Sunday Mornings

29 November 2015

It's been about a year and a half since Matt was called to be on the stake high council.  He's loved it!  I love that he loves it.  I also love that Mom and Dad are here to help on Sunday mornings!!  We've had 9am church this year.  I worried about it, not wanting Sunday mornings to always be rushed and frustrating.  Well, I'm proud to say that we've (almost) made it through with not much heart ache or sorrow :)  On Saturdays I would get the Littles' clothes ready and hang them on the banister.  I would try to get up and dressed before Kate and Daniel.  Once Oliver came along it was easier... well, easier in that I was up earlier to feed him and then he'd go back to sleep while I got dressed.  When K and D woke up they'd eat breakfast while I did Kate's hair.  Grandma Kay and Grandpa Tay would come up about 8:15 and help get them all dressed while I got the diaper bag ready.  We rarely arrived with much spare time to enjoy the prelude, but we were also rarely late.  

Here we are on a Sunday morning with a moment to snap a picture.  Not a long enough moment to get one where Daniel isn't blurry, but this is better than nothing.  I love these little people.  With all my heart.

 

Christmas is coming!

November 28

It is the weekend of Thanksgiving break.  We had a wonderful time with family and friends gathered in our home on Thursday.  Friday was kind of a day of recuperating.  Saturday, we got down to business.  Tyler and Matt brought up box after box of Christmas decorations.  Everyone was home and everyone had a job.

Oliver, Daniel, Kate: to take a nap.  Kate has figured out that Christmas is a special time of activities, treats, presents.  She gets it.  Daniel is starting to catch on.  It is so fun to watch them.  Oliver is my sweet little reminder of the babe whose birth we celebrate.  After their snow adventure with Amy (see "snow day" post) they helped bring up boxes and were desperate to help, well, Kate was desperate to help.  She did for a while, taking things out of the boxes, hanging ornaments on the tree, mixing up and making new nativity sets.  Eventually we convinced her to go down for a short nap.

Tyler: setting out the nativity sets.  What a good kid.  I mean really good.  He's busy, and will only get busier in the coming years.  But here he is, home for a few hours, stepping back to see if the nativity sets look good.  To be honest, it surprises me at times how much I love him and all his siblings. 

Amy: decorating the "Three Trees" and the kitchen shelves.  One of my favorite Christmas books is called "The Three Trees."  It's about three trees that each have aspirations to be great in different ways.  They each become a part of the story of Christ and realize their greatest desires were realized in Jesus.  So I have had these three trees for years and set them up as a reminder that my greatest desires can be accomplished through by following my Savior.  Amy was concerned (rightly so) about the little kids pulling off all the little red decorations off the bottom of the tree.  We decided to trust that they could resist the temptation.  How I love the face of Amy Elizabeth, though even more so, I love the kindness that seems to be her very nature.

 

Emily: decorating the Christmas tree.  We have a country-Christmas feel to our tree.  We've experimented with it some, but I love the feeling of a simple, sweet tree with an angel a top.  It was super fun to see more of Emily this week.  She's jumped into college life at BYU with both feet and seems to be loving it!  Someday she'll have a little family of her own and a home that she'll want to fill with good things.  I realize more and more the positive impact she has on our family.  Her example, desires, and  efforts to do good are a constant strength to us all.

 

Matt: big box mover and garland wrapper.  This man right here... he changed my life a few years ago in so many ways.  Good ways.  Wonderful ways.  Helping-me-be-a-stronger-better-person ways.  I mean, here he is wrapping garland around the banister, making sure the little wooden cut-outs are all facing out so they can be seen.  I believe he is endlessly trying to be a good husband and father.  I also believe that he is both. 

 

Christmas has been so different since getting married.  It is a whole different experience to celebrate it with a husband (oh, how I love him) and children (they make the holiday come alive).  It is certainly a busy time, but the hope is that the decorations, the traditions, the experiences, and the celebrations all bring us closer to each other and closer to Jesus Christ.  Life is complicated at times and so is figuring out how to navigate through it.  How grateful to be able to navigate it with our family 

Let it snow!

November 28 

It's Thanksgiving break weekend and we have snow!  Not terribly surprising, but the kids were especially excited about it.  Amy volunteered to go outside with them (yay!).  It took some time to track down coats form them all, but hats and gloves were in the hall closet.  So after several minutes of dressing and zipping and hatting and gloving all the Littles (Amy was able to bundle up all by herself ;)) they headed outside excitedly...

 

Amy tried to make a snowman with the kids, but the snow wasn't really cooperating.  It was quite powdery.  They were proud nonetheless of their little man.  They used raisins for the eyes, a carrot nose, and Red Hot candies for the mouth (which started to run making for a more gruesome snowman after a while).   

 

Fun days made of pleasant activities.  Love these people more than words. 

Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving 2015 was... delicious.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  

We hosted this year, which is always fun.  We were a little small in numbers, well, not exactly small since we had about 37 when it was all said and done.  It just felt smaller because the Tischners and the Spencer & Rachel Macdonald families were not there. We did invite Grandma and Grandpa Walambos and their kids Mary and Uncle Laurent, the family of Ben and John - Brett & Tufa's foster boys.  We also invited the Elders and Emily had two Canadian friends flying into town on Thanksgiving afternoon who stopped by for some turkey and pie.

We got assignments out to everyone.  That included Dad making nut cups and little paper baskets of gold coins for everyone.  I was super grateful that Emily stopped by the day before and helped set up all the tables.  They looked darling (wish I'd gotten a picture!).  I'm always impressed how she uses the same decorations every year but comes up with a new way to use them.  The decorations are from our wedding reception and have used t each year that we've hosted.  I love it.  

We decided to try to make the rolls the morning of so they would be fresh.  Maybe not our best idea since it's a long process.  I was grateful when Josiah and John came early to create a little scavenger hunt for the cousins to do to find the treasure of gold coins.  They were more than happy to help with the set up once the scavenger hunt was put together.  We put them right to work cutting up the roll dough and rolling them.  They were awesome!  Johno also contributed by making these darling turkeys cut out of apples...

There was a happy, hectic, busyness all morning as we all worked to get things pulled together.  Amy was in charge of our "Thankful Wall."  She has Polaroid camera and was busy taking pictures of each person and then hung them on our wall.  It was super cute and she seemed to enjoy getting everyone.

We got the name tags set and the nut cups on the plates (can't put them out too early or some little people empty them out).  People started arriving, food started filling up the counter, and the noise level began to rise as cousins began playing and adults were chatting.  I loved it!  Josiah got the kids going on the treasure hunt.  Ash-Anna, Juliet, and Jess with their treasures...

A little love in the kitchen :) Almost ready to start!!

Here's the girls table with Kate, Ash-Anna, Piper, Sadie, Claire, and Juliet in the front.

The boys table, Tasi, Ben, Daniel, Josiah, Jess, John, and Johno.

And the adult tables were cozy and comfortable.    

Matt thanked everyone for coming and we had an opening prayer.  It took a bit to get all the kids situated and then the adults lined up for their food.  Matt typically stands in the kitchen and makes sure everything is running smoothly.  I think he eventually ate.  I finally sat down to eat but couldn't finish.  It was de-lish!  Dad had cleaned up all of Mama and Daddy Taylor's silver for us to use.  A very nice touch.

For as long as it takes to prepare for Thanksgiving, the actual eating doesn't take very long.  But the chatting that goes on before, during, and after the meal is what the holiday is about.  As we finished up, Ashton came over to chat and held Oliver for me.  I realized this was the oldest grandson and the youngest grandson.  That's worthy of a photo, don't you think?  Good lookin' boys (and cute Ash-Anna)!

Once everyone was done eating the grand cleanup begins.  We'd borrowed a bunch of chairs from Caroline and John, so Kate was helping Aja take them out to the car. 

And then comes the chatting and chatting and chatting afterwards.  This year the after dinner show included some dance moves by THE Aja Domingo.  She lost to Ashton in pool and that was her payment ;o) 

 

I had gotten the chance to sit and talk with John and Ben's family much before dinner, so I sat next to Mary after things had gotten cleaned up.  She doesn't speak English and I don't know any Swahili, so we just smiled a lot and tried one-word questions.  Then she reached for Oliver and put him on her lap.  She was a different person.  She was talking to him and cooing, and he was completely content.  I said a little prayer of thanks in my heart for this little baby helping Mary feel comfortable in our home.  Brett told me later that Mary had lost her husband and baby in the fighting in their country.  I felt quite overwhelmed at what she had been through.  I wish I knew how to better extend some kindness and friendship to her.   Amy took of all the family members on her poloroid camera and Grandpa asked if he could keep them.  They are such little pictures (maybe 2 x 3 inches) that I took a picture with my phone and told them I would get them a bigger one.  It was humbling to have this family with us on a day when we are giving thanks for all we have.  

Oliver Mac got all sorts of tuckered out being passed around and not having much of a nap.  Grandpa helped out, providing a "water bed" (Grandpa's own words) for Oliver to zonk out on.  What a good day.  There is such a sense of contentment when the house if full of family.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Daniel Turns 2!

Hard to believe this Cowboy is 2!!!  To be honest, he is delightful, a titch naughty and a lot clumsy, but mostly delightful.  I asked what he wanted for his birthday dinner and after he said applesauce I suggested we have some grilled cheese sandwiches to go with it.  He energetically agreed.  Instead of just having regular grilled cheese, we made some "fancy" ones.  Everyone got to order what they wanted with a choice of bread and cheese and other toppings such as avocado, bacon, asparagus, mushrooms, and onions.  I tried making a crock pot tomato soup which also turned out quite yummy.  When we were at the store several days earlier Matt had noticed some artichokes and was shocked that I hadn't had them before so he bought a few.  We decided to add those to the meal as well.

I have a video (I really need to figure out how to upload videos to this blog) of me asking Daniel how old he is.  He often says three because that is what Kate says.  So we'd been practicing with him to say two and hold up two fingers.  Turns out his little hand has a hard time getting just the right number of fingers up.  Tyler was trying to help him out, he really tried to make his fingers do it right... but eventually just gave me the "I'll-figure-out-how-to-do-it-another-time" face.  

             

Kate helped me make the card for Daniel's present.  "To: Daniel"  I was impressed with her writing.  I would write the letter down on a piece of paper and then she did her best to write it on the card.  

It took several reminders to Kate that this was Daniel's present.  He didn't mind the help in opening his gift.

We got him a tool set with a saw, drill with two bits, a flash light, and a measuring tape.  He loved it!  Everything did something - turned on or spun or rolled in and out.  

The drill was even brought to the table for cake.  We sang "Happy Birthday" (Daniel was mesmerized by the flame of the candle) and then he tried to blow out the candle.  And then he tried again.  And again.  So big brother came to the rescue and helped him out.  

A little about Daniel.  

-He gets called "Buddy" a lot, or "Bud" as Kate calls him.  

-He has a gallop that is his most common form of travel.  I call it a gallop, Caroline calls it a sashay.  Either way, it is the cutest thing! Mom and dad say they can always tell if it is Daniel running around because of the rhythm of his gallop.  

-He's gotten more into imaginative play but especially likes to work with things that DO something or he can DO something with - like cars/trucks, especially ones that go on their own, or blocks that he can stack into towers, or flashlights that turn on.  

-He has a little bit of feisty , but he's really very patient and has a kindness about him that surprises me at times.  Kate will be upset about something and he will try to calm her or give her whatever it is she wants, even when it's what he's playing with (which is usually why she's upset).  

-He's way more interested in Oliver than I expected.  He frequently wants to hold him or will pick up his blanket or binky if it falls.  At nap/bed time he loves it when I lay Oliver (or, "Oviver Mac" is how Daniel says it) next to him in the bed.  

-Up until the last month or so, when I put him down for his nap he would always (always!) lay his head on my shoulder and just snuggle for a few minutes before I would lay him down.  Every time he did it I would think, "I'm going to miss this the most when he gets bigger." and so I would enjoy every second.  He still likes to "nuggle" but not all the time.  

-He's very observant and likes to watch how things work.  He is currently very determined to help whenever we are in the kitchen making lunch or dinner.  Sometimes it's hard because I'm in a hurry and will be rushing to cook and I'll hear the screeching of one of the dining room table chairs being pushed across the floor and him saying, "I'anna help!"  Matt is especially good at finding ways for Daniel to help in the kitchen.  

-He is talking more and more which is fun.  We hear a lot of "Wook this!" ("Look at this").  

-His favorite song is "The Boatman" song, which he requests every nap/bed time multiple times.  At this point he is quite monotone when he sings (very monotone) but really likes songs and music.

That's just a little about our DanielO.  He is a joy, this boy of ours.  I'm grateful beyond words that he is ours.  I've become more and more overwhelmed at the gift of being sealed as a family.  Hooray for eternity!  Happy birthday, Daniel Oden Cornish!!  We love you a lot.  All the time.  And we will forever and ever.

She's ready!

Sun hat? Check.
Winter coat? Check.
Rain boots? Check.
She's ready for whatever weather comes her way!

(As for the grouchy face? That's somewhat par for the course these days... a grouchy face and then seconds later skipping off to go outside.  Bless three year olds... and their mamas! :-))

Donut run

Sometimes you need to get out of the house because it feels like it's been a full day before it's even 10 am.  And sometimes you have a coupon for a free Krispy Kreme donut and that's all the convincing you need to drive down and watch the donuts cook, get flipped, frosted, and packaged over and over and over.  Sometimes there's not much talking because everyone is eating their donuts and licking their fingers and mumbling "Yummy!" repeatedly and you smile as you're reminded how much fun life is with little people. 

And sometimes those little people throw a complete fit when you're leaving the donut store (because really, who likes LEAVING a donut shop) and you're reminded that they are indeed toddlers... 

But at least you got a donut out of it.