Month: December 2005 (Page 2 of 2)
Aren’t surprises great? I guess that’s why gift giving is so much fun. I love to give and get surprises. And a totally unexpected one showed up on my porch today (Thanks, Tina!), that made my day! We’re doing our own batch of surprises in the form of the 12 days of Christmas for a friend. othing fancy, just little things with corny rhymes or puns. Today is day 4, which will be Kazoos “for calling birds”. We almost missed day three, as I realized while at Ryan’s company party that I hadn’t bought the gift certificates to Wendy’s, which were to be the “3 french fries” on day three. We had to stop at a Wendy’s on the way home, and Ryan took it over and stuck it to their front door at about 10:30 last night. Oops. We also gave for day one–a partridge and some pears, and day two was “two turtles” (the chocolate kind). It’s all about the surprise!
Oh, yesterday was a bit of a hard day for me. Not like my family was diagnosed with some kind of horrible disease or I was in a car accident hard day kind of day, just the busy two year old kind of day.
(Even though he’s a troublemaker, he’s still cute as the dickens!)
Let’s start by saying that Dad replaced his crib with his cool toddler car bed over the weekend, and I don’t think he was quite ready for the change. So now my boy, who was easy to put down for his nap and bedtime, is now a non-sleeper. Ugh.
We were in the car at lunchtime again, and he fell asleep in the car. I tried to do the transfer from car to bed, but he woke up screaming, as usual. So, I tried to do what Supernanny would do. I told him to stay in his bed, and just sat there by his bed not looking at him. He eventually stopped crying and lay down, wimpering and calling out the occasional “Mommy” and I think he would have gone to sleep, had Jenna not been singing close by. She then came in and asked if she could have a sucker (the sucker was already in her hand). All thoughts of a nap (his or mine) flew out the window. He started screaming, I left the room, and pretty soon he was downstairs pretending nothing had happened. Ugh. Since he hadn’t had any lunch, I figured I’d better at least feed him.
For the rest of the day, he felt it was his duty to help me clean out the pantry. Only I wasn’t cleaning out the pantry, I was trying to get my house cleaned up for a party on Saturday. He kept bringing out cereal, sitting at the table and eating as much as he wanted. He also chose to bring that cereal into the family room (a big no no!). He got himself a juice box, and asked Cole’s friend to open it for him. Once the little one had a juice box, everyone else figured they deserved juice boxes, too, so we had a juice box festival here for a while.
About 5:00, John comes and brings me a CD and a DVD with a proud look on his face. “Where did you get those?” I asked. “Presents,” he says. OH NO!!! I run to the front room to see the Christmas tree, and sure enough, there’s a bunch of wrapping paper. “John! What did you do?!” I said, even though that was a dumb thing to say, I know what he did–he opened presents!! “I made a mess,” he told me. We had to quickly rewrap a present for Dad, who was coming home shortly, John helped throw away the wrapping paper, and I later rewrapped those presents for Grandpa and Italo. Ugh. Thankfully he didn’t unwrap any kid presents, as that would really have messed up my day! We had a talk about how it’s not time to open presents, and we need to wait until Christmas, but I don’t think I really got through to him. I may have to gate off that room.
The thing that pushed me over the edge was when my baked potato exploded in the oven. As far as exploding food goes, I guess potatoes are a good choice (I mean compared to eggs or spaghetti sauce), but it was just too much for my poor little self. I felt like running screaming from the room. Luckily, Dad was here by then and he was able to help save my sanity.
We were able to watch the end of the Amazing Race (thank goodness that one is over) and Ryan was especially happy that the non-Weavers won. Enough said about that.
Tonight I get to wear my fancy dress that I bought on sale at Coldwater Creek for an unheard of $39 and go to the Grand America Hotel for the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Party. I’m so excited! ! I’ve got my babysitter all arranged, a pizza in the freezer, and hopefully things will go smoothly.
What are you excited about today?
For the past 6 days I’ve been heavily involved with the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concerts, and I just have to say “WOW!” It was an awesome experience! You can’t imagine the countless hours of preparation that goes into one of those concerts, from the elaborate stage decorations, to the dancers, soloists (Renee Fleming was absolutely Amazing!) and guest artists (Claire Bloom was also Incredible), all the songs the choir learns, some at the last minute because they are still being written, and all the people behind the scenes. There must be at least 100 support people behind the scenes driving carts around, talking into their walkie-talkies, stage managers telling you when to go on, camera and sound men, make-up artists, etc.
And the whole thing was absolutely astounding how wonderfully it came together. I’m extremly grateful that I could be involved in that experience. Friday night when I looked out I saw President Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson sitting in the front row–if that doesn’t make you want to do your best, I don’t know what does. And Sunday morning after the broadcast and mini concert, President Hinckley and President Faust came up to the stage and thanked the guest artists for coming (they waive their fees and donate their time) and invited them back anytime. It was Craig Jessop’s birthday, so he led the audience in singing “Happy Birthday” to him, and wished us all a Merry Christmas. At the end, he said, “Now we’ll sing ‘God be with you till we meet again’ and hope that it happens,” and waved as he left the stage. ‘
When we left the stage and went to go put our bells away, there was a bunch of security because President Hinckley was just getting into a cart. President Faust was 5 feet from me, and said “Good job” right to me. Wow! It’s not every day, or, well, ever, that I’m standing by the prophet. It was a real thrill.
I’m especially thankful for Ryan. He (and a couple of babysitters) watched the kids for so many hours this week so I could be at rehearsal, and all those concerts. He really is wonderful! He didn’t even get to see the concert because we had a sick child over the weekend, and didn’t feel comfortable leaving him with a babysitter. So, even though it was a very tough, tiring, long week, it was extremely rewarding and I feel so lucky to have been a part of it.
Ok, we got about 15 inches of snow on Tuesday, and it was very messy. The roads to Salt Lake were not that great at 4:30 pm, either, and it took me 2 hours to get to the conference center that night. Ugh!
Tonight is our first concert with the Tab Choir. I’m in 4 numbers. Cool, except that they are all supposed to be memorized. Have you ever tried memorizing Bell music? 32 measures until we come in, then E-D-E-rest E-D-E rest 8 measures, then D5 and D6 together, etc. Each song we are holding different bells, so we have to put them all back and get new ones every time, we come in from different places each time, and to top it off we’re supposed to be smiling! The past two nights have been 4-5 hour rehearsals, and we’re all pretty exhausted.
I’ve got a cold and I’m popping euchenachia, zinc and vitamin C, along with Cold-eez and whatever else I think might help. So, needless to say, I’m a little bit nervous about tonight. I’m going off to study the new song that was just transposed yesterday because apparantly the soloist wanted it in a higher key.
Send good thoughts my way–please!
When I woke up this morning there was no snow. As the kids left it was just starting to snow. At noon we had over 8 inches. It’s 2:30, now, and we have at least a foot of snow out there (my guess from inside, of course), and it’s still falling at a very rapid rate. How can there be that much snow in the sky? Enough! Stop!
(pictures later)
Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says “Dam!”
Thanks to Kimberly for sending me a bunch of way corny jokes! I love them!
I just flew to Toys R Us to get the special gift that was on sale, and I think I’m pretty much done with my shopping now! Kudos to me. I’m sure there will be last minute things, but for the most part, I’ve got what I need.
I’m also gearing up for the 12 days of Christmas, and we’re trying to decide as a family who to “12 days” this year. I’m voting for the easy within walking distance family, myself.
And this week will be a killer as far as my choir calling goes. I need to be at the conference center by 5 or earlier every day this week except for today. It’s a very exciting, although exhausting week for me. To see the Conference Center all decked out for Christmas, and to realize that I get to be a part of that wornderful experience, it’s humbling, and I’m thankful for the opportunity. I pray that all goes well with the choir, and with my family at home without a mom
My heart also goes out to my friends who lost their moms last week. Two funerals this week, but I’m afraid I can’t go to either one. But my thought are with you, friends.
So, in my effort to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year, I’ve been doing a lot of reading (and listening on tape). And in my reading, I’ve realized that this would be my “large plates” or the record of my secular activities. Nephi kept two records–one for the secular record, and one for the spiritual record. I have been fooling myself by thinking, “I blog, that’s like a journal, right?” Well, yes, it is like a journal, Paige, but a journal of the secular things of your life. So, I have been reminded that I also need to keep a record of the spiritual things of my life–that journal that’s sitting in a drawer and hasn’t been written in in over 6 months. That’s my “small plates” and I’ve been neglecting it. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go and dig that out and think of something to write in it.
Recent Comments