Come on it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you! Errrrr, swimming. It’s so hot! And most of California’s on fire. And we’ve been dealing with horrific winds gusting up to 70 MPH. It’s been insane and so sad and scary. But we are nicely bundled up at home and have been feeling truly blessed. Tanners job search is pretty much over and we are waiting for the final offer on a job here locally. (Update: he is going to be an Executive Director over 5 local buildings and will be operating a building in Yucaipa) Now it’s time to set some financial goals! My favorite!
We have been enjoying this Christmas season to the max. Since our shopping is done, we’ve been able to focus most of our attention on the true meaning of Christmas. I can’t even begin to tell you how precious it has been to hear Rayleigh talk about Jesus. She loves the Savior. She is constantly hugging us and saying, “Jesus wants us to love together”. I’ve been trying to tell her some more simple stories about Jesus’ life and for some reason the woman who washed Jesus’s feet with her tears has stuck out in her mind. She talks about that frequently. The other day we turned on LDS nativity videos and she said, “can we get in the car and go see Jesus,” to which I replied, “I wish! But we are going to have to wait until Jesus comes to our house.” The jack exclaimed, “2 weeks! He’s coming in 2 weeks, mommy!” Gee, I hope so!
She loves to playing with our nativity scenes and spend a lot of time each day doing so. She’s also been more amiable to reading and simple crafts. She spend a good 2 hours the other day stringing fruit loops on some wire. I started the road to speech therapy by getting her assessed. It took 2 hour long sessions and she loved it. She wants to go to school so badly. I can’t wait to get her into a program that will work with her and help her reach her potential! We asked to meet with Parker’s teacher and principal recently too. He’s been having a tough time with his writing assignments and his teacher sends the message that she is just plain not pleased with Parker. It’s kinda shocking and very disappointing. We had a good conversation about some way to improve his school performance. This parenting gig is not easy. But we are trying our best! The other day our streets were getting resurfaced so Tanner took all the kids on a bike ride to school. We sure are gonna miss him when he goes back to work!
Ella is sweet as can be. Always happy. Always smiling. Sleeping like a dream. She has started on a little rice cereal which is helping her chunk up and sleep all night long. She babbles more and more and I swear she says Dada! She loves to talk to us and is so content to sit back and watch a show with her big brothers and sister. Everyone comments on how sweet and pretty she is. She smiles at everyone who looks at her. She is the best baby!!!!
So that’s the current update on the kids!
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| Rayleigh and Ella around the same age. |
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| The most smiley girl in the whole wide world. |
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| All is calm, all is bright. |
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| Rayleigh and Jack were looking for Santa up the chimney! They are so adorable. They love Santa and get so upset when I tell them I'm texting Santa to tell him they are being naughty. ha ha |
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| R-Alien. Ray-lien. She was tossing the baby's pool floatie around like a flying saucer. She is so silly. We have the best time together when Jack is asleep. I love having her as my little buddy. |
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| I love when friends stop by on their way to Disneyland! Amanda and I met through Travis and Nicole a million years ago before any of us had any kids. They live in Utah but love to come down here to go to Disneyland. They came over and the kids all swam and we were able to chat. I just love her so much. We are soul sisters. Even if we haven't seen each other in a year, we can pick up right where we left off and talk for hours. |
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| Sweet Jessi invited me to her Activity Days. I ended up missing the entire thing because Ella's doctor's appointment took so long. (She IS gaining weight) But I was able to meet her at the church and she showed the baby off to her cute little friends. Then we went over to their house for a little visit and Jon showed up! ha ha Family reunion! I met my Mom and Dad at the Shops for dinner at Nordies and a little shopping. Talk about a nice night! I love my family! |
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| Trouble makers. These kids have been into EVERYTHING lately... But. why though? |
Ella has a smile a mile wide. She loves everyone, but especially her Daddy and her big sister.
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| Rayleigh has never been too into reading which has been a great concern of mine. But lately she has been showing a lot of interest. I always stop everything I'm doing when she brings me a book so I can read to her. The other night I was cooking dinner so I asked Parker to read to her. He's the best. He's also trying to teach the kids math facts like 1+1. He's the best! |
Jack loves to "kay-blame" on my phoney, translation: play games on my phone. And he always wants the flashlight on, for some reason. But he also likes to take pictures. And I kinda like when he takes pictures of me with Ella.
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| Rayleigh has an engineering mind. She has been super into stacking cups lately and making big "castles" for her ponies. |
Christmas Jammies!!!!
We had a wonderful ward Christmas party. A yummy dinner, lots of delicious desserts, good times with friends, and Jolly Old St. Nick! My favorite part was the primary nativity. They sang some beautiful songs. I always worry what Rayleigh will do on stage but oh my goodness, she blew me away. She was in awe of the baby Jesus and didn't leave his side. I had to sit next to Joseph and she was so reverent and precious. She really LOVES the real story of Christmas and talks about Jesus every day. She has been the one to help us focus on the true reason for the season this year. It is my hope and prayer that we continue keeping Christ as the focus of our lives throughout the entire year.
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| Tween attitude.... |
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| Waving to us and melting my heart. I was so supremely proud of her. |
Santa came! HO HO HO! The kids were so excited! Parker asked for an iPad or Nintendo Switch, Rayleigh asked for a pink phoney and Jack asked for a blue phoney. We were the first in line to meet Santa! He was so nice!
Let's just hope we are on the "nice" list on Christmas!!!
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