FHE

One of my resolutions for 2011 has been to be more consistent in my FHE planning and to make Family Home Evening more meaningful for my family.

In the process I've found myself going back to my teaching roots and creating formal lesson plans-- themed on a scripture story or gospel topic each week. It's a little work right now, but I've been enjoying it. And it'll sure be great next year when I can just go to my established "FHE files" and quickly reuse those same lessons. Easy as pie!

If you're interested, a PDF copy of my lesson can be downloaded here:

Plan of Salvation FHE Lesson

This Monday I invited my grandparents over to join us for dinner and FHE. This week's lesson: The Plan of Salvation. I knew that Taylor was completely unfamiliar with this especially important topic, so I wanted to make his first experience extra special.

After explaining an illustration of the Plan on a magnetic whiteboard to Taylor, we took a "room to room" walking experience of the Plan of Salvation--first going to a space in our home that represented the premortal existence, then on to a room that represented life on earth, and so on. He totally dug it. Although the Plan of Salvation is relatively complex, I think my little guy took it in-stride and seemed to understand--as well as a 2 1/2 year-old can, anyway.

Beginnings of Plan of Salvation diagram

Beginning our room-to-room journey, with premortal life.

Pictures of Heavenly Father, Christ, and family are on the walls to show who was there.

Moving to the next room: Earth life.

Next: the spirit world.

Judgement and resurrection. On the door that leads to three heavenly kingdoms.

Telestial Kingdom.

A few of Taylor's favorite books were there. He really wanted to read them, until he saw...

The Terrestrial Kingdom.

Better books were there, and a few toys (i.e. a "grown-ups only" board game) that he's rarely allowed to play with.

And behind door number three...

The Celestial Kingdom!

Complete with favorite stuffed dog, Max, Blankie (usually only allowed to be held at bed time), favorite fire fighter boots, fav books, and other toys. Pictures representing Christ, Heavenly Father, and family were there again and to top it off--a plate of fresh cookies.

Here's Taylor, after playing in the "Celestial Kingdom" until well after the lesson was over. I love the boots, the loveys, and the chocolate smears all over his face.

For the rest of the evening clear until when Andrew and I tucked him in bed for the night, Taylor asked if he "could PLEEEASE go to Celestial Kingdom" again. Ha ha.

I think he got the point. :)

Angels

I am a woman. I'm sure any married man could confidently attest that my gender in general is a much more moody and emotional one than they. I know, we're hard to deal with, and I am no exception--I've had to cope with this pain-in-the-rear hormone thing since puberty!

(27 doesn't seem so terrible after looking at this! Yes that's me, back in yester-year...in all my metal-mouthed glory. )

But somehow since having my baby last May (or really, since getting pregnant for that matter!), I feel like it's been an especially wild rollercoaster. And since December, as I've wrestled to tame my new weeping/fuming/flustered inner beast on steriods, I've wondered why on earth each day seems like such a massive trial and what, for heaven's sake, is wrong with me!

Well, I've recognized for a while that I've needed to address this, but I should've been humble enough to actually ask for help too. I didn't. I guess I figure that I'll get over the hard times on my own, or if I just ignore them, eventually they'll disappear. Thankfully over the past several weeks, a loving Heavenly Father who knows better than I sent angels to help me heal.

Russell, who's gone through this with me from the beginning, was my first angel.

As I mentioned a few days ago, mid-February he decided to stop nursing (much to my dismay). At first I felt this was a small tragedy, but now I can clearly see the benefits that came from his choice. I feel like I can do SO much more than I've been able to do since he was born! Some blessings come in interesting ways.

Aubree was next.

Typical me--I procrastinated my visiting teaching responsibilities for February until the last minute. I called my companion, Aubree, on the phone on the last Sunday of the month. "Let's quickly deliver a treat and some written thoughts to each of the girls," I suggested. She agreed.

At 7:00 that night, we left together to deliver our goodies, imagining that our visits would take a total of 30-45 minutes. They really took three hours.

As we visited with three different women that evening, I felt so grateful for those three unexpected hours. It was such a big boost just to visit those gals. When I drove Aubree back to her home that night, I was surprized again as she talked with me in my car for a while to ask how I was doing (it was 10:30 by then!). From day one in my new ward, she has always been the gal who has reached out and been interested in my well-being. It has made all the difference to me over-and-over again. And I may have needed my sweet friend on that night most of all.

A few days later came Brooke.

Life got busy and she and I hadn't contacted each other in over six months. Two weeks ago, she surprized me with a phone call and asked if she could come visit and share a belated birthday treat with me. When she arrived, I told her what a fun surprize her visit was and she responded, "I had to come over. I just kept thinking about you!" At first our conversation was casual, but it deepened over time and soon we discovered that she had recently overcome trials similar to what I'm going through. It felt so good to talk to someone whom I felt understood and who could give me some suggestions on how to get feeling better.

In the past two weeks alone, a small army of friends and family checked up on me more than in the usual way: Eric and Alison. MariLouise. Grandma. The Andersons. Bonnie. Larz. Mom.

After these amazing weeks, some things are the same. I can tell that my body is still healing. I'm sure that will take time, patience and discipline and probably a chat or two with a doctor.

A lot is different though! I now have a will to keep-a-chugging along that is super-fueled! I feel purpose and love and am humbled beyond words at how much I've been given. Life can be so bitter-sweet.

My Little Ruh-russ

I feel like I just wrote about my baby turning six months old. Somehow, three more months flew by and I now have a NINE month-old!

New stats as of February 23rd, 2011:

Height: 27 3/4 in. (30th percentile)

Weight: 19 lbs. 11 oz. (35th percentile)

Head Cir.: 46 cm (70th percentile)

So, to my surprise, my little Norris baby is now slightly under height and weight (I'm sure it all balances out with that big noggin' of his)!

Russell is still a super cheerful little people-lover who would rather just hang with the gang and see what's going on than keep-up with the Joneses. He's only been sitting up on his own for a month, and he loathes being on his tummy (imagine how he's taken to the idea of scooting or crawling). His love of being on his back and also being upside-down has helped him to invent a creative way of moving a little:

Step 1: Arching his back so that only his head and his toes are touching the ground.

Step 2: Looking ahead with his little upside-down eyes to his destination of choice.

Step 3: Pushing with his feet with all his might to move toward the goal.

He's so funny, and so different from his brother! I wonder if he'll be one of those babies who progresses in mobility from sitting, to standing, and finally walking--skipping the crawling thing altogether. It's a hoot to watch him grow.

At his nine month check-up with his pediatrician, the doc encouraged me to feed him meat every day, so I've concocted some new baby food inventions (I make my own), like shredded chicken/puréed sweet potatoes and shredded chicken/puréed carrots--which he inhales every time. He is also a big fan of saltines and graham crackers now.

I'm also enjoying watching Russell learn to express the super intense feelings he has for life's experiences. When presented with something exciting or dissapointing, he displays what he thinks in a huge way--by moving his arms and legs around like a crazy maniac! This reaction comes all the time. i.e.: when he's about to be fed, when he's being strapped into his carseat, when a visitor walks into the room, when I leave the room, or when when his big brother plays with him.

But I get the biggest kick out of this when he wakes up after nap time (which currently takes place on our bathroom floor--don't tell!). I'm usually downstairs and can hear that he's awake, not from the sound of his cries, but from his funny kicking that sounds like hammering on the floor above.

I'm going to miss that when he becomes fully moblie.Russell loves to dance, like his brother. When peppy music gets going, so does he.

If he could, I think he would spend much of his day hanging upside-down. (Maybe the world looks better to him that way ?!)

He laughes hard when he's tickled and tossed into the air, and he can't resist grinning when someone sends smiles in his direction.

He is one of my greatest sources of joy and I just love him to pieces. Oh, I am so blessed to have this sweet little boy, who is growing at light speed!

Little February Moments

Letter from the Heart

Andrew's mom was so sweet to come to Denver and watched our kids for a few days while we were away in Las Vegas. The day after she left, it was obvious that Taylor felt her absence as he mentioned how he missed her several times. My favorite 'I miss you' moment:

Taylor picked up a pen and some scratch paper and started scribbling. I thought that he was drawing a picture, but when he started talking to himself amidst the scribbles, I realized that he was actually writing a note. He said:

"Dear Gwand-muver. I wuv, wuv, wuv you. So much. Thank you for coming."

Melt!

Growing Baby

I always thought that when I stopped nursing my baby, I would be the one to make that decision. Last week, Russell proved to me that he, too has a say.

When he woke up one morning, he refused to drink breast milk for breakfast. I tried again a few hours later and got the same reaction. This happened again-and-again over the course of days, sigh--and I'm sure you get the picture.

I'm surprised at how disappointed I am that Russell won't nurse any more. My body has felt simply crazy ever since having him, and so I figured that I'd be celebrating when I got an opportunity for my hormones to balance-out a little more!

Weird, but it's my reality now. And hey, looking on the brighter side--I managed to slowly stash quite the collection of free formula over time. With only three months left until Baby's first birthday, I may not need to feel the sting of buying a can!

He Likes Math (I think)

If he does, he certainly didn't get it from me. Taylor has taken to counting for weeks now. He counts everything from kitchen utensils, to computer icons, food items, books, and so on.

When at a friend's house this week, he played with an old school shape sorter toy for the first time and couldn't put it down. Geometry has always had near zero appeal to me--but this kid seems to like working with shapes and numbers. Could I have a future doctor, chemist, or engineer in my midst?

"The One About the Car"

Taylor has a new fav song to add to his playlist. This song became cool while listening to me shuffle through stations on our car radio. After hearing just a small clip of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" as I skipped on to a new station, Taylor objected and said: "Mom! That was a good one!" I laughed, and back-tracked to listen to his song of choice.

When we got home, Taylor asked me if we had that song on our computer. "I'm sure it's on YouTube," I said, and turned it on for him as soon as we got inside (do not try this at home!). It didn't take much viewing of the official Katy Perry video for me to conclude that it was not fit for my 2 year-old's eyes, to say the least, and soon approved the only slightly risque "Glee" version to feed his song viewing/dancing hunger. :)

Much to my embarassment though, Taylor did see enough of the official music video for him to clearly remember images of people driving cars to the rhythm of the music. This is the reason Taylor now refers to the "Teenage Dream" song as "The One About the Car." Ha ha ha--help.

Lucky #27

I had another birthday this week...this makes 27 for me!

And yes, for the first year ever, I feel old. I can see the dreaded number 30 at the end of the 20's tunnel clearer than ever before! When I complain about aging with my 25 year-old little brother, he loves to tease and laugh with me in his "Larzpañol" saying:

"Veinte-seite?! Ay, que ni!!"

Ha ha. My feelings exactly. :)

As it has in some years past, this year my birthday fell on Presidents' Day. For Andrew, who anticipated enjoying a fun day off with me, instead was summoned to an all-day team building retreat with the Haselden NREL crew. Gotta love it.

Being the super thoughtful and considerate husband that he is, Andrew decided to make up for his absence on Monday by thoroughly spoiling me for the duration of Presidents' Day weekend, both while he was there and while he wasn't.

On Saturday, he suprised me by inviting some good friends over for a fiesta--complete with fun games, decorations and costumes (thank you, Mom!), and great food: tacos, 7-layer dip and chips, horchata, and an amazingly gorgeous chocolate cake. We almost never try to juggle late gaming and parenting responsibilities with our friends because we assume they'll never go for the idea--it does have its risks. But turns out there are other party animals out there who are willing to let their kids watch "Dora the Explorer" until 9:30 at night for the sake of adult interaction. :) I had the time of my life that night! Anyone up for round two?

Taylor with his buddy, Jonathan at the party. "CHEEEEEEEESE!"

On Sunday night, my hubby stayed up late making strawberry-lemonade cupcakes--a new favorite of mine--so that my grandparents and Jeff and Donna's family could come visit the following evening to enjoy cake and ice cream.

*If you're interested (or if your name happens to be MariLouise), the recipe for those delicious cupcakes can be found here: http://annies-eats.net/2009/02/24/strawberry-lemonade-cupcakes/

On Monday, that happened--in addition to my thoughtful grandma gathering me and the Mercer crowd together at Sweet Tomatoes for dinner beforehand.

I love that Taylor couldn't resist blowing out the candle before I did!

Throughout the week I was also showered with thoughful visits, phone calls, emails, FB greetings, and gifts from friends and family. I can't say enough about the thoughtfulness of everyone on my behalf. Thank you, thank you, over-and-over!

Put on the Meat Ponchos

I can't stop laughing. This never gets old!

Enlarged Photos!!

HOORAY!

After much trial and error, much frustration, and many pixelated blog posts, I finally found a great way to enlarge photos on my blog! Has anyone else out there been searching for an answer to this problem too? Here it is:

http://www.blueorchidblog.com/2007/10/how-to-have-large-photos-on-your-blog.html

Las Vegas, Baby!

Oh, my, goodness. Las Vegas is such a fun place! Thanks to Andrew's job at Haselden Construction, we got to have a blast of a long weekend in Sin City (for we sinners, you know. :) ). We did so much; I don't know where to begin!

Andrew's mom flew from Birmingham last Tuesday to spend some time with us and to watch Taylor and Russell while we went away.

We were overwhelmed with her generosity in coming, as it was a sacrifice for her in many ways--most notably, having to cope with extreme pain in her neck and shoulder (it hasn't gone away since she was in a car accident months ago). And as you can see, life is always an adventure at our house, too! Somehow through it all, this amazing veteran mother of eight managed to keep a smile on her face amidst pain and fatigue and win the hearts of our kids over-and-over again while we were gone. I think they had just as much of a vacation as we did.

On Thursday afternoon, Andrew and I caught a plane to Las Vegas, along with ten other Haselden employees and their vacation buddies of choice (mostly spouses).

Upon arrival, our dashing chauffeur from Bell Transportation was at the LAS baggage claim waiting to take us to our hotel on the Vegas strip. :)

Destination...the Luxor Hotel!

That evening, we met-up with my old room mate and dear friend from my freshman year at BYU-I--Maria Grover, and her hillarious husband Tim at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was a perfect beginning to our vacation. After having had a really emotionally tough month in January, these two helped lift my spirits in ways that I desperately needed. I laughed longer and harder than I had since spending time with family for the holidays! Good friends and good laughter truly are some of the best medicine.

On Friday evening, we met with the Haselden clan for dinner at Margaritaville in the Flamingo Hotel. I enjoyed getting to know Andrew's co-workers and their spouses--such nice, down-to-earth people. (And the endless Pina Coladas were pretty good too!)

These two couples in particular were especially inspiring to me. They are such great people--who are now fun friends.

After dinner with our Haselden friends, Andrew and I went exploring together and became mesmerized by the breathtaking fountain shows outside the Bellagio Hotel. We stood outside in the chilly weather and watched show-after-show-after-show (displayed every 15 minutes). It was so soothing and so great to be with just my sweet heart and-- for the moment, without a care in the world.

When we brought ourselves back to reality, we hunted down my uncle John, who lives just outside Las Vegas with his family and who also manages one of the live theaters at the Planet Hollywood Hotel. He showed us behind the scenes of some of the big productions currently showing there and brought us up-to-speed on what's happening with his family. I don't get to see John, Naomi and their family nearly enough. It was really nice to see him.

On Saturday night we went to a Cirque Du Soleil show at the Mirage that I've been itchin' to see for years now: "Beatles: LOVE!" It was as cool as I had been told it was, and better. Ever since, I've been constantly singing Beatles music in the shower, listening to our newly downloaded Beatles LOVE album, even dreaming about The Beatles. I'm sure I must be the newest big Beatles fan. I think I get why they were the cat's pajamas back in the day! (BTW, if you haven't personally seen this show, put it on your bucket list. It's really a must see.)

I've left our most thrilling activities of that weekend for last:

On Saturday morning, the whole Haselden group went to the Las Vegas racetrack and got to drive exotic cars! This has been a dream of Andrew's for a while so he especially was practically drooling on the scene. Andrew drove a brand spankin' new Farrari 458 Italia and I drove a new Lamborghini Gallago. It was super thrilling!

Finally, on Friday morning...we went SKY DIVING!! Just me and Andrew. It was absolutely the most intense adrenaline rush I have ever had. Hands down.

We were shuttled to Boulder City, a 20 minute drive outside of Las Vegas, where we then strapped ourselves to professional sky divers, took a little airplane 15,000 feet into the air, and jumped. Yes, I felt like I was falling! Incredibly quickly too--I'm told we were falling at about 120 mph for the 1 minute before our parachutes were released (did I mention that this was intense?!). After we landed back on solid ground, it took both Andrew and I over an hour just to calm down from the experience. Whew!

That said, it was so much fun. Can I say that again? SO MUCH FUN!! And so beautiful up there. From 15,000 feet, we could see the LV strip, Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam, the California border, and a whole lotta desert. Pretty cool. I've gotta do it again sometime--after our bank account recovers. :)

:

Thank you, pro divers Kelly and Len!

Again, for those of you with adventurous spirits, this is a definite must for the bucket list.

After an incredible get away, I'm now suffering from post-vacation disorder! I can't wait 'til we can do a trip like this again.

Sweet Moments Over the Last 2 Weeks

Good Bye

One evening this week, Andrew took Taylor on some errands with him to give me a break. On their way out the door, Andrew asked Taylor to say goodbye:

Andrew: "Taylor, say 'bye, Mom! I love you!'"

Taylor's response: "Bye, Mom! You wuv me!"

Library

It's been a while since I've taken Taylor to the library. It's a cryin' shame too, because he loves books! I knew I needed to repent last week. When we walked into the children's section of our local library, it was obvious that he didn't remember the place. He excitedly said: "Mom! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! There's SO MANY!" Talk about tearing at my heart strings!

Heart

Taylor was quietly playing with a favorite sticker book on Friday while I was beside him, organizing the kids' bedroom closet. I heard Taylor mutter to himself: "My heart..." I looked up, to see him sticking a new-found heart sticker right where he knows it belongs:

Book of Mormon

After visiting Alabama in November and rummaging through some of Andrew's old belongings, he found an old fogotten copy of the Book of Mormon. Nothing fancy, just one of those small paperback copies, about the size of the my hand. We decided to give it to Taylor, who now is extremely possessive of his new prized posession.

He recently

couldn't find it. While he searched for the book, Andrew and I quietly chuckled to ourselves as we listened to him say:

"Where's my Book O' Mornin'?"

Terrible Twos

Taylor was having an absolutely crazy tantrum before going to bed for the night two weeks ago. At the time, he also had an extremely stinky diaper. While Andrew tried to pin him down and change him, Taylor showed his protest by arching his back, rolling around on the floor, kicking and screaming (through his red face, tears, and snot coming out his nose):

"I'm TOO GRUMPY for this!"

You got that right, Bud.

Do You See What He Sees?

Out of the blue on Wednesday morning, Taylor looked up and exclaimed, "Look, Mommy! It's the blue chicken!"

"Blue chicken?" I responded, puzzled. Taylor smiled and nodded.

"Where is it?" I asked.

Taylor ran up to the TV and pointed to this:

The blue chicken. :)

Happy Baby

My notoriously happy made me smile over-and-over this week with so many cute moments: when he giggled when I'd bring him near a toy that he loved (stroller, bouncer, hand-held bells, his dad :)...), his furious rocking back-and-forth in a baby dance when music was playing (SO cute), s

pontaneously smiling at us when we'd look in his direction,

or him laughing for minutes at a time when I gave him play time in his bouncer (also SO cute, and almost unbelievable that he would laugh that much at a time). With Russell in my life, I don't know how I'd function without him now. When the going gets tough, he reminds me that it's easy to look at the brighter side, too!

When I'm Not Around

Taylor loves to sing when he's alone, and I love to eve's drop. So far, he only sings favorite phrases from songs. Here's a sample of some of the popular ones: "AM-MUL crackers in my soup!" (Shirley Temple), "Yellow Sub-mreen!" (Beatles), "Hewp me find da way..." (I Am a Child of God). So cute;

it melts my heart!

Milestones

With help from books from the library: Eric Carle's "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" and Donald Crews's "Freight Train" (I'm in-love with that one!) Taylor has grasped the concept of colors! He can accurately name so many now, including his "fav-wit cu-yer in da whole woah-d:" orange. :)

Russell (sigh, finally) rolls over both ways and can sit up on his own! It took him a little longer than I imagined it would, but he's doing it. I love that baby.