One Little Word

I used to be completely in touch with the world of scrapbooking...the magazines, the latest trends, the fun papers and the scrapbooking icons...and through that passion, I found photography. Since I only have so much time in a day, at this point it really has to be one or the other and I am certain that you can guess which one I choose.  {...yes, photography!!!}

And even though I know that scrapbooking is on the back burner for now, I still follow some of my very favorite scrapbooker blogs and among them is a common theme right now..."One Little Word". The idea is to choose one word for the coming year, just for you. Even though this concept has been around for a few years, I have never felt inclined to come up with a word. This year, though, I am drawn to a word so much that I just can't resist:

EMBRACE

So many things come to mind as I consider this word...embrace change, embrace now, embrace the sweet ones in my life, embrace the challenges, embrace the help that comes from all around me...so I have decided to take on this word this year. I will let it into my life and try to live it each day. And since one word is about all I can handle at this point, I know it will be a good way for me to improve myself and take on the challenges and the wonderful joys that this year will bring!

HAPPY 2011!

More Christmas Fun

Sleepover Under the Tree!

Hitting Grandma's piniata

Counting the Days

Finding Jessie in her sneaky hiding places every day!

Exploring ornaments on every tree she sees...this one is Grandma Becky's.

More to come...I have another card to upload.

A Beautiful Holiday

We started our little family Christmas festivities at our house opening Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve and then opening our Christmas books (Fancy Nancy Christmas and I Believe in Santa Claus). We then read the nativity and the Christmas books, put out the magic reindeer food, cookies for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer. We like reindeer! Then it was off to bed.

Seth and I got to bed by 11:00 pm...which is a serious record for us!

(Thank you FlyLady for helping me get ready for Christmas early!)

Before the kids woke up and went in to see what Santa brought, we snapped some pictures. Yes, it is Waaaay more that it should be...we are setting more specific guidelines for Santa next year. He (or maybe it is his wife) tends to go a little crazy buying too many presents!

Since I made lots of play food, mail, aprons and such for the kids this year, we decided to set it up like the Santa stuff (mostly so we didn't have to wrap it).

At 7:30 Christmas morning, the kids looked like this...Where's the excitement? Oh, don't worry...as soon as we snapped this picture we headed to our Christmas Countdown to get out the star...

then they got really excited!

And why wouldn't you with a morning like this!

It was wonderful and magical and so much fun! My favorite part was watching the kids help each other (and us) open the gifts from them. So sweet!

Added bonus...I had muffins ready to go, so we put them in when we started opening gifts and they made our house smell wonderful and were hot and ready when we were done.

Celebrations

Holidays are insanely crazy for everyone, and when you add kids to the mix...oh boy! So, we are lucky to have the most accomodating family ever! Because they are always willing to be flexible, we get to celebrate Christmas with everyone on different days and it makes for some serious fun!

We went to the annual Gregory Christmas Party (which was expanded to a church gym this year for the first time) and the kids had a blast smacking the piniata...and hiding on the stage to eat all their loot.

The Sunday before Christmas we celebrated with Grandma Becky and Fam...

I think it is every kid's dream to be surrounded by presents waiting to be opened!

We had some fun times giving/opening presents and the kids were spoiled...of course!

The girls were color coordinated with their packages...unplanned, but totally cute!

Morgan got a Leapster and once it had batteries he was off in lala land playing his game!

Chloe got this darling chest filled with dress-ups and she didn't waste any time trying on the dresses and accessorizing!

She even disappeared into the land of pretend for a while while the big people opened gifts...and then came back up and said...

"Everyone. Now we are going to sing Cinderella songs."

And then she proceeded to lead us all in song...with her magic wand, of course!

It was a great time! Thanks to all!

We had planned to do our traditional Snowshoe trip on Christmas Eve morning, but Morgan woke up throwing up, so we decided to stay home and rest instead.

He was doing much better by later in the day, so we visited the Tate clan and then it was off to Grandpa Mark's. Since my dad is getting remarried next week, it was our first Christmas Eve together with his fiance and her family. We had a turkey dinner, the kids got out all the toys at her house and we opened gifts. Chloe got a barbie and Morgan got hot wheels...and they were so excited that they ripped the packages open and played with them right there on the spot!

We always go sledding with the Tates on Boxing Day, and with everyone's travel schedules, we ended up doing our Christmas celebration and gift exchange that day as well. It was so fun to combine them and extend the Christmas fun an extra day that I hope it becomes a new tradition. I didn't take the nice camera with me, so you'll have to forgive the lack of pictures and picture quality.

The kids definitely know who to go to when they want someone's undivided attention...

Grandma Denese pulled the 3 babies born this year in the sled and had the older girls holding each hand.

The present that Seth is so excited about is a Flight of the Conchords DVD from his youngest sister...he was REALLY excited!

The Year of Christmas Traditions

I was a little bit obsessive about traditions this year...making sure we have them, making sure we did them, and trying my very hardest to actually enjoy them (thus my absence from blogging). There is something about traditions that is orderly and controlled and it just feels safe and comfortable.

So here we are enjoying some favorite traditions...

Temple Square Lights

We went to Temple Square to see the lights for Family Home Evening (though not on a Monday night) and it was truly one of the coldest nights I have ever experienced! We bundled the kids up as well as we could (since we hadn't purchased a parka for Chloe yet). Our car's thermometer said it was 15 degrees outside...but it was really closer to 8 and windy. Bitter cold! The plus side of that was no crowds. We literally walked up to the nativity scene outside the visitors center right as the nativity started and we were the only ones there! Amazing! The second row of pictures is the kids watching the nativity...it was so sweet to see the awe and wonder in their faces in the split seconds I caught these pictures before they started throwing snowballs in the general direction of the manger scene (fresh snow+cold kids+no crowds=antsy kids who want to move). Despite the cold, we had a great time just being together after a week of parties and finals and craziness! Have I ever mentioned that I adore my little family!?

Going to See Santa

This is a definite must for us each year. We normally go to the cute little Sugarhouse shack, but they changed their hours and started making you buy (rediculously expensive) pictures in order to take your own, so we just took the kids to see Santa at Seth's work. The Santa was so wonderful and the kids were all dressed up, but he wasn't a sit-on-my-lap Santa...more of a stand together for a picture Santa. We attempted some pictures while we waited for Seth to come over from his floor, but in all of them Brynn's face seems to be saying, "Why do I keep getting my face squished?" Morgan was so excited as he walked right up to santa, borrowed some reindeer antlers and told Santa that he wanted some cars, a Peter Pan costume and a Captain hook costume. Chloe was anxious as we waited in line, and burst into tears when we tried to get her to go and tell him what she wanted. Finally I convinced her to go up if She could stand on the other side of Brynn and me. She still wouldn't talk to him, but ofter some unsuccessful coercing, Santa gave her some magic reindeer food from his sack and she warmed up enough to tell him what she wanted for Christmas.

"I want a Cinderella," she said, and stuck out her hand to receive it.

I laughed and told her that Santa would bring it to our house on Christmas as long as she was good. Silly Girl! Brynn didn't really care one way or another, but she liked Santa's jingle bells!

Christmas Slumber Party

This is a new tradition for us this year, but it was so fun that I know we will be doing it for many years to come. The plan was to get in our jammies, pop some popcorn, watch a Christmas Movie (ELF, of course), and have a sleepover under the tree, but the kids were pretty tired and I was trying to finish up some sewing projects, so we nixed the sleepover under the tree part. Maybe in another year or 2.

Homemade Christmas

I had waaay too much fun making gifts this year for people and pictures have been requested, so I am going to indulge. I am not typically a homemade gift kind of person...unless there is some really good reason to do otherwise, I like to give gifts with gift receipts so people can get something they will use and enjoy if I pick something terrible, but most of these were things I would have bought for people if I weren't capable of making them just as cute!

So here are the homemade Christmas gifts we gave out...

there is more to come that the kids got, but that will be another post entirely!

Christmas Magic

She probably won't remember the first time she saw her reflection in an ornament...or the way she loved seeing it dangle above her...
he probably won't remember the years up until this one
when we had a real live Christmas tree...
or what a big deal it was to "make the switch"... And they probably won't remember that they got most excited about reading
the Chistmas books that had been boxed up since last season.

But I'll remember.

Because every bit of it is magical to me.

Every second reminds me that this season isn't about finding the perfect gift,

or filling every second of time with something,

or making sure that everything is fair.

It is about making memories,

celebrating together,

believing in something that you've never seen,

anticipation,

reverence,

appreciation,

traditions,

giving,

and most of all

Love.

That is when you find

the magic.

Recession House

In honor of economic recession (which apparently is over if you didn't get the memo)

I present to you our 2010 Gingerbread house...

recession style. We used our leftover halloween candy...

(which barely made a dent in the large quantity of candy that remained...and still remains)

+

some cereal from our cupboard

(for the roof)

+

an unopened bag of dark chocolate m&ms from Easter

(the Easter bunny didn't notice the word "dark" on the pastel package...ooops)

+

a bag of marshmallows from our food storage

which Chloe molded into a snowman,

complete with nerds for the eyes randomly placed all over its body

(and yes, I stock cake mixes and marshmallows in my food storage)

And all in all, it is most definitely our most colorful house EVER!

And Morgan posed for this cute picture with the finished project

even though he spent approximately 5.3 seconds actually helping before he was off to play with his cousins.

Chloe, on the other hand, stuck around until the project was finished...

sticking candy on the frosting, making sure I knew when we ran out of frosting to stick candy to, building marshmallow snowmen,

and - my favorite - placing random m&m "paving stones" throughout the yard.

I LOVE having a baby girl who wants to be all domestic and girly with me!

And here is the whole fam with our little house.

It looked this cute for a whole day while I kept little fingers away

then they won me over and went to town.

Suffice it to say, I wouldn't so much describe it as cute anymore.

Christmas Traditions

I know it isn't even Thanksgiving yet, but since we have been eating turkey for a full week straight now (since our ward Thanksgiving Feast), it feels like it has already come and gone. So I bring you this post and hope you'll forgive me for jumping the holiday gun!

Over the past month as we have recorded our blessings each day, I have been craving a similarly enjoyable and magical Christmas season and wondering to myself how I can possibly pull that off with 3 kids, Seth in the midst of finals, shopping for gifts, ward activities, parties with family and friends, and all that comes with it. I have been reflecting on our holiday traditions and how, so often, the things we really want to enjoy as a family take a backseat to all that we "have to do". So, I determined that I wanted to get everything possible done in advance so that we could really enjoy the season. My shopping is 90% done, Christmas projects are about 50 percent complete, I have gifts ready to ship this weekend, and have all the major stuff we don't want to miss on the Calendar.

In the process of these preparations, I remembered my post from last year about our traditions and I was so excited to add our new traditions! In fact, I was so excited that I want more fun ideas for new traditions.

So, tell me, what are your favorite holiday traditions?

An Exercise in Gratitude

In attempt to actually be as good a mom as all of you think I am (haha, j/k), our family has started a new November tradition. It started out as an idea that could double as a way of counting our blessings and providing fall decor, but in the first couple of days, I realized that my plan was a little more complex than my time permitted, so,

the Tate Family Gratitude Journal was born...

and it is still cute enough to leave out as decor, just not in the same way I had planned.

Every night, we go around and list our "thankful for's" and write them down in the book. I plan to keep it with the Thanksgiving decor (or maybe the Halloween decor, just to make sure it makes it out of the holiday decor box before Nov. 1) and pull it out each year to add to it. The only problem has been coming up with a title for it (as illustrated above by the big empty piece of paper where the title should be).

Any ideas (other than the most boring backup plan title "The Tate Family Gratitude Journal")?

It has been so fun to hear what the kids (and Seth) come up with. I have loved each answer, but here is a sampling of my favorites.

Morgan has been thankful that he got to be number 2 on the airplane to Hawaii in his preschool class so he got to sit next to Paul, that we took down the Halloween decorations and put up Thanksgiving decorations, and Christmas.

Chloe has been thankful for her friends (which she says almost every night, by the way, and usually lists names), Heavenly Father, her princess crown, and my favorite by far...her friends in her dancing class (except, she doesn't take dance...

hmmm, maybe a dancing class in her dreams?).

I have been thankful for my sewing machine, a sweet husband who rakes leaves and scoops poop, pictures, and healthy bodies and bright minds.

Seth has been thankful for days off, Hawaii, smart cute kids, and Brynnie's sturdy frontal bone.

and Brynn, well, I assume that she is thankful for the same things every day...

food, a clean bum, and a family who ADORES her every second of the day.

Hope you are having a happy season of THANKS!

Weekend Math

fun filled days

+

lots of grilling and hot dogs

+

even more watermelon

+

late nights of fireworks

+

3 kids age 4 and under

=

very tired kids

=

longer (and harder) "working hours" for mom and dad

=

very tired mommy and daddy

=

a family in serious need of some sleep

Thank you to the picnic table who so kindly took our only "family of 5 photo" thus far...and we are in hiking clothes!

We are all looking-ish so I guess it will just have to work!

(Fun times and good memories should factor into this equation, but I am no mathmatician!)

And, of course, some pictures for your delight!

First encounter with a slip-n-slide at Grandma's 4th of July breakfast...Chloe's "slide"

Morgan's slideThe best thing to watch...Chloe cheerleading for MorganBackyard BBQ/hot dog roast...have I mentioned how much I love having a backyard again?

The kids might have had more fun watching the street fireworks than the big fireworks...who knew that tank fights could be SOOO cool? (thanks for letting us join you Kelli and Nate!) And of course the big event...fireworks! (these are 3rd of July fireworks pictures...the kids did not survive the 4th long enough to watch fireworks!)

Hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July!