M.O.M. - Move Over Martha

Yummy food. Wonderful Company. Beautiful Table. Fun ladies to work with. Fun Night Out.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I  knew it would be a full, fast, and furious weekend. Loved it all!

We, Set Christmas up at our House: Including putting the outside lights on the house and cleaning up this HUGE mess!

We ate way too much food and loved every bit of it. The kids loved running around the church and the men enjoyed an Eyre friendly game of basketball.

We ventured out for Black Friday and scored some great gifts for the kids. We are finished shopping for Christmas! We tilled in our garden. Look at Farmer Aaron. I've always wanted to be a farmers wife.
The kids enjoyed Grandma Eyre's traditional cookie party.

We visited the Greats. It's been too long and it was so nice to see my grandparents again. My sweet 98 year old Grandma Eyre is on her way out. I had to really fight back the tears when I saw her. She is a symbol of strength in every way. There is so much to be thankful for when I think of her and the life she has lived.

The weekend ended with a night at the Nielson's. Perfect ending!

And then my kids crashed out on the floor from complete exhaustion!

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is likely to be a crazy, fun day, as well as the weekend. So, I wanted to write my kids thoughts on Thanksgiving while I have a second.

Hannah - she is thankful for:
Turkey
Holidays
Family
The Earth
Beautiful House
The sun
Flowers
Movies

Nathan - he is thankful for:
His blankie, as always
Friends
Games
Chickens

Abigail - she is thankful for:
Jesus
Birdies
Cars
Puppies

It was so fun to ask them what they are thankful for and to see them really think about it. I have so much to be thankful for. Of course there is the usual, my family, my health, warm house, friendships, but I'm especially thankful for a baby growing in my belly and to be past most of the sickness. I'm so thankful for children who see things so much simpler than I do and remind me every day what matters most. I'm thankful that the weather is chilly but not freezing. We are still able to go outside and enjoy the beauty. I'm thankful for my Savior and for the holiday that gets a lot more attention, for all the wrong reasons. I hope to have a more Christ centered Christmas in our home this year. Lots to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!

June 2, 2012

Yes, we have an exact date for this little peanut growing in my belly. I went to the doctor for the first time this last week and listened to it's heart beat. So cool. I've always loved that first sound I get to hear. Nathan and Abigail were with me too and they were very intrigued as well. I'm further along than I thought, which is exciting. I thought I was 9 or 10 weeks when I went into the doctor and they confirmed that I'm actually 12 weeks. Yahoo! into my second trimester. That said, I read this description of what I could or should expect with myself in this phase right now:

"The hormones raging through your body can wreak havoc on your emotional sanity, so be prepared to spend the next few months swinging from one end of the emotional pendulum to the other. If you're feeling especially sad or depressed, talk to your doctor because prenatal depression is actually quite common".

Um, yes. Yes, that is the PERFECT description of me lately. Thank goodness there's a good explanation.
And here is our little peanut. Cute as a button, growing very well the doctor says.

Thankful Thursdays

* For fruit. It is something I crave all the time. Especially grapefruit. I'm so thankful to have fruit in my house almost daily and it's my favorite thing to eat first thing when I wake up.

* Warm house and warm clothes. I despise being cold. I have so many things to keep me warm and I sure am thankful for those things.

* To see my children learn. They each are learning new things all the time. Hannah is especially learning a lot with reading and writing. It is so fun to see her little mind comprehend new things. I've been blown away with how well Nathan is doing in preschool. He so enjoys what he is learning and it's so good for him to see his own success. Abigail is often found in a pile of books, reading them out loud to herself. I work hard to create a home that is an environment of learning and it's so nice to see them excited about it.

* Suzanna. I can't emphasize what a dear friend she is to me. She is insightful, honest, faithful, a true friend in every respect. I'm so grateful to have her in my life.

* The scriptures. They've been a source of comfort to me lately. When I read them, I feel at peace. When I don't, the peace is not so readily available. I'm also grateful for inspired talks by our general authorities and leaders of our church. It seems that lately I've listened to talks to that have spoken directly to my heart.

* Although I think Aaron works an insane amount of hours and it can sometimes create feelings of resentment, I'm so thankful he works so hard to take care of us. I'm so thankful that I can stay home with our kids and spend every day with them. Motherhood has become such a joy in my life and I am truly grateful to be able to be home with them.

Learning From the Dutch

This was taken from a website called Teaching Self Government. And I love it! And not just because it's Dutch, but I did like that too.

 Before the United States of America even existed, there were these colonies of many different people from different lands.  One of these colonies was called New Amsterdam.  The Dutch people settled this colony.  They were a happy people who enjoyed life.  The king of the Netherlands left the New Amsterdam colony to govern itself, and for a while they did OK.  They made good roads and homes and a popular sea port.  The port of New Amsterdam was one of the biggest trade centers in America.
After a while of governing themselves, and having no real rules, the citizens of New Amsterdam became lazy.  They let their homes and roads fall into dis-repair, they started letting their animals run loose in the city, they never attended church any longer, and took heavily to drinking.  Crime went up, and the city fell into ruin.  Without a vision of what they wanted their New Amsterdam to be like, and set boundaries for living and making choices, the people floundered as governors of their city.
When things hit a low point in New Amsterdam, the king of the Netherlands sent over a new governor to straighten things out.  His name was, Peter Stuyvesant.  Stuyvesant immediately drew lines between what was good, acceptable behavior and what was bad, inappropriate behavior.  He made consequences for wrong actions, instituted days of worship, and rules for how the city must be kept in repair.  People were held accountable for their actions under his rule.
At first the people resisted, and mocked his strict leadership, but after a short time of boundaries, and standards, the people were happier, more successful in business and family relationships, and enjoyed his leadership.  Ultimately, a street was named for this hard nosed Dutchman.  The people of New Amsterdam were grateful for Stuyvesant's rules, and consequences, because then they were able to learn that a person, or people, must learn to govern themselves strictly, according to what is right and what is wrong, in order to find success in their governing.
After some years, the Duke of York won a battle against the Dutch settlers and New Amsterdam was changed to New York.
Since this is a Teaching Self Government website, I probably don't have to say much else about this story.  It is easy to see from these Dutch settlers that a person left to govern themselves with no rules, vision, values, or consequences, will eventually stray from the productive path to happiness.  As parents, we must give our children rules, vision, values, and set a system of consequences in place so they can be HAPPY and thrive in this world of confusion and low standards.
I love history!

Do you need a pick me up?

Worth every second of my time. It will be worth every second of yours too.

http://byutv.org/watch/7c1b2fce-20bf-4688-bc0b-622ef958e2c0#ooid=Z2OGxvMjqq3Goqr-x9t9Cg9nxY9JPbR_

Classic Skating

Boy did this place bring back some memories! I haven't been back to this place since I was in middle school. Not much has changed with the main part of the building, but they now have this cool add on that we spent all of our time in. Also, I guess I had no idea just how hard it is to learn how to roller skate.

My camera was taking progressively worse pictures as the night went on. Very frustrating! This last shot of Hannah I just couldn't resist to post. Look at that look! She was not well pleased with me for leaving her to snap this picture.

Fun night out skating.



Thankful Thursdays

-Hannah. I'm so thankful for her. She is so helpful and thoughtful. This week she let me sleep in a little longer, got the kids all cereal and poured the milk. Then she came upstairs to tell me that she poured me a bowl and that my breakfast was ready. I love her.

-Nathan. He was so clingy to me the other day. He just wanted me to let him lay down on my lap, which I was so happy to do. I played with his hair and he loved every minute of the attention. And I loved every minute of his affection.

-Abigail. She has been a kitty or a dog lately, more than she's been Abigail. With that comes lots of "pet me mommy" and lots of licks from her too. I'm thinking she might be better than the real thing. She makes me smile.

-Aaron. My lover boy! He helps me not to take 'things' so seriously. Yet he is sensitive to what ails me  and he is my greatest ally. I love him more and more each day.

Her Day in Pictures

Super Star

Hannah Camille Lombardo

Today is all about you. Your bright blue eyes. Your contagious smile. Your love for laughing. Your love for coloring, playing, the color pink, reading, imagining, school, friends, dancing, playing the piano, singing. You are a talented little lady. And this week at school you will be spot lighted all week as the "super star". You are our little super star too, little Miss Hanners. You are loved by so many people. Thank you, thank you for making me a mommy. Your mom. I'm one lucky lady!

 

Something to Laugh about

We've had some sad days around here the last couple days. I won't lie, it's been tough. But today we had something to laugh about. Nathan has been growing a mop on top of his head lately. I told Aaron I was going to take him in to get a hair cut and he said not to worry about it because he would cut it today. Great! Nathan was excited.

The excitement was not long lived however. I was trying so hard not to die from laughter when I saw Aaron whip out these bad boys! Nathan was not impressed.

Check out those FABRIC scissors. Awesome! Aaron is trying to convince Nate that he was just going to try them one more time. Seriously, classic! It was all down hill from here on out.

I forgot to snap a picture of the after math. And now Nate is off to the store with his daddy. Let's just say, this is going to take some practice to perfect. And I'm not saying I could have done any better.

But since we are on the topic of hair, look at this little beauty and her goldie locks.

My little beauties!







Something to be Thankful for

We had a surprise. A BIG surprise mind you. We will be having another baby join our family in June. Because we weren't exactly planning on this happening so soon it has been somewhat of an adjustment. Being sick is never fun. Being grouchy isn't much fun either. If I don't have to get dressed, I don't. If I can stay inside all day, I do. I'm particularly agitated to smells. I knew someone who for the whole 9 months couldn't stand the smell of her husband.That's not me, but I do gag at the way my little boy smells like "boy" and changing a poopy diaper (or worse, underwear) can put me right over the top! I have weird cravings, only to be disappointed once I eat it that it didn't hit the spot.

All complaining aside. We are thankful. The kids are extatic! We told them yesterday because Hannah said she had a dream I was going to have another baby and that it would be a boy. When I told her I really was going to have another baby....man alive she was EXCITED! We'll see if she's right about a boy. Nate sure would love a brother!

Halloween Night

The children are still on a sugar high this morning. I remember too loving this wretched holiday when I was little. I had to make a chain at the beginning of the month so they would stop asking me when the actual day would be here. It worked. Sort of.  With the mounds of candy they got trick-or-treating, I so appreciated those homes that offered something other than candy. We were not one of those homes, but I just may convert to doing that next year instead. The kids equally loved the glow in the dark sticks and bouncy balls they got.

On with the festivities. Both Hannah and Nathan had school parties. I volunteered in Hannah's class so I missed Nathan's party. Kindergarten had a cute little parade and then a fun party. I helped the kids with a Halloween craft of tissue paper to make candy corn. And wouldn't you know, every child I asked said that candy corn was their favorite Halloween candy. Go figure!

Hannah and cousin Grace as the cutest little Dorothy's ever!

And my adorable Race Car Driver, Bumble Bee, and Dorothy

Aaron decked our house out for the trick-or-treaters and made the house into a monster. It was a hit! And a little freaky.

It was a Halloween fun day and I'm glad it's over for another year.