Hansbrows Come to Visit

Rob invited Brian Hansbrow over to watch a football game in December and so I thought it would be fun if the whole Hansbrow family came too. Jacki and I made sugar cookies with the kids. The dough was WAY too gooey, so we added flour..more flour, and even more flour. While the cookies looked a bit ugly, they still tasted great.

A Wonderful World

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Hayden's Treasures

We were going through Hayden's closet and found two of his pinewood derby cars and his pinewood derby rocket. Hayden has made these with the help of his father over the past three years. The blue car with lightning stripes on the sides was the winner of the 2008 pinewood derby in our ward! There were around 45 cars entered in the derby, so that is saying something! We also found two wrestling medals that Hayden got for participating in wrestling tournaments

Bastian's Cool Paper Airplane

Our awesome home teacher taught a lesson a few months ago about Christ's qualities. He wrote some of Christ's qualities on all the sides of a paper airplane. Some of them were obedience, patience, love, faith, etc. We took turns throwing the airplane and after our turn we tried to think of a story in the scriptures when Christ exemplified one of the qualities written on the airplane. Afterward, our home teacher gave the paper airplane to Bastian. Here we are months later and Bastian still has that airplane in his room. I wanted to take a picture of it so we can always remember how special it was to Bastian.

Ashlee's Laundry

When Ashlee came with her laundry she said to Weston, "Weston, will you help me do my laundry?" Weston quickly replied, "Yeth," which is Weston's "yes." Minutes later when Ashlee went to do her laundry she couldn't find her laundry bag. Finally, she looked in the laundry room. There was Weston. He had dragged her monstrous laundry bag to the laundry room making good on his word to help her with her laundry. He had already started putting dirty clothes in the washing machine. He is such a great little helper.

One of Weston's favorite pasttimes of Ashlee's laundry days is playing in her ginormous bag-- the simple pleasures of a three year old.

Gavin Comes to Play

Ashlee came to visit us in December. We let her do her family's laundry in exchange for her letting us play with Gavin! My kids love Gavin. He is growing so big and is an adorable smiley little guy. Ashlee is so fun to visit with. When she came in Bastian asked, "Where's Ben?" (Ashlee's husband) She said, "He's at work." Weston said, "Again?"

Thankful Trees

This year we started a new family tradition. Through the month of November we write things we are thankful for on strips of paper and we put them in our Thankful Box. Then in December we make a chain out of the strips of thankful papers. We decorate our thankful tree (this year we are decorating 3 mini alpine trees with our chain) and on the end of the chain is a picture of Christ. All the things we are thankful for anchor us to Christ because He created the earth and made it possible to return to live with Heavenly Father someday. Next year we will come up with some rules for our strips of paper. I don’t like the idea of limiting writing the things that we are thankful for but it has become apparent that Abby needs a limit to her strips of paper. She really caught the vision this year and when others wanted to write what they were thankful for, often the strips were all out and I had to make new ones because Abby had filled them all and put them in the box. She is a very thankful girl and I am so glad that she feels gratitude for so much. In the month of November, Aunt Mindy died, so we felt a deep sense of gratitude in our hearts when writing things pertaining to the knowledge we have of all that our Savior has done for us. These are the things that were written on our word strips this year.

Rob- the gospel, Rachel and the kids, Hayden’s sense of humor, my sweet daughter Abby and all her sweetness, I am thankful Bastian says, “excuse me,” after passing gas every 10 seconds, the tornado called Weston and all his cat sounds.

Rachel-the feeling of love, laughter, health, Malinda Larie Wadley, Heavenly Father’s plan, kind and loving friends who comforted me when my sister passed away, Robert Anthony LeBaron, my sweet children, Jesus Christ, my parents, motherhood, Primary, washing machines, the great men and women in my ward.

Hayden-temple, Christmas, prayer, steak, gravy, family, chicken, Sprite, Jacob (Olson), Fablehaven, Nintendo DS, church, water, potatoes, Trenton (Teasdale), houses, trampolines, k’nex, life, pizza, cars.

Abby-feelings, houses/home, video games, trains, storage, decoracions (decorations), Heavenly Father and Jesses (Jesus), life, plants, church, world, my family, safty (safety), money, Philo T. Farnsworth, school, my pink blanky, food and water, couches, pigs, pets, veaiaculs (vehicles), compeny (company), memery (memory), jobs, cities and towns, thankfulness, cars, airplanes, maps or gloabs (globes), islands, freedom, bandaids, paint, books, wood, nacher (nature), lether (leather), rags, medasen (medicine), scriptures, friends, elactrisity (electricity), plastic, diccionary (dictionary), math, time, shapes, Aunt Mindy, shoes, trees, feet, Novoo Temple (Nauvoo), resaurekshin (resurrection), prophets, stores, fabric (fabric), words, trust, rocks, chosecies (choices),voieses (voices), body, beds, family members, colors, pjs, prayer, Santa Claus and Christmas, weather, sheep, places, Haeven (heaven), objecs (objects), boxes, mateireyal (material), manners, people, bags, Holy Ghost, Temple, docters (doctors), Snowflake Bentley (a man who studied snow flakes), Heavenly Father’s plan, cell phones, prophets, mountains, that we exist.

Bastian- hous (house), Jeesas (Jesus), food and wodr (water), I’m thankful for cows, flowrs (flowers), Aunt Christa (Krista), N-strike Long Shot, beatiuful day (beautiful), for sheep, cousins, whole world, our house, the weather, my whole family, Aunt Mindy gets to be on earth again.

Weston-toys, mom, dad, Jumping Jacks, Hayden, I’m thankful for trains, Bastian, Abby, shows, Isaac, trains (for the 2nd time).

We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for.

Playing in the Snow

The first snow fall of the year is so exciting. The kids love to bundle up in their snow gear and play outside. I love to watch them out the window! It amazes me how kids can go outside for hours and not care about how cold it is outside. Of course, then we participate in the luxury of drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows. That part is STILL fun to me. Weston in his snow clothes.
Bastian in his snow clothes.
Bastian buried in the snow by Hayden.

Hayden surveying his burying skills.

Bastian emerging from his hiding place.

My Mother's Christmas Tree

My mother called me and asked me to come help her. It seems as though life is so busy, but I don’t ever want to think that life is too busy to help the ones I love. I rearranged my schedule and had a good friend watch Bastian after kindergarten on a Monday so I could go help her. Initially I thought I was going over to help pack some of Cherisse’s things in boxes as she has just moved into her own apartment with Jesse and Annalee. She has been living with my mother for around 2 years now. But to my surprise, when I got to my mom’s house she had the tree up and said, “We’re going to decorate the tree.” I love decorating trees. I love looking at each ornament. Each one is unique and has its own beauty and charm. But what I failed to realize is that my mother has a REAL tree. You know, the kind that is cut down in a forest. It would be hours before we would pull out decorations for the tree. FIRST AND FOREMOST comes the dreaded lights. I got up on the ladder to start the lights on her 12 foot tree. My mom is the queen of Christmas and the pressure I felt to do a great job on her tree was huge. I knew that she would love ANYTHING that I did on the tree, but I have been staring with admiration at her trees for years and to mess up on HER tree was a distressing thought. It didn’t help when she said, “I want all the lights on the top to point down.” I was surprised that my lighting skills came back to me, but I had to use some pretty powerful self-talk to stay up on that ladder. I have been taking for granted my pre-lit fake trees. My mom and I had lunch together. She got out a letter that she received from someone whose life Mindy had touched. We had a good cry together.
The next day, she called and asked for help again. I decided to take Bastian out of kindergarten on Friday and I went and helped her for a few more hours. She had all the lights on! Hallelujah! So then we got to put on the decorations. The tree looks lovely. We took some pictures but they don’t capture the beauty of the tree in real life. I have come to the conclusion that it is because the camera can’t take pictures of magic.
My mom was looking through her decorations and couldn't find all her icicles. She pulled out this basket brimming with icicles and said, "All I could find were these." Then we laughed out loud.

November Top Ten

10. Abby was having a hard time with the behavior of a friend of hers. We were talking about how being a good friend means loving that friend despite their weakness and setting a good example of how to treat others by communicating with her. Hayden deciding to use his communication skills said, “Yeah, Abby, I still love you even though you sing all the time.”

9. After talking about what age Hayden will be when he becomes a deacon, Abby asked, “Is Hayden going to get the Melchizedek priesthood or the Ironic priesthood?”

8. Hayden rebuking Rob for joking about Grandma LeBaron yelling at him, “Grandma is too sweet to yell. Grandmas don’t yell very much anyway… BUT MOMS DO!” Thank you very much. I refuse to give up hope that I will one day make a very, very wonderful and peaceable Grandma. Until that time, I will CONTINUE to work on my ability to give soft answers.

7. Weston telling me what he wanted to eat, “I want a cheese girled sandwich.” (grilled cheese)

6. On Bastian’s letter homework he practices writing the letter and then draws 5 pictures below that begin with that letter. On this particular week the letter was B. He drew two boys. The boy with hair was labeled Bastian, the bald boy was labeled Ben. He said, “Do you know which kind of Ben? Ben Mullins!”

5. Trying to be somewhere on time, Hayden was coaxing me out of the bathroom saying, “Mom, your hair looks beautiful….now LET’S GO!” Ahhh, a husband in training.

4. I picked what had been a favorite book of Weston’s from the shelf to read to him before bed. It was a Dora the Explorer learn your colors book. Weston looked at the book in my hands and said, “I’m not a baby anymore.” Surprised I said, “We don’t have to read Dora. Go pick out a different book.” He stood at the shelf, pulled out a book saying, “How ‘bout Elmo?”

3. As we were eating eggs, Rob told the kids, “Eggs are protein. They make you strong.” Abby likes red sauce on her eggs. She said, “What does red sauce do?” I said, “It does absolutely nothing for you.” Hayden interjected, “Except entertain your taste buds.”

2. An elementary school in our area has 4-H classes available after school. They include a cooking class that one of her friends that goes to that school attends. We can’t attend the 4-H classes there because our school gets out 30 minutes later than theirs. Abby was distraught and kept asking why our school doesn’t have 4-H. The only answer I could give her was, “I don’t know.” One day Abby came home from school and told me that she asked her teacher if she could go to the bathroom. Instead of going to the bathroom, she went straight to the principal’s office to ask her this important question that was weighing on her 7 year old mind. “I would like to get 4-H at our school. Why does Larson Elementary school have 4-H and ours doesn’t?” The principal explained that the other school had received a grant and said that she had tried to get 4-H at Spanish Oaks Elementary but we don't have the money to do so. Abby was satisfied with that answer and happily went back to class.

1. After recovering from the stomach flu, Bastian said, “When you throw up and you don’t have any food in you, it’s kind of fun.”

Other things worth mentioning:

Nov. 2007 While at Aunt Krista’s house Bastian poured out the last of the cereal in the Malt o Meal bag. It left a heap of crumbs in his bowl. Bastian said, “Hey, Mom, my cereal looks like a sandy beach.”

In 2007 the kids and I went to Arizona (several times, I’m sure) to visit Aunt Shelly. On this particular trip I packed the van the night before (the DVD player was all set up and everything) and woke up before the kids to make the last preparations. I was completely prepared right down to the individual sippy cups WITH ice for each child sitting in the cup holders by their designated seats (boosters, and car seats). About nine and a half hours into the trip Hayden tells me that he is sooooo thirsty. I tell him we’ll have to wait until we get to Shelly’s house for a drink. He complains that he hasn't had anything to drink the entire trip. He hadn't noticed the sippy cup just inches away from his hand. When he took a drink he was disgusted because it didn't have ice. He told me that I had "wasted my time" getting water because I didn't tell him it was there. I was floored! Nine and a half hours in a van with four children and no other adults is enough to send your head spinning in the first place. I let him know that he sounded like he was spoiled! I gave him an ear full of an ungrateful child speech and said that next time I won't get him water at all. He said that next time he would get his water with ice himself. I said seething, "GREAT!" Naively he said, "Mom, will you remind me?"

Bastian Completes His Reading Lessons

I have used this book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons for Hayden, Abby and now Bastian. All of my children are GREAT spellers. It has been worthwhile to sit down with each child and do these lessons. Don't be fooled, I said it was worthwhile--I did not say that it was always fun. Sometimes it was fun, sometimes it was torture. With Hayden I did it at the kitchen table. He was pretty focused for much of the time, but he was my first and I wanted to do this book perfectly and grew impatient at times because of wiggling and what not. When it was Abby's turn, well she did NOT want to sit still, or even stay on the chair. We took a break and resumed again a little later. I learned that bed time was a GREAT time for Abby to do her reading lessons. She didn't want to go to bed, so doing a reading lesson was the perfect excuse to stay up just a little longer. With Bastian, I did it during the day, but I wasn't so strict with reading the story a second time like the lesson suggests. Bastian and I had our reading lessons on a comfy couch.
The sticker chart helped each of my children recognize numbers and count to 100. Bastian completed his reading lessons and got to pick out the toy of his choice from Wal-Mart. He chose to get Star Wars Complete Saga for the Wii. He is such a great reader and a great boy!