Luminaries Gone Wrong



It's not uncommon for neighborhoods to do luminaries this time of year.  We knew that it was a Christmas tradition for our neighborhood and so Ben and I decided to give it a go.  We spent a couple of bucks on the supplies, but somehow forgot to buy sand to weigh down the bags.  Being ghetto-fabulous and cheap I suggested we steal some from the creek in our back yard.  It worked.  We had a fun time being outside for an hour or two talking with our neighbors as we were all getting our own luminaries together.  When it got dark, we lit our luminaries and said good night to our neighbors thinking that would be the last time we'd see them that day.

 

WRONG.

 

The kids waiting for it to get dark.

He's getting fat.  :)

We'll call this the "before" picture.   Take a nice look at our neighbors' lawn (with the blue house).  Notice how un-burned their grass is?  That's Ben on their driveway talking to them before all the action started.

And here are our luminaries.  Luckily they were unharmed by our mailman who decided to deliver our mail this late in the day.

Okay.  Now really look at the luminaries across the street.  For some unknown reason, everyone decided to put their luminaries on the sidewalk (and some in their driveways) instead of the street.  You can't tell, but our luminaries on the street have quite a bit of space between them and our grass.  But on the sidewalk, there was no space.

 

Fast forward a couple of hours. 

 

Ben and I were wrapping the kids' final gifts while watching White Christmas.  After a while, I decided to get up to update the blog with pictures of the luminaries (go figure).  When I had just stood up, I decided to look out our door windows to see if all of our luminaries had burned out (most of them had a while earlier).  Instead, I saw a small fire on the lawn across the street.  My neighbors were just running outside to stop it.  I yelled at Ben and we ran outside.  Ben went straight for the hose while I went for a bucket.  Luckily we had both a 100 and a 50 foot hose we could connect together so that we could reach far enough to spray their yard.  But by the time we got there most of the yard was ablaze.  Our neighbors in the blue house and the neighbors in the house to the side of them (whose luminary actually started the fire) both had their hoses going.  One guy kept his on the electrical box the whole time.  Ben kept the fire from getting to their truck in the driveway and got most of the yard soaked.  And the other neighbor got the rest of the fire out on his lawn.  I ran down the street and blew out as many luminaries as I could.  By the time the fire department got there, the whole yard was soaked and black. 

 

 

 

The whole thing was frantic.  All of us were running all over the place trying to do whatever we could to save the home.  But once the fire was out we were all talking together and it was actually a really amazing experience.  We agreed that it wasn't a coincidence the three of us neighbors just happened to see the fire at virtually the same time -- and right when it started.  We agreed that God was really nudging us to look out our windows.  And Ben made the point that the only people who even looked out the window were the only people close enough to have hoses to get the fire out (the house to the other side is also newly built and hasn't been sold yet).  None of the other neighbors who eventually noticed would have been able to help.  Coincidence?  I think not.

 

So if you're doing luminaries, use the LED candles. 

Oh, and if your neighbor's yard ever catches on fire anyway, give your lawn-obsessed neighbor a high five for saying that his lawn is going to be the most fertile lawn in the neighborhood now that it has ash all over it.  It's not as if he didn't pay thousands of dollars for that sod anyway...

Mary

Each Christmas time that I've had a new baby to get to know (which seems to have happened a lot in the last five years) I always find myself thinking of Mary.  I grew up knowing the story of the nativity but it wasn't ever possible for me to empathize with it until I became a mother myself.  This year especially has made my love for Mary stronger.

As I was full term with Thad and had already reached my due date, for about 36 hours the hospital would frequently call me with the same message: there wasn't room for me.  I'd have to wait.  I was just a number on an already booked list to get through. 

I was miserable which meant that Ben was miserable.  I was the one carrying the baby, but we were both carrying the burden.

But as I ached with my false contractions that I had had for 18 weeks, frustrated that they meant nothing, I thought about Mary.  Mary didn't have a leather sofa that reclined to help ease her swollen ankles.  She had a donkey that bumped and I'm sure generated many contractions.  Mary didn't have the luxury of being in her own home during her last days of pregnancy.  She had to go somewhere foreign with trust in a man who had never delivered a baby.  Mary didn't have a hospital bed that could call health professionals with the single push of a button.  Mary had straw that poked and a stable full of animals that I'm sure didn't stay quiet while she was experiencing the worst pain of her life.  She didn't have a nursery ready for the child who deserved a nursery more than any other child in the world.  She had what was probably a manger made of rocks.

With each baby, I am renewed with the sense of being a better mom, a better example.  And not to lessen the importance of my children, but Mary already knew that she would be the mother of the Savior.  Not just A Savior but THE Savior.  Every first time mom makes mistakes -- and plenty of them -- but Mary had more responsibility on her shoulders -- she had to be the Savior's mother.

Ben finds it strange that any time moms get together, somehow stories of our pregnancies and deliveries always come up.  It is just some sort of camaraderie we have.  But if I could ask any woman about her own story, I would want to know Mary's better.  I would also cherish her parenting advice far more than any parenting magazine or book.  My love for Mary is probably the reason why Mary Did You Know is my favorite Christmas song.

I am thankful that this story is recorded in the Bible.  I am thankful for the divine help that Mary and Joseph were given in order to be prepared to raise the one Hope for us all.  I am thankful for Mary and Joseph -- that they not only were willing to accept their earthly calling, but that they fulfilled it.  I am thankful for our Heavenly Father who knew this plan from the beginning, and I am most especially thankful for that little baby who was born in that humble stable.

Mum and Dad's Mission Call!

My whole life I had planned to serve a mission.  Then I got married way earlier than expected and the whole mission idea disappeared.  I was excited to get married and have never regretted it, but there is a little part of me that has always thought that it would have been an awesome experience.  I know Ben's mom has had a similar experience.  When President Monson announced the younger age for missionaries, Ben looked at me and said, "If this would have happened when we were dating you wouldn't have married me."  Not true.  But I'll admit I'm a tiny bit jealous of all the people who get to serve earlier now.

Ben's parents have been planning to serve a mission and submitted their papers a little while ago.  Yesterday their call arrived and all of us kids got on our computers or phones for a video conference. Since this is the first time I've ever been able to send off an immediate family member on a mission, I was really excited for this call!  And their call is awesome!  They're covering almost all of Asia.  (They're covering the countries in white in the second picture).  They will be serving as mental health advisors which isn't surprising to me since Dad is a psychologist. 

Ben has been on a campout with the scouts (but was still able to get wi-fi for the announcement) and so the kids and I have been looking at lots of pictures of all the countries they'll be over.  It has been breathtaking to see all the diverse cultures and the beautiful nature in that area of the world.   I know I can speak for Ben when I say that we will be crossing our fingers to afford plane tickets to visit!

They will travel all over, but they will be based out of Hong Kong.  Here is a picture from lds.org of their mission and also another map of their area.

Here are some pictures that I came across during my internet travels.

Hong Kong

 

 

 

Laos

 

 

Sri Lanka

Nepal

 

 

Malaysia

 

 

India

 

 

Bhutan

 

 

Mongolia

 

 

Pakistan

 

 

Taiwan

 

 

Singapore

 

 

Thailand

 

The mission also includes China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Burma, Dhaka, and New Guinea.  Although it isn't certain that they will get to go to each of these countries, it is definitely certain that they'll get to visit some of them.  I personally have always wanted to go to Thailand, so I'm really crossing my fingers that they will get to go there and eat some really good food while riding an elephant on the beach.  Too much?

 

Anyway, we know that Mum and  Dad will make fantastic missionaries.  We are very excited for them to have the opportunity to serve the Lord starting July 7th.  It should quite the adventure!



Baby Adoration

 

 

Guess who started laughing this week!

 

[Apparently being called a Fuzz Head over and over is hilarious to a 2.5 month old]

 

Get used to it, Bud.  You've got many more years of this to come.  I can see that you're thrilled.

Both girls love their baby brother -- and each other.  They cuddle all the time.

By the way, Ella getting ready for prayers is basically the cutest thing in the entire universe.  My personal favorite is when we're getting ready for a blessing on the food and she half folds her arms [like above] and eats at the same time with her free hand.

I'm throwing this picture in just for kicks.  I can't do anything while I'm holding a baby unless it has something to do with said baby.  When I try I typically manage to trip over the air, or empty the entire cabinet of cups when I'm reaching for just one bottle, or I get distracted by the cute baby in my arms and forget what I was trying to do in the first place.

 

Ben, on the other hand, is the opposite.  And if we're being honest here, he likes to rub it in my face that he's totally fine with multi-tasking while holding a baby [I mean, look at his face.  It says it all.] This is Ben making rolls while taking care of Thad while I'm just watching with a camera and no baby in my arms.  Because that makes complete sense, right?

 

 

 

For months and months I've been meaning to record some of my favorite Ella words.

 

Guy-yuh or Guy-yer = Skyler

Hi-yuh = hi

Zzz-Zzz = Jesus

Wah-er = water

 

Of course she says the typical "Num Num" when something is yummy.  And every time we tell her it's naptime or bedtime she runs to the baby gate and yells, "Nigh nigh!"  I don't know what it is about Ella that makes her so daggone adorable.  It might have something to do with her cackle laugh that happens every time she runs her wobbly run.  Or it might have to do with the fact that she loves cuddles and doesn't care how much I kiss her.  [I keep wondering if I should tally every time I kiss her just so I can get an idea of how often it is.  I'm guessing it's a few hundred per day.  Seriously.]  Maybe it's her bouncing curls or her fat legs that make finding clothes that fit a challenge.  Or maybe it's everything.  But whatever it is, she's lucky she's got it because it's not fun having a baby who thinks that 5:30 AM is the right time to wake up every day.



'Tis the Season

I love Christmas time.  I love the decorations.  I love the music.  I love the traditions.  And I really love the DVD's my dad burned from old videos of the classic kid movies (Rudolph, Frosty, Charlie Brown...) with commercials from the '80's -- priceless.  California Raisins and York Peppermint Patties were never so cool.

 

The kids really get into this time of year, too.  They're old enough that they've been looking forward to Christmas for a long time. 

 

 

Lily comes up with these poses on her own all the time. 

"They won't notice me constantly eating ornaments," says the toddler with the red sparkly tongue.

 

Lily and Skyler made wish lists for Santa.  The first two things on Lily's lists are "feres" aka fairies and "dole dols" aka dolly dolls.  The rest is some sort of Kindergarten dialect that I have yet to be able to translate.  Can you tell they've been working hard on punctuation in her class?  She constantly corrects me when I read to her.  If I'm not practically screaming the sentence when it ends with an exclamation point I'm apparently reading it wrong.

 

Instead of making a list of things to ask Santa for, Skyler drew a picture of our house so that Santa would be able to find it.  That's Santa going down the chimney on a ladder.

 

Tonight was the big night.  Santa flew all the way down from the North Pole to visit our neighborhood club house.  We were pretty stoked about it since that meant we didn't have to wait in line at the mall and pay for photos.  He was really good with the kids. 

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season.  May your tongues all be less sparkly than Ella's.

Thanksgiving In Pennsylvania

For quite a while, Ben and I have been planning on visiting Trina and Robert (or "Mrs. Roberts" according to Skyler) in Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving.  We chose the route that goes through the mountains and, from what we were able to see through all the fog and rain all the way up, it was a gorgeous drive.  Very holiday-ish.  The kids were fantastic all 11 hours in the car and even when we were crawling the last hour and a half through freezing rain in the mountains.

 

 One of the best parts for Lily and Skyler was when it snowed the day before Thanksgiving.  Poor Lindsey and Alan were at school and didn't get to join in.

 



I made the kids double up on pants and so Skyler's outer pants had a difficult time staying snapped closed.  They fell down.  A lot.

I wasn't kidding about his pants.

I had a snowball fight against the kids.  Let's just say I have better aim but they had 6 hands versus my two -- they won.

This is the only picture I have of Ella and Claire.  It's so fun to see their personalities.  Claire is a riot.  She is such a good baby -- always happy and obedient.  Her one issue right now is climbing up on things. And she gets everywhere!  It was hilarious.

 

And P.S. I've already called dibs on their chandelier when they redo their dining room, so don't even try to take it.

My mom always gets me flowers when I deliver my babies at the hospital.  This time she skipped the flowers and got me something I've always wanted: a cotton candy machine.  We took it up to PA and made the kids (Ben and I included) cotton candy.

 

Random question: You can make cotton candy out of just about any hard candy.  Would it be weird or cool to include peppermint or cinnamon cotton candy in our goody plates we give out to friends and neighbors for Christmas?

On Thanksgiving morning the kids were waiting and waiting until the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade started.  When it was finally on this how they looked -- beyond thrilled.  ;)

The adults did the cooking.  But let's be honest, Trina and Robert did most of the work.  Trina bought a 27 lb. turkey and the instructions told us it would take about 8 hours for it to cook.  So it was put in the oven first thing in the morning.  And then just a few hours later it was ready.  So we ate at 12:30.  It was awesome!

So, so good.  And Thad was good enough to lie on the floor the whole meal so we could eat the best dinner of the year with both hands.  And for the record, this was my first time eating brussel sprouts.  I thought they were pretty awesome!

Then on Black Friday we all put up the Christmas tree together.

The kids danced to the Christmas music.

 

Ella and I snuck in a bunch of snuggles... as usual.

Aunt Trina helped the kids decorate the mini Christmas tree.

 

 

Overall it was an awesome trip.  Both Lily and Skyler cried when it was time to leave.  When we got home, Lily broke down again and got mad that we left.  Honestly, it was nice to have adult time with Trina and Robert, but it was even better that the cousins got to have so much time together.  We've made some unofficial future plans and with them and I really hope that they work out *cough* going to NYC together *cough*.

 

We came home sicker than when we left.  (Did I mention that Trina and I didn't have voices for most of the visit?)  We were all in various stages of the same cold and then Lily threw up when we were in DC.  But 11 hours later we were home.

 

We'll miss Aunt Trina, Uncle Mrs. Roberts, and all the cousins.  Until next time!