Tree Trimming

Ah, Christmas time. How I love the traditions that go along with this wonderful time of year. I love doing fun things with my kids, like decorating the tree and the house. They love helping, and it makes me happy to see how happy they are.

Chris and Nathaniel string the lights.

Everyone poses with "Rudolph," our pet reindeer.

Adding the ornaments. This is always fun. I used to stress about placement, but now I love that my tree looks like it was decorated by kids!


Three happy kids with their finished product. Fun times.

Christmas Activities

The kids were so excited about the prospect of making cookies and delivering them to neighbors. Together with Aunt Mel, expert baker, they made the most delicious chocolate chip cookies, packaged them up, and chose to whom they wanted to make deliveries. I simply drove them around the neighborhood, and they did the rest.

Afterwards we talked about what a good feeling it gave them to do something nice for others. I am really proud of them for being such giving, loving people.

Later that same evening we had our ward Christmas party. Good food, good friends, and entertainment. The boys were most thrilled to sit on Santa's lap, but Lindsey would have nothing to do with that scary man!

Just Had to Share This . . .

Don't you love coming across something awesome like this? Kids are so funny!

sNOw!

So here's what we woke up to a few days ago, after our wonderfully warm and lengthy fall. I guess winter is upon us. Grrr. It's pretty, though, huh?

Lindsey's First Haircut

It's funny how I was always chomping at the bit to cut the boys' hair and did so by the time they were 6 months old, but with Lindsey, I never wanted to do it. But it had gotten way past the point of straggly, needing a trim to make it look healthier, so I had to give in. You can't really tell much difference between the before and after shots, but she lost a good 2 1/2 to 3 inches.

In Scouting News . . .

Nathaniel received a bead at his Pack Meeting last night. Anyone like me who knows nothing about Scouts -- that means he is progressing toward his next rank. He already acheived Wolf and is working toward his Bear. I just think he looks cute in his uniform!

Tough Guy

Just a couple of shots of my little Bradley who got into a fight with the train table and lost. That is the 3rd major facial injury for him in less than a year! Poor little guy!

Another Holiday Tradition

Every year on Thanksgiving, I love to pull out the old guitar and serenade the family with a holiday classic. This link provides the only video I could find of the original performance on Saturday Night Live of that great song, "Basted in Blood." Enjoy.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=22176165

Give Thanks

With Thanksgiving approaching, I find myself, like most everyone else, reflecting on just how much I have to be thankful for. The list is staggering, and it's a huge comfort when I'm feeling blue just to stop and think about how tremendously the Lord has blessed me and my family.

This year will be (I think) the first time we have had Thanksgiving alone, as a core family. Even in the years we have lived far from the hub of our family, we have always had a sibling or cousin or someone with us. With Mel at home in Georgia, and Pat receiving a "better offer" from a young lady, it's just me, Chris, and the kids. In a way it's nice to do our own thing, but I find myself longing so much for my family. Memories of all those holidays at home are flooding my mind . . . Granny's dressing, uncles watching football, and the rest of us crowded around the dining room table after dinner to play board games. Those were the days, and I really miss them. I'm excited to establish new traditions with my kids, but I so cherish all that family time when I was growing up. I hope you'll all play a round of Catch Phrase for me this year.

My greatest blessing is by far my family. My grandparents and parents, aunts, uncles, cousins. My wonderful brothers and sisters. My in-laws. My neices and nephews. I love these people and thank a loving Heavenly Father for allowing me to be part of such a wonderful heritage.

I'm so very thankful for my amazing husband and for my children. There is no greater blessing in my life than to be the mother of these incredible little people who make me happier than anything else ever could. I sometimes get impatient with them; life is challenging from day to day. But there is absolutely nothing I would rather do than spend my time with them, trying my best to prove worthy to be entrusted with their care. How merciful is the Lord to give us the opportunity to live together forever! I'm so excited to spend eternity with them!!!

So to all my family back in Georgia, Florida, Washington, Maryland, the Netherlands, Massachussetts, Missouri, and wherever else you are right now -- Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you for being part of what I consider to be the greatest family on earth. To all my fantastic friends, Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families as well!

Just By Way of Information. . .

Some of you have privatized your blogs and I can no longer read them. If that's how you want it, fine, but if it's not, hook me up! I miss reading all your happenings! LOVE. . .

My Mr. Wonderful

I have felt inspired to pay homage to my amazing husband, which is something i regrettably don't do enough. So, here is my Top 10 List of Reasons Why I love John Christopher Noel Black.

1. Obviously the man is a saint because he puts up with me. How lucky am I to be married to a saint!?!? Over many years he has come to learn everything there is to know about me, and his memory is long. Even still, he remains committed to the life we have made together, to our family, and to our covenants. He has also been able to convince me, the most insecure person in the world, of his undying love for me. That is no small feat, and I treasure that love and security.
2. What could be more important than the fact that Chris is an exceptional father to our children. I am so grateful for a husband who is involved, interested, loving, and invested when it comes to our kids. He exhibits patience with them that astounds me. He will spend hours showing them how to do something new. He takes them places. He teaches and trains them.



3. What a blessing to have a worthy Priesthood holder in our home, who honors and respects this holy office and uses it to bless us

4. I must admit he's always melted my heart, ever since 2nd grade. He's the handsomest man in the whole world, and he's pretty good lookin' too!

5. Chris is amazingly talented. It brings me such comfort to know that he can literally do almost anything. Having someone to take care of us and make sure we always have what we need is such a blessing. I've long admired his abilities. He can repair anything, cook a gourmet meal, clean the house (if he wanted to), do anything with electronics, fight fires, save someone's life, sew an article of clothing, build anything, fix a car, shoe a horse -- need I go on? I could, you know. He's that good. And he's passionate about his hobbies; radios, scuba diving, photograpy. All the expensive ones!


6. People who don't know him well are unaware that he's just plain goofy. He'd do anything to make you laugh. One thing I love is being around him when he's with his sisters -- he cracks them up and they just love it. He always tries to make me laugh when I get mad, which, when it works, makes everything better.

7. Chris is a big thinker; he likes to really think things through before acting. I have given him all kinds of heck about this over the years, as I am a snap-to-judgement sort of person, and I tend to get impatient. But I have appreciated many times that his careful consideration of things has resulted in correct decisions for us.

8. He knows, loves, and lives the gospel. And he teaches it to our children. My heart aches for those who must live without this wonderful blessing, and it is one I try hard to remember every day. Having a husband who is so good and so righteous really helps me -- he makes me want to be a better person.
9. He was a cute kid, so I knew he'd contribute good genetic material. And he did!!!

10. He enjoys being outdoors and appreciates the beauty of God's creations. I love that he is doing his best to pass this on to the kids and that he enjoys taking our family on hikes and camping trips, even though I sometimes fight him on it!

I hope I've been able to convey just a fraction of why I love my amazing husband. Honey, thank you for your patience and love and for sticking with me through our long and colorful history. I look forward to our very long and wonderful future. I love you eternally.

A Few Video Clips

So, I finally found out how to put video clips on the blog . . . not like it's hard, but I resist learning new computer-related things due to extreme stubbornness. Here are a few random clips from recent happenings.

Ok, no one rats us out on these next two, right? :) Chris smuggled the camera in to the Primary program b/c Bradley was supposed to sing a solo. Unfortunately he got stage fright. But we still got some cute footage.

All Hallows Eve

As always, the kids were mondo excited to dress up for Halloween. The boys each wanted to be Link (from the Zelda video games), and their Aunt Mel made them hats and tunics -- from scratch, without a pattern. I thought that was pretty amazing. I couldn't sew if my life depended on it!

Bradley gets in a good jab at his brother.

Playing their ocarinas.

Lindsey of course went as Cinderella, her alter ego.

We took them to the church for Trunk-or-Treat, which was great because they were contained in a parking lot and safe. Lindsey was a little scared at first, but she soon got the hang of it and came back with a bag full of candy. All ended up with the yearly sugar rush.

Lindsey's Big Day!!!

What??? My baby is 3 years old already? I honestly can't believe it! Well, either way, it happened. She turned 3 on the 25th of October, and she had a wonderful day!


She began her day with some star treatment -- a luxurious bath followed by a manicure and pedicure (by Aunt Mel).
We decorated the house for a princess party, and Lindsey wore her Cinderella get up.


The presents excited her greatly. She got lots of cool things, more than any 3 year old needs. But she was in hog heaven!

She got a little money, which she thought was way cool.

A cool fairy costume came from Aunt Manda.

Rockin' out to the new Princess CD player from Aunt Aimee.

Dad got her a grocery cart complete with toy food.

She was pretty happy about her Princess cake. Courtesy of Aunt Mel.

No more photos, please.

All in all, a wonderful day for a wonderful daughter. I really enjoyed seeing her so happy, and most of all, reflecting on how much happiness and true joy she has brought into our lives for the last 3 years. Lindsey, you're an amazing blessing, and I love you.