Christmas Card Photos

Photos by Little Happies Photography

Creating Christmas Traditions

Thanksgiving was really hard for Hazel. She was in tears while Skyping with my parents because she missed them and was sad we didn't have any family around for the holiday. They'd been talking about traditions in school and she sobbed, "we don't have any traditions!" In a way she was right. Our little family doesn't have many holiday traditions even though we've been married for over 7 years. Why? We've always spent most holidays surrounded by family. When we're with Michael's family we have Ballard traditions. When we're with my family we have Smith traditions. The few traditions we have  incorporated in to our own home have been traditions from our childhood.

After Thanksgiving the homesick bug was beginning to get me as well. I wanted to drive up to the mountains and cut down our tree; I wanted go to temple square; I wanted to bake sugar cookies with my mom. But then I realized what an amazing opportunity we had this year. Our calender's weren't crowded with work parties and other commitments like they have been in years past. That meant we could choose how to fill them, and we could create our own family traditions. Filling our days with some old traditions, some new traditions, and lots of friends and neighbors has made our December wonderful and invited the true spirit of Christmas in to our home.

Up first was our ward Christmas party.They put on a beautiful Nativity  and asked us to be Mary and Joseph. It was a truly special experience to put myself in Mary's shoes for a moment. Hazel was cast as a sheep (the most adorable sheep you've ever seen!)

Advent Calendars: Every year Michael's mom send us a Trader Joe's chocolate advent calendar. This year I decided to add a daily scripture advent calendar as well. It has started some great discussions about the Christmas story. Today Eliza sweetly told me, "They didn't have a crib for Jesus when he was born so he had to sleep in a manger. On the hay."

Christmas cookies: Making Christmas sugar cookies has long been one of my favorite family traditions. We've baked a lot and shared cookies with friends and neighbors. Last Sunday we had the wonderful opportunity to invite our elderly neighbors over for cookies and cocoa and get to know them better.

Caroling: Last night some friends in the ward invited us to join them for caroling. I've honestly never been caroling in my whole life if you can believe it. It was so magical and will be a new tradition for sure. The feelings of joy, love, and friendship were overwhelming.

Opening our home: We've also had lots of company! Friends, co-workers, neighbors, and missionaries have joined us frequently this month. In fact, the missionaries will spend Christmas day here and Skype their families from here. It has been wonderful to meet new people and enjoy having a full, busy house.

With our calendar carefully filled with activities that give us time as a family to focus on the true meaning of Christmas our homesickness has melted away. It has been a wonderful, peaceful Christmas season. We can't wait for Christmas day this week! Merry Christmas!

Kindergarten Christmas Concert

Hazel had her first school concert on Friday. She has been looking forward to this for weeks. The morning of the show she got all dressed in her nice clothes and we curled her hair a bit. She felt so grown up and special. 

The concert was adorable. We sure love this girl! 

Photo Dump

I hate leaving fun pictures sitting on our camera. There are so many wonderful memories I want to preserve for our kids. So in no particular order, here they are! 

Michael and I were able to attend an ISU football game on the sidelines as part of a student athlete/faculty program. Football players are huge! 

Lenora is such a doll! We love, love, love her sweet smiles.

Ready to rake leaves in jammies! That's how we roll.

Silly girls....

One Sunday before church.

Hazel's class earned enough "class pride points" for a pajama day. Of course Eliza thought that meant she needed to wear her PJs all day too!

Eliza and Hazel. They're getting so big!

 Daddy and Lenora.

Michael was given a smoker by a friend who needed somewhere to store it. He was thrilled and smoked some amazing pork!

This crazy girl will sleep anywhere! For naps, she usually naps on the floor or the couch. Recently she's wanted to sleep in this big box. Silly child.

Our good friends the Excells let the girls borrow these awesome noodle builders. They are so cool! Here's Eliza and Lenora dressed as princesses in the castle.

See Lenora does wear real clothes occasionally. Here she is as Santa with a mashed potato beard.

Thanksgiving Break

Spending all week with Daddy!

Reading to Kiara (the giant dog book of course)

Hazel chatted with Afton on VP

We had a great snow! Lenora couldn't get enough of staring out the window.

Hated putting on her snowsuit but loved the snow!

Hazel

Snow Angel Eliza

Setting up the tree!

Making cookies with Daddy!

I'm thankful...

This year, as always, there are so many, many things to be thankful for. But my mind has turned again and again to the people in my life I'm thankful for. On one rough afternoon with a cranky 5-year-old I felt impressed to think of 5 specific things I'm thankful for about each member of our family. Here they are:

Lenora:

1. I'm thankful for Lenora's calm demeanor. She has been such a go-with-the-flow baby since the day she was born. It makes it so easy to savor every moment with her.
2. I'm thankful for Lenora's chub! I've always wanted a baby with cute rolls and she has delivered. I'm also thankful for her finger and elbow dimples.
3. I'm thankful for the adorable way Lenora says "mama" and "dada". She packs a lot of love in two short sounds.
4. I'm thankful for Lenora's cuddles. She often lays her head on your shoulder and gives great little hugs.
5. I'm thankful for Lenora's infectious smiles. You can't help but be happy when she flashes you a grin.

Eliza:

1. I'm thankful for Eliza's help with laundry and dressing Lenora. She is really in to clothes right now so she loves picking out Lenora's clothes each day. She also enjoys hanging up all the clean dresses which is a huge help!
2. I'm thankful for the adorable things Eliza says on a daily basis. A recent favorite was "kangaroo sore" (aka a canker sore).
3. I'm thankful for Eliza's health. There have been multiple health scares with her, but each time it has all worked out and I'm so thankful.
4. I'm thankful for Eliza's help in the kitchen. Any time I try and cook something she hauls the bucket of wheat from the pantry and stands on top to "help" me. I'm thankful for this time because some day she will not want to spend every minute with me.
5. I'm thankful for Eliza's dainty movements. The way she shrugs her shoulders; the way she twirls in a dress up; the way she signs. It's all so dainty and adorable.

Hazel:

1. I'm thankful for Hazel's Kindergarten humor. She finds the funny side of so many situations and always brings laughter in to our home (even if sometimes it's the loud kind).
2. I'm thankful for Hazel's curiosity. Her questions motivate me to learn and question more. We've recently been learning a lot about whales. She also often asks me very thought provoking gospel questions.
3. I'm thankful for Hazel's beautiful singing voice and how freely she shares her gift. She loves to sing. For the primary program she even signed some of the songs while she sang.
4. I'm thankful for Hazel's example of missionary work. Her teacher commented at parent teacher conferences how Hazel was teaching the other kids primary songs. Hazel also told me she talked to her friend Cami about church and Cami mentioned they used to go but then stopped. So Hazel told her to ask her mom if they could start going again.
5. I'm thankful for Hazel's love of books and reading. She's learning to read so quickly and I'm very proud of her.

Me:

1. I'm thankful for a healthy, functioning body. My body that once moved beautifully in ballet class now has brought three children in to the world. It will never be as it once was and yet I'm so thankful for it. I can do what I want, when I want to, and it always sees me through. I am healthy and strong and can enjoy this time in my life without pain or worry. That is truly a wonderful blessing.
2. I'm thankful to be called mom by not one, not two, but three little girls. I don't have world travels, or fame, or fortune, but what I do have is more precious than any of those things.
3. I'm thankful for my time to stay at home. The transition to being a full time "homemaker" hasn't been easy for me (I'll probably write more about it another time). But I'm so thankful for this time. I'm so thankful to devote myself, my education, my talents, and all I have to building a strong home and family. I'm especially thankful for the joy it brings me.
4. I'm thankful for my calling teaching Sunday School for the high school age youth. They are wonderful kids and I'm probably learning more from them than they are from me.
5. I'm thankful for my diligence in keep up this blog. It has become such a great record of our family and we all enjoy going back and remember different times in our lives.

Michael:

1. I'm thankful for Michael's hard work for our family. He worked so hard this year to finish up his Master's and now dedicates himself to his work all for us.
2. I'm thankful for Michael's amazing example of faith. Once he feels something is right, there is no doubt in his mind and no turning from his decisions. His faith often strengthens me and eases my fears.
3. I'm thankful Michael is worthy of his priesthood and uses it to bless and guide our home.
4. I'm thankful Michael is patient and loving with me, our girls, and everyone he meets. He is so patient for all the shenanigans that come along with a house full of 4 girls. Also, he is so loving to everyone he meets. He looks for the best in people and often helps them see it for themselves.
5. I'm thankful for Michael's support of my role as a mother. He never demeans my role and frequently recognizes and praises efforts I've made with the girls and our home.

There are so many more people I'm thankful for - my parents, my in-laws, siblings, aunt/uncles, teachers, etc. I could go on and on for each has touched my life in a special way.  I am truly, truly blessed.

Halloween 2014

We had tons of Halloween fun this year. But, I was terrible about taking pictures. 

Downtown Trick-or-Treat: A friend in the ward invited us to join them for trick-or-treating to the businesses in the downtown area. The more time we spend here the more I love the small-town atmosphere. It was a great time and the weather this day was beautiful! 

Ward Halloween Party: Iowa takes Halloween parties to a whole new level! Forget chili in the church and truck or treat in the parking lot. Our ward party was at someone's property. Truck-or-treat was in the large field in front of their house. Then there were hayrides and a bonfire. We had a blast! 

Carving Pumpkins: When we moved I had to leave behind my beautiful garden that was growing some wonderful pumpkins. So with a heavy heart we bought pumpkins this year. Carving them was still really fun. Hazel had her design in mind for weeks leading up to the carving. She designed and carved it all mostly by herself. I think it turned out really cute!

(Side note: I love how Hazel sticks out her tongue when she's concentrating just like I did when I was younger. Her teacher even commented on this cute trait of Hazel's during her conference)

Eliza was disappointed there weren't any smaller pumpkins and ended up picking out a pie pumpkin. But come carving time she was excited to carve "Lenora's pumpkin."

Meanwhile Lenora supervised these endeavors.... 

But then wanted in on the action. She scooped some seeds,

then decided to taste test things. Needless to say she really enjoyed carving pumpkins as well:)

Halloween day: After a beautiful October, Hallowen dawned chilly. We had to do lots of layering under costumes but were able to make it trick-or-treating without coats on top! I made costumes for Hazel and Eliza again this year. Hazel chose to be Elsa. I would have preferred a more teal blue for her dress but Hazel really wanted this fabric. Besides the color I was pleased with how it turned out.

"Let it go, let it go..."

Showing off her cape

"The cold never bothered me anyway!"

Eliza wanted to be Belle. Why? Because her dress is yellow of course! I love how her costume turned out. In fact, it's my favorite I've ever made.

Sweetest curtsy!

Eliza LOVED having "Belle hair"

Poor Lenora didn't get a single picture in her costume. She wore the Belle tutu that both Hazel and Eliza have worn in the past and then her monster PJs on Halloween. I did snap this cute picture of her the other morning when Hazel decided to turn her in to a fairy.

Also not pictured was Michael's beach bum outfit. As for my costume, why haven't I done this before now? It was a hit with the teenagers I teach at church.