JUST DO IT!

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about my blog but doing nothing about it. I have a TON of pictures that I want to post and write about and this becomes very overwhelming to me. I make up all kinds of lame excuses. I go through denial (I'm really not that far behind). Then I get into an all or nothing mentality (I can't possibly catch up so I just won't do it at all). Then I go through phases where I blame it on pregnancy (I just don't have the energy to do it).

Well, tonight, I sat down to read a few blogs that I like to keep up on and I got inspired and decided to JUST DO IT. A friend at church also recently gave me a framed cross stitch that she did with Spencer W. Kimball's quote " Do It" on it. I put it up where I see it many, many times each day and it is amazing how this simple thing has helped me in many small and big ways in the last week or so... even my mending pile is gone!

I figure that along with all the other Christmas projects that I need and want to work on, this one has to take a pretty high priority. I keep reminding myself that one of my main purposes in doing this blog is to end up with a book of memories at the end of each year. It just wouldn't be right to skip so many fun things at the end of the year just because I'm tired (how lame!). So here goes... I'll put them in sequential order later...

Ziya's First Haircut

Two days before Thanksgiving, my friend Krista called me in a panic from Anchorage wondering if I knew anybody who needed/wanted a haircut. She'd made an appointment but then decided to go to Anchorage at the last minute and she wouldn't be able to make it back in time for the haircut. She didn't need to say it twice... I've been needing a haircut for months now and as adorable as she always is, Ziya was starting to look a bit shaggy, too.

So we dropped Ammon off at school, dropped Abraham off at pre-school and the two girlies trotted off to the beauty salon. A couple of times, Ziya asked "Ammon?" "Esta en la escuela" (he's at school) I answered. Then she asked for Abe. Same response from me. Then she asked for Papi. Again, the same response. Finally, she got a huge grin on her face as if to say, "You mean we're all alone?" I LOVED IT!

Ziya has watched her brothers and papi get many a haircut at Dave's barber shop, so she wasn't one bit nervous when I put her up on the chair and Abby pulled out her spray bottle and scissors. As a matter of fact, she was all smiles. Then mami got the brilliant idea of pulling out the camera. All smiles turned to a sudden outburst of panic and tears (the stress was just too much... most of us girls can relate, right?). I had to calm her down and put the camera away before she'd agree to let Abby continue on. I did manage to sneak these pictures. She just wasn't the same after the camera... my bad! The haircut is a good one. The back is all nice and even now and her hair actually has some shape. From gorgeous to even more gorgeous. What luck.

I got my mane tamed a bit, too. Abby straightened it all, which was freaky, but as it usually goes, there's no photo to go with my one straight hair day. Oh well.

Snow Fun With Tate

If Abe was in The Sound of Music and he were singing "A Few of My Favorite Things," his little buddy Tate and playing in the snow would be right up there with yogurt and honey. We love it when Tate comes over. And they love it even more when mami actually has the energy to dress everybody up and go outside to play! We just went to the little park next to where we live. After making some snow angels and failing at an attempt to make a snowman, we opted for turning me into a slave horse and pulling all three kids around in circle after circle after circle after circle (you get the idea...). They had a grand time. I guess I did, too.

This is What Became of Jacko

Remember Jacko? He was our Halloween jack-o-lantern.

When we lived in Idaho, a very "self-reliant" type of friend that I had taught me to make pumpkin butter (with pumpkins that she grew in her own garden!). I kept the recipe but never honestly thought that I'd use it. Well, as I watched our pumpkin start to get soft, I decided to put on my brave chef's hat (it's just imaginary!) and give the pumpkin butter a try. It wasn't so hard... especially with the help of my home-made costume Spiderman and his cute little sister. I froze the pumpkin butter and for Thanksgiving, I used it to make two pumpkin pies (homemade crust, too... I even impressed myself with this one) and (get this) a White Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake (my new pastry chef friend shared this decadent recipe - o.k., o.k. she also helped me with the crusts). Ai, ai, aieeeee! I didn't get any pictures of the end results, but the couple of extra pounds I gained speak for themselves!

Pre-School Learning and Fun

For Abraham's little co-op pre-school, the moms take turns teaching two days in a row. For my week, we were in the "Food and Harvest" theme and I got "Grains" and "Meats". For grains, I taught the kiddos about different types of grains before grinding our own wheat and making whole wheat pancakes. They thought the wheat grinder was too loud, but they each had at least two pancakes for their "snack."
For meats, I decided to take them on our first official field trip to IGA, our local independently owned and operated grocery store. We were only scheduled to tour the meat department, but just like any good IGA, the meat guy introduced us to the produce man, who introduced us to the baker! We had lots of fun and got lots of free samples.

Cute "Things"

Ziya is doing lots of cute "things" right now. I intend to do a "don't want to forget any of these cute things" post sometime soon, but for now, I'm just posting these few.

I went to shut the closet door for the night to find that she'd found a special place for Panda to sleep. It warmed my heart in just the right way that night.

When she gets out of the bath every night we wrap her in a towel and she wanders around the apartment before finding her way to the couch or bed where her lotion, diaper and PJ's await. She reminds me of Yoda when she walks around. I don't ever want to forget this image.

She has inherited, from her two very imaginative brothers, the ability to wow us with her "costumes."

She loves to stand on this chair and "read" Abraham's Zoo-phonics post-its. She has also taken to coloring on them (so much so that we had to take them down because they became illegible!). Now she stands there and asks me where her "a-a-a-a" and "b-b-b-b" are!

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth!

He lost the first front tooth on November 19.

And the second front tooth came out on November 30.

After primary on Sundays, Ammon always runs up to me to hand me all his stuff so he can free his hands and go stack chairs in the Relief Society room (he gets a small treat after doing this!). This past Sunday, he handed me a little plastic baggie with his tooth in it! Apparently, his Young Women classroom substitutes gave him a piece of chocolate during class, he bit into it and out popped his second front tooth! He was soooo excited.

Yesterday we were listening to the Disney Christmas CD and when the song "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" came on, I caught his glance and we both smiled at each other. It was a really cute moment.

I slyly watched him eat his pork chop for dinner tonight. It made dinner quite entertaining (for me, at least).