He knows when you've been bad or good......

Jace has been a handful lately and this season has not been motivation enough for him to change his ways. Encouragement to show the "elves" that he can obey and even blunt threats about "Santa not bringing presents" has not yielded the expected behavior. He fully understands that he is being naughty but chooses to remain exasperating. For example:

When given the choice to clean his room and be rewarded by opening a Christmas gift early, he chose to skip the gift. (Skipped! Because lazy is obviously better than any toy?!) Even when the girls opened theirs (and BTW, did a great job of playing up the drama) he looked on with bored indifference. Not a tear, not even a grimace.

I'd like to think that deep down he really wants to be better but in the end, chooses to be apathetic. ie. his bedtime prayer: "Dear Heavenly Father, please bless me to be good.....or just not so naughty." And his wish on a star one evening: "I wish bad was good."


At first, I contemplated intervening. A lesson was due! Santa would not be leaving toys for a boy who knew he was on the "naughty list" yet was indifferent. Then, I decided against it. (mostly because one of you talked me out of it. He is only four after all.) So, Christmas morning, there it was. His Hot Wheels Trick Tracks Jurassic Set. Not just the Dino Wing Drop and the Mega Chomp, but the Backbone, Fossil Flip, Smash Tail and the Claw Attack! And what was his response? "Momma, look at all these presents Santa brought me! See, naughty is nice!"


Did I mention he was exasperating?

Thanksgiving

As we sat around the dinner table and each took our turn at sharing what we were thankful for, Lainie proudly stated that she was grateful for knowledge. Wow! That from someone who is starting to spend more time studying the boys in her class than studying for her Spanish test! It was great to hear her express how much she loved her science class and the awesome teacher who has inspired her. (Mr. Alarcon)

From that small expression of gratitude came a week of serious contemplation for me. I have gained a lot of knowledge this year as well. Some lessons have been ones that I thought I had already learned, but obviously I needed a refresher course. Others were new ideas and new ways of doing things that were very exciting! Still, others were hard to understand. Lessons that I wasn't prepared to deal with. Lessons that I didn't have the tools for or the resources to help me manage them. And, unfortunately, the realization that there are millions of life-lessons still out there waiting for me to stumble across. Some to come upon as a delightful surprise, but many more just waiting to ambush me and smack me square in the face!

I have been reading a book by Robert Eaton called Digging Deeper. It's about discovering and applying life-changing doctrine from the Book of Mormon. (It's really good, I highly recommend it.) He made a comment that has been constantly on my mind and is one bit of knowledge that I am truly grateful to have learned. He said, "When we fail to see how Heavenly Father has blessed us already, we lack the gratitude we need to plead successfully for additional heavenly guidance." I need guidance, I need serious guidance! Who knew that gratitude paves the way for revelation? O.K., so you all did. Obviously, I'm slow. This little thought has changed the way I go about my day. I still have a long road ahead of me, but I can see myself slowly morphing into someone who takes a little more time at the end of the day to ponder all of the things that have happened. To consider each blessing and to acknowledge to myself and to HIM that I am grateful for them. Yes, I agree with Lainie! Thank heaven for knowledge.

New Family Photo!

It's been awhile since we had a professional photo taken of our family (long before Jace entered the picture), but this summer we had the chance to meet up with the Birches and have them done. It was a cold, rainy day but all in all they turned out great. Lainie was a little miffed about her curls falling out from the rain, but I think she'll survive. Dustin, on the other hand, never thought his hair looked better! :)

An Avenger and an American Classic

Halloween 2009!

Twizzler

Iron Man

I think this may be Ellie's last year to dress up. She actually skipped Trick-or-Treating this year and has asked to have a party next time. (I heartily agreed, since I can't stand Trick-or-Treating!) As for Jace, we still have a few years before he's ready to give it up. But, that's O.K. since there are plenty of Super Hero's for him to chose from.