Happy Birthday to me!

38 years later, I have finally grown into my cheeks! 10 pounds!!!

My Momma

Not a day goes by that I don't think about my mom. I have thought about her all day today, she passed away 13 years ago. I look back at our relationship and feel so blessed to have had the 25 years I had with her. She was an amazing woman.

She made all 5 of her kids know that they were her favorite. I know for sure that I was her favorite girl, OK I AM the only girl. I always knew she loved me and was proud of me. She told me all the time, I am so thankful for that. I have so many memories of her that make me smile. She instilled in me a love of reading, cooking, sewing, humor, service, and having fun. I knew she loved her Savior because of the life she led. My mom had many trials in her life but she always had a smile on her face and knew every thing would be ok.

She suffered from Manic Depression, Parkinson's Disease, Leukemia, osteoporosis, thyroid issues, a brain tumor, and mini strokes. She did her best and knew that her Savior would take care of the rest. I love that about her.

Now that I am a mom, I am amazed at the relationship we had. She was my best friend, I could tell her anything. I had such an amazing example of I mom, I just hope I can follow it.

For those of you that still have your mommas, do me a favor and let them know how much you love and appreciate them. Sure wish I could....

For what it is worth, thanks for every thing Mom. You are amazing. I love you.

Random thoughts

Rocky's hair is now to his armpit! Cooper had the same hair. As soon as we cut it, it went straight and brown. I am not looking forward to cutting Rocky's.
Rocky has an affinity for my colander. He puts everything in it and carries it around. He dumped a container of Parmesan cheese in and shook it all over my floor. It is a good thing he is cute!
Coop inherited what I like to call the "Jam Gene" from his Papa Rich. Matt inherited it as well. Coop LOVES jam and Cinnamon/Sugar as well!
Rocky's favorite day is Monday. He loves to bring the garbage can in from the street. If only his siblings were as excited about their jobs.
Coop stuck ALL of his Lego mini-figure bodies together. We are going to need a bigger house if he is going to continue this practice.

Rocky fell asleep with a pretzel in his mouth! Love that kid! I love my job!

Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve just couldn't get here soon enough this year. We celebrated by delivering Secret Santa gifts. On our drive home we saw Santa driving down the freeway! So cool! We had dinner with some dear friends from church, thanks Dermody's!! We always open one present before we go to bed. This year it was a family gift, a Lego Christmas Village. I love it! It will be part of our Christmas traditions forever. The bad thing was that Cooper wanted to stay up until it was all built. Needless to say, Santa was exhausted by the time he got to our house. We did him a favor this year and left him carrots instead of cookies.

Christmas morning.
Christmas usually gets me choked up. One of my favorite gifts was a CD of my mom reading the story, The Five Chinese Bothers with the book. What a treasure! When my mom found out she had cancer she started recording stories to give her grand kids. I love to hear her voice, it is like the heavenly angels you hear about at Christmas time. Thanks Petersons!

I also loved my "Mom's Book" that my family "gave" me. OK, I had it made and asked them to write in it each special holiday. I am hoping in 30 years to look back on a full book and see all the sweet notes they have written to me. I may be asking for trouble!




Love our Christmas hats, thanks Riches!




The aftermath...

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!!!

Christmas Traditions

Decorating a fresh tree.
Fun Christmas Food. I love it when the food I make reminds my kids that I am the BOMB! I usually have to remind them, whatever works!

Christmas dishes. Love them!!!
Christmas Parties. We had a lot this year, the Lego Party was one of our favorites.
Ornaments. Each kid gets a new ornament each Christmas that represents their interest for the year. This year I made the ornaments thanks to my new handy dandy sewing machine (Thanks Jennifer!!). We also get a family ornament. Our ornament this year was a ball filled with Legos.
New traditions! Indoor smores over a sterno!!! So much fun! We may end up doing these all year long!
Secret Santa. We love doing secret deliveries each year, it is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. This year, a dear family did it for us. It made my kids oh so happy.

One of my most sacred Christmas memories was when Santa and Mrs. Clause showed up at my house several years ago. They couldn't have come at a better time, our situation was pretty sad. I still have no clue who that Santa was or who sent him. It chokes me up every time I think of it. Thank you whoever you were.


Sitting on Santa's lap. My big kids HATE this tradition with a passion. Rocky is not so fond of the jolly stranger either. His poor little heart races as we wait our turn.

Ruby loves to see the Nutcracker Ballet. This year we saw the Albany Ballet perform in the Springfield Symphony Hall. Ruby is much more mature about the ballet than her mother. When I went as a child, I said, "Too many musics!" Sometimes I still feel that way, but I love being with my favorite girl.
The Nativity. Rocky felt right at home in our "manger", he has to climb in my basket every time I do laundry.
Stories under the Christmas tree. I loved this tradition with my mom. Rocky loved it so much that he fell right asleep.
Decorating our WOODEN gingerbread house. My dear friend Luann gave me a wooden house that you decorate and scrape the frosting off each year. We use our leftover trick or treat candy, nothing tasty mind you, that was consumed by the grownups long ago! Gingerbread houses remind me of my sweet mom. We would go to the Festival of the Trees every year. I missed that tradition this year.

Christmas music. Thank you Pandora!