Lemon

My aunt and uncle have a lemon tree that grows huge, round, slightly orange colored lemons. Basically, it grows lemons that look like oranges. You just have to know that tree is lemons and eat accordingly. 

So, when they sent me home with a bag of oranges from their trees, I assumed all of the large, round, orange colored objects were oranges. Then one night I was feeding the babies and thought, I should peel an orange and see how they do eating just the inside part. I peeled said orange, and took a bite as I was picking it apart for the babies. 

Let's take a quick trip into my thoughts at that moment," Oooohhhh...that's a lemon! Well, I can't give them a lemon...wait...I should TOTALLY give them a lemon!"

Alisa, didn't care at all. She ate every bite I gave her and never really made much of a face. 

Mason looked at me as though he had been betrayed. And then protested until I removed the offending piece of fruit from his mouth!

The Fort

Addie has been obsessed with building forts lately. "Mommy, you want to help me decorate my fort?" Yes, those toys spread all over the ground are her decorations - Alisa and Mason even got to help!

Please notice, all THREE children are LOOKING at the camera and SMILING!! That may be the only time it's ever happened!

Splish, Splash

I was feeling brave last week and decided to try out bath time all by myself while Wil was at work. The mission: two babies, one bath tub, zero drowning!

We did it! Alisa, Mason and I make quite the bath time team! Alisa, had a blast!

Playing with the water, splashing, crawling around, she was ALL about it!

Mason spent most of his bath like this - too nervous to touch the water with his hands. Silly boy!

I had to put Mason on the floor of his room, which is right next to the bathroom, so as not to leave Alisa alone for longer than half a millisecond. I grabbed Alisa and walked back out to him laying on the floor like this and whining. He looked adorable, so I had to take his picture!

If you're keeping score, that's Me - 1, Babies - 1,000,000,002.

The Museum

The week before Wil went back to school, we used our trusty library culture passes one more time to go the Children's Museum. Addie had so much fun she now asks me on a regular basis  if we can go back to the museum. 

Alisa's project for the day was learning to pull herself up. She practiced over and over and over and over using my hands as leverage. 

Addie LOVED the pretend grocery store. She pulled items of the shelf, pushed the shopping cart and put them on the conveyor belt for Daddy to ring up and put in the bag. She could have spent HOURS in that room alone!

Mason especially loved this block, that he carried around in his mouth like a puppy dog!

Also, he found a mirror and made a new friend! He has a noise he makes when he's happy - I'm not sure how to explain it except to say it sounds like a cross between an exclamation and a sigh. This is him, making that sound at his new best friend! I LOVE this picture of him!

Santa

Santa brings the best gifts! 

A basketball hoop, phone and popper thing for the babies...Addie still thinks these are her toys. She was so proud of herself when she made a basket...of COURSE she made a basket, the hoop is designed for kids 6-12 months old!

Look at those cute Santa bum pajamas!

Addie's present from Santa was the best of all! A fully stocked play kitchen. She was SO excited...until Santa's shoddy craftsmanship ended with the oven door falling on her foot (she walked funny for the rest of the day).

We have it on pretty good authority from the elves that they made the play kitchen out of an old entertainment center that used to look like this...

The two elves that made it were extremely proud of themselves and asked us to post the before and after shots on this very blog. :-)

Merry Christmas, GG

Christmas is a funny thing. It's full of joy and tradition and family and reminders of wonderful memories of those you love most. But I was dreading trying to figure out the best way to celebrate without my Grandma. Sometimes even the best memories can be painful. 

Right after Thanksgiving, I decided that it would be fun to do random acts of service in memory of my Grandma. Nothing big, just small good deeds. Last year, a man behind her in line at the dollar store paid for her few items and wished her a Merry Christmas. I remembered how excited she was about someone who was spreading the spirit of Christmas and had done something so nice for her. 

I decided it would be Addie's and my project to do kind things for other people. Here's the list of what we did: 

• Picked weeds at five houses on our street
• Made a special trip to McDonald's and paid for the car in line behind us
• Enlisted the help of a niece and a nephew to pass out treats to kids playing at the park
• Helped make 75 turkey sandwiches for the homeless
• Wil helped hand out the sandwiches to the homeless (and I stayed with the babies so he could go - I totally think that counts as a service)
• Took a treat to a friend who was sick
• Left a treat in the mailbox for the mail man
• Addie ran a treat out to the garbage man to thank him for picking up our garbage every week

I also posted on Facebook and sent notes to a few of my Grandma's friends asking them to participate and then to post what they did on her Facebook page. Here's what other people did and wrote in memory of my Grandma: 

"As we remember Anna & her kind & giving heart, we thought of many acts of kindness. This morning our ward along with another ward went down town to feed the homeless. As I got out my coat to wear, I found another warm coat that I had not worn in sometime & decided to bring it to find a needy soul to give it to. I also had a set of ear warmers as well. When we arrived downtown, the streets werecrowded with the homeless who had just gotten some warm food & hot chocolate. I found an elderly woman walking with her cart of belongings & asked if she would like a warm coat. Her soft smile & thanks warmed my heart as I helped her put on the coat & covered her cold ears with the ear warmers. What a blessing to give! In honor of you dear Anna!"

"What a great way to remember and honor Anna! Since I read the post asking for participation in this, I have found myself thinking often of small acts of kindness that I could do. Recently, I heard of a situation involving 2 young boys who had been removed from a horrible situation of abuse and neglect. Thankfully, they are now being raised by their grandparents. The grandparents are struggling to meet the financial needs of these boys, and aren't able to provide Christmas for them...these two little guys have never had a Christmas present:( So, I joined with my sister, and a good friend and many other contributors, to collect many items that this family needs, as well as some Christmas gifts for two very deserving little boys who have had a difficult start in life!"

"So... I miss you like crazy! And I think of you often. Earlier this month I was in a dreadfully boring meeting and in your memory I did NOT get up and punch the speaker. The irony of this is, you would have been the one begging me to stop the madness and probably would have been egging me on!!!"

"Dear Anna Bloch, I have a random act of kindness. I saw a woman at Walmart with her two year old daughter, she had paid for her merchandise and was left $3 short. She was asking the cashier to remove an item, and that's where I stepped in and finalized her purchase. It wasn't much, not much at all, but I hope that it meant something for her. I've been in her shoes, where I don't have $3 to finalize my purchase, not from lack of bringing a credit card, but from lack of having $3 in general. I love you, and I miss you."

"Dear Anna, My random act of service took place in a full parking lot. I lucked out and spotted a prime parking spot and was about to take it when I saw a car behind me. I thought of Jessica's request of service so I passed up the space and parked much farther down. When I walked passed the spot, I noticed the car had a handicap license plate and I was grateful I had passed it up."

"Aunt Anna Marie - So happy to participate in a random act of kindness in your memory. There are many homeless folks near my work so yesterday I purchased breakfast for them. Miss you ....."

"Remembering my friend Anna this Christmas!! I'm doing a random small act of kindness for a friend by helping her prepare for Christmas by wrapping 20 of the presents she bought for her family while we shopped together this week and she has to work the next 5 nights at Phx Children's Hospital. Hopefully, this lets her get a little ahead before her family come next week for the holidays."

"I baked bread for two neighbors that were mourning. I bought 4 angel tree gifts. I've committed myself to doing about 20 loads of laundry for my RS pres (as a service for her generosity). and... I've been making an effort to be more kind when truly it's been challenging... refraining from gossip and being peaceful when I felt justified in anger... hey! that's huge! I love Anna! I miss her!"

I'm so grateful for all the people who participated. The world was a better place because my Grandma lived, and I hope in a small way these acts of kindness helped make it a better place now that she's gone. 

I had so much fun thinking of ideas for our service project that I think I might make this an annual tradition. Although I'm playing around with the idea of doing it in July for her birthday and then doing random acts of service in December to remember the Savior. 

Nativity

Mason goes to bed super early. In fact, he's usually down for the count around 6:30 p.m. Trying to keep him up any later than 7, is playing with fire! Which means by the time we were ready to act out the nativity on Christmas Eve, Mason was already snug in a makeshift bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in his head. 

I thought about taking a picture with the four of us gathered around the Pack-n-Play in the back room, just to prove he was there. I have visions of his older sisters telling him he's adopted when he's older and using the multitude of pictures he is NOT in (because he's sleeping - he's also my best napper) as proof! 

But, the fear of waking him up won, so here's a picture of four of the five of us. Addie, Wil and me as shepherds and Alisa as baby Jesus. Her time as the Christ child was short lived - as she decided it was bed time immediately after we finished getting our costumes on, and before the reenactment actually began.