Zion's Playtime

As Sam had mentioned to me in the hallway at church that day. Zion picks his favorite toys and sticks to them. I have found this to also be true at our house. While Cy is content to wander around the Family Room playing with whatever tickles her fancy at the time. Zion definitely has his favorites!

Santa brought the twins Shake and Go cars. Santa wasn't too sure about the purchase at the time as they seemed to be too old for them and Santa has loud toy issues (and these can be quite obnoxious). But Santa LOVES toys which are bulky, well made, and seem indestructible and when you added that to the fact they had girl one's in pink, which meant we could do "his and hers" cars....Santa was sold!

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I do not believe I have ever seen Cy have any interest in her pretty pink car, but Zion on the other hand is just as happy with the pink car as he is the red one. As a matter of fact he carries them around one in each arm...kinda like I do with him and his sister. He finds a flat, non carpeted surface (which in their "room" aka the Family Room...is either the fireplace or the coffee table) drops one of them, shakes them up, and usually holds them too long while they spin their wheels. He then places it on the surface and pushes them along...as if to say...go car go! (most times he cannot get them to go but he doesn't seem to mind either way) He then picks up the next one and the playing goes on like that for a while.

I am so interested in his way of play because I don't think I have ever seen it from any of my other children (or they were in Daycare and so I never noticed) but he seems to be so intent and "on a mission". He will actually make up games for himself which are so surprising, at least to me, because they are pretty intelligent games...at least I think they are for an 18 month old. He will also stay interesting in what he is doing for such a long period of time.

Yesterday, Phoenix cut out some little picture cards and I handed Zion one as he was squirmy. He took the card and instead of sticking it in his mouth or crumpling it up as I thought he would. He looked at it, flipped it over and handed it to Mitchell. Mitchell then handed it back and Zion said "Thank You" in baby language (no enunciation...just the sound the word makes) He then got more cards and stacked them one by one into Mitchell's hand until they were gone and then repeated "Thank You" at the end and then began to take them back one by one. This went on for a good 15 minutes and when he was done...he was apparently proud of himself as he yelled "Yeah" and began to clap wildly. Watching Mitchell and I intently until we started to clap and say "Yeah" he then began to scream with delight and clap faster and harder.

He is such a cute kid!

I (heart) Sam

In an attempt to kill the prior Blog for the better good...I will push through my self perscibed social anxieties and post a entry which I never posted out of sheer nervousness. You see...I have a hard enough telling my family (which I haven't given birth to) and best friends how much I love and admire them, let alone the Husband of one of those aforementioned friends.

But here it goes...I (heart) Sam!

Okay...Please allow my disclaimer before my Delaware girlfriends hold and Intervention. I go on official record stating that though your men are (in their own right) hella sexy, spiritual, beautiful men and being the crazy, see it and speak it type of person that I am. Unless I was to lose my temple recommend, my own beautiful (on the inside and out) Husband, all of your friendships and my back-up plans (lol) I would still have the issue of being physically attracted to men which come to this earth being a bit darker complected. (Mitchell and I talk sometimes about what we would have done had we each met the love of our life's in a differently wrapped package...For all those who are interested, we would have walked down the isle and been happy and blessed to do so...but would still enjoy (as we do now) feasting on the various forms of eye candy which God has placed on His green earth) So it is my official position that my playful banter by no means what so ever means that I want your men or that I don't appreciate, love or respect my own. As everyone who knows me knows, that what I say I would say with or without him present (and usually go home and tell him) and it is and has been part of "our" playful banter from the beginning of "us".

With that being said :) I stood at the door of Nursery with Zion in my arms and Mitchell to my right with Cy, our newly 18 month old twins. Half of my self wanted to throw them over the play gate and run for dear life, the other half of me stood in silent fear as I held my beautiful son. Thousands of thoughts streamed through my head as I fake smiled and was apparently holding inquisitive conversations as a stall tactic. I found myself physically unable to allow myself to hand over my son. Lorien and Sam have been the Nursery leaders in our Ward for a while and Lorien, because we are such good friends is aware of my concerns and Zion's "questionable" tendencies. I trust her to deal with my children the way that I would and recognize if there was something wrong and to come and get me if needed. But there were new leaders there and Zion bangs his head into the floor, hits himself, bites and hits people of authority who make him do what he doesn't want to do. So far, he has not bit Cy or any other children but he is aggressive with Cy for toys, food, etc. but that seems to be just a "twin thing" in them both. We still take him to the Geneticist very three months and the just don't know. So to explain this type of information to people in the Ward that I do not trust and especially when I don't even know if this will be an issue in Nursery or not, was more than I could deal with as I held him tight and felt hopeless panic. Grasping at straws I asked Lorien a question I already knew the answer to "Lorien are you going to be in here?" She has a new calling in the Primary Presidency and would not be in Nursery. Mitchell then dropped Cy over the gate and I was blind-sided by a sister who was apologizing for her obnoxious phone practices and that she didn't realize she had called so many times. I took care of that conversation and It would seem that being blind-sided was a good thing because I proceeded to drop Zion over the gate, pushing all my issues to the back of my head, and followed Mitchell to class.

After class, I peeked in and Zion was chomping on snack which he seemed to be enjoying and Cy was sitting contently next to him. (sign of relief as I walked to Relief Society)

After church I saw Sam in the hall he walked up to me and just started to tell me how great Zion and Cy did. He let me know that Zion played well, that he picked certain toys and stuck with them through the whole time. That he enjoyed snack most of all...like mother like son! That he got a bit fussy towards the end but the he thought he was just a bit tired. I literally stood there staring up at Sam so grateful for him and his attention to details as he stood in the middle of the hall, holding back traffic with Hannah in one arm and someone else's child in the other. Gracie in front of him anxiously waiting to move on. I needed him and didn't even know it but he listened to the Spirit and took the time. It was interesting that 99.9% of all the information that he gave me had to do with Zion and he was the only one that I was worried about as I dropped them off.

(First day of Nursery picture...Thanks Phoenix)

The last two weeks of Nursery have been without Sam and I would like to start a "Bring Back Sam" campaign as my two beautiful twins have now taken to screaming as soon as we get to the Nursery door and are eventually brought to me gasping for air after no one can get them to calm down and from what I was told by the Nursery Leader himself...Zion was left to scream, and bang his head in the corner, while no one consoled him. Who does that? Mitchell is actually talking about volunteering to be a "helper" in there as he spent a good 20 minutes in there on Sunday and was deeply concerned with the level of detail in trying to teach vs. consoling and helping to acclimate the children to new leaders and such...especially when the Nursery is so young. Teaching 18-24 month old's to pray is not a first priority when some children are screaming in the corner...yet if you want perfect babies sitting and listening and get your Sister to run all the children to their parents. You can have what Mitchell and I saw on Sunday. Four or five children left (I believe there to be at least 10-14 children in Nursery) at a table eating their fishies in quiet desperation as they were spoken at about the way to open a proper prayer, what should be included in such prayer and a proper ending. (Believe me...I mean no disrespect to the current leaders of Nursery as it is a difficult calling and they may just need to get their feet wet...this was in no way meant to "call" them out. It is just me venting my frustrations at still having to sit and deal with my squirmy, wanting to run and play, little people who should be in Nursery, so that Mitchell and I can actually have some type of ability to pay attention and truly hear during classes...Dang it!)

Did I happen to mention that I love Sam! I love Sam! I love Sam! I miss him....Bring him home to Nursery!

Hearts of the Children...

I woke up this morning...turned on the Today Show, as I always do and proceeded to watch the mass migration of Americans to Washington DC. Within two minutes of coverage I have tears streaming down my face and wetting my shirt below.

I have always been very sensitive to "others" hardships whatever they may be. My Patriarchal Blessing states that I have been given " the ability far beyond those that are normally found, that you may feel, understand, and help those who are in need." I believe this is the reason that I become physically upset and many times emotionally changed based simply upon other's life's stories. I usually don't even have to experience an event to understand the magnitude and emotions contained therein. Which is why I have and (since childhood) have always had...a very difficult time with documentaries of things such as prisoner of war camps, slavery, genocide and other accounts of horrific behavior by groups of people who feel self justified in hatred. That being said...I thought that I had felt every disgusting emotion contained within slavery until I found myself watching another documentary after the birth of my first child and was awakened to a whole new realization. This was no longer something that happened to "another" group of people, which granted was horrible and sad in it's own right, but this was now something which happened indirectly to my husband and my children and now the feeling moved from an understanding of events and compassion to a fullness of true emotional understanding and a deep sense of mourning. As I looked at my newborn son and my beautiful husband, I had known that it was my life's goal to protect and love them but to think that a few centuries prior those beautiful beings, so blessed in my life, had they happened to be born at a different time they would have been mistreated, emotionally abused and scared beyond my wildest dreams.

The Today Show flashed quick 1 to 2 minute stories of individuals who had come to The Mall to see history being made this day in this great nation. I was reminded of the scripture D&C 136:32 " Let him that is ignorant learn wisdom by humbling himself and calling upon the Lord his God, that his eyes may be opened that he may see, and his ears opened that he may hear " I was again brought back to that day when my eyes had been opened and am humbled again as I share my sweet story of them being opened again.

As a lilly white, red-haired, blue eyed, girl growing up in a upper to middle class area of a Washington DC suburb. I never once questioned that I or any other of my other friends (whatever color they might have been) could be anything that we wanted to be. Nor did I ever question that my children could have been anything that they wanted to be...until today!

I watched on the TV this morning a black woman with the names of all of her ancestors attached to her coat as she explained that although they had not lived to see this day, that they were indeed there in spirit and also in body as she, being their direct descendant, had lived to see this day. She stood there not only representing herself but for all those parents, grandparents and great-grandparents who were not able to stand for themselves and participate in this great day.

I believe many times we forget how fresh the scars of racism are. My husband who was born in 1968 was thrown bottles at by adult men in Elementary School, as he rode his bike to pick up his brother from school, and they yelled "Nigger Boy, Go Home!" He was told in High School by his Guidance Counselor to "forget college and get a job" simply because he was an African American child as his grades certainly showed college WAS an option! There are many, many other stories but I am not sure if he would appreciate the two that I did shared...my point is I had seen many forms of discrimination prior to meeting and marring my husband but I was shocked to hear the sheer amount and cruelty of his stories and most times by those in position of supposed authority and trust. The knowledge that though I had never once doubted I could be anything I wanted to be. He on the other hand, continuously doubted that he could be what he wanted to be and still struggles with the fact that even though he worked so hard and earned everything he has...that somehow he doesn't deserve or is not worthy of that which he has. That is directly a product of environment.

So...I will watch today as our President Elect becomes the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama...a black man...and I will not only believe I will KNOW that my children can be whatever they dream of becoming and I will, I am sure, continue to shed tears as I also know that my children will face less pain than did their father with regards to this matter and Mitchell faced less pain than did his father and so forth.

Hope and Faith...with a day that seems to resemble the hearts of the children turning to their fathers.

It is a good day!

Our December in a Day

The month of December in the Mitchell home was full of many fun Christmas traditions full of family and friends...all leading up to a Highly anticipated New Year...at least on my part. I always enjoy the idea of a fresh start. A crisp, clean calendar/planner. New resolve and Goals all coupled with the strengthed reassurance of the Peace and renewal which the Savior offers to all that come unto Him. It is a perfect flow from Christmas (the birth and life of the Savior) to New Year's (In Christ, all things can be perfected or made new).

This year was a very special one indeed, though I would suppose every year is a special one in it's own right.


The Highlights from the month of December were...


*While standing in the Wal-Mart toy isle, taking pictures on my camera phone of the gifts that Stone was telling me that he would like to have for Christmas. I was explaining that we could just forward the pix's to Santa for a more expedient process. Stone says, in a voice loud enough for two other younger children within ear distance to hear, "Mom...is Santa real?" I acted distracted :) which was not hard for me, especially in Super Wal-Mart around Christmas and informed him that we would finish up his list and talk about it in a minute. I brought it back up in the car on the way home, which luckily and very rarely we were actually alone on this special trip. I started the conversation with "I will never lie to you" and ended with "it is okay to still believe. I told him that Grammy always told me that those who don't believe don't get" I do believe that I have used that quote a good 20 times since that day...Thanks Mom! He was to say the least...broken hearted, as reality, can be a cruel mistress...But I do believe that we will live!


*Mitchell brought up my boxes and my ugly, scratched up, basement coffee table. I take a quick look over the boxes, scrambling my head for where I know I would have put my Christmas CD's. I find them quickly and make the same comment I do once a year every year "I need a little CD player" We never have one and I really do not need or want one because there really is no need for something which you only need once a year for four hours. I find which ever I am in the mood for and almost running to the family room for the DVD player turn the volume up loud enough to hear it in the living room. Mitchell who hates Christmas music because of it's OBVIOUS similarity to church music (Damn that Spirit!) Mumbles something about does it HAVE to be that loud and HATING Christmas music. To which I reply...Bah Humbug! It's Christmas Scrooge and I don't decorate my tree without music. The kids are now ecstatic as they are singing along and LOVING that the tree is coming out and Mitchell who KNOWS he is losing this battle disappears to the basement so as not to be tortured by the Spirit of Christ...lol :) Poor Mitchell. I am just kidding I am sure there are other people who don't like Christmas music and still like Jesus...right? LOL! Anyhow...This year, I allowed my children to help me by separating the fake tree parts into their proper color piles and them handing them to me when I was ready for them. I also allowed them to help me spread the branches out once they were in place and to hold the lights as I strung them around the tree. They didn't like this job much as I am quite meticulous about this and they were bored that it was taking too long. I was not happy as three of our light strands burnt out this year and I was left hanging in the middle as I always decorate on a Sunday. My friend Michelle had made a comment that she bought a pre-lite tree this year and had extra lights so I called her and asked her if they were white or colored and our lucky day they were white and she even was nice enough to bring them by. So I am becoming a better mother as you can see I ALLOWED my children to help with the above tasks but allow me to tell you why I am now a horrible mother who steals all the "fun" out of the tree as they cannot touch or put up any ornaments unless they bring one home from school and then I will let them put it up "anywhere" after I have looked at my "perfect" tree for awhile first and I will tell you a secret...Sorry kids! If it doesn't meet my "standard" within a allotted period of time...depending on the time, child, hideousness, placement on the tree, etc. It will "permanently disappear" I know...sad! But It's MY tree and to me its one of the most beautiful in the whole wide world and if I have learned anything from being a Mom its that grubby little fingers break the most beautiful things first.

Meet some of my favorite "old friends" This was one of my favorite things to take pictures of and looking at the pictures is even more fun!

The Kid ornaments which have made it the whole month :)

*We had Lorien, Gracie, and Hannah (Maybe next year Sam...you were missed!) over for dinner and our yearly Family Home Evening Reenactment of the Story of Christ's Birth with the Little People's Manger and the subsequent scriptures. We then finished up the night with the decoration of Christmas sugar cookies. It was yummy...well about as yummy as the pre-made, pre-cut Christmas cookies can be, but the kids didn't seem to mind in the slightest!

*We went carolling with a group of friends to four houses and dropped off treats, which I did not even have to make :) The adults sang, (I sang quietly...so as not to scare) the kids sang, rang bells, and some even had hand held battery operated lights. It was a bit rainy and cold so Mitchell and I took turns hanging out in the car with the twins while the other got to the the "lucky" singer. We then went back to Jenn's house for hot coco and treats. There were 17 kids from 5 families and all the kids get along REALLY well...so basically it is the parents dream as the kids disappear to the basement (for the most part) I do put the twins to bed in the port-a-cribs at some point during the night, usually closer the the start as I need all the freedom I can get now-a-days!...but I don't know how much longer that will fly as their orneriness increases 10 fold on a daily basis.




*We went to the Ward Christmas Party and had breakfast for dinner...I love that! As a matter of fact I may do that tonight for dinner. They had a cinnamon roll bake off and I made Linda's recipe but I still think I roll them too thin. They don't look like the picture yet, but it is only my second try making them. I really love the taste of them so I know that they are much better than I am making them taste...I may need a personal tutorial :) Linda, When are you in town next? We also had our newly budding resident photographer Lorien taking In house family pictures and I had a great idea for my Christmas pictures this year (which I ordered from Snapfish yesterday, so be looking out within the next two weeks) and the idea entailed Lorien taking pictures of Mitchell and I alone. We had dressed for the part...matching color themes, there was a back drop next to a Christmas tree and all. We hooked the kids up with food and escaped for our own personal photo shoot. It was a little exciting as I hadn't had my picture taken without children groping me in over 10 years. Apparently I had under estimated Mitchell's mutual excitement at our momentary freedom from five children and our feeling of nestouga, as the Daughter of our Wedding Photographer grabbed her Father's camera. My feeling of excited freedom quickly gave way to trying to settle a overly excited husband who just wanted to grope his wife...apparently at the Ward Christmas Party, in front of a waiting family and the clicking away photographer, who at least is our really good friend and loves us dearly...or at least used to :) I was getting quite annoyed because all I wanted was a good picture of us. For years, I doubt there is a picture of the two of us together except those ones where you hold the camera up to yourselves and take them or at the Semi-annual Lenharr/Kuhn Family Beach Trip in our bathing suits sitting next to each other in the beach chairs by my Dad when we don't even know we are being photographed (Oh yeah...those are fun!) And we all know that...unless you are Jen Lawrence...THAT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!)

***Rockville Ward Sidenote...for anyone who got Jen's Christmas card I would like to say her baby girl (ADORABLE!) cannot be any older than six months in that picture and Jen is slammin in that itty bitty bikini!~ Go on with you bad self Jen...I ain't mad at ya!

So anyhow...Mitchell is being silly, trying to stick his tongue in my ears, squeezing my butt, etc. and even though I am getting frustrated I am enjoying the fact that he is actually at the Christmas party and enjoying himself enough to let loose and have some fun...Not to mention again that we did just lose the kids. Regardless...the Photoshoot ended and I will not leave you hanging to see if any of the 20 pictures taken were usable for our Christmas pictures...they were not! But I will show you a few just for the fun of it:

*Christmas Eve...We made cookies for Santa and shared our favorite stories of Christ. Mine being when Christ walks on water out to His Disciples. He teaches them of love, faith and trust. It is without question my favorite as I seem to place myself in the role of Peter during countless life situations and find strength and comfort from the simple message that Christ is always QUICKLY there, that all we have to do is LOOK to him and be not afraid for He will NEVER allow us to perish, and lastly I love the mind riddle that this story gives me. Christ tells Peter that he has "little faith" which blows my mind being that Peter saw Christ jumped off the boat into the scary storm, ran to him, and was let's recall WALKED ON WATER, but just because he cast his eyes round about, became overwhelmed and began to sink he was of little faith?...I don't know. Not that I am doubting the Lord nor his judgement but my "human" mind has a hard time grasping "little faith"because I seem to see the exact opposite. I see that Peter had such great faith in Christ but Christ requires more (we have all heard that...if we had the faith the size of a mustard seed we could move mountains....well dang...that is little and I am certainly not moving mountains) we just must have MORE to be able to withstand the "storms" of this life.

I digress! Mitchell and I then scolded Stone for climbing out onto the roof to spread the Reindeer food and we opened up our one gift of jammies. The kids changed into their new jammies...Stone's were football, Phoenix's were Camp Rock and Avery's were SpongeBob SquarePants. As the kids were being sent off to bed, Phoenix told Mitchell and I that we also needed to go to bed..."NOW" so that Santa would come and I told her that she needed to go to bed and that Daddy and I would be up later. Stone then started to talk to her and told her that "Mommy and Daddy needed to bond with Santa" I tried to nix that conversation because who knows what kind of craziness Stone can think up and they all just needed to go to bed! As usual Stone had his own agenda and got the girls to go to bed quite quickly!

Mitchell ACTUALLY helped me wrap gifts for the first year, ever...which was SO WONDERFUL because I then had the extra time to make sure the house was cleaned, run the vacuum, get breakfast ready for the morning, and tie up the lose ends. It was the quickest Christmas Eve yet, which made for a much nicer Christmas morning for me! Thanks Mitchell!

*Christmas morning was fun. We left the twins to sleep in while we opened gifts with the oldest three. I must say...I am one of the up tight, control freakish, Christmas morning routine parents. We open gifts one by one and yes Amy...I hold the large garbage bag and make the kids pass me the balled up wrapping paper after opening each and every gift. :) Cringing yet? lol! I cant imagine anyone not doing this ~ How do you know you are not throwing away little toys and whatnot? Not to mention the overwhelming feeling of having to see more and more kids, gifts, paper, stockings, the tree and whatever else is lying around just piling up...I would need a stiff drink to come back from my anxiety attack....again...I digress! So we opened the kids gifts:

Stone's best's this year were a mini skateboard retailing for $2.50, his Ripley's believe it or not book retailing for $5.50 and his Hess Truck he got from his Great Grandparents. I swear if only we knew ahead of time. He did get a really cool skateboard ramp which he is REALLY excited about but I was under the impression It would have worked in the backyard and apparently that is not the case. So I am having mental anguish about the whole deal and have yet to even open the box. Though Stone literally asks almost 3-4 times a week when he can ride on his skateboard ramp. I am just not sure I can do it...If I put it out front the neighbor kids could break their necks on it and then what...and if I put it in the street...Stone has issues with attention to details such as...you know...CARS! I just don't know what to do...anyone wanna come lay some concrete in the backyard one day before Mitchell gets home from work. I wont tell if you wont :)

Phoenix's best's this year was definitely her Cupcake Maker to which she opened it up, hugged it and quickly replied "See Stone, I told you there was a Santa Claus!" I swear if looks could have killed I would have taken him out! Running his mouth about Santa~ She also had her bike stolen this summer after forgetting to put it away and after recovering it from the local Police Station (Thanks Heidi) It was just never quite the same. It wont even make it to the end of the street without the chain popping off. Santa being the all knowing man that he is brought her a pretty new purple Huffy which I am sure will be brought in EVERY NIGHT so as not to meet the same demise as bike #1.

Avery's best's this year were definately the My Little Pony Partybus Playset, the Light-Up Disney princess with her three magnetic Fairy God Mother's and the stuffed Dog in the purse which looks quite a bit like Cousin Cylinda's dog Coco. Avery was a lot of fun this year as she seems to be playing with more longevity and imagination. It is so cute to see!

When we were all done we went and ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast, opened all the impossible to open without a electric jigsaw boxes and got the babies up to be fed and changed. After they were good, we brought all their gifts into the Family room and Stone, Phoenix and Avery helped them open everything up. I must say...Zion and Cy's toys were the biggest hit's of the day! They all made tons of noise, lit up and are completely interactive.

(Notice Zion and Cy's Minnie and Mickey Mouse Christmas Eve jammies)

For the next three hours all five kids played in the Family room with the babies and THEIR toys! After Zion and Cy went down for their naps. Stone, Phoenix and Avery wandered back to their own personal gifts and Mitchell and I settled in for a "long winters nap". A few hours later when I awoke it was almost dark. I was shocked! I had not been awoken by any fighting, screaming, or carrying on as usual. Everyone was happy and content with their apparent own peice of heaven. It was a Christmas Miracle! We got dressed and headed over for a late dinner at Aunt Rose's home (where Mitchell's Mother lives) and was able to see our nephew little Jarrett. It was a wonderful, relaxing, peaceful day...I wish I had more like 'em!

*Finally...That brings us to New Year's Eve. That is if I have'nt lost you already! Jenn's house, Rock Band Jammin, 4am bedtime, great eats, Karakoe Queens and made up Dancing routines...Amy I must say, we must make a plan for the club in Dover! , Funky Headbands, Boys and their video games, A young boy's undying devotion for the prettiest girl in town...we shouldnt name names...cough, cough (Stone)...cough, (Gracie)!, a candy bar game which I simply must play again...who am I kidding...I wanna play NOW! Good eating, Great Friends, and Forever Memories...It does not get any better than that!