Believe it or not, but this living room was completely picked up, straightened out, and vacuumed approximately 15 minutes before I took this picture. I went into the other room to change Kiahna's diaper and to put a few things away in my room. When I came back through the living room, this is what I saw...
It probably took Aliya 8-10 minutes to put all the stuff in there; however, it took me about 2 hours to get her to pick it all up. After helping Aliya put everything back in her room, I went in the kitchen to help Niah make some cookies. It only took me about 5 minutes (8 at the most!) because she already had everything mostly done. I heard Kiahna crying, so I headed towards the girls bedroom. This is what I saw...
Aliya had blocked Kiahna in her room by stacking up blankets and toys in the hallway! I was actually impressed, but being impressed didn't helped with the overwhelming feeling of "not another mess to clean up!" Some may think that being a stay-at-home mom is a lazy job. I challenge those individuals to follow me around a few hours, and I am sure they would quickly change their minds! Some days I feel that I have ran the Boston marathon! I just don't understand why my waistline isn't shrinking!
Our hearts are full this Christmas Season because we are truly blessed. Our wish as parents was to have a full Christmas that honored our Savior and the reasons why He came. We wanted our children to enjoy this season of hope, love, giving, and receiving. We knew that this would take a miracle, but isn't that also what this season is about?
We looked at the miracle under our tree, for every present under that tree was a gift from a family member or a friend. Each of the girls spent time choosing gifts for each other--Aliya sacrificed her new music toy for Koni, and she gave away many of her special books and toys to Niah. Koni picked out a special toy for each of her sisters from birthday money she had received. Niah saved her allowance and bought everyone a gift from a gift store at her school. There were also presents under the tree from Grandparents to Aunts and Uncles.
The girls each hoped for a special gift, each had love for one another, each gave what they had, and each received from another. We had completed part of our goal--the larger question still needed to be answered...how do we honor our Savior and the reasons why He came? We looked to the reasons why He came...He came to give us hope, He came because He first loved us, He came to give ALL that He had, and He came to received us unto Himself. Once we looked at the reasons, the answer became clear...
We honor Him by following in His example.
We want to say a special Thank Youto all for being a part of our Christmas Miracle.
Today was Niah's last day of school for 2006! It's hard to tell for sure who is more excited, but I think I might be the winner! I LOVE CHRISTMAS BREAK! I guess some things you just never out grow!In the morning Niah had a class party (food, fun, presents...) followed by an afternoon of skating at the ice rink.
Aliya skated "by herself" but yet was never alone--she always had an entourage following her. The ice walker brought a lot of attention to her... and of course, she loved every minute of it!
This was Niah's third time ice skating. She didn't fall down, she skated pretty fast, and she didn't get any blisters (thanks to 3 pairs of socks).
TJ went skating, but walked (hobbled) away with blisters and hairless shins. I, myself, played it smart and didn't even try it at all--I joined myself with all the other "boring" parents who just watched. Kiahna didn't mind where she was as long as there was food!
Well, we finally got the Christmas tree up. Kiahna was taking her nap while we were getting everything set up. After she woke up, I took her into the living room. Her eyes lit up when she saw all the new stuff! Imagine...toys that hang on a tree! What a great idea!!!
Niah is a pro at putting up the tree and decorations--she has had lots of experience now! Aliya gets excited to "help" with anything. She ran around all day saying "ChrisChris is here...ChrisChris is here!". To me it seems as if we just did this...has it really been a whole year already?
This is the first year that Aliya really understands about birthdays. She has been waiting for this day to arrive FOREVER! She wanted to be a princess for her birthday. We took her to the store to get things for her birthday party, and we came back with noise makers, balloons, princess crown, princess wands, and princess shoes. We got all the stuff to make a princess cake, and she helped me make it.
Niah only went to school in the morning so she could join in all the fun. We started out the SPECIAL DAY with family pictures. That is always MY least favorite part! It seems that once the pictures are over, then the party can begin--in other words, NOW you can get all messy! NOW you can get stains on your clothes! After pictures we went to "PIZZA, PIZZA" and ate, ate, played, played, played, ate, played, ate, played, played, and ate. Aliya shouted a big "YEEHAW!" while riding her pony. Kiahna took a chance at winning the big one. TJ and the girls tried their hand at golf--and when I say "hand", I mean "hand". Aliya had more fun helping the ball into the hole than hitting it. All-in-all it was a great day!
The Birthday Princess
When we came back home, we had a small party (just us). She got to dress up in all her beautiful princess stuff! Too bad we all didn't get to dress up--we were really disappointed at first. Each gift had its own uniquely dramatic response, but the best was when she opened the card from the Thomas' and she READ it to us! We thought we would share that moment with you.
Just in case you missed it, Aliya's card said that SHE gets to open up the presents and NOT Koni! I guess she is still holding a grudge from Koni's birthday party--Koni didn't let her open up any presents!!!
Speaking of holding memories, TJ and I remember holding Aliya on her very first birthday. She was 7 lbs 13 0z and 20.5 inches long with lots of DARK hair! She was SOOOO adorable! She was born in the afternoon at 1:53 pm. Niah was the first one to see Baby Aliya. She was so proud to get to hold her new sister! She stayed for a few hours, and then she went back to our friend's house where she was spending the night.
It turned out to be a very cold, snowy night. The electricity even went out for a while! Lots of family and friends came by to see our special new bundle. After everyone left, Niah came back again to say goodnight to her sister. She was so excited that it actually made her stomach upset, and she threw up all over the bed. This is what she remembers the most! Even though she wasn't feeling well, she did not want to leave her baby sister. I remember Niah asking if she could call her "Sissy". That name stuck until last year when Aliya started learning her "real name".
The next day Niah and Daddy went t0 buy some clothes for Aliya. We saved those special outfits in Aliya's memory box. Of course, Kiahna has no memories of Aliya being smaller--all she knows is that she loves her big sister!
We got snow! Schools were canceled Thursday and Friday, so we all got to play hookie. There is something special about the whole city shutting down just because of all the cold white stuff. I am not exactly sure what the temperature was, but I would guess that with the windchill it was probably in the teens--cold enough to bite your face and burn your hands! Aliya and Niah had fun throwing snowballs (actually, more like clumps of snow), and Kiahna just had fun falling down.
Kiahna loved it, but I knew that if I was freezing, she probably was also. I stayed out long enough to take some pictures and shoot some film. Then I picked up Kiahna and brought her inside. She started banging on the door to go back outside. She then threw herself on the floor. After filming this dramatic response, I let her go back outside for a few more minutes with TJ and the girls.
Later in the afternoon when Kiahna was taking her nap, Niah and Aliya went back outside to build a fort. They stayed outside long enought to turn into icicles, and then they came back inside to take a warm bath and eat some warm food. I can remember a time when I thought it strange that adults wanted to stay inside the "boring" house instead of playing outside. Now I am that "boring" adult--and I rather enjoyed it!
