It's almost December and I wanted decorations up NOW! I like to have my nativities up throughout the whole month as a little reminder of what's most important. I love our family time together...I have no idea why Rylee was not pictured, but I'm sure she was around somewhere. Anyhow, I love these little ones!
Today was the christmas tree lighting at the Town Center here in El Dorado Hills. We had such a great time at pizza with the Adams and their family. Lots of kids! Santa arrived again on the EDHFD fire truck with Mrs. Clause on his arm. We got a couple pictures with Santa as he walked by shaking hands with kids. He was the one that lit the tree with his "magic". Next year we will get there early to watch the Disney dancers and get their faces painted. We also met up with other friends for a little tailgating with hot chocolate and cookies!
Lily turned 3 and we were so happy to have shared her special day with her! The party was full of princesses and everything girly...sorry boys. No bother. They quickly found the boy dress ups and got to work fighting and growling! My favorite picture of the day is the one Jon had with his princess Ariel. She was huge! I don't think I've seen a bigger pinata than that one. Thanks to Renee's visit little Mexico!
Thanksgiving at Oma's with all the kids is always a blast!! The kids look forward to this every year!
This month was a little tough for us. I partly blame myself because each day I forgot to help everyone focus on things they were thankful for and I stopped waking early and reading from the good books. I had a hard time focusing on my blessings and I know I have many. I think I talked about it with the kids twice. Doesn't matter. The point is that it wasn't enough. I think when we forget all the things that we have been blessed with we start to loose sight of the important things and that draws us away from the Holy Ghost and being able to feel our Heavenly Father's love for us. We start to not recognize His hand in our lives and think that all that we have attained and gained is because of our own work. When that happens the little things start to seem overwhelming and everyone is more on edge with each other. Also the things that usually bring the most joy start to become annoying to us and our patience runs thinner and thinner. I don't like that feeling and I hope to set a better example for tomorrow and the next day and the next day etc. Our happiness starts with us and in our families. Time to get back to the things in life that bring me those long lasting eternal joyous feelings. I love my little family so much and need to start by showing my love for them more because I want them to know it NOW not when they are grown and out of the house; because that is too late. I need to hug them, sit next to them, put my arm around them, read them a book, talk with them not at them, snuggle more, play what they want to play, and go on mini dates with them. Time to start weeding out what is important and what is not so important. Let's focus on the eternal.
Today Brody had a Thanksgiving feast complete with turkey, corn, mashed potatoes, treats etc. At the end of class they had a little program set up. They went around the room and each child had picked an indian name for himself and made an indian vest and head dress. Brody's indian name was..."Tumbling Bear". After introducing themselves they sang this silly song:
"Albuquerque is my turkey and he's so feathered and he fine.
And he wobbles and he gobbles and he's absolutely mine.
He's the best pet you could ever get better than a dog or cat.
Albuquerque is my turkey and he's awfully proud of that.
Albuquerque is my turkey he's so cozy in his bed,
So for our thanksgiving dinner we'll have pizza instead."
For about 2 months now I have been waking up at 5am in the morning to read my scriptures and get a workout in without any interruptions. Except this morning. I don't know why Taylee wakes up, but she is the worst sleeper ever! She will awake at the drop of a hat. So this morning she came out and didn't want to go back to bed. So I wrapped her up in a blanket and she watched me finish. She looked so darn cute!
It may seem that little Britty gets a little over looked by just looking at this blog, but she sure is NOT! We love this little one and can't get enough of her. Brody is always wanting to hold her and kiss her and zoom her around like an airplane, which scares me half the time that he may drop her. But she loves it and loves all the attention. She loves the bath as did all the other children before her and just can't get enough of splashing the hot water everywhere! Jon and I reflect on when the "olders" where younger and can see a little bit of each one of them in her. Britlee is smily smily smily and we love her so much!
We ventured to Folsom to honor all the the people who have ever fought in war. While watching the parade I was pondering upon how many people have died collectively over time from war. Thank goodness to Wikipedia, they broke it down war by war. Obviously this didn't include scriptural wars, which were many as well. I starting tallying it up and then gave up because the numbers were so high that it was making me a bit sad. Anyhow we are grateful for those who fought for our country to give us the freedoms that we do have. Our country is not perfect, but hopefully our goal is to strive to do what is right.
Today we went and watched a Jake Hollingshaus play in his first play-offs game. He plays for the eagles and did a great job. At the end Dave had all the kids try on his helmet. Brody can hardly wait to play! Lately he has been watching "Little Giants". It's a hilarious movie about pee wee football. I love to watch the kids laugh and laugh!
Holy Crap! There was a lizard in our house...again. The first one was in the hallway a couple weeks ago. Must have come in through the garage. This one must have come through the front door because it was in the entry way and Taylee spotted it when she was putting on her shoes. I tried to catch it and it ran into the play room. I stuck tupperware on it until Jon got home so he would believe me...and pity me a little. He really didn't care. Thanks a lot. ALSO, I have been forgetting to mention that we had a snake in our house too! Seriously gross. I had walked past it in the dark in my bathroom and turned on the light to reveal a SNAKE! I'm not really a lover of reptiles, but can appreciate them in their own environment, not mine. Yuck.
Today was probably the most important day in our country's history. We had the chance to vote for our next president and leaders of this most wonderful country. To have a voice in who represents us is a wonderful privilege to have. Many countries do not have such a democracy. I had wonderful conversations with the kids about what it means to be president and that it is a big and very important job. The kids were more worried about the good guy vs. the bad guy. They were rooting for Obama because they knew he was already the president and called Romney the bad guy because he was running against the current president. Brody thought they had to battle it out to see who would win the election, literally. He kept on asking how many people were dying in this war. (We watched a movie on Abraham Lincoln a lot this month.) We even watched a little of the debates with the kids. They really got into it. I love a democracy, but I was a little disappointed to feel like your vote doesn't really count because of all the analysis who predicted the outcome early. I would have liked to have felt the suspense as the polls closed. It was a very close race and Obama won. Time to rally around the president again and pray for his mind and heart to be guided in the right direction. He has so many things to think about and issues to deal with. I can only imagine how overwhelming of a job that be.
Today was Rylee's last soccer game of the season! Yeah! Rylee did such a great job this season. She wanted so badly to play goalie every game and didn't like that she had to share that position. Let's just say they needed her skills on the field. She likes to stand around a little more and put her hands on the ball, which is why she wanted to be goalie. Her skills vastly improved from last year thanks to a great coach and the soccer training she attended. We'll see if she wants to do another year next year! Brody can hardly wait for his turn. Also today was the end of the year party and we hosted it again at our house. Jon put together a video montage of the season and I made picture books for each coach to take home. Shannon framed a picture of each kid to take home along with their trophy. I know those coaches didn't expect such things and appreciated it a lot. Great season Coasters!
As an engineer Jon spent a lot of time at Engine 53 and Engine 23. Both houses are very busy from what Jon tells me. Up all day and up most of the night. He loved this
job of racing (literally) to the call and pumping the water to the right people at the right time. Though he loved the job, he wasn't content. Striving for more is what his middle name should have been. He has worked hard and studied a lot to be engineer and again worked hard and studied a lot to get to this point. Say hello to Captain Jon Rudnicki. We are so very proud of you and love you very much!!
Brody's teachers decided that their class would have their Halloween party and parade the day after halloween. It was great because then I was able to attend both Rylee and Brody's events. Brody is the one in the gray mask with the red eye holes. He put his outfit together himself and was very proud. He said he was a ninja turtle. Lately all the kids want to watch is the old school 1990 movie "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". Cracks me up and reminds me of Uncle Tommy when he was a kid.
