Trained

Somewhere, recently, I was told a story of a mother who potty trained her infants!


I would be very interested in seeing that!


I asked Vada if she was interested in trying the potty out and naturally being Vada, she was game. However, after touching her bare baby bottom on the cold seat she giggled and declined.

At least she tried!

Our Family Tree

Each year one of my favorite things to do around Christmas is making our Christmas cards. I love taking the pictures and designing our cards (even if I am designing it through the Wal-Greens website). I even like addressing the envelopes and putting on the stamps. I know its crazy but everything focused on or pertaining to Christmas lifts my spirits and puts a smile on my face,besides the crazy shoppers.



This year for my birthday I received a gift card for a family session with a local photographer. I planned on using our family picture from that session for this years Christmas cards. However, there is not one single day between now and Christmas that we can all get together to do the session. Plus with Vada's immune system being so vulnerable I am a bit nervous at exposing her to more people. So the family picture will have to wait until after Christmas.




I did consider doing the photography for our card myself. It is what I have done for all of our past cards and announcements, but I decided against it this year.




Justin's mom recently gave a book from my amazon wish list that was filled with idea's for Christmas crafts. In it I found my inspiration for our 2010 Christmas cards!


It required a little green paint. Lots of messy hands and a whole lot of giggles!

Tradition

Every time I hear or read the word "Tradition" I think of Fiddler on the Roof. A musical that I watched for the first time with in the last couple of years with Justin and his parents. I never realized that I enjoyed musicals. However, some of my favorite movies are in fact musicals. Fiddler on the Roof wouldn't be one of my favorites, but I did enjoy it.

Each year Justin, the girls and I get a new ornament on Thanksgiving for our Christmas tree. We give them to each other on Thanksgiving night (or the night we may celebrate Thanksgiving). This year we had to wait to hand them out because we were waiting for Vada's and Justin's to come in the mail. Even though Justin didn't mind not getting his at the same time and Vada wouldn't know the difference one way or the other I wanted to hold off and wait until we were all able to get the ornaments at the same time.

By waiting until all the ornaments were here I felt that it made a small statement to the girls that together we are family. With Jasmine and Kiliegh going back and forth between their dad's I feel that "family" becomes confusing. I want them to realize that doing things together as a family is important. So here when we do family oriented things we wait until we are all together. Even if that means that we do it later than we had planned. The girls have separate visitation schedules and with Justin's work schedule sometimes "later" becomes "much later". However, that was not the case this time. Thanksgiving was on Thursday and we received the two ornaments on Friday and then we exchanged them today. Not a long wait at all.

Vada's ornament is "typical". It's her first Christmas, so we got her a porcelain rattle that says "Baby's First Christmas" on it.

Kiliegh's ornament is of a little "hip hop" dancing girl. This year we have finally found an activity that Kiliegh enjoys and that holds her attention. Dancing. I am not a parent that believes a child needs an extra curricular activity but at the same time I don't discourage them. Up until dance, for Kiliegh, she wanted to try out everything but liked nothing. When she came home asking to be in dance I was a bit skeptical. We have signed her up for so many different activities but she has wanted to quit them before barely starting them. Luckily, those activities were always seasonal things like soccer and T-Ball. Dance was a bit different. Dance was consistent. Never the less she has been doing dance all year. Her excitement has not diminished but grown and we have watched her self confidence grow with her experience. I was excited when I found her ornament, it fit her well.

Jasmine's ornament also fit her and her new love for a new activity. Karate. Karate was such a great choice for Jasmine. After Kiliegh began dance Jasmine wanted to go too. That choice was something that we did discouraged. The competition between Jasmine and Kiliegh is an issue and probably more so than typical siblings who live with both parents. Plus, since dance was the first thing that Kiliegh has enjoyed doing we really wanted it to be "her thing". So we suggested a few options to Jasmine. Some of her friends are in gymnastics, which is something that she has also stated that she would like to do again and she has in the past so we knew that it would be something that she would enjoy. We also suggested Taekwando which is something one of her best friends does. Then we brought up Karate. There is a place about two blocks up from us that we said she could ride her bike to and that would be all of her own (something her sister isn't doing and a place that her friends aren't going to). She chose Karate. Were glad that she did. She has been doing it for four months and is already getting promoted to her third belt, the orange belt. Her confidence has also is improved and we've noticed that the values being taught in martial arts are values that we as parents are trying to teach as well. It's a great activity all around!

Originally I really wanted to get a wind mill ornament for Justin. He designed and built his very own throughout the end of last year and the beginning of this year. He was so proud of it and it truly was amazing. It looked like something you would have to special order and spend thousands of dollar on. Plus, it really generated power. So, when I went searching and only found printed picture medallions with wind mills on them, I was very disappointed. I thought for sure as popular as the "going green" and the wind farms are becoming I would have easily found what I was looking for. However, I did finally settle on something else that went well with Justin's 2010 achievements. Justin has been a father for over five years now, but this year he has had his first baby. Justin's ornament is of a father figure holding a "new" and naked baby.It wasn't my first choice but I do think it was a good one.

While I was searching for Justin's ornament online Vada's nurse came over for one of her normal visits. When I explained what I was doing she suggested that I get myself a syringe to signify all of the injections that I gave to Vada. Justin and I both agreed that it was a good idea. However, that too was not something easily found. So what we got was a figurine that looks like a nurse. For the personalization we had "Momologist" printed on. Momologist is a trademark of one of my friends, Amy. I got the idea from her blog Momologist.com (formally Larkin's Place). Amy explained to me once that while she didn't put in years at medical school to become a Neurologist or a surgeon she has put in years of being a mom. Her specialty like mine is Momology. I think its clever and I am proud to be a Momologist.

So there it is. One of our family traditions and the story behind this years Christmas tree ornaments.

Giving Thanks

Our Thanksgiving consisted of Jasmine, Kiliegh, Vada, Justin and me (or is that I?). It consisted of the girls running in and out of the house. Their voices on full blast but their laughs making up for the loudness. It consisted of Vada rolling around all over the floors while paying attention to all of the finer details of the "stuff" left behind from a quick vacuuming job. It consisted of Justin going back and forth from playing his Call of Duty game to basting the turkey.


Every holiday, including Thanksgiving is pretty much the same for us. For holidays with Jasmine and Kiliegh and visitations with their dads we swap yearly. This year we have the girls for every holiday. Last year and next year we wont. On the holidays that we don't have the girls we switch our holiday plans to a day when we all are together. Needless to say, our holiday traditions remain the same, regardless of when we celebrate them.


On Thanksgiving we tend to cook way too much food, decorate our Christmas tree and begin watching Christmas movies. Thanksgiving for us is a day that we give thanks to God for all of his many blessings, but it is also a day that we celebrate the coming of Christmas.... and then there was me. I had spent the day before preparing all of our side dishes. All I would have to do today was to bake them. So, I spent my day soaking up one of the greatest gifts that God has ever given to me. A gift that I proudly call my family.


This year we had Turkey, corn casserole, green bean casserole, stuffing (Stove Top and not cooked in the turkey), mashed potatoes with gravy, fresh veggies and dip, cheese and crackers and bread. We also had pumpkin pie with cool whip, apple pie with vanilla ice cream and brownies. For our movie, we watched A Christmas Carol, the newer one with Jim Carey and we did decorate our tree, but I was too tired to put my ornaments on at the same time as Justin and the girls.

I am blessed beyond any form of measurements. I know if you stand on the outside and try to look in on my life you may not see things the way that I do, but trust me when I say, I am rich. I have a life that I would not trade with anyone else. I have three beautiful daughters who at times may drives me to insanity, but the good times always out weighs the hard times. I have a husband who through it all is still my best friend. Who works hard so that I can stay home with our children and who loves me unconditionally. I have in-laws that are amazing and a church family that I would do anything for and who have done everything for me, and my family. I am blessed and through everything that has happened this year I am grateful for today.

Holiday Crafts and Projects

For today's craft we painted the insides of Christmas tree bulbs. It was an idea I got from the Christmas edition of the Family Fun book. My mother (in-law) gave it to me as a gift recently.

I bought the clear glass bulbs at Target for about $7.00. Later I found them for $5.00 at Ben Franklin, (who would have guessed, usually they are more expensive than other stores).


We chose a couple of colors of paint and squirted them into the sides of the bulbs, making sure that they ran down the insides of the bulb verses making a puddle at the bottom. After a decent amount of paint was placed in the bulbs I added a tiny (very tiny) amount of water, covered the opening and gave it a good long shake.

You can shake the bulb in one way, making the paint go only in that direction or you can shake all over creating a wonderful mess! We did both.

The final result ended up being very impressive!


Yesterday, our time was a little limited because Jasmine, Kiliegh and I took a trip to Target for some last minute shopping. So, I chose something quick to do. Not really a craft as much as a little holiday project.

Oranges with Cloves. Smells great and makes a really nice centerpiece (if arranged correctly, usually in larger groups than what I used). I just grouped our little arrangement into three's, a good number to decorate with in my opinion. We have a small table so I thought three was enough, plus I had a great spot to put them!

I am a little nervous with the exposed fruit. Every time I make banana bread I have to leave the bananas out for a couple of extra days and our house seems to fill up with fruit flies. (Even if I put the bananas in the refrigerator). So, I am crossing my fingers that the mixture of the acid from the oranges and the smell of the cloves will be a repellent and not an invite for these nasty annoyances!

Things over all have been pretty good in the Wilson house. The girls have been playing and (for the most part) enjoying each other.
I haven't noticed anything that looks like a seizure with Vada...

...and she is really seeming to be more awake and alert. More alive!


Over all, I am feeling pretty good too. Things are good and I am praying that they continue to stay this way!