Aches

This morning, Landon said, "I have a headache." Then he turned to Abby and asked, "Do I have a headache?" Abby answered, "I don't know." But her tone of voice said, "How in the world would I know?"

He seemed a little confused, so I asked if his head hurt. He said no, and I thought that would be the end of it. His voice was casual, and I thought he was just playing.

Next thing I knew, he was crying, "My ear hurts! I want my Dad!" over and over again. I eventually got him calmed down, but he complained a few minutes later. He isn't one to complain about hurting very often. Tylenol helped the pain go away.

I have a neighbor who is a doctor, and I had him check Landon's ear for me. He does, in fact, have what I think is his first ear infection. I can't remember any of my kids having ear infections before. Luckily, he doesn't seem to have any other symptoms, besides some slight, lingering congestion from a cold a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully, the antibiotic will kick in quickly and he won't have pain for much longer.

I Know That My Savior Loves Me

In Primary today, we started to learn the song for January. It isn't a song in the Primary Songbook - it's an additional song that was chosen for all the Primary kids to sing in the program for 2010. I absolutely LOVE this song. It's a simple, absolutely beautiful testimony of Christ. It will be truly angelic to hear the kids sing it. Get the mp3 to hear it here.

I Know That My Savior Loves Me
words and music by Tami Jeppson Creamer and Derena Bell

A long time ago in a beautiful place,
Children were gathered 'round Jesus.
He blessed and taught as they felt of His love.
Each saw the tears on His face.
The love that He felt for His little ones
I know He feels for me.
I did not touch Him or sit on His knee,
Yet, Jesus is real to me.

I know He lives!
I will follow faithfully.
My heart I give to Him.
I know that my Savior loves me.

Now I am here in a beautiful place,
Learning the teachings of Jesus.
Parents and teachers will help guide the way,
Lighting my path every day.
Wrapped in the arms of my Savior's love,
I feel His gentle touch.
Living each day, I will follow His way,
Home to my Father above.

I know He lives!
I will follow faithfully.
My heart I give to Him.
I know that my Savior loves me.
I know that my Savior loves me.

Scrapbook Page

I just finished a scrapbook page, following a free beginning tutorial from Jessica Sprague. I know enough of using Photoshop Elements that I am going to skip the full beginning course and start the intermediate course. This quick page just took a few minutes to complete, since I just had to add the picture and journaling.

Photoshop Elements

I got Photoshop Elements 8 for Christmas. I've been playing with it a little, especially with the Magic Extractor Tool. This is quite fun to play with! I still have so much to learn, and I'm excited to do some tutorials and online classes for it. My self-imposed assignment today was to remove Nun from a picture of him in Venice, Italy, and place Tyler in it. It's obviously a novice editing job, but it was fun to start playing with it.

Preschool Christmas Program

Abby had her preschool Christmas program on Friday. She was so excited about it for the last couple of weeks. She memorized her part for The Night Before Christmas after hearing me say it just a couple of times.

Laying a finger aside of his nose, and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, and away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

She also got to help say a part for one of her classmates who was sick. Unfortunately, we couldn't hear what she was saying, but I'm sure she did great. They sang a bunch of songs. Abby sang almost every word for every song, though she sang very quietly for most of it. She was excited to see Grandpa Jim and Grandma Bev, and she did a tiny wave for us frequently throughout the program.


Ms. Hilary does a fabulous job with the kids, and she put together a great program.

Tyler 7 Months

Tyler turned 7 months old on Saturday. He is happy more of the time than he's ever been before. He's really started to grab everything he can over the last few days, and gets mad when things are taken away from him. He is quick to smile, laugh, and squeal. Abby and Landon love to make him laugh every day. Abby especially likes when he laughs so much that his binky falls out of his mouth. When I was taking his 7 month pictures, Abby wanted to stand behind me so she could make him laugh, and it worked. This picture almost looks like he was crying, but he was just laughing at his sister.


Sleeping has been better over the last few weeks. He does sleep through the night almost every night now, but I still don't want to put him in Landon's room. He usually wakes up between 6 and 6:30, but Landon doesn't wake up until after 7. Naps are still frustrating. Most days, he doesn't sleep longer than 20-30 minutes at a time, and I really think he would be content more often if he could nap for longer. At least I can usually sleep better at night along with him.

Performances

Last night, Landon started singing his version of "Jingle Bells" over and over. He used a funny, deep voice, and ran all over the kitchen while singing. He thinks the song says:

"Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle all the way.
All the time to ride on Santa's sleigh - Hey!"

Yesterday during quiet time, Abby made some invitations for Mom, Dad, and Grandpa and Grandma. Here's mine:

A performance is tomorrow night. 7:00.

She was planning to put on a ballet performance for us when Grandpa and Grandma would be here. First thing this morning, she made her curtains and practiced a few ballet moves. As soon as she finished her dinner tonight, she changed into her costume and got her music ready. We all really enjoyed her self-taught ballet. After she was done, Landon performed Jingle Bells for us, then they combined their acts for the grand finale. I love seeing their creativity come out. Thanks for the invitation, Abby!

Santa's Key

When I was little, I remember asking my parents how Santa got in our house, since we didn't have a chimney. I think "magic" was as close to an answer as I ever got. This year, we have an actual answer to this question: Santa's key. Linda Butterfield gave us a key so Santa can leave us our goodies. It even came with a compass, so he can see if the kids have been naughty, nice, pouting, smiling, if they're awake or asleep, and if they left cookies or carrots for him. I told the kids we'll put the key outside on Christmas Eve. What a fun idea!

Christmas Pretending

Abby had Christmas on her mind as she played with Landon last week. She was in her room with Landon for quite a while one morning. When she came out, she was pretending to be a reindeer, crawling and dragging her new sleigh made from a clothes basket with Landon as Santa riding inside. They had toys to deliver to all the houses. That afternoon, she added more strings to the basket so she and Landon could be reindeer together. This activity occupied them for a good share of a couple of days. She had quite the creative knots in that thing, which took me several minutes to untie when I did my laundry yesterday.


That same day, she wrapped Landon in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. He was Baby Jesus and she was Mary. Doesn't he make a sweet little baby? At least Abby's including both the secular and spiritual sides of Christmas in her play, right?

Hair Bows

On Thursday, the kids and I spent the day in Centerville with our friend Emily. They played with Everett and had a blast. They wanted to have a sleepover with him so they wouldn't have to go home. Emily and I made some super cute hair bows for Abby, and a headband for her little girl. She showed me how to make butterflies, dragonflies, and corkers, and we worked together to figure out the layered bows. Now that we figured them out, I should be able to make bows much more quickly next time. Thanks, Emily!

Abby had Tyler model them all for us.

Sledding

Abby and Landon both love to play in the snow. I got them some sleds last week, and they tested them out in the back yard. It's not much of a hill, but they had a great time going down, until the wind tried to take the sled away from Abby walking up the hill. They tried going alone and decided they prefer sledding together.

Christmas Bingo

We had a fun evening tonight playing Christmas Bingo together. I found a great website that has custom Bingo cards. You can do 3x3, 4x4, or 5x5 Bingo cards. You can pick from a bunch of different themes, like holidays, colors, ABC's, household, fantasy, body parts, and seasons. There are two choices for Christmas - secular and religious. You can regenerate as many different cards as you need. You can also print a call out sheet with all of the possible pictures. The kids loved it!

Family Pictures

On Halloween morning, we had our family pictures taken by our neighbor, Tawnee. We went to Gardner Village. Abby and Landon were especially cooperative for most of it. Tyler was fine if he was being held. We didn't get any individual pictures of Tyler, so a couple weeks later, I took him to Tawnee's studio for a photo shoot of Tyler. I'm excited to get them printed and on the wall.

Getting Ready for Christmas

We decorated the house for Christmas on Saturday morning. The kids loved seeing all the decorations, playing with the toys, and putting ornaments on the tree.


Last night, we put our gingerbread train together. Landon wanted to know why we didn't have a gingerbread house instead. Abby loved making patterns with the candy she put on it.


Yesterday, Abby made something for Dad and me, and said we need to open it on Christmas Eve. While she was working on her secret project, which I couldn't look at, she helped Landon make a present for us, as well. Then she got out the wrapping paper, scissors, and tape, and wrapped them herself. She placed the first presents under the tree. Landon started to tell me what he made, but Abby and I started to explain that we need to keep all the presents a secret. Abby was so proud of herself.


Kids make everything about Christmas much more fun!

The Activity Spinner

My kids would absolutely love to watch TV and play video games all day long. I don't let them, (unless I'm sick) and we've been having too many tantrums lately when they don't get to, especially from Landon. So last week, we worked together to think of a bunch of activities the kids can do that don't involve the TV or computer. I was hoping it would at least give them something positive to do instead of crying when it's time to turn the TV off. So far, it's definitely helped. When they want to spin the wheel for an idea of something to do, they don't have to do what they spin - it's just an idea, and they can spin again if they want to. Seriously, why have all these toys if we never use them. It's been a good thing.

Story Time

Landon started telling me stories a couple of weeks ago. He told me a really funny one, so I pulled out the camera and asked him to tell me another one. This one got a little more silly. We had been playing Super Mario 64, so he was pulling from that for his story.

Next, Abby took a turn telling us an impromptu story. They both make me laugh!

Putnam Christmas Party

Every year, my mom's family has a Christmas party on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, this has also been the same day as the BYU/Utah football game the last few years. It started at noon, before the game started. Nun left after lunch to watch the game.

After lunch, the kids had 2 pinatas to pulverize for candy. My grandma always splits the candy up evenly for all the little kids. They all got candy and a $2 bill in a little stocking with their name on it. Abby and Landon both loved whacking away at it. Landon knocked off the first turret on the castle. Abby then used it as a princess crown, and then Tyler and Landon got to be princesses, too.

One of the highlights for the little kids is always the special visitor. Abby and Landon were excited to see Santa. Before leaving for the party, Landon said he wanted to dress up as Santa for Christmas. I think he's combining Halloween and Christmas in his mind. When Santa got there, Landon was sitting with my dad, got a huge smile on his face, called out "Merry Christmas", then promptly fell asleep on my dad's lap while waiting for his turn to see Santa. Abby didn't fair much better. She was about as close to sleep as she could get on my sister Ranna's lap. She was too tired to be brave enough to sit on Santa's lap. My mom got little gifts for everyone in our family, since we thankfully stopped exchanging with all the many cousins last year.

The kids had a fun time, then we came home to see how the game was going. Nun had invited some people over to watch it with him, and Abby started playing with Livi when she got home. Soon she only wanted to lay on the couch. She hadn't wanted to play at the party as much as she normally would, either, and just wanted to sit on my lap for quite a while. I realized she had a fever. I hope she can sleep well tonight and feel better tomorrow. I had strep throat 2 1/2 weeks ago, and Abby and Landon both had colds two weeks ago. Landon's was croup, and his cough still isn't gone. He asks me several times every day, "When is my cough going away?" We are ready to have everyone healthy, not start another round of sickness.