Is It Naptime Yet

Lilah had her first dance class last week. (Tomorrow’s her second. I’m such a slacker on this blog thing nowadays.)
She was a little nervous at first. She timidly followed directions and did what Sam asked. Lilah stayed close to her square until Sam held her hands and galloped her around the room at one point. She had lots of fun though and on Wednesday morning she asked if it was Tuesday so she could go to dance again.
Here are some pictures. If I knew how to load videos I would, but I don’t without making them public on youtube.
Their were four students in Lilah’s class. Lilah, Britta (Sam’s daughter), Katia ( She also goes to church with Lilah but she turns three this Febuary, on my anniversary actually.), and one other girl who was not recruited from our ward. She was Hispanic and her mother at times would repeat Sam’s commands in Spanish for her daughter to understand. I think she was three almost four and just barley made the cut for the three year old class. She was a little taller than Lilah, in which Lilah is short for her age , and she seemed a little more mature. It’s amazing how six months makes such a difference at this age. Lilah was a little more attentive than Katia or Britta, and the other girl seemed to have more coordination that Lilah.
So now to the pictures.

Lilah’s suppose to be following Sam around and walking fast or slow according to the drum beat. This is while she was still being timid. (Britta had tons of fun chasing her mom. She’s in the yellow top and black pants.)

Lilah’s hands are “glued” to her side and Sam is trying to encourage Katia to stand on her square.

Lilah jumping. I know the picture is blurry, but I just love the blurry smile on Lilah’s face and Katia watching.

I think Lilah’s following the directions of Sam.

Dancing with scarfs. They pretended to be a caterpillar and then a butterfly.

Yesterday was the big day. Lilah went to Primary. She is now a Sunbeam. (Sunbeam is the old name for the three year old class in primary) (For those who don’t know what primary is. It’s class time for children ages 3-11. It includes Sunday school lessons in a small class setting of children of the same age and then time as a group with the other kids to learn about different church and Christ centered topics and they sing songs.) I had a lesson to teach so right after sacrament I took Lilah to the bathroom while Jon got chalk for me. Then we met at the primary room. Lilah gave her daddy a big hug and I brought her into meet her teacher and sit her down. She did great. No worries or tears. One child had their mom there through the large group part because of being nervous. The mom later told me she saw Lilah trying to sing “Follow the prophet” with all the other kids. She knows the chorus but the verses we’re just learning. I had to teach Gospel Doctrine, which starts at the same time, so I only had time to drop her off and then get to class to set up.
Jon had Eden in nursery for the first time yesterday also. She doesn’t officially turn 18 months until the end of January but we figured we could get her use to it. She did just fine and only cried when she fell and hit her head. It was just funny to me. Here we were worrying about our kids when ours were just fine and the other kids were the ones crying or were nervous. (Their was a little girl in nursery who cried every time anyone came in or out. This was especially hard because Jon was checking in on Eden a lot to make sure she was okay and to let her know that we would come back for her.) Lilah got anxiety about a month after being in nursery, so we’ll see if that happens to Eden. Eden is not as shy as Lilah was, but she is becoming more aware of strangers and people invading her space.
After Gospel doctrine (We have a three hour block, Sacrament, Sunday school and then the men and women separate for a class.), I was walking through the hall to go check on Eden and each Primary leader that I saw, about three,  told me that Lilah was doing great. I must have had some worried look on my face. When I was picking Lilah up Sis. Ririe, one of the primary presidency members, said that Lilah acted like a pro. She sang with the songs and participated in the lesson and sat reverently when asked. I was happy that she transitioned so well, but part of me wouldn’t mind having to sit with her in Primary.
Since we’ve talked about primary and dance a lot Lilah got upset after church when we were going home. As we were leaving she yelled to us “We forgot to go to dance!”. So we explained that dance wasn’t for a couple more days. They grow so fast.

So my kids are pros. I hope they both continue to adapt this well to the changes in life.

One last funny note. Those who have seen my kids eat know they stuff a lot of food in their mouth. Jon said at snack time Eden was done long before the other kids because she stuffed all the animal and gold fish crackers in her mouth that she could. I think if they had pie eating contest for little kids mine could kick butt.

So it’s new year. La…de…dah. I never make resolutions. I never keep resolutions. It’s really not for me. I have things I want to do and have been able to keep up but it’s not because it’s a new year it’s because I’m done with school.

I dropped Jon off yesterday after I had a dentist appointment (No cavities, just have to floss more often.) and he mentioned how busy the front office is and I was so happy to know that I did not have to deal with any of it. No registering for classes and hoping to get the ones I want. No more worries about financial aid or scholarships. No worries about paperwork. I’m done with it all for now. It feels good. But this is not the point of this post. My point is I’m making changes and they happen to coincide with a new year, not because of the new year.

Challenges for the new post graduated me:
1. Keep my house more tidy : This includes a long list. Mostly I don’t mind if the front room is a mess because of the girls playing. Toys are easily cleaned up and explained to strangers/ friends who come by. My goal is to decrease the clutter and keep things presentable at most times. I’m continuing the goal of keeping dishes in the dishwater dirty and unloading it right after they’re clean. I’m trying to get rid of the junk mail and papers from the mail immediately after we get it rather then making a pile and my goal is just to tidy up every day. ( I was yucky feeling this past week so I got back on track today. ) My goal is to also not get discouraged if I get sidetracked or too lazy. (There is always tomorrow.) I figure if I can learn to keep my small house tidy then it won’t be as massive if we ever or whenever upgrade to something bigger. I’ve reprinted out a schedule for me to do things and I hope this will help me keep in mind the little things that can make a house look nice.

2. Do sewing projects: This one is tough. I’m planing on sewing some things for baby gifts for a couple girls I know. It’s finding time. Ugh. I also have my lovely drapes to do.

3. Read scriptures: I have yet to start this habit except when I teach. I’m terrible but there is always tonight.

4. Play with girls: Now I did do this but I’m doing it more. I want to have activities and things to do or places to go. Not just stay at home. We’ve noticed it a viscous cycle with Lilah and her whining. Either everything is good and she’s getting enough attention so there is little need to whine. Or it goes bad and she’s whining and her whining makes me grumpy and a little resistant to giving her the attention she is wanting because when she’s whining for it it seems demanding. It’s hard. I think Lilah is a high maintenance child in that she needs a lot of love and hugs and just being with her time. But if I’m not feeling well or up to it her whining bothers the heck out of me and I feel that she is to needy. Things are better and I hope we can stay happy, and if we can’t stay happy then maybe I can be a little less grumpy.

5. Exercise: We’ve bought some Pilate’s videos and things to help me do an at home routine. It’s finding time without Eden. Lilah just goes along with it or plays her computer games. Eden tries to climb on you or gets in the way. I need to do this. I’m back to 140 lb. or so. (my guesstimate since our scale doesn’t work, but things are fitting like they did when I got pregnant with Eden.) I liked my 120 lb. me so my goal is to get back down to there. I gained weight after I weened Eden and continued to eat the same as when I was nursing her. Now I can say that my appetite has decreased. I still have to eat throughout the day but I don’t eat as much as at the meals. This is a little bit of an adjustment. I’m still taking too much cereal in the mornings, but I’m working on it. I’ve never been one to exercise. Hopefully this can change.

6. That’s it really. Except I am trying to look a little nicer and less grubby. With the t-shirts and yoga pants I just bought I can be pretty cute yet comfortable. So I guess number 6 is to be cute more often and feel good while at home.

That’s it. I’m mostly restating but I feel really good about everything. My house is cleaner since we had visitors and I’ve kept it up. Jon jokes that he should invite people over more often if I clean like this every time. It’s totally harmless. I know he’s fine with the state our house was in, but he does like it in this tidier state. My one thing for him to do is file. I do the bills and what not but some things I just don’t know what to do. We have a few boxes of “I don’t know what to do” filing. That’s on my honey do list for him. 🙂

Eden is funny. She is recognizing birds and saying bird when she doesn’t even call me Mama. Sigh. She says bird when she sees Big Bird on Sesame Street, which was giving me a little bit of a complex but she called another bird bird later that day. When do I get Mama?!?! She’ll say Dada when we’re talking about Daddy, but she doesn’t really call him Dada. She’s also learned no in just the past two days. Every question gets the reply of no now. She will shake her head yes and no which alleviates some of the confusion.
I just never get mama.
Eden also likes to put on clothes. Yesterday while at Target I turned around and she had this little outfit I was going to buy on her head. Had the buttons been undone and it not been a 0-3 month size then it would have been over the head. She’s so silly.

Lilah’s excited to go to the big primary and do dance. I can’t believe my baby will be in primary! Her teacher is a young lady in our ward. We visited Great Harvest yesterday and she happened to be working so I introduced Lilah to her. I have to teach Gospel Doctrine so I’ll pretty much only have time to drop her off. I’m sad that she’s getting so big. What’s a mama to do?
We bought dance shoes while at Target. She seems to be stoked and if she likes it maybe I’ll spend the $17 on the dance leotard that has a small skirt attached to it. Sam, the teacher, says she only needs the shoes because that’s what counts and comfortable clothes. It’s funny because I’m worried about Lilah not fitting in. Does any of the other students just wear the shoes and not the leotard and will Lilah feel left out if she is the only one in regular clothes? So I’m worried about my three year old and the clothes she’ll be wearing and if that will affect the way she fits in, or possibly the fact that I might be considered cheap? Sigh. This Sunday it all begins. First Sunbeams and then dance beginning Tuesday. My baby really is growing up. Forget that she’s potty trained and talks and does so much for herself. She’s going into primary and starting dance. Now I know I’m getting old.

Friday December 29th we had a small family gathering. Kumen, Jonathan’s brother, his wife Becky and four of their children came to town. (Their oldest son just got married this past October (David) and the next son is on a mission (Jared).) Well they visited Becky’s parents in Pahrump and stayed there, but they came to Vegas to try to see the different siblings. They live in AZ, so we see them about twice a year. It was an unplanned trip, or a trip were they didn’t know if they’d be able to come to Nevada until last minute, so Thursday is when we found out they were in state. The Blake clan needed a gathering spot, since the two sisters, where we normally have our gatherings were busy or sick, Jon volunteered our small abode. His parents house is pretty cramped plus there’s no where to send the younger kids to play except outside. We figured that we could clear out some of the clutter to have it more inviting and since we have the girls room the younger kids could have something to do away from the adults. It worked out perfectly. We had Kumen, Becky, Audriana (sorry I know I misspelled it, 17), Aaron (13), Ben (6) and Zach (5). Then Jon’s parents showed up with Dara and Jason and later in the evening Rawlin showed up. Everyone was at our house around 4:30 and we talked and had a little something to eat. I believe Jon’s parents left around 6 or 6:30, maybe even 7 pm. Rawlin showed up only a half hour before they left.
When it was time for the grandparents to leave Zach thought they were leaving also and told Becky he didn’t want to go he wanted to stay and play. So I guess we had a least a semi entertaining home because his grandpa in Pahrump has a small train that they ride around the estate there and he wanted to stay and play here, though I’m sure he was just distracted by all the different toys we had that he doesn’t.
It was a fun evening. Rawlin and Kuman kept each other occupied. Becky and I talked then Aaron told riddles and the younger boys came out and we pretended to talk on the phone to one another. Jon mostly sat and watched and Lilah was in the living room the whole time because she didn’t know who these boys were that took over her room. Eden was just curious and watched as they played with blocks and got her other toys out. Later Eden befriended Audriana at the end of the night. The two younger boys also seemed to like the chime set and the accordion we just got for Christmas.They left around 9 pm. The pictures were all taken at the end. More of a second thought so those who weren’t able to see them could. I was also busy talking most of the night so I should have delegated Jon to take some. Also our flash either wasn’t on or it didn’t work very well across the room and neither did the red eye apparently.

At one point in the night I tried to tell Lilah everyones names. Obviously it was too much for a little girl to remember. She was funny later that night or even another night we had her say the family prayer and she asked to have the cousins whose names we don’t know be safe. She’s done that twice so far sense we’ve seen them.

Zach, 4. He goes to preschool two days a week now.

Jon, Rawlin, Kumen.

Ben, Becky, Zach, Audriana, Aaron’s legs. (sorry I never got a better shot of Becky.)
Becky stays home and does paid sewing projects and what not.

Audriana and Aaron. Audraina is planing on becoming an American Sign Language interpreter. Aaron is 13 and plays the clarinet in band.

Ben is 6 and I believe in kindergarten, or possibly the first grade.

Brighter shot of Audraina hugging Zach and Aaron on the couch.

Jon has the week between Christmas and New Years off. UNLV does this shutdown of the campus and you can work, but it’s recommended to take the time off. Since we had the week off Jon studied for the G.R.E. which he took on Friday. So even though my husband didn’t work he was still at his office two days last week and then he took the G.R.E. on Friday. The time flew by and it seemed I didn’t have time for much of anything. So here is my week in review.

Monday: Christmas….why would I blog on Christmas.
Tuesday: Relaxed in the morning and watched movies. Andrea and Brien came to town so I took the girls with me to see them while Jon stayed behind and studied. We saw them for about an hour in the afternoon before they left to do some shopping. Then I went to my sister Carolyn’s house in Boulder City. The girls caused mischief and I sorted through some clothes she hasn’t worn. I found one sweater, two long sleeve shirts and a couple short sleeve ones that I could add to my wardrobe.
Wednesday: Jon went to study for the G.R.E. at his office. I’m not sure what I did this day. Probably the normal dishes and cleaning. This week was hard though because Lilah started saying the phrase “I just can’t do anything right.” in which she would not try to do anything. She seemed very whiny and it drove me nuts all this week until today, Tuesday, where she’s been her normal self and not overly whiny.
Thursday: Jon went to campus to study in the morning and I stayed home with the girls. Around 2:30 Jon’s mom called about the plans of seeing Kumen and his family. At 3:30 or so it was confirmed that we would have the gathering at our house the next day at 4. Andrea and Brien came by on their way home to Ely. Probably because I was sad that I hadn’t seen them more and because we had some things of theirs. I gave them their pick of family pictures to compensate for them stopping by to see my little family. After Andrea and Brien left, about 3:45 and I started cleaning the house. Well not so much cleaning but organizing the chaos that had taken over. I got my room organized and the Christmas tree taken down so there would be more room for everyone. My room was quite a feet because we’ve had lots of little things floating around there and it has never looked as nice as it did Friday, when I completely finished, since we’ve moved in. I should take a picture so I can remember this moment. ( I hope to make it look nicer once I get drapes and get even more organized.)
Friday: Jon took the G.R.E. I ignored my two little girls and organized the front room. ( My house is normally okay but we just have so much stuff. Books or filing overtakes our living room and computer desk regularly.) We ate lunch and Jon got a few things from the store. I cleaned my bathroom and took a shower. After getting dressed and presentable I loaded up the things we’d decided to take to DI and made a big trip. I went to DI, then to my parents house in Henderson for chairs. Then I stopped off at Costco for food and came home. I left at 2:40 and got home at 4:15. Then we had a family gathering.
Saturday: I’m not sure what we did. I think I tried writing a draft for stuff but I just relaxed because of all the hard work the previous two days.
Sunday: Went to church and celebrated New Years Eve. Jon fell asleep around 10. I didn’t want to watch anything that was on TV so I watched Star Wars III because I fell asleep the day before when Jon was watching it. Jon woke up at 11:55 pm and we paused the movie at 11:59. We enjoyed a New Years kiss, the fireworks on TV, and ice cream floats. I had a the regular root beer float Jon had a Kiwi Lime Soda float. We stayed up until 2 or so.
Monday: I slept in. Enjoyed the morning. Jon tried putting up the dry wall in the girls bathroom. It turned out to be just a little to thick for the patch job so we need to buy more. I went shopping with my sister Carolyn at 2. It was so fruitless until we reached the Target Greatland. The stores either didn’t have what I was looking for (a black dress or a least a cute but simple black skirt.) , or they were to expensive. (I just can’t spend $50 on a skirt even if it is Ann Taylor and on sale/ clearance.) We ate at Buffalo Wild Wings where Carolyn’s boyfriend was watching a game with some friends. I got home around 7:30 pm. It was a fun day out and I’m glad that Target at least had what I was looking for. ( I got a black skirt, black yoga pants, and then two t-shirts on clearance at $1.98 and a v-neck at $3.98. I’m totally going to visit ours to see if they have the same clearance because they’re cute and I can wear them at home without worrying about ruining a $2 shirt.)

I’m trying to keep my house organized now that my life is back to normal.Today I feel yucky, I’m not sure why, so I’ve slept and played all day with a little blogging.

Our little tree on Christmas Eve.

The stockings. ( Filled with some homemade truffles and other goodies.)

Lilah finding what she wants in the stocking.
Chocolate covered pretzels before breakfast!

The first gift Lilah opened. (We don’t have Eden’s because our memory card got full.)
Lilah’s accordion that Eden liked.

One of Jon’s gifts. (A book on Escher.)

Mommy’s gift…..The pearls around her neck and on her ears.

Eden enjoying watching Tarzan on the couch. See collected all these bows and then sat in the middle of them.

Lilah with a bow on her head. She never noticed I put it there.

A little bit of our Christmas 2006.

So it’s been a little nutty at the Blake house. But this is a written recap of Christmas.
Lilah was so excited for Christmas. All day long on Monday she was asking “Is it Christmas?” She had tons of fun opening gifts. Eden on the other hand opened two gifts and just wanted to play once they were opened. One was a xylophone type chime toy, but she also liked playing with her sisters accordion. Jon got it out right away to play with it and Eden wanted to only play with that until we finally got her to open another toy, a little bath toy with soap crayons. Since Eden LOVES crayons she just played with them the rest of the morning. Lilah didn’t mind opening the rest, though I think Eden had decided to help her open the blocks once we got them out.
Jon received books and a cd. That’s all he ever gets because clothing is one thing we don’t buy for one another. Our tastes are just different enough that we’re okay with what the other person buys but we don’t always understand each others tastes. I received “one gift”. This made me sad Christmas Eve. I suppose I didn’t expect a lot but when Jon mentioned that he was sorry that I had only one gift I did get a little sad. All I get to open on Christmas is one gift when our girls have nine and he has like five! I will admit I am a little spoiled but I really love surprises so one gift just wasn’t cutting it on Christmas Eve. I also had asked Lilah what she wrapped for me with daddy and she said it was a DVD. So if I was getting one gift I didn’t want it to be a DVD set of some show I liked. I would just like to say also that we set a limit on what to spend for one another. We try to keep it small so we don’t use our savings for Christmas, except what we saved for Christmas, or go into debt. So it was only one gift because that was what our limit was set at. Jon blamed it on my expensive taste. Anyways my one gift ended up being two gifts in one package. He said he wanted to shake things up a bit and surprise me because I always know whats coming. In the one package was a cd I wanted and a fresh water pearl necklace with matching earrings. It was a bit of a surprise though not completely.
You see Jon had hidden the pearl necklace box in his drawer under this shoebox he keeps his pocket stuff in. I had removed it a week or so before Christmas to get receipts from it to file and when I put it back I noticed the blue box. It was just like the blue box a necklace I received  at a previous Christmas came in so I figured he had gotten me some jewelry off of amazon. I had will power and I did not look in the box and I even told him that I had accidentally found the box. So I started thinking about what would be in this blue box and I figured it was probably a pearl necklace and earrings. Mostly because  the jewelry I have on amazon is silver stuff and then I have a few diamonds just to give an idea and then pearls. So he was right that I end up figuring things out. ( I felt my one present Christmas morning and figured out it was the blue box I saw and not a DVD set.)
Back to the story. The twist of one present and me asking Lilah what it was made me a little disappointed only to be pleasantly surprised when I finally opened it Christmas day. Now I need to go find a cute Church outfit to go with the pearls. Sure I have one that will work and I can wear them with jeans and a nice shirts, but what’s the fun in that.

Things we got the girls:  cd player for their bedroom (really a clock radio with cd player), more blocks (hopefully they won’t fight over them as much), Tarzan (my favorite Disney movie), Monster’s Inc., Accordion (why I’m not sure. Jon bought this), toy chimes (another Jon), bubble bath, Candyland. Lilah got Eden a bath time Pablo, form the Backyardagains and it came with soap crayons. Eden got Lilah a Sequence game.
(remember this is for posterity and for the sake of recording it.)

We hung out all morning and then went to my parents around 1. The girls got lots and we got some things.  We had the traditional ham dinner with my family and just talked for the evening and came home around 6.