Merry Christmas!

What a fun day! For starters we keep up Dominic's family tradition with the stockings: they're filled with candy and cheap toys, and we put them in the kids' room before we go to bed. The children wake up to new toys and sugar, so they happily play in their room until we wake up.

This was a bike Christmas. Both Samuel and Benjamin received bikes from Santa. We thought Lisy was too young to care, but we were wrong (see picture below). Lisy's Santa present was a princess couch/fold-out bed, which she enjoyed switching back and forth (it's at the bottom of Sammy's picture). Sammy pretended to ride his bike to school, and Benjamin pretended to be Speed Racer on a bike.


Did I mention the great deals? We got each one for under $50!















The boys are watching a movie while sitting on their bikes. So funny!


Lisy, after much effort, got up on Benjamin's bike all by herself. Benjamin kept pulling her off. So Sammy would hold her up on his bike, but he needed help taking her down.









Instead of making a big holiday feast with turkey and potatoes and such (neither of us were in the mood for it), we made a big country breakfast. Then we took naps.

Here are a few highlights of the day:
Lisy, upon opening a My Little Pony, immediately started combing its hair with no prompting from me. It must be a girl thing.

"I have my own! I have my own!" -Benjamin, referring to the Obi-Wan starfighter from Llama Grandma; Sammy already has one and doesn't like to share it.

"That present was mislabeled. It should go to me." -Dominic, watching Benjamin open the A-wing. It was just a joke, but he did enjoy playing with the Star Wars ships with the boys.

Lisy kept eating the candy out of other people's stockings.

Benjamin - "It's Present day!"
Dominic - "Actually, it's Christmas day."

Sammy - "Some people call this an X-wing."
Me - "Why? It's a B-wing."
Sammy - "Because if you turn it like this it looks like an X."

Dominic surprised me with the World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. I surprised him with a "green linen shirt," which parodies the clothes in the game.

Lisy tried to put on all the clothes she got, but she kept getting it wrong, like fitting pants onto her head and putting 3 socks on one foot, over her pajamas.

Say Cheese!

This post is pathetically lacking in pictures. So I'm making up for it all at once. Are you ready?

The boys enjoying a freak snowstorm in October. Notice the snowman's multiple eyes? Yeah, they had been watching a lot of Monsters, Inc.





Here I am with my cousin Lovina at her bridal shower. She was a radiant bride-to-be.







This was the year of superheroes. L-R: Lisy as Batgirl, Benjamin as Superman, Sammy as Captain America. Technically Lisy is wearing a witch's dress, but I pinned on a Batman cape, which thrilled her.



My favorite Superman picture.













Lisy is enjoying our balcony over the water at the Sundowner Motel. We stayed there for Dominic's job interview and when we first arrived in Caldwell.





The children had a lot of fun climbing all over the boxes. Packing is so much more fun for children with no responsibilities.






Our new house! Have I mentioned how nice it is to have a garage? and a fenced backyard? and an extra bathroom? and a walk-in closet? OK, I'll stop now.





Benjamin and Samuel with Santa at the Boise Botanical Gardens. The lights were amazing, but it was freezing cold.

Merry Christmas!

Settling in

Pictures at last! First, the nice one. Next, the one with personality:










I want to begin this post by saying that I love my husband very much. While I was at Relief Society this week, Dominic put together the living room and put away most of the boxes. He even set up and organized the bookcase. It feels like a home now: places to sit and no boxes tripping us up.

Dominic's surprise made me feel so good that I decorated for Christmas. Sammy, I mean Samuel, is thrilled to have a tree up and lights outside like everyone else. One surprise I didn't expect was a missing ornament box. It's either misplaced or mislabeled. So I bought garlands and bows and candy canes, making it look like our first Christmas tree. The kids really liked helping me decorate, until Lisy found out the candy canes were edible. I doubt many will survive the next 2 weeks.

Our next-door neighbors are very nice. They're they only ones who have greeted us, they brought us pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, and their daughter is a lot like Sierra. So I gave them cookies, which they couldn't stop raving about. OK, here's my secret ingredient: add one package of instant chocolate pudding mix along with the flour. No one even notices that I use whole wheat flour ;)

As a follow-up from my last post, thank you so much for your comment, Marrisse. I decided to enlist my children's help. We had a family home evening about how Heavenly Father doesn't like fighting and yelling, but He is happy when we're peacemakers. Mommy is more emotional than usual and needs extra help. Since families help each other, I suggested they say "breathe Mom" when I yell. Then I'll stop and take a deep, calming breath. They really liked that idea. Though they never tell me to breathe until after I've stopped, I do give them lots of hugs and thank them for helping.

Now that I'm safely in the second trimester, I announce to the world that I'm expecting baby #4. I'm due in May on Lisy's 2nd birthday. Dominic notes that pregnancy increases the volume of my voice. What can I say? Some women cry, and I yell. It is temporary, but I feel bad for my little ones, which is why I'm working on it.

Home Sweet Home

We have a house! Yea! The rental company was really nice and worked very hard to get us in before Thanksgiving so we wouldn't have to stay in a hotel for 4 more days. The children were very happy and ran all over the place. That night the Bishop's wife of our new ward brought over dinner.

Thanksgiving day we were thankfully moving into our new home. We did take a break to eat a wonderful meal at Golden Corral, after which Dominic and I took naps. Benjamin wasn't feeling well, and in fact he had a fever most of the morning. He only drank soda at dinner, then he felt much better after throwing up.

We still have boxes everywhere, so there's no room for a Christmas tree yet. However, we did set up the kitchen, bathrooms, washer & dryer, and stuffed all the toys in the play room. Ok, I love having a play room. Who cares if it's a mess? The toys are out of the living areas!

There are a few things I always thought I would like, and now I know I love them: pantry, walk-in closet, and garage. All 3 really help me organize and de-clutter, areas in which I need a lot of help.

Although the children seem to like it here, they are still adjusting. Sammy found a picture of his friend Sierra and started to cry. Benjamin screams at the slightest provocation and is biting again. Lisy laughs after hitting and kicking her brothers. (sigh) I wish I could be the stability they need, but I've been very emotional lately. However, the nice weather helps, and I stick to our morning and evening routines. (As a side note, I'm grateful Sammy starts school next year, once we're fully settled in.)