The Real Magic of Santa!

So yesterday Tyler and I decided it was time to tell Philip the truth about Santa. We debated on whether or not to tell him this year since he is going to be 11 in February and I guess in a way I just don't want him to grow up. The experience actually turned out to be great and we were able to have a very good talk with Philip on a whole new level.

I know people feel very differently about Santa Clause and how to really relate who he is to their kids. As for me and Tyler, We love to see the excitement in their eyes during the holiday seasons and we love what kind of magic being a kid brings to Christmas. We love the excitement it fills our home with on Christmas Eve and during other activities. We always allow the kids to write a letter to Santa and leave it in the mailbox. The kids watch that mailbox like a hawk but surprisingly the elves are always able to sneak those letters away to Santa without them knowing. Santa always writes back answering each and everyone of their questions and leaves a small little gift for the whole family that has some sort of meaning to it. I guess I feel that how can something that brings so much happiness can be bad for a person. Even talks given in the church from general authorities talk about the magic of Santa. We don't make our Christmases all about Santa either. But I do feel that it is not bad for Children to believe in a person who is giving to people.

So after Tyler and I talked about how we really feel about Santa Clause and our children, we basicly told Philip that Santa is real. The magic of Santa is very real! He is real in many different ways. When we are kids we believe in a man who slides down our chimney to leave children toys. Which we did tell him that that santa is mom and dad. We are giving to our children but doing it secretly to make them happy. When we grow up, there are also santa's all around us. Anyone who does service for someone in need, or buys gifts for sub for santa are all santas. We told him about years when we lived in the Hamlet and we were struggling and someone left us Christmas on our door step. Tyler and I will never forget the feeling when the door bell rang at 6 am in the morning and we opened our door to see our front step filled with gifts, food and money. Whoever left that was a secret Santa to us. Another example of a secret Santa was when someone did the twelve days of Christmas to us when we were also living in the Hamlet. Everynight the kids knew something would be left for us and they looked forward to the sound of the door bell every night. They were just as excited to see what would be left for them that night, as they were on Christmas Eve for Santa to come.

So, Yes I do believe the magic of Santa is very real. Jesus has taught us to love each other and do service and I believe that is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is about remembering the the birth of our Saviour. When I think of Jesus, I think of giving to the poor and doing service and loving one another. As we talked to Philip you could see the excitement in his eyes as he began to realize the different things he can start to do for other people, including being santa to his little sisters. No disappointment came from him. We did ask him if he was disappointed, and he said no. He loved that we made Santa so much fun for him. He also said he would never tell any other kid that Santa is not real.

I am sad that Phililp is growing up, but then after talking to him, I don't think I realized how much he has already grown up. He is a very good kid. Tyler and I will continue the other version of Santa with our girls until it is time to tell them. Heck, I miss being a kid and waking up in the middle of the night and looking out the window and swearing that I could see his sleigh in the sky! I miss feeling the butterflies in my stomach on Christmas Eve. I miss trying to sneak out of my bedroom at 2 am to look at the tree and see what Santa left. Sometimes he had already been there and sometimes he hadn't. Then all of a sudden the presents were there. When did that happen? To me, believeing in Santa, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, The Great Pumpkin, Fairies, and all other mystical being is the fun of being a child. Why make our kids grow up too fast! At least I know I want them to stay young and have a magical immagination for as long as they can.

This is the year!

Thanksgiving is over and so officially starts the christmas season. Even though Tyler and I have been married for almost 12 years now, we really haven't started too many of our own family traditions. The kids are growing up so fast and it seems that we have been floating through christmases past on extended family traditions. There are a few things that I have been wanting to start, but every year it flies by and we don't get around to it. The past four Christmases have been difficult ones for me, where I haven't been able to participate in alot of the family fun because of spinal taps and other health issues. So............This is the year!!

The first thing I want to do is make my family our Christmas stockings. We had some that Tyler's mom made for us when we were first married but thanks to a lovely flood in our crawl space at the Hamlet, they were ruined. Since then I have been using some that my mom had bought and just had on hand. Now I know that most people who know me know that I know NOTHING about sewing or anything to do with sewing. But I have been looking on ebay and found a knitting book and thought "Why don't I just knit my own? How hard can it be, right?" Realisticly I know this is not something that I will have completed for this christmas so we will use the borrowed ones one last time this year. I am sure it will take me allllllll year to make the ones I want.

Tyler and I have an arguement every year about whether or not to have a real Christmas tree. After getting a bug infested tree one year I swore I would never do it again. My mom bought me a fake tree that I absolutely loved. Sadly I was only able to use it one year before we moved out and moved in with Karol. Now that we live here, the arguement continues. My fake tree was left at my parents house and when I went to get it last year Tyler was very very excited when it was no where to be found. A few days ago we were talking about the tree issue again and Tyler reminded me that we couldn't find my tree. Right then the phone rang and it was my sister saying she found my tree!!!!! Well, I thought I won until Tyler brain washed the kids into real Christmas trees. So...... we compromised. Downstairs we will have a real christmas tree and my fake one will be set up upstairs in the loft. That way both trees will be seen. The first family home evening in December we will sit and make homemade ornaments and just fun stuff to put on my fake one in the loft. Now I just need to get Tyler to bring it in from outside. It is sitting there very sad and lonely outside our french doors.

Since I have been very generous and allow the real trees into my house after being infested by bugs, Tyler started something with me last year that does make me very happy. Last year while buying our tree, Tyler bought me the biggest real poinsetta plants I have ever seen. I loved them. This year I got a big real wreath. The guy selling the trees says he will look into selling real garland. So as long as I agree to the real tree, Tyler throws in something special that he knows I will love.

My friend Rachel has a tradition that I actually want to steal from her. They always spend one night during the holidays with the kids by the Christmas tree. I know my kids would love this and enjoy that family time together.

Elf on the Shelf will also be started this year. My dear friend Lesa told me about this when she started this fun story with her kids a few years ago. I wanted to start this last year but it was another one of those things that I didn't get around to doing.

Of course we will carry on a lot of other traditions like pj's on Christmas Eve, going to the cemetary and singing Christmas carols on Grandpa Phil's (Tyler's dad's) grave, driving around drinking hot chocolate while looking at Christmas lights, and coockies for Santa. I know that there are traditions that I must be missing out on. How about you? What are your favorite family traditions?

November, BIG birthday month!

This last week has been such a whirlwind with so much happening. All fun and exciting stuff I must say. It all actually started at the beginning of last week on friday when my girlfriends from high school got together for a big birthday dinner. 8 of us were able to show up and we ate the night away at Tucanos. We then had play group at my house with all of our little ones. There were a total of 10 kids running around and we even had a few that weren't able to show up. It is fun to get together with people that you have been friends with for so long and then get to see our kids together.

The next day it was my friend, Rachel Labrums bday. We, of course, went shopping and to lunch but made the whole day of it. It was fun to have a stress free day with nowhere to be. It is always fun shopping when you have friends and family coupon for 30% off. The factory outlets were CRAZY! I am happy to say that I did get her her favorite barbeque sauce, that should hold her over for a little while. I know she loved the cd I made of all of my favorite songs so she can always remember me where ever she may be. We even had fun grocery shopping towards the end of the day. Thank you Rachel, for such a fun saturday afternoon.

My next exciting adventure was the Carrie Underwood concert. It was a blast. My friend, Jayne, and my sister danni and I got tickets to go. We decided to make a whole day of it. We went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Tried to go bowling, but my sweet sister picked a bowling alley that was out of business. We were trying to be creative and do something that we don't usually do. When that plan failed................we went shopping!! We later met my other sister, Darci at Chili's for appetizer and desert. Next, we were off to the dollar show to see The Dark Knight. Then came..............................................................

Her concert was sooo much fun. I got to see a whole new wild side of Jayne. I think I like going to events like this more to watch people. Jayne was probably the most fun to watch, especially after the concert and her yelling back at people in their cars.

The next night was a very big night. Jayne, Danni, and I had all been really wanting to go the midnight showing of twilight but we were procastinators and the tickets all sold out. So we thought we would just make plans and go on friday in the mornig and do lunch afterwords. While we were at chilis with our appetizers and desert, we got a phonecall with some news.................

yes we scored midnight tickets. I kept thinking I was crazy for doing this with my head issues and it had already been such a big week. Needless to say, I gave into the peer pressure around me and I went. I am glad I did, cause it was definitely a memory making night. Before the show I went on the polar express with my family (post later about that). Right when we got home, Jayne and Danni were already in the driveway waiting for me so I jumped from one car to the other and we were off. When we got there, there were already mega loads of people everywhere!!! They let us sit down in the theater two hours prior to the show. The people were CRAZY!! Even grandmas with t-shirts saying "Edwards Team." I forgot my camera so I didn't get any fun pictures. Confession.........I did fall asleep off and on during the first half of the movie but made it through the end with flying colors. So I do need to see it again.

The next night the girls (Ellie, and Maggee) were in a Sleeping Beauty play. They did a great job and I will also do another post with pictures of that. I need to learn to not try and squeeze so many different outings into one post. Thanks to everyone who made these last few weeks such great ones!! Friends and family are what keep me going!

A quick Lucy update

Lucy got her new cast today and it is PINK! She slept through the whole dr. apt. which was a blessing. She slept through the x-rays as well as putting the cast on. She was very shocked to wake up to a hard pink leg. The dr. told me that was the first for him to have a child completly sleep though it. I wish I had had my camera with me. My sister had her cell phone, so we took a picture and sent it out to various people. Karol thought , from the picture we had taken, we had to put her out to have the cast put on, which wouldn't be a surprising thing with Lucy. I have been very vocal about my frustrations with Lucy the past week. I know she has been hurting and I feel bad for her, but there were definitely momments I thought I was going to go out of my mind. This cast will be on for about 4 weeks and then we will go from there. Hopefuly no cast for Christmas!

Hey, a thought just occured to me. I should go and attempt my bubble bath again because guess who can't climb the stairs very well to get to me?............. Yes, I think I will.

Boys Weekend Out

So I thought that I would take a weekend (last weekend) and maybe not be so selfish and let Philip, and Tyler have a weekend to themselves and do what they want. Yes, I know you are all thinking what a great mom and wife I am to give up my "free" time. ok, ok, so this weekend wasn't my idea, but I am very glad that tyler and philip got to enjoy such a fun weekend.

They started the night off by going to a Jazz game. This was actually a last minute thing. Philip's friend Mitch called and wanted him to go. We were struggling with whether to let him go or not because Philip was actually supposed to be grounded. A few minutes later the phone range again, and low and behold an extra ticket became available for Tyler. So no more discussion was needed, 15 min. later they were off to the game.



This is Mitch and Philip. These two are such goofballs, but they have fun together!

They got home from the game arouond midnight and then they were off fishing and hunting at 4:30 am for the day with a great friend of ours, Robert. This trip has been discussed for quite some time but has never happend until now. I have to admit that I was surprised that Tyler actually made time to go. He NEVER does fun activities like this. I will admit that I take more time for myself then tyler does for him so I am sooo glad that he went. He deserved this more than anyone I know.

This is Philip and his great catch.

Man Tyler sure is a handsome rugged man.


The man who made it all happen. Robert. Thanks a ton!!!! Philip still talks nonstop about this weekend.

They were quite tired when they got home, but not too tired to finish their saturday out with some football watching. That was when I escaped and went and watched the Oklahoma play with my sister-in-law, Olivia. All in all, it was a fun weekend. I got time with my girls, which Karol and I took them to see Madagascar 2, and Tyler got to spend time with his friend and his favorite son.

Just our luck!!

She may look happy here, but this was not the picture until about a half hour ago. Crying all day long!!!

Yes, it is true, Lucy broke her leg! It happened aroun 9am this morning. I was in checking my e-mail and in the background I could hear the tip tap of those fun dress up shoes on my brick floor. The noise kept getting closer to me until all of a sudden the dreadful scream occured. So being the great mom that I am, I kept saying, "ok, come on Lucy. It is ok. Now walk!" She would not walk all morning long. I kept debaiting, should I take her in , or should I not take her in? I kept bribing Lucy with EVERYTHING. We all know Lucy can be quite the drama queen sometimes. Nothing would convince her to walk! Tyler came home from work and we took her in. For the momment she is in a splinter that was formed to her leg. She will be in this splinter until next monday and then a different cast will be put on. Now I know you are all thinking how happy she looks in this picture. It is amazing how giving her leg some support , nice pain medicine, and a big bowl of candy (tyler's doing) can make her smile.

Now this smile didn't last too long. It was all great unitl Ellie came up to her and told her she had a fake cast on. We assured her that her cast is real, well kind of. At this very momment I can hear her in the living room singing twinkle twinkle little star and is in the exact same position as in the picture above. It is a good thing that Lucy is very good at entertaining herself. I am sure going to get my exersize carrying her everywhere!!

Mia got a heart!!

Little Mia went into surgeory at 6am this morning to receive her new heart!! Congrats Mia. We are all praying for you.

Sorry, another very long post!!

I have been thinking about my kids ALOT lately and what kind of parents Tyler, and I are. The world today absolultely scares me, and the challenges that our kids are going to have to face. I can't believe that next year Philip will be in middle school and one more year after that Ellie is right behind him. I talk to my neices about their social lives and the struggles they are having during this phase in their lives and I can't help but wonder if my kids will be strong enough to handle the challenges that they will be facing.

Philip always has to be a leader in our home not only because he is the oldest but he is the only boy. Tyler is always telling him that the girls watch everything he does, so he needs to think about his actions. Wow, what pressure it is to be the oldest! I love to sit back and watch him with his sisters and see how protective he is. Lucy is usually glued to his hip. If I can't find her I know she is either over at Karols, or she is down in Philips room hanging out. Whenever a problem arrises and Tyler and I need to discuss things with Philip, we will notice him giving "the look" to Ellie telling her she better not say anything and let him do the talking. A lot of times, Tyler and I have to talk to the girls privately to find out what Philip is keeping from us, and it is usually stuff that Philip doesn't want us to worry about. He thinks he is old enough to handle his own problems. One the other hand, Philip is also very very sensitive. I feel bad just because of the fact that Philip is the oldest, he is the child that everything gets tested out on, but he handles it well. I have heard from my kids's friends, or other parents that are at the school in the mornings, that Philip hugs both Ellie and Maggee before they head off to their different classes. Maybe I am just worried that Philip isn't going to be in the same school as them next year to protect them.

Lucy.......um......Lucy is just stubborn and strong willed. We will find out if that is good or bad in the near future. She is definitely our "different" child, but every family has to have one and we love her for that. She has to find out things on her own. For example, the whole time I have been typing this Lucy has been playing. All of a sudden she starts screaming hysterically. I ask her what is wrong and she says, "I stuck the key in the plug and now I hurt!!!" I ask her if I have told her numerous times not to stick her fingers in the plugs and she says yes. So I ask her why she did it and she says,"Because I just wanted to!" oh yeah for the teenage years with this one.

I can't tell you how many pictures I have of this same pose with Ellie and Maggee, just in different settings. But of course, like any normal siblings, they can be at each other's throats for the tinniest things. Ellie is the shy one of the fam. Last year we had a major breakthrough with her shyness , but this year we seem to have taken a step backwards. Ellie is very frightened to talk to her teacher at school. We keep telling her that that is what her teacher is there for. She gets soo upset she winds up in tears. Many days she will come home and say she didn't play at lunch because she sat in the sky room making lists of things she needs to get done for the day or week or whatever. Tyler gets mad at me because I tell Ellie that she needs to play. Tyler says to let her do what she wants, but of course being a mom, I don't want her to be left out. Ellie will tell me that she plays when she wants, and she sits and makes lists wen she wants. I think that is the hardest part about being a mom is having to sit back and let your kids be kids. It is just Ellies nature to be quiet. She is also very very organized. She better be with all the lists she makes.

Maggee is my "not so shy" one. I was worried that her teacher would be able to handle her energy this year. Come to find out, her teacher has had ADD her whole life, so her classroom is filled with fun and excitement and they don't sit at their desks for more than ten min. at a time. Wow! we sure lucked out with the perfect teacher for our Maggee. Maggee collects EVERYTHING!! Weekly I fill up a garbage bag full of stuff from her room that gets thrown away. Everything is a "special treasure." Every rock she owns is a "special" rock. She has already gotten in trouble for kissing boys on the bus. She literally cannot sit still for more than five minutes. She is what fills our family with energy!!

In the end my family is just that, MY Family!! I am so greatful for each and everyone of them and the different personality each one adds to us. I am greatful for what I believe the family unit is and hope that my kids will always stay strong and true to the gospel. Now I guess I better go and see if the smell has gone away from Lucy's hand from being shocked by the light plug. Life is definitely never boring around here.

Help Baby Mia !!

For several months now I have been checking on this blog daily (mimi and john on my sidebare under blogging buddies). This story absolutely breaks my heart. I knew Mimi back in high school and I am also very good friends with her older sister, Susan. Little Mia was born with needing a new heart. She has been on the donor list for almost four months now. She is quite the little fighter. They have been thinking about listing her on other donor lists but it would require $450,000 dollars upfront. This family has been through so many challenges. Anyone who is reading this please click on her blog or on the blinki I have added and read her story. Any money that is donated is appreciated but most of all prayers!! I have a very strong testimony of prayer and the power it has. Prayer has worked many miracles in my life, especially with my oldest son, Philip. He was born with seviere seizures and we weren't sure what his future held. I know it was the prayers and fasting of our loved ones and ward family members that pulled us through that time. I pray daily for Mimi and her family that little Mia will receive a new heart and begin her healing process. I am amazed at what a strong woman Mimi is with the trials she is facing with not only Mia but her other two children at home and making sure that her family is taken care of. Please, please read her blog and pray for Mia and her new heart!!

Rough Day!

Today has been a very long day. Mondays are always a big cleaning day for me. After the weekend with everyone being home from work and school, there is alot of catching up to do on housework and laundry. My head hasn't been doing too well lately either. I have been spending a lot of days in my bedroom trying to sleep through headaches along with missing the last two sundays of church. I also slack on the house cleaning when I have these episodes with my head. I started the morning off by getting the kids ready for school, and Lucy whinning, and then started into my cleaning routine. I didn't reaize how much I was behind on laundry. Hard to catch up when you are doing laundry for six people. I mopped, dusted, vaccuumed, and every other usual tasks around the house. All the while, Lucy is whinning. I ran to provo to run errands and made it back intime for "early out" day at school. Took girls to piano, philip went to piano, did homework with all three kids, made dinner, and got things ready for family home evening. Mean while, Lucy is running all around the house whinning about EVERYTHING! I have already done the dishes twice since the kids got home from school. Then Tyler thought he would be a fun dad and make milkshakes for the kids for the family home evening treat (which means more dishes to do). And did I mention, Lucy is STILL whining about EVERYTHING! I got a bright idea that maybe I could go up to my bathroom, light my candle chandelier, put my favorite music on, pour in some bubbles, and RELAX!!! I will tell anyone that my bathroom is my favorite room in my house. I am a big time bath person. So I thought I was being pretty sneaky by doing this while the milk shakes were being made and the kids's attention ( I guess I really mean Lucy's attention) is on Tyler, and ice cream. But guess what????????????????????

NO, my bright idea did not work. But hey, life would be boring without kids RIGHT?? And of course, it had to be Lucy to brighten up my relaxing momment. I did get a few minutes of relaxing. I guess I will leave Lucy to her bubble bath and candles and head down stairs to clean up the milkshake mess so I don't have to wake up to dirty dishes.

I tried to catch my relaxing feel in the bathroom, but our camera is horrible, so here is one with the lights on.

A lesson learned that I should already know is, lock my bathroom door!!

Our last halloween memories.

Just had to do one last post about halloween and show the costumes and and final results of candy!
Maggee was Supergirl, Philip was a warewolf, Ellies was a vampire, and Lucy was spiderman...tapshoes and all.
Look at all of our candy. I do mean "our" candy. I am lucky to have such sweet kids that share. Even though this is tooooooooo much candy. My sister Danni took my kids trick or treating halloween night. As you can see, they went everywhere!! Thanks Danni for taking them, and letting Tyler and I enjoy a halloween night ALONE!
We LOOOOOVVVVEEE our candy!!!! Yes, I am stuck with this candy in my house all day long with just me and Lucy. I have got to get rid of this before I eat it all myself.