Beating Those Winter Blues

Before children, when someone would ask me what my favorite season was I would have a hard time trying to pick. There was something to be enjoyed with each season. Then I had children. And I realized how hard winter can truly be. But I've enjoyed winter here so much more. Maybe the 60+ degree weather intermixed with the snow and cold helps make it bearable. I could get used to that. 

 Our friend Serge's fiancee Jeanella came to the US to visit. We got to spend a lot of time with her and the kids just fell in love with her. She was so sweet to them and even though she spoke limited English they still had a great time. It was a good teaching moment for me: children need so much more than just an understanding of what we are saying. Just being snuggled, laughed with, or played with can help them feel love. We can't wait for her to come back!

 We haven't had much snow here but when it does snow, we make sure to go out and play. Chet has been so good about helping shovel off the driveway and porch. After the last storm when we finished our driveway, Chet went right over to our neighbor to shovel hers; Mariah was close behind. It made me pretty proud.

 This is what Tanner gets to see when he comes home from work. I went out one day and got to experience it for myself. It really makes you feel good. Anyone who is having a bad day should be greeted like this.

 One FHE we reenacted the Tree of Life from the Book of Nephi in the Book of Mormon. Tanner set up a little obstacle course. He even had a humidifier set up for the "mists of darkness". The kids loved it and we had to do it several times.

 We spend lots of time at the library. Mariah and Chet picked out their own outfits that day. Chet also had a cowboy hat on but he took it off before the picture.

 Austin has started climbing on everything. He even climbs up onto the toilet now. 

 And he climbs into the cupboards...

 Mariah discovered a new way of writing. She was pretty tickled with herself. 

We got to go to a WVU Basketball game with Grandpa Crossley and Serge. Tanner came home from work and made sure we were all dressed in WVU colors. He even had an outfit picked out for me...I appreciated his dedication but made a few changes to my outfit.

And finally, a few gems from the kids:

When we start singing Austin waves his hand around "leading" us.

He has started to love playing peekaboo too.

Mariah gave something to Chet and he said, "Thank you Hotness".

Chet has really started to love music lately. He sings Jingle Bells a lot. Another favorite is Dancing in the Moonyight (moonlight).

Mariah and Chet were pretending and came to tell me:
Mariah: I'm your fairy godmother
Chet: I'm your daddymother

We were on a walk one day and Chet said he needed to go potty (story of my life). When I asked him if he could hold it he said, "I can hold it because Heavenly Father gave me my heart to hold my potty." Thank heavens for that.

Chet loves to make up words. One day when he asked for something in a less than polite way I asked him to please ask again. He said, "Please?" and then under his breath he muttered "Bonker!" I don't know how I feel about being called a bonker...

While Mariah and Chet were playing he said, "I wake up and see a gust of babies!" .

Chet got some underwear with different characters on them. One day while getting dressed he said excitedly, "Look! It's Donald Goose!" Close enough. He often wears his underwear backwards so he can see the characters. Seriously people, why do you put them on the back?

Some of these Mariah quotes are from quite a while ago but I don't want to forget them.

"OK little orangey orange I'll get the peel off of you and then you can live in my tummy cuz thats your home."

"She's doing general aflecs (gymnastics)" This was during the summer olympics.

We had been talking a lot about where our food comes from and one day Mariah told me, "Mom someday I want to go out and get a chicken and bring it inside and pull its feathers out and eat it." She would probably do alright in the old days.

One day we randomly had a little spider in our car that had built the tiniest little web. Mariah said, "I guess he'll have to be my pet." She decided his name should be Hubert Wiz Crossley. And then I smashed it, I'm sentimental like that. Hopefully there was no emotional scarring.

When we had just moved here we had someone come and fix our air conditioning. The repairman brought his son as well. Tanner overheard Mariah say to the boy, "Do you know about Joseph Smith?" The repairman then said, "He doesn't, you'll have to teach him." It was pretty sweet.

Mariah loves to narrate as she plays. One day I overheard her say, in a very dramatic tone, "Suddenly it began to rain. Drips tumbled on her head and she was cold at last." Four years old people.

We try to have quiet time each day and one day as they were heading to the rooms Mariah whispered to me, "mom I want to whisper something in your ear so Chet can't hear." I crouched down and she proceeded to yell in my ear, "I don't want to go to sleep."

I really love the names she comes up with for her different characters. One day she was a Christmas bird named Chelsea with two babies Jason (Chet) and Mark (Austin)

Another day she was pretending to be Jesus (not sure how I feel about that but she hasn't done it again...). She said, "Oh thou puppy, when you die you can come into heaven."

These kids...I think I'll keep em.