Amelia's blessing

What a wonderful Christmas we had! Every year we take a picture of all the grandkids in front of my parents' christmas tree and usually it is such a stuggle to get all the kids, especially the little ones, to sit in front of the tree with presents they know they get to open. But this year they were all so good! There was no crying, screaming, or trying to get up before all 6 cameras went off 100 times (or so it seems). It was wonderful!

In years past, after the pictures, we would have all the kids open their presents and then we would send them downstairs to play with those presents. This was mostly done because they have such a hard time sitting there watching EVERYONE (23+ kids and 13+ adults) open presents and they have no patience to wait for one for themselves. But this year it was so calm and everyone, kids and all, sat and opened gifts. This year many people made gifts for the people they had and all they gifts had so much thought and love put into them. Again, it was wonderful!

I was especially excited for Joey to open the blanket that I made him. It was hard for me to decide what to get for him this year since we didn't have a lot of money to spend and we were going to have a new baby. I started the blanket about the beginning of November and I didn't get it done until Christmas Eve morning, mostly because I didn't plan on having Amelia so early. A nursing baby takes a lot of time out of your day. Anyway, it was probably a bigger project than a beginner should have tackled, but I had my mom to help me so that's mostly why it turned out the way it did. The best part was when he opened it and saw what I made and that it was for him. We were truely blessed this year and it is a Christmas I will never forget!

My brother and his family were here for Christmas and so we decided to have Amelia blessed so he could be a part of it. She was blessed on the 29th by Joey so she is now offically Amelia Naomi. It was a beautiful blessing and she was just as beautiful! We looked for a blessing dress for her, but those that we found wer $60 and more! It's amazing what they charge for such a little dress. There was no way we could afford that so my mom offered to make her one. With Christmas and visitors we forgot about it until the day before. Thank goodness there was a fabric store open and that my mom is a genius when it comes to sewing! (Just to let you know, I made the headband. Not as difficult as the dress by far, but I did it, flower and all.)

A call to Santa

So last week sometime Joey and I were trying to get the boys to pick up the toys in their room. Well, they were having nothing to do with it, so we told them that we were going to call Santa and tell him to not come to our house this year because we have some naughty boys that won't listen. Noah started to freak out......."I want Santa to come! I want presents!" I told him that if he wanted presents and Santa that he better listen and clean up his room.

*I'm not sure how much kids actually comprehend things........if you want this, THEN you need to do that........I don't think that Noah gets it. I know that Elias doesn't get it 'cuz he's young and in 'Elias-land'.*

Well, for sure Noah didn't understand because he picked up a few toys and then started to complain, so I "called Santa" on my cell. *Ring, ring* Noah started crying, "Don't call Santa! I want to be good!". *I couldn't help but giggle a little bit and try to keep a straight face.* 'Santa' answered the phone and I told him that we didn't need his services this year because we have 2 naughty boys who don't want to behave. 'Santa' wanted to talk to Noah so I handed him the phone.

The look on Noah's face was priceless while talking to Santa. He looked so pitiful...... it was cute. When he was done Elias talked to Santa too. He was funny because you could tell he had no idea who he was talking to, but he held up his end of the conversation perfectly. After the phone call they went a picked up their toys and Santa called back.He told them that he knows who is good and bad and that he knows they are good boys who listen to their parents.

The lesson was learned, but not quite absorbed because we still have to threaten them with santa every once and a while. Oh the fun things that you get to do as a parent! I think messing with your kids has to be on top of the list. I love Christmas!

Sunday Blues

So I never realized how much I liked Sunday and church until I can't go, with no fault of my own. I am perfectly healthy, willing, and wanting to go, but there are people that aren't in their best health that go that makes it hard for those of us that have new babies. Doesn't always seem that it's them who come right up to you to congratulate you first?! Maybe it just seems that way to me.

So Joey went to the first half of church and then came home to watch the kids (Noah & Elias have this lingering cold) so I could go to Relief Society. Everyone wanted to see the baby and really wanted to show her off, but flu season and it's about 5 degrees out today.

I'm glad I went. The lesson was about the birth of Christ and it was wonderful! I had to bring the calendar for the month as well(since I am the secretary) and I also got to find out why no-one from the Relief Society or the ward for that matter didn't bring meals or didn't call or didn't do anything when Amelia was born. The RS pres was gone for Thanksgiving, but she did call the Compassionate Service people when she found out and.... well .....yup. I'm just going to make sure that the next family that has a baby gets extra special attention. Do I sound bitter? I hope not, cuz I'm not. Just a little sad.

Here are some of the latest pictures of our little Amelia:

Pretty in Pink

In this picture Joey actually caught her "dream smiling". The picture on the bottom left is me loving to dress her up. I bought this outfit a while ago and it's looks adorable on her even though it's way too big. The picture below is her all dressed up for church today, but she didn't get to go. She looked adorable anyway. She's like my own little dress-up doll. I love it!