Christmas and the end of 2013: A year in review

To start, Christmas was a hit. When is Christmas not a hit with small children being bombarded with gifts?

Vash's "girlfriend" Cora did the cutest thing and I forgot to write about it before. When I was helping in the preschool class, it came time to split into groups. Cora asked if she could be in Vash's group. Well the groups are already assigned and so Mrs. Somers said that she'd change up the groups someday soon so they could be in the same group. So Cora looks at Vash longingly and asks Mrs. Somers, "Someday?" And Mrs. Somers, trying really hard not to laugh, looks at me and says, "Someday, sweetie."

Now it's our inside joke... And it's Totally adorable. 

Little miss is sneaky when trying to avoid bedtime. Down the stairs she'll come asking everything from "Can I have an apple?" to "Can I watch your movie?" As long as she thinks she needs something, it's never bedtime.

Vash reading Fischer a book. He's getting pretty good at making up stories of his own. The other day he came to me crying because, "Ariel is sad .Her true love Eric is with the real Ariel." If it weren't for the fact that Rhyla has two Ariels in her little people set, one with fins; one with legs, I'd have been very confused.

The caption for this photo is simply: These are not the droids you are looking for.

Vash got to perform a Christmas program on the last day of preschool before break. He was the loudest and most animated of the bunch, but my favorite part was when his classmate Gavin high jacked the mic in the middle of the little elf song. Hilarious. Also Hilarious? Vash sang that the boys and girls all "jumped with gwee," instead of glee. And Santa climbs down the "giminy"instead of the chimney.

Also, Santa brought Vash and the other kids a gift while they were rehearsing. Vash got play dough... While he was super excited about it and it provided hours of fun, it also ended up mushed into my carpet... Not sure what we were... I mean what Santa... was thinking. 

This is Rhyla admiring the fishes after coloring all over herself with marker. She really is a sweet thing though. When I asked her what her Christmas wish was, she said, "I wish you and daddy and Vash would be happy."

A ginger bread man Vash decorated. At the church Christmas program, the sister missionaries sang a song and when they came back to sit down, Vash turns to them and says, "That's my girl!" He was obviously proud. Also, at the Christmas party, Vash got to be a sheep in the live nativity. Rhyla was so jealous, she kept pouting, "I'd be a good sheep too!"

She would only sit on the potty if she got to sit next to baby Fischer. Gross and funny, I guess. She loves him though. They made a craft in nursery; it was a paper manger with a paper baby Jesus inside. Rhyla walked around the house with it exclaiming, "It's my baby Jesus!"

Vash requested that I get more creative with their food/snacks. I made strawberry people. 

He told me about another dream the other day; "I dreamed we went to Disneyland and drove the cars."

I hope that dream comes true!

And this is what I got for Christmas. Fischer learned to smile! And it's only getting better with practice.

It's good that the kids are gentle with the baby because they are NOT gentle with each other. Rhyla ran into the kitchen after Vash attacked her and informs me that, "Vash squished me like a tomato!"

See what I mean? This is a smart baby. He'll fake being hungry so that I'll hold him all night. Anytime I try to put him in his crib, he'll spit out his binky, make his snarly hungry noises; I'll grab him, he'll latch, smile, and promptly fall asleep. And we repeat this several times a night. LOL.

Flour faces are so in this Christmas. We watched the Disney Parks Christmas parade and the kids actually really enjoyed it. When the bands came on, Rhyla would ask me what an instrument was and then say, "Look at the drummers! Look at the dancers! Oh look at the horners!"

Vash posing with his not so hidden Mickey. After eating dough, batter, and getting presents, Vash decided that, "Christmas is my favorite life ever!"

I think this is the first time my dad has ever held one of my babies when they were little. Usually he waits until they're walking to pick them up. LOL. Cute, aren't they?

Rhyla was so excited about Santa coming that I caught her trying to sneak downstairs multiple times to sleep on the couch and wait for him.

And he outdid himself, as per the norm. I read the kids The Night Before Christmas, but Vash get asking me if I was sure it wasn't the nightmare before Christmas... Oh Tim Burton.

The kids loved everything, especially their new Lego/Train table. Vash told Rhyla he could build her a "princess castle digger." Rhyla replied, "Ooh, I'm excited you can build it!"

Vash was super excited that they got bedtime "Quo" too. (Quo is how he says clothes. I'm seriously going to miss somethings when he outgrows his speech impediments.)

Peanut remained blissfully unaware of what was going on... and that was ok with me because he looks so darn cute when he sleeps.

In fact, he seemed a bit startled when Vash handed him his stocking stuffer. (That's right I knit that frog!)

Both Vash and Rhyla liked the toys I knit for them too. Rhyla carries her pig everywhere and Vash sleeps with his owl. But he let me know that Snow White is his true love.

More creative snacks. And more speech fun. Vash calls the elevator an alligator. I love it.

The kids encouraging Fischer during tummy time. Rhyla was singing a song about baby Jesus when I loaded them up into the car to run errands. When I asked her nursery leader who taught her the song, she was confused; they hadn't learned a song about baby Jesus. Yep... Rhyla made it up all by herself. 

Love those cheeks. Fun tidbit; when Fischer was first born, every time he pooped, he would throw out his arms and get really startled. Literally, his startle reflex would go off. But now, an older and wiser baby, he braces himself and masters his bowels. Lol. TMI, I know, but I wanted to remember this.

After watching Despicable Me, Rhyla decided she likes the word Fluffy. We were talking about something the other day and she runs in and asks, "Are you talking about my fluffy?"

Speaking of Peanut, he's not so peanutty anymore. He's gained nearly three pounds and grown nearly four inches since birth! Woot for gaining on your siblings!

Rhyla turned three this last weekend and since her party isn't until next weekend, my parents and I took the kids to the Chuck to spend the last of some tokens we had.

My sentimental Vash playing a game with Grandpa. We watched Dumbo again the other day and Vash is now recognizing how sad the song "Baby Mine" is. When it started, he turns to me and says, "I'm gonna lose it, Mom. I'm gonna cry!" Then he bursts into tears. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry too. 

Now that she's three, Rhyla even peed in the potty without being asked! And during playtime too! She's still not fully trained but now she's showing initiative!

Rhyla kicked Me-Ma's trash in this game. It was like 7 to 2. No joke. 

Vash busting out some amazing dance moves. He's actually really coordinated for a four year old boy. Sadly, he just wants to take "ninja dance"... which I think is code for karate.

I just can't get enough of this hunk!

Vash asked me if I liked this house; "Do you like the true lego house? I made it lovely!"

And the last stories for the night?

After reading "Room for a little one" Rhyla complained that there wasn't enough room on my lap. But Vash reminded Rhyla, "There's always room for a little one here!"

And after I cried while reading 'Love you Forever', which I do every time, Vash turns to Rhyla and says, "Ok. You hug mommy and I'll get the pillow. I think maybe she's tired."

Well it's that time of year again...the end of the year I mean. Now I know a lot of people will say that they can't believe how fast it went, or will reminisce about the awesome times had by all. But honestly, this year crawled by for me and most of it was not awesome. Of course Craig getting a job and moving us across the country was nothing short of an adventure, and Vash starting preschool was a fun new phase, and Rhyla becoming a big sister when our sweet Fisch-face was born was incredibly awesome. It's just that learning to be a basically single mother was hard. And lonely. And exhausting and not at all what I thought I was signing up for. But I've learned a lot about myself this year. I've learned that I can handle a lot more than I thought I could. I've learned that Heavenly Father will always pull us through on even the hardest days; days when I just felt too tired, too stressed. Days when I felt inadequate and overwhelmed or just plain sick. Somehow, even when I thought  I couldn't do another day by myself,  I would get out of bed again; get the kids dressed and fed, clean the house, run the errands, get to the appointments, classes, church, fulfill my callings, make dinner, do the bed time routine, and crawl into bed... day after day, night after night, with little to no energy or enthusiasm. But everything that needed to get got done... Somehow, He makes up the difference. No matter what the circumstance is He makes the all the difference.

Anyways...

Best wishes and Happy New Year!