Thanksgiving

I am writing this post with a semi-grateful semi-ungrateful attitude today.  I have put off posting anything of this nature, because I hate to appear like I don't appreciate my life.  I know that I am blessed to have three beautiful kids. I know that having a perfect house is not the priority in life.  I know that we are "living the dream" as we go on an adventure of a lifetime living in New Hampshire while my husbands attends an ivy league graduate program.  I know I should take time to "stop and smell the roses".  I know that soo many other people have it way worse than I do.  I know that I should appreciate my job more, because truly we could not live without it.  I know that I will look back on these days someday and say....wow, those were the good ol' days.  I know that life will always have challenges, those are what make us grow and learn to become more like God.  I know that I need to venture out more and seek out friends, instead of waiting for them to come to me.  I know that I will wish back on my childrens childhood someday.  I know that I do have some really great friends here in NH.  I know I have been incredibly lucky to have multiple Toronto family members come out and visit us/babysit for us while I work.

But.........................

*I wish my Mommy could come visit me, or I could go visit her.  This is by far the longest I have ever gone not seeing her.  Exactly 122 days that is, and unfortunately I probably won't see her until next May/June.

*I wish that I could have another baby.  Seriously, I see others around me announcing that they are expecting another little one and sometimes I wonder when my next child can come.  Then I remember that we are in school right now and my life is crazy enough as it is. 

*I wish that I could magically blink and have my house in perfect order with all the furnishings I keep imagining perfectly in place. And then stay that way.  Oh, and all the foot marks on the walls and finger marks on the windows could magically disappear :)

*I wish that I wouldn't continue to be embarassed when someone shows up on our front porch and I look at the house and realize it is trashed YET AGAIN.

*I wish my kids could be content playing in our yard, instead of constantly harassing our neighbors down the street.  And then I wish that this particular family didn't act so "not friendly" when I come to pick up my child/children from their house.  I promise they just really really like your dog Mandy (name changed). Oh and your fun sand toys and dirt spot on the side of your house.

*I wish that I didn't have to work Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Labor Day, New Years Eve, and New Years Day. Also, every single 1/2 day and day off school Miss M has had so far this year. 

*I wish I could be the kind of Mom that is home every day as their children get home from school, with cookies in the oven and ready to just relax outside with everyone else while the kids all play together.

*I wish I could figure out how to get my two boys to fall asleep in the same room at the same time, and then they would not wake each other up in the morning.

*I wish my four year old had friends that were "his very own" and could accept not getting his way without a grand master temper tantrum each. and. every. time.  He has told me over and over that he thought I was finding him friends in New Hampshire before we moved.  It seriously breaks my heart when he tells me things like this.  Then he goes on to tell me he is a bad boy because he can't control his anger.  And my heart breaks yet again.

*I wish that I felt more connected with the people in my community and with the "Tuck Partner" group, and didn't feel like so much of an outsider.  Oh yeah, and add my church group to that list as well.

*I wish I had my Cortina 3rd ward church group here.  I miss them so much it almost hurts.  I became a Mom in Cortina and literally grew from being a semi-newlywed to an experienced Mom of three.  I had so many friends there that I could call up on a bad day or just to chat.  I felt involved in friend groups there like: co-op, queencreek friends, school carpool,  summer movie fun pals, girls night dinners, craft nights, etc.

*I wish that there were more children here that were my kids age as well.  I loved how I could arrange a playdate for any of my kids with just one phone call and then we could walk to that persons house in AZ.  I also miss my "Babysitting Co-Op" group from back home.  It made life so much easier to arrange guilt-free babysitting for the children when I needed a Mom only shopping trip, or for doctor's appointments.

*I wish that there were teenage babysitters in my area.  Or that the Clifford family could magically move into Sachem Village with me.  Their two girls were probably the best babysitters I have ever had.  They played with my kids and they loved my kids.  They would always ask when they could babysit again.  We had fairly consistent date nights with those two girlies around.

Now that I am officially done with my pity-party, let me re-iterate that we are okay.  We are enjoying the rural feel of New Hampshire.  We/I enoyed practicing cooking a Thanksgiving dinner on the Sunday after the Holiday.  We have loved the weather thus far and are excited to be celebrating a {hopefully} white Christmas. We are excited to celebrate a more intimate Christmas with our little family.  I am learning how to be a more patient mother.  I am learning to lean more upon my Savior for help.  I am learning how to better teach my children more about God.  I feel myself being molded and stretched through a refining fire to someday become a masterpiece.  I feel myself drawing closer to God and trying harder to be more like Him. 

And with that I leave my Thankful/Unthankful Thanksgiving Post.

We love SNOW!!

One of the biggest thrills that my children looked forward as we pulled them from the wonderful state of Arizona, was SNOW!  We drilled into their heads over and over that it would be okay to be away from all of our friends and family because we were going on an adventure that would allow us to experience lots and lots of snow. And man has New Hampshire delivered for us.  We are in the middle of our THIRD snowstorm and it's not even Thanksgiving.  The most recent snow has been the largest volume and I think we were the most prepared for this one.  Snow boots, mittens, hats, coats and scarves have been purchased and have NOW already been put to good use.  This has by far been the most enjoyable of the storms because the volume of snow increased exponentially and has stuck around for longer.  Some of the fun things we have done in the snow the past few days include:

*take pictures of the beautiful white snow, perfectly clean before the kids went tromping through and made footprints 

*shovel the sidewalks, clean off the cars and continue shovel/sweeping the grass or any other area chosen by a certain little boy that may or may not be four!

*build snow "chairs" outside in our backyard.  The kids have loved sitting down and taking a break in them when they are outside playing.  We still have yet to build a snowman, but should cross that off our list by the end of the week

{Maddie announced to me that she was "building" a snow man with this pile of snow in her ice cold fingers}

*snowball fights; mainly with Daddy. I have politely excused myself from this one

{Eli decided he was DONE after about 10 minutes outside the first day.  He came right inside and refused to put his snow pants on and come outside for HOURS.  Luckily Jesse finally persuaded him to come out and ride the sleds down the hill and he relented}

*sledding down the hill by our house on flying saucers!  Probably one of my faves so far.  Jesse worked with the kids and made this awesome pathway that goes to the edge of the trees.  Even Eli got a kick out of going down the hill...after about 10 minutes of bribery and then several trips down with mom.  Towards the end of our sledding adventure, we were surprised by the Layton Family out on a walk.  We were so glad that Leah and Ryan were able to take a few turns down the hill. I think the funniest was when I looked over and Robby was literally tumbling down the sledding run head over hills.  When he hit the bottom he yelled "Whoa!! That was so awesome!"  I can already picture Robby as a master snowboarder that flies down the hill with a big smile lighting up his face :)

*making snow angels on the ground with Maddie. without snow pants on of course. who needs them when you have a Mom that is PERFECTLY willing to wash like five pairs of wet jeans a day right? wrong.

*and lastly hours of entertainment for Robby with his monster trucks.

Thank you New Hampshire for all the entertainment you have brought this little family of ours with your snow.  But please be kind to us this year, okay?  We are newbies at this and not quite ready for the sub-zero temperatures...............

Co-Presidents of the Tiny Tuckies

My two cute boys look like the total package to be in charge of the Tiny Tuckies right?! 

Love these two cuties and am so thankful I get to spend so much time with them.

I can't wait to see what is in store for them.

Just a couple thoughts....

Just a few notes to jot down after a WONDERFUL day with my kiddos (they all were in bed by 7:15pm which may or may not have influenced just wonderful the day was):

When you have a child like my sweet Robby, you get used to very little listening/learning moments.  It is so difficult for him to focus enough that many times I feel like lasting life lessons are difficult to come by.  Today I did have one of those "Aha" moments that made me feel a little better as a parent.  I decided that although it is pretty special to me, I wanted to share it simply so that I will also never forget this tender moment.  We were at BJ's shopping and had just got to the car after completing our checkout.  Robby was looking at our receipt and freaked out demanding "I don't think we paid for our stuff Mom".  He kept repeating that all we had was a list of the things we bought and that they had not taken our money.  After several reassuring words he finally calmed down and we talked a tiny bit about being honest and not stealing.  I told him that "not stealing" was a very important thing to me and that I always make sure I pay for things before I leave a store.  Then in a semi-joking manner I asked him if he thought I was always honest and paid for everything.  He nodded immediately and reminded me of a situation from back in August.  He said "Mom, I always know you are -nest (honest) and not steal because you went back into Kohl's and paid more money, remember? We had to pay for the socks that were silly and got stuck in the shoe bag."  {we had just shopped at Famous Footwear that day, before walking next door to Kohl's.  There was a pack of underwear--not socks-- that I was buying for Robby.  He was holding them in his hand and unintentionally placed them in the shoe bag he was also holding.  By the time we got to the front of the store, I had enough items that I never realized the underwear weren't in the pile to purchase and he had long forgotten about them.  Right after we got back in the car, we discovered the unpurchased underwear package and I ran right back in the store and paid for them.}  In many ways, I am so grateful that this situation occurred.  I had the opportunity to show my children how important honesty is to me--in actions rather than words.  More than that I am glad that Robby still remembers that moment.   

Robby soooo wants to be in school right now and has decided that the daycare place at the CCBA (YMCA-type gym we recently joined) is his "school."  He insists on packing himself a lunch in his tin lunchbox and is so proud to walk in there with his backpack in place.  How I wish I could find a preschool that suited our needs in Hanover. Until then, he is doing FANTASTIC on this new website I found called "Reading Eggs" and I just introduced five sight words to him today.  My goal is to have him reading easy beginner books by the time school starts and to have at least 50 sight words under his belt.  I just know that once he learns how to read, he will be a bookworm like Miss M!

I have really been trying to increase our spiritual focus in the home as of late.  I have been doing my best to be diligent in our family scripture study, family prayers, prayers at ALL meals, my own personal prayers as well as saying personal prayers with each of my children individually at night, and keeping more spiritually minded topics going in our home.  It may be starting to wear off a little bit on Robby.  Now with everything we encounter Robby asks me if Jesus has the same thing up in Heaven.  Just today he asked me if Jesus has thunder and food up in Heaven.  We had a long conversation (well 3 minutes is enormous for Mr R) about why we can't see Jesus and then why we pray when we need help.  We talked about how we can't see air or wind, but we can feel it against our skin.