9 Days Til Christmas

I think that I'm the most nostalgic person ever born.  Crew has outgrown so many outfits, but I can't stand to put them away, because then he really won't be "that little" anymore. Taya sang me, "Sweet Child of Mine" the other night when I went to put her to sleep and I just started bawling.  What happened to my baby that would curl up and coo as I sang that to her.  Then we have Milo, don't even get me started on what a big boy he has become!  He goes to school, doesn't need his mom for hardly anything, and is embarrassed when I give him kisses in front of his friends!  Ah, time is so precious.  I can't believe how they are growing.  No one even cried on Santa's lap!  I was secretly hoping that all three of them would lose it.  I think those pictures are hilarious.

Milo has been warned that Santa is really tired of making tractor toys, and I encouraged him to branch out.  .   .  So he did.  This year he asked Santa for an astronaut suit, but then he quickly added, "But if you don't know how to do that, then I'd probably love a tractor."  I keep telling him, "Santa knows how to make that... Don't change your mind on me:)".

Taya is going to be super fun this year.  She loves toys, but doesn't have a ton.  When she sat on Santa's lap she told him that she wants a Brave dress and a Fiona dress (yes, like ogre).  She can't remember Christmas last year, so she kind of has it confused with Halloween.  And since Milo wants a dress up thing, she thinks that's what she needs to ask for too.   Hopefully she also wants a doll house because Santa's little elves have been working overtime to get one put together for her. 

Crew wants diapers...poor 3rd child syndrome... practical, practical, practical.  Maybe I'll let him splurge and have two jars of baby food for dinner.  Might even get wild and let him lick a Christmas cookie:)

 Kids really do make the holidays! 

Christmas Good and Bad

In the last conference, one of the General Authorities talked about people painting fake lives on social media in attempts to look happier than each other.  I hope that when I look back at my blog, I can see all of the wonderful fun things that we did as a family throughout the years.  But I also want it to ring true.  Life is not perfect and we have our struggles.   I started planning for Christmas in October.  This year was going to be the stress free, easy going year, with all of the presents wrapped under the tree by Dec. 1st, and the entire month left open for fun festivities.  Well the shopping is done, the gifts are wrapped, but this Christmas is the farthest thing from stress free.  Without going into detail, some things happened in our family, and now things are changing.  Change can be hard, scary, and sad--especially around the holidays.  It makes my heart heavy to think about Christmas this year.  I remember when I was little people would talk about how the holidays could be a hard time of year, and I never understood.  There are so many fun and wonderful things, and I hope so badly that our family can find a way to enjoy them together. 

John Deere Land

Milo really knows the right people to suck up to.  One day while we were visiting Chris at work, Milo made friends with one of the big wigs named Mike.  Milo happened to see a bunch of John Deere models sitting in Mike's office and wandered on in.  He then told Mike all about the bulldozers shank and hydraulics,  Mike was blown away that this 3 year old knew all of that stuff.  He hooked Milo up that day with several tractors, and a hard hat with his name on it.  Milo was delighted.











Then for Milo's 4th birthday, Mike arranged for him to go out to the John Deere training center, which Milo affectionately named John Deere Land.  This little boy was in 7th heaven. 

 He was able to operate a mini ex, bulldozer, excavator, backhoe, grader, and a front loader.  This guy Reggie took him around all day and let him just play on all of the machines.  Milo was so happy, but also all business.  He took the "jobs" very seriously:)

He even got to meet the CEO of John Deere, who just happened to be visiting- I'm telling you, this kid knows how to rub elbows with the right people.  

They even ha a little party for Milo.  He ate a big hot dog (for the first time ever).  He wants one all the time now, because, "that's what real construction men eat".  And they made him this cute cake, which I must say was seriously the most delicious cake that I have ever eaten.  And of course they hooked him up with all the swag.   He came home with 2 new models, hats, stickers... the works. 

 Nothing makes me happier than when my kids are happy, and this was such a cool day for him.  He is getting so big!  He keeps make-believing to be Reggie when he's at home.  I seriously call him Reggie all day long. It will be really interesting to see if this tractor thing ever wears out, because he is addicted at this point.