School's Out..Forever!?

I finished school! Whoot, whoot!  It got hard to stick to it there at the end.  I haven't received feedback yet on my last big assignment nor applied for graduation yet, so it isn't official but…I'm having all these mixed feelings about it and I want to write 'em down before I forget about them!

I started this degree way back in February 2011.  I've been doing it part-time online ever since.  It's meant a lot of late nights and a lot of kid nap times devoted to schoolwork.  It's meant a lot of doing school work when I'd rather be sleeping or playing or relaxing or hobby-ing.  I feel like any hobbies I used to have had to fall by the wayside.  All along, I've had a love-hate relationship with school.

I LOVE learning and expanding my horizons and thinking about the world in new ways that I hadn't thought of before. I love using my time to do something constructive and purposeful.  I love the discipline I've learned when I've had to stick to tough assignments or long-winded textbooks. I love how all that dang writing has helped me become a better writer.  I love psychology and the way it teaches me about people and society and why we do the things we do.  I appreciate the increased employment opportunities I would have with this degree if I ever needed to go to work for my family.  BUT…

I am so grateful to be done!  My list of "things I'll do when I'm done school" has been growing exponentially and I'm afraid it's going to all more than fill up the 15 hours or so I've been previously devoting to schoolwork each week.  My plan is first to clean the house top to bottom.  Then I'd like to read a novel or two, refinish refinishing some furniture and spend some serious time in studying the Gospel.  I have new recipes I want to try and some projects I want to do with the kids.  The possibilities are endless!!!! :)

I do not plan on going to work with my new degree.  I find way too much purpose and happiness in being a wife and a mom full-time.  But I love that having bettered myself through learning makes me a better wife and mother!  Win-win!  So grateful for my experience in school but so grateful to be done!

Baby Food

Reed has started solids.  He's not crazy about cereal but he sure loves his squash!!

I've had a lot of anxiety over Reed since he was born, because of our third trimester scare with his heart.  The first month was insane - very little sleep for me because I worried about him so much.  The anxiety has certainly lessened but I do tend to check on him while sleeping way too much.  I took a big step last week and moved his crib into the playroom for nighttime sleep.  Ack!  We are all liking it, though.  Jaron appreciates being able to get up and shower in our bathroom in the morning and I'm sleeping better not constantly listening to every noise Reed makes in his sleep.

Almost losing Reed in utero gave me one awesome gift, that I didn't expect: I have cherished every. single. day.  Every single day!  Every day feels like a gift that I almost didn't get to have.  I have never enjoyed having a baby so much!!

The best part is, Reed's heart condition is absolutely gone! He's "grown out of it."  It shouldn't be an issue for him again.  Blessed are we!!!

First Dance Recital

 Gracen had her first dance recital!  She was sooooo excited! (And so was I! :) )

We picked up her black leotard from Target on Monday and she didn't take it off until I washed it Saturday morning for her recital!  She has been wearing various dance leotards ever since and cries when I make her put clothes over top so she doesn't freeze on the way to the store. She dances around the house all day and I'm surprised at how many names of dance steps she knows.

Getting ready for the recital, we both made compromises: She let me do her hair and I let her put on some makeup (mascara and lip gloss).  I thought maybe we were turning over a new hair doing leaf but, alas, 'tis not so. 

 I tried to take her picture before the recital and she kept doing this: 

 I told her to "just look normal" and she wouldn't stop doing this:

 Haha.  My pretty girl!

 Unfortunately the lighting for the performance was bad, my camera is even worse, and the photographer behind the camera is even worse than that!  Made for a lot of super blurry pictures.

I also didn't love that her teacher danced with them on stage. Detracted from the cute little girlies a bit, I thought.

Grace is right in the middle of this pic.

 This is Grace and our two neighbor girls, Katelyn and Allie that she rides to dance with.

 Grace is farthest to the right in this one.

 And to the right of her teacher in this one.

 She's got some pretty cute moves that girlie does!

Here's a horrible picture of two pretty little ladies!  Becky is a great teacher.  She lives only a few blocks from our house and dance takes place at her house.  Lessons are also super cheap - win/win/win!! :)

Citizenship Awards

Apparently the kids' elementary school gives out two citizenship awards in their classrooms each trimester. I thought it was pretty great that both Alden and Eli received the award in their classrooms.  They are pretty great kids! :)

Except…they refuse to smile nicely for a camera!

Eli hung his award by his bed, which I thought was pretty cute.  I also think it's pretty cute that Eli makes sure he has an extra pillow for all his stuffed animals and that they are all tucked in.  The little green Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb is his favorite. That big brown bear was actually the bear I received when I was in Kindergarten and slept with for years! :)

Gingerbread houses and Christmas Parties

I feel like I'm drowning in school work and many of our Christmas traditions are falling to the wayside this year. No manger to fill with good deeds straw.  No goodie plates for the neighbors.  No sleeping under the Christmas tree.  My Christmas decorations actually didn't ever get done being put up.

We did make time for gingerbread houses on family night, though!

 Little Reedster patiently watched the magic unfolding!

 Notice Jaron's fist going up in the picture below?

 WHAM! He took 4 years of med school frustrations out on his house out of nowhere!

Said he hadn't had so much fun in years. :)

 Here's the finished products: mine and Gracen's

 and Alden and Eli's.

We also made time for some Christmas parties in the last few weeks.  Our ward party was refreshing as it was Christ-centered.  Santa also made an appearance and I convinced Gracen to stand next to him.  She's very nervous! (UGH, I take blurry pics!! :( )  Santa reached out to pull her closer and she leaned as far away from him as possible.  Haha!  At least she's not screaming this year, as in years past!

 Jaron's adult work party was fun.  It was good for me to get to know some of the other residents.  I miss out on most of the activities because I had a baby when we first got here and I have so many tag alongs that I'm not able to go to much.

The kid party was a skating party.  The kids were soooo excited to skate!  Then I got on the ice with four kids who'd never skated before (we had another resident's cute little girl, Olivia, with us) and it was NOT fun for me!!  We ended up having all the kids sit with Olivia's mom while I took (carried!) them one at a time around the rink.  By the end of the hour Alden was doing pretty good by himself but the other three didn't really get it.  Still, they must have had fun because they keep begging me to take them again!

Odds 'n Ends

I'm struggling to get my pictures uploaded and for some reason the ones I've turned aren't turning…oh well. ;) I've got a bunch of random pics to post and I'm gonna post 'em anyway.

I hosted a shower for my sweet friend, Marilyn.  Sorry, Marilyn is sideways but she is one super cute gal! It was fun but a little crazy since 35 people ended up coming!  My home was NOT built for 35 people!

 This is a picture we took toward the end of the night, after about 8-10 people left.

 We've been having fun with Daddy lately.  During most of Nov he was at the VA and they worked him long and hard.  This past week was night call for peds and he actually ended up getting to sleep a lot which meant Jaron could be around all week!  It worked out great since the kids happened to be out of school all week for Thanksgiving!

Mommies and Daddies definitely play differently!

 One morning awhile back I was nursing Reed and the kids burst into the bedroom, exclaiming there was snow and asking if they could put their stuff on and go outside.  I came downstairs, looked out the window and saw this: 

Coats, boots, snow pants, and a sprinkling of snow. 

My poor little half-Canadians want snow soooo bad!

Then one night I came home to these pretties sitting on the table, for no reason at all.

I'm one lucky girl!

 We went to get pictures at the mall with Santa and guess what?  They wouldn't let me take one myself!  Said I had to buy their ridiculously overpriced ones!  Say what?!  Am I just old and ornery or does anybody else think the mall should allow self pics?  It's just as well, I guess - Gracen still wouldn't get near Santa.

 The number one reason we were at the mall was because I bought a Groupon to get family pictures done at JC Penney (Jaron ended up having to switch his day off and it turned out to be kid pics).  I'm not a big fan of the studio experience but I hoped I'd be pleasantly surprised (I was not). While we were  waiting, Alden made this "moose."  Then he took it apart and triumphantly announced that it was now a moose rack and cut up meat.  Haha!  Someone's Dad's a hunter!

 Our church encourages families to hold a family night each week, called family home evening.  One week in November we talked about gratitude and made a family thankfulness poster. 

 I was thankful for babies, The Book of Mormon, friends, and Daddy being a doctor.  Alden was thankful for fire, temples, the earth, food, and water.

Eli was also thankful for The Book of Mormon and the earth and for mom and dad.  Gracen was thankful for her family, tornadoes (wha?!), and a couple other undecipherable things.  Jaron was thankful for music, Idaho, and marriage.

 Jaron had two days off in a row last weekend (he only gets 4 days off a month - two in a row is a big deal!) so his parents came to visit.  They were so great and spent almost every moment playing with the kids, doing whatever they wanted to do.  I absolutely love that because I think that's important to the kids at their ages.  They sure love their Grandma and Grandpa Brunson!  

Eli is on a serious batman kick.  While Grandma was here she sewed the cape that I had started but was too busy with homework to finish.  He didn't take that cape off for about two days afterward, even when we went to the store!

 And this little guy is SIX MONTHS OLD!!  I cannot believe it.

I love so much about him at this age.  I love all his smiles.  I love the way he smiles when I go in to get him from a nap.  I love how he squeezes my shoulder and nestles into my neck like he's giving me little hugs.  I love his fuzzy hair.  I love his ticklish ribs.  I love that his favorite game is peekaboo.  I love how his little hands and feet turn circles when he doesn't have something in them.  I love the two little teeth that poked through on the bottom last week (ok, I'd love them more if I wasn't nursing!).  I love how he lights up when I come into the room. I love how he mouths everything he can get his hands on.  And man, do I love those dimples!

 And last but not least, after much begging of the kids to their humbug father, the tree went up.  And then after much more begging, a few presents went under the tree.  These poor kids are in for a l-o-n-g twenty-five days!

In other news, I am four weeks away from being done school!!!  It is intense here at the end but I am ploughing my way through, getting very excited!

Flag Football

The boys played flag football with the same league they played soccer with.  It was fun, easy, and inexpensive.  The boys had a blast.  Eli especially seemed to get into it.

Gracen was good at finding stuff to do at the game.

And a couple of pics of the boys' biggest fans.