Christmas 2010

This Christmas was a wonderful celebration with lots of highs and I think it was a success despite how tired I was and how simple things were. More then anything this year I felt so much gratitude for the outpouring of love from our family and friends. It seemed at every turn we were blown away at the love and generosity we were shown. It really touched our hearts. Thank you everyone for your thoughtfulness!

Being close to having a baby I felt extra tenderness for Christ's mother Mary. I think of giving birth to my child in those circumstances and I am overwhelmed with love and appreciation for the humble yet significant miracle of her bringing the son of God into the world. I believe the crowning moments of my life have been when I gave birth to my children. The story of Christ's birth is just such a beautiful testament of God's love for man. That was sort of our family theme this year for Christmas. We had the kids memorize the scripture, "For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten son." We had lots of great conversations about the story of his birth and how His life was a sacred gift to us. I love that we got to share that with the kids this year.

So back to our festivities...The kids are in the golden years where Christmas magic is reaching its all time highs and so it was just so much fun to watch them drink in all the celebration and wonderment. I felt badly that I was just so tired and exhausted this season. For the life of me I could not keep up with all the "plans" I had listed out in my brain but I think I was the only one who really noticed what we didn't get to. When I was a child the magic of Christmas was not the gifts or Santa it was that my family all came together. I really missed that this year and I realized that for my children it wont be that way until they are older. I'm also realizing that being the mom on Christmas is a bit more work then I thought. :) Its worth it though to see the kids having their own sort of Christmas magic.

Here are some little highlights we enjoyed this year:

- The school Christmas pageant, seeing Santa and everything
- Driving around Reno to see the hot spots for Christmas lights - Angeli loved this
- Tons of hot cocoa and movies
- Making gingerbread cookies for Santa
- Having our first Elf on a Shelf visit us from the North Pole - this was rather hilarious when Bridger would not except that he was real...he kept insisting that it was just a toy. After a day or two he was won over by the fact that he moved everyday and brought surprises...I guess that was proof that he wasn't just a toy. :) I guess we should have introduced the elf thing when he was younger.
- Having several family dances rocking out to Christmas music
- Writing letters to Santa
- Playing Santa's helpers delivering toys and treats to our friends
- Making and Shipping lots of gifts all over the U.S. ;)
- Having our annul Christmas Eve party: party buffet, acting out the nativity, singing Christmas songs, setting out cookies and stockings, spreading reindeer food outside....
- Waking up very early on Christmas morning to see that Santa's Sleigh had tipped over in our living room
- The kids giving their first sibling gifts to each other
- Feeling really homesick for family
- Having our fancy Christmas night dinner
- And playing and playing and playing with all our new toys!

I am so grateful for Christ life and his birth that we get to celebrate each year. He has given us every joy and for that we try to give back what we can, our lives dedicated to him. I hope this year we are more filled with His light, life, and love.

Decorating Cookies for Santa

Christmas Morning

Christmas playing with our new toys and hanging out

All day they played Star Wars and Barbies together in this weird princess barbie meets aliens sort of game it was so funny to watch.

All in all it was a very Merry Christmas!

36 Weeks and Plump'n

I am pretty darn plump'n these days. Gone are my pregnancies of having a teeny tiny belly and now I am huge. This girl better weigh like 8 pounds or I'll be feeling a little depressed with what I'll have to take responsibility for as just being plane old me! ;O) So here I am in all my plump'n glory at 36 weeks.

That's one month to go and I am hoping for less....I told Stewart the other day in a fatigue/pregnancy-hormone-mess break down that, "If I have to be pregnant all the way to my due date I will just die!" I think that is pretty much the truth of matter. So if it comes to that steer clear of me. I will be one grummpy huge lady! ;) The kids love to point out that I look like I am going to pop so they figure that the baby has to come soon! I totally agree with them.

Two Years Old!

Mr. Benjamin Merlin Rasmussen is now two entire years old! Man, those years went really fast. My baby is now a very little boy! He has always been my little pal even though as I type this I tried to give him a kiss and he keeps saying, "Ewwwww." ;) He is a such a special little guy. He is shy around strangers so I don't know that many people realize how fabulous he is, not to mention the fact that he is our third child so he doesn't have quite as much room to shine. But let me tell you, we couldn't adore and love him more!

As his two year birthday was approaching I often thought to myself that he was the most obedient responsible little two year old I have ever met. But then he actually turned two and in that first week as a two year old he climbed to our highest cupboard found a bright blue sharpie and then proceeded to color all over the house ruining our already tattered couch, then he found a pair of scissors and cut my bed spread, and then a couple hours later found another pair of scissors and cut my phone cord in two! :)

But that being said, he is generally super responsible. Before he does most things he asks if it is "Otay?" and if I say "yes" he usually responds "thank you." in the most polite sweet voice ever. If I say "no" he frowns a little and asks why. Plus he recites the rules all the time to me. "No touch the pan. Its hot hot!" , "No, no toys at the table.", and "Shhhh. Quite. Time to sleep."

Here are some pictures I took of us just being silly around the house in our jammies. We ended up playing picture tag as he ran away from the camera and I tried to get pictures of him. He loved it. :)

Him being shy and not wanting to take pictures so I try and turn it into a game...

Last, but not least, here are a few things about Benjamin at two years old that I want to remember:

- He loves to sing his A,B,C,'s

- He loves to dance

- He loves to ROAR!

- He loves to talk

- He loves to wrestle

- He loves GREEN and blue

- He loves to sing especially twinkle twinkle little star, the wheels on the bus, and the itsy bitsy spider

- He loves Thomas the Train .....and any train for that matter

- He is a good sport

- He is a really good jumper

- He has the cutest smile ever with his two big dimples

- I love when he says, "Look at me, Tay?" and then does something he deems rather special like jumping off the couch onto a pile of blankets. And when I say my wows he beams with so much pride. Oh, I love it.

- I love how if he ever bonks into you and you say "ow" he gives you a big kiss and says, "I sorry. Otay?"

- He loves Chocolate!

- I love to hear him pray. I could be having the worst day but then I hear him say a prayer on our food, or what have you, and my heart sort of melts.

- I love that he is cuddly and will curl up with me on the couch and we'll talk, nap or giggle together.

- Benjamin loves to go places! If one of us is going somewhere Benjamin wants to come too. And if you don't take him it just about break his heart in two.

- I love watching him play with his brother and sister. When I stop my chores and listen to them talking and laughing together about the intricacies of Star Wars, Narnia, Going to heaven and what angels look like, Cinderella,..... and such and I see how their little personalities just meld together and give each other so much friendship and joy I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. My cup just runs over with gratitude and joy to be blessed with such beautiful children I love so very much.

- I love watching him play with his daddy. To see the love reflected in each others eyes in priceless. I think there is nothing cooler in our house then wrestle time with dad.

We basically think we won the lottery with this little man joining our family. I am so glad he is ours forever. :O) Benjamin Merlin, we love you like crazy!

A Preschool Love Bug Attack!

There has been a lot of romance at Bridger and Angeli's preschool. It all started a week ago when a mom pulled me aside and asked if I was Bridger's mom. When I told her I was she proceeded to tell me about her daughter's and my son's relationship. I'd never heard a word from Bridger about it. She told me that Emmie and Bridger were "boyfriend and girlfriend". She said that her daughter talks about him all the time and about how she loves him and how they are going to get married and kiss. That's when the teacher joined in and told me about how they are the class sweethearts and that the other day they were about to kiss in class and she had to stop them. It was news to me. The mom said her husband would be glad to know that Bridger came from a good family. HA! that was really funny to me...but I can sort of understand there are some kids who's moms pick them up a little high. Anyways, when we got home I tried to talk to Bridger about it. He said she was in love with him so then he "caught love with her". So I got a good laugh out of it told him we don't kiss romantically until we are 16 years old. He said okay and that was that.

Then today when I picked the kids up the teacher told me that Bridger has gotten in big trouble for poking another child in the eye. When we were driving home he explained why, "Mom I was so frustrated today! Noah fell in love with Angeli and he was holding hands with her! They were dancing and he said that he was her boyfriend and it made me so mad. She cant have a boyfriend and now she has two! So I poked him in the eye!" This was news to me that she had a boyfriend let alone two! I'm seriously wondering what is going on at the preschool that everyone is "falling in love" all over the place! So then I had to have a talk with both kids. They told me that they wanted to kiss and have boyfriends and girl friends and I tried to explain why they shouldn't.

While they sat there talking about their relationships with Noah and Emmie it felt so weird. "Mom I like Noah and I like dancing with him" - batting her huge beautiful blue eyes as she talked about him. I was a little amused and terrified at the same time. When on earth did my kids start thinking like this?!?! When did my babies get so 4 going on 14 ish and 3 going on 13 ish?!?!?! Oh, the teen years are going to be interesting. I can tell already!

Well, I am going to have a talk with their teacher and find out what is going on. I am hoping that with winter break for the next two weeks this preschool love bug will have passed by.

Words I should have told myself nine months ago...

Don't try and run two businesses when you are 8 months pregnant with your fourth baby in five years, have a husband who is a busy traveling fourth year medical student, a calling at church, and have Christmas approaching all at the same time. I know its sounds not that bad written out like that BUT just don't do it. Trust me, I know its so very tempting, but heed my warning and don't do it.

The thing is I know I wouldn't have listened. But maybe this talk would have helped. :)

Of Things that Matter Most

Update

Life is super crazy right now. If you have talked on the phone with me in the past four days I am sure you got to hear all sorts of screams and yelling and chaos coming from my house. That is basically the state of things these days.

Stewart is on a bunch of interviews right now and really enjoying the interviews...not so much the flying and living in hotels but the interviews themselves he is liking a lot. He gets home this weekend and then he is off again for another week of interviews before he takes a break for the holidays. It is going to be really hard for us to make a rank list this spring. He's in Dallas right now and he left me a message saying, "I love it!" So that is happy. With every interview we sort of fall in love with a new location and a new program so its a little bit of a roller coaster. It will be nice when we finally know.

I am almost done with my Christmas orders, except with some plates that decided to commit suicide and crack in the kiln, I am done. I just need the owners to come pick them up and get the rest shipped. Its funny to me that the number one thing people talk to Stewart about in his interviews is the home business stuff I and Stewart do.

Christmas gifts are all almost done for our extended family...if only I could get it together enough do the finishing touches, wrap them and ship them we'd be doing awesome.

I am diffidently in the third trimester. Things seem to be going really well. I had a appointment today and everything was perfect so that is very happy. Well, I wish I'd stop gaining weight but we can only wish for so much in life. ;) I am sooooo tired these days. Every morning this week I have had a mini break down and have had to cry a little because I am not sure how I will make it through the day but somehow I get enough food in me and get going enough that I get past it and we make it out all right. I am grateful that my twice a week babysitting will be ending soon just because I am losing most my energy.

The kids are CRAZY! I am doing my best to create some order and structure. I am not sure what their problems are but they better get through this phase soon or I'll be losing it shortly. Seriously. :O)

I have gotten some baby stuff done which is encouraging to me. The last things on our list are to deep clean and organize our room to make room for the bassinet and stuff and then set up the crib which means reorganizing Angeli's room. I want Stewart to make some new wooden names for the girls that I think will be a fun craft after Christmas.

So little by little things are coming together and getting taken care of. It all just takes four times longer then I want it too with so many little kids to care for, Stewart being gone, and my being super pregnant. But its happening so I cant complain.

Life is crazy and has its challenges right now but we are hanging in there and are so very spoiled with the blessing we have.

My Brother is Famous!

Okay, not really BUT his little article was published in the December Ensign and I am such a proud little sister about it. I think it is really insightful. Way to go big brother! I love ya.

Here be the link: http://lds.org/ensign/2010/12/modern-day-fiery-serpents?lang=eng

Thankful Tree

For a Family Home Evening last month we talked about Thanksgiving and about being thankful. We then made a "Thankful Tree" and used our handy dandy Cricut to cut out some fall leaves. Everyday we'd add leaves to our tree with something we were thankful for that day written on them. It was a great little family activity and the kids really loved it. I hope we make it a tradition each November. I wanted to document what the kids were thankful for because day after day I was impressed with their thoughts about what they were most thankful for. I know I am sure thankful for them. :)

Things we were thankful for this year on our Thankful Tree

We are grateful that Jesus came back to life. - Angeli
I am grateful for the beauty of the earth. - Mom
That Jesus can help us be good and not fight - Bridger
I am grateful for my family. - Angeli
I am grateful that Jesus made us! - Bridger
That mom had more business. - Mom
We are grateful for sippy cups. - Bridger
We are grateful Daddy is coming back home! - Angeli (dad was on an interview)
We have Sasha (the dog) this week! - all the kids
That Jesus loves us. - Bridger
Jesus! - Benjamin
We are grateful for the earth we have to live on. - Angeli
That Heavenly Father made us a family! - Angeli
I am grateful Jesus made food!!! - Bridger
I love Jesus! - Benjamin
We are grateful for all the animals like doggies and Kitties. - Benjamin
We are grateful for pancakes and buttermilk syrup. -Bridger
That Daddy had a good interview. - Dad
I'm grateful that Jesus made that world for us. - Bridger
We are grateful that Jesus died for us. - Bridger

I never really realized how much my children loved and appreciated Jesus Christ. They have these very sweet and pure testimonies that he lives, he died for us, he has given us all we have that is good, and they feel a personal closeness with him. I guess weekly family home evening, daily family prayer, daily family scripture study, and attending church each Sunday really pays off. What do you know, the prophet and apostles are right?!?!?! :) It might be annoying at best some of the times we try to get them to try and listen to scriptures and pray but it is priceless to hear our children express their tender feelings about Christ even when they are just 2,3, and 4 years old.

Thanksgiving

We had a happy Thanksgiving. We were homesick and missing family very much but luckily we have great friends and we were able to cook up a thankful feast and have a wonderful time with our friends. It was my first time cooking an entire thanksgiving dinner so I was a little nervous but luckily things worked out pretty darn well. I was proud that I cooked my first pies and they turned out perfectly. Thank Heaven.

This Thanksgiving I feel so blessed with how much energy I have had. I have been able to get so much done. In the past four days I have accomplished: doing all my Christmas shopping, Birthday shopping (as we have three birthdays coming up), gotten all my Christmas orders finally sanded and loaded up in my kiln (miracle! over 80 items), able to cook a huge dinner for Thanksgiving, keep my house clean (big big deal), enjoy babysitting a 100 pound dog, and the real kicker is that I feel pretty darn awesome considering the fact that I am over seven months pregnant with my fourth little baby! Oh, it is a miracle. I am trying to get everything in order before Stewart is basically gone for two weeks on residency interviews this month. I hope when he is gone I can just focus on being a good mommy and not be stressing about all my extra responsibilities hanging over my head. I just feel so blessed to finally be making some progress in other departments of my life then laundry and dishes.

It has been such a happy break for us to get things done, play games, be silly with the kids, go on walks, break out the Christmas music, and pretend we are dog owners. I am so thankful for my life and the riches I have been so very blessed with!

Here are the littles on our Thanksgiving walk. I just adore them. :)

MOM!

Today when we walked in the door after picking Bridger up from school he turned and looked at me with the most disappointed look on his face and said, "MOM! When I come home I want the house to be clean!" I just laughed at him and told him if he wants it clean he can get working on it himself. :O) I feel sorry for the poor girl that marries him. Well, maybe by then he'll be more mature.

Drum Roll Please.....

I am officially announcing the launch of my and the husband's very own Etsy Shop, Earth in Print. Ta DA!!!!!! I was planning on having this done almost a year ago but with the pregnancy and all it sort of got delayed. And to be honest it isn't full of all the things I wish it was but we'll be adding things as we go. So anyways, I hope you like it! If you have any questions or see any typos - which I am famous for- please don't be shy to speak up! Now go check it out. :O)

Here be my very own link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/EarthInPrint