Christmas Traditions

Here's a few of ours-

Sugar cookies for Santa

Rex thought he needed a whole bottle of green sprinkles

to decorate his cookie (tastes good too!)
Christmas Eve jammies

(Rex' jammies say I'm One Tough Cookie on the front and the kids keep

trying to get him to say it but all he can say is "I Want a Cookie!"

You try saying it fast three times!)

Swedish pancake breakfast, a tradition that really is straight from Sweden

thanks to Dad serving a mission there (yum!)

A new tradition? Guitar Hero World Tour

courtesy of Dan and Michelle (fun for the whole family)

Winter Wonderland

I know everyone out there in Arizona who is reading this is extremely jealous right now.

Jealous of the fact that we get to enjoy a white Christmas.

Did you know that jumping on the trampoline can be a winter activity, too?And I know you're jealous that you don't get to do it.

And I bet you are jealous that you don't get to build snow caves in your front yard.

And I KNOW you are jealous that you don't get to shovel the snow off of your driveways!

Or drive on roads with inches thick ice. Or start your car 15 minutes before you leave somewhere. Or, I bet you are jealous of the fact that you don't get to wear your snowpants and boots to school every day. And that you don't get snow days at school (that means that we get to stay at home and drink hot chocolate all day, and we don't have to fake the fact that we are really cold and we really need it to warm us up!) I know, I bet I just made all you Zonies out there want to move to Rexburg!

Sisters

The other day we decided to do a little rearranging. First, we did our bedroom, then we moved on to the kids' rooms. We decided to put Rex in with the big boys downstairs and then move Gracie into Rex' old room and turn her old room into an office/playroom. Eventually, (like hopefully tomorrow) we will move Colby to the crib in Gracie's room and out of our bedroom. Why I got this whim at this time of the year I will never know because it obviously involves a lot of cleaning out closets and such. But since I had Kris on board and he was enthusiastic about the whole thing we just went for it. Unfortunately, my home has looked like a bomb went off for the last week or two, oh well.

One of the things that has surfaced in the midst of all this is the box of Gracie's old clothes. I pulled it out of the top of her closet on Saturday and was hit with a wave of sadness. I sighed and Kris looked at me and said "you might as well just get rid of it all." I don't think he was trying to be insensitive, he's just a guy- old hand-me-down clothes just don't really mean anything to them. But to a mother- one who has hoped to be able to pull down the box of girl-hand-me-downs and adorn another daughter with some of their super cute goodness- it was like a kick in the gut. For one thing- this box holds all of the memories of my first daughter wearing all of these clothes. And for another thing- this box holds all of the hopes that I had of having another daughter, a sister for my first one. It is almost inconceivable for me to think that my daughter may never have a sister. I have always had sisters, I have four of them, and I can't really imagine life without them. They are my best friends (and I know this is all sounding so cliche') but it's true. It's hard for me to imagine my daughter not having any sisters and I'm so sad for her. Of course, she doesn't know any different, all she knows is that she has lots of brothers. And it's not all bad being the only girl- being spoiled rotten, having your own room, no hand-me-downs :-), etc... I know several women who were only girls and they loved it- my mother-in-law, and two of my best friends- are among them. I'm the one that needs to let go (Michelle's post has me pondering this). So I am going through Gracie's old clothes, hard as it may be for me, to let them go. And I found someone at church with two young daughters who can really use them and is so grateful for them so this is making the process a little easier for me.

Who knows if we will have another girl. We may or may not have any more children, never say never. But at this point Gracie would be at least 9 or 10 years older than that future sister and what is the point of me holding onto all these clothes. So that I can drag them out and realize how cute but outdated they are? No thanks. Besides it'll be loads of fun to get all new stuff if we ever do have another girl. And all these clothes that we have can go on and bless somebody else. I'm just so glad that Gracie has girl cousins. When she and Audrey get together it's like they were never apart, they pick up right where they left off and are best cousin buddies. I hope it will always be this way. She also loves her younger girl cousins Macie and Scarlett, too and I know they will all be great friends. These Wright girl cousins have to stick together cuz they are seriously outnumbered right now (9-4). And let's face it- someday she will have sisters, sisters-in-law! And I love my sisters-in-law just as much as my sisters, it's like they were always meant to be my sisters and so I hope for the same for Gracie- may she have wonderful sisters-in-law!

Gracie and cousin Audrey

*NOTE: Sister-in-law Emilie is missing in the above sister picture and we were very sad about this.

Uh-oh I think we have a thumbsucker on our hands! (not to be confused with bloodsucker ;-) also a Colby Update!

So our little Colbster man has taken a liking to his thumbs (I catch him sucking on both of them, I guess he just picks whichever one is convenient). I'm not sure what I think about this development. On the one hand I think it's absolutely adorable, I myself was a thumb sucker so it can't be all bad, right? And it's just so darn cute when he does it cuz he's so little and it's just cute, ya know? But I'm worried about down the road when it's not so cute, like when he's eight. We've tried to give him pacifiers but he just doesn't seem interested in them. It's like we're forcing some foreign object into his mouth and he tries to wiggle and squirm away from it but eventually has to give in because we're holding it in there. I have a friend whose daughter started to suck her thumb and she would pop in a pacifier every time because she did not want to have a thumb sucker. A pacifier you can take away, a thumb not so much. So I'm not sure what to think about the whole situation. I probably won't do anything except hope that he doesn't suck his thumb until he's 12 years old! Ugh, I can just see myself putting that nasty tasting fingernail polish on his thumb in a few years in a feeble attempt to get him to stop just like my parents did to me!


Now for his update: I intended to post a little update on Colby every month and since I'm a little behind on my blogging and we were in AZ when he turned 3 months old I'll just do it now. Colby spent his third month of life mostly just sittin around not doing much. (Besides looking really cute kickin' it in his bouncy chair.) He did start to enjoy his baths more, thank goodness because I was getting a little worried. And he had a few nights where he slept eight hours. He also had some big firsts this month: his first trip to Arizona, his first trip to Pete's, his first time meeting all his cousins and most of his aunts and uncles, his first Thanksgiving, and his first trip to Gecko Grill, and his first trip to see the lights at the Mesa Temple. So you can see it was a big month for him, and it's a good thing he's such a good baby because he handled all the excitement so well!

Mormon Angels

The other night as we were driving through Idaho Falls we passed a Nativity display that had angels with wings at a church (not an LDS one) and Owen asked if they were Mormon angels. I thought this was a funny question in and of itself but I said well no they're not because Mormon angels don't have wings. Then Gracie pipes up from the back seat "well, my angels are Mormons and they all have wings!" I couldn't argue with that!

Thankful

It's almost Thanksgiving, right? So I've been thinking about the things that I am truly grateful for and I thought I would share them with you-

Falling gas prices- no wait- not just falling, plummeting gas prices. What a relief! Now we can actually drive somewhere again. I'm definitely grateful for this, I just wish it could last forever!

This here is what we like to call a bun warmer or a tushy toaster (how do you spell tushy anyway?) or seat heater. I like to call it the finest invention of the modern age (well since I moved to Rexburg anyway). You'd probably have to live here to truly appreciate my gratitude for this nifty accessory. I never want to own a car without one (as long as I live here). It is divine.

This here is Rexburg's equivalent to Filibertos. And I mean that very literally- same menu (including those pictures) and everything. I have been much more content living in Rexburg since Ramires came to town, it makes life a little more bearable when you know you can get a good bean burrito or super nacho or carne asada fries...

This is BYU-I's radio station here in Rexburg. I'm just grateful to have a radio station that plays church music all the time. Not that I listen to it all the time, but it's just comforting to know that when I need a spirtual pick me up I can just flip the dial.

I'm grateful for this picture that Owen painted because every single time I look at it makes me happy. I love children's artwork. It also reminds me of nice, sunny Arizona and the fact that we get to spend Thanksgiving down there, for which I am muy grateful.

I'm grateful that my sister Michelle gets to live so close to me. It's so nice having her here. The other day I was dreadfully ill and she came up and took care of my kids (and me) for a while, she was a lifesaver!

I am extremely grateful for my husband, he is my best friend. He works so hard to provide for our family and doesn't get as much credit as he deserves. I'm grateful that he feels that it's as important for me to stay at home with our children as I do (in our mostly LDS town over 75% of moms work outside the home, so I view this as a great blessing and luxury). I'm grateful that he's such a great dad and indulges my desire for a large family (don't worry, he loves each of our children as much as I do) even though thoughts of providing for all of our children stresses him out more than I know. I'm grateful that he loves me in spite of my occasional insanity and puts up with all my neuroses, cuz that's what friends do, right?

I'm grateful for the Rexburg Temple. I took this picture from downtown to try and give everyone an idea of how prominent and beautiful the temple is here. You can literally see it from anywhere in town and for miles and miles away from some places. It is always there up on the hill, always on our minds, constantly reminding us of the important things in life. I am so grateful that we lived here while they were building it and that we got to take our whole family to the open house, to have all of our children with us in the celestial room, what a wonderful blessing. Then to be able to go with Kris and Matthew and actually be inside the temple during the dedication was a special experience, one that I know I was blessed to be able to do and one that I may never have the opportunity to do again. Most of all I'm grateful to be sealed to my family for eternity. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Gracie's To Do List

I found this to do list on Gracie's bed today. I will type it word for word. Each task is followed by a box that she marked with a check.

Today's Plans

wake up
get dressed
get ready
go to school
___________________________________________________________

do homework
put away shoes
do dragon spell (this section has a picture of a dragon breathing fire that she drew on the side)
___________________________________________________________

feed dragon
read book
go to sleep (this box is not checked as she must've fallen asleep prior to marking it)


I only have one question after discovering this list-

Where is she hiding the dragon?!?