Christmas Eve and Beyond 2011

Last year we started a tradition of doing something physical on Christmas Eve to wear the kids out. The usual sledding wasn't an option this year because we have no snow, so we drove to Pendleton and decided to try ice skating. SO fun! My new favorite. There was nothing quite like speeding around the rink listening to Christmas music over the loudspeakers. I had so much fun. Twinkle Toes had a rough start because she got a blister on her ankle right off. So she started squalling and then she took off her skates and went to the van for a good hour to sulk. This is how she handles defeat. But I was really proud of her because after watching everyone else have fun she decided to give it one more shot. So we tried some skates that you strap onto your shoes and she got out there and got the hang of it. She ended the day on a much happier note. Sweet Boy and little Gracie just took to the ice like fish in water. They did really well. Grace needed help but she went around the rink a zillion times and Sweet Boy got away from the rail and would hold one of my hands and skate.

She did really well!

Gracie got a bubblegum pink kitchen from Santa

The kids in their red church clothes

Lydia almost 3 months old

the candy man.....this kid goes nuts over candy!

Lydia was "talking" to me while sitting in her present from Nana....a bumbo!

Ready for Christmas

Spent the afternoon napping on the couch snuggled up to this little boo bear. Oh she is so sweet. I'm not lying or just imagining it. I am the first one to tell you when my kids aren't sweet. But little Lydie as I like to call her is pure sweetness. Heaven is certainly curling up with her on my chest, smelling your sweet little head, her hair tickling my nose, and napping in the sunshine on the couch. She just has a certain softness, a sweetness that I can't put my finger on. Sweet Boy had it too, but in a little different way. And she has the most amazing smile, her whole face just lights up when you smile at her. It just makes you want to devour her piece by piece. I don't know why kids just make you want to eat them, but they do.

My eyes have been bugging me a lot. This has never happened. I am attributing it to the fact that Lydia actually eats. The eye doctor said it was futile to do an exam while I am nursing, so I guess I will just live with the headaches and the eye strain for now and hope my eyes go back to normal at some point in the next.....year?

So I've got my video camera and camera batteries charged up. The shopping is DONE. The dinner menu is planned. Christmas Eve activities are coming together. I cleaned my house today and I don't plan on cleaning again until after Christmas. I'm just ready to relax and enjoy the fun. How bout you?

Teacher Appreciation Gift and a little Foo Foo for the Holidays

Okay, I know it's a little weird to be giving your teacher a gift card to Starbucks seeing as how we don't drink coffee, ha, but you can get hot chocolate there too! This was just too darn cute so I made it. Go here for the printable.....http://www.box.com/shared/1bry1y4q0o

Lydia looks absolutely adorable today in her Christmas socks thanks to Ma and Pa Wetzel!

Twinkle Toes ready for church in her sweet dress....thanks Nana!

My kids are absolutely crazy with Christmas giddiness. It is driving Ma and Pa Morrison crazy. There will be NO presents under the tree until December 24th. It would only ADD to the naughtiness in our house, so our tree will be bare underneath this year. I admit, once or twice I have thought that maybe we should just donate all their gifts to someone else and leave a letter from Santa telling them they were too naughty. Hmm.. We are doing the 12 Days of Christmas this year to our deaf neighbor. It won't be QUITE the same as we won't really have to be quiet and we can't ring the doorbell, but oh well. I think he will appreciate it since he seems to have no family or friends around to celebrate with.

Recently I read this gal's blog, I won't mention names, but she is living in Africa now. She blogged about how she wishes she could be back in the "bubble", the bubble of America I guess where she could just pop in Gene Autry's "Here Comes Santa Clause" "without feeling guilty. She says, "I just spent the equivalent of my maid’s monthly salary on a Christmas gift for one person. A gift to replace something that person already has, that works and is fine, with something nicer and newer. I go back to listening to Gene Autry to look up at my Gardener hauling a bucket of weeds. I will spend the amount he makes in a month on excess baggage charges so I can bring more “stuff” I “need” back to Zambia from home. This is what is hardest for me living in Africa." Anyways, these were her words and her post really touched my heart as I struggle with this as well, the commercialism of Christmas versus the real meaning. We don't often think about how blessed we really are as the abundance surrounds us and is so commonplace that it isn't uncommon at all, with a few exceptions that we rationalize to personal "choices" or "decisions" in the lives of others. Anyways, I came away from reading this feeling a little guilty myself and then determined the only thing I could do was to understand and truly appreciate how blessed we are to live in this nation of abundance. I'm sure my children would not have survived had they not been born at this day and age and in this country. How grateful I am. I thought her words were really poignant and hopefully she won't mind me sharing them. Now I guess I'll go back to wrapping presents. Just kidding! It gives us all something to think about.

Lydia seems to be sleeping through the night now. We'll see if it lasts. She has been sleeping 6-8 hours now at night. We just have to keep her awake until about 9 p.m. Whoo Hoo! We are all starting to feel a little more human now.

Lydia at 2 months

and Grace Ann with ol' Santy

(Not) Falling off the Planet

inside Bass Pro Shop

the wildlife carousel

inside Opryland hotel

Opryland hotel

conservatory in Opryland hotel

inside the Opryland hotel

me soaked to the bone, it was raining and cold!

Hawks' stone

Elizabeth M. and Abrillia stone

stone of John Henry Eaves, brother to my Thomas K.

Uncle Keath in old Eaves cemetery, Latham/Dresden TN

old Eaves cemetery, out in a cow field, small stand of trees

Jamison and Jada and Aunt Lisa with Lydia

Aunt Lisa with Twinkle Toes and Grace Ann

Nana with Twinkle Toes and Grace Ann

It really has been awhile, 2 months to be exact, since my last post. I figure I better throw something up here before I lose all my (many) readers, ha. Life has been crazy busy with addition #4. I ended up quitting my home business as a medical transcriptionist due to not having time for it anymore. I do miss it I admit. I really did enjoy my job. At 2 months though, things are starting to get a little easier with Lydia. As I am writing this, "the lids" or "Lyddie" as we call her, slept 8 hours last night, but it was all the wrong hours. She went to sleep at 5 p.m. So we gotta work on that. She is the sweetest baby ever. She hardly cries (hopefully I won't curse myself). She really is a sweet little jewel in our family. She makes me want another one! yikes. And she is growing amazingly fast for my babies. We joke that she is not ours. THere must have been a switch at the hospital. For one, she has hair. For two, her hair is brown. For 3, she actually eats like a normal baby. Again, this can't be ours but we'll take her :) Where is that postman?

We went to Tennessee for Thanksgiving and had a great time visiting Nana and the family and some old friends and neighbors and also doing genealogy, meeting some new relatives, and hunting down cemeteries with my uncle. I am going to post some pictures for my internet friend Roni on that little adventure. We had 3 Thanksgiving dinners which were all amazingly fantastic and just the way I remember. I hope they can last me another 10 years of Thanksgivings. Yum-O! We managed to not get sick before, during, or after our trip (again I hope I am not cursing myself) and little Lydia was a great traveler. Neither of my other kids could have made that trip as babies and done well, but Lydia just goes with the flow. We have been amazingly healthy so far this winter and (gulp) is it really half over? We have hardly had any snow yet where we live in Oregon yet and I for one am loving it. But let's hope for a white Christmas. Tennessee had amazingly varied weather. We got 70-degree weather, rain, and snow during the time we were there. On our final leg of the trip, we visited the Opryland Hotel before departing the Nashville airport. I'll post some pics of that too. The kids thought it was amazing and oh, I got my fill of eating at Cracker Barrel too. (the kids fell in love with the store and had fun spending some of their money on the things in there).

It's a girl!

Welcome Lydia Mae to our family, 6 lbs 14 oz.

Thursday night at midnight we set out for Boise, thinking I was in labor, but by the time we got there things had slowed down. The doctor said since we were there and he didn't really want to send us back on the road, we should just have the baby. So against my instincts I said yes, even though I knew Pitocin probably wouldn't end up being my friend in the end. I have to say, my marathon labor was gone. It did do the job. Everything was quicker, shorter, stronger, etc., but I think in the end my marathon labors were looking pretty good. I think the pain was just a little more than I had experienced with my other natural births, more intense. Looking back, I should have just taken the dang epidural. Close to the end the nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 5. I think I started to cry at that point because it was so intense and in the past a "5" to me has meant another 15 hours or so of labor. But as luck would have it, I went from a 5 to a 10 in about 5 minutes (cause I pushed) and then that's when everything went downhill from there. It was just more than I was used to and I had to get her out so in 3 pushes she came out. Let's just say, that fast and that quick is not so good for the body. Ah well. I am recovering. She is here. She is healthy. She is a mellow baby so far, thank goodness! A little gassy but then I guess she gets it honest. She seems to have darker hair/complexion than the rest but I'm sure we'll see some blonde hairs peeking through soon. Otherwise the postman might be in trouble!

Only 3 more weeks left to go.............

35 weeks

Look at Me! I'm 3!

More than just Schoolwork

Mackie helping me can tomatoes

my little corn shuckers

Chores and helping out are a big part of homeschool! One of my goals for this year was for Twinkle Toes to learn some household skills and learn to be a helper. In the past, requests for help have been met with lots of whining and complaining, so helping correct this has been one of my goals for the year. Being home has been really good for her so far this year. I think she is learning a lot at home and her attitude with helping has gotten a lot better. We have more time in the day to work on these things and I'm not rushed to get her out the door in the morning. She's been really helpful these last few weeks as we have dealt with some many stressful things.

Remembering Dad

Leslie "Scott" Sharpe, died age 63

my sister, handsome nephew, brother-in-law, uncles, and cousins....good-looking group!

My father passed away a few weeks ago and so of course it has been a difficult time in my life as I have had to mourn his loss here in Oregon being unable to travel and without any family around that knew him. I love this picture of my Dad. It is the one I will remember and keep in my head. This was from his younger, happier years. He is the handsome one without the mustache getting the keys to the post office where he would become Postmaster. Dad made poor choices later in his life and he paid heavily the consequences. Somehow though he always kept his funny sense of humor. He just had a way of saying things that made you laugh. He would often tell me many, many times over the past few years of his life, "Jodie, the two best things I ever did in life was you and Lisa." He had a lot of regrets and one didn't have to think long to know what those were. Once he told me with his best fatherly advice voice, "Jodie, there's 3 kinds of people in this world. Those that sit back and watch it happen. Those that go out and make it happen. And those that wonder what the hell happened." You have to say it with a really strong Southern drawl to get the full effect. And I knew when he said it he was thinking of himself for the latter one. Many wrongs he committed against us, but always I knew he was my Dad and I loved him. I appreciated the fact that he trusted my judgement and respected my choices. After I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, my Dad told me he had seen their commercials on TV and they must be good people. He was fascinated by the fact that we didn't smoke or drink. I had to laugh at that. My prayer is that in the next life he will find the mercy from our judge, Jesus Christ, and get the help he so desperately failed to accept in this life.


I really appreciate those that reached out to me with their condolences in cards, the phone, stopping by, and even facebook. It really meant a lot to me at a time when grieving alone was all I could do. I appreciate those in my life now that did not know my Dad, but still they cared enough to take the time and say they were sorry anyways. Grieving alone in the presence of those that do not know or understand the one deceased is a really lonely, sad place. I shall never wish it upon anyone.

Homeschool 101

A random assortment of pictures from late. Above is from the water park we went to a few weeks ago. I had a baby shower at my house for another girl. Just wanted to show off the table thanks to my friend, Rachel, who helped me with the decorations. I made these tiny little cheesecake cupcakes which were yum-O! Finally, peaches from our backyard and huckleberries we've been picking up in the woods. Sweet Boy and I made some huckleberry jam that we are going to enter in next year's fair. Let's see, the Hubby had a birthday (no pictures) - we had the missionaries and our neighbors over for the birthday dinner. It was fun. The Hubby got a new calling- elder's quorum president. Life is about to get busy! Hunting season starting and a new baby on the way........and on top of it all, I finally made the decision to homeschool, at least Twinkle Toes for the next year (2nd grade). Beyond that, I won't say. This is a decision that I have been struggling with for probably more than a year, as I felt it was something I should do. Being a product of public schools myself, it has really gone against everything I know to make this decision. But I've been in a local Christian homeschool group now, and have been following them and seeing what they do, and see so many benefits that I really want to try it out. So anyways, here goes. I am excited to not have to fight and cajole to get her up and out the door in the morning. I am excited to be able to have scripture study as well as academics and incorporate Christian literature into her curriculum. I'm excited to be able to do some character development studies in addition to math, spelling, reading, etc. These are just some things I've felt on my heart that are missing in traditional education and I think in a way, we do our kids a disservice sending them out most of the day without arming them with more than just "academics." So I'm going to give it a try. I know you can and should do these things even with traditional school in the picture, but we have found it hard to fit it all in. My oldest seems to be so impressionable by her peers and I think having her close at home for now is going to be a good thing for her. We are working on attitude and she is learning to help out around the house. We are going to try to be involved in this Christian homeschool group too, and do some field trips with them. I definitely feel like I am stepping out into the unknown with this, but I trust that my decision has been made in faith with the Spirit prodding me. Personally, I am a little bit excited to be able to have more control over our schedule, so since we have been homeschooling all summer, when the baby comes in October we are going to take a little "vacation" from school. I think this will be nice to not have so much running around then with running kids back and forth to school. With working at home, this has really been a huge problem for me. I know it sounds dumb, but in some ways it's just easier for me to stay home and not drop them off at school. Sweet Boy, however, is going to school this year. I am going to start him in Kindergarten and we'll evaluate his situation later. ONE year at a time, I guess. He is a such a different kid. I'm just trying to follow my instincts with each one.