December means

Toy lift, gingerbread houses, library books, Christmas cards, and fun Christmas themed games.  It means a whole lot more but lets just start with that.

When we first got here I learned about the toy lift and thought it was a great way to start getting in the holiday spirit.  We also noticed that our library had a book tree much like a giving tree and thought that would be a great addition too.  It always throws me off as they are both the first week in December so I have to pay attention to dates and events something that has been much harder the past 2 months with working at Kohls.  Not being aware of whats going on in the community is still a hard adjustment for me as planning outings like that for our family is one of my favorite things to do. It was like second nature, I always knew what community events were coming up but it has really scaled back this Fall.  Part of it is just that I never know what days I will be working (sometimes they are really slow with the schedule) so I didn't bother seeing what was going on and part of it is just not having as much free time.  It has worked out fine but I am looking forward to a more set schedule. *

Buying the toys for the toy lift was rather frustrating sadly.  Before we went into the store we talked about why we were there but as we walked down aisles it turned into a lot of I want this instead of maybe a kid would like this.  They absolutely understood what and why we were doing it but really struggled to keep that as their focus. And I totally get it, it's Christmas!  They have presents on their mind but I had hoped this store trip could be a little less about them.  Dropping off the toys was great but it was a struggle to get there!  We dropped off the library book and then headed over to the toy lift.

Lydia now wants Shopkins for Christmas which I get, miniature things are cute! We are typically pretty slow on trends, I think these have been popular for at least 6 months if not a year now. 

Sunday Jared and Lydia helped me get our Christmas cards ready.  As we worked on them Jared commented that he was like a machine and he could do this all day, he was actually disappointed when we were done.  Me too buddy, me too.  Such order.  He had a nice little assembly line going on.  Lydia did not love it like Jared did but was very helpful.  I seem to be getting lazier as the years go by.  I started sending them with a nice Christmas letter then it became highlights, then a paragraph and this year all I sent was the card.  I'm glad we got them out and love getting them in the mail. Mark had a long weekend and we didn't see him much.  He was gone for stake meetings and such from 1:50 - 9:30 Saturday and then from 9:00 - 4:00 Sunday.  Sunday was largely due to Choir practices. He has a performance coming up on Sunday (The Joy to the World Christmas concert our church hosts with quite a few other musical groups from the community) and was just asked to sing with another choir performing at the same concert. I can't imagine being a super musically inclined individual in the month of December.  So much going on so people like me can enjoy their talents  Speaking of music, I am really enjoying my piano lessons.  I love that I can sit down at our very own piano and look at songs (basic as a song can be) and play it.  And people recognize it! Sadly it is going to get harder as I am supposed to focus on rhythm and tempo this week but I will keep at it. I find myself sitting down to practice and then playing the songs (mostly Christmas) over and over as I want to get it right and I genuinely enjoy it when I do recognize notes and play them right.  I am grateful for my family's support and patience.

 

Monday we headed over to the Gingerbread village display with some friends. It was actually a really nice day so we stopped and played at a park downtown that I had never been too and then walked over to the display.  I am always nervous about parking downtown and was so happy when I found a spot right at the park.  It seemed like there were less houses this year but we found our favorites and enjoyed checking it out and playing with friends.  Lydia and I stopped by a friend's house before we picked Jared up from school and had a fun visit. I have wanted to get to know this family better for quite some time and hope we can meet up again soon! ( Jessie!)

 Festive foods and theme activities are coming out too.

I personally do not like lunch and do not enjoy making Jared's lunch for school.  I just don't feel like there are that many healthy things I can send for him and have him eat it.  I know he is getting fruits and vegetables from out smoothies and our food is fine at home but I would love to just throw an apple, orange or even banana in his lunch but he won't eat them.  It has been a bit of a joke lately as I have been lamenting making his lunch, Lydia always says how easy it will be to make her lunch next year, I could just put fruit in there and she would be delighted.  Thinking about making 2 kids lunches (way easier than say 4...) makes me sad. But I do love a festive treat! And even though Jared does not love PB and J sandwiches ( I still make him have them) he does like them more when they are cut out with Christmas cookie cutters.  I love to do this with pancakes and french toast too.

Rudolph donuts! 

I feel like I am doing a better job adapting preschool activities for Jared and spending more time with him in general after school. I still want him to just play when he gets home but I can certainly find at least one activity we can do together.  He is always excited when I ask if he wants to do the art project or science experiment we did in preschool so I am really trying to make that happen.

Things like, gingerbread man relays, Christmas bow sorting, candy cane/cookie dissolving, and Christmas memory.

Jared loves running so this was right up his ally, it was so simple, just running to get a gingerbread man from one side, high-fiving your teammate so they can go then repeat. 

Christmas bow sorting. I had them guess which size there was the most of then estimate the number of bows in each size.  Super simple but enjoyed.  When we do "talk time" at night Jared almost always asks me to tell him about our preschool day.  He has said more than once he would be happy to stay at home and by my assistant. 

This year I mixed it up with different flavored candy canes. I saw a box of mini assorted candy canes and thought they would be great for this experiment.  We did a little taste testing as well which was greatly enjoyed. I did not really like any of the flavors, (Blueberry, fruit punch and I don't know what the pink and purple stripe one was Berry?) I am a purist when it comes to candy canes but do't really even like them that much. 

We also dissolved these super crunchy Santa cookies which was quick fun experiment.   

Next week we are planing on handing out our Christmas lights award and the week after heading out to the Bethlehem Village in Afton.  We also need to find a date to go to the temple lights.  The month is filling up and going fast! Last week is the last week of school before Christmas break and I really need to do some Christmas shopping, I am slow this year, we do not have a single present wrapped and under the tree.  That is the goal for the next few days.

*Work is going pretty well. I am thinking they finally truly believed me that I could not work more than 3 days a week. I turned in another availability schedule listing T,W, and Friday as the days I could work and last week and this week they scheduled me for those days.  I was starting to feel really annoying because every week I would be scheduled for 5 days and then go in and make them change it so I am hopeful that can be done with. Then I could plan more things to do too. One somewhat helpful somewhat not thing is that I am now aware of all the sales they have and therefore feel like I should take advantage of them but need to stop and ask myself is this a need or just me buying something because I know there is a sale? Overall its going well and is helpful.

Thanksgiving

Annual Thankful Tree

Jared is thankful for:
Running, money, Veterans, his blanket, his family, leaders who keep our country safe, his bed, school,  bike riding, my house, my body, tick or treating, that he knows how to read, God, stuffed animals, food, TV, my life, oxygen and the Earth.

Lydia is thankful for:
The Spirit, mommy reading stories to me, playing at the park, the library, my bed, cousins, my house, food, my family, the Prophet, preschool, scriptures, breakfast, holidays, friends, books, mommy and daddy who take care of me, healthy, family movie night, treats, eyes, and the temple.

We had a wonderful, happy, quiet Thanksgiving. We actually had an early Thanksgiving dinner with our friends from Colorado on Sunday.  It was nice to see them and funny to eat most of the same foods later in the week. Lydia loves seeing their 6 year old Regan.  We started Thanksgiving day running the Earlysville 5K Turkey Trot and kids 1/2 mile which happens to be my favorite way to start Thanksgiving day.  This was my 4th year in a row running a race Thanksgiving morning and I love it.  We saw a few families from our ward and enjoyed chatting with them.  I was sad to not run with Laura but hope we can do it next year.

After the race we came home and got some dinner preparations going, mostly setting out rolls and getting the turkey in the oven.  It was a really nice day outside so we loaded up Jared and Lydia's bikes and headed over to the fun trails near one of the high schools here.  Mark and I walked hand in hand behind Jared and Lydia as they enjoyed riding their bikes and I thought about how wonderful our life was and how thankful I am for it. I have been listening to Josh Groban's song "Thankful" a lot this month and so appreciate what I have been blessed with.  Jared did have one crash but bravely got back on his bike and Lydia got up a lot of courage and went down some of the steeper hills and had a great time.  It has been fun to see her really take to riding her bike.  She was so hesitant back in September!  Now she balances and pedals like she has always known how.  I still feel the same excitement when I see her jump on her bike and start by herself that I did when she first figured it out.

When we got home it was food prep time. Mark and I prepared dishes together and Jared and Lydia played outside.  We originally planned on eating around 1:00 but as 1:00 came and went we smiled at each other thinking how nice it was to not be worried about getting a meal ready by a certain time.  We sat down to eat closer to 2:00 and enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving meal.  As we sat down just the four of us I thought hmmm... it feels a little weird to not have someone here with us or be somewhere but at the same time I think it was the right choice for us this year.  I was scheduled to be in to work at 5:45 Thursday and not get off until 2:30 am and then I was back at 11:00 am Friday and worked till 8:00 pm.  So I worked, then basically came home, slept saw my family for under 2 hours then left for the day. I really felt like we needed some good quality family time and it was nice.  Before I went to work Thursday Hannah and Matt came up with his parents for Thanksgiving dessert. I typically make a pear pie each Thanksgiving and will admit that it was really nice to not make it this year.  Pies take a long time!  At least for me they do.  They brought 3 pies with them, Apple, Pumpkin and Key Lime.  I saw them for about 20 minutes then took off.  They actually stayed the night and then left their 14.5 month old daughter here with us for the weekend while they went up to NYC. Mark did an awesome job with Norah and Jared and Lydia. I know they are totally willing to watch Jared and Lydia for us so we will need to plan a trip away when work is not so busy.

After we ate we did some fun Thanksgiving learning times.  The ever popular Roll a Turkey was back and we did some candy pumpkin building.

At preschool we did some Turkey balloon races and they were so much fun I knew Jared would love them so we did them a few days before Thanksgiving.  Jared has also been really into football the past few weeks so we have been out playing catch.  It is rather fitting for Thanksgiving traditions and it's been fun to enjoy the last really nice days and the last of the pretty leaves.

He actually had a really rough week of school the week before Thanksgiving. I got an email from his PE teacher saying that she was really concerned with his behavior in class one day. I was shocked!! And quite disappointed. I know he is not perfect, nor do we expect him to be but I really did not expect an email about how he was repeatedly not listening to a teacher. He was not paying attention in mindfulness (he is not a fan) and then asked to go to the bathroom, spilled water on his shirt and then went to the nurse without asking for permission to get a change of clothes because the adjustable buttons on his jeans were too tight.  The PE teacher was really concerned because no one knew where he was.  I had him write an apology note to the PE teacher and we talked about some different things. Later in that week I checked his "classdojo" report and for the first time he had negative points. Jared cares a lot about points and getting lots of them so I was super surprised again.  We talked some more and I feel like we made some good progress. He mentioned one kid that is really distracting and we talked about how he cannot blame someone else for his choosing to not listen.  He decides for himself what he is going to do regardless of what the people around him are doing. (This happens to him a lot in his Primary class, I so hope the classes get switched up for next year for multiple reasons.)  He also mentioned missing me a lot since I am working and how that was hard and that school in general was harder and not as fun as last year. I am glad he told me those things. Most parents want their kids to be respectful to teachers but I feel like we emphasized this an extra amount with Jared and Lydia since Mark and I are you know, teachers.  We talk a lot about making sure they do not make a teacher have a bad day, reminding them of how Mark feels when his students are off task and how that makes Mark feel.  He was his normal, happy, helpful self the 2 days he had school last week and I hope this does not happen again, but there are like 11 years of school to go so....  I was grateful we could talk and hope it did really help him. I couldn't believe how emotional it made me! I actually cried that my son was acting up in school.  I am going to need a lot of help the next 11 years he is in school and 2 more for Lydia.  This affected me way more than it should have. Another reason I really wanted to have some time alone with him especially for Thanksgiving. 

It really was a great Thanksgiving.  We have more than we could ever truly list to be thankful for.  To finish it off we decorated for Christmas Saturday and Sunday and got out Lydia and Jared's new Christmas Pajamas. Hooray for the holiday season and fun traditions!

Birthday Celebrations

I had a lovely birthday this year. My sweet friend Laura hosted a birthday get together with muffins and a cute how well do you know April Spencer game.  She is so fun and thoughtful.  It was so nice to visit with just some off the awesome people I have become friends with here in Charlottesville and I am a breakfast foods kind of person so muffins were spot on.  I made a batch of cream cheese filled carrot muffins and when I got to Laura's she had made 4 other types of muffins!  They were all delicious.  She does love to throw a party.  On my actual birthday I had a nice sleep in and then we went out to breakfast. I wish we had made the drive to Waynesboro to go to Cracker Barrel but was still happy to go out.  Since my birthday was the day before Thanksgiving Mark had the day off which was a nice bonus.  After breakfast we stopped by a sports store and found my Christmas/birthday present, a bike!  I have wanted a bike for a long time.  Especially since moving here.  Two of my very good friends love biking and typically go once a week.  I have really wanted to take it up as a new hobby/social/exercise activity and am so excited I can now.  Lydia is becoming an expert bike rider and asks to go all the time and she and Jared were both so excited for me to ride with them.  I have been dreaming of family bike rides for years now!  To add a cherry on top of this, Mark got a bike on Black Friday! While we were checking out to buy my bike the cashier mentioned that their black Friday sale was 1/2 off one item.  Mark tried out a bike and we decided he would go back on Friday and try to get it.  He got there just before they opened at 10:00, walked in and got a great bike for 68$.  For Christmas we plan on getting a bike rack as a joint present for the two of us.  It's really happening! My family went on bike rides a lot growing up and I am looking forward to it.
We spent some time riding bikes at the church and ate my birthday cake for lunch.  (In our defense breakfast was large and later in the day closer to brunch time) I also came up with a new tradition I want to start.  Mark had been asking me what I wanted for a birthday cake this year and nothing was jumping out at me.  A few weeks ago I had found a recipe for a pumpkin cake I wanted to try.  As I was thinking about making it for Thanksgiving I had the great idea to have Mark make it for my cake this year.  Then as I thought about this more I decided I would pick a cake each year and have Mark make it for my birthday.  He is on board and I am excited to start this tradition each year.  I know he is up for the challenge and will do a great job. I am so thankful for Mark who listened to what I really wanted and made it happen.  He helped Jared and Lydia make me beautiful cards and made my birthday a great day.  Since I have been working nights he has completely stepped up and taken over a lot of evening things I did around here and never complains.  I knew taking this job that he was completely capable but it is nice that he does it so naturally and well.  I love that I come home (way later than I ever should working at a department store, WHY are they open to 11:00 on weeknights?  Now 12:00 for December??) and the kitchen is cleaned, the loads of laundry I didn't have time to finish before I left are folded and Jared and Lydia are sleeping peacefully. He's a rock star and I am a fortunate girl.

 

34!

Outside!

We have been making the most of the great Fall weather we are having.  I don't dread the cold weather like many people I know but I do for sure prefer this perfect Fall weather.  We have been hiking, bike riding, and park playing as much as possible.  We are fortunate to have great people to do it with too.

Before we moved from our town home here our kind next door neighbor gave us her son's old bike.  It was the next size Jared would need and this past week he started riding it and is loving it.  The thing he loves most is that it has gears.  To try it out we went with the Shaw's on some great paved pathways Julie and Chris found a few weeks ago.  I had never been there and am so glad she showed them to us. The trees were beautiful and it was so fun to try out somewhere new.  Julie, Lydia, and I walked around with Lydia occasionally riding Jared's scooter and enjoyed watching the boys ride ahead together.  They love being together.  They also do a nice job including Lydia which is so great.  I can't wait to go back!

We met up with some friends at Forest Lakes Park one day before picking Jared up from school.  Lydia really likes playing with this sweet little boy Dash yet sometimes needs a little nudge to remember to play with him. They will both be at Baker Butler next year along with 3 other boys from Lydia's Sunbeam class.  It will be fun if she ends up with some of them in her Kindergarten class. Her number one choice would be Dash. We also took an afternoon to stop by Chris Greene Lake Park.  Jared was dying to ride his bike again. Originally I was against it because I had to go to work that night but I decided to stop and am so glad I did. The colors were gorgeous, so much better than I expected. It was such a pleasant surprise!  They have a little park there with some nice paved pathways.  Jared and Lydia had fun playing and he was of course happy to be on his bike.  I was happy to be out with them and in such a beautiful place.

Last week I went with Jared's class on a field trip to Ivy Creek.  The parents all met the buses at Ivy Creek and 93% of us arrived at 9:30 which is when the note sent home told us to arrive.  In reality the buses were not arriving until 10:00.  Fortunately there were some nice parents to talk to from Jared's class and it was a good chance to get to know some of them.  There is one student in particular that Jared has mentioned being friends with more than others, his name is Marcus and his parents were there and it was really nice to get to chat with them.  It turns out they live on Chris Greene Road so 2 minutes from our house.  If Jared pursues this friendship it could be fun to meet up with them and nice to have a friend so close.  We went on a hike with one of the Ivy Creek Foundation volunteers and learned about leaves changing colors and different types of trees.  We had a few minutes up at the barn to look at nests, skins, and other nature things found there.  It was nice to learn a little bit about the history of Ivy Creek.  It was bought piece by piece, 10 acres there 20 here by a freed black man and his family and used as a farm.  As time passed on they no longer wanted the land and developers hoped to come in and build houses but the county got the land and created a great convent hiking place.  We have mostly gone to play in the creek in the summer and it was nice to be there in the Fall. I'm glad I could go with Jared and spend that time with him and get to know some people from class and see him interact with them. And I'm glad Charlottesville has so many fun places like that.

Biggest, oldest tree at Ivy Creek. 

Saturday Mark attended a family history conference for most of the day so Jared Lydia and I went out to play. We started by riding bikes at Riverview Park, then played at Meade Park then spontaneously met up with Hannah, Matt and Norah for lunch at Costco.  They needed a break from Lynchburg and we were happy we could see them. It was fun to be outside and go places we hadn't been in a while.

These two.

Today was a magical day where they were the best of friends and it filled my heart right up with hope and love.  Most days they are fine with each other and play together well enough or just leave each other alone but today the fun they had and their good nature towards each other was awesome. 

I'll end with some of the beauty I have seen around Charlottesville lately.  These pictures do not do it justice but it was the best I got. It is really windy tonight and I am sad the leaves will soon be gone. 

Driving down our street