretended to start eating it.  Lynnaea was very interested in treat time and sat watching closely as Jeremy pretended to eat the pudding.  Finally, I said, "Lynnaea, do you think if we ask Daddy to share his yummy pudding, he would share with us?"  She said she thought so, she I told her to ask him if he would share with her.  Of course he said yes.  Then I asked if he would share his yummy dessert with me too.  He said yes and scooped some into our bowls.  And we talked, again, about sharing like the Rainbow Fish and how that can make us all happier.

We decided to tape up our Rainbow Fish to help us remember what we said we could share.

Family Night Week 2

As I mentioned before, we are aiming at having Family Night every week this year.  We may not quite make it, but it's a worthy goal, and we are going to strive for it!  And we have been successful for 2 weeks in a row ;)!

Last week, we began our year by deciding to focus on unity.  As part of our activity, each of us (minus Corbin who cannot speak -- but I'm sure he would have voted for Lynnaea's answer) said a way we can help our family improve in unity and have our hearts knit together in love more.  So I decided we would use those answers for the rest of January's Family Nights.  Therefore, this week we had a Family Night about patience.

Family Night 1/11/2016

Opening Song:  We Are Sowing (as a reminder that how we treat each other is a way of planting seeds.. so we (especially as parents) need to be patient with our children.)

Scripture: Mosiah 18:21:  And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another. {emphasis mine}

Lesson:  We read the last section of this talk (the portion called "Patience Today"):  Patience, a Key to Happiness.

Activity:  The activity actually started before the lesson.  We each got one chocolate chip.  If we were patient, and waited until the end of the lesson without eating it, we'd get one more chocolate chip.  If we were too hasty and ate it right then, we only got that one.  I'm happy to report we all got our second chocolate chip.  Though Lynnaea had a hard time not touching hers the whole time.  Haha.  But... she didn't eat it!

Treat:  Lynnaea and I made Snickers Bites cookies (she chose) earlier in the day.  We saved a few for us for family night.  And we packaged the rest to give away!

And just because I can't guarantee that I'll get around to posting extra posts...  I'll add some pictures from recently :).  But they really don't have anything to do with our Family Night.

This was in December.  We went to McDonald's for Emily's 7th birthday.  These two big boys are hilarious together.  I'm pretty sure this was also where and when we picked up the pukey germs we so enjoyed for a week in December :(.

 The three pretty big girls!

 My babies after bath-time in December (before Corbin was crawling).

 Lynnaea's graham cracker house.  She was more interested in eating the stuff than making the house...

 Saria's house.

 Emily's sugar-coma house.

 Benjamin's house.  On the inside, he did detail and made a table with a Christmas turkey (an M&M) on it ;).

 Desiree's house.

Sam went a completely non-traditional route and made Mario Bros. stuff out of the graham crackers. He's pretty creative like that.

 Christina brought over stuff for the kids to each make their own ornaments.  They enjoyed that.

 This is one of the few pictures I took of my kids on Christmas Day.  Pretty sad, huh?  Haha.

 On December 30th, my mom and I took the kids to Keyport to the Naval Undersea Museum.  They have a really cool section for kiddos with underwater books and places the kids can play with felt sea creatures and such.  Super cool!

 We took a picture at the submarine door.

 And then Lynnaea steered a submarine...  Fortunately, she kept us from hitting the ground ;).

 On our way out, we took a quick picture by the sign.  It didn't turn out so well...

 Just a little picture of my baby boy sleeping on me.  It won't last forever, as I've learned.

 Lynnaea got a bike from Chuck and Lea, so Jeremy bought her a helmet and has been helping her on it every so often.  She's still a little short for it and doesn't quite grasp the concept.  But she loves it -- and loves the Care Bear that came with it.  And let's face it:  is there a more perfect bike for the daughter of an 80's lover?

 We're going to try to take a few more family pictures this year.  And maybe we'll even throw in an extra baby (doll) ;).  This was the first Sunday in January.

 Don't be surprised if you see lots of pictures of Lynnaea in this outfit.  It's her new favorite, and the minute I get it clean, she is putting it on.  Sigh.  Also, she thinks pacifiers are toys.

 One day, I built the kids a mini fort.  Lynnaea thought it was cool, and she wanted her brother to join her in it.  So we had to coax him in with toys!

 Last week I took Lynnaea to the Marine Science Center.  We met up with friends.  She got to touch a sea urchin, a crab, and a starfish.  She loved it.

 We got a quick picture with the octopus outside.  Lynnaea was freezing in this picture (her coat had been stuffed in my bag).  Sometimes I look so old.

This little guy loves bath-time.  A lot.  He also loves that duck.

 And he is always looking around to make sure I'm still there.  It's pretty funny.

Sometimes I don't look so old ;).  This was a couple nights ago.  The kids were both pulling my hair.  They thought it was hilarious.  By the way, Corbin is now pulling up on stuff.  My boy is strong.

So there you go.  You're somewhat caught up in pictures ;).

Family Night Week 1

One of our family goals for 2016 is to have Family Night most (but preferably all) weeks of 2016.  For us, sometimes Family Night will be during the day, due to Jeremy's schedule.  But it doesn't really matter when we hold it.  The point is that we do.

There are great blessings promised to those who hold Family Night.  I believe in those promises, and I want them for my family.  So we are going to work on doing this.

I asked Jeremy one thing he wanted our family to be stronger in.  His reply was unity.  So for January, unity is our focus.

Family Night 1/4/2016:

Opening Song: Love at Home

Scripture: Mosiah 18:21:  And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another. {emphasis mine}

Lesson: Focusing on what it means to knit (show examples of knitting and practice playing with the knitting needles and yarn -- since Lynnaea isn't quite able to knit ;)).  Show a beautiful finished knitted blanket to show how beautiful things turn out when knitted together.  Apply to knitting our hearts together as a family by each saying something we can do to help our family's hearts to be more knit together.  Our things were:  not taking toys away from Corbin, working on being less grumpy when life is hard, and being more patient and enjoying the present more.


Treat:  heart-shaped Frozen jello (chilled berry flavor :)).  Here's a picture of those :). (Mostly we used the small double heart cookie cutter, because the big heart was rather big...)

And, thanks to his young age and his ever-helpful sister, Corbin's main job for Family Night was modeling the beautiful pink knitted hat.