29 December 2013

 What a beautiful week we had.  I cannot believe that this will be my last blog entry for 2013, how time slips by so quickly!

 On Monday I went with Mom and Grandma to breakfast to celebrate Grandma's 87th birthday.  It's a tradition we've had for years and I look forward to every year.  We went to Grandma's favorite thrift after breakfast.  I finished all the Christmas preparations and we had an enjoyable time together as a family.

Christmas eve is my favorite night of the year and after a day of playing with the kids we went to Nana and Papa's for Mexican food and to open gifts with them and Josh and Andria.  Grandma didn't want to come this year since Grandpa is still in the rehabilitation facility and couldn't come with her.  I am happy to say, however, he seems to be improving and we are grateful for that.  The food was delicious, I brought some homemade cocoa and jalapeno poppers and we had tacos and enchiladas and taquitos.  We opened gifts and the children were utterly spoiled as usual.  Arlo got a motorized three wheeler that he couldn't wait to ride, he was on it before Papa took it out of the box for him.  The girls got so many great things, they were really excited about the art kits they got.  My mom and dad got me a new set of pots and pans and my brother and sister-in-law got me a very nice handbag.

The kids were still awake when we got home, but I got them shuffled off to bed without too much begging after family prayer.  I brought all the gifts down and put them under the tree and filled their stockings.  It was pretty late by the time I finally crawled into bed, so I was less than enthusiastic to get out of bed at 5:30 when the kids came in and started jumping on the bed!  At 6:30 I got up and we read the Luke account of the Christmas story and then opened presents.  They all seemed to like their gifts and we had cinnamon rolls and cocoa for breakfast.  Their dad came to pick them up about 9:00 and I admittedly went back to bed after they left!  They're going to be staying with him until the 1st.  I was very graciously invited over to the Bryson's for Christmas dinner and am so grateful to them and their hospitality.

 On Thursday I ended up watching the kids for a few hours while Jeff worked.  We went to Tucson mall so I could get the oil changed in the truck while the kids played in the foam germ area, I mean play area.  We went to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 at the cheap theater after, and the girls enjoyed it.  Arlo slept through it.  On Friday I went out with Grandma and Mom again and then I watched the kids for a couple hours.

Saturday was finally a day with no commitments, so I cleaned, took down the Christmas decorations and did some other chores.  It was a nice day.  Today was my last day with my Primary students, they all seemed pretty upset I wasn't going to be teaching their class next year.  That made me feel good, but I did try and reassure them their next teacher would be just as great.  I'm getting moved from Valiant 9 to the 11 year old class next year and am looking forward to it.  Sunday has been quiet, after my meetings I played the piano for awhile and will probably read this afternoon since my house is so quiet.  I'm looking forward to the kids coming home next week.  I'll probably do some of the chores I didn't get to on Monday, and think that maybe I'll go to the temple on Tuesday if I can get there early enough, they close at 10.  I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and wish you all the very best in 2014!

25 December 2013

Merry Christmas!  I love this time of year.  We had a wonderful time last night enjoying a Wootton family tradition, Mexican food Christmas Eve feast.  The kids had a blast opening their gifts as did I.  We got home and the kiddos went happily off to bed.  I enjoyed filling the stocking and placing the gifts under the tree.  Its a blessing to have such wonderful children, and I find that Christmas is more exciting for me now as an adult; trying to make it magical for them.

They were jumping on my bed at 5:30AM and I made them wait until 6:30 before we went downstairs to open our gifts and have breakfast.  The living room was trashed and the cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa were fabulous.  There was a lot of love and happiness.

I'm grateful most of all for an opportunity to remember the birth of the Savior.  I'm grateful for the daily gifts I receive because of Him and His example and sacrifices for me.  I will try to give the gifts of service and love to others in the coming year to show Him and my Heavenly Father the love that have for them and the gratitude in my heart for all that I receive.  I hope that everyone had a blessed, joyful, and merry Christmas!

22 December 2013

 Oh how I love the holidays!  I also really love having time off to be with my kiddos and be home.  I had a pretty good week.  I couldn’t take Arlo to the babysitter this week, so I worked from home.  It worked out pretty well; hopefully my physical presence wasn’t missed too much, especially seeing as most everyone was gone for the holidays already.  I was finally feeling good enough to go on some runs in the morning with Arlo in the stroller.  However, the goodies finally got to me and I indulged a little this week.  So I was up a little on the scale!  Luckily Christmas is next week and the flow of deliciousness will ebb.

We had our 6th annual gingerbread FHE.  It was so much fun.  We had a hot cocoa bar and the kiddos really seemed to enjoy decorating their houses and trains.  I even had enough that every kid had their own.  We sang Christmas carols after and it was such a great time.  Thanks to everyone who came, I even had a couple of work friends show up, which was great.  It's a tradition I want to keep up every year.

 One of the other highlights of the week was getting to go to the Primary School assemblies.  Both Felicity and Helen received the “Outstanding Owl” award (student of the month).  I am so proud of both of them!  I am finally done with Christmas shopping, I think!  There might be one or two more things to get, I love to give gifts.  I think I am definitely done with making gifts, probably!  I made Arlo his own church bag and it turned out well.  I got all of my cookie baskets put together and handed out this week, and they turned out so cute.  I really outdid myself with all the baking, but I loved every minute of it!

 I made a small quilt and finished a pair of monogrammed PJs this week.  I also worked on a book that I’ve been making for the family.  It’s sort of an advent for Christmas, it’s about the Savior’s birth and life and it has a story, scripture, or song to be shared every night with the family.  It is turning out beautifully, but we’ll have to wait until next year to use it.  I made some ornaments as gifts too, but they were quick and easy.

 The kids went with their dad to a Christmas party on Thursday night, so I took the opportunity to head into Tucson to do a little shopping.  I wanted to get the girls coats for Christmas but had been striking out.  Everything I found in the stores was either too expensive, or cheaply made.  So I went to the thrift and found them brand new (I’m talking still with tags) coats for $12 and they are fabulous winter coats.  I also still had birthday money to spend on myself so I loaded my basket up and found that when I got into the dressing room, everything fit.  That’s a rare feeling for me; I love my new and improving body.  I ended up buying aside from the two coats for the girls and a pair of shoes for Arlo, two T-shirts, two pairs of Gap jeans, a pea coat from Banana Republic, a dress, a sweater dress, two pairs of boots, two pairs of flats, and a pair of heels for about $100.  I was pretty excited about it!

 I got to go to lunch and shopping with Grandma this week too.  We went to visit Grandpa and I’m happy to report he seems to be doing better.  He’s very animated and I could see his personality shining through.  They had him walking with a walker and when we were there, he was trying to sit on the edge of his bed and get up (which was making Grandma crazy because she’s afraid he’ll fall).  We’re really praying he comes back to us. 

On Friday, we went to see Frozen with Nana and the Bryson’s.  It was such a cute movie!  We really enjoyed it a lot.  The kids and I stayed in our PJs almost all day on Saturday.  We watched Christmas movies, played, and did laundry and cleaned.  It was nice to just have some down time at home.  I was looking forward to church today; I love the Christmas program with the great music.  The choir had two numbers, but Arlo was not going to sit reverently by himself and didn’t seem happy about sitting with anyone else, so I didn’t get to sing the first number, but Victor switched with me for the second and held Arlo so I could sing.  We went to Nana and Papa’s for dinner and really enjoyed staying late since we don’t have to get up tomorrow for school and work.  The girls decorated another gingerbread house and enjoyed Papa’s new M&M dispenser (unfortunately so did I)!

I’m excited for Christmas this week.  I love all my friends and family.  I am so grateful for so many people that make my life a joy to live.  I am wishing everyone a happy, merry, and lovely Christmas this week from Casa de Davidson.

15 December 2013

 

It has been such a busy week!  I need to either spread the Christmas chores throughout the year or learn to do less.  On Monday we went and bought our Christmas tree.  After a short FHE lesson, we decorated it.  It turned out beautifully and the house smells so good!  I made the kiddos matching PJs and took some pictures for our Christmas cards.  I played with the settings on my fancy camera and got a couple of good shots, I think the cards turned out beautifully.

On Friday I was off and so Arlo and I had a day together.  We did laundry and cleaned, we went for a run and then went to kindergarten to help in Helen’s classroom.  They were making gingerbread houses and it was so much fun.  We finished up some of the Christmas shopping after that.  In evening, after the kids left, Mom and I went and got a manicure and dinner to celebrate her belated birthday.  We also went shopping, it was a lot of fun.

 

On Saturday, Leona came over and helped me finish decorating the inside of the house and then she and Victor helped me hang the outside lights.  In the evening I decorated my cut out cookies.  I got so much done, but man am I tired.   

I talked to the kids on Saturday night and Jeff told me that Arlo went on the toilet twice while he was there.  I was so surprised!  We haven’t been working on it at all, he just turned two last week!  I was also sad that I wasn’t there for it, but that’s life.  I guess we’ll be working with Arlo on potty training!

I spoke in Sacrament meeting today and that went well.  I had prepared about 30 minutes of material on the atonement, but because I went last after two other speakers and a musical number, I only had ten minutes.  That worked out really well, because it meant that I only talked about the most important things.  I felt the Spirit and hope that the rest of the congregation did as well.  After picking up the kids from their dad’s, I let them decorate some cookies before bed.  I’m excited for our gingerbread FHE tomorrow night and have to put the houses together tonight before I go to bed so that they are all ready for tomorrow!

08 December 2013

It seemed like a bit of a long week.  We are still holding on to this darn cold, which has made me pretty miserable.  The coughing keeps me up at night, and rest is what I really need!  Although, if I'm honest with myself, I really try to cram too much into my days this time of year and don't get as much sleep as I need which is why I'm probably still sick.  Work was good this week, you can tell things are winding down for the year, everyone seems ready for the holiday break.  I didn't get any running in this week with my cold, but I did make some progress on Christmas gifts and baking.

Arlo had a doctor's appointment on Friday.  He is doing fabulously, in the 90% for height and weight, he is in 3T clothes and hasn't turned two yet!  The pediatrician was very impressed with the progress he's made with his language skills and feels that he has rapidly caught up to where he should be developmentally.  He is physically ahead of schedule, he's able to throw, kick, (he's got a mean drop kick that Helen can't match), skip, climb, and jump like a much older kid.   Since I was in Tucson, I stopped by Grandma's house to visit for a few minutes and ended up taking her to the pharmacy, the grocery store, the card store, and out to lunch.  That way my mom didn't need to come all the way into town to take her.  She bought Arlo a balloon at the card store and he was smitten with her after that!  I worked from home the rest of the afternoon/evening.

We had a busy day on Saturday.  We met my sister-in-law at the mall to see if we could get a portrait of all the kids as a Christmas gift for Nana, well, her little one (who is only a year old) was less than cooperative and we didn't get one.  We're going to try again this coming week and hope for the best.  After the mall, I took the kids to the rehabilitation center where my grandpa is, and visited him for his birthday.  We stayed for awhile, and then stopped for lunch before heading home.

In the evening, we celebrated Arlo's 2nd birthday at my parent's house.  His birthday isn't actually until Monday, but this weekend was the best opportunity to celebrate.  I picked up some food and we had cake, just a small get together with my family, which was really nice.  I can hardly believe that my baby will be two tomorrow, time sure does fly!  We will be decorating cookies tonight while watching the Christmas Devotional, it's always a great time.

I'm looking forward to a short work week and wrapping up the Christmas gifts and baking.  We're going to be getting and decorating our tree for FHE tomorrow, and I'm excited for that.

01 December 2013

What an amazing week it was, it's going to be hard to go back to work tomorrow; because of the way our "off-Friday" worked this week, I ended up getting Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off.

On Monday we had our Family Home Evening lesson on tithing and it was a big hit.  I gave each of the children a baggie with 100 cheerios in it, explained to them that they were my cheerios, but I was giving them to them, and that I expected 10 cheerios back in return for my generosity.  We compared the 10 cheerios they "paid" me to the 90 they got to keep and then I explained that when we keep the law of tithing we receive additional blessings on top of what we already have.  We also talked about what the tithing money is used for.  Things like printing scriptures, maintaining our buildings, helping the poor, and building temples.  Afterward we baked gingerbread men as our activity.  It was a great time.

On Wednesday Arlo and I went grocery shopping for baking items so that I could start my Christmas baking.  I made several things that afternoon while Arlo was napping.  In the evening Jeff picked up the kids for the weekend and I settled into a movie and making Christmas gifts.  I crocheted each of the girls a scarf.  I ended up with a cold, so instead of enjoying the free time to run, I had to stay in.  On Thursday, my baking continued and in the afternoon I went over to the Bryson's for Thanksgiving dinner.  It was great!  In the evening my mom called and wanted to know if I wanted to go shopping with her.  So Jan and I went with her to Wal-Mart where we waiting for an hour and a half just to get inside.  I was impressed that everyone was so polite, it wasn't too crazy and we got some good deals and a head start on Christmas shopping.

Friday I had lost my voice all together, although I didn't feel too bad otherwise.  I worked on a baptism/birthday cake and then went back out shopping with my mom.  We went to Target and Macy's and out to lunch.  It was a fun time!  When I got home I got ready to go out.  So its confession time, I recently joined an online dating site for Latter-day Saints.  I had been asked out on a date last Sunday and after chatting with the guy during the week, I decided that I would meet him for dinner.  I met him at Olive Garden and we had a nice dinner and chatted for awhile after (although my voice was pretty much gone).  It was good practice, I've never really dated before, so it was a good experience.  I stopped to get a soda from Circle K on my way home.  I quit drinking sodas all together a few months ago, but I knew I needed to stay up and finish the cake.  Boy did the soda do the trick, I couldn't get to sleep until nearly 4:30, but I finished the cake!

On Saturday I met Jeff and the girls at the stake center for the baptism, and it was very nice.  After that we went over to the Bryson's for cake and lunch and the kids played.  I had to go to the auto parts store later in the afternoon and have them test my battery because the truck wouldn't start all week, and then after jumping it, it wouldn't hold a charge.  So after determining that my battery was bad, I had to buy a new one, which stinks because it was money I could have used for gifts and a tree.  Oh, well.  I'm grateful to have a truck that works and gets me where I need to go.

Arlo helping me fix the truck

I had a very nice Sunday, although I woke up and couldn't open my eyes.  Ah!  On top of my cold and laryngitis, I also have pink eye, in both eyes.  I'm so very tired of being sick.  I pushed through and enjoyed my meetings.  I filled in this afternoon for the choir director and feel like I did an adequate job.  I was so proud of how I handled all the baking and the holiday feasting in regards to my weight/health goals.  In hindsight it was probably foolish to bring in bags of M&Ms, chocolate chips, Hershey's Kisses, marshmallows, and the like into the house.  I love baking so much, but its sort of like a recovering alcoholic taking a job as a bartender.  I didn't eat a single bit of the baking stuff and was restrained at Thanksgiving too.  I enjoyed a little bit of everything and stopped when I was satisfied.  I enjoyed one piece of pie sans crust.  My diligence paid off because when I weighed in this afternoon I had lost 3.4 pounds this week and a total of 101.4 pounds since I started living my life as a healthy, active person!  That's quite an achievement and I'm so excited to be that much closer to my goal weight.

Here is a list of awesome things I can do now that I'm 100 pounds lighter:
1. RUN!  and boy can I run
2. Wear clothes that are shapely
3. Wear leggings
4. Wrap a normal sized bathroom towel around me and have it cover everything
5. Sit in a chair and still be able to see chair cushion on either side of me
6. Sit in the tub and when I pull the plug the whole tub drains, I don't serve as a dam
7. See my knuckles when I make a fist
8. See my ankle and wrist bones
9. I have a waist
10. Cross my legs with ease
11. Jump rope
12. Go up and down the stairs without becoming winded
13. Play with my kids at the park
14. Do all the yoga poses in my video
15. Scratch my own back
16. See myself in the mirror and love the person staring back at me (that's not all a weight-loss thing)
17. Get on the top bunk to make the bed without fearing it will collapse
18. Shop for clothes in the regular section, not the plus-sized section
19. Feel confident in my appearance
20. If I wanted to, I could take my kids around a lake in a canoe...and that's why I started

Best Way to Watch TV

It's back to work tomorrow and down hill to the end of the year.  I hope everyone had a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving, I know I did!

28 November 2013

This is going to be a supplementary blog post because I want to express my gratitude at this most appropriate time of year.  The kiddos are with their dad this weekend so it was quiet.  I did miss my children and I did miss cooking the whole big dinner, I actually really enjoy that even though it is a lot of work.  But, being alone afforded me time to bake without little people under foot and work on Christmas gifts for them; there is a silver lining in everything.  I spent this morning baking Christmas goodies that will go to my neighbors, family, and dear friends.  I love doing that.  I had my Thanksgiving with the Bryson's and am so grateful for them and all they do for us. 

I couldn't possibly list all the things I'm thankful for, but I feel I should at least give it a try.  Here are thirty things for the thirty days of November.

• I'm grateful for my Savior
• I'm grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ
• I'm grateful for my children
• I'm grateful for our health
• I'm grateful for my job
• I'm grateful for my home
• I'm grateful for my family
• I'm grateful for second chances
• I'm grateful that I could change my body with diet and exercise
• I'm grateful for the temple
• I'm grateful to live in this free country
• I'm grateful for the atonement
• I'm grateful that I can be self sufficient
• I'm grateful for trials
• I'm grateful for the law of compensation
• I'm grateful to be educated
• I'm grateful to have a vehicle that reliably gets me where I need to go
• I'm grateful for tender mercies
• I'm grateful for music
• I'm grateful for running
• I'm grateful for the beauty of the desert
• I'm grateful for my friends
• I'm grateful to see my knuckles when I make a fist
• I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn new things
• I'm grateful for the trust my Heavenly Father puts in me
• I'm grateful for a safe place to live
• I'm grateful for the scriptures
• I'm grateful for my strengths
• I'm grateful for rain clouds
• I'm grateful to have plenty of food to eat

24 November 2013

It’s been a nice quiet week.  I’m really looking forward to the beginning of the holiday season next week.  I really lucked out and only have to work on Monday and Tuesday and then have the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving.  Arlo started back with our babysitter on Monday, instead of the day care this week.  I was finding that day care was stretching our budget too thin and since he was going to be changing classrooms anyway, I decided to take him out.  I’ve been dropping the kids off at the babysitter at 6:30 so that I can get to work by 7:00 and then be able to get home by 4:30.  It has meant getting up 30 minutes earlier, but it’s worked out alright.

I have taken full advantage of the fact that it gets dark earlier and my children don’t know how to tell time (or at least understand what it really means) and have been putting them to bed at 7:00PM so that they get some extra sleep since I’m getting them up at 5:45 every morning.  This has meant that I’ve had a little more time for exercising in the evening and getting the things I need to get done, done.   On Tuesday night before bed the kids did yoga with me and it was a lot of fun.  Even Arlo got in on the action!

On Thursday, I met my friend Leona in Tucson so that the kiddos could play.  They had a blast and were all asleep in the car on the way home.  We had a pretty quiet Friday, I did a lot of my chores and the kids relaxed and enjoyed a movie, something they don't get to do during the week.  On Saturday morning we played together and then went into Tucson to get pictures taken.  I wanted to  get school pictures of for the girls, since the ones the school photographer took were terrible.  For fun, I also had them take some pictures of Arlo and then all of us together.  My membership free perk this trip was a matted and framed 28" x 15" trilogy which included two 5" x 7" photos and an 8" x 10" photo. I also had a coupon for a free sheet of holiday labels and got those too.  I had purchased a Groupon for $16 which got me an eight sheet package.  Since I paid for the Groupon last month, the only thing I had to pay on Saturday was $1.30 (tax on the Groupon).  I have LOVED my membership and it has paid for itself many times.  I looked at the receipt and determined that I walked away with $305 worth of stuff for $17.30.  I didn't get a photo of Arlo that I was crazy about, so the trilogy is just photos of the girls.  I looked pretty darn good in all the family photos, but in every one at least one of the kids was making a weird face, oh well!

 We had movie night and after the kiddos went to bed I finished cleaning up (the laundry and cleaning never seems to be finished).  I watched a movie and crochet a scarf for Felicity as a Christmas gift.  Sunday was nice, but long.  We enjoyed our meetings and Felicity gave a talk about expressing gratitude to Heavenly Father for our blessings.  I went to choir practice after the block.  Arlo didn't sleep this time, but I made it through OK.  Then we had tithing settlement which took a little bit of time to wait our turn.  After that we went to my parents for Thanksgiving dinner.  We had a very nice time and my mom graciously did all of the cooking.  I'm grateful for the blessing of my family.

The kids are going to their dad's for the long weekend and I'm sure I'll find all sorts of fun to get into.  I have lots of invites to get together with friends and I have Christmas baking and gifts to make.  It's going to be a great week. 

I got this from one of my Primary kiddos and it made my day!