christmas 2009

we had a good christmas. someone told me that they heard once that 3 gifts was good enough for christ and because of that, 3 gifts was good enough for kids also. i told my kids that and they took it really well. they didn't really care. it isn't about the gifts, but the anticipation of christmas and the memories you make. blake on the other hand decided that his 3 gifts would be a horse (the one he wants is $7500), a saddle, and a new tractor. he didn't get any of his gifts this year, maybe next year. update: his tractor is supposed to be delivered this week some time from tennessee. he is so excited!!!

anna got a bike and it was so cute to see avery more excited about her gift for her than his own. i don't have a lot of pictures to post because truthfully blake was photographing and being 9 months pregnant and bra-less they are kind of scary. i told him he should have told me to go put a bra on when he was taking pictures, but you know how men are, he didn't even notice.

blake had to work christmas morning so we got up at 3:30 to make breakfast (stratton family tradition), eat, cleanup, and then open gifts. after anna fed her lambs at 6:30 she went and laid down and i was already napping on the chair and kept on waking up to avery humming christmas songs and putting together legos that megan gave him. it was so adorable that after an hour or so, i decided i better get up and interact with him. we downloaded bubble bobble on the wii and him and i played until anna woke up and then spent the rest of the day with my family eating and enjoying each other. that night blake kept on asking if avery had a fever because his little cheeks were red, but i kept reassuring him that it was because he had spent the whole day outside playing with his cousins (he just adores raquel's boys and would move in with them in a second if i would let him, lorin is his idol and they get along great, especially now that anna is into more "girly things" according to lorin).

anna crashed her bike first thing coming down dusty's hill and i was surprised when my dad handed the phone to my mom (he was talking to billy) and jumped in his truck to make sure that she was okay. when the kids came running into the house and said that she crashed i was just sure we were going to spend the rest of christmas day at the emergency room with a broken arm or something, but she was mostly just scraped up and with a little bit of neosporin and a few band-aids was ready to ride again. alyssa got a new bike too and they rode the rest of the day up and down lawson drive, it was pretty cute. i kept thinking, this is what christmas is all about, just being with family and having a good time. i missed my husband though and more than once my emotions would rise up and tears would spring to my eyes realizing that he was missing this, so i tried to call him a bunch that day, because he was pretty depressed about it too, and keep him involved over the telephone. it wasn't the same, but i realize that in the power industry, it is a 24-hour a day, 7-day a week job and it makes me remember not to take for granted the time that he does get to spend with us.

we all took turns talking to billy on the phone and it was fun to see how much he has grown and to hear how his goals and ambitions have changed. he is excited about upcoming baptisms.

wrestling

avery started wrestling a few weeks ago with tim (bonnie's husband) and even had practice early in the morning all through christmas break. i signed him up just to see him in a singlet!! j/k his first meet was this saturday (jan. 2, 2010) and blake and i enjoyed watching him. bonnie said that she had to explain to the kids why you don't want to let both shoulders hit the ground at the same time or be on your back. she had to tell them, then you lose. i don't think that avery got the concept until then. he isn't real competitive (except maybe with his sister), but i can see him maybe getting that edge in this sport. it was kind of sad when you realize that your sending your kid into the ring to be man-handled by another kid. his first match went all right (he lost by points, but we were just glad to see him get some experience). the second match the kid kind of choked him and it scared him enough that he started crying (there is a lot of bawling in wrestling we found out). it was pretty sad when you send your hurt, crying child back into the ring because you can't let him quit now or else he may never go back in again. he did seem to take a lot from the experience and is excited for the next meet, phew! it was pretty funny when we realized that the kid that choked him's dad was his coach and blake said, "i think that kids dad could beat up avery's dad." blake was more excited than avery i think because he thinks that he is learning a life skill that could benefit him in future situations (i personally think that there is always a better way to solve things that to resort to violence, but i also hate ufc).

we sent him in early at 6 a.m. with tim so that he could weigh in (i know, hilarious). they marked his little arm with 49 pounds and a b for the bantam age group (that includes all kids who were born in 2003). we walked into a gymnasium with 500 people and 20 coaches screaming at around 9:30 and we were overwhelmed by it all. blake asked avery later what he was thinking when he walked in with tim and he said, he looked at every kid he passed and thought, "am i going to have to wrestle him, am i going to have to wrestle him?" we'll have to keep you posted on his progress, it goes until the end of february if you make it to state and is almost every weekend until then.

kids update

i am always amazed at how brilliant my son is, its almost scary. he just gets stuff. i was complaining about what blake was watching on television the other day i.e. mma for a week in a row and he didn't want to watch "bones" (can you believe that?), so avery said that we could just both watch his show and that would be fair i.e. back at the barnyard. he was particular about which one he wanted to watch and there were 10 recorded. he was explaining to his dad how to get to the 8th one so he says, "go to the last one and then go back 3." what 6-year-old explains how to get to 8 in a sequence of 10 like that? it always makes us laugh too when we hear anna from the other room say, "avery we've watched this show 100 times." i don't think she's figured out that she's the oldest yet and that she should essentially have the remote and not him. avery's been reading "the magic tree house" books. we started in order and he is on the 9th one. after the first 2 he asked, "are they all about the magic tree house?" i explained that they were and he has been so excited about each new story that he wants to read a whole one every night, this takes at least an hour, and sometimes i try to talk him into cutting it short (what mother does that?). i was talking to megan on the phone the other day when he came in and wanted to read, i told him that he had read an hour the night before, so he was good. he then continued to whine that he wanted to read. i didn't think much about it until megan said, "your kids are so weird." i of course got defensive immediately until i realized that she meant most kids are whining because they don't want to read and avery was whining because he wanted to. they are a little weird i guess, but i wouldn't change them for the world.

anna has been obsessed with the baby, asking constantly if she's moving. i don't know why but i have a hard time sharing those little moments with anyone. its something i really have to work at. it has gotten a little easier with each pregnancy to share little things with blake that i am thinking or feeling and the changes happening to my body. it has been kind of weird to me to have a 10-year-old that wants in on the intimacy of it all. i think it has brought us closer together because i am not always able to connect with her. she is so different than me and has always been comfortable in her own skin that it is almost feels like she doesn't need me most of the time and i have to take a step back and realize that she does and its my responsibility to be there when i'm needed.

pomegranate salad

i have been a little worried about thanksgiving this year because since being pregnant i have had to avoid any sort of high fat dairy products and most other dairy products too (thank goodness i can still eat frozen yogurt). i really won't miss the pies too much, but the pomegranate salad is one of my favorites. we don't make it in our family with raisins and nuts, its just fruit, pomegranates, and heavy whipping cream with sugar. anyway, i found on the simply, healthy, tasty blog a recipe for whipping cream made out of coconut milk. i know i have seen this before but was a little leary because i can be a little picky when it comes to alternatives to what i'm used to, but after trying this whipping cream today on my peeled pomegranates, bananas, and apples, i'm sold. thanksgiving will not be ruined!!

on a lighter note....two new additions

we finally got something to put our tv in. i hate shopping for furniture and worst yet is actually having to spend money on it. our tv has been sitting on our coffee table for over ayear now and i decided that i wanted to get something up a little higher so i started shopping craigslist (because i can do this at home and find great deals). i finally found something that i liked that wasn't too big for the spot i had. anna had the best time organizing all the movies alphabetically into the dvd holders (she has a little ocd). it has been nice to have the tv up out of the reach of all the toddlers that toddle through our living room and the kids have to sit back a little farther from it because if they lay down too close they can't see it. hopefully, this will save their eyes. you would think with a 52" tv that they would be able to sit back a little bit, nope!!

blake got sick of having our shoes strung all over by the back door and so he had ben learned build us this handy dandy shoe rack. the kids made a quick habit of putting their shoes in it while their mother's were still thrown in the laundry room. just a funny little story: the other day i looked high and low for my shoes in the usual places first i.e. the bathroom, on the treadmill, in the laundry room, by my side of the bed, wherever is the most convenient. determining that they were lost for good and that the dogs must have taken off with them, i walked by this handy dandy little shoe rack on my way to look outside and guess what was in it, my shoes. someone had put them away for me in the most inconvenient of places.