Christmas Pictures - part 2

Once in a while I find one of these self portraits of Sharrid on my camera. They are always the same face.

Doing yard work.

Kira is totally the fun aunt who plays with all the grand kids.

Landon was bushed right after opening presents.

Dad slept for almost half of the unwrapping of presents. He didn't even stay up that late!

Christmas Pictures - part 1

These are not the only pictures. I will get the rest up ASAP along with other pictures that have to do with Christmas. My mom made so many things this year for everyone. They are pretty special. My dad also surprised us with a priceless gift of my mom singing on cd's. My mom had made my dad a tape of her singing after he got transferred from her area on his mission. He put that tape on cd's for us and wrote the story behind the tapes in the cover sleeve. We listened to the whole thing on Christmas morning. We had kind of a hard time getting used to mom's "high voice". We had to remember that she was just Michaela's age when she did it. To me it sounded a little like mom on helium, but boy she's good! It was also good to hear little sisters Lisa and Theresa doing back ups. It's a pretty good restoration given that it was just a tape recorder sitting on the piano.

I would have liked to play Soccer with all my siblings like I said before, but since it was freezing outside, one of my favorite things we did was sing around the piano. I had a huge headache and had to cut out early but I am planning on gathering everyone again come fair time.

The kids had fun with the things they got. Marcelus woke up just as Santa was leaving...next year I'll wake him up about 5 minutes before it's time to go out and hide. It's never long enough when we're all at home and I never seem to take enough pictures, but here is what I did get.

My mom made the rag quilt for Landon.

My mom made this for me. She's making a really neat quilt of a lot of "Be" attitudes and this is one of the squares. She made it as a wall hanging.

Landon collects these little football helmets on little shelves in his room. This set is the PAC 10. He has all the NFL helmets and is building his college collection.

Tibi had my name this year and had this sign made. My favorite word "believe". I think I'll have another made sometime and have this be my Christmas one.

Sharrid got a book about gardening in AZ for Peter.

Mom making goodies.

Playing Nintendo 64! My mom was busy finishing Christmas gifts right up until the day.

With everyone home for Christmas, that's a lot of stockings hung!

The Latest

Last night I was kneeling in front of the TV watching Everybody Loves Raymond. What's up with that? I don't even like that show, and I usually pull in my computer chair to watch TV. I got pulled into the episode I guess but Phoenix was sitting on the floor right in front of me and sucking on the drawstring to my sweats. That's cool cause I'm absorbed in this show for some reason, and he's happy. Next thing I know Phoenix has fallen asleep sitting up...still sucking my drawstring. I replaced it with his pacifier and took him to his crib but it was the cutest thing ever.

Today I put all of our Christmas ornaments away. Needless to say Marce wouldn't stop playing with them and knocked about a dozen of them on the floor. The tree is up, with lights. The ornaments are gone and I'm happy with that. The reason I was such a hum bug about it is because I've had to put so many ornaments BACK on the tree this month. I am so done with it, AND Marcelus managed to shatter a glass ornament today. It was all over the carpet. He came to me in the other room and said he was hurt and gave me his finger. I thought he'd poked himself with a hook, for playing with the ornaments so much...but I think he cut himself with the glass. I put a band-aid on it and of course yelled at him. I have been really short with him lately. I've recognized this. I need to be a little better and not yell, but he could definitely up the good behavior too.

Last time in Family Night, we looked at pictures of Jesus and other churchy things. We showed Marcelus the famous Garden of Gestemene (sp. way off!) picture. He looked at it for a second and said "Jesus hurting." Shar and I looked at each other baffled. Christ is saying a prayer in the picture and doesn't look to be hurt. We were trying to teach Marce that Jesus wants him to pray. Marce is great during prayers at being reverent, but he has never really said his own prayers although we ask him if he wants to, and we also try and make him repeat us. We were trying to teach him that everybody prays and Jesus prays. He again said "Jesus hurting." It wasn't a question. Sharrid then skipped the prayer lesson and told Marce why Jesus was hurting. He told him a little about the Atonement, knowing Marce didn't really understand anything. We were still wondering how Marce could know that Jesus was hurting. I don't know if the veil is thin, but there was really no explanation for it. Marce was completely reverent and focused, calm and knowing. It astounding Sharrid and I. It was like Marce was teaching us instead of us teaching him.

Santa, Jesus, And Harry Potter

Last night last minute I was able to get a ride and take the boys to our Ward Christmas party. It was like a Luau. The Hawaiian food was really good. The best part was that Santa came at the end for the kids to line up and get a picture with him. The picture is supposed to be emailed to me. I acted really excited about the fact that Santa was there. Marcelus knows who Santa is because TBS has had The Santa Clause movie with Tim Allen on several times lately. Marcelus was eyeing Santa from the line like crazy. I doubted he would be afraid. He isn't afraid of anything that I am aware of. He wasn't afraid but he wasn't showing any emotion at all. He was super somber...hmm. Okay well...fine. I hope to post the picture soon.

Santa Claus is a huge part of Christmas for me personally because of a long time tradition that has been going on on my mom's side of the family for generations. Santa actually comes to our house early Christmas morning and leaves presents for us. My dad wakes us up when he hears him so that we can hide behind the furniture and watch. It's a very dark, quiet, and real experience. For me (and I know my siblings have agreed with me) it has been a spiritual experience, especially after I figured out that Santa was not exactly what I thought he was. My parents did a phenomenal job making sure that we believed and kept that innocence of a child who believes. I was about 10, my sisters' about 12. They changed things that would have made it difficult to believe in him for instance, according to my parents, all Santas' in movies or at the malls were only Santa's helpers, not Santa himself. Also, we were taught that mom and dad still had to pay for the things that Santa brought even though they were gifts from him. My parents told us things like this and so we believed for a very long time. We knew that Santa did not go down chimney's...we saw him walk through our front door every year. One year Santa made a comment while at our house (mind you we were hiding and not supposed to hear Santa talking to himself) He saw a picture of Christ hanging on our wall behind a chair and said something to the effect of "Jesus...he's my very special friend." I will never forget that. Some people view Santa as some Christmas symbol that takes away from the true meaning of the Holiday. I am so glad that it is the complete opposite for me. Santa makes me think of Christ. The two belong together for me. Santa Claus makes the Holiday even more spiritual for me. I would be crushed if I had to have a Christmas without Santa. I can't wait to experience it again this year. It will be the first time for my kids and Connie's kids.

Marcelus has been so crazy about trains lately. I have been putting on all 5 Harry Potter movies rewinding and fast forwarding to all the Hogwarts Express parts. It is a little tedious. I need to buy him a Thomas the Train movie or something but the Hogwarts Express is a real train, much better. I don't know what will become of this but he can't get enough of the trains parts. While Harry Potter was on and miraculously enough it was not at a train part, Marcelus saw a clip of Filch and said as he pointed to the screen "Jesus!" Hmm, not exactly how I picture the savior but...okay.

Trains, Planes,...and one hefty kid...

Marcelus will always love vacuums. Well, actually we'll see about that come teenage years but he has a special love for them. Recently it has been about trains and airplanes, including helicopters. He has also been into Buses, trucks, and tractors. Every time he hears a plane he runs to the window to try and find it. I don't even notice them til he points them out. He loves to see trains, even on movies. He has made me put on Harry Potter 2 ever since he found the box which had the Hogwarts Express on it. I put it on the part where Harry and Ron have to fly the car to try and make the train. I bought Phoenix a stocking at Target on Monday and in the dollar section was a lot of wooden cars and stuff, like a taxi, a police car, a bus, an ambulance, but they also had 5 train cars that connected. It's the cutest little thing and so I bought Marcelus his first train! There will probably be many more to come depending on how long this phase plays out. Phoenix is getting a Thomas the Train from Santa this year but Marce is going to be excited about it. Christmas will be fun for the boys. I got them some fun stuff and they love grandma's house! Marcelus now knows who Santa Claus is so it'll be great!

In other news, I just went through the boys clothes and while it's time to get Marcelus a few things in 3T size, Phoenix has graduated to 12 month clothing. He can still wear 9 months pants but just barely. It's a toughy getting them over his hips and bum. It is so funny how my boys are opposites...well they both have the height but Marce is rail thin and Phoenix can't get his pants over his butt! Phoenix is wearing a shirt today that Marce wore a few months ago and get this - I took one shirt out of Marce's drawer and put it directly into Phoenix' drawer! Usually it has to go into the bins for a little while before I can pull it out for Phoenix! He is definitely catching up! What's also great is that he is tall enough for the 12 month pants that I don't have to roll them. So funny!

50 Random Things

1. Do you like blue cheese? Amazingly I have not had blue cheese but in middle school my friends all knew I liked cheese and even gave me cheese gifts at my birthday! I have always wanted to dip a big pickle in nacho cheese, I think that would be good, and my famous chicken sandwich has nacho cheese on it!
2. Have you ever smoked heroin? Wow...no.
3. Do you own a gun? No
4. What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? I love Sonic but never add flavors? I like the real fruit slushies though.
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Not at all. I always think of worse case scenarios for the doctors and I don't think I ever qualify so I'm good...
6. What do you think of hot dogs? Love a good Hot Dog! Dill relish, little bitty chopped onions, a bit of mustard, and ketchup.
7. Favorite Christmas movie? White Christmas, Little Woman, Meet me in St. Louis, While you were sleeping, Wonderful Life, ALL OF THEM!
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? "Mmm, that's good OJ!" -Stewie
9. Can you do push-ups? Yes, I'm buff.
10. Age? 25
11. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? I hate to wear Jewelry, I only wear my very special charm bracelet. I like it just fine when other people wear it though.
12. Favorite hobby? In the current circumstance, reading or blogging.
13. Favorite Actor: Tom Hanks, Jack Lemmon.
14. Do you have A.D.D.? No
15. What's one trait you hate about yourself? I probably talk too much. People are probably thinking "shut up already..."
16. Middle name? Let's just say I like it but I'm not putting it down...good thinking guys.
17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment. Shower. Brush Teeth. What can I get done today?
18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday/today? I usually never buy things unless it's a Monday or online so Monday I bought food, including Milk, Bread, and Butter. Cool huh?
19. 3 drinks you regularly drink? Water, Orange Juice, and kool-aid or Gatorade.
20. 3 Current worries? I don't get too worried about things but my big one right now is the Christmas deadline. The present I'm making for my niece and nephews, the homemade gifts I want to do for Sharrid, and finishing our family Jeopardy game.
21. Current Love right now? Marcelus' singing.
22. Favorite place to be? Carlsbad CA, or home (my parents)
23. How did you ring in the New Year? I don't care much for New Year other than the fact that I get a fresh start and new or renewed goals. Shar will probably be working but I get to go home mid January, WooHoo!
24. Where would you like to go? England and Ireland, and over there. I wouldn't mind traveling up through Oregon and Washington. Anywhere really, I haven't been a lot of places...
25. Name three people who will complete this. Mother, Connie, and Karena.
26. Do you own slippers? I love my Slovene slippers. I wear my uggs a lot though right now.
27. What shirt are you wearing? My favorite blue Volcom shirt.
28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I don't know about Satin but we have a pretty good thread count and I like them.
29. Can you whistle? No
30. Favorite color? Red, Black, Grey, Greens, and Browns...Okay, I like a lot of colors...
31. Would you be a pirate? I am a Pirate! MVHS....funny.
32. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don't know, I don't think I sing in there all that often.
33. Favorite girl's name? I'm naming my first girl after my grandma, Roma Jean, but I also like Vanessa, Quincy, and my sister's name Kira.
34. Favorite boy's name? Of course I like my boys' names Cassius Marcelus Clay/Phoenix Bitner, but I will most likely name my next boy if I have another one, Jackie.
35. What is in your pocket? Nothing
36. Last thing that made you laugh? I can't remember, probably thinking of that stewie quote about Orange Juice ha ha
37. Best bed sheets as a child? a plain boring set that had brown stripes with some dark blue and red stripes but they weren't really stripes more like rectangles, really long rectangles. My family might know which ones I'm talking about.
38. Worst injury you've ever had? There's probably a better one but I broke my 2nd to the smallest toe in 8th grade. My sister Michaela was chasing me and I ran it into my dad's unforgiving credenza desk. It hurt so bad, I cried.
39. Do you love where you live? No, I have never liked Maricopa. I knew I probably never would but I liked Chandler a lot.
40. How many TVs do you have in your house? one, but we can also play DVD's on our computer and portable DVD player.
41. Who is your loudest friend? probably Eden.
42. How many dogs do you have? Kit is our family dog even though were almost all gone from home. I still consider her my dog, so one.
43. Does someone have a crush on you? ha I don't know...
44. What is your favorite book(S)? The Harry Potter series. I like a lot of others too including non fiction reads. I'm always reading a book.
45. Where were you born? Newport Beach CA
46. What is your favorite candy? Any candy bar with peanut butter, Reeses, 5th Avenue, Whatumacalit, ect.
47. Favorite Sports Team? PHX Suns, Any College football teams, esp. in the SEC or Big 12 conferences. I also like the Red Sox.
48. What songs do you want played at your funeral? I want to live forever and be twinkled but I'd say "Abide with me tis' eventide" and "If we hold on together" from Land Before Time.
49. What are you doing at 12 A.M.? Sleeping
50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? "Back to the ol' grind".....my mom always says that. ha ha

Tease

I don't have much time to blog right now but I just wanted to say that I am an idiot for leaving my cameras at my mom's house! I am missing them so much! Phoenix has started crawling since AND he is pulling himself up to everything! Shar says he's going to walk soon ha ha but I know that he doesn't have the balance yet even if he has the strength. I reminded him that Marcelus had all the goods for walking at 9-9 1/2 months but didn't actually do it til almost 11 months. We will have an early walker in Phoenix, there's no doubt about that. My guess would be 9 months. He's 6 1/2 right now and doing all this stuff.

I have also missed those "moments" when say Phoenix fell asleep in a pile of toys. It would have been a really cute picture. Anyway, a big thanks to Sharrid for taking apart our keyboard and cleaning it, so now it's perfect again. They had about 50 of them at DI, but ours is good as new.

Last night I was thrilled to catch a concert of sorts tributing David Foster. He's a music producer/songwriter who has worked with so many of the best people in the business. He's got a book and cd out that I want but I taped a little of the show for my footage collection. Dad and mom, you will be happy to know that I got some great Michael Buble, and Boz Scaggs. I also taped some Andrea Bocelli with Kathrine McPhee (she held her own). Anyway, it was so much talent on one stage. After every performance, I would just start that "I can't believe it's real" laugh and go "Wow!" It was amazing. I thought about you mom while watching it. I would have loved for you to have worked with someone like David Foster, because to me, you belong in that crowd of talented musical artists and I could see you up there with them (with that brilliant sound system and AMAZING orchestra). I still think you need to go into the studio someday. It was fabulous and I can't wait to show you what I got. I missed some of the Michael Buble before I could get my tape out but I got "Home". He did "Feeling Good" and I'm impressed. He has some Michael Jackson moves! I had no idea! ha ha It was pretty sweet.

Speak Of The Devil

And...............We're sick. How ironic...

We had a fun Sunday night with family and friends. We ran our errands on Monday including a Dr. appt. (6 mos.) for Phoenix. Phoenix was congested for his appt. which worked out. The dr. said not to worry about it as long as his appetite keeps up. Phoenix is now at the 95th percentile for height. Since birth he went up slightly and has now plateaued in the mid 90's. He is now 19 pounds and at the 75th percentile for weight. So, he has been burning some calories because he started at 97, then 87, and now 75. His height is holding strong though and the dr. is AMAZED that he is sitting up and crawling all over. Sunday night Phoenix stood up for the first time also. I was sitting Indian style on the floor and he grabbed my knee and used it to stand up. The dr. said he's seen babies crawl at 6 mos. but only just the tiny ones. These big babies are usually lazy, let's face it. I was thinking the same thing. Phoenix is not fat though, he's just big. The dr. couldn't stop talking about how he was crawling and all that already. It was such a proud moment for me as a parent, as if I had something to do with it...

So, I have caught the cold from Phoenix. Phoenix had a cold and fever we think was from shots and even a possibility of Rosiola. He has a rash on his body and according to my sister, he is not contagious anymore (that's what the rash means) I guess it's this viral infection or something. Now, Marcelus has a high fever and refused food for quite a while today, then finally asked for a waffle. Then, I made it and he wouldn't eat it. Finally he took about 5 bites that I had to spoon feed him and he conked out AGAIN. He's been sleeping all day and totally out of it. He does want to be held all the time and that's been hard because of Phoenix needing his mommy too. Marce was kind of a brat yesterday so it's kind of nice he's sick actually. I had to threaten him way too many times when he would touch "my tree". Last year I had to re-decorate the tree 3 times because of him. EDEN! Last year she taught him it was fun to take the ornaments off the tree...ha ha. Anyway, so my sister's theory of the Rosiola will prove right if Marce breaks out in a rash soon. Sharrid is the only one who has steered clear of anything so far. I feel fine. I don't mind colds at all as long as there's no pain (sore throat).

Phoenix goes back in a month to receive the 2nd half of his shot session (They had to break it up because there were so many he needed, including the flu shot.) Then they'll see him back at 9 months and they said there would not be any shots at that appt. WooHoo! My baby is growing up so fast and I'm excited. When you have a big baby, it's just better for them to grow up,...they are so heavy. I can always have more...

By the way, again I'm sorry for no pics on the blog lately. I would post pics of my tree and stuff but I won't get my cameras til Christmas. I have missed them.