Christmas favorites

It's Christmas Eve day, and Brian took Samantha and Spencer shopping with him so I could rest and get some things done. Instead of toasting the bread for stuffing or slicing the yams (we're having a big Christmas Eve dinner here tonight), or taking a little nap with Natalie (tempting, as I'm a little "under the weather" today, sigh)... well, instead, I'm blogging quickly about all the fun Christmasy things I like....

First, our tree...

We get a real one every year. I love it. This year I picked it out with Sammie and Spencer, after picking up Sam from preschool one day. We looked around the lot for 3 minutes, and found a nice round $20 fir tree, and said, "this is it!" The rustic Santa-man tree seller hoisted it on top of our van and tied it down for us, Brian cut off the base and put it in our stand, and the kids helped me decorate it. It smelled wonderful for the first day and a half. And yes, it is now dead and needles are everywhere. But who cares? It's Christmas tradition and I've decided it's one we'll keep for

now -- the Bishops are a Real Tree family. And a Colored Light Tree family. :)

Next, favorite thing -- our wall of Christmas cards. I LOVE the tradition of sending cards back and forth. I'm one of those people who really does read every last word you write on your extra newsy letter. And I'm also one of those people who gets self conscious about our newsy letter and tried to keep it brief for those other people who don't really like the long newsy Christmas letters accompanying cards. Anyway, here's our lovely wall of cards, if you look close, yours is probably up there! Even the ones from the bank get a place...

This year the kids made gingerbread houses over at Grandma and Grandpa Bishop's house. It was so fun. I didn't have my camera there, but here's the shot of them with their finished houses when they brought them home... before they picked off all the yummy gumdrops...

We got some lovely Christmas snow this past Sunday afternoon. It was the big, soft, fluffy kind, perfect for making a snowman. So, Brian and Samantha made this lovely guy in our front yard....

Then, on Monday, Brian pulled Samantha and Spencer around the back yard on the sleds. I cheered them on from our back porch, in my slippers. :)

And of course, we love all the Christmas goodies. We've had fun making treats for our neighbors this year. Brian has been the ring leader with this. Here he is with the kids, making oreo truffles. We also made chocolate fudge, peanutbutter fudge, coconut joys, chocolate dipped pretzels, and ... hmm, seems like we made one more thing, but I don't remember what is was. Hopefully our neighbors enjoyed it!

One more new favorite for me this Christmas is our sweet little baby Natalie. She's so much fun! I just have to include a picture or two of her, for fun. She's supposed to be Baby Jesus in a live nativity tonight. She is a bit congested, so we'll have to see how she feels tonight. Here she is in her little Christmas outfit this morning...

And another one from yesterday, just because. Oh, it's the wrong direction. Oh well...

Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope all is well with everyone!!

My time

I've been wanting to write this post for quite some time.

But have had trouble finding the time.

See, I'm not even sure exactly how I mean the title of the post...

Am I talking about My time -- as in, I wish I had more of it to myself?

Or is it more of a statement like, My time, maybe with a little question mark at the end, -- as in, where is it going? how do I spend it? how does it slip away from me soooo fast?!

Or do I really mean it with a small sigh, like, my time -- something I used to organize and plan out, but now I just do what I can, when I can.

I guess the real statement here is that I have some "issues" with my time right now. I mean, I know I still have the same 24 hours a day that everyone has. But somehow, I feel like there's just less time to get it all done now. I'm sleeping less, showering faster, and still barely managed to be on time for church yesterday. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I mean, I'm doing laundry more often, vacuuming the floors more, shopping more, cooking more, (even blogging more) and yet my list of daily "to dos" seems longer than ever! How is that even possible?!

Ah, yes, I have THREE kids now, instead of TWO. And yes, I'm still "adjusting" to that new phase. But in my mind, it seems like it HAS to be more than just that. I mean, I kind of feel a little bit crazy right now. Not in a you-should-be-worried-about-me way, but in a way that I just can't focus on one thing at a time anymore. At all. I honestly feel like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off.

For instance, I started folding yet another load of laundry the other day. I found a pair of Samantha's tights with a hole in the toe. Oh, I thought to myself. I should go sew that hole really quickly, and she can wear these again. So, I go to the sewing machine and start to sew the tights. Halfway through the one-inch stitch, I notice the cap that holds the thread in place is missing. Now, where was that missing cap? I think, as I start looking around in drawers and on the desk near the machine. I move a pile of Natalie's clothes that are on the desk, and realize they are yet another pile of too-small clothes that I meant to put away. Actually, maybe I should call the lady in our ward who had a newborn and see if she needs some cute winter jammies for her girl. So, I leave the room, holding a pile of clothes, and call the lady and leave her a message. I set the too-small clothes on the back of the couch and continue with my laundry for a few minutes. Then I see the clothes again and remember I meant to clean out Natalie's drawers, getting out ALL her too-small clothes so the next size can fit. So, I take the clothes back to her room and start organizing her drawers, pulling all her clothes out and putting them in piles on the floor. But there's a couple of toys the kids have left in her drawers, so I start to put them back in the toy box and see that there are lots of non-toys in the toy box. So then I start putting all the non-toys back where they go... the spatula goes back in the kitchen. Is the dishwasher clean? Oh yes it is. So, I start unloading. Spencer comes to help and has a poopy diaper. Dishwasher still open, off we go to Spencer's room to change him. In the process of changing him, I notice his suitcase from our trip last week, still sitting halfway unpacked under his bed. I better unpack his clothes back into drawers, right? But as I'm unpacking him, I start to wonder where his little red Christmas sweater went. Did we leave it in Utah? I better check on the dryer and see if maybe I already washed it. Nope, it's not on the dryer, but there's my pair of jeans -- maybe I should get dressed? I take my jeans and head for the shower, passing the couch full of laundry again. The laundry reminds me of the tights and I head back in Natalie's room/sewing room to find a huge pile of Natalie's clothes on the floor, the tights still on the sewing machine, and that cap for the thread sitting on the corner of the desk. Ah..... You can see where this is going, right? Just around and around and around. Even more dizzying than it used to be.

At the end of a day, I look at my list of "to dos" (if I can even FIND it and don't have to write another one), and I do wonder where my time has gone.

Where was I going with all of this? I don't think I even remember.

Ah, Spencer needs me to find his blanket. And get him dressed. And I'm still not showered. And we have to go pick out Sammie's present from Grandma Eva and Grandpa Doug at Walgreens. And mail Christmas cards (that I stayed up till 1 a.m. writing, again). And we have rehearsal at 11 for the nativity that Samantha and Natalie will be in this week. Speaking of Natalie... I think it's time for her to eat again. Oh my!

Maybe it IS just three kids?

I do miss my time.

and I do wonder where my time goes.

Sigh. my time.

Samantha, our FIVE-year-old

Hard to believe, our sweet Samantha turned five yesterday! She has been soooo excited about her birthday this year, and had an official countdown -- telling everyone there were only 11 more days, then 9 more days, then 6, etc.

Sadly, we forgot the camera for ALL of our birthday festivities, and didn't get a single picture of our Birthday Girl right on her actual birthday. But here are some recent fun pictures of her that I love...

Some things about Samantha that we love:

-- She really IS our big helper girl. She sets the table every night -- often without being asked. She also helps unload the dishwasher, and keeps her room clean(er). When I need something from another room, she loves to bring it to me, or loves to calm Natalie while I'm doing other things.

-- She loves learning new things, especially reading. She is starting to spell things out and sound things out on her own. When her friend Brielle (and family) was here visiting last month, she made a sign to put on their door to keep Spencer and Zachary out. It said, Keep Out Boys, as follows...

-- Samantha is really creative, and loves to draw, color, paint, and "make" things with paper, glue, and scissors. She can go through a ream of paper a week, easily, if we let her. Markers are a favorite, and coloring books too, but she also loves to make her own original artwork. (She has taped as many as 30 different drawings to her special wall in our hall, and changes them out regularly.)

-- She loves to make a plan, and stick to a schedule. She'll often ask me in the morning, what's the plan for today? If I've suggested an idea of something fun we might do, it automatically becomes part of the "plan" and cannot be forgotten.

-- She also really enjoys spending time with friends and family. Her cousins are by far her favorite friends around. She gets soooo excited when we go to visit any of the cousins, here or far away. Here she is, being very silly with her cousin Seth...

--Samantha loves to read the scriptures as a family. In fact, we have some scripture videos that go along with our animated scripture story books for kids, and she LOVES to watch the videos while she colors or draws. If she asks to watch a movie, most of the time she prefers the scripture stories, and can recite them back almost verbatim.

-- She also loves to go to church. She has the most wonderful primary teachers and she adores them. I've never seen her be so eager to please as she is when she's at church with her teachers. She soaks up their positive attention and is the angel child when they're around. (We should start trying to sit by them during Sacrament meeting, ha!)

-- Samantha has an optimistic attitude most of the time. She can be a bit of a drama queen, but usually tries to make the best of any situation. She stays cheerful and forgets the "wrongs" of her bad days very easily.

-- Her best friend is Spencer, and she loves to be his big sister AND his boss. I have to remind her frequently that she is not the mom. But other than that, they love to play together and entertain each other all day long.

-- She has recently decided that she does not want to be called Sam. (It's too boyish). Or Sam-Sam. Or Sammie-Kabammie (it's an inside thing with her grandpa). But Sammie or Samantha is still okay.

-- She loves all things princess and strawberry shortcake, and got a Polly Princess set for her birthday. She still loves playing dress-up, and some days will still change 4-6 times a day. But I can see that phase starting to fade, as she prefers to spend more time reading books or coloring.

And now, for some less recent pictures of our girl, just for fun...