I need a Calm, Quiet little Girl, but I sure love my Boys

My boys are anything but calm and quiet. But they sure are fun. In the mist of all there fun and playing Blake ended up with a pretty big goose egg. Check it out.



But it didn't stop him for long. He was up and rough housing with Tommy and Desirae moments later. Look at that goose egg, and smile.



Addition:



* Thanks to Becca who captured a smilar goose egg picture of Tommy that he got while playing with his cousins last Halloween.


I am sure someday I will look back and miss these days.

Christmas Day

It always makes me so sad when Christmas is over. You spend so much time preparing for it, and all the anticipation for the kids, and then the actual day goes by so fast. We had a wonderful Christmas though. Tommy woke up around 8:30am ish. We have a rule, that he has to come wake Mommy and Daddy up before he goes downstairs to see if Santa came. He came in our room and asked " Dad, did Santa come last night?" We woke Blake up and the boys and I snuggled in bed, while Dad went downstairs, lit the fireplace, and made sure Santa came. He came upstairs, and told Tommy that he must have somehow accidentally missed our house. Poor Tommy. He was so sad, until Eric informed him, he was only joking. That Santa did come last night and there were lots of presents downstairs, at which point Tommy jumped out of our bed and we all ran downstairs. Both the boys were so excited.

Blake loved his new Kitchen. But he was so hungry when he first woke up, that he got really mad that all the play food was fake. As soon as we fed him though, he got more into everything. He also loved that he had candy in his stalking. Poor kid, not one piece of chocolate. But he didn't care. He was so excited, he put two suckers in his mouth out once. I figured it was Christmas, so I let him.

Tommy loved everything about Christmas. He loved all his Presents. He loved everything in his stalking, and loved spending the day together playing. He got Lego sets from both his grandparents. So him and Eric were busy putting together Lego's all day long.

For dinner, we had a turkey Dinner with our friends the Stephenson's family. They have become such dear friends to our family. It was a lot of fun. My friend Sandi and I cooked the whole dinner our selves. I cooked my very first Turkey. And if I say so myself, it turned out really yummy and juicy. Of course I got a 17 pound turkey and now we have plenty of turkey leftovers.

With all the excitement of Christmas, we tried to set sometime aside to remember the true meaning of Christmas and why we give gifts. I talked to Tommy and told him how sad it would be if your friends spent a whole month planning a wonderful birthday party for you, planned the food, put up decorations, bought gifts for each other, and then accidentally forgot to invite you to your own party. He seemed to really understand that.

I am so thankful for this time of year to Remember our Savior. I can't imagine my life without him. I am thankful for the gospel in my life. It plays an impact in my life everyday.

Merry Christmas- Here are some of my favorite Pics:



Here are some of my favorite pics.


(Snuggling in mom's bed wile Dad goes downstairs to make sure that Santa came.)


(Christmas before the Chaos)


(Blakes new kitchen. Eating real food, because he was so hungry.)


(Opening Presents. Is it me, or is he starting to get older???? I wish they wouldn't grow up!!)


(Eating two suckers from his stalking. He was so happy to have a stalking full of candy that he could have. Suckers, starburst, and fruit snacks. Poor Kid)


(New power ranger transformers from Great Grandma Stringham)


(New sword and shield made by dad himself. This was one of Tommy's favorite gifts. He thought dad was the coolest.)


(One of Tommys lego sets. Thanks Dad for helping me build it!!!)


(Maria's first turkey. Watch out Martha Stewart- Here I come!!!)


(Dinner with our good friends the Stephenson's family)

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is probably one of my favorite parts about Christmas. Ever since I was little we would have a fun Christmas Eve, with lots of food and good times. We always drew names and got to open one gift the night before Christmas. Now we do it with the cousins, we all met at my mom's house, ate lots of goodies, dressed the kids up for the Nativity, and exchanged gifts. It is so much fun. Of course I think we will all agree that it is getting more and more hectic with all the little ones running around. But I don't think they care, in fact I know they are creating memories that will last a lifetime. Here are some of my favorite pics:

The Nativity













(Nice candy drool David, I am sure Becca will edit this on her post, but I thought it was cuter this way.)


(Grandma, I just really think I am an angel either way, with or without the halo.)




Opening Presents:

Blake loved his Cars Mack Truck from his Cousin David. I think it is his favorite Christmas gift by far. Look how serious he his.



Tommy opening his presents from his Cousins Ethan and Audrey (look how excited they all are. This picture makes me smile. Tommy's best friends really are his cousins.I hope they always stay close.)

I Herby Crown You, Sir Tommy

At Tommy's school they do a special assembly every couple of months where a couple of students from each class are chosen by the teacher to be recognized and crowned knights. They get special privillages, become leaders in the classroom, and best of all get to have lunch and watch a movie with the principle. Tommy is so excited for that. Tommy's teacher said he was chosen because of his friendship to all those in the classroom, for having a good attitude, and always being willing to step up and help others and the teacher when needed.(he gets that from his daddy). Here are some pictures of his special day.



He was so excited all week to be knighted in the assembly, but when his big moment came, he took it very seriously. Either that or he was so emberassed for how loud mom and dad were cheering. We didn't get the best pic because of the lighting in the gym.

Count Your Many Blessings Name them One by One......

I have to admit, this Christmas has been one of our tighter Christmas'. With Eric loosing his job a couple of months ago, things still feel tight and continue to feel like we are still playing catch up. Then we realized we were going to need a new fence sooner than later, and on top of that found out our water heater is cracked and is leaking so it needs to be replaced. I was in the process of feeling sorry for myself... than Eric volunteered with our ward to go help the people in Chehalis who have been affected by the flooding. When he came home with pictures and stories, I was able to realize how blessed I am and how many thins I have to be thankful for. I have so many things to be thankful for this Christmas. I have a wonderful family. A hardworking husband that is so good to me, and would do anything to help others out. He is truly a good example to me when it comes to serving others. I have two boys that are in perfect health, even if they do wear me out at the end of the day. I have a beautiful house and a warm bed to sleep in every night. And last but not least, I have the gospel in my life that keeps me going when times get hard.

Here are some pictures.

This is a picture of one of the many houses that were taking everything that has been ruined and destroyed out of theit homr. I can't imagine. Since these people were technically not in a flood zone, none of them had flood insurance either.


Here is a picture of Eric. He came home absolutley filthy. His job that day was to crawl in a crawl space of someones home, which was muddy, and slippery and try to rip out all the insullation, so they could replace it with new insullation. Most of the homes were also so mudy and filthy that they had to rip off there dry wall and re-drywall.


Here are two of the youth from our ward. It was neat to see the youth step up and volunteer too, I know it touched many of them.. Look how filthy the inside of this home is. This home is only 5 years old.



Eric said it was such a neat experience. When he arrived with our ward, he checked in at the local highschool where all the volunteers were given a yellow t-shirt showing they were volunteers. He said, that day, wherever you looked, you saw tons of yellow t-shirts, people from all over coming to volunteer their time to help out. It was awesome. It was cool too, A neighborhood that just happened to be a couple blocks up the hill from us, got together and donated $100 per each, showed up in vans, pulled out there barbecues, and provided lunch (hamburgers, hot dogs, soup, hot chocolate, and coffee) to all the volunteers.

I am thankful for this experience that helped me realize how blessed I am, and helped me step back, and remember the true meaning of Christmas, instead of getting caught up in all the craziness this time of year often brings.

Check out this Hair

Blake had a bath today, and I scrubbed his head. Then I got him dressed and we went about our day. I noticed his hair was sticking up when it was wet, I just thought I would brush it before we went anywhere. But it was to late. His hair will not go down. Tommy and all the kids in Tommy's kindergarten thought it was really oool when we picked Tommy up from school. Blake got a lot of attention, so now he likes it and keeps looking in the mirror. Cute huh? Maybe I will do it like this everyday. It fits his mischievious personality.

In Memory Of two amazing people.....

This time of year always makes me reflect on two people that have touched my life very much. The day after Thanksgiving this year, we went out to Carries graveside as a family. Blake just wanted to run around. Tommy however remembers Carrie. So on the way out there we talked about her and some of our memories. Tommy says he misses Carrie because when she would babysit him she would give him popsicles. He said, "sometimes, she would even give me more than one", with a big smile on his face. Carrie was an amazing person. I remember how much she cared about people. I remember when Eric lost his job at KP and he decided to go back to school, she told me she would stay up at night worrying about how we would make it. One night she called me and told me she was making dinner and accidently made to many porkchops and asked if we wanted to come over for dinner. How do you accidently make to many porkchops??? I love the example of true generosity she set for me. I know if it wasn't for her Jenna would not be a part of our family. I am thankful that she is!!! I am also thankful that Mary is now a part of our family, and how she has blessed the lives of Brian and Jenna, and now Catie. I am sure Carrie approves. In fact, for all I know Carrie may have had something to do with it, to make sure Brian and Jenna had nothing but the best.





December 2nd, was Grandpa Stringhams birthday. I loved Grandpa Stringham. I have so many memories of him. I remember going to the farm, and riding in his truck with him. I remember walking in the farmhouse, and Grandpa would be sitting in his rocking chair snoring away. I remember him getting the 3 wheeler ready for us to ride on the farm. I remember going out to the garden and picking peas with him, and then coming in eating them. I loved Grandpa Stringham so much. I am thankful for the example of hardwork he set for me, and also how well he treated my Grandma Stringham. As a little girl, there was no doubt in my mind how much he loved her by the way he spoiled her.

Papa and Nana came to visit.

Papa and Nana (Erics parents) came to visit on Saturday and left early this morning. The kids love when they come and visit. They get to spend one on one with them and create such wonderful memories. Our adventures while they were here consisted of wrestling papa, playing baseball outside with papa. Papa got to walk me to school Monday morning. We went out to dinner and celebrated Blakes b-day at a Red Robin ( we had them sing to him for his birthday and it scared the bajeebers out of him. poor little guy), going to church, and making a gingerbread train. Here are some pics. We didn't get much. The majority of our pictures are of our gingerbread train adventure:


Blakes gingerbread man, made by mom.


The boys working hard on their project.


Oops, I got a little on me. I guess I better lick it off! Yum!


Blake got sick and tired of us telling him to stop eating all the candy. He thought that was the fun part. In fact, at one point we spilled some sprinkles on the floor and the boys thought that was the best part


Here is our finished product.



Thanks to dad and all his help. He takes these things very seriously.



And then one last pic of Tommy and papa at the end of the day. They played hard and then pooped out.

Visiting Jared in the hospital

Tommys little friend has been through quite a lot in his life. He was born with heart problems and has a pacemaker. He was told this year that he would need to have another operation on his heart. Jared is such a sweet and fun little boy. He is so full of life and Tommy's best friend in Kindergarten.
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It was so cute when we got to the hospital. Jared had been so excited that Tommy was coming to visit him and the hospital. As we walked in to the ICU all the nurses, smiled and greeted us, and said: you must be Tommy. We have heard all about you all day long. Jared has been so excited for you to come. It was really sweet. They were both a little shy at first. I don't think Tommy new what to expect. But it didn't take long for them to start playing as usual.

Here is a picture taken of the pals over a year ago. They are such good friends and have such good times together. Tommy is so lucky to have such a good friend. And he is very thankful that his many prayers were answered in behalf of Jared and that his surgery was very successful. In fact his surgery went so well, he was in and out of the hospital in a week, and started school again yesterday.

Blake and Tommy as Santas Elves!!!

I saw this on my sisters and Melissas web site and just had to copy, it is too cute. Doesn't Blake look like he is the same age as Tommy. To watch them dance, go to this web site:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1149066613

All I need to know about life I learned from a Snowman

All I need to know about life I learned from a Snowman


It's okay to be a bit bottom heavy.
Hold your ground even when the heat is on.
Wearing white is always appropriate.
Winter is the best of the four seasons.
It takes a few rolls to make a good midsection.
There is nothing better than a foul weather friend.
The key to life is to be a jolly, happy soul.
You know you've made it when they write a song about you.
There is no stopping you when you're on a roll.
It's embarrassing when you look down and can't see your feet.
And last but not least, Accessorize! Accessorize! Accessorize!