Anticipation

This is my favorite part of the holiday season: anticipation. The gifts are wrapped and packed, we've listened to the music, put up all the decorations, baked and enjoyed WAY too many holiday treats, and felt the Spirit as we ponder the meaning of Christ's birth, life, death, and resurrection. Now I'm just waiting for the chance to see family again. I'm simply giddy with anticipation!

Other contributing factors to my light heart this evening:

Our lesson in Relief Society last week was especially good as we discussed the meaning and purpose of the Sacrament. It put this whole week on the right track. It's also been cool to study the Atonement with Bobby this last week as our "companionship" scripture study. This is the first Christmas season I can remember where I've actually felt my testimony grow. It didn't come from studying Luke 2.

I love that Bobby could make crepes for breakfast this morning.

I love that Alice and I read library books for 2 hours today. This girl has an insatiable appetite for stories. I love that she tried on a pair of snow pants and instantly turned them into a firefighter outfit. Bobby was her crew for a while before she had our whole family riding in a fire truck, putting out fires, and saving people's valuables.

I love that Robert's face lights up when he sees me. I love that he grabs my hair and headbutts/snuggles my face with his. I love that his 6th tooth finally broke through today. I love that he loves to eat whatever we're eating.

I love that the kids enjoyed quiet time together this afternoon and I got to do a little sewing. I loved lowering Robert's hem on his Big Butt jeans and leaving the waist just as it is (he's actually lost a pound over the last month...just 23 pounds...wasting away!...docs aren't worried) and finishing his laundry bin (pictures another day when he's not sleeping).

I love that all the Furoshki cloths I made last year are ACTUALLY getting used and doing an AMAZING job. They're just a joy for me to look at :)

Clockwise from upper left: blue handkerchief (from a baby shower), Peace/Love handkerchief (Goodwill find), tie-dye shower curtain (freesale pickup through a church activity), tie-dye shower curtain, blue king-sized pillowcase (inherited from a life-changing houseguest experience last year), teal and red striped flat sheet (inherited from former lab mate), and tie-dye shower curtain.

Not only are they attractive cloths, but they have a story. I love, love, love that kind of thing.

Heck, I'm just plain happy.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week has been a very odd and distracted week. There were layoffs this week at work like I posted earlier. I still have a job, but almost everyone I worked with was let go. I will be working on a new project along with a lot of other people at our site, but things have not really ramped up on that either, so it is kind of a dead time between the layoffs and the forced dead week between Christmas and New Years.

On the home front Alice has been excited about Christmas. Everyday she asks if tomorrow is Christmas. She also had her Christmas program like you probably already saw. If anyone is interested in the full program, not in fast forward we can probably make it available.

Robert has also officially crawled...-ish.




Alice has also been progressing a lot lately too, and she wants us to know about it. I think there is some jealousy here too, which is normal, when the baby starts to learn to crawl. Alice has started to do some puzzles all by her self. She just finished a 9 piece Sea Horse puzzle all by her self, with no help from anyone else at all.

Alice's Preschool Christmas Program

Alice's preschool class held their Christmas Program tonight. When I heard she would be playing the part of Mary, my heart skipped a beat. Was it a twisted sense of pride I felt? Ugh. Yeah. Like Mary is somehow better than an angel or a shepherd or a sheep? Double ugh. The feeling actually alerted me to the unconscious need I have to hear other people approve of my children...sounds like I've got some work to do on my mommy self-esteem ;) Anyway, enough about me.

Alice was overwhelmed by all the kids and their families. Her M/W/F class (7 kids) was combined with the exuberant T/Th class (10 kids), so Alice only recognized a few faces. She wouldn't even make eye contact with her teacher. The same teacher that she hug-tackled as soon as we walked in.

Bobby recorded the whole event, but I've created a shorter version. The first few seconds is a song, then the kids say, "While Mary was walking, what did she see?" and Alice (after a long pause and a visual reminder from her teacher) responds, "I see a donkey looking at me." Then they sing again.

I put the rest of the video in fast-forward (3x normal) to shorten the time AND demonstrate how little Alice actually moved throughout the rest of the performance. Her angel friend, Nadia, was all over the place. You'll see, you can't miss her. Alice mostly licked her lips, stood up and down as directed, and spent a little time exploring the manger at the end.

Overall, it was quite the educational experience for me as a mom and a preschool parent. It unearthed all sorts of things for me to ponder. Oh wait, it isn't about me. Alice mostly endured it for the brownie at the end, Robert flirted with the young girl sitting behind us, and Bobby manned the camera. A whole family affair. Wish you were there :)

Physical Prowess

Sitting to tummy to crawl stance to...sitting up again!

Back to tummy to crawl stance to...sitting up again!

One teeny skill closer to self-propelled exploration. One happy dude.

Way to go, little mister!

Good news?

Bobby still has a position at Yahoo! Inc., but 13 of his coworkers were laid off today, including his manager and several friends he has worked with over the last 7 years. I used to be so worried about us and what would happen to us, but when Bobby told me Ross and Rob were laid off, that hit me pretty hard. I'm relieved and sad and angry all at once. It's hard for me to call survivorship "good" news.

So what lies in store for us? We're sticking around a bit longer. Alice gets to stay in her excellent preschool, I get to enjoy my friends here a little bit longer, and Bobby gets to figure things out career-wise.