Christmas Traditions

Our family is still pretty young so we are still kind of developing our Christmas traditions. My favorite is carried over from my childhood. Every year we get a new ornament (or 2 or 3) usually from one of our trips or something fun we did during the year. All year long I am on the lookout for a special ornament. This year we got flamingos from Bonaire and then a couple from our trip to Pensacola. Our tropical Santa, Red Fish's Gator, Our pirate flamingo, and Red Fish's flamingo on the go.

As you can see our tree has no ornaments on the bottom because of curious little fingers. The mish mash of ornaments may not be beautiful but to me it is a symbol of every wonderful Christmas season I have had. My poor husband has to put up with me talking about each and every ornament before it is put on the tree. I'm sure eventually there will be too many for me to talk about but it hasn't happened yet.

Another tradition we started last year I stole from my friend Joanna. We buy a Christmas book each year to add to our collection (I'm kind of a book fiend in general) and on Christmas eve we let Red Fish put her hand print in it and eventually will sign her name. As other kids join our family they will do the same. I think it's really fun. Last year Red Fish was only a month old so her handprint is so tiny! We already have our Christmas book this year ready to be signed.I love Christmas stories and I have compiled alot of them into a big binder. One of my very favorite stories goes through all of the symbols of Christmas- red, green, a bell, a wreath, a candy cane, a poinsetta, a tree, a candle, and a star. It takes each one and explains how they are symbols of Christ. When I was little my aunt made us a bag of the symbols to go with the story and we would read it every year. A few years ago I copied the idea and made one for us. Tonight we read it with Red Fish for the first time and she loved it. Another year I also drew the symbols for our sunbeam class and then let them color them, laminated them, and made them into little ornaments. If anybody wants a copy of the pdf email me or leave a comment. It's a really fun Christmas tradition.Another story we just started using this year is The Last Straw (#2 in the binders I gave out.) Basically it tries to encourage remembering Christ and serving others throughout the holiday season. My friend Anne made me this cute little doll that goes with the story. I always wanted to do this with my family and this one is very kid friendly. The felt pieces of straw are to symbolize our acts of kindness or service. Everytime we do something nice we add a piece to the cradle to try and make it more comfortable for the Christchild.

The last tradition we have it to make Gingerbread houses (gramcracker houses) with all of Two Fish's nieces and nephews. It's basically a dozen kids armed with frosting and candy. It's a blast and a huge mess. I love it. I haven't decided whether to try and let Red Fish make one this year but I'm pretty sure we will let her experiment a little- get a little messy at least.

I'm looking for any great traditions to start with our family. I think you can't have too many and I want to start now so my kids will have great Christmas memories. Anybody have a tradition they just love that they wouldn't mind us stealing? I especially like kid friendly or Christ centered ones.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we were lucky enough to get to see both of our families. We went on a bike ride in the morning (My pictures didn't turn out though because my dumb camera is broken I think.) Then we went to my parent's house for lunch. All the grandparents were there and two of my cousins. Red Fish enjoyed being the only kid and did some serious showing off. Then we were off to Two Fish's Mom's house. Red Fish's cousin S is totally in love with her. For the last year it sounds like S has talked about Red Fish non-stop. S even blames things on Red Fish when she knows she has done something mischievous. All through Thanksgiving dinner S hugged and kissed and adored Red Fish. It was so cute. I think they are going to need some matching outfits.

Positively Wicked

Well last weekend was an aboslute blast. I flew in on Friday to visit Lovely L. This is the third time I've gone to visit her since she moved away. We went to get our traditional pedicures. I of course got red toes. Then we went to dinner with Lovely L's husband out by the beach. Then on Saturday we went to a matinee of WICKED. It is SO GOOD. I absolutely loved every second of it. The actors are fabulous, I want to wear the costumes in daily life, and the music was great. I highly reccomend it. Plus Lovely L was the perfect person to see it with. The story is basically about everything that happens in Oz pre-Dorthy. It explains why the wicked witch is the way she is and it totally changes everything you think you know about the movie the Wizard of Oz.
The Panteges is this really beautiful theatre in Hollywood. It was a great atmosphere.
We couldn't take pictures inside the theatre so this is actually the awning outside. Isn't it amazing?

After Wicked we went to the Geisha House and ate some yummy sushi. We did some shopping the rest of the weekend and bought some last minute baby items for Lovely L's bump. It was a wonderful weekend and much needed break.

A Weekend Off

I'm actually taking a whole weekend off to go see Lovely L. Horray!

Cute Little Teeth

Here is a picture where you can see her five little teeth.

A Good Day

Today was a good day that started out badly. Red Fish slept in until 6 am this morning. This is an improvement over waking at 5 am for four days before today. CURSE that daylight savings! The morning went semi-smoothly as we got ready for Red Fish's one year doctor's appointment. That in itself isn't bad because she is very healthy. (22lbs. and 29 inches in case you were wondering.) The bad part was that she remembers getting her flu shot last month. So the second we went into the Dr's office she started to wail. She had me in a vice grip when they tried to weigh her. She sobbed through having her check up and then shrieked through the vaccinations. Not that I blame her, having a needle poke in both arms, both legs, and a prick on the toe just isn't very nice. I had a flu shot last week that reminded me of how unpleasant it is. Then she whimpered all the way home until she fell asleep. She took a nice nap after we got home and the day totally turned around. I worked like crazy while she was asleep to try and complete a couple big work projects. Then when she woke up we had some lunch and went to meet one of my oldest friends (oldest as in I have known her a long time - she is quite young) whom I will refer to as Sas. She has an eighteen month old daughter (Little E), with whom Red Fish likes to play with. We went and got balloons which the girls just loved. Then we went to the park and so much fun. We played on the slide. Red Fish examined the wood chips. Then we got on the swings for a good long time and had a snuggle. Red Fish was in the best mood. Then when she was tired we got in the car and she snoozed while I drove to pick up an order of my new CDs. We came home had dinner, played for a bit and she went to bed while I did some laundry and Two Fish went grocery shopping. (Isn't he the best? I HATE grocery shopping.) It was such a nice day. Sas and I have decided on a tuesday afternoon playdate. I'm really looking forward to them. Red Fish and I try to do alot of fun things together but it was nice to be out of the house and just do something simple and fun. Smooches on the slide

Little E in th background on the playground. It's fun to be able to take Red Fish places like this and actually have her play because she can walk now.
She had alot more fun than she appears to be having. She giggled for the first 10 minutes we were on the swing and then she just snuggled me and eventually fell asleep.

Sas and Little E.

Random Acts of Cuteness

No this photo is not staged. She spent about 15 minutes laying under her tiger playing peek-a-boo with him. I'm loving how cute this age is.
This sad baby wanted to go on a bike ride the other day and I couldn't get the darn tires on her trailer to inflate with our new pump. I hate that when new things won't work. We had to go for a walk in her helmet instead.

Called To Serve

My youngest brother M is currently serving a mission for the LDS church in Chile. For Christmas he asked me to get together some pictures of all of the missionaries that have come from our family. I might have gotten a little carried away. (What? Me? Never!) So I put together a booklet with all of their histories and made a picture of all of them together. It was pretty inspiring to read about all of them and I admire the fact that they all dedicated years of their lives to spreading the message of Christ's love and plan of happiness. The project turned out really neat. And most importantly it marks off the last item on my Christmas shopping list.

Toddlerhood

The world's tiniest little piggie tails. I love it!

Definition of a toddler: Dirty, sticky, grimy, grubby, and usually wet.

Dear Redfish

Once upon a time when Mommy was in college she met Daddy. She liked him very much. They became very good friends. Then they fell in love, so they adopted each other and became a family. They were very happy.

Then one day Mommy and Daddy met a very sweet puppy. Daddy thought he was very soft and cute. His name was Blue Fish. Mommy and Daddy fell in love with Blue Fish and they all adopted each other and became a family. Mommy and Daddy were very happy and we all loved each other even more than before.

Then exactly a year ago today we met you. You were very tiny and special and perfect and we fell in love with you immediately and you fell in love with us. We all adopted each other and became a family. We never knew how happy we could be before we met you. Every day we love each other even more than we ever knew was possible.

Thank you for coming to our family. Thank you for every smile and every moment of joy you have brought us.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

More About Birthdays

Trying to get at the cakeWant some?

Just a little excited about everything

Wiped out after a long fun day!

Red Fish's birthday was PERFECT. It was one of those amazing days that you stress over and usually my expectations are too high but it was so wonderful-everything I wanted. All of our wonderful family came- all 30 of us (and that's just the immediate family.) I get teary eyed just thinking about how much it meant to me to have everyone come and celebrate with us. I feel like all of my dreams are coming true. It's a wonderful feeling. This year has flown by in so many ways and I can't believe it's over. All of Red Fish's little cousins are so fun and cute and they were so excited for Red Fish. It makes me so happy that they love her so much. I just want to squeeze every single one of them- in a good way. We are so lucky to be surrounded by good people from great grandparents down to tiny cousins. Plus everyone spoiled her beyond belief.

We had all of the 1 year birthday classics- cake smashed on her face, trying to help her open presents, and lot's of shrieking.

Looking back over the last year is almost overwhelming. Red Fish keeps me on my toes surprising me in wonderful ways everyday. She's gotten to be such a big girl I almost can't take it!

Also on a non-birthday note Two Fish and I have finished our first packet of Adoption stuff and are halfway through #2. It's a little scary how much easier it is going so far- please please don't let that jinx us! Also Red Fish started using sign language a couple days ago- so cute! She can sign- more, book, eat, and telephone. When I tried to teach her the sign for cat she just said "cat" out loud. It made me laugh. I'm going to have to learn alot more signs in order to keep up with her. She amazes me with everything she is learning.

Preview of the family pics

Stole these off Lovely N's site. She's fabulous and I can't wait to see the rest of them!

Don't you love the kimono plus tutu? Seriously- only my child would wear this!

1st Birthday

I have alot to post but I'm so tired I can't right now. It was a very long, very fun day. So for now I will just say- isn't this cake freaking amazing? My friend Nancy made it and I was totally blown away! It was so much better than I even imagined and the little bowl was perfect for Red Fish to take as her little cake. I loved it!

Snow Day

Red Fish thought the snow was really fun. She keeps wanting to go back outside and touch it. Yesterday when it snowed she kept pointing out the window all day at the "no no" that was falling.

New birthday boots from Lovely L.

The Artist At Work

It takes such concentration to decide what to paint next.

I'm back- sort of

It's been a crazy week. I'm trying to get the house somewhat unpacked before Red Fish's birthday party on Sunday. It's alot of work and between that and everything I usually do I haven't had much time for blogging. Some fun things that have been happening- Red Fish started walking for real today. She's been taking steps for a month but today she was walking all over the house. It's still pretty unsteady especially when she is tired but she looks so cute! She has also started playing pretend which I absolutely adore. The first time I noticed it she was looking at a book (her favorite past time right now) that had pictures of food in it. She kept pretending to take the food off the page and eat it. She also pretends to feed her baby doll. I'm loving this age. It's alot of work but it's alot of fun too. She has to sleep with at least one book now. She is very interested in knowing what things are called or what color it is. She could spend hours pointing at things and having me tell her what it is. All day long I hear "Dat, dat, dat" as she points at things. We are looking forward to her birthday on Sunday! We can hardly believe it is already almost here!

Cousins

This rocking chair was a Christmas gift when I was one.

This horse was a Christmas gift I got when I was two. I can't believe it survived the beatings my brothers and I used to give it bouncing it around the room. It's giving another generation alot of joy. This is Red Fish and her cousin a couple Sundays ago.

Halloween

So it was Halloween last week. Red Fish absolutely loved it! She went crazy! First we went to my Mom’s house and trick or treated at her door. Red Fish wore her really cute little skunk costume and she kept rubbing the furry belly on it. Mom had a big bowl of those big candy bars and she let Red Fish pick one out of the bowl. Red Fish was so excited. She isn’t allowed to eat candy of course and she doesn’t know what it is so she just carried it around with her and waved it around. Mom went with us down her street and we went to a few doors. Red Fish loved all the people walking around in their costumes. She kept laughing and waving at everyone. One of Mom’s neighbors gave her a cheerio snack mix in her bucket so when we got back to Mom’s house we let her tear into it. She went nuts. She was shoving food into her mouth as fast as she could. It was dribbling back out of her mouth. She was so excited. It was hilarious. Then we went home and handed out candy. Every time the doorbell would ring Red Fish would get all excited and race for the door. She would stand next to me and grin at all the kids. It was so cute. Who knew a one year old could have so much fun on Halloween. She really got into it. She was adorable.