Christmas Already!?

On Sunday, when I arrived at Church, I saw in the hallway 3 table full of things that a person could make during the "Super Saturday" that is coming up in November. This is an annual event, where ladies can go and make all kinds of crafts or food items to either keep or give as gifts during the upcoming Christmas season. I know right!? Did you just think, as I did, it is SEPTEMBER! Why are we already gearing up to get Christmas ready!? I was really taken back by the fact that these tables were there, and had people crowded around them.

This display at Church caught me off guard a little, because I had already had Christmas on the brain for the whole week prior, but not in the - what am I going to buy!/make! for people - run around crazy - kind of way. I have been pondering lately the well known statement "Christmas is always so busy." or, something similar. It puzzles me, a lot. Last year (2010) I made a comment that went something like this - "I don't understand why a lot of people say that they are so busy during December." After making this comment in a group of people, I heard this - "You aren't busy because you only have one child." I really don't think that is true, or at least not the whole reason. I honestly feel that my lack of busyness, during the Christmas season, is due to the choices I have made, and will make.

I long ago got over the idea that I had to go to everything that is going on in town. I don't and I survive. My child doesn't and she survives. I heard a lesson given in Relief Society years ago that talked about priorities. You know the lesson that comes around every so often to remind us we don't have to do everything, because there is no way we can, and how to deal with the stress that life brings. Well, if you ask me, if Christmas is stressing you out! The meaning of the season is missing. Anyway, I took that lesson to heart that day, and my priorities changed. In my world my family comes first. Always. Period. The End. If something will interfere in anyway with my family than it is not something we do.

Speaking specifically about Christmas. About 6 years ago I hated it. Yup, totally disliked it. Felt like it was hardly worth the effort to put up a tree, and the only reason I did was because I had a little kid who wanted one. I never felt like Christmas was the meaningful event that I heard others talk about. But, as I said above, that lesson changed my priorities. I changed my attitude. I changed my outlook. I changed what Christmas was in my home. Last Christmas was perfect. The tree went up early and we decorated it together as a family. I have learned not to re-do anything that Little Bear does to the tree, yes it bugs me and my OCD ways, but it is her tree too, and she loves it. Our tree stayed up longer that it ever did before, in the past is would come down on boxing day, but it stayed up until New Year's. We didn't go to any events that didn't interest us, which gave us lots of time at home, together. We didn't do any Christmas baking, because we didn't want to, and you know what? Our friends & family still love us.

Perhaps my favorite thing about last Christmas was something new that we tried, and advent or countdown to Christmas. Each night we gathered around our lit tree, and we would pull from a bag a picture of Jesus Christ and read the scripture printed on the back. Then Little Bear would find a place on our tree to hang the picture. The spirit of Christmas, or Jesus Christ, was in our home during the season, and I know that made all the difference in the world. I know that it impacted Little Bear, she asked me last week when we could start our picture count down again.

Do I have a point? Maybe I do, and it's really just for me. Choose wisely what you allow to fill you life. Don't forget to leave room for what is really important. Perhaps like me, you too will find the busyness just fades away.

Run With Me

I took up running at the beginning of the school year, and I have fallen in love! I love to run, be outside, even when it is chilly I enjoy a good solid run. It has become my goal to run a half marathon, so, I started looking for one. I found a really good one, highly recommended by people I know who have run it. The only downside? It isn't until September! I was ready to go now! So I kept looking, and I have found the perfect race. It is perfect for me on so many levels.


First - it is close by to where I live
Second - the proceeds go to a worthy cause
Third - it is a run put on by my relative


I will be running the Legacy Half Marathon. I want to invite you to - Run With Me. On May 28, 2011, I will be running in memory of my Aunt who lost her battle with Breast Cancer. I have been challenged by my younger brother to have a finish time of 2 hours 30 minutes or less, if I succeed he will donate $25 to cancer research. If you cannot run with me, can I encourage you to make a donation? I hope you do.


* I have a 12 week half marathon training schedule that starts next Monday, March 7. Leave a comment below with your email address, and I will send you a copy.
* Half Marathon website - Legacy Half Marathon 2011

Choice Made

The choice is made; the die has been cast, as they say. We have made our decision regarding schooling Little Bear for the upcoming school year. It will be at home. Papa Bear and I have been agonizing over this choice since October. Since the 5th week of the school year, the thought of homeschooling has been on my mind. I very nearly pulled Little Bear out of school that 5th week, I thought about it in November, and then again in March. This has been a long process, weighing the pros, the cons, and the stigma. We made a list of every benefit to leaving her in public school, weighed against being at home, alone. We talked at length of what was more important at this stage of her life, socialization, social skills, or self-esteem.

What it came down to, for us, was no child’s self esteem is worth waiting for the school to make a decision. Little Bear's self esteem is not worth waiting for other parents to take notice of their child’s hurtful behavior. She is our responsibility, and this is how we have chosen to take action. We did not step on this path blindly, or without thought. We do not go into this thinking it will be the easier choice, or the easier way. It is going to be a difficult road, with the majority of the work falling to me, I am fine with that. I am looking forward to it. What we hope to gain form choosing this more difficult journey is a lengthy list of attributes Little Bear is going to need to live in this world, and be happy.

Piano

I know in my last post that things were winding down here in the Bear house. Due to a ferocious winter storm, things got mixed up a bit and rearranged some. Baby Bear started piano lessons in September this year, and just loves it! She has the greatest piano teacher, who is calm and sweet and boy can she play the piano! Each year, all the students choose a song to play at the Christmas recital, Baby Bear chose to play "Away In A Manger". She also turning to to quite the fashionista, she loves dresses now, versus a few months ago I couldn't hardly get her near a dress. She is also loving have longer hair again, and being able to have curls, and French braids.

She worked really hard to get the timing right, to play the right notes, and to play the whole piece without looking at her fingers. On the recital night Baby Bear was the first person to perform. She did a super job! No stage fright, no hesitation and to her credit NO mistakes! She was just thrilled and so were Papa Bear and I.

Baby Bear seems to have grown 5 years in the past 5 month, she is such a joy to have in our family, we just adore her. I will leave you with the video of Baby Bear's musical number. (That is if the video uploaded correctly!)

Wedding Fun

My little brother got married last Friday. It was such a fun day, being with family and celebrating with the happy couple. My job for the wedding was sewing (of course!), and I really enjoyed working on the dresses for the 3 bridesmaids and 2 flower girls. I also made a vest for the groom & ring bearer, 2 bow ties and my first ever long tie. I do not have permission from the entire wedding party, so I won't post pictures of everything today. If I do get permission, I will post more pictures of the day. For now, I will leave you with one I snapped of Baby Bear at the lake in her fancy dress.

Long Time...

It has been a long time since I posted, sorry about that. We are moved, we have been in our new house for 3 weeks now after spending 2 weeks at my in-laws place. Our quick renovation turned into a major overhaul overnight. I guess that is to be expected in an old house. We ran into a few problems, but after a few trips to Home Depot we managed to get it all done. Now we are on to other things, and getting ready to go back to school! We had a fun time shopping for school supplies, and new shoes. Thanks to my brilliant planning ahead, the only things we had to buy for Baby Bear in the way of school clothes was 2 pairs of jeans. It has been fun getting Papa Bear ready for school to, there is still a long list for him, but he can shop on his own.

Not much new other than that here. Baby Bear would like to show off her "new" smile though. Happy rest of the summer all.

More Changes

There are more changes happening here at the Bear house. BIG changes too! Papa Bear is going to go to school in the fall, and the school is not in our current town. We will be making a big move in late August. There is much excitement here in the Bear house about this. 

It is kind of funny though, when you have a plan and suddenly you have committed to doing something very different. You see, we had a plan. 2 Months ago we had a good plan, our lives where falling into place and we were happy and excited. Out of no were we had a thought, and suddenly we were having second thoughts about our first plan. In a matter of 1 week, we had completely changed our plans. I should say, our plans were changed for us. 

We know we are being guided and that this big change is what we need to do. We will be sad to leave this town, we love it here. I guess change in necessary for growth, so we are off to grow!

Good Day

I had a good mother's day yesterday, despite looking like I had been in an altercation the night before. Baby Bear was super sweet, she was all geared up for the traditional best pancakes on earth breakfast in bed, but realized quickly that I can't chew, kind of a bummer. Not to be down for too long Baby Bear brought me an envelope of things she had made at school. 

Inside was a handmade card with a touching get well message written inside and,

A raft, I wondered about it for a minute, but she quickly explained it was for my drink.

 

Papa Bear also gave me a gift, something that I will treasure.

It certainly was a day of rest at the Bear house yesterday, and I was grateful for it. We enjoyed a nice quiet afternoon, my favorite way to spend a Sunday. The only really disappointing part was that Baby Bear spoke in Primary yesterday and I missed it! I was told she did very well though I would have liked to have been there. I hope your Mother's Day was great too.

Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

I hope you all have a wonderful day! 

I hope you get spoiled!

This post is going to be all about me! 

I'm the Mom, so it should be!

I chose a few of my favorite Mom pictures to share with you.

First: My very first day as a Mom

Second: I just love this picture

Third: This is how much FUN it is to be the Mom!

Life goes on here at the Bear house! We are anxious for spring to get here, Mother Nature has been teasing us with 1 nice day with sunshine then we get a few cloudy and cold days. Papa Bear is busy, busy, working from sun up to sun down! He has really been able to bring out his creativity in the floors he worked on the past couple of weeks. The picture below is a few examples of what he has done & believe me, this photograph does not do it justice. We are sure proud of him and his amazing talents! He is such a hard worker.

Papa Bear & I are working towards a major purchase in the near future too! We are negotiating the purchase of the company he is currently working for. It is an exciting time for us, and we are looking forward to the challange of owning a company and we are excited about making some changes too.

Clean Teeth

Baby Bear went to the dentist this morning, and did very well. She gets pretty nervous in new situations, and though she has been to the dentist before it has been a little more than a year. The hygienist was very good with her, calm and talked a lot about her puppies and Baby Bear hardly knew what was going on with her teeth. Overall her teeth are pretty good, she does a 2 small cavities that will need filling. The dentist was not too worried about it because they are in baby teeth, which are going to fall out, so it gives us some time to form new and better habits. So go scrub your pearly whites, and check back soon!

The Point

So the point of yesterday's post was to set up todays! Since November Baby Bears hair has bee growing quickly. I figured it was time for another hair cut. This is what Her hair looked like before we went to the salon.

And what it looks like now.

Here are side views

and the back looks bsically the same.

This is her after a good washing and styling for school this morning.

Settled In

Things are going well here at the Bear house! We have moved now, and are enjoying our bigger place very, very much! Papa Bear was very sore from hauling so many boxes up and down so many stairs, and then having to put in 5 hours at work all in the same day. He is also enjoying the rewards of so much hard work, and is busy turning the unfinished basement space into a home gym. Papa Bear enjoys weight lifting and running, and we've not had space to set up the treadmill and have all they weights out for some time.

Baby bear is enjoying her new room, which funny enough, looks nearly identical to her old room! The novelty that her room is "upstairs" hasn't worn off just yet. She is looking forward to putting up her pictures and things on her walls, and we are looking for a nice curtain rod to hand some drapes. Drapes that are yet to be made, but a little bears birthday is coming up very soon! *wink*

As for me, I am over the moon that the new house has a huge living room, with space enough for all of my book shelves and all of our furniture. It was a little like Christmas around here for a few days, opening up all the boxes that have spent the past 6 months in storage. My favorite feature on the house is the small space that could be called a Family Room. I have completely taken over it and already have sewing things and bit of scrap booking items scattered all around. The room has a large east facing window and is bathed in gorgeous sunlight until nearly noon. All in all we are quite pleased with our new space, and we look forward to hosting many family visits and nacho-fests here in the near future!