Wrapping it up

Wednesday was my birthday and Rae had ballet class in Columbia. Roy had to give finals all day, so he was stuck at work while we went and had fun. First we went to Bass Pro to see Santa.


The photographer kept insisting he "smile bigger" so his face ended up like this.



Rae had ballet and then we went to Chevy's for my birthday lunch. Yum! I can't remember what we did after that - probably some shopping or something.
The rest of the week we did a lot of this:








On Saturday we drove to Kansas City to take the Mapels back to the airport. We stopped at Union Station where I knew they were doing train rides with Santa, but I didn't realize it would be SUPER crowded. So we just looked at the model train exhibit and rode a mini-train instead. Then we tried going to a mall to look around but forgot that it was the last Saturday before Christmas - so that was way too crowded too. We wrapped up the trip by eating out one more time and then dropped the Mapels off at the airport. It was a fun visit - thanks for coming you guys!

And more

On Tuesday the 14th Roy went to work for the morning and the rest of us just hung out. We picked him up from work and went to a little museum on campus. Everyone got up close and personal with the dead animals.





Then we went home and had a nice turkey dinner with all the fixin's.






Then we opened presents.

More of Mapel visit

Saturday after getting the tree we headed home and got cleaned up for our branch Christmas party. We had a tasty dinner and the primary kids put on a cute presentation. It was nice that we got to visit with everyone because that night it snowed church was canceled the next day. We got up and had a nice breakfast, played in the snow, and decorated the tree. Since the tree was decorated the kids thought it was time to open presents, so we let them open their stockings and one present, but wanted to save the rest for later in the week. Again, the pictures speak for themselves.

Christmas tree hunting

I WILL get this blog updated - slowly but surely! As I mentioned before, my inlaws flew on Friday, December 10th. On the day they flew in it was sunny and 60 degrees! But the next day it was windy and there was snow in the forecast for that evening, so I knew we better get out first thing and go chop down a tree. I didn't think we'd be outside for too long, so no one was dressed as well as they should have been. I scrounged up a few hats, gloves and a blanket from the car, but everyone was still shivering because of the strong wind.



Wagon ride out to the field - brrr!



It took me forever to decide on a tree. I wanted one that was fat and it couldn't be too tall because our ceilings are only 8ft. We finally chose one, cut it down and then went to wait for the wagon and we walked up just as the wagon was leaving! So we had to wait for it to come back around - ugh! Roy ended up walking back to the van with Isaac and Blaise because they were so miserable. Rae stayed happy by running around and when she got tired she'd wrap herself up in the blanket and take a break. It was a fun experience and I definitely want to do it again - but next time we'll pick a warmer day! I think the rest of the pictures speak for themselves.

Putting it off.....

Sometimes I avoid blogging when I have something I feel like I HAVE to write about, instead of something I truly WANT to write about. I need to write about the visit from my in-laws but I was putting it off till I got some pictures from my MIL. I also need to write about Christmas. Bleh. But I'll get those done this week and then I can be back to just writing about what is on my mind. Also, every time I sit down at the computer Isaac is right there on my lap. So stinkin' annoying. All of the kids are pretty stinkin' annoying lately, so that's another reason I've been slackin'. But I'm gonna get those posts done this week - I promise!

Blaise's b-day

Blaise had a pretty unconventional birthday because we drove to Kansas City to pick my inlaws up from the airport. On the way there he said "umm, do you have to take trips on your birthday?" But I think it was worth it for him once Oma and Opa were in the van! We stopped at Costco on the way home and then made it back to Fayette around 5pm - just in time for some birthday cake for dinner (which luckily I had thought ahead and made the night before) It was divine!


My inlaws had this easel shipped to our house for Blaise. Roy didn't get a chance to put it together until Saturday, so he got it a day late. This is one of the first pictures he drew - I love it!


When Rae had her birthday she got a balloon, so ever since then Blaise had been talking about what sort of balloon he wanted for HIS birthday. Thursday night Roy went to Walmart and I told him to get some sort of superhero or toy story balloon. According to Roy this was the only one they had - it's bigger than Blaise! It has been played with a lot and is still around!



All in all I'd say he had a pretty good birthday! I can't believe he is 4 now!

More milestones

Rae - During kindergarten last year many of Rae's classmates were losing teeth and it was just killing Rae that she wasn't losing any. I had to remind her that she was the youngest in her class and that sometimes kids didn't even lose their teeth till they are 7. She would constantly talk about her teeth "feeling funny" and "maybe starting to be loose". It was cute.

And then, on November 23rd it finally happened! We were at my sister's house in Charlotte and she was playing on the trampoline with her cousins. I don't think her tooth was even loose, but she was biting a rope and was having her cousins pull on it and that got it lose enough to fall out! She said she saw a little blood and tasted blood so she went inside to see what happened and that's when she realized it was a tooth! They had to go back out to the trampoline to find the tooth and luckily it was still there. Oh, and of course all of this happened while Roy and I were out on a date and we missed the whole thing! I was kinda sad about that!

Just like Santa, my kids know that the tooth fairy isn't real, but we still planned to give them money under their pillow. And since we were at my sister's house with two kiddos that DO believe in the tooth fairy we had to make sure our kids didn't ruin it for them! Rae got $2 that night (since it was her first tooth) Then, Thursday morning the tooth next to it came out too! She got $1 for that one. (which is lost somewhere in a plastic baggie at my sister's house)

She hasn't had anymore loose teeth since then but that's okay because the excitement over the first ones hasn't even worn off. She is always showing me "cool" things she can do while she is eating with her missing teeth. It's cute. My baby is growing up! (um, sorry if there are mixups with lose and loose - I tried to double check, but may have messed up anyway)


I'll have to write more later about my milestone - time for a movie with the hubsters.

Milestones

There have been a few exciting developments in the Wright household. The title of this blog could have been "better late than never" because I was nervously awaiting some of these accomplishments. Let's take it person by person:

Isaac - When I took him to his 15 month well-child check up the doctor was slightly concerned about his lack of talking. He had started saying several words when he was around 12 months, but had stopped saying those words and at the time of the appointment he was really only saying "no" and "mama" and "dada". I was a little worried about it, but not too much because I could tell that he was understanding everything going on around him and he followed directions really well. But of course the doctor got me all worried and said that when we came back at 18 months they would do a hearing test if he wasn't talking more. Well, I spent two months stressing out over whether he was going to start talking more! There would be some days that it would completely consume me and I'd spend time browsing the internet for articles about "late talkers". One night I was particularly upset about it and I was praying for comfort and I just felt like it was something I needed to let go of and everything would be fine. So, I did.

When we were visiting my family for Thanksgiving I noticed how much my sister's son Ollie was talking and I started worrying about Isaac again. I kept reminding myself that Olllie is 9 months older than Isaac. Also, it seems like when we were visiting in May, Ollie didn't talk that much, so I stopped stressing about it again. Sure enough, by the end of our visit Isaac had started saying a lot more words. I think it was good for him to be around a lot of kids, especially ones more his age. And since we've been home he has been attempting so many words! He now says "balloon, bubble, oma, opa, bye bye, choo choo, Rae rae, me, amen and a lot more that I can't think of. I'm really glad he's able to start expressing himself more, and I'm glad Heavenly Father was able to give me the comfort and patience to wait for him to do it! Hopefully he'll keep adding words to his vocabulary and keep learning and developing so mama doesn't have to worry anymore!
See, can't you tell he's going to be a genius?

Blaise - this boy has been SO hard to potty train. We tried EVERYTHING! Seriously - after a while I just didn't want to talk about it because people would say stuff like "have you tried giving him an M&M if he goes potty" - umm, dude, I'd bake him a cake if he went potty willingly! He just didn't seem to be able to tell when he was going to poop, and that was the biggest struggle of all. I couldn't really have him wear underwear because he would poop in them a couple of times a day and the mess was just too much for this pregnant girl to handle! Every few days I could catch him right before he started to poop and get him to sit on the potty, but it was never his idea. Again, this was keeping me up at night and causing me to read all sorts of articles on the internet. And, again, I prayed for help and was told that it would happen when he was ready. So I kept him in pullups and kept encouraging him to use the potty, but stopped stressing about it. It's not fun having an almost 4 year old poop when you are in public - but I had to get over being "embarrassed" and just know that it was something he was physically unable to do right now. I know it sounds like a nice excuse, but seriously, he just wasn't ready.

And then, suddenly, he was! We left Fayette on Friday night (Nov 19th) and drove to Charlotte for Thanksgiving. We were so glad because Blaise didn't poop on the entire trip! On Sunday he pooped on the potty (twice even I think) and on Monday he did it all on his own! On Tuesday he did it again and even on Wednesday when we went on a date he pooped while my sister was watching him! It was amazing!! I still didn't want to get my hopes up, but he continued to poop on the potty all week! On Sunday the 26th (we had gotten home late Saturday night) he woke up and had pooped a tiny bit in his pull up, but he told us he needed to poop and did the rest on the potty. And since that day he has not had a single pooping accident!! At first I thought i was the fact that he was around other big boys - but I don't think so because he started immediately when we got there. I think it was just that he was finally able to control his body and recognize the signals. I don't know the medical facts, but that's this mommy's opinion :)

We are still working on the peeing part, but twice this week he told me he needed to pee (which he has NEVER done before) and he has been staying dry for longer periods of time - so I think this is something that will happen on its own when he is ready. Definitely different than normal potty training, but it has been a good learning experience for me.



I have to write about mine and Rae's milestones, but this post is long enough already and I need to get the kids some breakfast, so I'll try to write it tonight.

What works for you?

I've been trying to decide what we are going to do with gift giving between the kiddos. I'd like them to give each other and us gifts so that they aren't just doing all of the receiving. This year they don't really have any money of their own (except for Rae who has some money from winning a contest and from the "tooth fairy" - ack, I need to blog about that). I think I'll just take Rae and Blaise shopping and let them pick out some small items and find a few things to be from Isaac - but of course that doesn't really teach them anything about sacrifice and using hard-earned money to buy things for other people. SO, my goal for the new year is to set up some sort of allowance system so that they learn to save money for toys they may want in the middle of the year and also saving money to buy gifts for people.

My questions for you:

How do your kids earn allowance and how much do they earn? After tithing what do they get to do with it?

Do your kids give each other gifts for birthdays/Christmas?

Answer my questions and I'll get back to blogging regularly ;)

My 30 days of thanks

I know a lot of people naming what they are thankful for everyday either on their blog or facebook, but I didn't want to commit to doing it daily - so here's my whole list :)

I am grateful for:

1.Knowing that I am a child of God and knowing the Plan of Happiness.

2. Eternal marriage and the wonderful husband that I have.

3. My wonderful children - they totally stress me out, but they bring so much joy to my life also.

4. Being able to conceive and bear children easily. A few friends of mine have lost babies recently and it makes me especially grateful that I haven't had complications like that. Also makes me think twice before whining about how hard pregnancy is.

5. Roy's job. I complain a lot about how busy he is, but he is able to be home every single evening and every weekend. And he makes enough money that I don't have to work, which is really important to me.

6. Great parents that raised me really well and are fantastic grandparents.

7. Great in-laws that are super supportive and wonderful grandparents also.

8. Fun siblings and sibling-in-laws that give me lots of support and laughs.

9. The internet - so that I can keep in touch with those in 6,7 &8

10. The gospel of my church is most important, but I am also grateful for the organization of the church - for things like visiting and home teachers and fantastic primary teachers.

11. Roy's sense of humor. Some people may not get him, but I do :)

12. Being able to rent a beautiful home that has plenty of room for our growing family.

13. Dishwasher. Seriously folks, the first 6 years of our marriage we had no dishwasher and I really really hate doing dishes.

14. Other modern conveniences like a washer and dryer, cell phone, minivan with automatic sliding doors and a dvd player inside. (I have the most awesome van)

15. I'm halfway there and I'm starting to get pretty trivial :) TV shows that make me laugh and wind me down at the end of the day.

16. Tasty treats and wind me down at the end of the day

17. Tasty drinks like diet dr pepper and Pibb Zero that wind me up in the middle of the day.

18. Living in a beautiful part of the country. I loved CA and the weather there, but there is so much variety and lovely lovely countrysides here that really make me appreciate the world Heavenly Father made for us.

19. Having a nice warm house during the winter months. Our gas bill just came though and I'm trying to turn the heat down a bit!

20. Thanksgiving break that starts today - so we have an entire week to travel - woot!

21. Christmas break - Roy will be home for almost 4 straight weeks. Double woot!

22. Our health. We haven't had any serious health problems and don't get hit with too many serious bugs. It's actually been almost 2 years since Rae has thrown up! And it's been almost 3 years since Roy has!

23. This is getting kinda hard. Seeing the joy in my kids' eyes when they have learned something new.

24. Modern medicine and equipment - I've had two ultrasounds already during this pregnancy and I can't imagine living in a time where they weren't available.

25. Digital cameras. Can't even imagine trying to get a shot of a squirmy baby with a regular camera!

26. Lovely decorations (especially Christmas ones) that make my home feel festive and beautiful.

27. Drawings from my children. They LOVE to draw, and love to hang their pictures up all over the house.

28. Disposable diapers. And Costco wipes. They are seriously the best.

29. Cartoons that keep my kids entertained while I do stuff like this.

30. People who read my blog and comment ;)