Primary Spotlight

BittyBit was featured as the "spotlight" in primary at church today. That means that the primary leaders sent her home with a questionnaire the week before and I went over the questions with her and then got to share her answers with all of the other kids at church during the primary sharing time.
Some of her answers surprised me (tomatoes, really? cause the kid never touches them when I serve them to her) but some of them were obvious (favorite color!)

Favorite Food: Tomatoes (pronounced toe-mott-ohs, just like on Charlie & Lola) & craisins
Favorite Color: Orange
Favorite Movie: Enchanted
Favorite Book: Princess ABCs
Hobbies: Playing with toys
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Vanilla
Favorite Subject in School: Art
Number of Siblings: One brother
Special Awards/Accomplishments: learning to read & to add numbers
Special Qualities: Compassion - when her brother is sad, she always tries to help him feel better
Relate or have your child relate a time when they felt Heavenly Father's love for them. At Christmas time when we celebrate Jesus' birth. She knows Heavenly Father loves her because he sent Jesus Christ to be our special friend, elder brother, & the savior of the world.

BittyBit's fourth birthday

We had BittyBit's birthday party on the 27th (Tyson's idea, not mine - I didn't think people would show up two days after Christmas). Her birthday wasn't actually until the 29th, but we wanted to have the party on a Saturday. Most of our family and a few friends showed up and we had a good time. We had Sunchips & corndogs, followed by Costco cake. I was going to make her birthday cake this year, but she requested a Costco cake instead, and hey, I'm not one to argue with convenience and deliciousness! Afterwards, BittyBit opened her presents from family & friends (we saved our presents so that she'd have something to open on her actual birthday). Thanks to everyone who came and made her birthday special.

Christmas Day

The kids were pretty good this year and I guess Santa noticed because he brought BittyBit the Tinkerbell movie that she's been asking for since October and brought LittleMan a really cool wooden train set. We started the morning off by opening gifts with the kids. LittleMan still wasn't very into opening the presents, but sister was more than happy to help him open his presents.At lunch time most of the family came over and we all enjoyed the delicious meal that Tyson prepared, as well as all of the delicious goodies that everyone else contributed. Then of course there were more presents: The Secret of Nimh from Jenni, Derek & Ashley, and handmade scarves from Gram. LittleMan's is a miniature version of Tyson's birthday scarf and BittyBit's is her favorite color - orange. **Sorry there are no pictures of Robyn or mom on here, I had a few, but someone was blinking or something equally unflattering in each of the pics** :)

After lunch there was generally a lot of goofing around, then everyone drifted out the door and Tyson, Terrence, and our friend Glen followed Derek home to watch The Dark Knight. I like super hero/comic book stories, but not enough to endure one with a freaky clown, so I passed on that one. Jenni stayed with me to chat and help me keep an eye on the kids, since I was almost in a sugar coma from all the fabulous desserts. We were going to catch a movie after the boys got home, but they were a little later than we thought they'd be and we were both exhausted, so we called it a night and crashed.

The best part about the whole day is that I've been trying to focus on the true meaning of Christmas with the kids. We've read New Testament Stories every day this month to really focus on Christ, and I stressed to BittyBit that while presents are fun, that's not really what Christmas is about. When I asked her if she had a fun Christmas, and if she liked her gifts, she replied, "Yeah mom, but Christmas isn't about presents you know. It's about Jesus."

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we packed up the kids and went with Connie to her church's candlelight service. Afterward she and Aunt Kathy came to our house to watch the kids open their presents from Connie. LittleMan wasn't sure what to do with the wrapping paper but BittyBit was only too happy to show him how it works. And no, she didn't poke herself in the eye, she had pink eye. I knew something was wrong when she woke up in the morning and had a serious look on her face. She has asked me every day for the past two weeks if it is Christmas yet, or her birthday, or at least Halloween. I thought she'd be pretty excited when she asked this morning and I told her that Christmas was tomorrow, but she was just worried about her poor, swollen, painful eye. Kudos to Tyson for following through with the pediatrician. We caught it early and it didn't get too bad or spread to anyone else.

Looking at Christmas lights

BittyBit was very excited for the first 20 minutes, but it didn't seem as though we could find an entire street that was decorated. We did see this cool tree that must have taken forever to wrap in lights, but I couldn't get any neighborhood shots because there just weren't enough houses next to each other that were decorated. The kids, well, maybe they'll appreciate it more next year!

LittleMan in his new tie, so cute!

12-6-08 Naga Tournament

Tyson competed in another tournament at the beginning of the month. My photos have been trapped in my camera for almost that long, so I'm playing catch up. Tyson placed third place out of 16 people in his division for the men's gi portion.

A glimpse into my world...

1. As soon as I walked in the door from work, BittyBit ran over to the fridge and pulled off a piece of paper with stickers all over it. "Look mom, I made this at the library!" she said. I asked her about the story she heard and she told me-
BittyBit: It was about the jungle.
Me: Was it a story about animals?
Tyson: Well, in a manner of speaking.
BittyBit: Yeah, and they ate the humans!
Tyson: I guess she got more out of the story than I thought.

2. Later that night, when I was back home after Cub Scouts...
BittyBit: Mom, I'll be Giselle, LittleMan can be Edward, & you be the stepmother. (From "Enchanted")
Me: Ok. Did you know your Aunt Jenni is a stepmother?
BittyBit: But she's not mean.
Don't worry, I took the teaching moment to tell her,"Not all stepmothers are mean, that's just in fairy tales. Well, some step mothers are mean, but lots of them are nice."

3. Still later...
BittyBit: Mom, I'll be a kangaroo & you be a witch.
Me: Ok
Bittybit: Are you a nice witch?
At this point Tyson chimes in,"I need some of your body parts for spell components!" and promptly begins chasing both the kids around the living room while cackling loudly.

4. At this point Tyson sees me laughing hysterically (after 10 years of knowing him, I'm still surprised by some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth) and writing on a pad of paper. He grins and asks,"What are you doing, writing down all of the reasons why I shouldn't be left in charge of the kids?"

5. A few minutes later Tyson is wearing a Santa hat and swinging his head around so that the ball of the hat smacks the kids as they are running around him. The hat falls off and BittyBit picks it up & holds it out to Tyson saying,"Dad, put this hat on and swat us with it."

So there you go. I won't say that's a typical night, because some nights are much more mellow and some are filled with different crazy adventures, but all in all, that little slice of the evening isn't out of the ordinary. I'll leave you with another picture, just to show that not everything is frenetic around here.
LittleMan loves to read and it's about the only thing that will get him to sit still for any length of time.

Oh, p.s. - Happy Birthday Tyson! His birthday was actually yesterday, but I figured he would appreciate me spending time making him cupcakes more than he would enjoy a blog shout out on his actual birthday.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving: A day in pictures.
After some early morning shopping for me, and a turkey-bowl football game for Tyson, we headed over to his mom's house to see his Aunt Kathy, Uncle Jim, and Grandpa who were visiting from Nebraska. BittyBit spent much of the day making this face. Life sure is hard when you don't get everything you want. :)Here's a picture I took of Terrence before he remembered that someone told him he looks better when he's not smiling. All of the pictures hereafter show Terrence with a look of studied seriousness. After we stopped at Connie's house, Terrence, Tyson, the kids, my dad, and I all headed over to Jenni's house for Thanksgiving dinner. LittleMan wasted no time in trying to grab any food in his reach.LittleMan: "I'm hungry, hey look a turkey leg, that'll do!"
"Fine, I guess I'll settle for this delicious pumpkin bread, since nobody took my hint about the turkey leg."After dinner, Jenni showed off her target from the shooting range. Enlarge it to see how awesome she is.Ashley let BittyBit play with her pink pony. "Look ma, now it's a unicorn."
LittleMan didn't want anything to do with this horse. I think it's because he was trying to protest that he always gets stuck doing the girly stuff. This theory is backed up by the fact that later when I thought he might be warming up to the horse, he got close enough to hug it or climb on, but instead he shoved it over and walked away. That's right, you show that pink horse who's boss.
Like father, like daughter. Ashley was more than happy to share her toys, but she refused to smile for the camera. That's OK, I'm just mean enough that I'll post all of the frowning, scowling, and otherwise uncooperative pictures of my subjects if that's all they give me to work with.
Time out for tickles. LittleMan was so into this he even helped Aunt Jenni out by lifting his shirt for her every time she came at him.I saw my youngest sister Rose for the first time in a few months. Last time her hair was long, now it looks kind of like mine. Sorry guys, I'm not posting the angry badger face pictures here, I have to maintain the pretense that I still have a shred of dignity.
Anne and Rose, aka Fourthborn & LittleBit (not to be confused with my BittyBit - my mom came up with all these names, kind of confusing, but oh well.)A lovely picture of Robyn - after viewing the preview I said to her,"Wow, your expression looks just like mom's in that picture"...Which led to this picture... Followed by several more where her expression changed from surprise, to laughter, to resignation when I showed her the preview. Yes, someday all girls turn into their mothers in one way or another.
LittleMan was just as happy to clean up as he was to eat all of the food in sight. Here he is after single handedly loading all of the dishes and starting a load in the dishwasher. Ok, maybe he just pushed all of the buttons on the dishwasher, but a mother can dream, can't she?
This is maybe the fourth picture that Tyson and I have been in together during the last two years.BittyBit gave up her scowling for a little while and posed with her mom and aunt. She was really fairly pleasant considering this week's schedule has been turned upside down.
Then it was time for a serious game of chase, with BittyBit being running from about 4 grownups at once. Ha ha, you think Grandpa Cary is going to save you?
Jonathon doesn't believe in safe zones, he'll scoop you up and twirl you around no matter who you try to hide behind!

We were all so tired by the end of the day. We brushed the kids' teeth when we arrived home and tossed them in bed. I stumbled off to sleep just after 8:00pm, although I didn't fall asleep until 45 minutes later as I was scouring the newspaper ads for Black Friday sales at the local stores.

What a day! I am so thankful for my family and that I live in a country where I can worship as I choose and while I may not agree with other people around me on some issues, I have the right to express my opinion and vote as I see fit. I really do live in a blessed country and I remind myself every day how much better life is for even the poorest among our country than it is for other people in so many other parts of the world. I'm thankful that I have so many family members close by and that we get to see each other as often as we want. I'm thankful for education and job opportunities and that I have clean water and good food to eat. Life is good.

Thanksgiving Savings

I didn't think I'd be one of those people who blogged about how much I saved on a shopping trip, and actually took pictures of the stuff, but I just have to after my Thanksgiving CVS trip. They had some crazy sales where a lot of stuff was actually free after Extra Care Bucks. I actually made two separate trips obscenely early on Thanksgiving Day, but here is the haul:
Total Value of Merchandise: $328.19
Total Savings: $312.70
Total Out of Pocket: $15.49
Leftover Extra Care Bucks: $7.00 (that's CVS store credit, for you non-couponers)
Adjusted Out of Pocket after subtracting ECBs: $8.49

Twilight

I felt like a silly school girl yesterday because all day at work I just couldn't wait to leave so I could stand in line for good seats to the Twilight movie. Julie bought tickets for several of us on Monday (good thing too, the shows were all sold out). Julie, Sarah, Rhiannon, Jenni, Ashley, & I all met up at the mall for the 7:15 show last night. I was the first one there, I arrived just before 5pm and was the third person in line. I quickly made friends with the fun gals in front of me and we planned our strategy of locking elbows when we got into the theater so that all the teeny-boppers wouldn't run past us and get the best seats.
We all brought snacks, including some oatmeal-cranberry cookies that made for my work party earlier that day, but only 3 people ate any, so I brought a few of them home and took the rest to the theater. Jenni made a Sonic run so that we'd have something to eat before the movie. We had so much fun just waiting in line.
(Jenni's MySpace pose with her Twilight tickets.)

After we ran inside and got our seats we laughed at all of the teenage girls who were gushing over Edward & Jacob. I didn't necessarily have any expectations for the movie. Some of the previews looked a little cheesy, but I loved the books, so I thought the movie would at least be entertaining. I only thought there were one or two silly moments at the film, and I probably wouldn't have thought they were silly if all of the teenagers in the theater didn't laugh every time a scene from a preview came on the screen. Some of the scenes weren't even funny but the audience was so excited to see something familiar that they laughed.

I thought the movie was good, although I don't know what someone would think of it if they hadn't read the book. There were so many plot points that had to be left out due to time constraints that I wonder if some of the critics are right that if you don't know the plot you might not know what is going on. It seemed easy to understand to me... I hear so many people say that they think that Bella is whiny in parts of the series, and while they are entitled to their opinion, I disagree. I think she's somewhat insecure and she wants to protect the people she loves, and at times she is left nearly alone to deal with difficult issues. Plus she's only seventeen. I think her character reacts humanly and realistically, I don't think she's at all whiny.
After the movie our group wanted to take a picture in front of the Twilight display or poster, so we looked, and looked, and looked for it. Finally Rhiannon asked the information desk, and they said they didn't have any promotional displays for the movie. What?!? I mean, we got over it, but I can't believe they don't even have a measly movie poster for what will certainly be their biggest grossing movie of the year. So we settled for a plain old group shot, without any Twilight background. :(
Here's Jenni playing "who am I?". The answer is Derek - who always jumps in front of everyone else and tries to ruin their pictures.
Here are all the girls - Jenni, Rhiannon, Ashley, me, Julie, & Sarah.