Accepting my best.

I wanted to share my freezing rain pictures with you. I was trying to think of a cool way to tie them into something meaningful, but I didn't come up with anything. So here they are, sprinkled in with my story! 
Have you seen the movie "Facing the Giants?" I have a particular love of Christian inspirational movies. My brother had recommended this movie to me several years ago--back when video stores were a thing. If I would have been wise, I would have followed his advice. My in-laws got it for Christmas so we borrowed it, and watched it on Sunday. 

Freezing rain on my window

 It was a really good movie. The message is to praise God no matter what the circumstances are. To praise him in the good, and in the bad. It kind of reminds me of the book "The Hiding Place." by Corrie TenBoom.

The Odessy never had so much texture!

 Well, a while back, I was kind of feeling bad that I didn't have any particular talents (more on that struggle in a different post.) I remember thinking that if I could sing like the angels, I would have used that talent to sing great inspirational hymns. The thought came to me that if that really was my intent, why didn't I use the voice He DID give me to sing praises unto Him. Maybe not in front of others, but praise Him none the less. So I did just that. I sang my heart out to my kids at bed time, and around the house. You know what? I think my voice got better! Of course I have a tendency to think I sing prettier than I really do ;)

Despite the fact that it was hard to walk in, it has been pretty beautiful

 So for the last 3 weeks I have been fighting a cold. I haven't really been "sick" since week one, but I couldn't get rid of the nasty cough. (It has been getting a lot better the last couple of days) So consequently, when you cough for a couple of weeks, you usually lose your voice. 

 I longed to sing my heart out for my kids, and to praise Him. I realized that my best was my best no matter what! As soon as my voice could squeak anything out, I tried to sing again. Josh peeked his head in a few nights ago and asked if I was singing or strangling a bull frog! I laughed and kept pushing through. 

 My voice is slowly coming back, but I am still a bass. Sometimes are best is just that--our best. Not perfect, or even good--just our best. That is all the Lord has ever asked of us! And if we still praise Him, and thank Him, we will be blessed!

It is all too fleeting

It is all very fleeting  isn’t it? I was having one of those perfect mother moments. Not one where the kids make you proud or your house is clean and orderly. My moment was much better than any of that. Amelia, on her own, used the potty yesterday. It was a big to do, and we were all so proud of her. In attempts to inspire her, and her twin brother to continue to try to use the potty, we were watching a collection of potty songs from Youtube. All the children had gathered on my bed, crowding around the laptop, to be entertained by silly adults and cartoon characters singing and dancing about . . . well . . . potty stuff. Once the videos came to an end Turner, Max, and Amelia all decided that there were other adventures to be had in the house. Cooper, and I were alone on the unmade bed. Cooper has somewhat of a TV addiction. He didn’t want the videos to end. He kept insisting that we watch a Mity Ouse (Mickey Mouse) clip. For an instant I was tempted to take him down to the TV room and flip on the Disney channel, and let him be absorbed into the land of children’s programing for hours. Instead I decided to distract him with the tickle bug.

There Cooper and I laid on the bed, me cradling him with one arm, and attacking his tickle spots with the other. Cooper squealed in delight and shouted AGAIN! AGAIN! AGAIN! Then he said, “We sleepin’.” So we pretended to sleep until I woke him up with the tickle monster. He laughed and laughed. Amelia heard us laughing and decided to join the party. I laid on my side, with my two two-year-olds cradled in one arm, laughing and pretending as the sun shone through the sheer curtains and also tickled their face. It was a moment where I wished there was a way to capture it. I wanted so bad to be able to clone myself so that the clone could go get the camera and record our priceless moment. Instead I tried to just absorb the love and laughter into my soul. For a moment, our world stood still.

    In a matter of minutes, one of the older boys came in, beckoning them to come and play with him. It was over. Can my soul hold onto this memory forever? Will I remember the weight of them in my arms? The way they looked at me, at each other in sheer enjoyment? The squirming bodies? The tiny toes? The ticklish armpits? It is just all too fleeting. Yet, thank You Lord for this moment. Thank You for these children. Thank You for Love and Laughter that fill my home often. Thank You Lord for these wonderful moments, that help us make it through this life

This girl makes me laugh!

I just came across this photo I took in fall. She makes me laugh!

Sledding on the bunny hill

         Right outside my in-laws back door is the perfect hill to sled with little ones on. It is in the school yard so it is wide, open, and abandoned during winter break. We had a lot of fun last weekend as we took on the hill and had a blast in the meantime! I LOVED that my kids get to go sledding WITH their grandparents! It was a ton of fun!! It was Amelia and Cooper's first time sledding. I am not sure what was going through their heads as we put them on a little disk and shoved them down a hill, but when the got to the bottom, it was all smiles!

No fear as Mr. T hit the slopes slope.

Crapa getting into the action!

GG and Crapa doin' a train!

Can't see his eyes, but you can see his smile!

lovn' it!

We couldn't convince this guy to stop until it was past dark!

GG getting some spray!

We even got a snap-shot of one of my runs!

Big bro taking the little ones down for the first time!

Yep! They liked it!

I hope it warms back up someday so we can go again! Too cold right now!!

The red dress part 3

Her third Christmas, her third red dress (or red skirt as the case may be this year) I made this skirt myself! I was going to do a whole dress but when it took me a better part of a day just to figure out the skirt part, I decided it was okay to buy a top :)

Even though the pictures didn't turn out that great, I had to laugh at this picture of the both of them! So funny! So I thought I would share!

Christmas morning at the Thomson's!

I tried to make sure that we focused our holiday around the Savior. During the Christmas season, we spent a lot of time reading spiritual stories, studying the life and teaching of Christ, and singing sacred hymns. We talked of Christ and rejoiced in Christ. As a mom, it was really important to me that my kids knew exactly what Christmas was--the celebration of the birth of our Savior. 

We try to not focus too much on the material and really do our best to keep the presents to a minimum, but there is just something so fun about ripping open presents on Christmas morning that brings so much energy and life! I loved every squeal and shriek of joy Christmas morning. It was a great morning!

Waiting to come in!

Lovin' her new princess shoes!

Digging into the stockings!

He loves scripture scouts!

Coop shown' off his cars!

Max is excited about his tooth paste

Coop too busy digging into the goods

Moochie isn't so thrilled about scripture scouts ;)

Princesses for our princess

Daddy helping Cooper put down the current toy in order to open another one.

Happy girl!

Mommy! A car!! (His whole stocking was practically cars!)

Getting ready to open the present from Santa!

Max getting what he loves--Legos!

Turner getting what he loves-an otter (and a starwars head lamp)

Look mommy! Supa man (Little people super heros)

Okay, this is his "I'm really interested in this so I am checking it out intently" look

Loving her dolly before we can even get it out of the box

My pretty pretty present! I didn't want to open it up, it was so beautiful!

It was a quilt my sis-in-law made me! I LOVE IT!!

So happy it is dripping from her eyes and nose :)

And the biggest kid of all with his haul from the day!

Now if we can just remember that kind of enthusiasm as we partake of the gift of our Savior Jesus Christ!

The night before Christmas

Christmas Eve was a nice night at our house. We played it easy by just having finger foods for dinner. We opened PJ's watched Luke II and read the Christmas story. The kids were so excited for Santa to come that they just couldn't handle it!

My in-laws came over to spend the evening with us. It is great having family close by!!

I made my first attempt at a night gown. I t turned out cute--but I learned a lot for next time!

My favorite thing as a kid was listening to my dad read the Christmas story and watching the swirling shadows from the pyramids on the ceiling. We turned off all of the lights and lit all of the candles. It is a favorite tradition of mine that we have carried on, when we celebrate Christmas eve at our house. It is right that we celebrate the birth of our Savior during the darkest time of the year. It is his birth that brings light into this dark world.