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.