Seeking Warmth

Today Lily came in from playing in the snow and knocked on the bathroom door, "Who's in dere!"

"Mom. What do you need?"

She layed on the floor and yelled under the door, "I just need a snuggle because you are warm and I am cold". 

We got a fresh blanket of snow overnight and it has left everything looking beautiful again.

 

Cozy Vibes

The living room is feeling quite cozy these days! I am loving the new image I got for the Frame as it is such a beautiful painting of the baby Jesus and reminds us each day of the real reason we celebrate. 

 

Still, Still, Still

This week has been another crazy week filled with lots of running, sports, practises, and events! We are all counting down the days until a much needed Christmas break!

Everytime I sit down for a few moments, Lily finds her way onto my lap for a snuggle and makes sure to give the "baby boy" some smooches. Whenever we ask what we should name him she says, "baby boy". 

This evening there was a brief few minutes of stillness where Lily once again climbed up beside me in the grey chair and nodded off to sleep. I quietly watched her eyelids close as she fought to stay awake. We continued to sit together basking in the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree. Then I scooped her up and tucked her in for a really early bedtime before sneaking out to catch Camilla's basketball game!

After losing to this team by one point last week, they were pretty happy about their first home win! We love watching our "feisty number four" on the court and can't wait to cheer her on again at her next game!

 

A Cozy Sunday

A cozy Sunday afternoon...

 

Christmas Cheer

We are counting our blessings...

Miss Joy and most of the Stannix crew seem to be on the mend (somewhat).

Everyone (except Daddy and Sawyer) attended the Ward Christmas Party. The look on Lily's face when Santa arrived will be forever in my memory. She was so excited!

And this guy still has a believing spirit and enjoyed chatting with the Jolly red guy as well! Meeting Santa was a highlight for sure!

 

The Christmas Dance

This morning in our dimly lit kitchen, Camilla looked out the window into the darkness of the morning and exclaimed, "Mom! It's SNOWING!". She was so excited for the fresh blanket of snow! 

After school Camilla and a friend got ready for the youth dance in Red Deer and I drove them in after dinner. Daddy was going to come along, but was struck with chills once more as we were preparing to leave and tucked himself back into bed. The big boys were put in charge and we left for Red Deer, blessed with clear roads and nice weather for the evening. While the girls were at the dance, I got some Christmas shopping done and then hit up Wendy's and waited in the church parking lot for the dance to end with a frosty and fries in hand. It made for a pretty late night, especially after a crazy week, but the girls had fun and were glad they could go!

 

The Christmas Plague

This morning I was into town twice before 8am. I got home at 8:30 and laughed at the sight of my fleece jammies paired with Mike's crocs as I slowly swung my legs out of the car. We have a few more kiddos down for the count with fevers & chills & sore throats. Daddy is still out sick. I spent the morning tidying the kitchen and made some chicken noodle soup for lunch. Sawyer spent the day wandering around the house and sleeping wherever it was convenient for him. 

Lily seemed to be feeling pretty okay most of the day. She played dolls and told me her doll was "her sweetie". She's hilarious lately! She's been singing Christmas songs and I am a Child of God all day long. Around dinner time she took a turn and asked to be tucked into bed. 

I ran in to pick up Ollie and Camilla from Piano, and grabbed Camilla a bite to eat before dropping her at Basketball practise. Then I gassed up the pathfinder, dropped eggs to a customer, and went to Hyrum's parent teacher interviews without him since he was home sick. 

I came home and pulled out leftovers for dinner. The kitchen I had worked so hard cleaning was now covered in dishes once again. When everyone had eaten, they took turns either bathing or showering before tucking in early to bed. I went back to town to pick up Camilla from practise and didn't arrive home until 8:30 pm. At this point, I'm just praying no one else gets sick, and I have energy to make it until the weekend!

 

Thirty-six Weeks

This week I have been the one running Camilla to seminary each morning at 7am while the other kids pack their lunches and get ready for school. Mike has been very sick with fevers, chills, and migraines all week and has literally been bed ridden because of it. I've been waking with the children, teaching Come Follow Me at 6:30, getting everyone fed, rushing Camilla to seminary, coming home to get everyone on the bus, and sometimes running back in to pick Camilla up and bring her to the school afterwards. 

Today Hyrum stayed home from school sick and Joe probably should have also stayed home, but he didn't want to miss his tests. After school Fin had Piano, and there was a hockey practise. After practise, we rushed over to the middle school for parent teacher interviews. Afterwards I ran everyone home along with the groceries I bought while one of the boys was at Hockey practice, and the other boy sat in the van with a sleeping Lily and Sawyer. 

We unloaded the groceries, cut up the pot roast from the crock pot and served dinner (to those who were hungry enough to eat). I invited Dad to grab a plate full as well, since my mom has also been very sick and without energy. 

I then filled Mike's water bottle with cold water and brought him some advil before leaving the house again with some of the children for a Nativity play practise at the church. We arrived home shortly after 8:30, and I tucked everyone into bed, and then waited for Camilla to arrive home from her Basketball game in Stettler. The boys and girls teams took a bus together and she wasn't scheduled to be home until after midnight (since they have to stay and watch the boys play too). We are only half way through the week and I feel exhausted.

In a few more days I will be thirty-six weeks along with this little one. While my pregnancies are relatively easy to endure, this last part always hits the hardest, mostly because it's getting more difficult to sleep at night and my body aches at days end. Even so, this always feels like such a privilege, to create life, especially after loss. Each new babe is such an added and wanted blessing for our family.  I can't wait to meet this little one and see if he ends up being the night owl I think he is.

The Reason for the Season

Tonight we were blessed to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional as a family. We like to cozy up around the tree in the dimly lit room to enjoy the music and talks that have been prepared. It always focuses our attention back to the real meaning of Christmas and starts our holiday season off right.

Near the end of the devotional, I put the kettle on for hot chocolate and lit my German Carousel. As I watched it slowly spin with the heat from the candle, my eyes were drawn to the little manger and my mind was filled with gratitude for my Savior.

Sometimes it's easy to get wrapped up in the chaos of the Christmas season, especially when trying to prepare a successful Christmas morning for so many littles, that it becomes easy to lose sight of what is important. It's been my new goal this week to slow down, take notice of others, and live and serve as the Savior did each day.

"Christ can transform our Christmas beyond the ribbons of kindness and affection, and wrap our celebrations with charity...Re-centering our focus on Christ during Christmas will provide us a more significant measure of His love in our lives, and a greater capacity to love and serve others around us."

~Jose A. Teixeira

Christmas Time is Near

Today I spent the majority of my time prepping our home to host the Staff Christmas party. It meant that my floor finally got a much needed mopping and the bathrooms sparkled. It felt nice to start off the month with a clean home!

As I was tidying up downstairs, I peeked into my big girls room and smiled. Camilla has always been our little Elf, full of Christmas spirit and cheer to share with everyone. This year she asked if she could use this spare tree we had in the store room. She set it up in her room with Lily and strung it with lights. I never want to forget!

After the staff party, the big boys wanted to try out the new VR, and everyone stayed up way too late playing. 

Here's hoping they all sleep in tomorrow!