Child Proof? I Think Not.

A question you are often asked before you have a kids is: "Is your house child proof yet?" Now that I have a baby I have decided there is no such thing as a child proof house. Yes you can make it a little more kid friendly, but nothing is completely child proof. As soon as I think I have child proofed something Kimball seems to find a way around it or find something new to mess with. Whoever says that stay at home mothers are just a bunch of couch potatoes has never been or never seen how hard a real mother works. I am constantly running after him and cleaning up.

I have this fake tree in my house that Kimball loves to play with. He pulls the grass out of it. We have moved it to various places in our apartment and he always seems to find a way to it. Dave finally put it in our room by my night stand. Kimball did find a way to it until I put a tall laundry basket in front of it. I also have my knitting basket there and guess what he did? He climbed up on the knitting basket, onto my knight stand, spilled everything, and played with the leaves on the tree. What are you gonna do? He has broken my Christ statue carved out of olive tree wood, my Christmas jar, and many other things. I have found that everything that is not considerably high up is "fair game" and so it is my fault if it gets broken. I have also learned that I better relax a little bit or I will give myself an ulcer. I wont say I don't lose my temper, because I certainly do. Kimball certainly gives me a chance to work on controlling my faults. I do know there are times I am about to pull my hair out and all he has to do is throw me one of his smiles, and my heart melts. Kids...gotta love them.

Annie

Birthdays

I was looking at some pictures in our files the other day and ran into some of my B-day pics. My dad and Kathryn took us out to eat at Macaroni grill. Dave's mom was watching Kimball for us, because we went to a movie after. Anyway, while I was looking at the pictures I started thinking back to earlier birthdays. I remember that we could have a choice of having a party or going our to dinner with our parents. When we did choose the party we would play all sorts of games from pin the tail on the donkey, dress-up races, duck duck goose, to water balloon volleyball. As I got a little older I would choose to go out to eat with my parents. Once in high school we would just do a family dinner and gifts. Now days it is usually just another day. Dinner was nice a occasionally I get to do something nice with David like going out to dinner with family or having family dinner at his mom's house. I guess it is just weird to think about. Life just seems to be racing by faster and faster. It is getting harder to keep up. It is funny how as a child we can't wait to celebrate our birthday and as an adult we tend to want to forget our birthday. Maybe one day I will hold a big party and play some of those old games just for fun. I think that we can sometimes let the fast pace of life just suck the child out of us.

My Grandma Andrus has Alzheimer's. She forgets the present very easily. I hear her tell stories of how hard she worked in her church calling and grandpa worked in his business. She speaks of regret; regret for not spending more time with her kids, for taking care of other things before her family, and for having her oldest daughter (my mom) practically raise the kids. All of this reminds me of how often we just get going and forget to breathe, forget to spend more time with our families, and forget to take care of ourselves.

The world tends to put a negative twist on growing older. Maybe that is why we start to hate our Birthdays. I just want to say that looking back on my life My most precious moments are when I took the time to breath, took the time to spend with my family and took the time to take care of myself. We need to all do that a little more often. I guess rather than dread my birthdays and getting older I should celebrate another year I have with family friends; with loved ones. Maybe we should take the time to act like a child and have a little more fun.

Annie

Good Discusions

I hope that everyone had a nice Christmas. I just wanted to say that I love Christmas and didn't want to leave my last post being negative; as it might have sounded. I get a little wound up sometimes. I also wanted to say that I hope that others post their opinions. I enjoy a good discussion. I like it when others have a difference of opinion. It sometimes helps me to see things from a different perspective that I may not have looked at it before. I have had a lot of discussions about the Santa post and I have enjoyed hearing others point of view. I am glad that Kristen responded. I enjoyed hearing her opinion. Like I say, I enjoy a good discussion. I know that it is hard sometimes to hear people argue about something I may feel strong about and so I hope that I didn't offend anyone. It was just my opinion and I would love to hear from others. I hope that I have many good discussions about many different things whether we agree or not.

On a positive note I would like to share everything that I love about Christmas. I love that others are somehow more willing to help others this time of year. People reach out to each other. I only wish it could be like that year around. I love watching someone open something I have given them and see their eyes light up. I love giving to others. I try to do it as often as I can, but at this time of year I am able to justify it a little more. I love the songs. It is one time that I can get my family to sing around the piano and not have them gripe at me. I love watching the Christmas movies. I love the lights. Something about seeing lights everywhere that gets me all excited. I love the symbolism of everything from the tree to the lights to the gifts. One of my favorite things to do at this time of year is to go outside at night when it is snowing. For some reason the sky is lighter than usual. The sound of the snow is so peaceful and I can't help but wonder if that is how it sounded when Christ was born. I most of all love sitting together as a family and reading about the Christ Child and feeling how much God and Christ truly loved us. It is a beautiful time of year and I hope everyone has been enjoying themselves. Mery Christmas and a Happy New Year. I will post some pictures when we get home. We have been staying at Dave's parents.
-Annie

Merry Christmas

We just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! We are headed over to Dave's parents for Christmas Eve. We will spend the night and open presents in the morning. Later on Christmas Day we will head over to my family's house and have Christmas dinner and open presents there as well. We are way excited to experience our first Christmas with Kimball. We will send pictures.

There is one Christmas topic I would like to discuss. I know I will be slaughtered for bringing it up, but I have to. The topic is Santa. Please hear me out before you get fired up. Dave and I are sick and tired of just how commercialized Christmas has become and how Santa has replaced Christ in the whole holiday season. I already talked a little bit about it on My sister-in-law's blog.

Just a side note: I don't think that kids who did or do believe in Santa will end up wih something wrong with them. I know many people who have turned out just fine that believed in Santa. I guess I just hate that Santa is the first thing that comes to mind with children around Christmas.

We also hate that people say that Santa is the spirit of Christmas, because last I knew it was Christmas not Santamas. Yes The idea of Santa is hopefully giving and not getting, but the spirit of Christmas is the greatest gift that our Heavenly Father gave us, Christ. The idea of Santa giving selflessly is a good example of what we should be doing, but remember it didn't start with Santa. I know that families try to incorporate both Santa and Christ into their home, but from what I can tell the kids kind of know what it is about, but are more focused on Santa bringing them presents.

My friend Brookie was telling about this book that compares things about Santa to Christ. It talks about how Santa wears red and so does Christ etc.. I have heard about it and have heard how cute people think it is. She then said that it bothered her that we were comparing Christ, the Son of God who Sacrificed himself for all of us, to an imaginary character. I agree.

In primary I teach the 6-8 year old children. Half the kids believe in Santa and half don't. They all got into an argument about Santa and whether or not he is real. I finally calmed them down and said that some people believe in Santa and some don't. I then asked them if they even new why we get gifts on Christmas. Not one of them new why. I proceeded to tell them that it represents the gift Heavenly Father gave us, Christ. I then talked about all of the symbolism of the Christmas tree, the candy cane, the star, and the angel. They seemed awed. I asked them, as a gift for Heavenly Father, to ask their parents to read the story of the birth of Christ on Christmas morning so they remember why they have presents. They all got excited and said they would.

Dave and I have decided to tell our kids the truth about Santa from the beginning. We will also let them know that some families want to believe in Santa and to not ruin it for others. I hope no one takes me the wrong way. I don't think any different of anyone who wishes to have Santa in their kids imagination. I am just venting my own frustrations. I am by the way all about kids having an imagination. I just don't agree comparing an imaginary character to Christ.

-Annie

I Sometimes Hate Technology

I sometimes hate technology. I get tired of everyone telling just how easy it is to do something on the computer. I listen to them every time, and every time I do I am ready to throw my keyboard out the window. I got frustrated with this blog and almost gave up. I heard how easy it was so I decided to try. I ended up setting up two different programs and invited everyone to the wrong one. I finally figured it out and re-invited people to visit my blog. What can I say; I am deficit. There is nothing that will light my fuse faster than having problems with a computer. I guess that is why I have avoided doing a blog for so long. I do have to congratulate myself for getting this far.

So does anyone else ever wish we could go back to the more simple times? Dave always jokingly says he was born a century too late. Sometimes I think about the pioneer times and think of how much more simple it was. I know it was dang hard,but it was also simplistic. Everyone worked off their own land and there was no problem with a mother staying home and raising her children. It just seemed to be a little more family friendly. Now things are so complicated. I sometimes wish I could go back to those times but then I get in the shower and am glad that I have running water, electricity, etc. I guess no matter what era it is there is some kind of complication. That is probably what keeps life interesting. I know that my husband finds great humor in finding me try and work on the computer.

There are definitely good things about technology; I just have a hard time adjusting to new things. I will be the kind of parent that my kids make fun of, because I am behind with the times. Now that I am cooled off with trying to figure out this thing I feel much better.